She stood there outside the comfortably lit cottage that she called her home, it now giving shelter to more people at once than it had ever seen in its entire lifespan. For the sake of privacy, they’d lain the request of using it for a small bachelorette party some time back, a means by which to disappear from the eyes that had continued to pry even at the farm. Who was she to say no? Yes, it was a bit intimidating to actually be the hostess for once, but she was happy to be providing a place of security to those she called friends. It was actually rather nice.

It would be nicer if the one she was waiting for was actually here already, too.

Fluttershy had been finding herself constantly moving back and forth from the chatter that dwelt in the living room to the tranquil silence of the late night ever since the party had begun, the absence of one particular person gnawing at her mind. It wasn’t the largest, nor the most bombastic of bachelorette parties, but it was a meaningful one; everyone who’d been invited should have put it as their highest priority for the day- especially her. But then again… the young maiden sighed, knowing full well who else was absent from their midst; things felt like they were starting to get out of hand.

She heard the Snap! of human form breaking through the ether bounds and she gave a small leap of the heart; she could recognize that proud figure anywhere, especially at night- but it was so slumped and seemingly weary… “Luna?”

A hand was raised without a word as the Princess of the Night came to the home of her beloved. As she reached the bounds of the garden fence and her face was met by the soft light streaming from the nearby window, it was one that clearly held exhaustion; Luna’s eyes were dull, her beautiful face sagging and weighted.

“Where is she?” Fluttershy asked.

Luna sighed. “Sleeping, on the hilltop overlooking the farm,” she answered. “Pinkie is with her.”

“Are they-?”

“Safe from harm. As promised,” Luna said. “If it is not me, then Pinkie has been there to prevent it.”

Fluttershy cradled the face of her dearest Princess and felt the heaviness of exhaustion beneath her fingertips, crumpling that proud, fearless visage into one of a dulled ache. “When was the last time you slept?” she asked of her.

“I keep my promises to you, dear. Does anything else matters?”

Fluttershy bit her lip, not sure who she was more irritated by; Luna’s relentless dedication, or the one who was causing all the problems in the first place. “Stay here with me tonight,” she whispered, words that seemed to carry the hint of a command. “Please? You’ve done so much already…”

Luna didn’t answer. Her gaze moved to avoid Fluttershy’s compassionate contemplation, yet upon her face could be seen a potent distress of the heart that so greatly grieved her spirit. The indomitable Princess of the Night had little barriers left to keep back her deepest emotions.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong, please?” the young woman asked softly.

Luna bit back a great rotting lump in her throat, forcing herself to swallow down whatever of her threatened to be overwhelmed. “I am glad to keep my kingdom safe,” she whispered, a slight quiver in her voice as she spoke. “I have always been proud of my deeds. But my sister is- never have I seen her so happy, my love, and I just want to be there with her through it all, to just…” A long, winding sigh fell across her lips and the great warrior princess seemed to bleed despair. “I wish for a moment’s peace to enjoy that happiness with her. But I can’t.”

Fluttershy said nothing but instead put her arms around the beautiful woman she loved and held her close, trying to siphon away all the weariness that so clearly plagued her. “Thank you for keeping her safe,” she murmured. “She’s still my best friend.”

“I won’t fail you, my love,” Luna replied, her voice muffled as it tried to weave through the countless threads of Fluttershy’s silken hair. “But perhaps a token for luck?”

Fluttershy giggled, a small blush creeping onto her gentle features. She knew what gift would be most desired and she granted it, leaning up to softly press her lips against that of Luna’s, letting the moment linger for a little while longer than she normally would. “Come inside and clean yourself up,” she said. “Everyone will be happy to see you.”

Luna, however, seemed more inclined to keep her attentions focused on the young woman before her, not releasing the beautiful maiden from her arms and continuing to kiss her with growing passion in each meeting of lips. She let her mouth begin to slowly move its way southward down her body, a trail of kisses marking her neck-

“Luna,” Fluttershy protested, though her words still mixed with laughter. “Not here, you silly. People will see us!”

“Mmf. Good. You deserve an audience,” mumbled the Princess of the Night, not relenting in her romantic passions. “Tia should know about her sister-in-law, anyway.”

“Not- not yet! We promised, not until after their wedding! Luna, stop- I mean it, please stop!” Fluttershy sighed, trying not to let herself be fully taken over. It felt much too nice, even when it clashed against her sensibilities. “Maybe we can tell her if it comes up, but not like that!”

Luna pouted. “Must you be a spoilsport?” she asked.

“I’ll make it up to you later, if you don’t mind,” the sweet-faced woman replied.

Luna’s primary virtue was not patience, but she nodded- still leaving one last kiss as a means to seal the promise. “Keep it upon your finger for tonight,” she requested. “For me.”

The fearless Princess was led back into the comforting light of the cottage by her timid darling and was promptly met with cheerful greetings as she walked through the door. While all eyes were upon her, Fluttershy found herself anxiously minding the band around her finger, her hands held behind her back as she debated whether she actually possessed the courage to display such a thing yet. She’d had it for a while now; why not let everyone know? They’d been private about it, yes, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t tell their friends… and now family members. So what if it had only taken them three months? She let her hands fall naturally to her sides-

She felt a pair of eyes upon her and she panicked, not willing to take the spotlight away from the brides-to-be; a sudden movement and it had slipped back into her pocket. Fluttershy looked about and saw that the act had gone unnoticed, save for the sharp-eyed stare of Rarity that had caught it. A smile and a knowing wink was all that was given in return, the fashionista saying not a word; she’d made the dresses for that fateful day, and had promised to keep her silence.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have been afield for most of the day,” Luna said to the happy group of ladies, “I will be absent for a time to see myself refreshed.”

“Of course! You look exhausted, Lulu, take what time you need,” Celestia said with a wave of her hand.

“Apologies again for the late arrival. Excuse me, dear.” Before her beloved could protest Luna leaned in and kissed her mouth for the whole room to see, the romantic gesture from a pair so continuously private eliciting a small “Aw!” from those present. Without another word Luna disappeared up the stairs and out of sight, Fluttershy returning to her place on the nearby stool with a content smile on her features- and not even the hint of a blush.

“You two were out there for a while,” Applejack remarked from her place on the loveseat beside her fiancé. “Everything alright, Shy?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, we’re fine,” Fluttershy answered swiftly. “Luna’s just very tired, that’s all. She said she’s been up for a few days now trying to keep the kingdom safe.”

Celestia groaned. “Does this just so happen to have anything to do with my wedding, perchance?”

“Umm…”

Celestia shook her head at the thought of her younger sister’s continued persist dedication. “Delegation of tasks has never been her strongest suit,” she remarked. “Fluttershy, I’d be grateful if you made sure she rested here tonight. I hate to see her do this to herself.”

Fluttershy nodded, having already been of the same mind. “I won’t mind that.”

A small giggle coursed through the room. The party the Canterlot elite had demanded in honor of the Princess Celestia’s marriage had been snuffed out as per royal declaration, the only one that she valued was that of one with friends. Twilight sat in between Sweetie and Apple Bloom with hardly a thought given to a former royal crush, Rarity seemed to be basking in the glory of her oncoming triumph that would be displayed at the wedding itself, and the happy couple was more relaxed and at ease than they’d seemed in weeks, the worst of the wedding preparations finally done with a week to go. Fluttershy was glad, delighted even, that such joyous things could be happening right under her roof.

When Luna appeared from the upstairs, wearing a casual dress she had left here some time ago, she took a standing position beside Fluttershy and summoned a glass of mead to quench her parched throat. “Ooh, that’s better,” she muttered. “Your bees have outdone themselves this time, Fluttershy.”

“They’ve been very helpful this spring. I can show you how I made it, if you’d like.”

“Before you do that, Luna,” Applejack interrupted, “I was wanting to ask you something.”

Uh-oh. Luna’s contented expression suddenly became alert and she focused solely on the blonde farmgirl across from her. “I’ll answer what I can,” she said.

“So… you see everyone out there, right? All your travelin’ and protectin’, you come across a fair amount of folk.”

“I do.”

“Could you… when you get the chance, could you keep an eye out for Rainbow Dash? I ain’t seen her in ages now, and I was worried about her. And- actually, where’s Pinkie Pie? I know the Cakes are done working, where’s she gone off to?”

The silence was so thick not even a knife could have dented it. Every eye was somewhere that wasn’t that of Applejack’s trying to figure out how to deal with the ultimate elephant in the room.

Celestia, just as unaware as her future bride, surveyed the discomfort that had settled across the company and began to make the connections. “Luna?” she asked. “Is there something you haven’t told me about?”

“I don’t tell you lots of things-”

“Perhaps one of them being why you haven’t been sleeping for several days?” The words were very pointed.

Fluttershy and Luna shared a glance, knowing that to lie now would likely be more troublesome than the truth. With a groan, the Princess of the Night drained her glass and tossed it aside, disgruntled from her long nights as protector of two peoples. “Sister- Applejack,” she began, “you are not going to like what I have to tell you.”

Rainbow Dash awoke abruptly, the sudden oncoming of the morning breeze upon her face alerting her senses to the sudden change that could not be ignored. Her confusion was strong at such a feeling: where was she, how did she get there, what was that presence upon her body? It took her a few moments to actually gain some semblance of understanding, or any sort of cognition at all.

Where was she? Judging by the world she saw around her, still on the hilltop overlooking Sweet Apple Acres. She must have fallen asleep here over the night and just decided to not even try to go back to bed, the remnants of her failed catapult still beside her in its crumbled wreck. As to why she hadn’t left… she raised her head from the ground to see the frizzy hair of her friend being gently pushed about by the wind, Pinkie Pie lying half-atop her and still fast asleep, the magnificent worship of Rainbow’s licked-clean butthole clearly having put her into a contented slumber.

It had been a weird night, Rainbow surmised. Not bad by any means, but definitely weird. She’d let Pinkie Pie sexually satisfy her twice now, and for the life of her she couldn’t put a finger on –or in- a reason why. She was here to try to win back Applejack, why was she letting another person try to barge on in? She didn’t want to start a harem, did she? That was Twilight’s thing, by the looks of it. So what was the goal with allowing Pinkie Pie to keep doing this sort of shit? Sure, it felt good- but that was beside the point. Rainbow wanted Applejack; sweet, sultry, steamy, sexy, perfect Applejack, the busty blonde beauty of the apple cider. There was no reason to focus on anything else. Right?

Rainbow sighed. So maybe her plans hadn’t been all that great so far. Maybe she was just fighting entropy, or gravity, or just basic reality. Come to think of it, did Applejack even like her? Clearly yes, everyone lusted after Rainbow Dash, but it’d be nice to get some sort of outside confirmation. Some sort of sign that would tell her to rescue Applejack from the clutches of that immortal assbag, and then Rainbow Dash could come swooping in to save the day- and get the girl at the same time. But so far, nothing. Maybe that was the sign.

Another one might be the fact that Pinkie Pie had quite joyfully fucked her twice now from both front and behind. That was probably something to consider. Maybe, just maybe-

The sun came over the horizon, the first beams prying past the edge of the world and shooting through atmosphere and air to bore directly into Rainbow’s drifting eyes, piercing through and burning a temporary blindness. “Oh you can just get fucked, Celestia,” she snarled. It was time to wake up and actually kill the fuck out of that whore.

Rainbow Dash eyed the covered object in Pinkie Pie’s hand with a good deal of suspicion. “You said it’s a what now?”

“The traveling apothecary called it a South Arabian Death Tarantula!” Pinkie cried dramatically, giving the case a shake for emphasis and immediately regretting it as the contents within began to rattle themselves. “Oh yuck!”

“So what’s it do?”

Pinkie blinked. “I dunno.”

Unbelievable. Her assistant was a tier-one dumbass. “Pinkie, are you serious right now? We’ve got exactly a week to prevent a disaster here, if you don’t help me do this we’re screwed! What’s it do!”

“Well, it’s got the word ‘Death’ in it’s name, that’s sorta scary, right?”

Rainbow groaned. “Pinkie, you have the word ‘Pie’ in your name and you’re not a fucking pastry! We need to kinda know!”

“Alright, let’s take a look!” Pinkie declared, summoning forth a book from the depths of a place Rainbow couldn’t quite figure and swiftly searching through its contents for the proper item. “Aha! ‘The South Arabian Death Tarantula is one of the most venomous, aggressive spiders in the world. It’s capable of running at approximately five miles an hour when out in the open, and regularly attacks creatures much larger than in size!’” The frizz-haired woman beamed and tried to ignore the continued rattling that came from her glassy cage. “That sounds super scary, I bet it’s fine!”

Rainbow’s sigh was one of relief. Unlike all her previous attack animals, this one might actually do the job. She could easily hurl a case that small down to the barnyard, maybe even right on the porch where Celestia was resting. “Alright, so what’s it look like?”

“I haven’t looked! The person said to keep it covered because sunlight makes it super-duper mad!” Pinkie answered.

And Rainbow knew they’d been conned. “Dammit, and this thing cost me a hundred bits, too,” she growled unhappily. “Fine, let’s see this thing. At least we can get rid of it.”

Pinkie nodded and pulled the covering away from the case to almost instantly give a shriek of terror. “Ohmygosh that is horrible!”

Rainbow actually found herself repulsed, pushing herself away from the creature inside the case from involuntary reflex rather than intent. Never had she been one to fear insects, but- “What the fuck, does it have a second face?”

“How can it move each hair individually?”

“Is- is that- oh gross, it’s growing another limb!”

Pinkie looked like she was on the verge of panicked tears. “I don’t wanna hold it anymore, you take it!”

“What? I don’t-” Rainbow made a sound she didn’t know she could utter when she found the filthy piece of abhorrence pushed dangerously close to her own face and seemingly ready to devour her. “Oh god, oh god, oh god- why’s it pulsing?!”

“Get rid of it, oh my gosh get rid of it!”

Forget whatever plan she’d had, Rainbow couldn’t stand seeing the foul thing anywhere near her. This spider had to go, and it didn’t matter where. With a heave worthy of an Olympian, Rainbow tossed the case high into the air and away from any sight, though she knew she’d never actually get the image of the horrid thing fully out of her brain.

Pinkie threw her arms around her savior and sighed. “Thank you, that thing was so icky! No more bugs, Rainbow, please!”

“Not a chance in Hell! That was such a mistake, I am never-”

Smash!

Eyes went wide. Breathing ceased. The sound of glass breaking was one thing to hear, but the new sound that came immediately after, and one growing ever closer, was much worse. It sounded like something skittering.

“I’m out.” Pinkie was gone in a flash.

Rainbow paused. It was only a bug-

She saw the thing from a distance that was getting smaller every second-

Fuck bravery. She went a good deal faster than five miles an hour.

Rainbow had always loved the sky. The feel of the air across your face, the wind in your hair. Now she also enjoyed the sights of targets below her, but that was something else altogether. Maybe she should have been a soldier instead.

“Ow!”

And then there was Pinkie Pie, who just seemed along for the ride, though perhaps not as willingly. She was trying to cower in a corner and avoid being too close to the edge of the basket, but the rather large boulder that now sat in between them was taking more than a little room. And was easy to smash one’s toe on.

Rainbow hadn’t asked how Pinkie had gotten the hot air balloon; things that weren’t ‘need-to-know’ could easily be left that way. Besides, getting the stupid rock in the damned thing had been the hard part. Rainbow was fairly strong, but the blasted stone was too bulky even for her arms to fully wrap around, and Pinkie wasn’t exactly the most physically adept person on the planet. Then had come the problem of actually getting off the ground, and with neither of them all that experienced with hot air balloons- that had been something of a struggle.

But damn, this view was something. The magnificent apple orchards that contained all the future cider Rainbow Dash could ever want, perfectly readied by the woman who would make it for her. The farmhouse in which they would loudly fuck one another seemed almost picturesque from this high up. Now she just needed that blasted hussy of royalty to show her fat ugly face and Rainbow Dash would be able to crush it like a goddamn piece of bubble wrap!

“Rainbow, are we there yet?” Pinkie said weakly, giving a look over the edge of the basket and promptly regretting it. “I really, really wanna get down from here!”

“Relax, we’re above Sweet Apple Acres,” Rainbow said brusquely. “Now we just wait.”

“For what?”

“For- nevermind, we’re just waiting for a bit. Hold your horses.”

“Rainbow Dash, I really don’t like heights, can I please go down instead?”

“Just wait a minute, we shouldn’t be up here long.”

“I- Rainbow, I don’t feel so good-”

“There!” That head of whorish, stupid hair that seemed to be a mockery of Rainbow’s perfect locks finally appeared from within the comfortable confines of the Apple family homestead, strolling through the barnyard like it was her own fucking property, the thieving, conniving scuzzbucket. Now she just needed one good drop and this was over!
“Hurry, we don’t have much time!”

Pinkie groaned and slowly took to her feet on trembling limbs, a paleness in her face that hadn’t been there when they’d first taken off. “Wow this is heavy,” she whispered weakly. “Rainbow-”

“Don’t drop it now!” Her partner in crime warned, holding the boulder from the opposing side and trying to keep a proper eye on her intended target below. “Now, you stupid apple-stealing bimbo, I’m gonna mash your damned skull in and-”

“We’re tipping!”

Indeed they were, the contents of the basket preparing to spill out onto the ground very, very far below, the imbalance of weight doing nothing to help prevent the catastrophe. They needed to get rid of that rock now now now now now-!

The boulder dropped harmlessly into the open barnyard below and Rainbow gave a sigh of relief that was instantly robbed from her as the sudden lack of weight sent the balloon spiraling further into the sky, a dizzying rise in altitude that had even her brain spinning. On and on it seemed to fly, going further and further up until the very edge of the world seemed to be at their front door. Finally, when nothing else seemed to be able to go beyond their sight, the vile contraption finally came to a halt and seemed to hover.

Was she even alive? Rainbow Dash could barely breathe, the air was so thin. She looked up at the death machine she had ridden in on and knew she’d have to manage their descent- gently. But hey, at least she wasn’t dead. Fucking Applejack was still on the menu. As to her current compatriot… “You alright, Pinkie?”

A groan, then a vicious stench.

Six days left. Six days left before disaster. Rainbow Dash had been trying everything she could get her hands on. The fake poltergeist had been nothing more than a fitted sheet with holes for the eyes; the boomerang had gone wide and only come back around to its master (something she really should have thought of, looking back). Hell, even her aim with the flaming arrows had sucked ass, merely striking the boulder she’d dropped and extinguishing. What was wrong with her? Was this fate? A cruel mockery by the ancient gods? Or did she really just have terrible ideas that weren’t ever gonna work?

She half-wondered about it when she put the slingshot into the ground, hammering its base into earth with a hammer. The kit had come with a giant projectile, surely this would do the trick. But then again, looking back at her track record, maybe certainty wasn’t something to have anymore.

“Wow, that is sooo cool!” Pinkie gasped, delightedly examining their latest device of destruction with eyes kept wide. “What’s it do? Are you gonna shoot yourself to the farm or something?”

“What? No, I’m shooting this stupid thing!” Rainbow said, giving a nudge to her blackened object of eventual death. “Now help me get this thing armed, I’m not gonna wait.”

“What even is it?”

That was actually a good question. “I don’t know,” Rainbow answered, looking at her payload and struggling to think of just what it could be. Explosive, probably. It was big, that’s all she knew. “I guess we’re gonna find out when it deton-”

Pinkie came over and hoisted it by herself into the slingshot, though promptly failing to pull back the massive rubber band. “Wow, it’s really light!” she proclaimed. “This is gonna be so fun, I bet it’d bounce everywhere down there!”

Bounce? Rainbow knew the horror she was feeling all too well. Walking over to the slingshot and helping Pinkie Pie cock the supposed weapon, she hoped beyond a vain hope that maybe this was just all a bad dream and she’d actually helped place the solid mass.

A hope immediately lost when the jet-black beach ball went soaring into the air and drifted lazily down the hill towards the barnyard, promptly finding a sharp stone along the ground that set it to popping.

“Aw, that’s not fun!” Pinkie Pie said unhappily, pouting at the sight of the desecrated toy. “Wanna go back and grab one of mine, Rainbow Dash? I bet we could shoot a lot of fun things from- Rainbow, are you OK?”

Rainbow was nowhere near the simplest definition of OK, and appeared to be screaming loud enough to split the heavens. She was beyond anger, she was beyond fury. She was tired of relying on anyone else to do this and just wanted something that would actually fucking work for once in her goddamn life! “That is it!” she roared. “That is it! I can’t do this anymore, I cannot just keep coming up here to fuck up and not get what I want! I am making this happen, I absolutely fucking swear it! Cocksucking motherfuckers!”

“Rainbow, what are you-”

“Wait here!” Rainbow Dash commanded, too furious to listen to any outside voice. “You will wait right here, and I will be back. Do you understand?”

A highly confused Pinkie Pie nodded, and watched as her prismatic prize raced off into the distance after a prize she couldn’t guess.

Rainbow Dash, however, knew exactly where she was going. Every town, even the smallest of villages, had a royal guard post somewhere nearby, and all of them were supplied for emergencies of all kinds, from natural disaster to military maneuvers. She’d break in and get what she wanted from there. So what if she ran into some guards? They worked for a pair of inbred cretins, anyway. Probably deserved it.

Thirty minutes and one bruised hand later, Rainbow was in the depths of an armory, trying to ignore the screaming pain that was in her hand after the swing she had taken at the guard who had almost thrown her into a damned wall. Hitting a human head hurt more than one would think, and handcuffs were actually somehow even more unpleasant on the wrist than she could have guessed, but at least it wasn’t both hands- breaking and entering into a government facility probably wasn’t a good charge to be caught for. But after the KO she’d dished out to the one guard present (seriously? Only one?), Rainbow wondered if the thick-headed idiot would even remember his own name.

She hated locks. Grabbing the unconscious moron’s weapon and heaving it at the bolt did the trick, she now able to grab everything she could need. But then again, all she needed was one little thing, right?

Pinkie Pie was still there when she returned. Rainbow, trying not to gasp from the long journey with such a weight across her shoulders, immediately captured the attention of the normally bright-eyed woman who now seemed drenched in concern.

“Rainbow, where have you been? It’s been hours and I got to thinking of you and started masturbating and holy crap is that a rocket launcher?!”

“Yeah.” Rainbow knew she held unbelievable lethality in her hands, the massive piece of weaponry a complete pain in the ass to carry such a long way. The formidable hardware was made all the more cumbersome by its munitions, a single rocket tied to its barrel. It would be the only one she would ever need.

Pinkie Pie, however, was currently struggling to grasp the situation. “Where- where did you even get the thing?” she gabbled.

“Stole it.”

“You what? From where?”

“Armory.”

“You stole it from a- are those handcuffs? And you’re bleeding!”

“Doesn’t matter. Help me load this thing and then we’re actually gonna be done!” Rainbow pressed. She felt a fiery tingling in her brain.

Pinkie’s fullest attention was solely on Rainbow Dash and her injuries, all thoughts of carnage and destruction clearly not present in her mind. “Please, you’re hurt. Let me take a look at you first before you do anything else.”

“We don’t have the fucking time!” Rainbow roared, simply deciding to load the miserable thing herself and promptly struggling. She wasn’t familiar with such equipment in the slightest. “Now help me out or get out!”

“Rainbow, wait! What are- what do you even think will happen?” Pinkie asked of her.

“I’m gonna kill that stupid bitch Celestia and then I’m gonna win Applejack-”

“But- but how?” Pinkie demanded. “Rainbow, please listen, don’t do this!”

Rainbow stopped, staring at her seeming accomplice with horror. “Excuse me?”

Pinkie was trying to tug Rainbow away from the deadly device, keeping her hands well ensnared within her own. “Rainbow, I know you’re angry about not asking Applejack sooner, but please don’t do this! She’s happy, isn’t that OK?”

“She’s not with me!”

“But she’s happy! If you actually do this you’re gonna be in so much trouble and then you’ll never be happy again! You’re hurt, please let me help! Princess Luna and I have been trying to stop you from getting hurt for ages now, please don’t do this!”

She hadn’t heard that. Rainbow’s efforts with the launcher came to an immediate halt and she stared at Pinkie Pie with such a glare that it was positively murderous. Pinkie Pie, the seemingly perfect compatriot in the art of romantic warfare, had been sabotaging her from the beginning. “You’re the reason why nothing I’ve done has worked,” she breathed.

“Well, me and Luna- we kept switching it around depending on what you were doing and sometimes she gave me the really weird animals. Except for the tarantula, she was gonna kill it if you threw it in the barnyard and-”

“I trusted you!” Rainbow screamed, towering over Pinkie in such a cataclysmic fury that it seemed both of them would be burned to cinders. “This is all your fault, I could be fucking Applejack right now but you kept getting in the way! I could be done already!”

“But you’d be in so much trouble! I made Princess Luna promise she’d help me keep you safe and I’d try to get you to stop trying but you just kept getting madder and madder-”

“Why? Why would you do this?” Rainbow demanded. “Why would you work with that cold-hearted bitch?!”

“I love you!” Pinkie cried, hair fully deflated and she now on the verge of tears. “Please, Rainbow Dash, I really love you- look, I know I’m not as pretty, or as smart, or really anything like Applejack and I know I’m kinda overweight, but please don’t do this! For me? Even if we only just stay friends?”

Rainbow Dash was beyond any attempt of reasoning. “You stupid, fat slut!” she snarled. “This is all your fault, goddammit! Get out of here- just go! GO!”

It was the death sentence for her spirit, Pinkie Pie’s face crumpling as thick, fat tears began to fall down her cheeks, seemingly stuck between wanting to prevent disaster and the desire to run away so as to wallow in her grief. Her legs began to fail her and she staggered, gazing at Rainbow, the woman she loved, in a despair she didn’t know how to even possibly begin comprehending.

Rainbow Dash turned back to her stolen launcher and began to ready herself behind the sights, the single eye now put to use scanning the farmland below for any sign of that hellspawn in white. She just needed one good shot, it didn’t even need to be close. Just one and then all this trouble would be over. There, coming towards the homestead- that was her, for certain. But she was with Applejack!

Rainbow hesitated. She couldn’t fire without most definitely incinerating Applejack along with that bleached whore, but she also wouldn’t have a better opportunity. She had to fire now, right now! But then she’d hurt Applejack, and that would be the cost of everything she’d been trying to do! She could and couldn’t do it, she had to and absolutely had to hold off for just a little while longer! And even if she actually got that shot, she couldn’t hesitate! Rainbow felt her body trembling, her trigger finger starting to pull away. Was this still the right thing to do? She needed Applejack, craved Applejack, absolutely had to have her! She had to do this! This was all life had ever offered her-

Or was it?

“Don’t you dare fire!” The harsh, fierce command of a royal voice tore through the prismatic athlete’s senses and made her give a yelp of fright, leaping into the air and pulling the trigger by accident-

No- yes- no! Rainbow’s heart went towards a million different directions as she watched the erroneous shot go high into the sky where no harm could it bring, a single bolt of blue lightning flashing through the skies behind it and zapping it into cinders without even the smallest hint of an explosion.

A sudden hand on her shoulder and Rainbow was forced to the ground, enough to spawn tears in her eyes as the overpowering presence of Princess Luna slammed her into submission. “I gave you a warning!” Luna roared, tying Rainbow down as though she were a wild animal. “Damn you, Rainbow Dash- this is over!”

And as Rainbow Dash was hoisted over the shoulders of the warrior princess, she felt a single tear roll down her cheek as the mishmash of emotions in her deflated- like Pinkie’s hair, like every plan she’d ever made.

It was over.

Author's Note

Better. Not great, but better.

Keep reading. Enjoy.