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                           Tempo                           
                 -by UpsideDownHousePlant-                 
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Rainbow shifted back and forth on her hooves, with her eyes trained up on the single cloud as it passed overhead. She rocked back and forth, a wide grin set on her mouth as she bounced.
She fluttered her wings as a pair of birds flew overhead, then threw her head back and laughed as they passed her by.
One, two, three, she mouthed, her body bouncing in time. Four, five, six. She began nodding her head, closing her eyes and licking her lips in anticipation. Her movements grew larger and larger and soon her head was swinging up and down, with her mane filling the air like her namesake.
One, two, three, and here-we-go!
As soon as the word ‘go’ crossed her mind, Dash took to the air. Her wings split the air in half; her feathers razor-sharp and her body sleek and slim. The air split in two around her as the wind rushed up to meet her, but Dash plowed straight on through.
She was invincible.
Nothing could stop her.
And Dash loved that.
She pressed onwards, breaking apart the space before her with her hooves, squinting against the sun, and feeling her heat pump out beats in rapid but even intervals.
She was free and nothing would hold her.
And she loved it.
“What are you saying?” Dash squinted over the top of her mug at Applejack.
Applejack blew a strand of her straw-like mane from her face. “Same thing Ah’ve been sayin’ for years,” she grunted. “You move too darned fast fer yer own good.”
Dash blinked. “Huh?”
“Tempo, girl,” Applejack said. She began tapping her chest in a rhythmic pattern. “You move at yer own tempo.
“Huh.” Dash tried to focus on Applejack’s hooves, but it just felt… off.  
Her mind urged her to move faster, to be faster.
“Nah,” Dash decided. “If ponies can’t keep up with me then that’s their problem.”
Applejack chuckled, low and thunderous. “You oughta learn, Dash. Lotta good can come from movin’ at someone else’s pace.”
“Yeah?” Dash tapped the edge of the table impatiently. “When the hay would I ever need to do that? I’m a pacesetter, record breaker! Everyone should be keeping up with me, not the other way around.”
Applejack looked up at her, a small smile crossing her face. “You’re missing a lot, sugar.”
“Like what?” challenged Dash. “Name one thing.”
Applejack leaned in. “Oh, honey,” she whispered in a voice that sent chills down Dash’s back. “I can do a whole lot more than name.”
Inside, Dash’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh,” she whispered, her voice marred with a stutter. “Oh.”
Clouds stretched as far as Dash could see, with tiny holes punched in between them that were filled by the luscious land below.
The sun hung about halfway in the air above, radiating in pure warmth and emotion that ran from the front of Dash’s hooves down to her tail; from wingtip to wingtip and head to hoof.
Rainbow banked right, wings beating quickly as she bobbed her head up and down. One, two, three. One, two, three, she counted in her head.
The rays beat into her back, sending spots of heat trailing up her body before rapidly dissipating. Sweat dripped off her body before the wind whisked the drops away, and Rainbow ran the back of her foreleg over her forehead to clear off the rest of it.
Even as she gritted her teeth and pushed out thick, labored breaths from her chest, she never lost count in her head: one, two, three, one, two, three.
She surged forwards, never holding back and never slowing down. The wind served as her only companion, but Dash welcomed it in place of an instructor bellowing in her ears.
There was no metronome besides the one in her own head, silently beeping away in time to her heart.
Rainbow exhaled hard, determined not to falter. She rose higher and higher with every beat of her wings, the clouds slowly sinking lower and lower beneath her.
One, two, three. One, two, three.
Her body begged her to slow down and her wings ached with fatigue. More sweat dripped down her face, but still, she pressed onwards.
One, two, three. Ready-and-stop.
At the apex of her climb, Rainbow flared her wings out and came to a stop almost perpendicular with the distant ground.
Then, she began to fall.
The sweet taste of apples filled Dash’s mouth. She shuddered as another tongue filled her mouth, stifling a moan that escaped her lips.
Forelegs wrapped around her body and she pressed herself hard into the stomach in front of her. She pulled away to breath before lips forced themselves onto her again. Her chest heaved and her wings twitched as her mind became completely enraptured by the mare in front of her.
They pulled away again, but an orange hoof gently shoved her back. “Now, now,” Applejack said in a low sultry voice. “I lead.”
Dash’s mouth fell open in protest, but before she could voice a complaint Applejack’s hoof again forced it shut.
“I lead,” she said again.
And Dash understood. She hastily nodded, her wings slowly extending behind her.
Applejack laughed, gently returning her hooves to their position around Rainbow’s waist.
“C-Come on,” Dash whispered, licking her lips.
Applejack just shook her head. “I told ya. We’re movin’ at my tempo now.”
She pulled away, swaying back and forth before turning. With a flick of her tail, Applejack glanced over her shoulder and winked in Dash’s direction.
Dash whimpered, a building feeling in her stomach. She swallowed and hastily followed, almost tripping over her own hooves as she moved.
She nearly fell into the bedroom, any semblance of grace abandoning her. Applejack seized her and practically hauled her over to the bed, before throwing her onto it. Dash spun onto her back and Applejack was atop her
For a second, all Dash could see was the form of her lover outlined in the dim bedroom light. Her body was toned and perfect, each muscle carved delicately into her figure. The farmpony undid her mane, letting it cascade over shoulders like water.
She was the most perfect thing Dash had ever seen.
Then their lips collided with the force of a thousand suns, and Dash’s mind disintegrated into pure ecstasy. Her forelegs clung to Applejack’s body desperately as she felt Applejacks’ tongue tracing over the top of her lip. She opened her mouth to usher it in, unable to suppress a shudder that seized her body..
Warmth slammed into Dash in pulsing waves. She abandoned any hope of controlling her wings, letting them expand fully and stiffly as sweat clung to her feathers. When they pulled away Applejack chuckled. “Movin’ fast, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Let me show you how it’s done.”
She leaned in, but this time locked her lips around Dash’s neck. Applejack sucked hard and a gasp escaped Dash’s lips. “A-Ah, AJ…”
Applejack continued down Rainbow’s neck, leaving a trial of discolorations in her wake. Each one served as a piece of coal to fuel the fire raging within Dash, one that spread from her chest to in between her legs.
As if sensing the heat surging through her body, Applejack slowly followed its trail. Her kisses continued down Dash’s neck, wandering onto her body. Her kisses felt like tiny butterflies, crawling through the fluff adorning her chest. Dash bit down hard, suppressing an eager moan, but if Applejack sensed her tension she made no show of speeding up.
She wandered down to Dash’s thighs as if she were strolling through a park, running a hoof over Dash’s legs and admiring the muscles that greeted her. “You really are somethin’ else,” she whispered.
“You… You better make this worth it,” Dash whimpered.
Applejack laughed, finally face to face with Dash’s marehood. “Oh, sugar,” she said. “Ah intend to.”
Dash’s hoof found the back of Applejack’s head, and when her tongue met her clit, she exploded into a million feelings that she had never felt before.
But even then, Applejack moved slowly. Her tongue moved lazily, exploring every crevice and determined to leave no surface uncovered. Dash shuddered like an earthquake had hit her, and she let out a moan several octaves above her speaking voice.
“Applejack!” cried Dash, her voice piercing straight through the ceiling and riding into the heavens. Her hooves squirmed and shook against the sheets as her blood became pure heat.
Her heart pulsed like it never had before, and thoughts flew through her head faster than she did the sky. She was moving, breathing, feeling, but it was all to the slow beat of Applejack’s tongue, lapping away around the area.
And when Dash finally orgasmed, it sent her higher than she had ever been before: through the air, through the clouds, and straight to the stars.
Dash closed her eyes as she fell. The wind roared in her ear, and she plunged through clouds that left drops of water clinging to her body. She was upside down, wings pressed firmly against her side and doing nothing to slow her rapid descent.
This time, she didn’t count out beats in her head.
Her heart seemed confused by this, speeding up and slowing down slightly as it awaited instructions from her mind.
But her metronome was still.
She fell and she fell and she fell, but even when her instincts kicked in she ignored them, keeping her wings locked and folded.
When she hit another cloud, she heard it: a faint ticking, slow and steady. The beat of someone else’s tempo.
Dash smiled, and began counting in time. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three… Four.
On the final count she spread her wings, flipping around so her hooves rather than her head were aimed at the ground. Dash opened her eyes to see an endless vale of apple trees before her, glimmering in the setting evening sun. Somewhere in the distance, a metal dinner bell began to clang.
And Dash laughed as she lowered herself to the ground, content to move with the count in her head. With a new tempo engraved in her mind, she trotted happily towards the farmhouse, below the gaze of a thousand clouds.