The wind is cold against my wings.
It twists, turns, buffeting me back and forth as I dip and dodge through roiling banks of heavy grey. They’re open wide today, spewing tiny needles of liquid ice. Trying to puncture the ground below.
I roll, wings extended, sliding through the gap between two angry titans like a card through a slot. They rumble at my insolence, and a second later the world is thrown into bleached relief by a glowing fork of ozone. It misses me, barely, and I wiggle my pinions to make sure they’re all still there.
This is why I live.
The wind picks up, growing from a whine to a howl and throwing me towards another waiting wall of grey. I smile, set my jaw, and lock my cyan wings straight out like sails.
Then I wait.
Three.
I’m at the wind’s mercy now, shooting at an impossible angle straight towards the titan’s inky maw. I see a faint flickering inside it, and my gut clenches against my will. My body says I’m about to die even if my mind thinks it knows better. I smile. I wait.
Two.
The grey rushes closer, growing until it’s the only thing I see. It rumbles again. Not angry this time. Hungry. It knows what’s about to happen. A touch. A flash. A scream. Then nothing. Another check in the little box labeled ‘weather-related casualty’. Some tears. A quiet funeral. Then I’m gone.
I smile. As if.
One.
My wings lock, twist, and snap outward, throwing me parallel against the mass of grey below. I’m shooting alongside it, close enough to feel the hairs on my coat stand up as it growls. It’s angry now. I’ve cheated it, and I’m about to salt the wound.
My hind hoof dips down. It slices through the grey, cutting a swath like a knife through butter, and the titan screams.
I push myself faster, barely outpacing the brilliant trail of white sparks thrown from where my hoof slices through the cloud. My coat and mane stand on end, the charged air pulling them up into unruly multicolored spikes. The sparks nip at my heels, bright and deadly, and I smile.
This is why I live.
I snap my wings again, throwing me up and away from the mass of grey as the sparks start to burn. My hoof prickles slightly, but I’m riding high on adrenaline and lightning. Pain is for the ones below.
I’m almost there now. I can feel it: the ozone on the air, the slowly-strengthening wind, the way the clouds around me seem to twist and warp into massive funnel. I’m close. Close to safety. To sanctuary. To her.
I bank left, dodging another mass of grey. My wings beat in a steady rhythm, almost synced to the distant rolls of thunder. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.
Stop.
The storm’s heart sits before me, thrumming with the power of a thousand unshed bolts. Rain flies in sheets, battering away at my coat with an army of icy chisels. The wind doesn’t howl here, no. It screams. Screams for me to to turn and pump my wings away from this sacred place until I’m nothing but a speck on the horizon. Screams for me to leave and never return.
I smile. As if.
With a flicker of wings, I bend my head and meet the grey funnel head-on. It’s cold, dark, smothering, but in a second, I’m through. Out the other side.
It’s quiet here. No wind, no rain. The titans’ roars still echo, but they’re muted, soaking into the shield of grey until they’re more like coughs. I shiver, shaking my wings off as best I can as the rain’s chill sets in. It works to a point, but I still have to stop my teeth from chattering as I glance around, eyes hungry. Searching. Waiting.
And there she is.
Lounging on a fragment of cloud like an empress on her throne, suit clinging to her body and goggles still around her head. She looks curious. Expectant. Expecting me.
I could have stayed and watched her there all day if I wasn’t sure there were better things in store. So, instead, I climb, higher and higher until I’m level with her cloud. Her back is to me, and I land with all the noise of a shadow on a wall. I creep closer. Reach out. Place a hoof on her shoulder.
She doesn’t jump. She never jumps. She just turns, slowly, easing her goggles off with a hoof as she does so. Her eyes find mine. Twin flames. Bright. Eager.
“Hey, love.” That voice. Dark. Sweet. Husky. The sexiest thing I’ve ever heard, and she doesn’t even have to try.
This is why I live.
“Hey.”
I crawl closer to her, a faint smile on my face. She’s still in uniform, the blue fabric tight against her body, accenting it in all the right places. I give her wings a gentle nip, teasing the groups of ruffled feathers back into place with my teeth. There aren’t many out of place, there never are, and soon I’m finished preening and back to cuddling against her.
“You’re late today. Almost had me worried.” A chuckle. She knows I would never miss her. Not for the world. Not for the sky itself. Still, though, the fact remains. I was late.
“Sorry. Got sidetracked.” Her ears flick up in surprise at the excuse, then she grabs my leg in her forehooves. I pull away, but it’s too late. She’s seen the red ring of burn marks. Her ears flatten. She sighs.
“Stormriding again... you’re gonna kill yourself some day, I swear.”
I grin, shaking my head. “You don’t know what it’s like. The buzz, the rush... it’s insane. Like the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach during a dive times a million.”
She raises her eyebrows. “That good, huh?” I nod, and she smiles seductively. “Better than me?”
I run a hoof along her back, the simple contact sending sparks through my veins. “Maybe.” It's a lie. She knows it, but she plays along anyway.
Her smile grows. “How about I prove you wrong?” she says, her voice dropping, becoming slow. Sultry. Aiming straight for my heart and hitting hard, like a bullet made of honey.
I barely have time to nod before I’m flipped onto my back, her hooves wrapped tight around my torso as she leans in close.
Her lips meet mine.
This is why I live.
The kiss is long, hard, passionate. It tastes sharp and sweet, like oranges and cinnamon. Her tongue darts in and out, brushing against my teeth until I open them to let it in. It enters eagerly, dancing with mine, and a small moan of pleasure escapes my throat.
The kiss breaks, and I gasp slightly, face already hot and flushed in the heat of the moment. She leans in again. Nips the base of my neck, then my collarbone. Little love bites, each with just enough pressure to coax another moan from my lips, lips that are still sweet from hers. My wings are stiff as boards against the soft mattress of the cloud, and I feel a drop of something warmer than rain make its way down my thigh.
The nips keep coming, each one a little lower, a little stronger. Down my chest like a chain of firebursts, pain and pleasure fighting each other for control in my head. She reaches my wings and stops, leans closer, letting her warm breath tickle my feathers and raise goosebumps on my skin.
Then she goes to work, pulling each ruffled feather back into place with a jerk of her teeth. Little stabs of pain intermingle with spikes of pure pleasure as each pinion is yanked back to its spot. I wriggle in delight, resisting the urge to reach down and relieve some of the pressure building in my already-molten core. It’s always like this with her: I’ll be halfway to the end when she’s barely even started. Some mares just have the gift.
“You’re- aah!” I give an involuntary yelp as a particularly hard tug sends a line of fire rocketing up my spine, followed a second later by a wave of ecstasy. “ah... you’re such a freaking tease, you know that?”
She looks up, pecks my cheek, and grins. A playful demon.“You know you love it.”
She’s got me there.
I sink back down against the cloud, wings twitching in the electric afterglow left by her teeth and tongue, and wait. The bites begin again, moving her farther down my chest and me ever closer to release. She takes a hoof and runs it gently up my inner thigh, chuckling even as I shudder in delight. “Besides. I could finish you in half a minute if I wanted, but where’s the fun in that?”
It’s not a truth I’m proud of, but it’s still a truth. Something about her just sets me off like nothing else, like no mare or stallion could ever hope to. Her voice, her eyes, her wings...
My train of thought derails as she slips her tongue inside me, the entire world melting into a puddle of hormone-fueled bliss. I feel it begin to work, moving in, out and around with slow, practiced strokes. I’m a livewire, my body nothing but a moaning, rippling conduit for the next wave of pleasure.
This is why I live.
She picks up her pace, tongue moving faster and faster, and my hips buck against the empty air, screaming for release. I’m close. So close. She knows.
Three.
Her tongue slows down, pulling out and teasing the very edges of my now-soaking core. I moan, so quietly it’s more like a whimper, and try to yank her closer. She pulls away, and with most of my brain in a blissful stupor, she’s stronger. I collapse back against the cloud, waiting for the end.
Two.
The tongue is back again, flickering around my thighs like a curious bird. It swoops in, forcing another moan from the depths of my throat before retreating.
“Ah...” I gasp, pushing myself up with my forehooves to look at her. “Just finish it already, will you?”
My entire body is a coiled spring. Tense, taut. A single touch, and I’ll be over the edge, falling down through layers and layers of blissful release. I wait.
One...
The touch doesn’t come.
She lifts her head, those bright eyes locking with mine in a smirk. Her muzzle shines with wetness, illuminated briefly by a flash of distant lightning. Her tongue emerges again, playing over her lips and licking the glistening fluid off as she looks at me.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asks, tone playful yet expectant. I frown, struggling to form a clear thought amid the endorphin-soaked haze that fills my head.
“I... I am?”
She chuckles. “This whole sex thing is a two-way street, Dash. You’ve had your fun, now it’s my turn.” She leans back, pulling teasingly at the fabric of her suit with her teeth. “Unless you’d rather I leave now, of course.”
My jaw drops. The wetness between my thighs isn’t going anywhere, and she wants me to uphold my end now? I almost reach a hoof down to finish it then and there, but stop. That would be letting her win.
I don’t let ponies beat me.
With a growl, I jump to my hooves, temporarily ignoring the almost-unbearable heat between my flanks.
She looks at me. Giggles. Beckons with a hoof.
“Come get me, tiger.”
I pounce.
This time, there’s no teasing, no preening, no foreplay. Just raw lust, pulsing through my body and heightening my senses like a drug. I tackle her onto the cloud, my forehoof pinning her down even as my mouth fumbles with the zipper on her uniform.
After a few seconds of struggle, the zipper comes free, sliding down to reveal a beautiful golden coat, still wet and cool from the rain outside. I toss the uniform aside, taking a moment to admire her in the surreal half-light of the storm. She has an athlete’s build, every muscle taut and toned to perfection. Straight back, strong legs, nice, shapely flanks. A goddess come to ground.
I run a hoof underneath her silky tail, savoring the touch of the tight muscle and blinking in surprise as I feel the warmth between her legs. She’s already wet. Very wet. Apparently teasing me right up to my edge had taken its toll on her stamina too.
I smile. Time to show her how it’s done.
My tongue plunges into her warm wetness with gusto, rolling in quick little circles and never letting up. She gasps, a tiny sound, almost catlike, and I suppress a giggle. For all her cool bravado, she’s still as helpless as any other mare against her body’s own will.
I redouble my efforts, pushing harder, faster. She moans, grinding her legs together, and I relent for a moment, grinning as I see her expression. Her eyes are half-glazed, flickering in and out of lucidity as the waves of pleasure roll through her. Her face is as flushed as mine now, bright red clashing with gold in an adorable display of helplessness. She looks at me, breath coming in quick, unsteady pants.
“F-finish it...”
I contemplate teasing her as payback, but decide against it. The sooner she finishes, the sooner I get my relief, and besides, the whole control thing was more her kink than mine. I dive down again, dropping a line of quick kisses down her chest before sliding my tongue back inside her. She’s close now. I can feel it. I know.
“Ohmygosh...” She gasps, her entire body arching back, and I finish the job, rubbing her clit with the very tip of my tongue. I flick it once, twice, and she’s gone.
“Oh....” She collapses against the cloud, eyelids fluttering as the rush takes her. She’s beautiful in release, almost more than when she’s lucid. Her wings fluttering aimlessly, searching for updrafts that aren’t there, her face flushed, her toned body sweaty and soaked with both our juices...
And suddenly she’s on me, even as the last waves of pleasure ride their way out through her core, making her body ripple and buck against mine as I drop onto my back. She takes a hoof and traces it down my chest, rubbing it in a small circle right where I need it most.
“Ah...” Any hope of intelligent speech is snuffed out the instant her hoof touches me, and I settle instead for the occasional mumble and groan as the pressure between my legs builds to bursting.
Three. Two. One.
“Ah!”
I’m gone, lost to the world outside as an endless torrent of bliss radiates outward from my core. It flows unhindered, soaking my body in a wave of fuzzy warmth and something else much wetter. For a while, there’s nothing I can do but lay there, wriggling and gasping at the sheer delight of release.
The orgasm seems like it lasts forever, but, of course, nothing that good does. A few minutes later, I’m lucid enough to prop myself up onto my forehooves and glance around the cloud, basking in the afterglow. The distant storm is still raging, but it’s quieter now. Calming down.
She’s already standing, preening her now-ruffled feathers and pulling on her uniform. I stand too, running a hoof through her fiery mane, and she grins.
“Not bad, love. Not bad at all.”
I roll my eyes. “Not bad? I had you bucking like the star of an Appleoosean rodeo. I’m pretty sure that qualifies as a little more than not bad.”
She laughs. It’s a nice sound. “I could say the same for you.” There’s a zip as she does up her uniform, pulling her goggles down over her eyes with a hoof. “Same time next week?”
I nod. “There’s supposed to be a big nimbus bank moving in near the mountain range then. They never have any supervision, since it's all just stable vapor. It'll be closed off. Quiet. Lots of soft clouds."
“Sounds good.” She turns, hopping off the fragment of cloud and hovering just beside the wall of the storm’s eye. “See ya then.” And, with a flash of blue and gold, she’s gone.
I sigh, doing my best to shake off most of the various bodily fluids before leaping in the opposite direction she had, letting my wings catch an updraft of warm, humid air and ride it all the way out of the funnel of grey.
Outside, the rain is still going strong, and I flap my wings hard, eager to get back to somewhere warm and dry. The titans rumble, but this time, I ignore them. I’ve had my fill of excitement for the day.
As the eye of the storm recedes behind me, I glance back one last time. Somewhere out there, in that mass of heavy grey, she’s there: flying back to her life of stunts and stardom. Maybe looking back, just like I am now. Reflecting.
When your whole life is one long adventure, even the biggest rush can start to feel hollow after a while. Sometimes, you need something to wake you up, to take you and shake you by the scruff of your neck until you remember what it feels like to live again.
Something like a tempest, a fire, a spark in your gut that flares up and reminds you that you do have a purpose, that life is huge and amazing and full of things you haven’t done yet, things you never will unless you go, now.
Something wild, free, refusing to be tied down and flitting just out of reach with a playful grin every time you try.
Something like a mare with fiery eyes and a voice like smoke and honey, who took my life and sent it spinning with a laugh, a kiss, and a smile...
Something like a hurricane.
