DISCORD'S REIGN
Chapter 8-Shipwrecked
Discord sat lazily on Celestia's throne a few days after he had freed Twilight. Something he hadn't anticipated began to creep into his mind. Boredom. He switched positions on the throne, putting his head at the bottom while his legs dangled off the top. To everyone in the royal court, nothing was out of the ordinary as princess Celestia appeared to be sitting normally on her throne. He flipped himself over and over in many different positions before finally settling on an idea.
"I suppose there's no harm in sowing a little me is there?" he asked himself as he summoned his messenger pegasus.
"Yes my princess?" the red coated messenger bowed.
"Fetch me the Wonderbolt Spitfire. I wish for her to have an audience with me. And retrieve for me my spell book. The one with the emotional enchantments." he said as the messenger saluted and zipped out of the castle at a speed Rainbow Dash would envy. Another servant brought him the book he required as he began to thumb through it.
"Lets see here...lackadaisical, lazy, love, ah, here we are! Lust. Lets see...time limit, about three hours aught to do it." he said, reading the incantation to himself, his index talon beginning to glow bright pink. He closed the book and waited for his guest to arrive, smiling proudly as he thought of the mayhem this plan would create for a certain pair of mares.
After an hour or so, the royal guard at the entrance to the throne room announced the presence of the desired stunt flier.
"You wanted to see me, your majesty?" she asked bowing her fiery orange mane before the throne. Discord grinned in excitement as his latest idea began to come together.
"Yes my dear. I have always been highly impressed with a certain pegasus, and I would like you to go to her home and attempt to recruit her into the Wonderbolts program. Her name escapes me, but I have a photograph of her..." he said reaching behind his back and 'accidentally' dropping the picture as it coasted on the breeze behind Spitfire.
"Oh, I'm all hooves today. Would you be a dear and grab that for me?" he asked with a sly smile.
"No problem princess!" she obliged happily turning around to grab the picture. As soon as her back was turned, Discord raised his glowing talon at her; firing the spell at the unsuspecting pegasus.
The magic hit her square in the back of the head as she felt a tingling run down her spine, past her tail, around her belly and underside. Spitfire shook her head, feeling a little dizzy before looking down to pick up the picture, seeing that it was Rainbow Dash. She grabbed it in her mouth and found herself staring at it, mesmerized by every detail of the pegasus in the photo. From her cute nose, to her sweet yet confidant smile all the way up to her soft magenta eyes and glorious rainbow mane; she found it near impossible to tear her gaze away from her.
Discord could hardly contain his excitement. He cleared his throat to regain her attention as the golden mare snapped out of it.
"The photo, dear?" he asked as she sheepishly handed it over, not exactly sure what had just gotten into her.
"That's Rainbow Dash your highness. She's an excellent flier, the first and only pegasus to perform a single and double sonic rainboom." she added regaining her wits.
"Oh yes, I remember the double rainboom quite well. Now I wish for you to fly with her, judge her skills as an aviatrix and decide wether or not you deem her fit to join your group." he instructed, the voice of the real princess Celestia floating into Spitfire's ears as she nodded and bowed before exiting the throne room. Once she had gone, Discord produced a scroll and quill with a list of names written on it. The list was titled: 'Wills to Break'. Twilight Sparkle had already been crossed out as he dipped his quill in ink and crossed two more names off the list, laughing to himself.
Rainbow Dash
Applejack
As Spitfire flew toward Ponyville, she couldn't help but wonder why she had such trouble breaking her gaze from that picture of Rainbow Dash. She had met her a few times even before she won the airshow and flown with them during the Sun Celebration. Sure, she would admit she certainly wasn't a bad looking mare, but something about that image she simply couldn't shake from her mind's eye. As she flew she found herself drifting back to thinking about Rainbow's body in her flight suit at the Summer Sun Celebration. Thin and fit like hers, but still sturdy enough, she wagered, to handle a good-
'What am I saying? Why am I thinking about all this now?!' she wondered as she gave a legitimate effort to push such arousing thoughts from her head, lest her wings become too stiff to fly. She hadn't ever thought about Rainbow that way until today, but now that she had it was all she could think about! She was a fun girl and a heck of a flier, but she never thought of her as a filly fooler like herself. The more she thought about her though, the more she noticed the similarities between them. Loved thrills, never been seen with a stallion, excellent flier, always pushing herself to new limits, an unmatched penchant for victory...but none of those things meant she swung that way.
Still, as she flew, she found herself in constant battle with her libido to stop thinking about how she had secretly been stealing glances at the young pegasus in the Wonderbolts locker room before the Sun Celebration show. She finally saw Ponyville pass under her as she adjusted her heading towards Rainbows house. She eventually saw the quaint floating home appear on the horizon as she flared her wings for a gentle landing on her porch.
'Okay, I'm just here to judge her flying ability. Nothing else!' she thought to herself as she gave one finale purge of all the things she had been contemplating on the way over out of her mind.
She took a deep breath, and rang her doorbell.
It took a while before she heard hooves moving toward the door as Rainbow dash opened it. Her starstruck eyes lit up as she realized who was standing at her front door. Spitfire was just as dumbstruck, but for a different reason than her cyan counterpart. If the picture of her was beautiful, then the real thing was beyond exquisite. Both of them simply stared at each other for a few seconds before Spitfire shook her tempting thoughts away and regained her wits.
"H-hey Dash! How've ya been?" she asked innocently, her voice cracking slightly to her embarrassment.
"Good! I've been good. How's the stunt circuit?" she asked stepping aside and allowing her idol to come inside her house.
'I can't believe it! Spitfire! In my house! Standing on my clouds! Breathing my air!' she thought as the stunt flying pegasus got down to business.
"Good. So princess Celestia sent me here, and you'll never guess why." Spitfire said taking in the charm of the place Rainbow called home.
"She wants me to join the Wonderbolts full time?" she gasped excitedly.
"Actually...wait no, you're right." she admitted as Dash squealed in delight.
"I knew it! I knew this would happen one day!" she grinned, more proud of herself than she had ever been in her life.
"Yeah, but how about you show me some of those moves of yours? I'm supposed to judge you based on those, but it's really just a formality." the golden mare said as they stepped out of her house together.
"Tell ya what Dash, we're gonna play a little game. You win, and I'll put your application at the top of the stack the next time we meet to pick new members for the academy. Sound good?"
Rainbow Dash was still in awe that she was getting to fly with her hero, unrestricted and without preset formations. Just them and the sky.
"Yeah." she said softly as Spitfire walked to the edge of her house and raised up on her hind legs facing her.
"The name of the game is tag. You're it. Try and keep up!" she said gracefully leaning backwards over the edge, closing her eyes and enjoying the wind through her mane as she snapped her wings open and rocketed forward, rolling onto her belly. Rainbow dash ran and jumped off her house breaking off after her as she followed her smoke trail, creating a rainbow contrail of her own. Spitfire looked back and saw her challenger gaining on her fast.
She knew she was no match for her in a straight speed shot, but quickly devised a way to keep things interesting.
She looked over her shoulder and locked into the confident magenta eyes closing on her six, nearly losing herself in them as she shook her head and regained her composure.
"You may be the fastest pegasus around, but how's your agility?" she asked pulling into a ninety degree climb seemingly on a dime.
Her sudden heading change took Rainbow by surprise as she pulled up in a slightly shallower angle.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Spitfire called over her shoulder as she lazily aileron rolled waiting for Rainbow Dash to catch up.
She hit the bottom of a cloud deck and flew along its underside as quickly as possible, her back facing the ground as the vortices from her wings spiraled the clouds behind her.
Spitfire pulled a winding barrel roll as Rainbow Dash followed her every move. She nosedived, beginning to build up speed as she noticed her competitor rocketing closer to her. Rainbow knew she could blow right past her if she wanted to, but it wasn't a race. She needed control, not raw speed. She closed the gap between them as the cyan pony was so close she could smell whatever shampoo Spitfire had been using.
A cursory glance backward and Spitfire was startled to see a confidant smile only feet away from her hind legs, Dash's forelegs swiping in vain to tag her. She didn't like to lose any more than Rainbow did, so she quickly knew of a move not even Soarin could keep up with. The 'top of the world', as she called it. She pulled up sharply and propelled herself straight into the sky as the agile cyan pony followed suit. Spitfire flapped her wings furiously as they broke through layer after layer of cloud decks, like two ballistic missiles they continued to climb, soon the clouds disappeared and the winds became blustery and icy cold. The air was getting thinner as the veteran stunt flier looked over her shoulder, expecting to be alone.
To her shock, Rainbow Dash was still only five feet at the most behind her! She had never gone this high before. Spitfire began to feel a bit lightheaded as her wingbeats started to slow. The air was so thin the tips of her hooves slowly turned blue as the numbness and slight euphoria of hypoxia began to set in. She felt a slight touch on the sole of her back hoof, looking back to her surprise and seeing Rainbow's foreleg slowly falling away from her as she mouthed a word to her over the high winds of the upper atmosphere.
"Gotcha..." Rainbow said, her eyes rolling back in her head and her wings stopping completely as she plummeted back toward earth. Spitfire immediately turned around in a dive to try and catch up to the speeding unconscious pegasus before she splattered herself on the ground. Thankfully, unlike her friend Rarity, Dash had the courtesy to be unconscious instead of flailing around while she tried to rescue her.
She picked up speed as she was getting closer to Rainbow's hind leg. She had to get hold of her before they hit the cloud bank or she would lose her, and the end result would not be pretty.
She gritted her teeth and forced her wings onward, making a grab right as they entered a massive thunderhead. She held on tightly to Dash's leg and shallowed her descent into a gentle glide towards the earth. She got her bearings and made a beeline for Rainbow's house as she hung limply from one leg underneath her. Spitfire flew through a window she had left open and landed her gently onto the ground in her living room. She lifted her up onto the couch on her back, the numbness in her limbs giving way to how seriously cold Rainbow Dash had become. Her lips were blue (more so than usual) and her extremities were frigid to the touch.
Spitfire was kicking herself for letting her pride get the best of her in an effort not to lose. She looked around frantically for a blanket to cover the frosty pegasus before she simply yanked the covers off her bed and tossed them over the out cold pony. She was still freezing and the blanket was doing little to warm her. She needed another heat source. Spitfire's thoughts from the way over flooded her brain all at once as she tried in vain to think of a good reason to not try to warm her up herself.
'It's just to keep her warm...That's all.' she reasoned, but her body was having other ideas. Her knees grew weak as Discord's spell began to work it's magic. She drew nearer to the couch that was easily big enough for two, lifting up the blanket and crawling under it with her before she had any grasp on what she was doing. She draped her wings over the still cold blue pegasus as she felt Rainbow unconsciously pull her closer with her forelegs, beginning to shiver as she lowered the blanket over the two of them. Spitfire could feel her hot, shallow breaths across the bridge of her nose as she continued to fight a losing battle against her overpowering need to be as close as possible to Rainbow.
'What are you thinking! You can't just take advantage of her like this! You're better than that!' she begged herself but found her lips inching closer to Rainbow's own.
She heard the unconscious pegasus mumble something incoherent, accidentally shifting her head forward, making their lips touch. Spitfire couldn't fight the spell any longer as she pressed herself against Rainbow's still cold lips like she had wanted nothing else but that her entire life. The gratification of giving into this alien feeling alone was enough to start her head swimming in euphoria. Rainbow was only half awake by this point, but too out of it to resist as she began to contribute to the deep kiss she now found herself unexpectedly locked in. Spitfire rolled Dash on top of her as her golden forelegs wrapped around her back, the blue pegasus' frigid wings stiff due to the cold or arousal, she wasn't sure which.
Spitfire felt the spark of warmth return to the cold pony's lips as she fully awakened, and realized to her shock what she was doing. She pulled away from the kiss and realized she was sitting on top of her hero and 'what if' mare, with wings straight out for the world to see. For a few seconds they looked at each other in shock, eyes locked as Spitfire was frozen in fear of Rainbow's reaction.
"Spitfire...you...you're...into mares?" she stammered in shock. She had always believed that she had a thing with at least one of the other male Wonderbolts.
Spitfire giggled nervously as her normally golden cheeks turned bright red.
"Yeah...I guess the secrets out." she admitted sheepishly as Rainbow shook her head and climbed off of her.
"No no no no no! I can't do this with you! I have a Marefriend! Oh Celestia, Applejack is gonna be pissed!" she said pacing around her living room with nothing but worry on her normally confident face. Spitfire felt horrendous. Not only had she not had the willpower to say no to taking advantage of an unconscious pony, but now she had also potentially ruined said pony's relationship, the extreme feeling of lust having evaporated as quickly as it came.
"Dash, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you had a marefriend, I don't know what came over me!" she pled, hating to see anypony, especially one she now had quite mixed feelings towards so upset.
The cyan pegasus kept pacing trying to figure out what to do as Spitfire got off the couch, unable to even look Rainbow in the eyes she had found so enamoring just minutes before.
"I'm really sorry Dash, I had no right to do that to you while you were out and-"
"No, I'm flattered, really!" she said trying to keep Spitfire from hating herself for her actions. She had just made out with a pony she was sure she would never in a million years have a chance with! However, she was already somewhat committed to another mare. While this was a massive ego boost for the rainbow maned pegasus, she couldn't even imagine how upset Applejack would be with her. Rainbow had always accepted herself for liking mares, but she felt her country pal was still somewhat reluctant to express that part of herself anywhere besides where she knew they were alone. It always bothered her, but accepting yourself isn't something you can rush, and Rainbow knew that.
But if Applejack were to find out she kissed another mare the way she did, she might never put herself out there for anypony else again! Applejack would be a miserable old spinster all because of her! She couldn't have that on her conscience, but at the same time she didn't want to lie about this to a mare she was supposed to care for. She tore herself from her moral dilemma as she remembered Spitfire was still waiting for her to finish her sentence.
"I mean, you're...you! You're practically the reason I want to be a Wonderbolt!" she added, Spitfire smiling nervously, still uncomfortable with what she had just done.
"Listen...if you tell your marefriend about this, tell her it was all me. Tell her I made a move on you while you were passed out. I'll fly out here and validate your story if I have to." she said trying to salvage some kind of professional relationship with the fast as lightning pegasus.
Spitfire stepped toward the door as Rainbow followed her outside.
"You won by the way." she said over her shoulder as she stretched her elegant golden wings.
"I know. I remember that much." Rainbow smiled as Spitfire took off towards her home in Manehattan.
As she watched her fly away, her ego quickly began to deflate as she thought of what she was going to tell Applejack, if she were to say anything at all.
'It was just a kiss...it's not like I slept with her.' Dash reasoned as she went back inside her house. She tried to remember what happened after she tagged Spitfire as she laid on the couch she had just shared with her idol, her scent still present in the cloudstuff it was made of.
She was unconscious for most of what happened, but she was half awake when she realized she was being kissed, and she didn't stop. She actually returned it, and even let Spitfire roll her on top of her. In the back of her mind, she knew what she was doing, but didn't want to stop. It was Spitfire for Celestia's sake! One of the most famous pegasus mares in the whole kingdom! Truthfully she had only pulled herself away when she realized how upset Applejack would be if she knew what she was doing. She felt terrible, realizing in her heart that she could have stopped Spitfire, but she just didn't want to. She put her hooves on her face as she tried to think of how she was going to handle a situation she was honestly not prepared for.
'Why do I have to be so cute?' she thought as her ego, while somewhat deflated was still there to comfort her.
She had to tell somepony about what she'd done, and there was only one friend she knew she could tell just about anything to. She got off the couch and stepped toward the open window in her living room, zipping out of it and heading straight towards Fluttershy's country cottage.
Twilight saw the iron entrance to Applejack's farm come up over the hill as her heart began to beat faster. She would've liked to talk to Big Macintosh, but assumed she would first have to get through his sister. She heard a series of knocks, like hooves on trees as the sound let her know at least one of them was here.
She walked past the barn looking for where the sound was coming from before she noticed the orange earth pony inside with her back to her. She stepped fully into the barn, the country mare still unaware she was behind her. Twilight's heart was in her throat as she gathered enough breath to speak.
"Applejack..." she said in a shaky voice.
The farm girl stopped what she was doing and cast a glance over her shoulder. She had recognized the voice, but just wanted to see who it belonged to for herself. She turned all the way around with a none-too-thrilled look on her face, though she was slightly impressed Twilight would have the gall to approach her after what she did.
"You got a lotta nerve comin' here." she growled in a low tone.
Twilight took a deep breath and steeled herself toward anything Applejack might throw at her, metaphorically or physically.
She put on a confidant face and tried to explain herself.
"I know you think I stood your brother up, but I didn't. I wanted to go out with him that night! I swear! But-"
"But what? Princess Celestia just happened ta call ya away and keep you in Canterlot for th' duration of th' evenin'? Next your gonna tell me it was secretly Discord or somethin' ridiculous like that." she snapped.
Twilight was already feeling defeated, but felt she had to try and salvage their friendship. She couldn't let Discord win.
"I was captured by Discord. He's escaped, and he is pretending to be princess Celestia as we speak!" she said as Applejack's expression seemed to get even more angry.
"You really think Ah'm that stupid? Ah thought you were my friend, Twilight! How could you do that to Big Mac?" she continued, more hurt and betrayed than angry at this point. "Ah knew Ah shouldn't have apologized to you after the Sun Celebration!"
"I'm telling the truth! You're the element of honesty for Celestia's sake! You know I would never lie to you, or anypony else! I really like Big Macintosh, I can see the future I want for myself with him and I would never hurt him or you on purpose! I'm not asking you to believe me, but will you please just give me the benefit of the doubt?" she begged, her eyes beginning to water after her impassioned plea. Applejacks stubborn nature battled with her want to forgive her friend as she stared into the lavender unicorns eyes. After a few seconds, she broke the stare, digging into the ground with one hoof.
'She's right...She ain't never lied to me nor hurt nopony on purpose...' she thought as she looked back up at her friends still uncertain face.
A smile graced the country mares lips as she took a step towards her.
"Okay. If you say that's what happened...Ah'll believe you." she finally said as Twilight nearly burst into tears of happiness anyway.
The bookish unicorn forced a smile as they hugged in forgiveness, all the worry and stress that built up these past few days melting away in a single friend's embrace.
Applejack broke the hug as Twilight wiped the tears still clinging to her eyes.
"Now, before we get ta talkin 'bout Discord, you need ta go see Big MacIntosh. He's out in the southwest field, he ain't said more than two words since you've been gone." she added, taking a step with her into the sunshine of the summers day.
"Good luck gettin' anythin' outta him. I've been tryin' for days." she admitted.
"Thanks. All I can do is hope he'll believe me." Twilight sighed.
"If he don't, Ah'll talk to him for ya. Hang on a second..." she said trotting over to a bush with beautiful purple flowers blooming from it. She plucked one and gave it to her.
"You're mighty lucky purple is his favorite color. Put this in your mane, he'll have a hard time sayin' no." she teased as Twilight followed her advice.
The nervous unicorn smiled back at her as she began her walk, thankful that Spike was right, and her true friends did give her crazy story a chance.
After a short stroll through the orchards, she caught sight of Big Macintosh's silhouette sitting against a tree. Even his shadow looked depressed as she slowly walked up from behind him. He was more observant than his sister, taking notice when she was still five feet away. He turned to look expecting Applejack, but was startled for a second, before recovering his melancholy expression.
"Hello Ms. Twilight..." he mumbled, staring at the ground in front of him. He was quite the opposite of Applejack as far as his attitude. Anger just wasn't an emotion he prominently displayed, no matter how hurt on the inside he was feeling.
"Hi Mac." she responded just as softly.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?" she asked hesitantly, her voice shaking a lot more than it had when she confronted Applejack.
He shrugged his shoulders, not looking up from the ground.
She took a careful seat next to him and stared out into the fields, the small red dots of the apples sprinkling the trees in vibrant contrast to their green leaves.
She gathered herself and began to speak, though she still wasn't sure what exactly she was going to say.
"I...I came here to talk about what happened a few nights ago...err, well what didn't happen, but was supposed to." she began glancing at him, his eyes still focused on the grass below his forelegs. He kept his stoic silence as she figured she might as well explain everything and wait for him to respond.
"I was ready to go with you at the time we planned, but before you came over, princess Celestia sent an escort for me, and said I had to go to Canterlot at once. They said they would force me to go if I didn't go willingly, so I didn't have much of a choice. I went with them, only to discover that Discord was pretending to be princess Celestia. He made everyone else in the royal court see him as the real princess except for me. He told me to bow to him, but I refused, so he locked me in the dungeons below the castle for the entire night, only to make me miss our date." she finished breathlessly, looking over at him for some reaction, any reaction.
He maintained his impenetrable demeanor as she felt her heart begin to sink.
"I know it sounds crazy...but it's the truth. If you don't believe me...I can't make you. All I can say is I'm sorry, Big Macintosh." she sighed, giving him one last quick kiss on the cheek. She hovered for maybe a second or two, her mind pleading with the red stallion to do something, to say anything, but it was not to be.
He felt tears on the end of her nose as she kissed him, his hurt eyes casting a quick glance toward the defeated unicorn. She laid the flower Applejack had given her down next to him and turned away, silent but streaming tears flowing from her eyes. She silently cursed Discord's name as she walked away. Once she was far enough from him, she teleported back to the library, glad to have her friend back, but crushed to have lost her first and what she felt like was her only shot at love.