//------------------------------//
// Midnight vs. Dash 
// Story: Fight Club 
// by xTSGx 
//------------------------------//


For copyright/disclaimer information, see the prologue.



Chapter Six: Midnight vs. Dash



“What am I going to do?” 

A manila folder sat on the kitchen table. Midnight stared in increasing dread at the folder's contents. At the picture of the blue pegasus that stared back at her confidently. At the bullet points that touted the pegasus' speed and prowess. And at the five digit payout for the winner that Bill had made sure to highlight and circle with a red pen.
 
She ran a hoof through her mane again. If she did that any more, she wasn't likely to have a mane for much longer. She looked back down at the notes contained within the folder. She'd read them enough to have memorized them. Former Element of Loyalty. Reserve Wonderbolt. Friend and adviser to HRH Twilight Sparkle. She'd read them so much she even knew the font—Palatino Ponytype, size fourteen—and she wasn't even a typographer.
 
She stared once more at the sum of bits. It was a lot. A lot. She could settle most of her remaining debts with that amount. She could damn near pay off her cottage with that amount. Her troubles would be over—for real this time. She wouldn't even be lured by Bill's promises of bits after this. It could be her last fight. And she'd have all those bits... She shook her head, “Now, Midnight. Don't be greedy. Don't let the shiny bits distract you.”
 
Because let's be real, all she'd have to do to get that sack of bits is defeat one of the most athletic ponies in the whole country. A pony that helped defeat every threat Equestria had faced in the last four years. A pony that could travel faster than any other and had been the first to do a sonic rainboom in centuries. That wouldn't be hard.
 
She snorted. Yeah, right. She might as well go buy a wringer, stick her tail into it now, and save Rainbow Dash the trouble. She stood up and paced around her cramped kitchen. Because, of course the fight would end like that. None of them had ended “normally.” They all had to involve such weird and convoluted endings she could write a memoir about it and everypony would think it was some bad fiction.
 
A sudden slamming noise caused her to jump up and her wings to flare out, “Dang it!” she looked over in annoyance at her oven. The door lay wide open against the floor. It was her parents old oven they had given her as a housewarming gift. She creaked out of the chair and slammed the oven door shut. The thing was ancient. Well over two decades old. The burners barely worked, the gauges were broke, and the door occasionally flew open due to the old hinges. She'd buy a new one, but she had much more pressing matters that needed those bits.
 
Satisfied that it wouldn't open again, she turned back to the table and from the corner of her eye, she saw a wilted leaf on one of the potted dumbcane's that sat on her counter slowly sag down farther, as if resigned to the fate its neglectful owner had sealed for it, “W-What?” she darted over and checked it's dry, cracked soil. How long had it been since she last watered them? She was sure she had just watered them. Bill had come over and—she winced—talked to her about fighting the turquoise-maned pony known as Speck.
 
That had been nearly a month ago. She hastily grabbed a pitcher from one of the bottom cabinets and started filling it with water from her kitchen tap. Had it really been that long? Was she so caught up fighting—and recovering from fighting—that she had neglected her dear, poor plants? Pitcher now full, she started to very carefully pour in the water into the clay pot. Too quickly, and the water would pool on the surface and not soak into the roots properly. She really should buy some of those glass watering bulbs she saw at the store.
 
She jerked the pitcher away from the pot. Really? Spend more money? Just like that? No wonder she had such money issues. She looked over from the now dark, saturated soil and at the other potted plants, “Midnight's sorry, you guys,” she started allocating the pitcher's contents to the lilies that sat on the windowsill above the sink, “She's just been really busy lately.”
 
She'd only be busier if she quit now. She'd have even less time for her plants and you could kiss the Gardening Garbonza goodbye. She'd be right back where she started. She still had a mortgage. Still would have bills to pay next month. And still couldn't make a living as a gardener in this Luna forsaken town. She glanced over at the table and chairs. Then, in six moons, she'd be sitting in that chair again, stare at a pile of bills again, and mutter hopelessly to herself again.
 
She shook her head, “I'll figure something out,” She always had before. It's not like she hadn't had money issues before the fighting league became her savior. She could do it again. She'd better, because there was no way in Equestria she was going to fight that pony. No way. Bill could beg and plead all he wanted. He could bring in a freighter full of bits. He could send her right to the Benefactors themselves. She wasn't going to do it.
 
She wasn't going to finally give herself financial security for the first time since she stupidly bought this dump she called a home. She poured the rest of the water into a row of daisies and dropped the pitcher down onto the counter. Is that what getting flattened, or compressed into a cube, or whatever it was that would inevitably befall her, was called? She looked over to the various potted plants, “Can't exactly enjoy a debt free life if I'm a doormat, now can I?”
 
They remained silent on the matter, no doubt recognizing it as a rhetorical question. But she could feel them staring at her. Questioning her. Was giving up now really the right thing to do? She'd defeated all her opponents before—even the mighty Captain of the Wonderbolts. Why would a weather pony from a small farming town be any different? Why was that where she drew the line and gave up any hope of getting out of all this debt?
 
Her face brightened somewhat as she sat back down and looked at the blue pony's picture. And it wasn't like she would be facing off against the entire Elements of Harmony. Just one lowly member—and not even a unicorn or alicorn princess at that. Was she really going to give up thirty thousand bits just because she was worried about losing? She hadn't had much of a concern about that when fighting Echo or Night Terror—and their payouts paled in comparison to this one.
 
Rainbow Dash wasn't even a member of the military—well, full member of the military. She'd probably have a better time fighting her then she would any of the ponies she'd faced so far. And there'd be no warehouses, or weather factories. Just the peaceful Daydream Park a mile away from her house to fight in. Who knows? It might be the easiest thirty thousand bits she'd ever make.
 
A small nagging voice in the back of her head whispered about greed. She shook her head to dismiss the thought. This wasn't greed. This was securing a future for herself. She looked over the newly watered plants that had soaked up most of the moisture their strange—not strange, eccentric—bat pony owner had gifted them. Herself, and her plants.
 
She walked over to her duffel bag that sat next to the front door and began rummaging through it. She had a fight to get ready for.



*********



“Well, well, well. You're Midnight Dream?” the light blue pegasus looked up from the glass bottle she held in her forehooves and eyed her as she leaned confidently against one of the park's gazebos.
 
Midnight glanced around as she approached the gazebo. It seemed the Benefactors connections extended into Hollow Shades' municipal government since the park had been closed because of “testing for possible military base runoff.” There wasn't a pony to be seen, save the rainbow-maned one that was staring at her. She stepped in a murky yellowish puddle. At least, she hoped it was actually the Benefactors that had closed it.
 
She sat her duffel bag down on one of the wooden benches that lined the brick path, “That I would be. And, since you're the only rainbow themed pegasus around, I take it you're Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow Dash. There was still a large part of her that couldn't believe she was about to fight her. She could still back out. There was no shame in it, even if there were no bits.
 
Dash smirked, “I see my reputation precedes me,” she idly looked back down at the bottle and examined it, “Not that that's surprising. Being undefeated and all.”
 
Midnight grabbed her water bottle from out of her duffel bag, “I'm undefeated, too. In fact, if memory serves, so is Captain-General Solar Eclipse,” At least she could take solace in the fact she was fighting Rainbow Dash and not the second in command of the Night Guard, “It's really not that impressive.”
 
Dash sat the bottle down on the wooden railing of the gazebo and looked at her, annoyance and maybe even a little frustration filtered through her expression, “Yeah, well have you defeated an admiral?”
 
The navy was in this, too? Was the fighting league nothing more than a cheap training program for Equestria's military? She took a satisfying gulp from the bottle of one hundred percent pure, unfiltered water, imported directly from the pristine, untouched, all natural lead pipes that were connected to her kitchen faucet, “Ah,” she looked over to the pegasus, “No, but I did defeat the Captain of the Wonderbolts.”
 
Dash's mouth fell open, “W-What?”
 
Midnight glanced back down at the crumpled plastic bottle. She really needed to dig out a replacement one from the basement one of these days, “Yup. Turned her in a couple days ago,” she smiled brightly, “I was able to pay off all my gardening tabs with the bits.” One less debt always brought a smile to her face.
 
The light blue pony shook her head in disbelief, “That's impossible. There's no way you could have defeated Spitfire. She's, like, one of the best there is,” she glared at the bat pony, “You're lying. A Wonderbolt wouldn't be defeated like that.”
 
She had seen the Wonderbolts track record when dealing with threats, right? They nearly tied the Royal Guard in incompetence—and that wasn't the nationalistic side of her talking, they genuinely weren't that great, “Honestly, the Wonderbolts aren't all they’re cracked up to be. They have just as bad of a record as the rest of the military. And Spitfire definitely lost. I turned her compressed body in myself. Why do you think they canceled their upcoming shows for the next month?”
 
Dash's glare intensified, “Of course you'd say that. You root for the Night Guard. And if you think you're really so much better than the best flight team in Equestria, I guess I'll just have to show you how wrong you are.”
 
With a heave and a sudden burst of wind that nearly knocked the gazebo over, Dash flew at Midnight. She sputtered and gagged on another drink of water before hastily screwing the bottle shut and tossing it into her duffel bag, “Woah, criminy!” she jumped out of the way, but Dash was too fast and just barely clipped her hind legs as she sped by. Midnight tumbled in the air before landing hard on the grass, which, judging by its needle-like appearance and Hollow Shades' need for shade tolerant grass, was probably creeping red fescue.
 
That reminded her. She needed to dethatch her lawn. She'd been putting it off due to the whole crippling debt and possible foreclosure, but with her debt load starting to lift, she could finally put some much needed investment in her gra—oh yeah. Dash pivoted around a tree and swooped back at the downed bat pony for another pass. Middle of a fight.
 
At the last second, she rolled out of the way of the pegasus just as she tried to grab her hooves. Midnight stood back up and looked at Dash as she once again turned sharply for another pass. She let out a frustrated sigh, “And we're back to strafing. Wonderful.” What was with pegasi and strafing? She looked around at the empty picnic tables and swings in the vain hope someone had left a shield lying around.
 
“What's the matter, Midnight? Can't deal with a few simple passes?” As if the lack of a shield weren't bad enough, Dash flapped her wings harder and sped up even more. She was now easily traveling at Midnight's top speed. Running wouldn't be much of an option this time. Midnight flexed her leathery wings and took off, speeding toward the wooded area that the park's bike path wound its way through. The more obstacles there were, the slower Dash would have to go.
 
“Already getting desperate? Come on, Midnight. I expected more of a challenge from somepony undefeated.” Dash slammed right into her side just as she was approaching the treeline, knocking the wind out of her. Unlike her previous opponents, however, Dash had grabbed onto her and held tight as she continued to fly away.
 
Midnight responded by punching and elbowing the pegasus several times. Dash winced but continued to hold firm, “There's some fighting. Here I thought you were just going to be passive while I set a record for the fasted fight in history,” Midnight paused in her attempts to free herself. What did that mean? Dash wasn't making much of an effort to end things.
 
She saw the wrought iron fence that marked the boundary of Daydream Park and the cobblestone surface of Starry Night Street fly by underneath them. If anything, Dash was dragging this fight out by taking it into the streets of Hollow Shad—
 
Without warning, Dash slammed Midnight into the brick wall of a nearby office building at full speed. Dash smirked as she and Midnight decelerated in a fraction of a second. All of her inertia had transferred into the soon to be paper thin bat pony. Midnight adsorbed the entirety of the impact. Spiderweb-like cracks in the brick and mortar shot out as Midnight sunk into the brick surface.
 
Dash flew back several feet to observe her handiwork, “Piece of cake,” These were definitely the easiest fights she'd ever done. It was amazing the fighting league didn't just give her the championship now and spare everyone the drawn out wait. The bat pony had been pressed into the brick wall and had tightly closed her amber eyes and grit he fanged teeth while her legs were splayed out.
 
Now all she had to do is peel Midnight's flattened body off the wall like a sticker and turn her in. Then she could collect the winnings and get ready for the semifinals. She flew up to start scraping her head off the brick surface. She didn't even need Twilight's help for th—Midnight suddenly opened her eyes, peeled one of her most definitely still three dimensional forehooves off the brick, and punched Dash squarely in the muzzle.
 
“Youch!” Dash jolted back, rubbing her nose and jaw. She looked up from her hooves to see Midnight detaching herself from the indentation she had made in the brick. Dust and bits of brick were knocked off and crumbled to the sidewalk below as she stumbled back into the air and shakily hovered in place.
 
Midnight let out several ragged pants. That had hurt. Quite a bit. She'd be lucky if she woke up tomorrow and was only covered in bruises. She looked back at the bat pony shaped indentation in the building's facade. Somehow, she had escaped a similar fate to Spitfire or Night Terror. She wasn't sure how, but she had.
 
Dash stared slack jawed at the hovering, fully three dimensional bat pony, “H-How? That should have squashed you flat just like it did with Cloud Kicker!”
 
Midnight shrugged, “Guess us bat ponies are just more resilient than pegasi,” she had no idea who Cloud Kicker was, but, given the name, she was almost certain it was a pegasus. And given the angry scowl on Rainbow Dash's face, she'd hazard her guess was right.
 
Dash took several calming breaths, “Well then, I guess I'll just have to try it again.” she lunged at Midnight, who instinctively flapped backward, only to hit the indentation she had made in the brick. She winced in pain and rubbed her shoulder. After that attempt to turn her into a cardboard cutout, she really needed some time to recuperate.
 
She did a somersault in the air just as Dash was reaching her and managed to kick the pegasus right in the chin. Dash flipped several times before righting herself and rubbed he now even sorer jaw. That bat pony wasn't making this fight as easy as she had first thought, that was for sure. Dash smiled slightly when she saw how Midnight winced and struggled to maintain a steady height in the air. She may not have flattened her out, but that hit had made her much weaker.
 
Attacking the bat pony head on would likely only yield another sore jaw. She had to dawn her inner egghead and strategize a little. She shot away from Midnight and ducked down First Street, leaving only a streak of rainbow in her wake. Midnight relaxed and started to sag toward the ground. Her wings and back were killing her. Of course Rainbow Dash was coming back, but it at least gave her a moment's rest.
 
She landed onto the stone sidewalk with a heave and looked over at the building next to her. Bicycles and wheels decorated the window of the small storefront. A bright red awning hung overhead the store. Midnight shook her head and stretched her sore wings. Taking this fight indoors was her best bet, just like it had been with Spitfire. Although a bike shop probably wasn't ideal.
 
A blue blur cut around the corner of the building. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to work. Midnight scrambled for the store's door, only to bang right into it. A piece of blue construction paper was taped to its glass surface. Midnight squinted her eyes. Dark blue marker on blue paper was a really bad choice, “Sorry, closed today due to military base runoff testing. Open tomorrow,” Midnight stomped a hoof, “You've got to be kidding meeeeee!”
 
Dash grabbed hold of her and yanked her into the air, “It's really nice of you to just sit there and wait for me,” Midnight once more struggled to land some punches on the pegasus. She was tempted to go for Dash's wings but a brief vision of careening uncontrollably into the cobblestone street at mach two dissuaded that thought. Instead, she kicked at the pegasus' hooves and chest.
 
Dash looked around as she flew around the perimeter of Daydream Park, “Now, where's a good place t—ow! Knock it off will ya,” she punched Midnight several times in the ribs, “Can't a mare figure out a nice way to end this thing in peace?” Her eye caught a granite monument inside the park and her face brightened, “Ah, there we go.”
 
Midnight turned her head around when Dash suddenly changed direction to see where the pegasus was carrying her. They were making a beeline for the Pastry War Memorial. The dark granite block was etched with the names of those in the Night Guard that had died tragically during the bloody conflict—or so that's what the townsfolk would tell tourists.
 
It wasn't so much a war as it was Princess Celestia going on one her fad diets and it wasn't so much bloody as it was her getting uppity when she realized her pastries were considered carbs and thus not allowed. And it fell to the Night Guard to “extract” the cakes and pies that were behind enemy lines. Then the infamous “Black Hot Fudge Down” incident happened and the next thing they knew, Parliament had allocated three million bits for a memorial.
 
They were heading straight for it. Granite was much harder than brick and mortar and it was unlikely Midnight's body would make much of an indentation in its hard surface. But all that inertia had to go somewhere. She was already sore, she didn't need to add being flat to the list as well. If she didn't figure out a way out this—and within the next few seconds—it was likely there'd be a new bat pony poster added to the memorial. She gulped.
 
Dash smirked at her fear and sped up as the gazebo rushed by them in a blur, “Don't worry, Midnight. I'm sure you'll do fine. It'll all be over soon enough. You can take a break and enjoy life as a poster while I move on and become champion.”
 
Just as they were about to hit, Midnight tried to throw her weight abruptly to one side and fling Dash around so she took the brunt of the impact, but the pegasus was able to react fast enough to counter any attempts by the bat pony at sabotaging her ramming strategy. Midnight braced herself as the duo slammed into the hard granite surface of the monument.
 
Due to the memorial's short, stubby nature, Dash had hit it at an angle and ricocheted off, after she pressed herself into Midnight's soft underbelly. Dash skipped across the ground several times before coming to a rest. She shakily stood up and shook her head, “Wow. That had a lot more power than I thought it did.” It seemed she had underestimated just how hard granite was.
 
After she stretched out and cracked a few bones and joints, she looked over to the memorial and the sure to be flat bat pony that was no doubt now stuck to it. Wait. That couldn't be. She rubbed her eyes several times. It just wasn't possible. She jumped into the air and flew over to the granite rectangle, “How can you still be 3-D after that?!”
 
Midnight was lying in a heap at the base of the memorial. She was slumped against it with her wings and legs sprawled out, a glazed over look in her eyes, “Owwwhhhhh,” she put a hoof to her head and try and calm the growing pains that had started to filter in. After a few moments, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, before checking to make sure she was indeed still just as three dimensional as the blue pegasus was claiming.
 
She wobbled dizzily to her hooves. She was just as surprised by her continued third dimensionality as Rainbow Dash was. It had taken everything she had to stop from learning what it was like to be pressed into a poster. Her disoriented vision focused on Dash, who had flown back over to the gazebo.
 
“You may be able to absorb my impacts without getting squashed flat, but I have an ace up my sleeve.” Dash flew through the gazebo and snagged the thirty-two ounce glass cola bottle from the railing she had put it on. Midnight shook her head of the cobwebs and looked at the bottle more clearly. The clear bottle was devoid of any stickers or labels and had a faint, ominous purple glow around it. In place of a cap, a cork was snugly fastened to the bottle's mouth.
 
“These bottles have given me an edge in some of the more... challenging fights.” Dash landed and walked toward Midnight, bottle in hoof, “Of course, a champion like me doesn't need an edge. It just makes things a little quicker—you know, for the fans. I've bottled Lightning with this—” Dash thought back to her previous fight and the teal mare she had defeated, “—and I think you'll find it just as accommodating as she did.”
 
Dash uncorked the bottle and pointed its open end at Midnight. Midnight tensed her body in anticipation and stared at the bottle. Who knew what Rainbow Dash was planning. She needed to be incredibly wary and make sure not to fall for any tricks. Dash was probably just using that bottle as a distraction to whatever she was going to do. She should probably take the bottle, just to make sure Dash couldn't use it.
 
Dash smiled as the alicorn-enchanted bottle began to take effect. Midnight's pupils dilated and her body completely relaxed. Her amber eyes glowed with a purple aura. She smiled softly as she continued to stare into the bottle.
 
The bottle was really nice, after all. It deserved every bit of attention Midnight was giving it. Once she had taken it from Dash, she could examine it closer. In fact, she needed to look at it closer. Much closer. The inside of the bottle deserved the most attention. It was just so perfectly formed and shaped. Just looking at it wouldn't be enough—she knew she needed to actually be as close to it as possible. She needed to somehow get inside the bottle.
 
She'd have to cram herself into it. It couldn't be that hard? If she could compress Spitfire into a brick and squash Night Terror into a cape then surely she could stuff herself into a really good looking bottle. She'd have to start with her head and use her powerful forelegs to stuff her muzzle and face into the bottle's opening.
 
Once her head was tightly compacted down into the welcoming confines of the bottle, she could then position herself under a bench and use her rear legs to force her upper body and wings into joining her squashed head inside the bottle. It'd be tight and maybe even a little hot and stuffy, but she was confident her athletic body would be up for the task.
 
Then, she'd need some help. Her forelegs and bat wings would be compressed tightly into the bottle and so would be worthless. Rainbow Dash was a nice pony. She was even an Element of Harmony. Surely she wouldn't mind lending her a hoof and squeezing and compressing her hindlegs and tail into the bottle so her whole body could be crushed into it? Once Dash had finished helping, she'd be crammed into the small bottle. She most likely wouldn't be able to move and it would probably be a little cramped for the first few days—a week or two tops—but it was worth it to be as close to the bottle as possible.
 
Plan now in mind, Midnight started slowly walking toward Dash and the bottle. Dash chuckled at the bat pony's efforts. Just as Midnight was within a couple of yards, Dash lifted up the bottle and stuffed the cork back into the bottle's mouth. Midnight's eyes returned to normal and she shook her head to clear it, “Don't you see, Midnight? I've won regardless. You get squashed like a pancake, or get forcibly bottled—either way, I'm coming out of this with a win.”
 
Midnight looked from Dash to the bottle. She couldn't believe what she had almost done. She'd almost handed Dash the victory by willingly crushing herself into a stupid bottle. She didn't even like soda pop. Whatever enchantment Rainbow was using, it was powerful enough to override her common sense. She'd now have to avoid not only Dash's speed, but also her enchantments. Midnight gulped. Dash was probably right—she likely wouldn't get out of this fight without losing something, whether that be her third dimension or her mobility.
 
Dash walked back over to the gazebo and sat the bottle down on its railing before she flew into the air and charged at Midnight, “Time to give this one more try before I resort to using the bottle,” Midnight braced herself as Dash tackled her, “I can't flatten you with my speed, but maybe I can with my hooves.” The two rolled around for a minute, each one trying to grapple the other and gain the advantage.
 
Dash was finally able to pin Midnight to the grass and perch herself on top of the tired bat pony. She immediately started to punch away at Midnight's gray fur, trying to soften and eventually flatten her aching muscles into a nice thin layer. Midnight knew she had to act fast. If she didn't, she'd squashed down like of dough. Not only would Dash's efforts eventually succeed, but if she didn't do something quick, Dash could hit her face and knock her out—then the blue mare would be free to do as she pleased with Midnight's body. She'd probably wake up squashed flat and flapping about on top of a flagpole.
 
While Dash was too focused on trying to crush her chest, Midnight looked around for anything that might help her get an advantage in the increasingly grim looking fight. Her and her stupid greed. She looked to her side and saw the stained wood of the gazebo only a foot or two away. Somehow in all that grappling, they had landed right next to it. Maybe she could knock Dash into it and daze her.
 
She struggled anew, but it was no use. Dash had been clever enough to lock Midnight's hooves underneath her and use the combination of her weight, tail, and rear hooves to securely press them against the soft grassy ground. Dash rewarded her struggles with a several punches to her tender belly, causing Midnight to grimace in pain.
 
Dash paused for a moment to catch her breath, “Phew. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I should just get the bottle and get this over with already.”
 
Midnight looked up at the pony in alarm. That would definitely be the end. She didn't want to spend Luna knows how long trapped inside a tiny space. Dash smirked at the panic, “Oh now, don't worry. The enchantment only lasts a year or two—I can't remember. I wasn't really paying attention when Twilight gave me the two hundred pages of notes on the thing. The point is, you'd be free in no time.”
 
“What?!” A year? Trapped in a bottle? What kind of forbidden magic were they doing in Ponyville?! She started to struggle again in response when one of her wings popped out from behind her back. Dash had secured her legs, but not her wings. Fat lot of good that did. Maybe she could lightly tap the pegasus on her flank with the edge of her wing.
 
She looked back over to the gazebo. She could reach it with her freed wing. If she could grab hold, maybe she'd be able to yank Dash over to it and stun her. She started looking for a spot to grab onto when something glared in her eye, causing her to squint. Of all the times for Hollow Shades to not live up to its name, it had to be now.
 
She looked up and her jaw nearly dropped. Good thing she was able to reel in her shock, or else she might have alerted Rainbow Dash to the glass bottle that sat atop the railing above them. A railing that was fairly weak and loose thanks to years of use and a cheapskate city beautification department. She glanced back down at her wing. New plan. One that was probably going to hurt.
 
Dash had continued to pummel away at the helpless bat pony, focusing most of her attention of Midnight's hind legs and flanks. Once she was able to flatten out the pony's limbs, she wouldn't have to worry about this really uncomfortable pin she was having to do. Sure she could use the bottle, but there was just more fun in taking a hooves-on approach. Plus, she didn't have to share the credit with Twilight if she did it all herself. The last thing she wanted was an asterisk on her championship trophy.
 
Midnight bit her lip and slammed the wing against the gazebo's rickety wall as hard as she could. Her eyes started watering. Oh, Luna, did that hurt. Wings were some of the most sensitive parts of the body. She did it again and saw the bottle wobble back and forth on its perch as the railing shook from the blow. She could feel her flank slowly being squashed down with each blow. Dash was starting to make progress and Midnight knew if this didn't work, she'd be slowly flattened out over the course of several hours.
 
She slammed her wing against the wood for a third time and the bottle tilted over into the gazebo. Oh, Cadance—she wasn't even sure if that was a proper expletive—not like this. If it fell into the gazebo, she was screwed. Completely, unequivocally screwed. And flattened. Or compressed into a bottle. One or the other.
 
She hit the gazebo again just as the bottle wobbled back toward her. Dash looked over at her free wing, “I'll give you credit for trying everything you can to escape, although I'm not sure how hitting your wing against the railing's supposed to hel—ah!”
 
The bottle fell from the railing and hit Dash square on her head before it rolled onto the grass beside the duo. Dash jumped up momentarily, stunned by the impact, and rubbed her head. It was just enough of a distraction for Midnight to free a trapped forehoof from underneath her and grab the bottle. She uncorked it with her teeth and pointed it at Dash's wincing face. Dash growled and looked down at the still partially pinned mare, “I don't know how you did that but it—” she looked right into the bottle, “Wha-What?” she squeaked.
 
Midnight couldn't help but smile as terror filled Dash's face, “Amateurs always forget about the wings.”
 
“No, Midnight! Y-You foal! W-What have you done!?” Dash stared down into the bottle, which glowed with the menacing purple aura, “The bottle! I-It—It—” Dash smiled as the terror melted off her face. She took a deep breath as the tension left her body and her pupils dilated, “It looks really nice.” Dash grabbed the bottle from Midnight's hoof and stepped off from on top of her. Midnight looked over at the entranced mare and saw Dash's eyes now glowing with the purple aura.
 
Dash stared contently inside the bottle for several moments, “It looks really cool. But, you know, it would probably look even cooler from the inside.” Midnight stared in satisfaction as Dash stuck her muzzle in the bottle's narrow opening. Pushing and twisting the bottle with one hoof, she used her free hoof to press and shove at her head until, with a resounding popping noise, her entire head had been crammed into the tight confines of the bottle.
 
“Urrrggghh.” Dash groaned from inside the bottle. Her muzzle was at the very bottom of the bottle. Her teeth were gritted in seeming discomfort while her eyes looked around dizzily from either side of the bottle. Dash's head and neck were fully smashed into the bottle, with only a few strands of her rainbow mane sticking out from the bottle's mouth.
 
With her head now inside of the bottle, Dash let go of the bottle. She looked around in a daze for a moment, before she took off with a flap of her wings and started to ascend higher and higher into the sky. Midnight decided to take the opportunity to rest for a short while. There wasn't a part of her that wasn't in pain. Her wing hurt more than it had ever before. She'd be lucky if she hadn't broken it in her desperation.
 
The fight wasn't technically over, but Midnight had experienced first hoof the power of the enchanted bottle. She knew Dash was going to end the fight for her. She wouldn't have to lift a hoof. Thank Luna. She smiled and stretched out her sore limbs as she wondered how long it would take Rainbow Dash to wrap things up so she could get paid.
 
She got her answer a few minutes later as she saw a blue streak barreling toward the ground. Dash's speed was incredible, with a condensation cone forming around the partially bottled mare. Midnight had a good idea of what Dash was doing and so decided to fly a short distance away to observe. Better to err on the side of caution than risk getting pancaked. A jolt of pain shot up her back from her wing as she started to flap it. You know, walking was so much more relaxing.
 
A few hundred yards away, Midnight sat down at a park bench and watched the pegasus continue her rapid descent. Traveling at near sonic rainboom speeds, Dash made no effort to pull up from her dive and instead hit the ground bottle-first. The impact kicked up a large dust cloud. Midnight couldn't tell whether Dash was lucky or unlucky she had impacted the park's hoofball field and not on the nearby stone path.
 
Once the dust and debris had settled. Midnight got up from the bench and walked over to the twenty foot deep crater Dash had created. In the middle of the crater was a thirty-two ounce bottle packed full of pegasus. Most of the mare had been crushed into the bottle from the force of the impact. Dash's face was now firmly pressed into the bottom of the bottle, with one eye dimly open and glowing with a purple hue and the other tightly squeezed shut. The blue mare's mane was pressed neatly against the base of the bottle while her forelegs were squashed against the sides of the bottle and extended down most of the bottle's length, stopping just short of her compressed cutie mark. Her wings were folded and compacted just like the rest of her body.
 
While the impact had compressed most of Dash's athletic body into the bottle, it hadn't fully done it. The tips of her rear hooves and most of her tail stuck out from the bottle's opening, while the rest of Dash's hindlegs and flank were squeezed into the bottle's neck.
 
“Oooouuuuggggghhhhhh.” she moaned softly from inside the bottle. Midnight picked up the nearly fully bottled mare and carefully walked out of the crater and back over to the park bench. In the time it took Midnight to return to the bench, Dash had regained some of her composure. She looked over with her one eye that was open to the mare that held her, “H-Hey, Midnight Dream—ouch.”
 
Midnight looked at the crunched mare, “Yeah?”
 
“D-Do you—ugh—mind doing me a huge favor?”
 
Midnight smirked and glanced at the part of the pony that was sticking out of the bottle and then back down at Dash's purple hued eye. She had a pretty good idea of what the squashed mare was going to ask her, “That depends on the favor.”
 
“Could you push my hooves and tail into the bottle?” Dash weakly wiggled her rear hooves, “The bottle's really—auuuuhhhh—really good, but I need my whole body to be inside it, you know? Y-You don't have to worry about hurting me.” Dash whimpered before continuing, “I'm fine. Pegasi are really tough.”
 
“Of course, Rainbow Dash. Anything for Equestria's greatest pegasus.” Midnight firmly held the bottle with one hoof and put her other hoof on Dash's rear hooves. She heard the mare squeak as she started to press down hard. Dash was already pretty compressed, so it was a struggle getting the last of the mare into the bottle. Midnight locked the bottle against her armpit with her elbow to get it more secured before she crammed and squashed at Dash's legs.
 
After several minutes of exhaustive work, the hooves and tail disappeared into the bottle's neck. Midnight held the fully bottled mare up in triumph at her astonishing victory over Equestria's fastest pony. She looked in admiration at the compacted pony and couldn't help but feel relieved Dash had cockily overestimated herself and not simply allowed Midnight to bottle herself, “All done.”
 
“Uuuuaaaaagggghhhhh,” Dash moaned out.
 
“I'll take that as a 'thank you'.” Midnight glanced at the road and was shocked to see the bottle's cork laying in the middle of the street where they had fought. She walked over and slammed the cork into the bottle, sealing Dash inside. A couple strands of the mare's rainbow tail stuck out from around the cork. Midnight placed the bottle in her mouth and walked away from the fight scene, “Now to get you to the league office so I can get paid.” And never have to worry about bits again.
 
Dash merely sighed in content at finally being fully bottled.
 

End of Chapter Six