//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Competitive Edge // by Craine //------------------------------// When Sunset asked Twilight to play referee, she didn’t know how to answer. There wasn’t much to it, really; sit tight, stop the ‘main event’ if things got too rough, enjoy the show. Short and simple. Except it wasn’t simple. Not one bit. Shaking on the edge of the school bleachers, Twilight watched with bated breath. “Come on, Sunset!” Twilight shouted, eyes vivid and bright. “Get out of there!” Granted, cheering exclusively for Sunset seemed a little unfair. And dangerous if Starlight’s performance said anything. And it said quite a lot. “Yeah, Shim! URG!” Starlight grunted, tightening her grip on the arm twisted into both of hers. “Get outta there!” “Get. Off. OF ME!” Sunset thrust her backside skyward. Starlight yelped and stumbled over her mount, grip unlocking. A more powerful thrust threw Starlight face-first into the mat. “Get up!” Twilight shouted again. “Get up, get up, get up!” Both girls scrambled for balance on the mat. They resumed their starting position: crouched down, one fist on the mat, the other over a bent knee. Sweat-drenched unitards clung even tighter to every inch of them. Sunset fell to one knee. Starlight laughed through her short breaths. “What’s that all about? Huh, Shim? Ready to quit?!” Sunset, her own breaths even shorter, rose back to a full crouch. “Shut it! You’re only hyped… because… audience!” Starlight’s smile took a dangerous curve. She leaned in, prepping to lunge. “And I can’t wait to break you in front of your girlfriend! LET’S GO!” Both former ponies charged at once.  Twilight felt a heart attack coming on. She even let the ‘girlfriend’ comment slide. If a single thought strayed from what was happening right then and there, Twilight would’ve missed it. And, as referee, that was dangerous. Sunset. Was not. Joking. When ponies played, they played rough. Shouts and insults thrown like weapons, the two tackled, slammed and threw one another around the blue mat for minutes on end. Sunset showed the first signs of slowing. More than once, Twilight nearly jumped in when a limb was twisted a tad too far, or a scream was a tad too loud. Honestly, Twilight could barely even stand. If she had, she’d probably collapse right back on her rump. She was shaking profusely.  The tension--so thick she could mold it like clay. The constant, unending physical contact--so hard and so swift, she could hear bones collide. The fact that they literally, actually started glowing. Pink and amber-colored hands collided, entwined and locked. Squeezing. Straining. Pushing. “You’re not… beating me… this time!” Starlight grunted through clenched teeth. Sunset grunted in return. “Then you’d… better… pick it up!” Arms bent outward. Torsos shot forward. Foreheads collided. Faces strained and dripped with sweat. Twilight tucked her fidgeting hands tightly between her thighs, eyes like dinner plates, breath shallow. Then something changed. Twilight saw it coming, yet she still couldn’t believe her eyes. They ponied up. It was so sudden and so quick, the roughhousing girls didn’t seem to notice. That, alone, made the dangers much more real. Sunset dipped under and tackled Starlight’s waist. The latter squealed and grunted to keep balance, legs staggered in a much wider gait. Sunset pushed and pushed, muscles cracking as her opponent pushed back. “Come… on! FALL!” Starlight’s arms hooked under Sunset’s torso. Twilight’s hands shot to her mouth.  Starlight teetered backwards, taking her now-screaming opponent with her. A fiery-haired head crashed into the mat. “Sunset!” Twilight screeched, shooting to her feet. Sunset flopped listlessly onto her belly, a panting Starlight sitting wide-legged beside her. Twilight was about to intervene. But then… “MINE!” Starlight roared. She mounted Sunset again, whom only just blinked back into consciousness. Grunts and curses bounced along the empty gym room again, and Starlight twisted that same arm within two of her own. “No!” Sunset screamed. “Now tap out like the bottom bitch you are!” Starlight gave sharp twist. Sunset screamed louder, shoving the last of that scream into the mat.  Twilight wanted to scream too. To shout for them to stop. To throw caution to the wind, tear off everything that wasn't spandex, leap off those bleachers and tackle Starlight off her savior. But she sat there. She sat there and she watched. She was a horrible referee. Sunset slammed the mat with her free arm, lifting her backside as much she could. Starlight bounced, and her mount hit the floor again. “Stay down!” Twilight gulped, tugging the neck of her unitard. She'd only just realized she'd been staring hard and deep from directly behind. She tried and failed an embarrassing number of times to look away from Sunset. But the lascivious spread of those legs. That hard body pressed and forced down by another. Twilight was a horrible friend.   Sunset cursed and tried to rise again, face twisted with rage, effort and pain. Twilight gasped, and Twilight meeped. Twilight fidgeted, and Twilight tensed. Every twist of Sunset’s arm sent the bookworm into tizzies of fear. Fear that only grew with Sunset’s every attempt to rise. Sunset would throw her backside up into restraining loins. Those loins would cast her right back down. Eventually, she did rise, if only to her knees. But Starlight held fast, kneeling right behind her. “Tap… out!” “Never!” Twilight’s jaw dropped at what Starlight did next: She bit Sunset’s pony-ear. Turquoise eyes flickered with rage, but then rolled back into the head. “Uhn! F-fuck you…” Twilight shouldn’t have been surprised. Every creature, sentient or otherwise, established dominance in many different ways. But ear-biting? Equines didn’t do that. Being human must’ve changed that somehow; an omnivorous adaptation, perhaps. She really should’ve brought her notebook. Starlight muttered something Twilight couldn't make out, lips nudged into that twitching ear. “Tap out. I don’t wanna hurt you.” Sunset struggled harder, wide eyes desperately flitting around for an escape. Teeth raked along her ear again. Eyes rolled back. Muscles shook with weakness. Another hard, final twist. Sunset cried out and assaulted Starlight’s knee with light taps. “That’s it! She’s done! Let her go!” Twilight shouted.  Starlight released Sunset and fell back on her butt. Sunset crumbled onto her side, hissing in pain, cradling her shaky arm. Twilight moved to step off the bleachers, but stopped again. Again. Why did she hesitate at Starlight’s every twitch? What was it about this girl? She watched Starlight scramble around Sunset to face her. She remained on all fours, knuckles on the mat. “Are you okay?” Sunset didn’t answer, eyes dark and narrowed upon Starlight. She also rose to all fours. Well… all threes; her shaky arm curled up into her chest. Starlight crawled closer, face nearly touching the other. “Sunse--” Sunset thwacked Starlight’s face with her own. Starlight sputtered with a blink. Then Sunset nipped at her. Right on the neck. Starlight yelped and recoiled, eyes wide. “That hurt…” Sunset’s voice was so low. So ashamed. Starlight tried to shake off the tension with a smirk. “Heh. No way you were beating me a fourth time.” Sunset just stared at the mat. Starlight lunged forward all the same, and nuzzled that little bacon-pony-girl like her life depended on it. “Don’t be mad at me, okay?” Starlight's smirk was completely gone. Sunset pulled away, but Starlight shuffled closer, now nuzzling beneath her chin. “Sorry… ” Starlight whispered. “I’m sorry.” Sunset released a long-held breath and her glare. She returned the nuzzle in kind. “It’s okay,” Sunset whispered back. "You earned that win." Twilight froze in place. This was sacred. This was real. This was what it meant to watch ponies. To be a pony. To be close without reserve or shame.  She started to understand true companionship since her transfer to Canterlot High School. At least, that’s what she thought. But this? She wanted this. She envied this. It was magic of a different sort. And she wanted to understand it all. If she could share such a thing with Sunset… with anyone... Twilight blinked back to reality. She was staring and she didn’t mean to. She was content, though, watching them make up. If just for a bit longer. That is, until their lips brushed over one another. Twilight cleared her throat, and her companions sputtered away from each other. She grinned as they blushed. “Right. Audience,” Starlight muttered. Sunset gave a quiet nicker.  Twilight was quite certain she’d never get used to that.  Both girls rose, Sunset being helped to her feet. Starlight’s lips hovered next to that pony ear again. “Better luck next time, scrub.” Another nip at the neck. This time Starlight chuckled. She caressed the nipped spot and slapped the other pony-girl’s butt as she retreated to the losers’ seat. Starlight smirked at the lidded glare thrown back at her. Different friends, different dynamic. Nothing to be jealous about. Twilight Sparkle was not jealous.  Because Twilight had a better dynamic with Sunset. A true dynamic. She didn’t need to touch and rub against her all the time. Not like Starlight Glimmer. She just wished Starlight wasn’t so… liberal about it. Surely, asking permission wouldn’t have killed a girl. Twilight shut her eyes. Different friends. Different dynamic. Different cultures. Short-sighted ignorance was not friendship. And Twilight had to remind herself an unsettling number of times. “Hey, uh, Sparks?” Twilight’s eyes snapped open, and blinked at a cross-armed Starlight. “You sure you’re up for this?” Something broke inside Twilight’s head. Of course Starlight--arrogant little girl-cock she was--would question Twilight’s resolve, question her strength. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Twilight tried and failed not to sound offended. “Well, not to say you’re losing your nerve, but, umm…” Starlight pointed, and Twilight’s eyes followed, then widened at her own shaky legs.  Jaw setting behind pursed lips, Twilight willed her limbs to be strong and solid again. She tried, at least. Wait, were her teeth clattering too? Gods, they were. And her arms? Her chest?! This was going swimmingly…  A hand fell on Twilight’s shoulder. She turned to Sunset Shimmer, and balked at the determination creased along her face. She noted the single, twitching ear--the one that was recently bitten. “Demolish her…” No words of encouragement. No offers of surrender. No patronizing pats on the back. Not even frets about her well being.  Just a girl who hated losing as much as she did.  Something else broke inside Twilight's head, and she completely stopped shaking. And right then, Twilight knew what Sunset had done to her; she’d taken a sledge hammer and smashed the dam that staunched all her courage. Sunset… believed in her. Even when Twilight didn’t believe in herself. Like she always had. She just wanted to nuzzle that pony-girl into oblivion whether she liked it or not. But that would’ve been silly. That would’ve been a cock move, and that job was already taken. Twilight unbuttoned her blouse. An infuriating snort interrupted her. “Kind of a tall order, huh, Shim?” Twilight clenched a fist without realizing it. “And why’s that, Starlight Glimmer?” Of all Twilight expected--a smirk, another snort, an arrogant scoff--Starlight actually frowned. Twilight squashed the newly-hatched butterflies in her belly. On a normal day, Twilight found it difficult to read people. Former social pariah, and all that. Ponies on the other hand? Their little ears gave them away quite shamelessly, and Starlight’s were no exception. Oh, how Twilight loved the way they folded back…   She should’ve felt proud. She did feel proud. Proud to get under Starlight’s skin. Starlight smirked through her frown. “You’re playin’ with fire, you know that?” she warned. “I’d watch my tone, if I were you…” A smart girl like Twilight knew the dangers of leaping before she looked. Logical people didn’t do that. But logic wouldn’t have put this girl-cock in her place. So she removed the rest of her casual clothing, rolled them up and tossed them in a pile of other discarded clothes. She stepped off the bleachers, ignoring the biting cold on her chest and nethers. She marched right up to Starlight. And she stared, no differently than she had on the walk there. Head straight and level. Eyes leering upward. Arms crossed. “You’re going to make me?” Starlight’s smirk now seemed a bit forced, left ear giving a solid twitch. “Alright, Lunch, get on the plate.” Twilight’s eyes followed the finger pointing to the mat. She turned to that direction, and obeyed, eyes now closed. “Whatever you say…” Is this what ponies did to each other? What they did to her? She felt so… free. Wild, even. That the word ‘consequence’ suddenly had no meaning. That she could sway her every step--in a God-forsaken unitard--and feel the exact opposite of shame. Twilight saw some jimmies in dire need of rustling. And she was socially conscious enough to know exactly what rustled another girl’s jimmies. She used to think it was stupid. Even petty. But not now. Not anymore Twilight straightened her posture at Sunset’s deep, shuddering laugh from the bleachers. “So help me, I’m gonna break that ass…” Starlight said. Spoken like a true girl-cock, Twilight thought. Then something occurred to her. More of a feeling, really. She’d felt it constantly through the halls of Crystal Prep, so it wasn’t exactly new. But now it was different--the eyes she felt on her. Eyes that no longer narrowed with contempt. Eyes that didn’t break her down to her absolute weakest, and scrutinize her every fear. Eyes that didn’t mock her. No. These eyes made her feel sought. Enviable. Desired. She stopped on the mat, and spun on her heel to present herself. Twilight could hardly believe the eyes shooting upward to meet hers. Starlight was totally checking her out just then. She would’ve written the notion off in a heartbeat, were it not for the bitten lip and single, squinted eye. “Lunch is served,” Twilight said, hand on her hip. “You’re really gonna need that toothbrush.” Starlight approached the mat with a wide gait. Twilight felt a new bundle of butterflies hatch in her stomach. And she burned them alive without remorse. They took their places opposite each other. A whole nine feet apart, but Twilight could clearly see the red stained on that pink face. The former unicorn scoffed. “You think you’re so hot… Don’t you, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight shrugged in triumph at the jimmies officially rustled. It was a good night. Starlight crouched down, a fist upon the mat, the other pressed over her knee. Twilight mimicked her, and felt her muscles crack with tension, heart beating faster. They both stared without blinking, and Twilight felt her limbs start to tremble. “Tonight, ref!” Starlight said. Twilight kept focused on her opponent, but snorted at the sputter from the bleachers. “R-Right, right.” Sunset collected herself. “You know the rules: no hitting, no mane--er--hair-pulling. First to submit or throw the match loses. Clothes stay on. Ready?” Twilight could already feel her muscles burn. And immediately she started to think this was a horrible mistake. Perhaps if she’d analyzed the occasion a bit more objectively-- “GO!” Twilight mind was thrown into a whirlwind of terror and doubt. No build up. No pause for dramatic effect. Twilight had once thought there was a process for this kind of thing. Or at least a checklist explaining more vital rules. She needed a plan. But there was no time. This was utter madness. Wait, is she still ponied u-- Starlight smashed into her like a truck.