//------------------------------// // Boiling Point. // Story: Over The Rainbow // by Kwisatz-Haderach //------------------------------// As Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, gave her speech, the audience seldom deviated from their attention towards her; Barely a single word muttered from the many mouths it held. The spotlights on the third-story balcony shone columns of golden light upon Spitfire, Rainbow Dash and the rest of the team that looked on from behind the two, arranged in a perfect row like soldiers on parade. "We Wonderbolts - as proud and tenacious as we may be, must not and shall not forget that it takes more than skills, guts and speed to become one one us; It takes a kind heart, a faithful spirit, a loyal soul and unyielding, unselfish devotion to be of benefit to the world that we all live in. Rainbow Dash embodies all of these attributes and has demonstrated time and time again that she truly is our number one fan!" Declared Spitfire, standing before a podium adorned with the winged thunderbolt emblem of her team. The audience resumed their roars and applause of appreciation, showering Rainbow Dash with the affection and adoration she so constantly desires - her cyan face curling a bashful smile and increasing in temperature. Even though the excitement from having her lifelong dream realized was too much for her to handle, there was something deep within her - primal, even; that gave her the numbness to endure such astonishment whereas she would otherwise faint in pure joy. Which she did when she first found out that she had finally been accepted. "This is so awesome!" She thought to herself, as she has nearly non-stop whenever she got the chance to meet with the Wonderbolts or when her acceptance into their ranks was brought up. It was less of a thought and more of a broken record player. The sheer thrill of being onstage with Spitfire like this made her feel all tingly inside, so much so, that she could feel such spine-dancing shivers as a physical, tangible force. The applause died down to a few scattered whoops and clops, allowing Spitfire to resume her speech. "She has demonstrated her worthiness of such a title not by such vain matters like the amount of merchandise she owned or how many shows she's been to, but by testing her character, her body and her mind time and time again to prove that she was born to become a Wonderbolt even when nopony was watching - a true sign of integrity. She has often impressed us with tales of her strength, perseverance, endurance, feats of bravery and courage - Whether it was saving the life of a scared filly trapped in a dried-up well or saving the life of Soarin's freshly-baked apple pie at the gala, Rainbow Dash has many accomplishments big and small under her belt." Soarin' blushed with light-hearted embarrassment at the mention of his confectionary near-calamity at the Grand Galloping Gala two years ago, prompting another round of hearty laughter from the crowd. "See? Sweet Apple Acres pie is that good. Just like it says on the flyer." Whispered Applejack to the food critic standing next to her, playfully elbowing the Unicorn mare. "Whatever you say, but I'm sure it won't stand up to the goods that Canterlot's finest chefs are known for..." The critic quietly remarked in an estute voice. "But just you wait until May and I'll see for myself at the next bake-off." "I'm so happy for Rainbow Dash now that she's going to be a true, blue Wonderbolt!" Twilight said to Pinkie Pie, who was busy crying melodramatically. "Ohh, it's so beautiful, our little Dashie is finally all grown up!" Sobbed Pinkie, blowing her nose into a pink hankerchief, covering it with nasalborne confetti. "Sorry, I just get so emotional at times like this..." She sniffled. "Remind me to ask you how you do that, Pinkie..." Twilight remarked. "Oh, it's easy! I just take a bunch confetti and a funnel and--" "Sssssshhh!!" Sushed an irritated upper crust stallion, giving Pinkie Pie the evil eye. "We're trying to listen!" "Oh. Sorry..." Pinkie replied, sinking into her seat. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash started to feel a little too warm, beginning to sweat a little for some unknown reason and squirming a bit in discomfort without drawing attention to herself. "Sheesh...Is it hot in here or is it just me?" She thought. "These spotlights feel more like heat lamps! How do they not catch fire? How can Spitfire even handle that while wearing such...tight-fitting clothing?" "Were it not for her admirable bravery and tenacity, Soarin', Misty and I would not be alive to be here tonight after being knocked unconscious by the panicked flails of a...garishly dressed Unicorn falling to her death before Rainbow Dash not only rescued and carried all three of us to safety, but performed the very first intentional Sonic Rainboom in recorded history while doing so." Spitfire continued, prompting yet another round of raucous applause. All Ponies attending were deeply impressed save for Rarity, who was instead deeply offended. "'Garish?!' How DARE you call this mare 'Garish!" Why, as soon as I get my hooves on that obnoxiously bright heap of spandex you call a flight suit, I'll rip it into a million tiny shreds and use it as confetti for when I'm truly recognized as Equestria's final word on fashion!!" Snarled Rarity, causing a bit of a scene as Fluttershy and Twilight restrained her with both their arms. It would have steered all attention away from Spitfire were it not for the applause drowning her out. "Rarity, get a hold of yourself, mare!" Twilight commanded, trying to ensure that the irate Unicorn could not thrash her way loose from her bear-hug. "Please, Rarity, don't make a scene..." Said Fluttershy, her arms wrapped around Rarity's writing waist, her flailing causing her soft plot to repeatedly push itself into the Pegasi's poor, butter-hued face. Although the tightness of their combined grip and strength managed to successfully calm Rarity down, it was the hateful glare of a nearby Royal Guard that finally pacified the furious fashionista into silence. Slowly lowering herself back into her chair and her two friends cautiously releasing their grip on her as she calmly melted into the plush silk of her chair. "How...unladylike of me..." Tittered Rarity, white facial features turning crimson as her eyes shifted to the left and right to ensure that nopony saw her embarrassing temper flare. Unfortunately, many of them did. Speaking of "unladylike", Rainbow Dash started to feel remarkably self-conscious about herself, starting to shake a bit. She was doing her very best to keep her cool - and she was for the most part, but her train of thought kept getting interrupted by certain...urges brewing inside her consciousness. Her knees started to feel weak; like they weren't getting enough blood flowing to them and starting to fall asleep. Keeping her quivering joints straight as she could, Dash grinned and bore it, flashing the best pokerface that she could muster. Although unnoticed by most ponies in the audience, a couple eagle-eyed individuals began to see that something was amiss with Rainbow, even thought they were quick to dismiss their dilemma as mere stage fright. "Aw, Rainbow Dash is so excited to be a Wonderbolt, she just can't hold still!" Giggled Pinkie Pie, watching her friend through a pair of opera glasses. "It's not like her to act so nervous in front o' ponies like that..." Applejack remarked. "...Whatta you think, Fluttershy?" "She does look a little scared...I think..." The canary Pegasus replied. "But I do have to admire her for her bravery. I could never be in front of so many ponies on stage like that..." "Well, what about that play we all did on Hearth's Warming Eve?" Said Twilight. "Oh, that was much different." 'Shy replied. "Most of the attention was directed towards Rainbow, not me..." "Ah'm sure she'll be fine." Said Applejack. "And who can forget the day Rainbow Dash saved more than a dozen lives from certain death in a single day? Not only do I owe my life to that strong, talented mare, but so do several tourists from Vanhoover, a ten-month-old foal, a filly by the name 'Aura', and a handful of Ponyville's wise population of senior citizens. With the sudden appearance of our one-time town hero, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well doing the heroics shortly afterwards, it's as if Celestia herself rewarded Dash with a well-deserved break from saving lives and fighting crime! After all, even the strongest of us need time to relax our frayed nerves and strong, tense muscles like the ones on Dash's sleek frame..." Rainbow Dash and Celestia both gave Spitfire and each other an awkward, confused look. Clearly, Spitfire was on tour during that moment in the town's history. Both ponies wondered if Spitfire was just making this all up on her own as she went... "Come later that fall, Rainbow Dash once again failed to disappoint by proving that even the toughest and coolest of ponies can have a tender, sensitive side to them. When deep-rooted personal fears and painful memories prevented a timid friend of hers from helping Ponyville's Pegasi population kick-start Equestria's rainy season, Dash spared no time in helping her overcome her fears through patience, effort and compassion; offering inspirational oral support even in the chaos within the tornado itself. Rainbow Dash has once again demonstrates that even the toughest Wonderbolt has to have a soft, warm heart inside them." "Now this is just gettin' plain cheesy..." Applejack remarked from the audience, cringing a bit. "YEEAAAAHH!!" Cried a ridiculously muscular stallion not far from her, tears of joy in his eyes. Rainbow Dash felt her heart pound and her head lighten. Cold sweat began racing down her coat as she anxiously stared at Spitfire's plot - toned and tightly wrapped in form-fitting spandex. Rainbow's imagination began to run wild, self-consciousness soon replaced by a maelstrom of ideas whirling around inside her brain; all of them having to do with all the naughty, unspeakable things she wanted to do to that rock-hard rear. She felt her daydreams carry her off as a way of coping with her stress until she violently shook her head back into reality. "'A soft warm heart?' 'A tender, sensitive side?'" Thought Dash, reacting to Spitfire's curiously subtle emphasis on such sensual words. "Is she...is she hitting on me?! No, that can't be right at all! She just sees me as a fan, that's all! Nothing more! Oh, why do I feel so hot? It feels like I'm stuffed into an oven during a heat wave! It feels like I'm...Oh NO..." A moment forgotten out of sheer excitement thrust itself out of the cold, dark depths of Rainbow's subconscious and into the stratosphere of her consciousness like a chunk of bedroom flung high into the air like a rocket. "Also, please remember not to engage in any high-speed maneuvers or violent movements and to return here to have the IUD removed within ten days, please." "...Those stunts! The high-five I did with the others! That bumpy train-ride! That's it: I've lost my marble!!" The terrible realization striking Rainbow Dash like the blunt end of an axe, the soon-to-be-Wonderbolt felt a deep, primal feeling of fear and terror well from within her, slowing time down from seconds to minutes as if she was staring the Grim Reaper himself dead in the eyes. Her muscles tensed and heart slammed against her ribcage, feeling like they were going to burst straight out or overtighten themselves somehow. Now clearly and visibly scared out of her wits and staring at Spitfire with animalistic fear as corticosteroids locked swords with pheremones, soon the whole audience took note, realizing that something was very, very wrong... "What in the world is wrong with that mare?" Fancypants remarked to his wife from the audience. "I have no idea!" His wife, Fleur-De-Lis replied. "This is clearly not normal behavior at all!" After yet another round of filler commentary, Spitfire had finally come to the conclusion of her speech. "...And in conclusion and without further ado, I, Spitfire - Captain of the Wonderbolts, with this deed of membership and personalized jumpsuit, do hereby declare Ms. Rainbow Alberghetti Dash of Cloudsdale an official member of the Wonderbolts!" At that very moment when Spitfire brought out a the framed proof of membership document and a neatly folded Wonderbolts flightsuit much to the deafening thunder of stomping hooves and hollers of joy and ovation, something within Rainbow Dash's brain had broken an escapement mechanism and came flying off of its axis. A sudden breeze from the open-air balcony behind them had blown a strangely enticing scent from Spitfire downwind towards Dash. The moment that smell graced her nostrils, all fear, stress, inhibitions and external stimuli were quickly replaced by the creamy, silken pastel dreamscapes of an erotic vision... In this waking dream, Rainbow Dash found her hooves rhythmically propelling herself through a tall field of velvety aubergine grasses beneath a pale, hazy fuchsia sky adorned only by the brilliant glow of a goldleaf sun. Amidst the rushing whispers of disturbed blades of grassland and the lilting chirps of fluttering songbirds was the velveteen cry of her name from the silken lips of Spitfire, who stood before the cyan mare's ocular ponds of magenta shade - set upon a baby blue face carried by a chariot of four muscular legs. Then, with all her love-filled might, Rainbow Dash thrust her hind-legs straight out with wings fully extended, carrying her through the air into the open arms of her saffron admirer. As she gleefully pounced upon the fire-maned mare, the deep, lust-fueled burning of desire's flame brought the embrace of rich heat through every cell in her body, prompting Rainbow to lower her lips towards the agape, inviting mouth of Spitfire for the kiss of a thousand lifetimes. Feeling the electric jolt of the pain of their fall and the pleasure of their company, the two were ensnared in an impenetrable cocoon of ecstasy. After what seemed like an eternity of white-hot, tongue-duelling passion, Rainbow Dash released her mouth from Spitfire's flower-soft lips upon feeling the odd sensation of cold hooves pressing against her side. Soon, all sounds were drowned; muffled by the increasingly loud, panicked voice of a familiar friend... "Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash!!" With a loud yelp of surprise, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the large, violet shape just on the periphery of her vision - the shocked, startled face of the source of that voice from her dream. "Rainbow Alberghetti Dash, what in Celestia's NAME are you DOING?!" Cried Twilight, shaking sense into her disoriented friend. "Huh?! What?!" "Rainbow Dash, what on earth were you even thinking?! Do you have any idea what you have just done?!" The Unicorn reiterated. "What are you talking about?!" Dash replied rudely. "I was just--" Before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow Dash was cut off by the sudden realization of her surroundings: She was now on the right side of the stage, just in front of the podium crouching down, whereas before, she was standing straight on all fours to the middle of the left side; her flight suit and framed PoM undamaged yet seemingly thrown across the stage. The entire room was dead silent; Everypony in the audience, the Wonderbolts, both Princesses and even the seemingly dauntless Canterlot Royal Guard were shocked silent, the look of shock and awe carved onto their every equine face - eyes all fixed upon her. Realizing that she must've done something terribly brazen, Dash silently wondered where Spitfire was. Feeling a solid something beneath her plot, Rainbow Dash dared to lower her head down to find out. She wish she hadn't. Despite releasing a sharp, despaired gasp of air into her lungs, it had felt like all warmth and all life had been sucked dry from Rainbow's body upon finding out what she was sitting on: The lower midsection of a startled Spitfire sprawled out on her back, panting heavily and staring into Dash's terrified eyes with utter shock, her face stained crimson with an intense blush. But most horrifying of all was what she found connected to the lips of both mares: A long, hair-thin strand of saliva. "Rainbow Dash..." Gasped a breathless Spitfire. Releasing a cry of terror as she scrambled off of the Wonderbolt on her front hooves and rear end, Dash hit her back on the side of the podium, noticing the concerned stares of the other Elements of Harmony who had come to her aid, along with that of Spitfire, who laid there still, save for lifting her head up to maintain eye contact with the Cerulean Pegasus. "Umm...Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy meekly asked. "Are you alright...?" Hearing those soft-spoken words echo meaninglessly through her skull, Rainbow Dash saw it all flash in front of her waterlogged eyes.... There she was, poor eighteen-year-old Rainbow Dash, curled up in a ball on the soft floor of clouds that made up the courtyard of the Cloudsdale High School campus, crying her eyes out like a frightened filly that had lost her mother in a shopping mall and surrounded by the cackling, jeering wall of young ponies surrounding her. The high school prom queen, Morning Star, had just finished reading the secret love fantasies found in Rainbow Dash's diary in a mocking tone, emphasizing the many romantic daydreams written about her fellow female classmates. Wailing like an infant before the faces of her former friends, now ripped ear-to-ear with pain-thirsting grins of pure malice and eyes that burned with heartless intent, all that the poor young filly could do was bawl in pure humiliation, hoping that her torturers would finally end their malevolent mantra: "Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke's the high school bike! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke's the high school bike! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke's the high school bike! Rainbow Dyke! Rainbow Dyke..." "Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash... Are...are you okay?" Spitfire asked, having gotten up and now sitting down to meet her eye-to-eye. Rainbow Dash had her side pressed hard against the podium, her face bleached red with embarrassment, contorted and warped with a heartaching expression of pure anger, sadness, hatred and above all: fear; pushing her head against the wall the hardest, clearly looking towards Spitfire like she was some kind of monster. Her lower lip trembled in epileptic quivers, releasing pitiful sounds of faint, dry heaves and sobs. Her eyes pushed out heavy streams of hot tears down her cheeks as tiny droplets of mucus hung from her nostrils, neither of which seemed to show any sign of slowing down or stopping. With Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spitfire and now Soarin', Celestia and Luna circling around her like the bullies so long ago - concerned faces replacing those of sadistic joy, Rainbow Dash trembled before them, letting out only a small, barely audible squeak. "Itsnofair..." "What did you say?" Asked Fluttershy. "Itsnotfair..." "Ah beg yer pardon?" Applejack inquired. "It's not fair..." "'It's not fair?' What isn't fair?" Queried Luna. "It's not fair!" "What ever is the matter, Rainbow Dash?" Asked Celestia. "What is it that's not fair? Tell us!" None of her friends apparently getting the cryptic message she was sending them, Rainbow Dash collected the breath her lungs needed to release years and years and years of pent-up emotions in a single, bone-chilling scream... "IT'S NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!!!!!!" Finally forcing out the baleful, deafening scream of agony and frustration she so needed - which literally shook the very walls of the palace itself, Rainbow Dash found the strength to spread her wings and soar straight out from the balcony into the night sky, tears trailing behind her. Consumed by so much pain and so much shame from having succumbed to her estrus and emotions only to culminate in the realization of her worst nightmare, Dash flew off into the black of night, planning on never returning to Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville - or all of Equestria for that matter, ever again. For what seemed like an eternity of stunned silence, the entire hall soon rang out with the shocked and confused conversations of nearly every occupant within. "What in Celestia's name had just happened?!" "What did she mean by 'it's not fair,' exactly?" "My ears are ringing!" "Such unladylike behavior! What a beast!" "Heh...She can take me down like that any day!" "What a horrible sound!" "I hope the poor girl's alright! She must've been so ashamed!" "And she should be ashamed! Mares loving mares is an abominable, unnatural thing!" "How could she have done such a thing!" Amidst the chaos, the Captain of the Guard himself, Shining Armor, had stepped forth before the two princesses onstage. "Princesses Celestia, Luna and Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts!" Said Shining with a salute and his voice thick with authority. His fellow guardsmen soon stood by his side, their spears drawn. "I have witnessed the whole thing happen with my own eyes and in your names, I will not let Spitfire's attacker, Rainbow Dash, escape from Canterlot justice! I humbly request permission to pursue Rainbow Dash, arrest her and place her on trial for sexual harass--" "PERMISSION DENIED!!" Barked Luna in a slightly reduced version of the Royal Canterlot Voice, scaring both Shining Armor and everypony in the room into silence. "We too, have witnessed what Rainbow Dash has done and we assure you, Shining Armor, that this was not an intentional act of malevolence, but an episode of severe emotional distress! Therefore, by divine order of the goddess of the moon, we hereby drop any and all charges against the Element of Loyalty, already knowing that this was of circumstances beyond her control! But one question remains: Where is she and who will join me in searching for her?" "I'll go." Spitfire said with a flat tone of authority. "Very well then, brave Spitfire!" Luna Declared. "Let us both make haste to find Rainbo--" "No. I'm going alone." "W-what?! Why?" Asked Shining Armor. "Spitfire, we are her friends and fellow Elements of Harmony, we should be the ones responsible!" Said Twilight, the rest of the Elements standing by her side. "No. I feel that I should be the one to find her." Spitfire boldly stated. "I'm her idol, her hero and the one that feels responsible for what happened." She sighed heavily. "She's a Wonderbolt, I'm a Wonderbolt, therefore, this is a Wonderbolt problem; And I have a problem to help her solve before it's too late. Pausing only momentarily to let out another guilt-heavy sigh, Spitfire took off from the balcony, soaring off towards the direction Rainbow Dash flew in. "Rainbow Dash...You hold a place in my heart. And I can't see you go like this..."