> Solid Sparkle: Grinding Zeroes > by Bakesale > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One: What a Thrill > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================= -- Chapter One: What a Thrill -- ========================= "What do you have to say for yourself?!" The mare felt her chest surge with the force of the aftershock of the words flying out with pure venom, more an accusation than it ever was a question. Distantly, the mare felt her mouth being worked, gaze made to peer through the thick lenses of a pair of aviator glasses. Though they dimmed the glare of the bright lights above, the sheer intensity of them was akin to the harsh highbeams that outlined the innards of a grand sports stadium, bearing down with an almost cruel fixation. The heat from them alone made her face damp with perspiration, or at least that's what she assumed - the mare felt neither particularly hot nor cold. She did, however, feel eyes all around. Pony-shaped silhouettes were her audience in various states of dress, some with balaclavas pulled tight around their faces and others bare with wide, ever receptive eyes. Their clothing was distinctly military in nature, ranging anywhere from simple bandoliers and chest rigs cinched tight to their owners to elaborate, form fitting uniforms in drab or camouflage patterns she did not recognize. She herself wore an ensemble much different from their own, the corners of her vision showing the collar of a heavy tan coat, and she heard the faraway jingle of small metallic pieces pinned on her chest bumping against one another. Medals? Where was she? What had put her in such anguish? Context eluded her, but the answer was in the question she herself directed. Less than a meter in front of her, the target of her frustration met her gaze with but one violet eye, yet returned none of it in kind. This wasn't to say her vision was askew in the other eye so much as she simply didn't have a second one to direct, it or the lack thereof covered by a worn, leathery black patch. Like the others, she too had a harness strapped to her chest and midsection, but wear and reddish, brownish splotches told a story of very recent action. There was spittle on the velvet, one-eyed mare's snout from her outburst. A part of Rainbow Dash wondered if she even registered it. Twilight Sparkle was one of her best friends, and even though she was positively seething, she felt a pang of concern when she took in more details about her health instead of generally acknowledging she was physically hurt. Deep lines marred her face and body from old wounds with smaller lines blemishing over and between their predecessors with fresh and dripping red. A hint of dark and dried blood painted the inner of what she could see of Twilight's right ear, the possibility of hearing loss very real. The centerpiece of these painful blemishes had to be the thick, jagged ebony spike jutting out from her cranium, ever so close to the horn whose size it rivaled. The lack of blood stemming from where the protrusion met flesh explained her confusion at not being alarmed; it had to be one of the old wounds. In the time she had spent looking over her friend's form, her spit had dribbled down from Twilight's nose to her upper lip in outrageous silence. Rainbow considered yelling out another reprimand, but was cut short when Twilight's tongue poked out between her lips. In one slow, sensually smooth movement, her tongue ran across her lip and swept up that saliva with it in a way that caught Rainbow Dash more off guard than a right hook across her face. She took a mute step back, starting to burn with indignation in her cheeks. "Boss-" Twilight took a step forward with much larger steps. In Rainbow's peripheral, she just noticed a spot of blonde and orange in the assembled crowd. Applejack? That thought didn't last long as purple filled all she could see, navy blue and a sliver of hot pink spiraling across her spinning vision. Rainbow felt herself stumble and sputter for a precious few seconds before her lips were captured and she could say no more. She wasn't sure what she would have said if she could get anything out to begin with - hot breath that wasn't her own turned into a faint wisp in the cyan mare's mouth, the only foreshadow before Twilight's tongue invaded. The cyan mare could do little but accept it, her thoughts floating away as a set of purple pony hooves clasped around her head, Twilight's tongue graduating from running along Rainbow's to the roof of her mouth. Violet eyes gauged her magenta ones with decided firmness, an unspoken order for her to just.. accept the kiss. And accept she did. Gone was that knit of stress, and instead reigned warmth and airiness through her core that reminded Rainbow of free-fall on a Summer day. "B-boss," she began to croon, but stopped when the sound of her own word sounded so.. clear. Loud, even. With the loose seal of lips on lips, how was it even possible to form the 's'? She didn't care, didn't want to care. One of Rainbow's hooves rose to return the head-clamping gesture, and she saw Twilight's eyes follow her foreleg with a bit of an upwards pinch in her cheeks - a coy, reserved smugness. It crept closer, and.. - ~ - ..when her hoof would meet Twilight's head, she found open air. Rainbow Dash jolted in surprise, eyes snapping open into darkness, shadows only barely granted existence through scant illumination through a cracked window in her cloud home. Unfortunately for the pegasus, her hoof followed through to only the plush, cushioning puff of her bed and very much not the nape of a fuchsia filly. Her breathing went from heavy and haggard to quiet as her teeth began to grit, the poor pegasus turning so her wings splayed flat between her lithe form and the plush beneath her, eyes casting her scorn on a ceiling where beads of light shone through. What was once an aesthetic choice now taunted her. Rainbow Dash thought of five, sparkling stars surrounding a bright and big magenta one on a backdrop of what she decided in a snooze-addled haze as a "do-able lavender". The hoof that sought her purple partner now slipped back under the comforter, and her indignance was returned with the promise of relief when the edge of her hoof met herself. Rainbow found herself with thoughts she was not prepared to deal with yet, thoughts that made her cheeks burn when she discovered the volume of arousal that drenched her hoof, assaulting her nostrils from just that brief billowing of a comforter. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow? Really? She hushed those thoughts with a harsh shutting of her eyes. Her hoof touched the bottom of where swollen light blue opened into a plump marehood, the edge of it dipping and spreading those lips around herself. She felt her thoughts quelled as dreamy imagination won over reasoning. With but a wish, that cyan hoof was thought of as a purple one that invaded these lips like her other ones with brisk confidence she only knew from her idols. "Y-yeah.. You like that, don't you..?" Rainbow Dash croaked; her mouth was very dry. She spurred herself on with a different tack with haphazard enthusiasm, "T..T-take me, Boss.." She mewled. Ooh. Boss. That thought brought that warmth back into her tummy, her lowers winking at those feelings before she could will herself to do so consciously. Boss was such a simple phrase, but the amount of subordination it implied so casually and matter-of-fact was intoxicating. The pegasus's eyes rolled back in her head, hips sliding up so her thighs could hug around her hoof. Another hoof found Rainbow's mouth, and she bit on it to suppress whatever moans she would have otherwise let out. Her Boss wouldn't have wanted her to make so much noise, would she? "Bosth.." Rainbow Dash crooned around her hoof airily, and immediately her ears fell flat. Her body felt like fire, and only by persisting in this treatment of her loins could she find some relief.. but this was no excuse, and she corrected this by pushing her own hoof a little more forcefully into her mouth to the point of a bit of pain. In her imagination, she had the spitting of the purple pony seated atop of the pegasus' lower half with the firmness and confidence of a veteran. Even as their folds glided against one another like a lover's kiss, Twilight would glare down at her for the audacity of her insubordination - leading into this impromptu gagging. It was wonderful. In a strange yet natural harmony, Rainbow's legs twitched synonymously with the mental image of Twilight incrementally becoming rougher, the superior mare losing herself in her own lust. To be the subject of her Boss' lust, even for a few minutes.. As if she were a mare possessed, her hindlegs rose higher towards her chest and Rainbow scrambled her saliva-covered hoof to hold them there while her other limb worked her soaked sex in a frenzy. Magenta eyes began to cross, her hoof's motions becoming shaky as her marehood flexed and spasmed. Rainbow Dash let her mouth hang open in wordless exhilaration for at least five whole seconds. She let out a howl of pleasure so exquisite and genuine with it's passion, she didn't register Winona howling with her cries miles away. If anypony else heard her (at least a few of Ponyville's residents were awoken by the sound, some in violent terror, a raging erection or even both for some), none interrupted. Rainbow sank in the sheets with her wings splayed behind her, eyes rolling as she slipped into sticky, thought-numbed unconsciousness. - "All of them, darling? Really?" "Every one," Fluttershy huffed, puffing out her cheeks as she glared down at a lovely romaine salad. She kept that expression even as she dipped her head and bit into a cherry tomato. After she swallowed the petite portion, she continued with the same gentle frustration. "I have no idea what he's doing with them.. Or if it's even him," Yellow limbs flailed out in exasperation, and Twilight flinched to avoid getting a surprise five across the face. Purple, sparkling miasma floated a score of fries to Twilight's mouth. Ponyville was a small enough town. On any given day, at least two of the six friends would cross paths. It would only be a matter of time until a third or even a fourth wandered by to join the party, and today was much of the same. On this occasion, Twilight and Starlight had caught Fluttershy and Rarity trying to discreetly trying to stuff their saddlebags with disposable plasticware at the Hayburger, and after several minutes of the white unicorn vehemently swearing up and down she wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this if she weren't helping Fluttershy, they eased into the unanimous decision to sit down and actually eat at the restaurant. This is what Rainbow Dash gathered, at any rate. The pegasus had arrived not long after this debacle, sluggishly moping her way into the Hayburger for a late breakfast. She sat between her white and pink unicorn friends with her chin resting on the table, pushing the perfect pick-me-up for a night of bad sleep towards her slovenly maw: A fried, fat chunk of hashbrown with another chunk of scrambled egg on top, both slathered in white gravy before getting shoved between two halves of a croissant. Rainbow did not know who created this masterpiece of greasy goodness, but she praised them as much as Rarity was probably cursing their name, judging from how much the fashionista kept edging away from the cyan mare with each crumb that flecked off as a result of Rainbow Dash enjoying her meal. As she munched, her heavy eyes focused on the lavender subject of her dreams just the night prior. Twilight looked particularly curious as she chewed her own piece of potato. "I say he's the prime suspect. Unless Angel is going to organize another revolt anytime soon.." Her eyes gave a playfully coy look and a cheeky grin at the cyan speed demon. It is then that Rainbow's heart leapt in her chest and her face burned, her gaze redirecting towards her burger. You get overpowered and put in a stewpot by a bunch of housemice just once, you never lived it down. A tremor of uncertainty made it's way into Fluttershy's voice. "Oh dear.. I hadn't thought of that! I'll start asking the animals around the house. I thought they were happy, but I've been wrong before.." Starlight’s milkshake made that ear-grating noise of a milkshake that’s been sucked on too long, and one was only getting air. Her lips departed, and a hoof began adjusting the straw to get a better shot at drinking her frozen treat. "I think she was joking, Fluttershy." "It's well within the realm of possibility, isn't it?" Rarity's horn lit up with it's glittery sparkle, and a small score of plastic spoons fanned out in front of their eyes. She peered down at them, unimpressed. "This is a nice temporary solution, but we need to find out who keeps taking her spoons. Or, as the vermin probably refer to them as, shovels." She tapped two of them together, as if suspicion alone would divine the mystery. To her credit, it seemed as if it did - Rarity's head shot up, eyes wide before they narrowed dangerously at a far window. "I do believe I'll have a talk with the Crusaders, today." Fluttershy pursed her lips, knitting her adorable brows. "Oh, Rarity, I don't think the girls would do such a thing.. At least without asking. Since they've gotten their cutie marks, they've been.." Conversation drifted out of Rainbow's thoughts as she shoved the splayed remains of her burger in her mouth, dabbed at her hooves with a napkin, then rested her cheek on the table. It wasn't that the spoon mystery wasn't intriguing, but it wasn't nearly as enthralling as the plum princess sitting just in front of her. Twilight was a pro at floating her fried spuds in her peripheral, swabbing them liberally with ketchup without looking and tearing them down. It's not that watching Twilight eating was hot so much that Twilight was just.. hot, now. Rainbow found herself fidgeting - the Twilight of her dreams had some of the same self-assurance this one did, but that style, that presence that just oozed cool and made the pegasus weak in the knees? That's what she craved most. She waited for a lull in conversation before sitting up and stretching her wings, making a point to brush her feathers against Rarity for cringing from her earlier. It was deserved for her disgust of one eating the best sandwich maybe a little sloppily. The white unicorn gave her an unamused squint, but otherwise did nothing as Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "I think I'm gonna head back to my place, girls. I got some stuff to do. But hey, Twi.." The purple pony blinked at her with a mouthful of fries. "Hmn?" "You doin' anything tonight?" Those words earned what they hoped were hidden, sly looks from the white and pink unicorns, the latter biting into one of the hayburgers soon after. Twilight took it as literally as ever, the egghead. "Well, since it's a weekend," The plum mare gave Rainbow a little smile, and the pegasus felt way too much warmth from the simple gesture. "I was gonna do only a little bit of reading tonight. I got a bunch of new books in the library about pinnipeds, and I want to see if they’re any good. Why?" Rainbow flexed her wings behind her a half-second before she answered, drawing Twilight's gaze with it. It was a pegasus thing to lead with them, much like how some ponies liked leading with their hooves while they spoke. "Wanna get some flying practice in? We haven’t for a while, you know. You're gonna get clumsy all over again if you don't keep up on it," The cyan mare pointed out. Twilight’s eyes wandered from Rainbow to nothing in particular, hemming and hawing. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to try flying at night..” “So you’d rather be only mediocre at flying during the day?” Rainbow countered with cleverness bordering on the uncanny. She found herself proud of it, chest swelling with that infamous pegasus pride. Twilight’s eyebrows raised high, and the eyes below them fixed Rainbow with a stare for just a few seconds - then she gave a lopsided smile and a laugh, getting both out of the pegasus, too. “Alright, Rainbow, you’ve got a point. I’ll see you at the castle aaaat..” She droned, “..seven?” “Seven’s cool,” And it very much was. Rainbow Dash simply couldn’t wait for that hour to draw near - but she stopped the thoughts of craven lust before they reached anything substantially arousing in a haste. She couldn’t just say “you bring the eyepatch, I’ll bring the spandex suits” to her friend, after all. Rainbow had to be smooth. So, she went for a classic wink. “I’ll see you then.” The pegasus turned and made her way out of the Hayburger, head brimming with ideas to sweep the purple pony off of her hooves. Once she was out of earshot - that is, out of the restaurant - Rarity leaned on the table, chin settled on a hoof with a look that had gossip written all over it. “Why, darling.. You must have all the confidence in the world, to look so casual after somepony asks you on a date.” Twilight’s eyes bulged, and she sputtered. Starlight Glimmer’s horn lit up with the reaction time of a pro, and whatever foody phlegm that would’ve ruined Rarity’s day was swiftly caught in a shimmer of sparkles, neatly disposing the grossness with a telekinetic path that made a beeline straight into a wastebin. Recovering from not being comically disgusted (though with some revulsion still at the Princess’s table manners), she dabbed at Twilight’s face with the fawning presence of a mother. “D-date..?” The alicorn eventually mewled out, ever uncertain. “Yes, dear. The date Rainbow Dash just asked you out on,” Rarity deadpanned. “She didn’t ask me out on a date,” Twilight insisted, looking down at her sandwich with a longing as her magic wraps it up in the flimsy wrapper it came in. “She asked me to come to flying practice.” “At seven at night. While winking,” Her student pointed out, thoughtful. “Trixie did something similar, except it was a magic show. Creative, right?” “Aww.. She probably meant well,” Fluttershy murmured with a cheesy little smile. Starlight seemed to agree, seeing how she smiled at her friend, but said nothing. The yellow pegasus tapped on the bowl of her salad, thoughtful. “It might have been a good thing that you couldn't tell. She probably thinks you're smooth.” Twilight’s muzzle scrunched, the menagerie of fast food in her tummy settling uncomfortably with the butterflies in there, too. There had to be some sort of a mistake. The brave, physical Rainbow Dash being interested in a bookworm like her.. It was far-fetched. Twilight surely had plenty of confidence in herself as a fair enough mate, but she didn't think of herself as Rainbow’s type. Or.. Rainbow as her type, thinking about it. She peered over the faces of her friends - Starlight’s matter-of-factness, Fluttershy’s soothing encouragement and Rarity beaming at her so surely. Twilight came to a conclusion, shoving her doubts aside in an attempt to quell them. The Princess of Friendship would trust in her friends to see her to the end of this.. Date.