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>Dash kicks a pebble as she wanders through the everfree. Her head hangs low. She winces as she puts weight on her hind left leg.
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>Her mind is racing faster than the accident that gave her that injury.
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>She blames everything she she can think of. Weird wind patterns, her friends not cheering hard enough. Her friends cheering too loud, and distracting her!
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>The brambles scratch at her coat. There's no cleared path, and the thick jungle makes it impossible to see more than four hoof-lengths ahead.
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>Rainbow Dash doesn't lose.
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>She also definitely doesn't make a fool of herself in front of everypony at the Stadium...
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>But today, well --
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>The bushes behind her rustle.
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>Her head shoots up and her ears prick. They swivel to the source of the sound.
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>Dash drops her haunches.
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>"COME OUT! I'M NOT AFRAIDDA YOU!"
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>The rustling stopped.
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>She continues. The rustling continues as well. She jumps back around, and yet still, nothing.
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>The twisting knot in her stomach is very contrary to the roaring eagerness to serve some Everfree monster the works.
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"Da-- DASH! DASHIE!"
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>"Wh-- ANON?! What are *you* doing here?"
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"I could be asking you the same thing! You just disappeared! Twilight was very worried about you. Don't tell her I said that, though."
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>She feels a pang of guilt for a moment for just dropping off the face of Equestria without telling anypony.
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>It's quickly replaced by a bolt of frustrated anger.
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>"Leave me alone, okay!? I'm fine! I just-- Zecora needed me to go and get her some... stuff, or something, some -- some plant and, well, nopony else is brave enough so I--"
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"Come on, Dash. Is this about yesterday?"
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>Dash winced and looked away, moving her injured leg out of view of Anon.
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>Anon's torn suit and muddy shoes come closer to her, trouncing through -- "Shit--" catching on loose vines and stumbling his way to Dash.
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>"N-- No.. I'm fine. It's just- It's quiet out here, you know?"
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>Anon sits down in a big pool of mud. Splorch.
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"Fuck. Rares'll have my head for this," he mumbles. "You know, most ponies probably wouldn't even dare to try to pull off what you tried. That you went for it at all was awesome. I mean, it's not SO bad, it's just one cr-"
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>Anon's attention perks up to the sound of sniffling. Tears streaming from Dash's eyes pitter-patter on the grass.
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>His eyebrow, singular?, furrows immediately into concern as he rushes to console her.
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>"It's -- It's not JUST ONE, Anon, it's all of them! These little injuries build up and -- and one day, when I'm older, I won't have the chance to be the fastest flyer anymore! Ponies get old a- a- a- and my joints will be lame and weak and I'll be-- I'll be-- *snif* ... I'll be nothing..."
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>Anon sighs.
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>"Without flying, who... who am I? I have to be the best. I HAVE to."
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>She announces it with a determination that shows she's reached this conclusion time and time again before.
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>Anon doesn't think. Crouched, he lunges at her and throws her into a tight hug. The wind is knocked from Dash's lungs for a moment before she regains her footing and wraps her forehooves around him even tighter.
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"I think you're... not nothing. I think you're a lot more than nothing. ... A lot more."
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>What Anon didn't expect, however,
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>Dash pushes anon away. Her forehooves reposition on his shoulders. Her bright, fluttering, red-swollen magenta eyes make full contact with Anon's. She's heaving. Her warm breath makes Anon's face tingle.
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>She throws herself at him into the closest approximation of a kiss as she can manage.
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>Her snoot gets in the way. Her wings twitch and flare out.
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>She doesn't really know what she's doing, but...
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>Anon's nimble fingers work their way into the back of her mane. They pull her head further in. He kisses back just as intensely.
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>His other hand finds her flank and pulls her hips into his. She grinds against him like he's trying to escape.
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>Dash pins him to the hard peat ground of the Everfree.
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>They roll around, taking little breaths in between before diving back in for more. They wrestle for control over this moment.
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>Their tongues scramble for purchase against one another, trying to swallow each other whole.
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>One second, Anon is grabbing her hips and driving her into him; the next, Dash is pinning him down on all fours.
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>Dash's eyes go half-lidded and she has to fight for oxygen but every neuron in her brain is firing-- begging, screaming for more. More. MORE!
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>Her mind, other than that, is a total haze. The present moment is white and fuzzy. Her entire body runs up and down with shivers.
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>They part with a bridge of saliva breaking between them.
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>Dash finds her bravado stores veritably empty.
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>And yet, her mind scrabbles to generate some.
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>"Pretty cool, h- huh? I know. I'm the best at... that stuff. What, nopony told you?"
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Between heaves of breath, Anon resigns. "Yeah, Dash. The best."
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>The clearing they sit in goes cold as the adrenaline fades and the sun sets and yet they can't find the strength to release their embrace.
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>The silence is thick and heavy, yet not suffocating. It's more like a thick blanket they've wrapped themselves in, shielded from the world.
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>Metaphorically, of course. They are still very much in the Everfree forest at night.
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>But there's time to worry about that later.
by AnonymousDashfag
by AnonymousDashfag
by AnonymousDashfag
by AnonymousDashfag
by AnonymousDashfag