A/N: This is for you, Tails. NOW will you let it go already? As for everyone else...guys, I'm so sorry. I swear they won't all be like this. Maybe.

"THE GAMES WE PLAY"

ALTERNATE ENDING #1

There was only silence; the sound of the two of them breathing and the hushed whisper of snow falling.

"We'll be okay," Rainbow Dash said, her voice firmer this time. "I promise. No matter what happens. I'm not going to give up on you."

And without waiting for a reply, she enfolded the mare in one final embrace before quietly lowering her to the ground.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"No," Mare Do Well answered, still breathless and panting.

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, and Rainbow Dash ducked her head in, so that her mouth was moving against the shape of Mare Do Well's ear.

"Too bad." she whispered. She could feel the mare shiver beneath her.

It was time. She took one final deep breath.

Mare Do Well was perfectly still, as if preparing herself for what was coming. For whatever Rainbow did next.

And Rainbow Dash opened her eyes.

Under her...before her...there lay a pony clothed in shades of midnight, a cape fanned out beneath her. Atop her head there was perched a matching wide-brimmed hat.

But now, there was no mask to protect her face. No facade to hide behind.

There was only her.

Wide violet eyes. A mouth, seemingly unsure about whether or not it was meant to smile. And hair of a deep shade of indigo, interrupted by two streaks of lighter colors - one purple, the other pink - her bangs lying neatly against her forehead and mane pooling around her like a waterfall, long and straight as glass.

-----

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. Her eyes were wide, her voice disappearing somewhere on its way to her mouth. Utterly lost for words.

"No," was all Rainbow could think to say; and a flicker of pain flashed in those eyes, those big and beautiful eyes. "No. No. That doesn't make sense."

And still the mare had nothing to say for herself, only watching as Rainbow Dash shook her head, wings fluttering anxiously.

"That doesn't make sense," Rainbow Dash repeated. Her hooves had found their way to the mare's shoulders, gripping her as tightly as she could without even meaning to. The mare winced, then gave Rainbow a weak smile.

"I can explain," Twilight whispered.

"No, seriously," Rainbow said, her brow furrowing in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. Like, at all. What about that party at Pinkie Pie's place, when Mare do Well and I were talking and then she ran away because you showed up? Did you use some kind of duplication spell? Because that would totally be a cop-out."

"Oh, no doubt. It would be a cop-out. But you see, it's not, because I actually have an explanation for that," Twilight answered primly. "You see, there were two Mare Do Well's. Whenever Mare Do Well was being charming, clever, or likable, it was me. Whenever Mare Do Well was being immature or bratty, it was Pinkie Pie. Now do you understand?"

Rainbow Dash wasn't actually listening. Instead, the pegasus had found her eyes drifting downwards, to the way the damp black and violet cloth of the bodysuit was now clinging to Twilight's body, hugging and accentuating her every curve. It was extremely distracting.

"You know what?" Rainbow Dash announced firmly, a sly smile making it's way across her face. "That makes perfect sense to me."

For a while there, Dash had almost begun to believe that she might have been in love with Pinkie; but now that Rainbow could see the lavender unicorn splayed out before her, she realized how very wrong she'd been. After all, how could somepony as annoying and hyperactive as Pinkie Pie possibly compare with a unicorn as adorkably lovable as Twilight Sparkle?

And if the smug, irritating Mare Do Well had purely been a product of Pinkie Pie's ineptitude as an actress, then, well, that left Twilight as the possessor of all of Mare Do Well's more positive traits. For instance, her romantic nature and obvious intelligence, or perhaps the absolute, borderline obsessive worshipful adoration she regarded Dash with.

All of these were traits that the pegasus could get easily get behind.

And so Twilight found herself swept into a flurry of kisses as the pegasus carried her off into the night, back to Twilight's library, where they then proceeded to have hours of kinky library sex (which you all know is the best kind) right on top of a pile of Daring Do novels, when suddenly, the door was thrown open and Pinkie Pie burst in.

"DASHIE!" Pinkie Pie shrieked. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? This isn't what's supposed to happen at AT ALL!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight cried, blushing as her hooves flew to cover herself, despite the fact that ponies tended to go around naked most of the time anyways. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"'Sup, Pinks?" Rainbow Dash asked with a lazy grin. The pegasus was straddling the unicorn, her face red from exertion and her breathing labored.

"This isn't what's supposed to happen next! You were supposed to catch me during the chase, and then we were supposed to totally make out and then you'd fall in love with me for realsies and then we'd live happily ever after like the author planned all along! Why are you with Twilight?"

"Well, geez, Pinkie. I mean, I kind of thought about picking you? But then, well, Twilight happened. And she is best pony," Dash said with some affection, smiling down at the unicorn, who smiled back lovingly.

Kill them all! Pinkamena hissed to Pinkie. Your so-called friends have betrayed you yet again! If Rainbow Dash won't love you, nopony else can have her, either!

"No!" Pinkie shrieked, clutching her head and twisting her face as if in pain. "Stop it! Bad pony! Stop telling me to kill my friends!"

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle exchanged looks of concern. Well, Twilight tried to exchange a look of concern; but Rainbow Dash had donned a pair of cool shades and was in the process of lighting a choice cigar, and didn't seem to notice.

"Um, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, propping herself up on her elbows atop the pile of books. In retrospect, they probably shouldn't have used the books as their base. It would make actually reading them afterwards fairly awkward, if not completely disgusting and unsettling.

KILL THEM ALL! roared Pinkamena from within Pinkie's mind. WHO WANTS CUPCAKES? WE DO!

"No! I won't let you make my friends into cupcakes!"

"Pinkie Pie, are you all right?"

Pinkie lifted her tear-stained face, blue eyes wild, only to see Twilight Sparkle's gentle, compassionate face smiling back. There was such concern written in those lovely, sparkling eyes of hers, and suddenly, Pinkie Pie saw the truth. She didn't love Rainbow Dash. Not really. The truth was, she was deeply, irrevocably in love with Twilight.

No! her Pinkamena self wailed. But what about Rainbow Dash? We've wanted her for so long, you can't seriously be giving up NOW!

Well, Dashie's here, too, Pinkie offered. What if we just all did it together?

Ooh, that sounds fun.

And Pinkie Pie threw herself at Twilight. A series of endless sloppy kisses rained down upon the unicorn to little protest; that was all the invitation Rainbow Dash needed to join in, and in a single, glorious moment, the three of them found themselves entangled in a Twilight Sparkle-centered orgy of desire, and also of sex.

At some point there was a knock at the door, but the three ponies - earth, unicorn, and pegasus - were so wrapped up in one another that no one noticed; and at last, the visitor grew fed up with waiting for an answer and opened the door themselves. In walked Applejack.

The moment Applejack saw three of her best friends locked in passionate embrace on the library floor, she quietly turned around to leave.

But then, Applejack stopped in the doorway, for she'd realized something. She'd been wrong all along. The unicorn she loved wasn't Rarity; it was actually Twilight. All this time, she'd been projecting her true feelings of lust on the closest substitute she could find, knowing that a simple country bumpkin like herself would never be able to win the heart of a Canterlot-born mare like Twilight, a mare who was not only well-educated, but the personal student of Princess Celestia herself. Now, though, the farmer could be free to act upon her true feelings.

For it was true, what had been said so many times in the past - Twilight really was best pony. And Applejack really, really liked her mane.

Before any of them truly knew what was happening, Applejack had joined the fray; and at some point, Rarity joined in as well, presumably because she had suddenly realized that Twilight Sparkle was the greatest pony who had ever lived and was fully deserving of the combined forced of their love and friendship.

The five of them made love long into the night, and it wasn't until the next morning that they saw any need to stop when Fluttershy walked in.

"Oh my," Fluttershy whispered when she saw what her friends were doing.

"Hiya, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie cried. "Wanna join in?"

"Um...no, thank you," Fluttershy mumbled, her face blushing a furious red when she saw what Rainbow Dash was doing to Twilight; and yet, she couldn't look away. "I like stallions."

"So do I, but mares are fun, too!"

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random," Rainbow Dash chuckled, sounding somewhat out of breath.

"I, uh, um...no. No, it's okay," Fluttershy squeaked, quickly scampering away and slamming the door behind her; and so, the dainty butter-yellow pegasus remained chaste, staying pure and undefiled until the day of her marriage to Big Macintosh.

Gradually, their numbers dwindled; one by one, the others grew tired and left, until at last, only Rainbow Dash and Twilight were left.

"I'm glad you turned out to be Mare Do Well," Rainbow Dash said happily before giving Twilight a soft kiss. "This so completely works on so many different levels, I can't see why anypony would have any problems with this result at all,"

"I know," Twilight agreed, sounding equally happy as she nestled against the side of the blue pegasus, where she'd always known she belonged. "I don’t understand how anypony could've been expecting anything else."

"Wanna have sex again? Let’s go somewhere else, though.”

"Where?"

"The roof?"

And so they climbed onto the roof, where they proceeded to have sex yet again.  

Their relationship was long and loving and full of all sorts of zany romantic encounters, and  the next day, everypony in Equestria simultaneously realized that Twilight Sparkle was their very favorite of all the ponies they knew; and so they all agreed to share her, so that none would have to go too long without basking in her glorious presence. But of course Rainbow Dash had dibs. And so they all lived happily ever after.

End Next Chapter: Alternate Ending: Bear Do Well (Guest submission from protractror) Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 45 Minutes