"Today, we shall be doing something relatively simple for our newest rookie here." The pegasus talking stopped to point her hoof towards a slim pegasus, a tight blue suit covering both of them. The rookie in question had sleek gray hair and green eyes. The pegasus that had been speaking had bright orange hair and amber eyes. Gathered around them was a host of other's.
"We will fly up to cruising height, then we'll enter a nose dive. Then, pull up about three quarters of the way down, before splitting off into the two groups. Afterwards we'll use the speed from the dive to each pull of a synchronized loop. Remember those with me go in a tighter loop, we don't want another collision, do we Soarin?" The pegasus asked another pegasus that had green eyes and light blue fur. Her voice teasing, which only made her point all the stronger.
"No Spitfire," Soarin said, his eyes drifting upwards as one of his hooves gingerly felt the top of his head. His eyes shut tightly as he withdrew his hoof quickly. He looked across from him only to see Spitfire doing the same. "Now that we have that covered, let's fly!" Soarin shouted at the other pegasi.
"Hold on their cowboy, I'm the captain here, not you. So I'll decide when we start to fly, OK?" Spitfire pointed out, eliciting a nod from Soarin. She stood still without talking for a few seconds, then a whole minute as Soarin's tail began to twitch from anticipation. After a moment more, Soarin seemed to not be expecting it, and Spitfire yelled, "now!" Her hooves kicked into the ground, launching her body into the air as her wings unfurled and pushed the air underneath her with a powerful flap. Immediately afterwards, everypony followed suit and caught up to her.
After a few seconds, their climb up began to turn horizontal as they approached their desired height. A moment later they were flying in a straight line as Spitfire nodded causing the pegasi to tuck in their wings and began to plummet. The wind whistled in their ears, making communication with each other nearly impossible, but the captain and co-captain both knew when to pull up. The buildings and trees below came into view and they stretched out their wings calmly as they began to pull apart. Spitfire's right wing lowered slightly sending her right, and the two pegasus pony's with her to the right. Soarin's group veered left, and began to pull up into the beginning of the loop. As Spitfire did the same something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she tilted her wings sharply to pull up, but it was too late. The rookie wonderbolt had accidentally lowered his left wing slightly and that had sent him crashing into the wonderbolt's captain sending them both tumbling to the ground.
After a few tumbles on the ground, Spitfire laid there thinking about what had happened before she heard a soft thud of somepony landing nearby. "You OK Spitfire?" Soarin asked, all the while his lips bent inwards on themselves and his cheeks puffed out.
"Ya I'm fine," the orange pegasus said clambering onto her hooves. Her wings spread once again as she sped towards the rookie, sitting a sizable distance away, his eyes focused on the ground. "Don't worry rookie, we're not kicking you off," the captain stated. The rookie's eyes darted up to meet hers, only to find sincerity and warmth in them. "We saw how good you are, however you don't seem to be particularly good at keeping your balance at high speeds. So We'll have to do something about that won't we?" The gray pegasus nodded quickly before Spitfire offered her hoof to help him onto his feet. Her hoof reached forward as she caught a tear that was rolling down the new wonderbolt’s suit. "Now stop crying, you're a member of the wonderbolts now, and if you want to stay that way, I expect the best from you!" The rookie grinned slightly and made a single jerky nodding motion. Spitfire spread her wings again as she showed her intent for take off before kicking the ground again and soaring into the air.
_*_
The rest of the practice had gone well, right up until the rookie's wing began to hurt. Due to that, the practice had to be cut short. The Wonderbolt's loved pushing their limits, but when you can't fly anymore, practice is over. Soarin took the new wonderbolt to the doctor to make sure he was ok, "don't worry rookie, you'll be fine, and I'll get you some reading material's while your in the hospital mending your wing." Spitfire had said as she passed him, the rookie responded loudly with a groan at the prospect of having to read, Soarin laughing beside him. The captain began to take off towards the locker and stowed her suit. After a quick, lukewarm shower to remove the sweat that had accumulated under the tight suit.
Her wings raised to her sides and flapped once before tilting, sending her on the way towards Ponyville. The early noon air seemed to cut into her still moist hair. The sun hung lazily above, providing a nice change to the recent chilly spring weather. But Spitfire wasn't here to admire the weather, even though it was impressive how the entire sky was empty of clouds. From behind her a loud voice called out, "Spitfire wait up!" However Spitfire gave it no mind and just kept flying her normal speed as a Rainbow maned pegasus flew up next to her.
"Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash right?" Spitfire asked carefully, not wanting to offend the pegasus. She had a few memories of her before, once at the Young Fliers competition in Cloudsdale, and than another time at the Grand Galloping Gala.
"You remember me," Rainbow Dash said, her voice quickly becoming an unrecognizable, high pitched squee. After regaining her composure under Spitfire's curious glance she continued. "Ya, I'm Rainbow Dash, and you're Spitfire. But why is the captain of the Wonderbolts flying towards Ponyville? Oh I know! You're looking for a new Wonderbolt, and you came to find me, well I'm found let's go!" Dash began to rant, resulting in a chuckle from Spitfire.
"No Rainbow, I'm just here to get a book for our newest rookie, but I'm not to familiar around here." Spitfire said, her voice wandering off.
"I can help you, I visit the library all the time! My friend, Twilight Sparkle, let's me read the coolest books, they're called The adventures of Daring Doo."
But before Rainbow Dash could finish, Spitfire stopped her seemingly endless talking by sticking her hoof into the blue pegasus pony's mouth. After a moment she released Dash's mouth and asked her, "can you show me the library?"
"Of course, that's what friends are for, right?" Dash asked as she changed direction and sped up slightly. Her eyebrows raising and her voice accentuating the word 'friends.'
"Ya, friends, right," Spitfire muttered as she allowed Dash to go ahead of her and lead the way. A shiver went up her spine as she flew close behind, something was wrong. It wasn't in her nature to be flying behind somepony, so she sped up until she was slightly ahead of Dash. "Ah, much better!" Spitfire said as she became comfortable again.
"What's the matter, don't like being behind somepony?" Dash teased, her wings flaring at the tips slightly. Her eyebrows lowered as her tail quivered at the prospect of a race against the famed captain of the Wonderbolts. "Well I'm going to go on ahead, the library is straight this way, later." Dash's tail swayed wildly as her wings came down pushing her along quickly.
Spitfire laughed at the pegasus before flaring her own wings and bringing them down, and as her wings flapped faster, she began to catch up with Rainbow Dash. The wind ran through their mane's, and their laughter filled the air, this was what they were built for. But Rainbow Dash stopped suddenly as a tree passed underneath them and took a nose dive straight towards the library. Spitfire simply tilted forwards as she shot towards the door.
Twilight Sparkle opened the door to the tree library, it was time to get some lunch from a nearby restaurant. She heard a pony screaming, "look out!!!" The purple maned unicorn looked up, only to find an orange blur heading straight towards her. Spitfire attempted to stop by flaring her wings out, perpendicular to the air rushing by, but it was too little, too late, and she crashed into Twilight. A loud thud resulted as the librarian was knocked down onto the floor, Spitfire laying on top of her. "I'm so sorry!" Spitfire apologized as she rolled off the unicorn carefully. "I was racing against Dash, and I couldn't stop," Spitfire recalled as Twilight laughed.
"Don't worry, it's always nice to bump into somepony new." Twilight Sparkle stated and began to giggle at the pun, Spitfire laughed with her as Rainbow Dash finally landed in front of the two. "So, is there any reason for racing here of all places?" she asked still smiling from the unexpected encounter.
"Um, ya, I need a book on flight, can I come in?" Spitfire asked hopefully. Twilight's eyes lit up, she always reveled in the chance to get a pony a good, and useful book to read.
"Of course you can, we have whatever kind of book you need," Twilight said, looking towards the orange mare across from her. Her eyes seemed to be filled with a fire that caused Twilight's entire body to flood with a powerful determination. A natural smile began to spread across her face.
Spitfire smiled back at the purple unicorn, before she looked over Twilights shoulder. "Shall we go in?" Spitfire asked, her eyes shifting to a cloud hovering over the library. Dash followed the orange maned pegasus pony's gaze before flying straight up towards the cloud. Twilight nodded still smiling, her hooves carrying her inside.
The inside of the tree library was quite spacious, the shelves were lined with every kind of book imaginable, some on myths, some on magic. Yet even past the enormous amount of literature, Twilight still found a few books on flying. Spitfire sat at a small table Twilight had levitated over as she began to skim through the books for any useful information. Twilight approached the reading pegasus and asked quietly, "so is this book for you or?"
"No, it's actually for a new rookie, who can't control himself at high speeds. So I'm seeing if there are any books to help him while he recovers from an injured wing." Her whisper was completely absorbed by the books around lining the walls. There was no real need to whisper since nopony was listening, and no other ponies seemed to be occupying the building; however it felt right and respectful.
"Ah, then you need a different book," Twilight whispered before calling out loudly, "Spike!" The change in volume caused Spitfire's wings to pop up, and her hooves to shoot up to her ears. Upstairs a loud thunk was heard, as a small groan traveled down the stairs towards the two waiting ponies. The small purple dragon helper almost stumbled down the stairs as he grumbled. "What do you want Twilight, I was almost asleep." His hand was on top of his head where a small discolored patch of skin was developing.
"And it sounds, and looks like you were trying to sleep on my bed. Anyways Spike, please get me a copy of Pegasus High Speed Flight Mechanics; volume 1," she told her helper purposefully. He was quickly off in a flurry of action as he climbed up a ladder that seemed especially made for him, as he was the only one with finger. He began to push it around the circular wall of books before stopping in front of a large, hardback cover book.
Spike grabbed the book and proclaimed, "I found it!" But before he could even climb down the ladder, Twilight had already pulled the book out of his hands, but luckily Spike had let go as soon as he felt the magic tug on it. Nopony paid attention to his descent as the book was laid heavily on the table. With a flick of Spitfire's hooves, the book swung open and landed on the chapter guide. A quick look through of the books syllabus told Spitfire it had everything she needed, and more.
"Thank you Twilight, may I?" Spitfire asked holding up the book curiously.
"Well of course, it wouldn't be much of a library if you couldn't borrow books would it now?" Twilight joked before continuing, "also I hope your new wookie gets better."
"Our new Wookie? Oh our new rookie, it's rookie, with an R." Spitfire said laughing as Twilight smiled and let out a small giggle.
"Well we hope to see you again soon, um," Twilight hesitated in her parting, as she realized she had never gotten the Pegasus pony's name.
"Spitfire, my name's Spitfire, and you're Twilight Sparkle if I'm not mistaken. Rainbow Dash was ranting on about you, or something to do with you on the way here." Spitfire teased.
"Oh, well, um, we hope to see you again Spitfire." Twilight said. With a quick nod, Spitfire turned around and walked out off the library before taking off towards the Cloudsdale hospital.
_**_
Spitfire's hooves struck the floor a bit harder than she had intended, as the book put into a bag she borrowed from Twilight, severely weighed her down. On the way over to the hospital, the book had gradually taken it's toll, as it was over 400 heavy paper pages. That fact combined with the large amount of flying already done that day made the trip back extremely taxing on her wings. Spitfire sighed in relief as she finally got to use her legs. A steady clop clop sound came from her hooves as she walked over the white tiled floor of the hospital, near the entrance was a large desk with a few nurse pegasi talking about, what sounded like gossip. She stood there silently listening in, "ya, did you hear about Becky?" one of the nurses said before Spitfire cleared her throat loudly. "Hey, can't you see we're trying to have a," but the nurse cut herself short as she turned and saw the Wonderbolt's captain standing there impatiently. "Oh, um, how can I help you?" The nurse asked quickly, not wanting to delay the celebrity.
"I need to find a rookie, he was carried in recently with a bad wing, he had Soarin next to him." She said as the nurse quickly got out from behind the desk. She pointed silently down the hallway to the left. Standing outside one of the rooms was Soarin. With a quick thank you Spitfire walked down the hallway indicated towards the waiting Wonderbolt.
"What took you so long Spit?" Soarin asked his captain harshly, but a smile on his face betrayed his facade.
"Well I had to go all the way to the library, and then me and Dash raced. Afterwards I landed on," Spitfire continued to repeat the entire story, despite Soarin's protests and Spitfire knowing he was being sarcastic. "Now next time I suggest you call me captain, or Spitfire, got that Rin?" Spitfire said, spitting out Soarin's least favorite nickname past her teeth. The venom she injected in it felt so bad, it could probably have taken down a dragon. Except for her own smile showed her good intentions.
"Well let's get that book to the Rookie and let him be with his reading," Soarin said, theatrically shuddering at the word, 'reading.' Spitfire knocked twice on the door before allowing herself in. Laying in the bed was the rookie, his gray fur ruffled up by what Spitfire immediately assumed had been Soarin's doing. She felt his hair tentatively only to find it still wet and gooey from somepony's spit. Outside of the door Soarin let lose a boisterous laugh before Spitfire trotted over to him and stuck her wet hoof in his face.
"Next time, keep your spit in your mouth, this rookie didn't deserve that," she said quickly and quietly enough that the nurse's couldn't hear. Spitfire's eyes caught the eyes of a nurse staring at the two pegasi, but all she had to do was furrow her eyebrows slightly before the nurse scampered off. "You got that Soarin?"
"Ya, ya Spitfire, loosen up a little," Soarin said instinctively. Still angry, Spitfire retrieved the book from her bag and shoved it hard at the other Wonderbolt.
"For that little prank, you're going to read the first chapter to him," Spitfire said as the pegasus inside let loose a groan before even Soarin could. "Also, Soarin practice is at 7 AM sharp tomorrow, training field." Without saying another word Spitfire turned around and walked out. As soon as she was out of earshot from anypony she muttered to herself, "I know Soarin won't actually read to him, but it will help them get closer. But maybe Soarin is right, maybe I do need to loosen up a bit, hmm," the orange pegasus pony's thoughts quickly returned to the Unicorn she had met that same day. But she couldn't visit her today, maybe tomorrow, "maybe she even has the newest version of Sherhoof Holmes!" She said to herself excitedly. She spread her wings to fly but found she was almost to tired to fly after the roundtrip to and from the library. "I bet Soarin would get a real kick if he found me reading Sherhoof Holmes," Spitfire bemused. Her laughter dulled the throbbing in her wings as she pushed off one final time and flew back home.
_***_
Spitfire's wings moved effortlessly through the air as she traveled towards her new friend. She had cancelled the morning practice since they were still missing one, but the honest reason was Spitfire didn't want to be all hot and tired today. Of course Soarin and the others had seen straight through her excuse, but they didn't call her on it. Unfortunately, this would mean they'd have to do a double training tomorrow. Spitfire gulped dramatically as she thought of how rigorous one training session a day is, let alone two of them. "Oh well, only one more day until the weekend, and then we can all get some much needed rest."
A slight breeze crossed the captains path, leaving her nice and refreshed on the warm morning. The wind blew through her mane and tail making them flow off to the side. With a snort, Spitfire tilted forwards slightly in order to get out of the breeze which had began to pick up. To the side of her she heard the same voice as yesterday call her name. "Hey Spitfire, race you again?"
"Sure Dash, how about to the library?" She said smiling confidently.
"But we went there last time!" Dash quipped at Spitfire's suggestion.
"To bad," Spitfire said before she sped up as her wings came down particularly hard, pushing the air behind her like a turbine. Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to keep the cutting wind out of her eyes, a hazard any good stunt pegasus knows can be dangerous, especially if a parasprite is in the way. Behind her she heard a complaining Rainbow Dash attempting to catch up by pumping her wings faster and faster, but that day belonged to Spitfire. She landed gently on the front step of the Ponyville library, just as Rainbow Dash smashed into the ground causing her to tumble once and slide head first into the wooden door.
"I'm coming, calm down," Twilight said from inside as she heard Rainbow's head hit the door. The humble wooden door opened lightly as Rainbow Dash laid there, cradling the top of her head in between her hooves. Twilight just sighed loudly and said, "you hit the door again? That's the second time this week! Oh, hey Spitfire." Her expression shifted from annoyance, to surprise, and finally settled on a simple smile. Her soft purple eyes caught Spitfire's eyes for only a moment, before Spitfire looked down at Rainbow Dash.
"Oh ya, Dash, why are you always heading in the direction of the library these days?" Spitfire asked as Dash's cheeks began to fill with excess blood.
"Um, well, it's to call Twilight an egghead of course!" Rainbow fibbed, as a single book dropped out from a harness she had on her stomach to keep it hidden.
"Daring Do? What's that about?" Spitfire asked teasingly, she was actually quite the connoisseur of literature. Rainbow's jaw popped open as she stared at Spitfire disbelievingly before going into detail about the amazing adventure's of Daring Do. Finally Spitfire held up a hoof and asked, "so, you read?"
"No, no way! Twilight just tells me the cool parts! Here take your book that you left at my house Twilight," Dash said before taking off as fast as she possibly could.
Spitfire looked in Twilight eyes before asking, "isn't Dash's house on a cloud?"
"Yep," Twilight said before they both began to laugh hard at the unlikely scenario. "So what did you need Spitfire," Twilight asked, her voice trailing off somewhere.
"Oh, ya, I just came to hang out maybe?" Spitfire responded, but Twilight remained silent for a moment. Her eyes looking off into the sky somewhere, lost deep in thoughts she didn't seem to notice anything. Spitfire waved her hoof in front of Twilight's eyes, but when this did nothing she had to resort to drastic measures. She walked to Twilight's side and lightly nibbled on the tip of her ear causing a shudder to travel down the purple maned unicorn's body. Her head snapped to the side as she looked at Spitfire, "so can we hang out?" Spitfire repeated, finally having her attention.
"Suuure, I was just about to go get lunch actually, would you like to come along?" Twilight asked pleasantly, her mind lingering on the strange feeling that had just passed through her system. She had never really been with anypony per'se. So this new strange feeling completely confused her, instead of feeling painful like it should have, it almost felt good.
"Um Twilight, are we gonna go, today?" Spitfire asked as Twilight had been lost in her thoughts again. Twilight nodded slightly, her stomach growling loudly only accentuated her point. The road beneath Spitfire's hooves felt strange, as she was so used to flying everywhere. But now she had a non pegasus friend, and she didn't mind walking with Twilight.
The small outside cafe had almost nopony sitting there yet, as it was still pretty early to be having lunch, but both ponies were starved. "Good morning madame Twilight Sparkle, and Madame Spitfire," a waiter with a short and thin mustache came out to greet them almost immediately after they had taken their seats. "I shall be your server today, how may I help you?" His horn was enveloped in a light, white glow, as was a pen and a small notepad that were floating in front of him.
"I'll have the, rose sandwich with extra petals please," Spitfire said politely after only looking at the menu for a moment.
"I guess, I'll have the same sandwich as her then," Twilight said, not being able to decide on a meal she'd prefer over a rose sandwich. With a curt nod the pen ran across the notepad and the waiter turned away from the two mares.
"Wait, make that one sandwich please," Spitfire insisted eliciting a small grunt from the Waiter who hastily scribbled something on the notepad. Twilight looked at the captain, attempting to divine her reasoning between the decision. Her cheeks began to flush as she thought she found the real reason to the choice. "Oh don't be like that Twilight, I got us one sandwich because two of them is excessive. Even though I may have more bits than I need, that doesn't mean I want to waste food.
"Oh, of course," Twilight said, blushing only harder at the misunderstanding, causing Spitfire to get a small blush of her own. "So, how's your rookie? Twilight asked, using a technique she had recently learned. She looked over the pegasus pony's shoulder in order to look like she was looking at her eyes, but without the intimacy that she believed came from such contact.
"Madame, your sandwich," the waiter said, his eyes studying the two with a small scowl on his face. He put a large plate in the middle of the table, a simple sandwich with rose petals covering it, resting on the plate. The waiter snorted slightly as he turned to leave, still scowling at the two mares.
"What was that about?" Twilight inquired to the grinning orange pegasus. Spitfire watched the waiter return to the building and saw him spit in some water.
"Oh, don't worry about it, he's just not my biggest fan after I didn't leave him a tip. Of course the food and service had been rubbish, so how could he have expected anything?" Spitfire replied matter of factly. She laughed lightly as the waiter began to return carrying two small glasses full of water. With a triumphant grin he placed the levitating glasses on the table. Twilights began to pick hers up before spitfire held up her hoof towards her new friend. "Don't drink that," after that she faced the grumpy waiter that was helping them. "You know that you could lose your job, and license for food and drink by tampering with water right?"
"Of course I know this madame," he said nonchalantly, his eyes intent on the purple mare levitating the glass.
"Well than, what could possibly possess you to spit in our water?" Spitfire asked, her voice innocent, but the threat there nonetheless. The color from the waiter seemed to fade from his face as his facade was broken. "By the way, if there is anything wrong with this sandwich, we will taste it, and we will tell your manager. I wonder how he would react, shall we find out?" Spitfires stood up from her chair, but the waiter quickly levitated the water off the table along with the sandwich and took them back inside hurriedly. With a triumphant grin, Spitfire looked back to her friend.
"But, how did you know he did something to the water and the food?" Twilight asked the orange pegasus.
"Well, for one thing I saw him spit in the water. Another thing, is that he took the food away, only proving my point that he tampered with it. So he kind of proved it himself." Her smile became more pronounced as Twilight simply stared at the pegasus pony's orange eyes. Twilight's expression was full of surprise as she comprehended the extremely advanced trick that Spitfire had just pulled on the colt serving them. In Twilight's eyes, something changed about her perception of the mare in front of her. She finally realized what Spitfire was truly like.
When Spitfire had first entered her library, she only thought of her as an overconfident, pegasus pony. But now she saw more than that, something deep inside of Spitfire that not many ponies knew about, a more calculating side of her. "So Spitfire, have you ever read Sherhoof Holmes?" The unicorn asked quizically. She was just testing her new theory, if her hypothesis was correct, she would already know the answer.
"Well of course I have," Spitfire responded casually. Hey eyes lighting up slightly at the mention of her favorite protagonist. A small smile was adopted onto Twilight's visage as her new perception of the pegasus proved to be exactly right. A grumble interrupted the moment as the waiter set down another, much better looking sandwich and water. Spitfire's eyes focused on the unicorn server as he waited expectantly. "Are you kidding me? Fine I'll give you a tip. Next time don't spit in my water or my food, or I'll tell your boss."
The waiter let out a loud grumble of anger before mumbling something and walking away. Even though his back was turned, a few of the obscenitites still fell upon their ears. Spitfire's mouth turned upwards as a gigle escaped her and the waiter turned around dramatically, only to meet Spitfires poisonous glare. He turned back around and walked through the elegant glass door as Spitfire continued to laugh, Twilight quickly joining in.
"Well we shouldn't let this sandwich go to waste, shall we?" Spitfire asked as she grabbed a knife nearby with her hoof and brought it down on the sandwich. The knife slid through smoothly creating a small klink sound as it struck the plate. Spitfire carefully placed the knife back before greedily grabbing half of the rose sandwich.
_****_
The two friends walked away laughing, behind them stood a clearly fuming waiter. He gave them the bill and had the nerve to put the tip that he thought he deserved, already on it. He put a modest ten percent, but Spitfire and Twilight had both agreed, the rude unicorn deserved no tip, so with the pen left there for them to sign, they crossed out the tip and payed the rest of the tab. Spitfire had brought out a few bits from a pouch tied to her inner leg. which brought up a question from Twilight, "how much money do you have Spitfire?"
"Honestly, I don't know, I know it’s too much," Spitfire had responded in between laughs. With lunch concluded, there was that awkward moment where Spitfire didn't know if she was invited back to the library.
"Well I'm going to go back to the library for some reading, but you can come along if you want to," Twilight said continuing walking. Her voice jumped up slightly near the end of the invitation. Her eyes were focused on the ground in front of her in order to not trip on any foreign objects on the road.
"Sure, I got nothing better to do," Spitfire responded without hesitation. A small smile developed on Twilight's lips as a similar smile developed on Spitfire. They're hoofs struck the ground thoughtlessly as they carried on a small conversation about books.
The duo found themselves standing in front of the library after what seemed like a few seconds. In reality it had taken them about fifteen minutes at the leisurely pace they had been going. Twilight's horn began to glow a light purple as the door swung open on its metal hinges. "Thank you," Spitfire said as she entered the library, followed immediately by Twilight.
"You're welcome, now let's find you a good book shall we?" the purple unicorn asked before a dozen or so books began flying onto the floor around her and Spitfire. "You like adventure right?" The librarian was in full on geek mode as she suggested book after book to the pegasus. Finally Spitfire settled on a mystery about an author and a strange letter. With a nudge from her nose, the book fell open to the first page.
Spitfire's eyes began to meander across the page before going down a line and repeating the behavior. Twilight slowly walked closer to the mare, in order to look over her shoulder and read the book with her. Their eyes continued to scan the page, reading chapter after chapter. Perfectly content to sit there reading, but about half way through the book Spitfire noticed something was off. Twilights head was extremely close to her own, much closer than was normal for two friends. But, strangely, it didn't feel uncomfortable, like it should have. Spitfire didn't know what came over her as her head leaned slightly to the side and softly nuzzled Twilight's head. She felt the purple unicorn stop under the touch before gently returning the nuzzle and leaning her head into Spitfires. Their eyes and attention turned back to the book, a strange warm feeling building up inside of them.
Page after page went by like that, and finally the book was done with. Spitfire smiled at the satisfying ending, the author had clearly done his research on all the topics addressed. Her smile only got brighter as she looked to her side and saw Twilight sleeping peacefully on her shoulder. The unicorns eyes shifted under her lids every few seconds indicating she was deep asleep. Spitfire laughed silently at the lack of the Unicorns energy, "it's only," Spitfire's eyes widened as she spotted the clock on the wall. It was already two in the morning and she had double practice that day.
Carefully Spitfire placed Twilights head on the floor and retrieved a pillow before putting that underneath her. The pegasus pony's hoof reached for a piece of scrap paper laying on the floor with a bad drawing of a pegasus on it. She took the small pencil on the desk and wrote a quick note telling Twilight that she couldn't hang out tomorrow because she was so busy, but she'd visit the library again on the weekend. With a light lick to the parchment, the note stuck to Twilight's forehead. Spitfire's hooves slowly carried her towards the door before she turned back and gave Twilight a small kiss on her cheek. The librarians expressionless face turned into a smile as the wonderbolts lips touched the soft purple that made up her cheek. Spitfire smiled back at the sleeping unicorn before quietly extracting herself from the library and flying home for a few hours of rest.
_*****_
"Spitfire, you didn't yell at anypony today, is something wrong?" Soarin asked teasingly, but the concerned undertone was what really caught Spitfire's attention. Soarin was almost never concerned with her. She had been thinking about Twilight all day, but more specifically, the kiss she had planted on Twilight's cheek. She hadn't even meant to do it, it was like her body was on autopilot. But her wandering mind caused multiple mishaps that morning. Including one where Spitfire had forget to pull up in time and smashed into the training grounds hard floor. A resulting smack sound caused everypony in ear range, which was mainly a small group of pegasi tourists standing nearby, to flinch.
The practice had continued for another hour before finally ending. The entire while, Soarin had been trying to figure out what had Spitfire so distracted, after all usually she didn't mess up once, let alone five times in practice. His meandering mind caused two accidents, yet Spitfire hadn't even so much as glared at him for it all morning.
"Uh, ya, my mind is just very busy today," Spitfire responded as Soarin turned to the other wonderbolts. His dominant hoof shot up to his ear and started going in a circular pattern around it, while pointing one of his backhooves at Spitfire. He turned back to her only to see her orange eyes glaring at him. She hadn't been as distracted as he had thought and she walked over to him. "Hey Soarin, by the way, you're taking charge this evening, and I will be too busy. Even if I showed up I would be more of a liability than an asset."
"A lia-what?" Soarin asked, not having the proper education that Spitfire had recieved. Therefore his vocabulary was severely lacking in any kind of sophistication.
"Basically I would do more bad than good," Spitfire sighed.
"And if I refuse?" Soarin asked tauntingly.
"Then I will use these legs to kick you into next week where there will be double practice every day." Spitfire said, her lips turning into a truly wicked grin. The last time she had done double practice everyday, was the week after Nightmare Moon was defeated. The only reason was that they couldn't get there fast enough to help, despite Celestia assuring they would have been useless anyways. An attitude the rest of the Wonderbolts quickly took up as their own, but Spitfire did it anyways.
"Ok fine, I'll do it; have fun with your new 'friend'," Soarin replied curtly and waited for the inevitable response from the captain.
But Spitfire stayed silent for a few long seconds before finally respondng, "she's just a friend, that's all." Soarin nodded in understanding as the wonderbolts headed to the locker rooms and began to strip off the hot and sweaty suits. The famed flying team had communal lockers, not because they couldn't afford separate ones, but because it was such a convenient solution, and allowed the team to trust each other completely. Another factor in this decision was, there were a disproportionate amount of females to males on the Wonderbolts, and in Equestria at large. Honestly, none of the colts seemed to care.
Spitfire was the first to exit the locker, not even taking the time to properly dry. She jumped off the ground and began to fly again towards ponyville, the wind in her hair drying it for her. The wind beneath her wings felt bracing and refreshing, something she desperately needed after the rough training session.
Her wingbeats were steady and her mind was elsewhere as a pegasus flew past her at high speeds yelling back, "race ya." But Spitfire, for once, didn't want to race, she needed time to properly organize her thoughts and feelings.
"Why am I thinking so hard about this? She was deep asleep, she probably doesn't even know I did anything," the orange pegasus told herself convincingly. A rush of air blew past her as Dash stopped right in front of Spitfire. Before Dash could ask anything Spitfire interrupted, "no I don't want to race today, yes I'm sure." Dash's rainbow maned head bent down slightly as she flew past.
After what seemed to be an eternity of flying, Spitfire began to see the library coming into view. This entire ordeal had been putting too much stress on Spitfire, so much that she hadn't even accepted a race, or truly enjoyed the flight. Two extremely out of character occurrences for her. Her wings tucked in as to pull into a nose dive and spread them out only at the last second. Allowing her to fly a few feet above the street near the library. Luckily the street seemed empty enough, but even so, an orange earth pony had to leap out of the way. "Sorry!" Spitfire yelled back at the disgruntled mare.
Her orange, powerful wings stretched out to the side, jerking her body to a rough stop in front of the door to the library. Spitfire looked back on her reckless behavior. As she examined it closer and closer, she found with increasing certainty, that there had been absolutely no reason to hurry, after all she was just hanging out with a friend. But Soarin's words rang in her memory, echoing around like mosquitoes in a enclosed space. "Is Twilight really only my friend or does she want something more from me?" But Spitfire had no time to ask anymore questions as the door opened and Twilight walked right into her.
The microscopic blood vessels in Spitfire's cheeks burst, creating a strong blush. Twilight was just standing there, not even a foot from the mare, still trying to recover from the surprising encounter before her back hooves took a step back. "Oh, hi Spitfire, I thought you couldn't come today?" Twilight inquired the captain of the wonderbolts. The pegasus pony's orange eyes focused on the ground trying to find a good way to respond. Her cheeks still flustered from the intimacy they had shared a moment ago.
"I found some extra time, so I decided to come hang out, and read some more," Spitfire said. She automatically added the reading part so as to give herself an excuse, and not make her look like a stalker. Twilight smiled brightly as she opened the door for the pegasus. The room was as she had left it last night, the pillow was still on the floor, only with two sharp indent's that only an elbow could cause. On the table was a whole new assortment of books.
Inevitably, Spitfire was going to ask about the books, so Twilight answered before she did. "I was reading those in order to help find you a new, good book." Her magic levitated a single hard copy book over to Spitfire, the front was completely empty, not even a title embroidered on it.
"But how would you know what exact kind of book I like, this isn't even a mystery." Spitfire was perplexed at exactly how much her purple friend knew about her, or her personality. Twilight smiled and shrugged silently before inviting the mare onto the comfortable pillow. Spitfire's flank sank slightly as she sat on the soft feather pillow. Smiling, Twilight opened the book gently and began to read with Spitfire.
About twenty pages in Spitfire put her hoof on the page in protest. "I thought you said it was a book i would like? This is a romance novel," she exclaimed in surprise. She only had read one or two romance novels, but deep down, she truly loved the stories. But she had never told anypony that, let alone this purple mare.
"Umm, I guess it's just because I like romance novels, and I thought you might like it to. since we're so alike," Twilight sputtered out, trying to put her thoughts into words without scaring the mare away. Spitfire said nothing as she took her hoof off the book and continued reading. A smile developed on Twilights visage, as they leaned their heads together, lightly touching at their cheeks.
At the end of the book the protagonist finally admitted her feelings to the other mare and they lived happily ever after. "Well that was cute," Spitfire said, her thoughts still racing from what she had read in the book. The idea's that had already been planted had just been given a spring shower. Her head leaned away from Twilights and she turned gently. But Twilight's head was still leaning on Spitfire's, and as she turned their lips met for the briefest, yet longest second of their lives.
Instinctively, they pulled away, coughing theatrically, all the while looking at how the other reacted, yet it was almost like a mirror image. "So, um, ya it was cute," Twilight said, trying to ignore the new found awkwardness of the moment. Then there was that feeling scratching at the back of her mind. She knew exactly what it was, but her mind refused to accept it, causing a strange kind of internal battle between her unconscious, and what her moral center thought was right.
"I really liked some of the scenes in it, he characterized very well. I even could feel, er , I mean imagine feeling those emotions with that mare," Spitfire stumbled over her words, as she attempted to stem the flow of information that wanted to be heard by her friend. But her sheer willpower developed over the years kept it at bay. A quick glance at Twilight showed nothing unusual to the eye.
She had hoped, and almost expected her friend to be dealing with the same issue. But beneath Twilight's calm surface, it was a sea of turmoil between the parts of her mind, but a quick glance at Spitfire caused all the hope to be crushed. Spitfire but on her bravado and with a smile said, "thank you for the magnificent read, I might see you later." Without another word she turned and walked briskly out of the tree library before taking off towards her house.
_******_
Spitfire laid down calmly on her cloud bed before a single drop of water rolled from her eye, down her cheek, and was absorbed by the fluffy cloud beneath her. Other than that single tear, she looked completely unphazed. Underneath her facade, was a huge array of feelings, ranging from depression, to happiness, but all of them were overshadowed by the most powerful. One that seemingly had the power to make a hole appear in her heart at will, and make it collapse in on itself. A feeling that forced her throat shut, and a painful stinging to begin in her eyes. The feeling of pure, unadulterated pain.
"Ok, Fire, time for some self inventory," she started to talk to herself. "I'm the Wonderbolt captain, I have great ponies to fly with me, a fan that will do pretty much anything I want her to. So why in the world does it hurt so much that Tw." The pain interrupted her sentence as it's cold hand clenched around her throat again before letting go. She knew exactly why, but was simply afraid to admit it, she loved Twilight Sparkle with every ounce of her being. Yet, as far as she could tell, Twilight felt nothing like that towards her.
A plan began to form, just as a last resort. But a more pleasant plan began to take form now that she had come to terms with her confusing mass of feelings and urges. She couldn't just read there with Twilight anymore, so she would wait until the rookie was done with the book. Than would directly ask her for the truth. No matter which way she answered, at least it would be over with soon. "That gives me a few days at most, probably the end of next week." She said to herself, making a few basic calculations. Once again the claw that was pain came in and grabbed at her heart, but this time she didn't resist it, for it would be useless, it couldn't demotivate her, and she knew it would only hurt more if she resisted. It began to ravage her body as the previously withheld tears sprung forth like a faucet, and she slowly lost consciousness. Giving way to an uncomfortable, and very shallow sleep.
Off in the distance, Celestia was completing her morning ritual, the sun's rays beginning to shine for another day. The humidity from the previous nights rain hung heavily in the air. A quick look outside of the window confirmed this, as a rainbow spanned from one end of Cloudsdale to the other. Spitfire's jaw seemed to unhinge as she let loose a massive yawn and walked to a mirror. Staring back at her, was a creature from nightmares. Her eyes were bloodshot, it's mane completely frizzy, and multiple sticky patches covered her hair. A giggle started to escape as she looked at the shameful appearance in the mirror, but it was snuffed out by the overwhelming feeling of depression. Spitfire knew that dwelling on it wouldn't help anypony, especially not her. Instead she walked to her restroom and began to make a plan for the rest of the day but any attempts at thinking stopped, as soon as her orange hoof sunk into her bath tub.
A long sigh came from the captain's mouth as the warm water lapped at her. After standing for a minute, she carefully lowered herself into the bath by stepping down the small set of stairs underwater. Spitfire didn't like lavish, or large features in her house, but never once did she regret getting that tub. The entire experience made only better by the faintest hint of real lavender wafting from strategically placed plants around the tub. But it wasn't so overpowering that it caused her nose to wrinkle, it was in that golden zone that when you breath in you can smell it. But then, when you try to smell it again, it just barely alludes your conscious grasp. The crystal clear water was provided by a relatively simple plumbing system that captured some of the excess moisture her cloud home produced. Afterwards it was heated, until it reached a comfortable warmth and was then pumped into the tub. Thus the humidity in her home was far below what was average in Cloudsdale, an atmosphere Spitfire absolutely adored. Her back and neck began to relax from her, nigh on restless night. Her head rested back on the comfortable, yet small pillow placed behind her. For the first time in two days she could finally relax, her mind began to wander randomly before her lids slid shut. Spitfire barely noticed the new darkness as her mouth hung slightly agape and her breathing became more and more even.
A few powerful knocks came at Spitfire's door, causing her to become startled at the intrusion. "How can anypony expect me to answer that so early on the weekend?" Spitfire asked herself before the same three knocks came again, "I'm coming, hold on!" Her hooves climbed up the steps leading out of the bath and she threw on a bath towel in order to start drying herself.
With a quick push of her right front hoof the door swung open revealing Soarin standing there. "Ok, this better be good, you interrupt me on a Saturday at 9 in the morning!"
"Uh, Spitfire, it's 2 in the afternoon," Soarin said before continuing, "now I know why you didn't answer! You were sleeping, had a rough day yesterday, Spit?" Spitfire was not in the mood at the moment so she reached out with her hoof and grabbed Soarin by the back of the neck holding him close.
"Get on with it," his captain replied aggressively. "I did have a rough day, so go away unless it's important, in which case you should have already told me what it is." Soarin stared at the mare, usually when she got feisty, it would only make him laugh, but today he actually wanted to leave her alone. Her stare being, what Soarin imagined, a cockatrice looked like, so much venom. Her hoof reached down to the tighten the towel around her, but only made it worse as it fell off. But it didn't affect either of the teammates, considering how most ponies never wore anything. Along with the fact of how often they showered together.
Soarin stood there for about a second more before remembering exactly why he was being stared down. "Ya, there's this weird mare here, and she's asking to see you. she's at the training grounds, and she said she'd wait there."
"So, what's weird about, just another crazy fan," Spitfire brushed it off. But her thoughts raced back to Twilight, but that was impossible. After all Twilight couldn't fly, at least not with wings.
"No, I mean, she is a purple unicorn just standing on the clouds like it's nothing. I think she said her name is," Soarin began to say but Spitfire interjected enthusiastically.
"Twilight Sparkle?" Her cheeks puffed out as she held her breath before Soarin nodded his head. He gave her a curious glance before shrugging and walking off. "Wait, how long has she been waiting there?"
"I don't know, maybe ten minutes now," Soarin responded with a look on his face that said, how the buck should I know? Without even waiting to say thank you, Spitfire slammed the door in his face, and ran back to the restroom to dry off. Her motion's weren't controlled and calm as usual, but frenzied and inaccurate. When she tried to brush her mane straight, she actually managed to miss it completely and instead jabbed herself lightly in the eye. However after a few more minor mishaps, Spitfire was finally presentable.
Her hooves kicked open the front door before pushing the cloud she was on away from her and spreading her wings widely. The wind caught onto her viciously and pushed her much higher than she had intended, but she knew it didn't really matter. Her wings beat the air ferociously as she struggled to get to the training fields in record time. Hoping beyond hope that Twilight was still there. Her muscle's soon began to burn with the lactic acid that came from sprinting, but her mind was clear as ever. Her thoughts arranged, and then rearranged, then rearranged some more as she tried to come up with a plan of attack. What would she say, what could she say, what would Twilight say. A million random questions buzzing around her head, but all of them were silenced, as soon as her eyes saw a single unicorn standing alone on the training field.
Spitfire's wings folded back against her sides as she landed a sizable distance from the unicorn. Each hoofstep she took felt to her like an achievement, her entire body and mind wanted to rebel against facing her. Knowing that this could only really end in two ways, but there was no other way. Unless she wanted to have sleepless nights for the rest of her life of course. Before she had even finished her train of thought she found herself standing in front of her friend.
Twilight smoothly shifted her weight onto another hoof and stood there before opening her moth, but she shut it again. Neither of them knew exactly what to say; behind Twilight was a small pile of books, the one on top read, A Basic Guide To Complicated Pony Emotions and Feelings. Even though the word, 'Basic,' was in there, it easily qualified as a large textbook. But Spitfire and Twilight both knew, no book could help them here, one had to jump off the proverbial cliff, hoping the other would follow. Twilight jumped first as she opened her mouth again, "hey Spitfire." She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "so, I figured out how you really feel about me." Twilight stopped as she waited for Spitfire's reaction, but the endless nights of poker with Soarin had given her an uncanny ability to keep up a facade. But in her mind, words started to bubble to the surface, some romantic, and some asking Twilight to just be her friend, even a few words that were inappropriate in any case. But the overwhelming feeling present in her head, was of exactly how intelligent Twilight really was. "I don't know what to say about this Spitfire, do you?" Twilight looked into the orange eyes staring at her hopefully. But the head that the orange eyes belonged to, simply shook back and forth once or twice.
Spitfire let out an exasperated sigh as Twilight did the same. She was just so sick of all this, she thought she had finally found a friend. Finally Sptifire said something, "well since you know how I feel that saves me from having to explain myself, but I don't know how you feel is the problem here. I thought that if we became, well let's say, hypothetically of course, marefriends... It would just be natural, we could stay in your library and read all those books." Twilight grinned slightly.
"That's exactly what I wanted, but it's not normal is it, I mean two mares?" Twilight replied, her eyes shifting to the cloud she was standing on. Spitfire giggled as she took a few steps towards Twilight.
"So, what's your point? it's also not normal for a Wonderbolt Captain to enjoy reading, what are they going to do? You are a librarian, and I am a Wonderbolt." Spitfire said calmly and defiantly. Her hoof reached forwards and grabbed Twilight chin, gently pushing it up to look in her eyes. A smile developing on both of their faces, they knew the risks, but nopony could hurt them more, then if they had said no to their feelings. A tear rolled gently down the unicorns purple hair but before it could strike the ground Spitfire caught it and looked at it carefully. "Why are you crying?" a perplexed look appearing on her face.
"Because, nopony I've ever met before has actually liked me like this, except for you." She responded before leaning towards her, Spitfire did the same. Their cheeks touched as they nuzzled each other softly.
Authors Note's
Hey everypony, thanks for reading this story, I had a blast writing it. I am not here to ask for likes, or comments, I'm just here to thank a few ponies. *Gets out a notecard.* First and foremost is Vurtax, who I met in the IRC and gave me the idea of a Spitfire X Twilight ship. Second is all of the ponies who gave me support on this journey, you all know who you are. But finally, I'd like to thank myself, nah I'm just messing with you now.
Looking back on this, I am utterly amazed. Originally this was meant to be a 2k word fic, however it soon turned into over 5k words... Crazy! Anyways, if you have a good shipping pair, story idea (any kind of story) tell me in a pm or comment below, I might make it.
Awesome Proof-readers:
NoakWolf
