"Thunderlane, get your head in the game!"
Thunderlane was jolted out of his reverie by a ticked-off Rainbow Dash. "What's your deal, anyway? You've been zoning out all day. Come on, kick those clouds." She kicked one herself to make her point.
She suddenly glanced behind her to see Flitter kicking clouds with her usual finesse and grace. She caught two clouds at once, then turned to see RD and Thunderlane looking at her. Rainbow smiled. "Nothing to worry, about, Flitter, keep working!" Flitter nodded, her gaze lingering on Thunderlane's for a moment, then continued busting clouds. Rainbow turned toward Thunderlane, smiling widely. "You're staring at Flitter, aren't you?"
"No." Thunderlane's cheeks turned red. That was a white lie and both of them knew it. Rainbow punched him. "You fat liar. You are so crushing on her. Why her though?"
"She's cute, and nice, and good at weather work, and smart, and..." He trailed off at RD's growing grin. "She looks adorable in socks." he mumbled.
"How do you know what she looks like in socks?"
"I saw her wear them one time around Hearth's Warming."
"You should get in touch with Pinks. She's good at getting ponies together. Just ask her to go to Sugarcube with you or something."
"I don't know if I want to be that forward."
"Then I'm not sure what to tell you. Strike up a conversation or something. I dunno. This has been going on long enough, get kicking." Rainbow flew off.
He shot one more wistful look at Flitter, just in time to see her flip her mane out of her face. Then he continued working.
***************
"Hi, Thunderlane!"
Thunderlane looked behind him and his face felt warm when he realized it was Flitter yelling. "Me and CC were going to stop at Sugarcube Corner. Want to come with us?"
"Sure!" he hollered back. Even though her knew it wasn't a date (Flitter, CC, and him were foalhood buddies, and card-carrying members of the Cloudsdale family.) his chest still felt tingly inside.
Pinkie was manning the counter as they came in, like she always was. "Hi guys! What's up?"
"Nothin' much, just coming back from weather work." Cloudchaser sighed and flopped onto a chair. "I just want some coffee."
"Oki-doki-loki, CC! You guys want anything?" She asked, nodding to Thunderlane and Flitter.
"Just my smoothie like usual, Pinkie. Nothing extra." Flitter sat next to Cloudchaser. Pinkie nodded.
"Umm, just some water would be fine." Thunderlane said off-handedly. Pinkie gave him a water bottle, and he sat down next to Flitter while Pinkie prepared the girls' drinks.
"Derpy got assigned to my team. I know she means well, and she did really good today, but Celestia. Did you guys know that the denser clouds can be flung at ponies like a Frisbee?" Cloudchaser sighed for the second time. "I got a faceful of cloud."
"Aw, don't be too hard on her. If that's the worst thing she did, I'd say this is a good day." Flitter laughed, and her laughter was like bells to Thunder's ears.
"It can't have hurt much, CC, it's a cloud." Thunderlane chimed in.
"Yeah, you're right. It felt like somepony pushed me in the face." Cloudchaser paused. "Pushed me in the face...that sounds weird."
"Isn't it 'punched me in the face'?" Thunder laughed, Cloudchaser punched him.
"It seriously felt like a push in the face."
"Here are your drinks, folks!"
A blur of pink made everypony jump. "Sweet Celestia, Pinkie, you never cease to surprise somepony." Flitter laughed, and sipped her smoothie.
"Well, parties are a lot more fun when they're surprise parties, but then again if somepony's expecting a party, then they can look forward to it and be even more happy when the party actually comes!" Pinkie said all of this while bouncing around and around their table. "Well, I'd best get back to the kitchen. Seeya!"
They all waved at the pink curly tail that disappeared through the kitchen door. "So, after me and CC finish up, I think we're going to head home. Right, CC?"
"Yep. I've got an application to send in. I've finally prepped it and gotten a recommendation letter. By this time next week, I'm gonna be decked out in a Wonderbolt uniform!" Cloudchaser puffed out her chest in pride.
"You do know they only let in, like, 8 cadets out of the millions and millions of applications they get weekly? And only one or two of them end up going on to become Wonderbolts." Flitter smiled. "But that doesn't mean me and Tuna aren't going to be rooting for you every step of the way." She leaned against him, wrapping one hoof around him.
"Yeah, what Flitter said. I wouldn't get your hopes up, CC." Flitter's kind of hugging me!
"Well, bet you thirty-five bits I'm one of 'em." Cloudchaser leaned back in her chair.
Flitter punched Thunder. "Hush now, you'll get her hopes up higher." She teased. She downed the last gulp of smoothie. "CC, you ready to go?"
Cloudchaser finished up her coffee. "Yeah. Seeya, Thunder."
The girls headed out the door. Was it his imagination, or did Flitter give him flirty eyes as she left?
"Hey, Thunder!" Crescent Moon came through the doorway. Thunderlane jumped. "Oh, hi Crescent."
"What's got you zoned out?" He sat where Cloudchaser had been sitting before. Then a smile worked its way across his face. "Flitter?"
Thunderlane flushed. "Yeah."
"Gosh, you've been harboring that crush for a while now. Ask her out already!"
"I can't just do that out of nowhere. I don't want her to turn me down."
"Well, strike up a conversation and see if she's interested. If so, ask her out. Simple as that. You already know her from your foalhood. That makes it easy."
Thunder thought about this. "Yeah. I'll do that. Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go. Bye, Crescent."
Crescent waved. "Bye, Thunder!"
Thunderlane headed out the door. The sky was a rosy pink, with splashes of purple. He flew up to the "Sky Neighborhoods" above Ponyville that pegasi had put together a few years ago. He lived a few houses down from Flitter and CC. Touching down on the little landing pad, he headed up to his bedroom, and fell asleep dreaming of dragonfly wings.