Thunderspite

The sun was just peeking over the distant snow-capped mountains when Thunderspite awoke. He and Dawn Glimmer had fallen asleep on the boulder, his arms and wings wrapped around her, protecting her from the morning chill. As he opened his eyes, he found that she was already awake, and staring at him with a contented smile.

“You’re awake,” he said.

“I’m always awake when the sun comes up. Kinda my thing, y’know?” Without moving from his grasp, she indicated her cutie mark with her horn.

Thunderspite reached up with his hoof and brushed a stray lock of mane behind her ear, staring deeply into her eyes. His chest felt as if it were in danger of rupturing, for all the feeling inside it in that moment. Instead, his stomach grumbled, and they both laughed at the noise.

“Guess that’s our cue,” said Dawn Glimmer, and the two finally extricated themselves from each other’s grasp and rolled off the boulder. Walking back to the balloon, they saw that Blitzwing was already hard at work breaking camp. Seeing the two of them approach together, he could not mask his smile.

“Good morning,” he said to them cheerfully. “Dawn Glimmer, I’ve got the fire all stoked up, in case you were in the mood to treat us with more of that delicious stew from last night.”

Dawn Glimmer smiled. “I think that can be arranged.” She trotted off to the Gondola to fetch the leftovers. Thunderspite and Blitzwing stayed where they were for a moment, watching her tail swish behind her as she went. Blitzwing offered Thunderspite a hoof bump, but Thunderspite sneered and slapped it away. In truth, he was not actually annoyed. Thunderspite doubted there was anything his friend could do to damper the joy he was feeling at that moment.

* * *

Having learned just about all they could about each other the day before, Thunderspite and Dawn Glimmer spent much of the day just cuddling on the couch, reading their respective books. Dawn Glimmer spent some time listening to Thunderspite read aloud from Daring Do, her head resting in his lap and her eyes closed. Thunderspite missed her closeness when it was his turn in the harness, but his burden was made lighter knowing she would be waiting for him when his shift was over.

That evening, they set down in a wide forest clearing, tethering the balloon atop a high boulder in the center. At the stallions’ request, Dawn Glimmer treated them to a reprisal of the previous night’s soup. After they all had their bowls, They all sat cross-legged around the fire, since the clearing had no logs or suitably-sized rock to serve as chairs for them. Dawn Glimmer sat next to Thunderspite, resting her head on his shoulder between bites. Thunderspite initially felt uncomfortable with the show of affection in front of Blitzwing, but he supposed there was really no point trying to pretend there was nothing going on between them. Blitzwing, for his part, seemed to be supportive of their new relationship, judging from the way he grinned like an idiot every time he saw the two of them cuddling.

As the fire started to die down, one by one they began to yawn. Blitzwing was the first to turn in.

“Well, guess I’ll be hittin’ the hay. Goodnight, you two.” He pointed his hoof accusingly at each of them. “You be good, now.”

Thunderspite rolled his eyes, and Dawn Glimmer tittered a little. After Blitzwing had gone, Thunderspite and Dawn Glimmer sat and watched the fire in silence for a few moments, sitting next to each other on a log. What Thunderspite really wanted was to spend the night in her arms again, but he didn’t really know how to ask such a thing. Sleeping on a boulder together was thing, but spending the night in her stateroom felt like another matter entirely. Even as it was, he had never been in a relationship that moved this fast before, but then again, he had never been in a relationship with a pony who could see the future, either.

Thunderspite stood and stretched as nonchalantly as he could. “Well, I suppose we should be getting to bed too.”

Dawn Glimmer stood as well. “Yup,” she said. There was something about the way she was smiling at him that he was sure someone more experienced in these matters would have picked up on.

Another long silence. Thunderspite’s heart raced. “Yes. Well, goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight,” she said.

Thunderspite turned and walked towards his tent, realizing even as he did so that he had botched it. Curses. He thought to himself as he walked away. He lifted the flap to his tent and flopped down on his sleeping bag, all the while cursing his shyness. All you had to do was ask. He said to himself. Why are you such a... His self-derision interrupted in mid thought as the tent around him was suddenly replaced by a ceiling, walls, and a carpeted floor. Instead of lying down, he was standing on his four hooves. It took him a moment to realize he had been teleported.

“What the!?” he said aloud, disoriented. A soft giggle from behind him made him turn. Dawn Glimmer was there, and he suddenly realized he was in the balloon’s stateroom. In the soft light of a single candle by the bedside, she walked up to him and slowly put her arms around his neck.

“You’re not very good at this, are you?” she whispered in his ear.

“I uh... ”

“Shh.”