Waking up on a couch had become a regular occurrence at this point; I was surprised that more than two weeks have gone by and I haven’t felt the urge to finally take Soarin up on his offer to use the guest bed upstairs. Although, I did have a feeling that Celestia’s first words about the possible longitude of my stay were fast approaching to becoming a reality. With that in mind, I would soon have to make the migration to a normal sleeping area so I stopped feeling like a homeless couch surfer; maybe once I receive a reply from my letter I’ll have a better understanding of my position in this new world.

Remembering that I had wrote that very letter last night, I opened my eyes and looked over to the nearby coffee table and my many items that were still there from the night before.

Hm, could have sworn I left the letter right there.

A few more moments passed as I scanned the room whilst the realisation began settling in. My brain checked off every reasonable place until suddenly my stomach started to sink.

Where is that letter!?

Almost immediately I could begin to hear the sound of my heart pumping faster, the energy allowing me to sit up from the couch rather quickly despite my still dazed state as I began looking behind the couch and running my hands across the plush surface in a hope to feel the damn piece of parchment. In my frantic daze of searching, my eyes suddenly fixated on the stallion making a bowl of cereal in the kitchen who I hadn’t taken note of until now. Automatically, my mind calculated the worst possible outcome. Before I even had a chance to say anything however, Soarin turned around with his meal, only to look beyond the kitchen and to me staring at him as if I was a fish out of water.

Soarin quirked an eyebrow as his face turned to one of concern, I gulped as I saw my own life flashing through my eyes in panic.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Soarin asked with a caring stare as he sat his bowl down on the kitchen table before cantering over to me. I didn’t even feel the rush of relief washing over me, nodding as I to tried to stay afloat with the lie I was now going to have to form around this situation. Soarin offered me out his forehoof which I gladly took as he hoisted me up off the couch. As I found my feet on the ground below, my head was still wandering elsewhere.

“Wasn’t anything too serious,” I assure him, trying to act casually about it.

“I'm sure it's fine,” he started, still seeming to make sure I was alright, “are you sure you’re still okay? I know it’s been a while since you managed to fall into this world, you must be missing your parents,” Soarin said in conclusion as I walked besides him to the kitchen.

“Just had a lot on my mind, all got a bit much,” I replied, trying to deflect going into more detail about it; the last thing I needed was to get into a meaningful conversation when I was so hung up about finding the letter.

As I sat down, Soarin leaned in to his bowl as he trotted back towards the far end of the kitchen, pushing with his muzzle as the ceramic crockery scraped across the granite board towards me, he smiled when he looked up. “Don’t worry about it, eat up and I’ll make another one.”

“Thanks, Soar,” I said, taking the bowl in my hands as I pulled it the rest of the way towards me. My eyes scanned the kitchen as I watched him slide a spoon my way before he turned back and dipped below the counter to fetch the same box of cereal again.

I swallowed, not really knowing what else I could do with the fear that had overcome me. I needed to know now or this was going to eat me alive. Taking a calm breath, I began to speak.

“You don’t know where that letter went, do you? I swore I had left it on the table next to the couch?” I asked as I took a mouthful of cereal, trying to act nonchalant about it as I felt my heart begin to tremble.

Soarin stopped mid-reach for the cereal as if I had just jogged his memory. My heart froze and I swear I could hear the ticking of time in my head as everything seemed to slow down.

“Oh,” Soarin began, for a moment I really believed it was all over, I wasn’t sure whether to throw up or choke on the cereal that was in my mouth as he turned around, a curious smile playing on his lips as he eyed me, “That letter? I saw it this morning and gave it to one of Celestia’s Guards when they came by to drop off more of the cloud walking potion. I hope you don’t mind?”

My brain was now a complete wreck, I couldn’t remember after passing out if I had sealed the letter or not, but if Soarin had seen the letter he wouldn’t have posted it, would he? I couldn’t fathom what to say next.

“T-Thanks,” I spluttered, Soarin seemed to waver slightly which made me unsure. I decided to change the subject very quickly to avoid anymore awkwardness than was necessary, “I’ll grab a potion and get myself ready, we don’t have too long before we have to head to work.”

Soarin nodded, seeming to return to his normal demeanor as he turned back to quickly fix his breakfast again; I walked over to grab one of the potions that were usually in the cupboard next to the fridge that much like the coffee table had also become a small little corner for myself.

As I began to catch myself again I took a moment to admire how well kept the rest of Soarin’s kitchen was. Compared to mine at least it was immaculate for organisation, it was almost as if Soarin had a passion for more than just flying. I smirked thinking about apple pies, taking a potion from the new bundle that had been placed there, at least that meant that Soarin was telling the truth that one of the guards had shown up. I was still wary though, he could have easily taken a moment to glance at what I had written and if he had…

There was no way I was going to get a response fast enough from Celestia to remove this feeling of doubt and fear in my mind. I wasn’t ready to confirm my feelings for Soarin to anyone, but I knew if I went to Spitfire my head would most likely be on a silver platter by the end of the day; that only left one light turquoise mare that I knew well enough for this.

I needed to talk to Fleetfoot.

With that mental note made, I went back to the table and quickly finished the cereal still left in the bowl and headed upstairs before Soarin had a chance to sit down himself; I couldn’t think about having any other conversation whilst my mind was still eating away at the potential scenarios that could come out from today. I made sure to clean my clothes as much as possible, being thankful that tomorrow I would be able to go and collect some new attire from the shop Soarin and I had visited last Sunday. I stared at my own reflection in the bathroom mirror, taking the opportunity to sike myself up for the day ahead.

“You ready soon, Bex?” Came the muffled voice of Soarin through the floor. I almost felt like saying no, but I knew one way or another I was going to have to face the music.

The flight to the headquarters with Soarin had been less awkward than I thought, it gave me confidence that Soarin really wasn’t aware of the contents of the letter. However, there was still a corner of my brain that wasn’t fully satisfied and that just ended up scaring me. I wanted to keep telling myself that all this was just self induced and I had in fact sealed the letter before passing out last night, but as much as Soarin seemed to be acting normal I could almost tell there was something off about his usual spark that was there.

Landing near the gates of the Wonderbolt headquarters, Soarin let me dismount as he flashed me one of his winning smiles at the fact we’d been able to arrive ahead of time thanks to his flying, walking towards the gates as he began speaking. “I’ll be with Spitfire most of the day, so I won’t be able to grab lunch with you like usual.”

The statement left a pang in my chest, Soarin and I had spent our lunches together almost everyday we had to worked here for the last two weeks, it left my mind to gravitate towards what he might say to Spitfire in my absence if he hadn’t been telling me the truth, which didn’t leave my stomach feeling very well. In a good way though, it would free up some valuable time for me to speak to Fleetfoot.

“That’s fine, Soar,” I replied as we passed the gates that he had opened for us, the guard pony nodding on our way into the grounds before closing them behind us. “I have to speak to Fleetfoot today anyways, she um… wanted to talk to me about some props.”

“That’s odd,” Soarin began, turning his head to me as we made our way towards the main entrance, “Fleetfoot gets antsy about delving into any sort of admin work, are you sure you’re talking about the correct mare?” he asked almost jokingly.

I laughed nervously and just shrugged it off, which only made him a little more curious, but he seemed to look like he had more on his mind when we entered the building and had to go our separate ways, so neither of us felt the need to continue the conversation.

“I’ll still see you after work, right?” I asked, turning to Soarin as he already seemed to be heading off in his desired direction. The stallion quickly turned back with a reassuring nod and a smile before he kept heading down the hallway towards Spitfire’s office. I watched him until he left my sight before I looked forward again and began the stairway climb to my office. The only issue currently plaguing my mind was navigating the active minefield that was Fleetfoot and romantic feelings towards ponies she knew. First and foremost, I had to lure her into my domain of the headquarters, but at least I could acquire a certain bat pony to carry that job out for me.

As I alighted the stairs and made a turn towards the office I spied the creature in question, she noticed me and gestured with a polite nod. I smiled back and waved, signalling her to head into the office space along with me without alerting anypony else’s presence.

“Is there something I can assist you with, Rebecca?” Sunny began asking, her sunset orange features seeming to light up along with an innocent tone, hopeful to lend me a helping hoof as I made my way to the chair behind my desk before turning back to face her.

“I need you to find Fleet for me, I would do it myself but I have a lot of paperwork to get through. It would really be doing me a big favour,” I asked, grabbing Sunny’s hoof to add a little emphasis on the urgency of this particular assignment.

To my solace, Sunny beamed and nodded quickly before cantering out of the room without another word. When her hoofsteps dissipated I finally felt as if I could breathe again; this was already becoming stressful.

As I eyed the stack of paperwork that had been put back on my desk after Spitfire’s review earlier in the week and the sun that was only just beginning to ascend the sky out the window, I knew that this wasn’t going to get much better today. Regardless, I put my mind in focus on the work ahead of me until I could continue with my personal struggles later in the day.

After what felt like forever, but in reality was only a few hours I heard a rapid set of knocks sound through my door around the time I would usually be heading off for lunch, but before I got a chance to lift my head and open my mouth the mare I had been wanting to see since this morning burst through the room, eying me with a mischievous look that suddenly made my mind fill with the stain of regret at my choice earlier in the day to speak with her.

“Sunny said you needed to talk to me,” Fleetfoot practically sang as she made her way gracefully over to my desk before resting her forehooves on the opposite side from where I sat. “Let me guess, you want to talk to me because you and Soarin have just had se-”

“What is it with you and lewd assumptions?” I asked, struggling to suppress my laughter at the incredulous statement that was being thrown at me.

“Well, I’m certainly not here to fathom whatever you’re having to calculate,” Fleetfoot retorted, her forehoof gesturing to the scribbles I had been making on a scrap piece of paper. “Not to mention you’d talk to Soarin about most things, so why’d you summon me?”

Fleetfoot had made a good point, two in fact. I wanted to chew on the pen I had in my hand, but that would only slow down the inevitable; I needed to air this out and I knew she was the best pony in my current circle to ask.

“I finally decided to talk about the feelings I think I might have for Soarin,” I began, already beginning to see Fleetfoot’s face begin to light up at the realisation, but before she had a chance to make an advance towards something equally as rambunctious as her previous comments I stopped her, “It wasn’t with Soarin directly, but in a letter I sent to Celestia.”

Fleet quickly changed her demeanor and quirked her eyebrow in curiosity, “And she said, what exactly?”

“Nothing yet,” I answered quickly, “Soarin hoofed it to a royal guard this morning whilst I was asleep... I think he may have read it, even though he doesn’t act like he did. Regardless of what’s happened I need to talk to you, because I know a few weeks ago when I started working here we kinda joked about you thinking he had a thing for me, but I don’t know how much of that was true.”

Fleetfoot seemed to bite her tongue at that, registering that this conversation required something more than her usual, playful attitude. She smiled more genuinely before proceeding, “I know it might have come off as prank, but I did see him looking at you a certain way. I guess you could say I’ve been around stallions long enough to know when they give off a certain vibe and he seemed really excited to spend time with you and not be anywhere else but by your side these last two weeks.”

“So, you’re saying there's a chance that he might actually like me?” I asked with a glint of hope, even though part of me was still suppressing the thought entirely, still not entirely sure about my inner feelings.

“All I’m saying is, what I said two weeks ago wasn’t completely wrong, but it wasn’t completely true either. My guess is if he hasn’t talked to you about it now then it’s unlikely and judging by the fact you’re still breathing Spitfire hasn’t been told either, I think you’re safe to assume he hasn’t read your little secret message,” Fleetfoot suggested, trying to seem reassuring but her usual bout of comedy was beginning to seep through.

I nodded my head as I began to assure myself of the current situation, Fleet had began trotting towards the door again whilst I was still processing everything.

“Are you not heading out for lunch then?” Fleetfoot asked curiously, turning to me just as she was about to leave.

I groaned in response as I reclined in the chair a bit, “I don’t think I could stomach anything right now with everything that’s going on.”

“Rebecca, that’s a dumb reason and you know it,” Fleet snapped back, earning a lighthearted chuckle from myself.

“Okay, okay!” I relented, hopping out of the chair as I moved to join the mare at the door, “I’m guessing you’ve already eaten?”

To my surprise Fleetfoot shook her head, “No, because I had some damsel in distress to attend to!” she began, looking towards the hallway as I blushed in embarrassment. “I have to be back doing training soon, so how about we just eat in the chow hall?”

“Lead the way,” I replied with a gesture for me to follow on after her, not wanting to reveal the current look on my face. Even though I knew where I was going I felt like I was too wrapped up in everything else to care about the direction of my travels as we wandered down the stairs.

Considering Fleet had dedicated most of her break today to console me, I let her go headfirst into attacking the buffet of food that had been laid out in the eating area. I settled for something small to keep myself ticking over, I just didn’t feel like having a big appetite whilst my brain was so emotionally fried. We had found a table next to Misty Fly, a mare who I had now seen a handful of times, but never been properly introduced to as of yet.

With Fleetfoot halfway down a daffodil sandwich, I waited to engage in talks with either of them as I let myself relax a little, to which in no time at all I found my eyes wandering around the grand hall itself and admiring it’s cloud design. It was then that I caught a glimpse of Soarin wandering back down the same hallway that he had earlier in the day when we seperated, I could tell he was heading back to Spitfire’s office and that only made my heart rate rise a little more in my chest.

“Hey Misty, have you met Rebecca yet?” I heard Fleetfoot ask the mare as my eyes shot back to the table and the current conversation that was about to unfold.

“Not properly, it’s nice to finally meet you after all this time!” Misty began as she extended a hoof to me which I gently shook; she seemed like a nice albeit shy pony from the times that I had bumped into her, like that night out last Friday.

Fleet chuckled and gestured to me as she looked towards her friend. “Rebecca’s got relationship problems right now, with a certain someone,” she explained, thankfully sparing her the details.

Suddenly, Misty started to laugh without seeming very timid at all as she glanced towards me before looking back over to Fleetfoot, “No shit?! Should have seen the way some of those fucking stallions at the club the other night were eying her up, like for Celestia’s sake keep your eyes on the damn mares you’re dating!”

I wanted to take what I just heard as a compliment, but I found my eye twitching instead at what had just transpired. Neither Fleetfoot nor Misty seemed to register anything out of the ordinary at all as they laughed together, Misty giving me another friendly and timid smile as she turned to me, “Oh, I’m sure you’re gonna be fine, Rebecca, just remember that there’s no need to rush.”

Is this what Soarin and Spitfire meant about Misty? Almost like she’s got some sort of split personality.

“Hey, Mist,” Fleetfoot asked, finishing off the last of her sandwich before she continued, “Do you think we should introduce some of our choice areas of Vanhoover next week?”

I watched as Misty sniggered; I was honestly more surprised that the Vanhoover tour was so close, being so caught up in my work everything had seemed to pass by in a flash. I guess part of me still felt like I should have been home by now, this far into my stay I couldn’t even fathom what my parents or any of my relatives would be thinking by now, probably assuming I was swamped with work or friends to worry about checking in and I was blessed that it was this month I would be void of having to attend any birthday or family get togethers.

“I think Soarin would have some very fuckin’ choice words for you,” Misty concluded, still shocking my brain slightly with her acute choice of words, I was beginning to think she did this to try and gauge my reaction for future reference.

“Touche,” Fleetfoot began, her usual mischievous spark seeming to ignite in her eyes as her lips curled, “Guess we just have to hope you don’t tell on us then, Rebecca.”

Suddenly I didn’t feel too comfortable in my current position as the two opposite me looked at me with innocent faces, yet I knew that they had something hidden under there, but I remember my mother telling me when I was young that I should always be open to new experiences and I had a feeling this wasn’t meant to be one of Fleet’s famous pranks, but I would still be preparing for seeing things Soarin and Spitfire would rather have me not experience with these two.

At least it was nice to worry about this over the other pressing matters today.

“Sure, my lips are sealed,” I answered, earning a hoof bump from the other two ponies across the table, it felt nice to open up to another small circle of the Wonderbolts.

Even though my eyes had been fixated on the last few pages of the final prop list and fittings for the Vanhoover show, I could tell that the room was slowly dimming as light began to fade from the window, signalling another day of work was close to an end. This week was slightly different than usual as Soarin had informed me. As it was the week before going on tour everyone had been granted a Saturday off work so that we could have a full weekend in our respective homes before packing up.

Knowing I still had a chance to finish all this work up tomorrow was enough to push my exhaustion over the edge as I gave in and pushed myself up off my chair and slid the paperwork over to the neat stack. Taking a leaf out of Spitfire’s book with organisation had really helped ever since I nearly screwed up with the first letter I ever wrote. I sighed, walking out into the hallway as I saw Sunny approaching my office.

“Hello, Rebecca!” she greeted happily as usual, “did Fleetfoot help you out?”

I nodded back with a smile; it wasn’t perfect but it gave me the reassurance I needed. At least on the bright side I had another friend I could let in to my inner circle, plus I would still be hearing back from Celestia which would give me a lot of answers to my questions.

“Great!” Sunny beamed as the mare began to trot past me and down the hallway looking like she was as ready to get out of here as I was, but in a more professional manner, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Rebecca!”

“See you!” I replied back before quickly heading down the stairs and towards the exit of the building that was more quiet than usual; I must have not realised how late it was. Picking up the pace, I opened the doors to the main entrance, my eyes meeting the soft, vibrant green ones that had been so familiar to me over these last two weeks.

Soarin seemed to look more like himself than he had done this morning, his childish excitement flaring up when he approached me, “Was starting to think I was going to have to go back in there and tear you away from the office,” he began with an amused tone.

I giggled at the thought of it, “I just get too wrapped up sometimes, I know you and Spitfire are both counting on me to not make a hash of this, how was she today?” I asked, getting a little worried with what the possible answer might be.

To my surprise, Soarin’s smile only got wider. “She’s her usual, it was really good spending time with her today, guess I just needed to be with my best friend. I don’t think my head was in the best place this morning, probably just a lack of sleep.”

I fiddled with my hands nervously as I could feel my palms beginning to sweat across my fingers. I was still struggling to tell whether Soarin was being genuine with me in regards to the letter, but I felt helpless to press the issue any further as I stood there frozen.

Soarin waved it off with a hoof as he began turning around to trot towards the gate, “So, how was Fleetfoot today? Never ran into her in the hallway like usual so she must have been engrossed in whatever ‘prop talk’ you had requested her to discuss.” he joked, emphasising the fact that Fleet and I had talked about something so out of the ordinary for the mare in question.

“Yeah, I think we got through what we needed to cover. We’re nearly ready for Vanhoover now,” I responded, trying to change the subject as I caught up beside him. His upbeat attitude did make me feel a lot calmer about everything else. I knew that after today regardless Soarin may have seen that I would have everything I needed to answer my questions by the time Celestia got back to me.

“Well, we’ve got the longer weekend this week before the tour! I’m sure that Spitfire was very pleased to announce that a few days back; she’s going to stay over on Friday by the way,” Soarin responded casually as we continued on past the gate. My mind was really too shot at this point to register the fear that was already beginning to seep into my breathing from the words that had just been spoken.

Tomorrow was going to be entertaining.

Author's Note

It's been nineteen months. Just over a year and a half since I've written anything at all.

A lot has happened to me and my life in that space of time. I hope there are still people out there willing to read this, but even if it's just for my own gain I'm glad I finally have the time to write again.

~ Rumble.