What Could Have Been

by manuccia

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, Romance
Length: 1454

Spitfire had a chance at love, but now it is only a memory.

Spitfire had a chance at love. But what she had is only a fading memory, and now she can only ask herself: What could have been?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-03 10:24:01 UTC

What Could Have Been

It was Tornado day in Ponyville. Spitfire herself was going to be overseeing the water transfer. She took off from Cloudsdale wearing her trademark flight suit. It was usual Soarin’s job to oversee the water transfer, but he had to catch the pony pox. She soon reached the reservoir on the outskirts of Ponyville.

She saw the town’s weather captain, Rainbow Dash, preparing her pegasi and a purple unicorn mare operating a wing power gauge. Spitfire sighed. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’ Spitfire saw a small purple dragon run towards Rainbow frantically waving a scroll in his hand.

Rainbow looked at the scroll. “Lazy Thunderlane…”

‘Thunderlane…?’ Spitfire was shocked to hear his name. She forgot he lived in Ponyville. She remembers the last time she saw Thunderlane. That was the night she broke his heart…

It was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot. The castle was filled with ponies enjoying the beautiful summer night in the mountainside city. Spitfire was in attendance, with her coltfriend a dark Pegasus named Thunderlane. Thunderlane went the same Flight school she went to and they were friends; that is until she transferred to the Royal Flight academy. After one of her shows she saw Thunderlane in the crowd. She met with him and they went to dinner to catch up. She eventually found herself falling for him and asked him out. She was elated when he said yes. The only problem was she technically was supposed to be dating, so they kept their relationship secret.

It was a rule that Coach Top Speed always insisted on. He always justified the ban with the incident with Thunder Strike’s crash. Thunder Strike had a wife and apparently was distracted during a performance and crashed into Fire Fly during a high speed turn. They both sustained serve wing injuries and were forced to retire due to their injuries. That’s the official reason, but Spitfire knew the real reason. ‘Coach is a workaholic, and when he wife left with his foals, because he would at the HQ all the time, he never got over it. If he couldn’t have love, then none of the Wonderbolts would.’ Spitfire was upset that Coach had to be so selfish, but she was going to be seeing Thunderlane soon. She told him to meet in a back room in the castle.

After a few minutes of trotting around the castle she found small reading room. Inside she saw the black stallion; he was wearing a black tie and white collar. ‘He looks nice, nicer than me,’ Spitfire thought looking her outfit. It was the Wonderbolt’s flight suit. Not the most romantic attire, but it would have to do.

She entered the room and greeted Thunderlane. “Hey, handsome.”

“Spitfire,” the stallion greeted cheerfully. “You look beautiful tonight.”

“What? It’s just my flight suit,” Spitfire said.

“Yeah, but you great in it,” Thunder commented.

Spitfire felt a blush spread across her face. “Thanks.”

“Do you want to dance?”

“Thought you would never ask,” Spitfire said wrapping her hooves around the stallion. Even though there was no music playing in the room, they danced to their own tune. Spitfire was in a world of bliss as she enjoyed dance with Thunderlane; she felt comfortable in his strong forearms. She loved the scent of his mane. It reminded her of Cloudsdale. She loved Thunderlane. “I love you, Thunderlane,” she said lovingly.

“I love you too, Spitfire.” Thunderlane inched his head towards Spitfire, and their lips meet in a kiss. It wasn’t long, but it was expressed the love they share for each other. Thunderlane looked over to a clock and realized the time. “Sorry, Spits but I have to go,” he said sadly. “I have an early weather shift tomorrow.”

“It’s ok,” Spitfire said. “Are we still going to meet at our usual place this weekend?”

“Of course, see you then,” Thunderlane said heading to the open window.

“Bye.”

Thunderlane launched himself outside of the windowed and spread his wings towards Ponyville. ‘I wish he could have stayed longer, but it was nice…’ Spitfire’s thoughts were interrupted by the last voice she wanted to hear, her coach’s. She turned and the saw the Pegasus standing in the doorway.

“Well isn’t that cute,” Top Speed said sarcastically.

“Coach!” Spitfire exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for my team’s captain,” he answered dryly.

“How long have you been standing there?” Spitfire asked.

“Long enough to hear your little confession,” the Coach replied.

“Coach I can…”

“Do you love him?” Coach asked.

Spitfire was taken by surprise with his question. “Yes…”

“And you love spending time with him, don’t you?”

“Yes…”

“Then why don’t you go see him?” the Coach asked.

“I guess I could.” Spitfire was confused by her Coach’s suggestions. *‘Where is he going with this?’*

“Oh and while you there, you should break up with him,” he said nonchalantly.

“What!?! I can’t break his heart.” Spitfire yelled.

“Then quit, but I know you won’t you do that. So go and break it off,” he said raising his voice. “Or if you don’t I could just kick you off the team, it’s your choice,” he said turning away from Spitfire. “Choose wisely.” Top Speed trotted out of the room, heading back to the ball room.

‘I can’t break his heart, but I love being a Wonderbolt.’ Spitfire was confused. She knew the choice she had to make…

“She did it! She did it!” the unicorn yelled snapping Spitfire back into reality.

‘What happened?’ She saw the jet of water shot into the air towards Cloudsdale. ‘I guess they did do it, and I guess I dozed off.’ She checked the meter and it read just over 800 wing power. ‘No new record, but I guess they did well.’ She saw the pegasi cheering on a yellow mare. ‘I guess I should go congratulate them. Don’t want them to think I wasn’t paying attention.’ She trotted over to the Rainbow maned weather captain.

“You may not have set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts,” Spitfire said.

The Weather Team left to celebrate. Spitfire followed them until she could sneak off; she wasn’t in the mood for partying. She had too much on her mind; she slowly made her way to the town center. ‘I think they said Thunderlane had the feather flu. Maybe I could go check on him.’ She wasn’t sure if he would even want to see her. ‘Maybe I could explain what happened, and we could at least be friends again.’ She decided on her plan to visit Thunderlane and she perked up a bit. Her step had a bit of a bounce as she trotted into town as she thought of the stallion. She neared his house and she began to hear his voice. It reminded her of the time she spent with him. The voice was coming from behind the building, so she followed his voice.

“I love you, Thunder,” a mare said. Spitfire stopped abruptly when she heard that voice. ‘He has another mare… maybe it’s a relative,’ Spitfire hoped. Spitfire deiced to hide on a nearby cloud and listen in on their conversation.

“I love you too, Blossomforth,” Thunderlane said to the mare. “You are my first and only love.”

‘I thought you loved me… Didn’t he love me, I loved him…’ Spitfire found her happy mood quickly disappearing. She tried to control herself, to control her tears. ‘I’m a tough mare, I don’t cry…’ Spitfire only wished that was true as she felt the tears welling in her eyes.

“Blossomforth, will you marry me?” Thunderlane asked.

“Yes! Yes I will!”

That was the last straw for the fiery mare; she no longer tried to hold her tears back, and not even her best friend, Soarin’, could cheer her up. ‘That could have been me… If I left the ‘Bolts I could’ve be that mare… I could have had love…’ Part of her regretted breaking up with Thunderlane; she loved him. She lost every chance she had of ever getting back with Thunderlane. ‘Why would even want me back with what I did to him. I deserve this…’ Spitfire figured it would be the right time to head home; she didn’t want him to see her. She took off towards Cloudsdale leaving a shower of tears in her wake. She didn’t blame him for finding a new mare, a mare that loved him and would be willing to be with him. She just wanted to get home. For the first time in her life she had a long night of crying of ahead of her.