"So what'cha gonna do, boss?" Fleetfoot said with a slight lisp and with all the concern in the world as she fiddled with her flight goggles and sat still in the chair opposite of Spitfire's desk. "I mean, Soarin isn't the kind of guy to go and blab about stuff like that. Besides, everyone knows that inter-command relationships are prohibited."

Spitfire held her head up on the desk with one arm and looked down, seemingly depressed. It was very rare for her to show any emotion in front of her lieutenants, so behaving as such was sending off several red flags for Fleetfoot.

The only reason Spitfire decided to ask for a second opinion with her was because she frankly didn't have many others to talk to. Fleetfoot was her most trusted Lieutenant before Soarin. She knew that the others would most likely not spread the situation any further, but with such a rough scandal she was involved in, there were very little risks she could afford to take.

It was absolutely quiet in Spitfire's office since it was already dark outside and most other Wonderbolts and Wonderbolt trainees had turned in for the evening. The only sound that broke the silence was her wall clock that provided a very unnerving ticking sound every second that the two talked in lowered, almost whispering voices.

"I already called him. He sounded mad, but... I guess he has reason to be." She sighed. "What else can I do besides damage control?"

"Just put in an excused absence report; say he had some sort of family issue or something." Fleet suggested, only wanting to help.

"I could, but they're going to ask him about it, too. What if he gives a different excuse? Command would be up my flank for months for that." Spitfire looked through her list of high-ranks that she'd eventually have to talk to, but none of them were ones that she thought would be completely understanding. Just the week before, she had to file a report on Rainbow missing practice because of an apparent "friendship problem" trip. Even that took weeks to sort out despite it only being a one-day absence.

"Geez... What about the other guy? You know, the one who tried to blackmail you? You sure he isn't gonna talk?" Fleetfoot leaned back in the chair a bit.

"Well, he might, but what would he say? 'Yeah, I banged Spitfire the night before'."

"Yeah... I guess most people wouldn't believe that. Did you send any texts or emails to him?"

"Nah. Just one on one conversations. I know how to cover my bases with outside contacts by now." Spitfire crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair as well. "I guess the only thing I'm worried about is him squawking about my nickname."

Fleetfoot chuckled a bit with her cute lisp. "Is that really a bad thing? It could just add to your likability. Oh! I know-" She leaned forward, apparently having a good idea. "You have a press conference in two days, right? We could have someone ask what your nickname is and you tell them. If its you who says it, what's the worst that can happen?"

Spitfire thought about it and looked up at the ceiling, her eyes casually spinning around slowly with the low-speed ceiling fan. Planting questions in press conference audiences wasn't new to her, but it still made her feel dishonest.

"I guess... What would that accomplish, though?" She still seemed hesitant for anyone to know what they called her.

"Aw, come on, Cap. The fans love you. You really think a little nickname is gonna change that. It’s like your mom always used to say, wear your weakness like armor and no one can criticize you."

Spitfire let out another sigh. It was obvious that what they were talking about wasn't the real reason why she was upset and Fleetfoot could see it. They sat in silence for several awkward moments as the Captain closed her eyes and tried to focus.

"You're really just worried about Soarin, aren't you?" Fleet posited, taking back a bit of her forward attitude to give her some space.

Spitfire nodded with closed eyes.

"Well..." The lieutenant thought of what the right thing to say should be. "What are you worried that he'll do? He's not gonna quit."

"No, but... What if he never trusts me one-hundred percent anymore? You know more than anyone else that one second of hesitation could screw up an entire flight." Spitfire held up a finger to get her point across and leaned forward in her chair again, hinting at Fleetfoot's major blunder a few years back where she ended up almost killing a squad-mate due to her lack of quick-thinking.

"Yeah, I know. You don't have to keep reminding me..." She looked up and to the side a bit defensively and crossed her arms.

The Captain rubbed her forehead as she felt the starting pangs of a headache coming on. With a slight groan, she got up from her chair and straightened out her uniform. She seemed surprised when she took a glance of the clock on the wall, and rightly so; neither of them realized it, but they wound up talking for nearly a half an hour.

"I gotta hit the hay. Got a board meeting tomorrow at zero-six-hundred." She said with little to no enthusiasm whatsoever whilst taking out her keys to lock her office door.

Fleetfoot joined her shortly after and followed her out, but made sure to put a hand on her shoulder before they parted ways.

"Hey, just so you know. Whatever happens, I got your back." She gave her superior a supportive grin and looked her dead in the eyes to make sure she knew she was serious.

It managed to loosen up Spitfires stressed-out appearance slightly and her eyes softened as she turned the key and locked her door. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she gave Fleetfoot a fatherly pat on the shoulder.

Soarin hesitated with his hand literally an inch from the bathroom door knob, trying to think of a smooth and acceptable way to announce his sudden presence. He kept telling himself mentally that Vinyl wouldn't care over and over again, but something inside him didn't want to use Vinyl's lack of concern as an excuse anymore. Sooner or later, he'd have to submit himself as someone who could be her lover and not just her mate, someone who did things out of love, not just lust.

He figured that Vinyl would hear him come in through the door, so an awkward greeting or announcement wasn't necessary. He turned the door knob after a deep breath and felt the warm humid air hit him instantly. He had already shut the door behind him and locked it when Vinyl perked her ears up in the shower and noticed. The glass walls of her shower were foggy from the steam, but she could still make out his general figure and the color of his fur and mane from inside the shower.

She smirked as she finished up washing the shampoo from her hair, making it hang down straight over her shoulders. "Hey, stud... Couldn't wait, could you?"

Soarin didn't answer and took off his clothes as quickly as possible as to not make things too awkward. His enormous, throbbing, veiny boner flung out from his pants the second they came off, but he tried to ignore it for the time being.

"Uh... You alright?" Her ears perked up when she sensed that he was acting a bit differently. She wasn't nervous because she was certain it was him, but something was definitely off.

Soarin held his breath as he opened the shower door and looked down at her for only a moment, taking in the beauty of her soaking wet curvy body, before embracing her against his naked body and kissing her like a man. He used one of his hands to tilt her chin up while the other hugged her hip and pulled her closer to him.

After a few seconds, his passion grew even more and he assertively guided her back into the shower until she was against the wall. She let out a series of moans and gasps into his mouth from the sudden intimacy and passion in his deep kissing and he could hear her breathing heavily through her nose even though he wasn't sexually stimulating her at all. Vinyl desperately clung to his upper back and neck with her arms to keep from melting onto the tile floor. It was hands-down the best kiss she ever had because it was filled with so much emotion. She even felt her eyes slightly roll up every so often from how blissful it was and it was the first time in her life that a man had brought out so much woman in her. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest and it suddenly felt much hotter in the room thanks to him.

Soarin ended the kiss and looked down at her with a half-smile after what seemed like an hour of kissing and Vinyl's eyes were almost glazed over.

"S-Shit..." She said with an exasperated tone as she leaned against the wall with Soarin ready to catch her if her knees gave out. She was still holding onto him in her daze and even though the water was on, Soarin could smell Vinyl's heat dripping between her legs. "You're... You're really good at that..."

Just from one series of kissing, Soarin was able to turn Vinyl from slightly egotistical and snarky to completely submissive and infatuated. It wasn't that he was trained in the art of kissing; kisses are always the best when the emotion behind them is strong, and Soarin's emotions were overflowing.

It was just the right moment to pop an "I love you", but Vinyl wanted to wait to see if he'd say it first. She bit her lip and couldn't help but smile in a goofy manner as she looked up at him. There was no way someone as vexed as he was could pass it up after an intimate kiss like that.

Soarin couldn't resist such an adorable face and leaned in for another few pecks on her lips.

"Hey... I know this might be kinda too early but..." Soarin rubbed the back of his neck nervously but kept eye contact with her. "I, um... I love you..." His heart skipped a beat when he said it but he felt as if a giant burden had lifted from his shoulders the second the words left his mouth. He had felt it towards her for the longest time but was too afraid of the repercussions. He had more to follow it up with, but the weight of what he just said stunned him and made him too nervous to say anything else. Despite him trying to be the dominant partner in their relationship, there were still some things that made him shy.

Vinyl let out the girliest and most excited giggle Soarin had heard from her when he said it and she tried to suppress it by biting down on her lip harder. Not many stallions, or mares for that matter, had the ability to turn her into a perverbial Fluttershy, but Soarin was one of the few who held the talent.

"N-no, it's cool. I... I love you too, so... Yeah." She said awkwardly, but the sentiment was there and it seemed to relax Soarin quite a bit. Her tail was flipping back and forth from excitement as he ran his hands up and down her sides.

"Heh... We really nailed that one..." Soarin teased, sensing that she was just as nervous about saying it as he was. He pressed more of his chest against her to let her feel him more and ran his fingers through her hair in the back of her head whilst continuing his pecks on her cheek. He felt her wet fur nuzzle his cheek back affectionately and he was glad that they were able to momentarily suppress their temptations to have such an important emotional moment.

"W-Well hey, you kinda just said it, it surprised me, you know?" Vinyl couldn't wipe the goofy smile off her face.

Soarin took a break from the affection and looked deeply and closely into her eyes, running his hands up and down her sides slowly.

"Are you really surprised, though? That I love you, I mean." He grinned, getting lost in her magenta eyes.

Vinyl looked up at him, her hands doing the same as he was doing to her; she carefully studied each one of his back and side muscles, feeling all the hard training and workouts that his body went through daily. She knew her tail was swishing back and forth happily, but she couldn't help it.

"Nope." She poked his nose with her finger cutely. "I, uh..." She hesitated, trying to elaborate. Pillow talk wasn't her forte and Soarin knew it, which was why he waited patiently for her to finish. "Could kinda tell ever since we started hanging out. I mean... Even though you'd talk about Spitfire and how much you like her, you always acted differently around me than anyone else."

To Soarin's amazement, he could feel his wood begin to soften up a little. The second he brought attention to it and remembered that he was naked in a hot shower with Vinyl, though, it began to come back to life.

"What about you?" Vinyl countered, reaching around his back and gently massaging the joints between his wings and his back.

"M-mmph..." Soarin groaned in delight when he felt it and Vinyl chuckled and continued. For a mare with no wings, he was impressed with how well she knew a pegasus' sweet spots. "Well I, uh..." He had to search for an acceptable answer as well even though he had plenty time to think of one when she was talking. "The second you started hanging out with me as like... A friend, I kinda had a feeling. Most stallions you'd meet you'd either flirt with or just ignore, but you treated me like a friend. It really made me feel special."

He was ashamed to feel a slight emotional watering of his eyes and tried his hardest to make it go away. Bringing up all the hidden feelings he had for her all at once was proving to be tougher than he imagined. When he looked down, he could see that Vinyl was going through something similar. It was hard to notice, but her lip would quiver slightly every so often and she wiped her eyes when he wasn't looking or closed his eyes, but he could still see out of the corner of his eyes at times. A long silence hung between them and Soarin's first instinct was to go in and kiss her again, but Vinyl leaned up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly in a warm naked hug. His rod was pressing against her belly, but she didn't seem to care as she nuzzled his face in the hug.

Soarin hugged her back around her waist and pulled her to him a little more, rubbing her back lovingly every so often.

"You better not let me down after making me feel like this..." Vinyl said with a shaky tone.

At first Soarin thought she was talking about being horny, but the emotions laced on her voice made him realize that she was talking about their relationship in general.

"I won’t. I promise, babe..." He called her an affectionate name since it seemed appropriate then and held her tightly to him, enjoying the warm loving bond they were sharing together.

Vinyl used her magic on the shower knob to make it a bit cooler since the room was getting slightly too hot for her comfort, especially when she was pressed up against such a big warm stallion. After a couple blissful minutes of lovey-hugging, they loosened their grips on each other.

She sighed in relaxation and happiness. "You didn't just come in here to sweet talk me, did you?" She smirked and stared up into his eyes as her fingers traced down his abs. She turned him around and positioned herself in front of him so that he was sandwiched between her and the wall instead.

"Heh... I guess not." Soarin replied softly, looking down at his mare that seemingly couldn't wait to service him. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, don't worry. You're always worth the wait." She said seductively but with a hint of love in it as she leaned up and kissed his lips one last time.

Soon enough, Vinyl found herself on her knees and at eye level with Soarin's member twitching and throbbing in front of her. It was already rock hard from the looks of it and the little veins that ran through it made Vinyl shiver from arousal.

"Hey, big guy... Missed you." She chuckled and gave the underside of his shaft a kiss, talking to it as if it were a thing of its own.

"You should take a picture, it'll last longer." Soarin chuckled and teased and it made Vinyl's cheeks turn a shade of pink when she snapped out of it and realized that she was practically drooling over his shaft for far too long. He gave her a little affectionate scratch behind her ear to encourage her.

Vinyl licked her lips a bit before going right in and licking up his wet warm shaft nice and slow. She felt it twitch once or twice on her way up which only added to her excitement. Her eyes looked up and made contact with his as she went back down and gave his juicy balls a little attention. Even though his meaty cock was laying on her face, she could still see his face contort in pleasure when she fondled each one of his sensitive members around her tongue. Just thinking about all the semen that was building up inside them for her made her shiver.

"Agh... Fuck..." Soarin panted a little. Judging from his reaction, Vinyl could tell that his balls were quite sensitive due to his horniness.

Thanks to the foreplay, his cock was at full extent and was harder than a baseball bat. His flared head was even puffing out a little, a sign that stallions showed when they were close to climaxing.

"Wow, you're not gonna pop already, are you?" Vinyl smirked and stroked him with her index finger and thumb.

"N-nah... It's just really good..." He chuckled nervously, fearing that she'd make him finish too early. He scratched her behind the ear affectionately so he could pull her off if she went too far too fast, but she stopped after seeing his response, she gave him some mercy and backed up with a giggle.

"You know, you're cute when you're about to cum..." She stared up into his eyes, her wet mane hanging down around her face and giving her a more womanly look compared to how she usually had it propped up like a rocker chick. She figured he was so sensitive and built-up because of how long he stood there holding onto her naked body, not being able to do anything "Makes it really hard not to finish you..." She winked up at him and went back in, this time taking his length into her mouth and rolling her tongue around his head lewdly. Even though he said he wasn't going to pop, his throbbing and twitching told otherwise.

"Nngh! You ass..." Soarin cursed and gritted his teeth, trying to hold on as long as he could, but her tongue and warm mouth were hard to resist.

Vinyl ignored him and closed her eyes, focusing on the delicious taste of thick precum coming out of his head. She felt his thick shaft ring glide over her tongue when she reached halfway down his cock and it encouraged her to go further, prodding his horsecock head at her throat. She knew the second he felt the heaven that was her tight warm throat, he'd cum for sure, so she got ready and looked up at him with a wink whilst taking a deep breath through her nose.

"W-wait, I- Ahhhh!" Soarin moaned out in ecstasy when he felt her take the plunge, sending his head and part of his shaft down her throat. A slight bulge could be seen on her neck as her lips kissed his hilt and balls. She felt his hands tug at her hair desperately as the pleasure of being deep throated overwhelmed him.

"F-fuck, Vinyl... Hah... I'm gonna cum..." He said with exasperation as she slid him back out of her throat and then went back in after taking another deep breath.

She couldn't wait to feel his hot sticky seed fill her throat, so she went back and forth, sending his shaft down the rabbit hole over and over again until the throbbing turned into involuntary twitching. A massive buildup of precum escaped his head before she heard him groan like a manly stallion and felt her hair being tugged harder. She hilted him again and wrapped her arms around his waist so he couldn't pull out even if he wanted to.

Thick streams and globs of potent jizz poured down her throat and made her want to finger herself from how sexy it was. She looked up into his eyes the whole time even though his were shut from the strain of climaxing. Watching his face contort in bliss while he shot sticky streams of scrumptious semen down her throat was like a drug to her.

"Aghhh! Nnnghh!" He kept cumming for a few more seconds before panting heavily and loosening his grip on her hair.

Vinyl slid him out of her throat and took several deep breaths once she gulped down all the cum that he gave her, stroking his shaft slowly to keep him aroused. She was surprised that she didn't gag or choke on any of it.

"Mmmm... I love how sweet your cum is..." She said seductively with a giggle and licked her lips. She didn't need to since she didn't waste a drop, but it was just for him to see how much she liked it.

Soarin was still panting and opened his eyes again. "Heh... Swallowed all of it, huh?" He grinned as he started to recover, thankful that he ate mostly veggies and fruits that made his cum taste less bitter.

Vinyl opened her mouth and said "Ahh" as if she were at the doctors, showed that it was clean.

"That's my girl..." Soarin scratched behind her ear affectionately and gave her a hand to help her up, which she took gladly. "Now, you know I'm not gonna just let you go without returning the favor, right?"

"Hm..." Vinyl reached down and took his cock in her hand once she was standing again, feeling how hard it still was. "Yup. And I'm not gonna let you go without you filling up all my holes tonight."

She smiled naughtily and massaged his balls softly. "Yup. One down, two to go, big guy."

"Heh..." Soarin returned the smile nervously and gulped. He leaned in and made out with her sloppily, letting her suck on his tongue lewdly for a few moments before breaking it off and leaving a thin band of saliva between their lips. He could taste the musk of his cock and his semen faintly in her mouth. "Alright, but let’s get back in bed. I think the whole house is filled with steam by now." He chuckled.

Spitfire hated herself for being so emotional, especially so late at night by herself. Due to her status, she had her own bunk by herself in her own room while her other squad members shared several bunks in the same room. Because of this, she had a bit of privacy and she used it to her advantage by pulling out her phone after some hesitation and beginning to text Soarin. She stared at his number for several minutes thinking of what to say before typing slowly and re-reading each sentence before adding more. However, she ended up groaning and deleting the whole long message once she realized how pointless and immature it was to send a text that should've been communicated in person. She knew it was too late for things to go back to the way they were, but she was done being sad about it. The only thing she cared about then was getting Soarin to trust her again as a friend and come back to the Wonderbolts.

She had already taken a nice shower and changed into a rather egotistical tight tank top shirt of her own cutie mark on the front of it along with some black and orange pajamas when a few knocks came on her door.

There were only two people that had the balls to knock on her living quarters door so late at night: Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Her heart felt as if it stopped beating, but in reality, it sped up twice as fast as she got up and approached the door. She hoped for some miracle that Soarin would be on the other side of the door just to forgive her. He wouldn't have to do anything else to relieve her stress, just say "It's okay" with his normal smile and then walk away. It was all she'd need to rid her mind of the pain.

She exhaled in a way that sounded like a disappointed sigh when she opened the door and saw her multi-color-maned lieutenant standing there in her fatigues and backpack.

"Geez, boss. Not happy to see me?" Rainbow Dash read Spitfires expression and smirked. "Just wanted to see how you were holdin' up. You've been lookin'... Worn out lately." Rainbow knew she should just spit everything out at once so Spitfire wouldn't have a chance to interrupt her. "And that whole thing with Soarin, I know something’s up with you two and if you don't wanna tell me everything that's fine, but I at least wanna help snap you out of this funk. It looks bad to everyone else when their leader looks like an emotional wreck, you know?" She spoke her mind transparently, which Spitfire knew wasn't unlike her. The captain felt slightly less annoyed by her presence after her mini-speech.

Spitfire thought for a few moments whilst leaning on her open door and then stepped back, gesturing with her head to invite her inside. It made Rainbow smile, not only because she won the little bout between the two and convinced her to let her in, but because it gave her a chance to question her about Soarin.

Rainbow did her captain the favor of locking her door behind them as Spitfire sat down at her mini-desk and swiveled her rolling chair around to face her. She crossed her legs in her pajamas and stared inquisitively at Rainbow who was taking a bit too long to scan over what all she was wearing. It wasn't too often that Rainbow had the chance to get one on one with her idol in such a potentially intimate setting, so saying that she was flustered would've been an understatement.

"Well? You gonna look at my tits all night or are you gonna ask me something?" Spitfire gave a cheeky smile, knowing that Rainbow was as gay as a three bit coin. She often enjoyed teasing her about it at times despite having the same interests herself, only not as much. Most considered Rainbow to be ninety percent into girls and ten percent into guys, but Spitfire was barely fifty-fifty.

"Oh, uh... My bad. So, uh..." Rainbow scratched behind her head nervously and produced a bit of color to her cheeks for a moment. "What happened with Soarin? I mean, it had to be somethin' serious since you asked me to give him a letter from you instead of just going to him yourself. In all due respect... What gives?" She asked forwardly, taking the liberty of taking off her fatigue jacket and letting her upper body breathe a bit more. She still had an athletic bra on underneath, so it wasn't completely inappropriate since they were both girls.

Spitfire didn't know where to begin. Not only did she not know how to put everything together into a neat little package of information for her to mentally download, but she also wasn't sure what parts she should leave out if any. She figured since she already told Fleetfoot, it wouldn't be fair not to tell Rainbow.

"Alright, but you have to promise not to spread this shit around, okay? I'm serious." Spitfire reached into a glass jar or multi-flavored suckers on her small study desk and unwrapped one, putting it in her mouth. She told herself she'd limit who she'd talk about it with to her closest lieutenants, but she was beginning to realize how little talking to Fleetfoot actually helped. It was only when she remembered that Rainbow was a close friend and companion of the Princess of Friendship that she decided to spill the beans.

"Uh, hello? Element of loyalty here." Rainbow put a hand on her chest to gesture to herself and boastfully smirked, taking a seat on Spitfires bed.

Spitfire chuckled with a grin and shook her head, thinking of how she'd explain. Eventually, she went into it, telling her most of the important details. Even though Rainbow said it out of bragging, Spitfire knew she was right. Rainbow was one of the most loyal girls she knew and even when it came to keeping secrets, if she promised not to tell, she'd keep her promise to the death. She had to stop for a moment every so often during the end because of the overflowing guilt she was experiencing, but Rainbow respectfully didn't comment until she was done. With the permission of her boss, she pulled out and changed into some athletic boy shorts and a tee-shirt from her backpack since she assumed that she'd be there a while. To the outside observer, it was extremely inappropriate for a Rainbow to be spending time with her superior in such an informal manner, but the two of them had become friends long before they were trainer and trainee. If no one else was around, Spitfire very much preferred to treat Rainbow as the former. Having a robot as a friend wasn't too fun for either of them and being able to talk to anyone without status barriers was welcoming for Spitfire since it hardly happened at all in her position.

"Damn... But hey, I mean... It's not totally your fault with that guy..." Rainbow started by trying to relieve her guilt that had already dug itself in rather deep, but it was futile at that point.

"No, thinking back on it, my nickname being leaked was a stupid thing to be worried about. I should've been more worried about Soarin." Spitfire pinched her temples, hoping Rainbow could be of more help than Fleetfoot.

"Well, hey. If there's one thing I learned from Twilight, it's that you can't fix the past. You have to try to change the future so the past doesn't repeat itself." Rainbow said, quoting Twilight directly.

Spitfire smirked, obviously amused by something. "Lemme guess. Twilight said that?"

"Huh? N-no! I said it..." Rainbow lied, but Spitfire raised an eyebrow in amusement and kept her eyes on her until she cracked. "Alright, Twilight said it. But still, that's what you need to do."

Getting tired of sitting in her hard wooden chair and feeling jealous of Rainbow's tush for getting a mattress to sit on, Spitfire got up and sat next to her, albeit a few feet away so it wasn't too awkward. "Yeah... I guess you do know more about friendships and relationships than me, being so close to the Princess of Friendship and all. Probably should've come to you first." She leaned back and laid down on her back, making herself at home since it was her home. That is, if one could consider a small three-room dorm a 'home'. Her legs hung off the edge of the bed as Rainbow crossed her legs underneath her and turned to face her.

"Yeah, probably." Rainbow shrugged and smirked confidently, but when Spitfire didn't seem too amused and stared up at the ceiling, she cut out the tough talk. "Anyways, if you think he's going to want to get back with you as friends, just tell him you're sorry and make it up to him somehow. And it's gotta be in person, too. As much as I love being your mailmare, he's not going to think you're serious unless you just go up to him yourself." Rainbow chuckled to show that she didn't throw the joke in there to be disrespectful. "I mean, what would you think of him if-"

"Yeah, yeah... I got it." Spitfire waved her off short. "No need to rub it in."

"Oh, uh... Right. My bad." Rainbow's eyes drifted down and away from her when she realized she was lecturing her instead of helping her through it.

"It's just... I don't know what to do with all this guilt. It's getting to the point where I don't even think I deserve to have him back. I know it sounds pathetic..." She sighed and turned on her side facing away from Rainbow.

It wasn't like Spitfire to act this angsty and moody and Rainbow knew it better than most. She didn't quite manage to grasp how it was affecting her until she turned away from her, behaving like a filly in high school after a breakup.

Rainbow thought deep about her many friendship lessons with Twilight and came up with a plan, smiling softly and scooting closer to her on the bed. She gave her a few moments to think before continuing, reminiscing back to something Twilight did with her to get her out of a similar funk in the past.

"Hey, remember that time he accidentally thought you were your mom and went up to her to receive P.T. orders?"

Spitfire chuckled. She was rather offended by it at the time over a year ago, but it was only a silly memory after time had passed. "Yeah... My mom thought it was cute, though. Ran him for miles until he couldn't walk straight."

"He'd probably kill me for telling you this, but he told me after it happened that he'd done it at least a dozen times beforehand." Rainbow smirked.

"W-what?!" Spitfire said in shock, but in a hushed tone as she turned around to face rainbow on her side. "That little..." Even though her words sounded upset, her facial expression simply looked amused.

"Heheh... Yeah. And you remember when he clipped your wing and put you in the hospital for a week?"

"My wing sure does." She was visibly starting to lighten up. "Still hurts when I move it back a certain way. Little bastard..."

"And when he ruined your academy formation qualifications for a year because he lied about having a broken wing? And then put your career at risk because you covered up for him?"

"Y-yeah..." Spitfire was more confused than she was amused then, wondering why Rainbow was bringing up all of Soarin's bad memories. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Did you forgive him for all of that?"

She propped her upper body with her elbow on the bed, thinking. "Well, yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I? He's like, my best friend after all."

Rainbow tried her best to remember how Twilight did this technique with her to the best of her ability. "Do you think he forgave himself?"

That made Spitfire contemplate a few moments and she was beginning to see where her junior officer was going.

"I... I guess so. It doesn't seem to bother him anymore. Why?"

Rainbow scooted closer and put a hand on Spitfires shoulder in a comforting way, a soft smile growing on her face. "Don't you think you should do the same?"

She remembered tearing up when the realization hit her all at once when Twilight pulled it on her years ago, but she never would've thought it'd have the same effect on Spitfire until she saw her face contort in emotion. It was if a giant dam of bottled up feelings had been broken. It only began to make sense to her once she realized how she was acting from an outside perspective.

She began to turn back around, but Rainbow stopped her, holding her in place by her shoulder. "Listen... Even if he does forgive you, and he will because he's a good guy, it won't change a damn thing unless you forgive yourself. You'll never be able to let it go. Twilight taught me that."

"S-Shit..." Spitfire cursed as a tear ran down her face sideways, embarrassed and ashamed that she was acting so compromised in front of one of her squad leaders. She gave up trying to hide it and wiped away her tear, but it was quickly replaced by another one. "But... I hurt him so badly... I-" She was too flustered to complete sentences.

Seeing her captain so emotional didn't faze Rainbow at all; it only urged her to help more. She laid down on her side and joined her face to face with a foot or two between them, her hand still on her shoulder.

"Come on. You need to go talk to him. You can't keep hiding away here and waiting for him to come back. If you go to him, it'll show him you mean it."

Spitfire sniffled and looked over at the digital clock next to her bed that read 8 p.m. "It's eight... He's probably-" She stopped herself and groaned, not at Rainbow or the clock, but at herself for being so stubborn and making excuses. "You're right. Let's go."

Author's Note

If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE and let me know so that I can fix them asap. Thanks!