'Goddesses, it's a beautiful night out,' you think to yourself.
You look up at the stars in the sky, noticing the difference in every individual one, each carrying its own level of brightness or its own slightly different color. Some are bright white, a few blue; you can even spot a red one to the northeast. You can also make out a few constellations that your parents had taught you when you were younger, like that one there; brighter stars connecting like dots in your eyes to form a fish. Or the one that's just to the right of it, which shows through your eyes the shape of a bird. Maybe it's just your imagination, but ever since your parents had told you, you'd remembered exactly where they were. You wouldn't want to forget too much of what they'd taught you.
"Hey! Why don't you come back inside?" You hear a voice call behind you. It's an all-too-familiar voice as well, you really don't even have to look to know exactly who the pegasus is.
Spitfire. You've been working with her for most of your career.
"I dunno. Got a headache from all the noise in there, so I came out here."
Damned liar.
"D'you want some aspirin? I have some inside, I'll get them for you." Spitfire offers calmly, as if trying to avoid increasing the pain of your made-up headache. You cock an eyebrow, smiling in a friendly manner, but you shake your head.
"Nah. I'm alright." You say, and really, you're not doing too shabby. You were just looking at the stars, getting out of the life of the party for a little to get some fresh air. Spitfire seems persistent, however, and she just casts you a glance like she knows you're lying through your teeth.
She probably does. Once again, working with her for most of your career.
"Cut the shit, Soarin', what's the matter?" You swear, she can see right through you sometimes.
"Really, it's nothing. I just wanted away from the noise, just... y'know? Peace and quiet for once. It's nice." You say, and while you were more apt on getting away from a certain someone, peace and quiet was also on your mind whilst doing so earlier. Nothing was stopping you from doing so, so you came out here, in Spitfire's backyard.
Spitfire's foreleg is suddenly around your shoulder, and she pulls you closer, cracking a grin and taunting you with a little growl. She doesn't usually do this around others; but then again, it's just the two of you out here.
"C'mon, what's up? What's your deal? I'm not dumb, you know."
You cast a hinting glare at her, though it's not an entirely angry one. She doesn't get the hint; or she's just ignoring the dirty look on your face, tapping your muzzle with her hoof. You scrunch your nose; she knows you don't like that a whole lot.
"Peace and quiet." You retort, trying to remain patient. You'd never been bothered by Spitfire's presence. Not at all, not ever; she's a fairly nice mare and she's never given you any reason to dislike her out of practicing at work. Now, however... you're in a little bit of a sour mood, and Spitfire isn't helping by hogging up your personal space. Anyone else wouldn't mind their personal space hogged by Spitfire, especially stallions, but you have respect for her and yourself.
She stares at you for a few moments, a frown forming on her face within the next few moments. She looks up at the night sky, just as you had been when she'd come outside, her eyes now fixated on the moon, currently a crescent in space, hundreds of thousands of miles away from you. It really is a nice sight to see; even better when you can just... focus on all of it, focus on taking it in, enjoying the sight of everything that the night holds, that Princess Luna controls.
After about fifteen minutes, you'd almost forgotten she was right beside you. She'd been perfectly quiet, just looking at the stars with you, which had taken you a bit by surprise. Shouldn't she be hosting her party like she'd planned to? She was anticipating hosting her first party at her new house. You dismiss it, continuing to relax and stare up at the night sky.
"Goddesses, it's a beautiful night out."
You look over at her, considering what she'd just said. The same thing you were thinking, of course, and you nod, your tail giving a light flick.
"Yeah, it is."
Spitfire looks over at you again. You can tell she's trying to analyze your mood. It's improved a little over the past fifteen minutes. It wasn't really bad before, but it also wasn't great. She scoots closer to you, now pressed up against you, her cheek against your chin. Your face warms up a little, but you don't show that, considering how dark it is out here. You might have lighter fur, but blush doesn't appear that easily in the dark.
"You're upset about Thunderlane, aren't you?" Spitfire says, looking up at you. Well, shit; she'd caught you, but you try not to let it slip too easily. She can see the glint in your eye appear almost immediately, however.
"No, that's not it—"
"You're a really bad liar, you know." Spitfire says, and you bite the inside of your cheek. Despite your modest and humble attitude, you hate when she interrupts you. You never do it to her.
"You know, you still have the opportunity." Spitfire says, looking at you with a little smile—almost hopeful—appearing on her face. You roll your eyes, and she shoulders you, giving you a push. You give that glare again.
"What?" You ask, and she just shakes her head, tapping one of her hooves in the grass.
"You're so insecure. You don't even know what happened." Spitfire says. She is right. You don't really know much at all about her and Thunderlane.
"From what I've heard, lots heard what happened between you two." You say, and this time, she rolls her eyes.
"C'mon, dude, really? Of all the gossip, you actually believe something ponies got from a magazine?" Spitfire asks, before guffawing. She shoulders you again, much harder this time, making you roll to your side. You huff, righting yourself upward again to lie on your stomach. You decide to question what she means.
"What's the truth then, if who I heard it from was lying?" You ask. Spitfire doesn't seem to care who said it; she knows that knowing that won't fix anything.
"Thunderlane's gay. He asked me out on a date, yeah, but he's not into mares of any kind or sort."
You register that slower than you initially would've. Really? Thunder's gay? That surprises you a little bit, but once you get down to thinking... he was always awfully nice to you. Always showered really close to you after practice, too—
Oh.
OH.
He's into you. Your look of realization paralyzes you for a moment, and Spitfire is the one to shove you out of it, and quite literally as she shoulders you for a third and final time.
"And I also would like to tell you why I said no to you the first time, a few months back," Spitfire says, licking her lips, her tail giving a little flick. Her ears are folded back a little bit, and her wings give a slight jitter, as if she's a little uneasy. You're pretty sure you know what she's going to say.
"It was heat season for me, so I kinda wanted to avoid any guys at the time. I figured just saying no would solve my problem temporarily; I don't wanna know what I would've done given you'd been around while I was hot above the heels."
Your assumption had been incorrect. You thought it was because she'd been through a lot of pressure those months ago; her grandmother had died and her mother was hospitalized due to falling down some stairs at nighttime. Well, now you're blushing a little harder than you originally were. Alright. Thunderlane's gay. Spitfire denied dating you because she was in estrus. You'd thought she was fucking Thunderlane, and she wasn't. She was just fucking with your head? No, that's not it, don't put it that way because it's not true.
"Okay." Is all you can say for now. Spitfire in heat... she's hot-headed enough as it is. You don't think you'd want to be near her while she's in the climax of her estrus. She'd be double the bitch she is when she’s leading practice.
"Okay! So, now, I would like to accept your offer to dinner. But, it'll have to be another day, obviously." Spitfire says, gesturing towards the currently pony-filled house of hers, though she’s smiling happily at you. You're positively sure you didn't just ask her to a date, but you certainly aren’t complaining. Not a word of complaint. Nope. You’re honestly feeling much better than you were a few moments ago.
“Would you want to?” She asks, and you blink at her. Oh, she she is going to offer consent.
You nod somewhat quickly, blinking a few more times. You’re just a bit surprised. She digs right into coming out here to talk to you, you expect apologies of some sort because she knew about your little crush on her for a while now (and you thought she was dating Thunderlane) and instead, she off-the-bat solves shit and retakes that date offer.
You’re really a bit surprised. You hadn’t expected her to be so considerate of something that was offered months ago. Doesn’t estrus only last like… a couple weeks? Maybe she’d felt bad.
She rubs her cheek against yours, her affection surprising you even more. Maybe you know her less than you’d previously thought. You return her gesture, nuzzling into her mane, which isn’t swept back from flying right now. You’d always thought it looked better like this...
Her mane isn’t always like that. She only has it like that after flying; or if she’s going somewhere while wearing her Wonderbolts suit, she does her hair like that on purpose as a sort of ‘iconic’ thing, because that’s what ponies are used to seeing her as.
She gets up, wiping some grass off of her chest with a hoof. She smiles at you, before speaking up.
“Enjoy the party with me, stud.” Spitfire says, and you, without reluctance, nod while blushing at her new nickname for you. You get up, following her back into her house, joining back in with the ponies you were partying with previously, a more true smile on your face as you enjoy the party.
You can’t wait for that date.
