The Pegasus & The Pegasister

Ashleigh blinked. “What do you mean?”

Soarin put his hoof behind his head. “Well, I mean, you know what life is like here on Equestria since you’re...here. But you’ve never told me what it’s like on earth.”

Ashleigh smiled. “Oh, well it’s okay. I mean, mainly I want to go back because of my family.”

Soarin looked interested. “Family?”

Ashleigh nodded. “Yeah, my family. I have my parents and my younger sister.”

Soarin looked sad. “Oh, I know what you mean. My only family is my parents. I haven’t seen them in years.”

“You haven’t seen them in years?” replied Ashleigh, shocked.

Soarin nodded. “Not since I became a wonderbolt.”

Ashleigh looked genuinely sorry for him. “Soarin I’m sorry.” she murmured.

Soarin shrugged. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You’re kinda like my mom, you’re no fun.” he joked, teasingly patting her on the leg.

Ashleigh glared at him. “No fun? I’ll show you no fun, Mr. Sore Voice!” she shouted, tackling him and pretending to beat him up.

Soarin let out a fake groan. “Oh no, you made fun of my voice. At least I don’t have so much hair that I have to wear hair ties!”

Ashleigh laughed as Soarin seized the chance to pin her down to the ground and climb on top of her.

“You have to admit, though, you think I’m cute when I have my hair down,” Ashleigh snickered, trying to distract him by hypnotically twirling her hair.

“No…” Soarin mumbled, getting off of her and helping her to her feet. “I just was surprised by how much hair you have.”

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah right.”

The two looked at the sky, seeing that the sun was only a few hours from setting.

“Wow, time sure does pass by when you’re having fun.” commented Ashleigh, as the two began walking again.

Soarin grinned. “Yeah, time does seem to fly.” he said with a grin. “Want to get back to asking each other questions?”

Ashleigh nodded. “Sure!” she said, trying to adjust her shorts. She noticed that the fact that she had barely eaten in days had caused her waistline to shrink, and that she was having a hard time keeping her shorts from sliding.

“Something wrong?” Soarin asked.

Ashleigh sighed and tightened her belt. “I’m losing weight because I’m not getting enough to eat.”

Soarin looked concerned. “Oh, I’m sorry Ashleigh.” he said, looking at his own skinny form. “I haven’t gotten enough to eat myself.”

Ashleigh put her arms around him in a hug. “It’s okay Soarin. We’ll find food.”

Soarin smiled. “Really, are you sure?”

Ashleigh nodded. “Don’t worry. I mean, we haven’t died of starvation yet. And if we get hungry enough we could eat roots.”

Soarin grinned. “Good idea.” he joked.

“Let’s just take our minds off food.” the stallion added. “That means let’s ask some questions. So… have you ever had a stallionfriend before?” he asked, a little bit of nervousness in his voice.

Ashleigh snickered. “Well somebody’s getting personal with questions.”

Soarin looked a little embarrassed. “I, er couldn’t think of any other questions.”

“We call them boyfriends on earth.” she explained. “And yes I have one.”

“Oh.” Soarin muttered. Was that sadness in his voice?

Ashleigh laughed. “Just kidding, I don’t. I really have no idea why, but everyone I know seems to think otherwise. I know you weren’t trying to hit on me when you said I was pretty. A lot of guys back on earth seem to think the same thing.”

“I never meant to say pretty,” Soarin tried to evade. “It’s a synonym for mysterious girl!”

Ashleigh grinned. “I find that hard to believe.”

Soarin continued to try to evade by asking another question. “Do you like pie?” he asked, nervously.

Ashleigh nodded. “Yeah! My favorite is apple.”

Soarin looked at her in disbelief. “What? That’s my favorite! Especially with caramel on top!”

Ashleigh laughed. “Same! That’s the best!”

Ashleigh suddenly intervened. “Hey, can you ask a question that doesn’t have to do with food? My stomach is hurting right now…”

Soarin nodded. “Okay...what’s your greatest fear? Mine is loosing my job at the Wonderbolts.”

Ashleigh froze. “I-I don’t know if I should say it. It’s too embarrassing.”

Soarin froze. “What? Come on, you can tell me. I won’t make fun of you, Wonderbolt’s honor.”

Ashleigh sighed. “Okay. My g-greatest fear is not having any friends. I’m kind of a laid back person, but I still like having friends. Because my life is always really boring when I don’t. And when something bad happens and I have friends, they always make things better somehow.”

Soarin chuckled. “Well luckily your best friend is right here with you.”

Ashleigh looked at him confusedly. “Best friend?”

Soarin nervously gulped. “Well, it’s just that, er, we’ve saved each other’s lives and we’re getting to know a lot about each other, so I thought it would be okay if I said we’re best friends. I mean, I have friends, but you’re the best one I’ve ever gotten…”

He expected Ashleigh to be mad, but instead she patted him on the head. “I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I mean, we could have gotten to know each other even better if I hadn’t acted like an idiot and taken you from your camp. How’s that wing doing by the way?”

Soarin glanced at it. “It feels a lot better. I would try moving it, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Ashleigh nodded. “Good idea is to keep it in the hair tie for now. And I don’t think it’s weird that you think that I’m your best friend. I think the same thing. I mean, I wouldn’t tell most of my friends the stuff I tell you, so yeah.”

Soarin looked nervous. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you think I’m prying to much?”

Ashleigh shook her head. “No, of course not! You can ask me anything you want, no matter how personal it is. I haven’t got that much to hide. Besides, you seem like the kind of guy who would never reveal anything I told him. I like that about you.

Soarin looked confused. “I don’t know how you got that idea, but that sounds a lot like me.”

Ashleigh giggled, her laugh causing Soarin to blush.

She’s got such a cute laugh. He thought to himself.

“Something wrong?” asked Ashleigh, noticing that Soarin was smiling, and that his cheeks were turning a blushy shade.

“N-no, what?” Soarin said, looking away.

Ashleigh didn’t buy it.

“Why do you keep looking away from me?” she asked, trying to turn his head towards hers.

Soarin let out a nervous breath. “I-er-uh-” he stumbled around, nervously.

Ashleigh stopped walking. “Soarin, what’s going on?”

Soarin bit his lip nervously. “It’s just that you look really...pretty. I get kinda shy when I look at you. I’m not into you, it’s just…”

Ashleigh smiled. “Aww...you think I’m pretty?”

Soarin just nodded, but suddenly felt Ashleigh hug him. “That’s really sweet of you to say.” she said, flicking his ear.

Ashleigh grinned. “But I don’t believe you about not being into me, what’s going on there-” she started, but was cut off when Soarin gently pulled away.

She was about to ask him why, but Soarin opened his mouth.

“Do you smell that?!?” he asked, nervously.

Ashleigh shook her head. “No, what?”

Soarin glanced at her excitedly. “Food!”

Ashleigh suddenly looked at him in excitement. “What? Where?!?”

Soarin pointed his hoof towards a group of trees. “Over there! I can smell it!”

Ashleigh patted Soarin on the head. “Great job! Lead the way Soarin!”

Soarin nodded and started quickly walking. After about two minutes, they arrived at a tent, where a stallion and his marefriend were camping out. They had plenty of food on their table, so Soarin and Ashleigh ran for their table, grabbing a bag of food and running away before they were noticed.

The stallion walked forward with a confused look on his face.

“Where did all of those snacks go?” he asked. “Misty Whisper! Where are the pies?”

Ashleigh and Soarin was snickering so hard as they ran away that they nearly choked, before inspecting what they had grabbed. Some sort of orange drink, some sort of scented liquid soap, two pies, a vegetable peeler, jam, and celery.

“Pie!!!” shouted Soarin, jumping around excitedly.

Ashleigh opened the drink and started chugging it. She hadn’t had much to drink since she had arrived other than getting a drink from a creek they had come across a day ago, so she was parched with thirst.

“Hey!” Soarin said as she continued to gulp it down. “Save some for me!”

Ashleigh finally stopped drinking and in between gasps handed the bottle to him.

“Sorry it has my saliva on it.” she apologized. “But we don’t have any cups.”

Soarin shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s actually tradition for best friends to share a drink during a celebration in Equestria.” he said. That was a lie, of course, but Soarin wasn’t gonna let her know that. He took a few gulps, before giving it back to her.

“Your turn.” he said. “You finish it off.”

“Do I have to?” she asked.

“Yes, yes you do. You made me drink after you, now you have to drink after me.” he joked, gently poking her in the stomach with his hoof.

Ashleigh shrugged. “Okay.” she said, gulping the rest of it down, being somewhat relieved when it wasn’t as gross as she thought it would be.

“Now you’ll always be a part of me!” she joked, poking Soarin back.

“Eww, no thanks.” Soarin muttered, rolling his eyes.

The two burst into laughter. Any tension or distrust between the two was dead, and a bond of mutual close friendship and care was being established.

The first step towards love.