Spitfire: Just a Normal Date

So far so good. It’d been over a year since Spitfire took some leave away from Cloudsdale, away from the Wonderbolts. They weren’t actively training new cadets, and they weren’t doing any shows for another month, so she decided it was time to get away from it all for a little while, and have some down time. Ponyville seemed like the ideal choice. Not as many ponies would recognize her as Captain of the Wonderbolts, and she wouldn’t have to deal with over anxious fans. All jobs had their stressors, and everyone had their capacity for stress. Spitfire didn’t really get to her stress peak, but at the same time, she wasn’t exactly calm and collected either. As soon as she could, she took a train to Ponyville. Of course, the bright yellow pegasus could fly there, but she was going under the radar, as it were.

Her orange and amber hair was down, instead of its usual up, fire-like position. She didn’t even bother packing her Wonderbolt uniform, and she made sure she didn’t look anyone in the eye. If she could help it, she didn’t really talk to many ponies either. She simply trotted along on her hoofs, and decided what she wanted to do that day. At first, the thought of a vacation was a fun notion. However, when put to practice, she found herself getting bored really fast. Spitfire saw that new movie that had just come out, the one with the cornfield and the scarecrow pony terrorizing colts and fillies with glowing eyes. It was okay, not something she’d watch again.

Then there came the all popular eating out. Eating out by herself. Fun stuff. She sighed as she walked out of the restaurant. She left a good tip, but didn’t really love the service. It was all so mundane.

Then, from across the street, there came a gasp, a long one. A young, blue colt had his hoof in his mouth, his eyes were wide open as he gazed at Spitfire. Her eyes widened, and her lips pursed as she looked at him.

“You’re-!” Before he could finish his sentence, the pegasus pony zipped over to him and put a hoof over his mouth.

“Don’t. Say. Anything.” She sighed, and looked around, seeing that the other ponies weren’t looking their way. They simply crossed the street on that late afternoon as the sun began its descent into the horizon. Thankfully, she got to him in time. “If I sign something for you, do you promise not to say a thing, at least for another couple of days?” She whispered close to him.

He nodded his head vigorously, his blond mane getting ragged as he did. His face just kept smiling as she removed her hoof from his mouth. As fortune would have it, he pulled his Wonderbolt card collection from his saddlebag, and held it up to her. With his mouth, he opened the binder, and she actually was a little impressed by the number of foil Wonderbolt cards he had. He even had a first edition Rainbow Dash foil. She didn’t keep up much with card prices, but she knew that one would go for at least three hundred bits.

She grabbed a sharpie marker from his bag and signed her name on her foil card, the one that depicted her doing a swan dive in the sky, her goggles on in her blue uniform. The colt said that his name was Shine Cascade, and she made it out to him.

“Remember, not a word.” She handed him back the pen, and then trotted away. Spitfire just knew that she made that colt’s day, and while that kind of helped her mood, she still was at a loss for things to do. It sucked that she got caught, but by the same token, at least she had a little bit of excitement in her day. He promised not to say a word, but she already knew that he was going to be telling his other Wonderbolt fans about it right away. Probably sell the card for triple its asking price.

She sighed, dipping her head down a bit. Maybe this whole vacation thing was just a big mistake. Maybe she’d run into Rainbow Dash or something and she could at least be company for her.

That’s when she started to smell a very sweet, rich aroma in the air. She lifted her head and started to sniff the air. She must have been by a bakery, because it smelled amazing! She really could have gone for a brownie, or whatever it was that made the air like a chocolate heaven.

Spitfire gazed at the store at the end of the street, the one with the hanging sign that was nothing more than a Chocolate Chips’ Cookies. She didn’t have dessert at the restaurant, and figured she was on vacation, so why not? The pegasus picked up her pace a bit and trotted over to the bakery, and opened the batwing doors. The place was pretty old fashioned as bakeries went. There were chocolate chip cookies lined up under the counter in a display case, and cupcakes in another. There were three tables with two chairs in each up against the opposite wall, and the floor was tiled in red and white checkers. As she walked through the doors, she looked over to see the fan that was blowing out toward the door leading into the sidewalk.

Smiling, she figured it was a lame trick, but it worked on her. She walked up to the display case and looked at all of the choices. The place smelled so good, it honestly didn’t matter what she got, just so long as she tried something. That, and she hoped they had milk here.

“Hello?” She called out into the store.

There was a little thud, followed by a groan, like someone hit their head. “Welcome! I’ll be right there!” A stallion said as he walked into the store front, carrying a cookie sheet full of chocolate chip cookies. He was a brown furred Earth pony, and his mane and tail were both a darker, richer brown than his fur, which was more tan. On his flank, of course, there was a chocolate chip cookie, much like the ones he carried in one hoof, while trotting with the other three.

“Welcome, welcome. You’re just in time to get a hot one, fresh from the oven!” He said as he put one of the cookies on a little plate and slid it across the counter to her.

She stopped the plate with her hoof and smiled at him.

“Thanks.” She picked it up with her hoof, and noted that it was hot, but was not too hot. She took a big bite out of it, and the chocolate melted in her mouth immediately. She couldn’t ask for such satisfaction for a craving such as that. The only thing that could possibly make this moment any better was a big tall glass--

He filled up a glass of milk from a tap on the other side of the counter, and placed it down in front of her.

“There, now, what can I do for you?” He asked, and started putting the cookies from the sheet into a box, filling up an order.

The words “marry me” almost came out of her muzzle as a joke, but a lot of guys wouldn’t find that funny.

“Oh, I think I could handle another couple of these.” She took the milk from the counter and took two gulps, sighing in absolute ecstasy. The satiation was in full effect, and the endorphins in her brain suddenly forgot all about her boredom, and discontent with a certain anxious fan. “As well as one of the white chocolate cookies. Those look good too.”

“Of course, I’ve been having cravings for those myself.” He smiled at her and started putting her cookies on the same plate. “Will there be anything-”

“Chocolate Chip! CHIP!” Both of them turned toward the door as someone was trotting fast toward the bakery. “The Wonderbolts!”

Spitfire’s self defense mechanism in her psyche did a backflip into alert mode.

“The Wonderbolts!” A young male unicorn pushed the batwing doors open and looked inside at the baker. “Dude! Blue said that he saw Spitfire, the Captain of the Wonderbolts in Ponyville!”

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. Chocolate Chip looked at the plate of cookies on his counter, and saw that Spitfire was gone. That’s when he looked to see that the yellow pegasus was hiding behind his counter all the sudden. She looked up at him with her bright orange eyes, and gave him a nervous smile. He blinked twice and then looked back at the unicorn.

“Well, that’s great, Gold. Was there something you wanted me to do about that?” Chip asked, obviously being sarcastic.

“Come on, man! You gotta help us find her! He got his third edition foil signed by her, it’ll be worth hundreds of bits!”

“Yeah, I’ll just close up shop and go on a wild goose chase with my old pals.” Sarcasm dripped from every one of his words. “Look, Golden Globe, I have a business to run, and tonight I have three more orders to fill before I close up. So, yeah, gonna have to take a rain check on that. Now go, you’re scaring my customer!”

“Oh, sorry bro.” The gold colored unicorn trotted off, letting the batwing doors swing closed.

“Oh, dear Celestia, I’m so sorry he startled you.” He said and trotted up next to her. “I don’t know why those guys obsess over the Wonderbolts so much. Their sky shows are cool, but really, celebrity culture is so overrated.”

“No I--” She thought for a moment. Then she looked at him. He really didn’t know? “I mean, yeah! Yeah I had a big start.” She patted her hoof against her chest and took a deep breath. “I almost choked on a cookie.”

“Yeah, I won’t charge you--” That was when she laid ten bits on the table. He looked at them and then looked at her. “You know they’re two bits each, right?”

“I always tip for good service.” She smiled at him. For a moment, their muzzles were very close together. She trotted past him and walked around the counter to the other side. She went back to the plate and kept eating. “I gotta tell you, these cookies are top notch. I don’t see how you stay so thin working around them so much.”

“Oh, I’m not a huge fan of eating cookies. I just enjoy making them, and I guess I’m pretty good at it.” He said as he pulled a piece of tape off from his work desk and sealed a box.

“You guess? Can’t say I’ve had cookies like these. I gotta tell ya, this has to be the most fun I’ve had since I came to Ponyville.” She finished the last of the cookies on her plate, and gulped down the last of the milk in her glass. Spitfire wiped the milk mustache from her muzzle.

“Oh yeah? Where are you from? I mean, I could guess Cloudsdale.” He chuckled along with her.

“Well, you’d be guessing right. I’m just here on vacation. Work got a little hectic, and I figured I could use a little R&R.” Then she realized what she said, hoping he didn’t take that as a purely military term.

“Oh, believe me, I know how stressful work can get.” He said as he started making another batch of dough. “I know a few good places in Ponyville, if you were looking for a cheap place for a few laughs. I could tell you about a bunch of good places to rest your hooves.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about the cheap places. I was looking to embellish myself a little.” She said this, but truth be told being a Wonderbolt was a pretty good paying job in the lower ranks alone. Being the Captain, she wasn’t exactly strung up for bits, as it were. “But instead of telling me about them, how about you show them to me. When do you close up shop?”

His eyes widened a little, and he looked back at her. “Well, I mean, I close up around nine, but I don’t usually head home until ten. I guess, if you didn’t mind waiting, I could meet you somewhere?”

“Sure thing! Preferably a place without too many ponies. I’m looking to get away from the crowds, if you know what I mean.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He couldn’t help but have his heart thump a few beats in his chest. Was he flirting? He didn’t even notice if he was flirting, but he was pretty sure she was.

“So ummm, my name’s Chocolate Chip, if the bakery sign didn’t give it away already.”

That was when her eyes widened, and her eyes flicked from left to right. She hadn’t even thought of a name for herself yet. She couldn’t go around giving her name out to everypony she met. That was just asking for a mob of fans ripping her mane apart to get a lock of hair.

“Oh, yeah, haha, sorry, I got caught up and lost my manners.” She looked over to the lantern in the corner of the shop. Fire… fire… fire… “Flicker Flame! Yeah, my name’s Flicker Flame.” It was a good enough name as any, she supposed.

“Nice to meet you.” He smiled. “So, we could meet at the park. Not many ponies there in the later hours.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you there, Chip.” She turned and walked out of the shop, leaving him with stars in his eyes, and a new determination to get all of his work done before the shop closed.

They met in the park as they planned. It was very dark at this point, and the night had a very nice breeze. Fall was just beginning. Spitfire was loving the small town charm at this point. She couldn’t get these kinds of nights in Cloudsdale, there were just so many pegasi worrying about the weather. There didn’t seem to be any time to just sit back and enjoy it like it was.

“So are you from Ponyville?” She asked as they trotted the beaten path.

“I was born and grew up in Trottingham actually. My parents moved over here for a new life when I was about 8. I opened up my store a little over a year after I graduated. Most of my colthood friends are from here, I figure I would move if I ever decided it was time. So far I’m still here.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve never had a reason to leave Cloudsdale. My job is kind of--” She looked at him, her eyes widened a little. “Important. I’m a flight instructor.” In her mind, she complimented herself on a good recovery.

“That’s a cool job.” He said with an honest tone. “It must be pretty rewarding.” He imagined her with all of the pegasus foals, she grunted and nodded. “Are you pretty fast?”

“I’m a decent speed. I mean, I don’t like to brag.” She chuckled a little.

They came to a bridge overlooking the creek. The water was in a good flow as they had a good bit of rainfall the week before. The two of them leaned their front hooves up on the rail of the small bridge and looked out at the night sky which had no clouds, just a crescent moon, and a whole lot of stars.

“You’re so lucky.” Chip turned to look at her for a moment.

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“You get to fly up into that beautiful sky and see it above the clouds anytime you want.”

“Well, I was kind of born in the clouds, so the novelty wears off after a while. I can see where you’d find it awesome, though. Flight is a really wonderful gift if you know how to use it.” Spitfire picked up a pebble from the edge of the bridge and skipped it across the creek.

“Yeah, wonderful.” Chip leaned his cheek into his hoof as he leaned against the railing, and before she looked over at him, he turned back to the creek. “So, umm, I was thinking I could show you the town square tomorrow. I mean, there’s not that many ponies there in the morning, and we could check out a bookstore I like to frequent. And, we could go to the Day Spa.”

“Day spa? That sounds awesome. I could go for a steam and a hooficure.” She was surprised that she hadn’t thought of the day spa yet. She’d heard that they had a good one in Ponyville, she just never found the time.

“Yeah, I haven’t gone in a long time, so no time like the present.”

“You’re the first stallion I’ve met that openly admits he likes spa treatment.” Spitfire grinned over at him, causing him to chuckle.

“Yeah well, society is dumb sometimes. There’s no shame in wanting to be pampered every once in a while. I actually got pretty good at massaging. I thought about getting a license to be a masseur but I never ended up doing it.”

“No kidding?” She thought for a moment, then nodded. “Interesting.” She motioned her head for him to follow her, and they got down from the rail. They walked to an open field with a little bit of tall grass, and a tree in the middle of it.

“So have you ever crashed from flying?” He asked, and then his eyes widened at her reaction.

She burst out laughing. All of a sudden, so many flashbacks of her running into trees, running into seagulls, getting her wing caught on a laundry line, and just straight up plowing her head into a beehive came flooding back to her.

“You can take that as a yes.” She let out another string of laughs as she walked over to the tree and sat down at the base. She shuffled her wings a little and patted her hoof on the ground next to her. He joined her, and there was the moon in the night sky again.

“You know, living in Ponyville doesn’t seem all that bad.” Spitfire said.

“It’s alright. Living in Cloudsdale seems nicer by comparison. I guess it’s the stipulation that the grass is always greener. I don’t know if that goes for clouds though.” They had a little chuckle.

Then they both paused as they saw a tiny light come into view. They gazed at it as it dimmed, they came again, flying near them this time. Chip almost said something, but then another one came about. In just a moment’s time, there came more fireflies. The lightning bugs surrounded them and they marvelled at their beauty. One landed near Chocolate Chip and he saw where it sat.

He noticed that among the shamrocks, the lightning bug had perched atop a four leaf clover. Chip’s eyes widened as he carefully reached under the clover and picked it up from the ground with his hoof. He held it up to his face and watched as the firefly was joined by another, and the two of them illuminated their thorax. They floated away from the clover, and Chip turned to the yellow pegasus.
“Hey, Flicker?” His tone was just above a whisper.

“Hmmmm?” She turned to him and was taken aback a little as he put the clover in her hair, next to her right ear. She blinked at him and tilted her head, blushing. “How do I look?”

“Oh, well, you look beautiful either way.~”

There came a stillness between them. Her eyes widened as she gazed at him in the tiny little sparkles, what dim light they gave. Her cheeks began to flush deeply, and her heart fluttered. That was when he realized what he said, or rather the weight of what he said.

His first instinct was to clarify his statement but a little voice told him to roll with it. As her face began to near his, he closed the gap. Her lips met his, and for one fleeting moment their hearts raced as their kiss took form.

They moved in closer to one another, and his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Her chest pressed to him and their kissed deepen. Spitfire’s eyes came half way opened before they shut. They lived in that moment for as long as they could before they finally broke the kiss. Her breaths were as labored as his.

His cheek pressed to hers, and he was overjoyed as she returned the amorous contact. They could hear each other’s heart beats. Their warmth was comfortable, and they suddenly wished it would last forever.

“So… Ummm.” Chocolate Chip spoke at length.

“Hmmm?” She opened her eyes a little, still enjoying the high she had attained.

“Is this a date?” He asked, drawing a chuckle from her. She thought for just a moment, and looked at him.

“Sure.”

After a while, the two of them were starting to get rather tired. Especially Chip, having just gotten off work. He walked her to her hotel, and they stood outside the front door for a moment.

“Hey, I really enjoyed tonight.” She said and got close to him face to face. Her cheek touched his and they cuddled for a moment. “And I’m not just saying that either. Are you free tomorrow?”

“I should be, I could have my sister watch after the shop tomorrow, she owes me a favor.” He pushed his cheek to hers and they stayed like that for a moment before she finally headed for the door.

“See you then.” Spitfire smiled, and he waved his hoof at her as she went into the hotel building.

As she got to her room, and closed the door, she leaned back against the door and slid down it to a sitting position. Her heart was racing, and her face was ever so hot. What was she doing? Never in her life had she done anything like this with a pony she barely knew. Maybe there was something about this pony?

Spitfire decided she’d get an early start on the day before her date with Chocolate Chip. She’d already had breakfast, and decided that just waiting around would get really boring. Maybe she’d check out Rarity’s shop while she was in Ponyville. She didn’t know Rarity all that well, but Rainbow Dash kept saying how posh and proper she was all the time, but also how kind and benevolent she was at the same time. What drew Spitfire’s attention to her was her beautiful dresses. After that, perhaps a little exercise was in order. By then it should be about time for her to meet up with-- Oh crap!!!

As she walked down the street of Ponyville, she couldn’t help but notice that six ponies were trotting around the shops dressed in cosplays of Wonderbolts. She knew super fans when she saw them, and these ponies had some serious money poured into their costumes. She may be able to hide from the normal pony with her hair down, but when it came to these types, she was as transparent as a window.

She quickly ducked behind some random pony’s house as they started to near her. Thankfully, they didn’t see her, or at least it didn’t look like they saw her. If she took off flying, they were sure to see her. She needed to think of something fast or she was going to start getting stalked by super fans.

“Hey Spitfire.” She was startled pretty hard as she heard a voice right next to her. She turned and her eyes locked onto Rainbow Dash!

“Dash, dear sweet Celestia, I’m so happy to see you!” Spitfire said as they shared a friendly embrace. “I need your help. I’m on vacation, going incognito, and we have six code yellows just down the street.”

“Yeah, I heard you were in town, so far the whole undercover thing doesn’t seem to be working for you.” The blue, rainbow haired pony gave a chuckle. “So I take it you need some help?”

“Yes, Dash, you do this for me and I will owe you big time!” Spitfire was just about ready to get down on her knees and beg her for help.

“Wow, normally you’re pretty good about dealing with fans yourself. What’s so different this time?”

“There’s some complications this time, Dash. I wish I could go into detail, but right now they’re heading here and my cover’s about to be blown again.” She said, looking around the corner, to see that they were actually closer than she expected. She got back up against the corner wall.

“Say no more!” Dash said, saluting Spitfire as she zipped into a ground-level flight right out into the street, making the cosplaying fans spin around at the sheer velocity of her trajectory.

“Whoa!” The entire group gazed at Rainbow Dash, with her beautiful cloud rainbow lightning cutie mark in full view. She struck a pose in front of them and caught their full attention. While they were facing out toward the street, Spitfire very quietly made her escape. Not that she needed to be all that quiet. Within seconds, they were pulling out their comic books, collector cards, and extra t-shirts for Rainbow Dash to sign. Before she left, she gave a grateful nod to her fellow Wonderbolt, and Dash happily returned it without drawing attention to her.

For now, Spitfire was safe. With Dash satiating their fandoms, she figured she wouldn’t have to worry too much about the fandom for the time being. She followed through the remainder of her time like she wanted to. She went shopping, even worked out at the gym for a little while. She took a quick shower and made it to the day spa a little earlier than she had anticipated.

To her surprise, he was already at the Day Spa when she arrived. He stood in front of the door, though it didn’t seem like he’d been there long. He gave her a little wave, and she returned it.

“Hey, fancy running into you here.” She jested and they went up to one another, embracing with one hoof.

“You ready to be pampered a bit?” He asked, and she smiled.

“Since you’re going to be doing part of it, yeah.” She said, and winked.

“Wait… what?” Chip’s eyebrow raised.

“Yeah! You said you were good massaging with your hooves, now it’s time to put your money where your muzzle is.” Spitfire got up to him face to face. “Come on in.”

She walked in with him, and all the sudden it sounded like this date was going to get a lot more interesting.