Life with Spitfire

I drove tiredly down the street. As I listened to the radio, I thought that the DJ was setting a lot shoegaze recently, though I didn’t really mind. At that moment, “Buerak” was playing, keeping me in a good mood. "Cheaper version of Joy Division”, I thought to myself and smiled. The band was really doing a great job in keeping me upright – it was about 21:30, yet I didn’t crash into anything, despite being tired.

My Lada’s brakes screeched slightly, as I parked it in front of my house. As I turned the ignition off, and got out of the car, I gave it a look. My old Lada 2105 needed some fixes, and a re-painting.

“Don’t worry, pal. Soon I’ll get you some new parts,” I said and patted the driver’s door. After that, I locked the car, and walked towards the front the front door of my house. With a slight move of my wrist, I opened the front door with my keys and entered the house.

“Hi there, Nick!” I heard a shout, coming from the kitchen. Despite being happy, it also sounded a bit tired.

“Hello there, Spitfire. I’ll come back soon, I’ll smoke outside,” I said, leaving my trench coat in a dresser, and picking a pack of “Belomorkanal” cigarettes along with a Zippo-like lighter. After that, I heard a groan.
“You know, how do I feel about your smoking habit, and you still do it! Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?”

“I have. But it doesn’t include my bad habits. Have to choose between bad lungs and neurosis. I’ll be outside.”
As I walked outside of my house, I sat on the stairs, and lit up a cigarette. As the hot smoke filled my lungs, I looked up and started to stargaze. Inhale after inhale, cigarette after cigarette… It was nice.

Not too long after I’ve sat on the stairs that lead to my house, I heard that the front door has opened. After that, Spitfire sat at my side. She extended her left hand. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I want to smoke,” she said harshly, and blushed, being embarrassed.

“No probs, mate. Have you smoked before?” I asked her, as she lit up her cigarette. As I saw, how she started to cough, I laughed slightly. “Guess, that’s a no. Don’t inhale with all that you have, that’s some strong stuff.”

Spitfire looked at me and tried again. As she didn’t cough this time, I assumed that she was fine.

“Thanks, I guess… For how long have you been smoking?” she asked, releasing a cloud of smoke from her mouth.

“Since I’d joined the army. Helps to calm down,” I answered and took another cigarette from the pack. “And why did you?..”

“I’m fucking tired. I have a lot of things to worry about these days,” Spitfire said, and brushed her fiery hair with her hand. “Man, smoking feels gross. Still, that gave me a punch.”

“What do you feel?”

“My head is light, and my body feels… Odd,” Spitfire said and released a small laugh.

I looked at her. I could see how her hair and feathers of her wings were moving thanks to the small wind. She wore her Wonderbolts office uniform – blue shirt with short sleeves, trousers and a tie. I assumed that she was too tired or lazy to change the outfit. Her fur was slightly damp, probably because of sweat. Spitfire was always a beautiful pegasus, but right then it felt like she was especially beautiful. I sighed, and continued to smoke.

After finishing another cigarette, I finally got up, and made my way into the house. Spitfire followed me behind. As we got inside, I got rid of my gloves and boots. I tiredly walked to the kitchen, thinking, what I should have for supper.

“Hey, Spits! Want something to eat?”

“No, thanks. I’ve had some a bit earlier. We can have alcohol tonight, though.”

“Vodka sounds good?”

“I’ll just stick to the beer.”

“Suit yourself…”

I got myself a bottle of vodka and a big hunk of roasted meat out from the fridge. Also, a few bottles of beer for Spitfire. As I put the meat into the microwave oven and turned it on, I also took a glass for myself, so I could drink alcohol in doses.

Soon, when the meat was ready, I sat down behind the table, and started to munch it down. Spitfire sat near me, just over a table’s corner. She was sipping on her beer, and looking at me.

“How was the day?” she finally asked me.

“The day was hard, but I am still happy. We’ve finally finished our airplane that I’ve told you about. Next week I’ll be testing it as a test pilot. It looks beautiful. And before the next week, I have a few days off.”

“Huh, good for you. Maybe I should finally give that airplane a look. You know, to see how it will behave itself in flight.”

“You’ll like it, I promise. It’s not supposed to be fast, but it should be easy to control, so it would be good as a trainer. Also, it’s sleek and shiny,” I said with a smile.

“Well, we should drink on that,” Spitfire released a chuckle and lifted her bottle of beer. “Cheers?”

“Cheers,” I said and after a loud clang, dropped my shot of vodka into myself. Pretty soon, I felt how the warm feeling started to flow through my body. I felt myself relaxed. Also, I felt a strong desire to talk. “So, and what about you? How are the Wonderbolts doing?”

“They are doing well, actually. However, that takes a lot of effort. Thank goodness I have Soarin – he helps me a lot,” Spitfire said, and sighed. “We are training to perform at Canterlot. Most of the time I have to deal with documentation, though I really want to fly with my squadmates.”

“Sometimes you just have to deal with stuff like that. You know, despite being a tank driver, I also was a battalion’s “office worker”. You know, documentation, newspapers, battle instructions, that kind of stuff. I had to wake up at 4:30 and go to bed at 23:30. Or even work without sleep sometimes.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… I am just frustrated. It just ruins my moral state.”

“I think that you’ll get over it eventually.”

I poured some vodka into my glass and lifted it up. “For brighter future?”

“Definitely,” Spitfire chuckled, and finished her first bottle of beer. As I drank down my shot of vodka, I also finished my meal, and got up to bring my plate and silverware to the sink. After that, I returned and sat back onto my chair.

I saw how Spitfire was looking straight at me. That slightly confused me. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked her.

“Looks like that you’ve lost some weight. Were you training?”

“No. I guess that’s because of work. Moving heavy stuff… And… Other things… I think. Definitely because of work.”

Spitfire giggled. “Maybe you’ll have neat bicepses soon, like mine. Wonder what they will look like!”

“No, I don’t think so. My work is not that hard, it’s just monotonous. And also, I am usually too tired to attend to the gym.”

“Whatever… You must be embarrassed – your own co-liver, who is also a mare, is more muscular than you are!” Spitfire laughed. I chuckled after her.

“Yeah, maybe I am a little embarrassed… But still, I also don’t have neat wings. Or tail. Or pointy ears. I am a simple man, who works on a simple job, and has a crazy anthropomorphic pegasus as a friend,” I said with a laugh.

“Hey, I am not crazy! Maybe I shout at my cadets, but I am not crazy!”

Spitfire laughed, too.

“Yeah, whatever. You are definitely crazy, if you’ve befriended such a boring creature as myself.”

“Well, you are not boring, in my opinion,” Spitfire smiled and brushed her hair. “You build such machines that allow you to do things that ponies have acquired using magical abilities. That’s what makes you special.”

Spitfire opened another bottle of beer, and lifted it up. “For our equality?”

“For our equality,” I replied after pouring some vodka into my glass again. As we clang, and I had my shot, I felt myself very comfortable. Maybe even too comfortable…

“Hey, Spits. You actually gave me a thought.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh. You’ve said that I’m special because I build machines and stuff, yabby-yaddy-yada. But what can you say about other humans? For example, my brother Max.”

“Oh, it was your brother? Didn’t know that,” Spitfire said and hummed, thinking. “Guess that right now my statement sounds a bit racist. Though, I just meant that the humanity in general has achieved a lot of things that us ponies couldn’t.”

“That didn’t really answer my question, but still, thanks for the explanation,” I replied and sighed. “Still, what do you think about him?”

“Well, he seems… Major to me. He wears stylish clothes, has an expensive phone, and a haircut that I don’t understand,” Spitfire laughed.

“Yeah… Too bad that he doesn’t come to visit very often. It looks like he doesn’t have any interest in me anymore. But eh, can’t blame him – he has money and status, he can afford himself this attitude, even if I don’t like it,” I chuckled.

“And looks like that woman, Kate, that came here with him is your relative, too?”

“Yup. My mom, to be exact,” I replied and smiled.

“Could’ve assumed that. She was really nice. And that apple pie, that she brought… Was it homemade?”

“Sure it was. Did you like it?”

“Yeah. I even took a piece to the base from home, but, when I gave Soarin a try, he munched it down in a second!”

Spitfire bursted in laughter, and I followed behind.

“Woah, Spits, that was a dumb idea,” I said after laughing, and poured another shot of vodka into my glass. “Let’s drink to my mom’s apple pies, then!”

After a loud clang, I downed my shot, and closed my eyes for a second. And, when I opened them again, I understood that I had enough alcohol for tonight – my sight began to blur slightly, and I began to see, how the “helicopter effect” was coming. So, I stood up, not without effort put the remaining vodka into the fridge, and my glass to the sink, and walked to the front room. I felt the strong desire to smoke again. So, I picked up my pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and walked outside. Spitfire followed me behind. I sat on the stairs that lead to the front door of my house, and lit up a cigarette.

“Want some?” I asked Spitfire, when she made herself comfortable. She gave me a long look.

“I’ll pass. Thanks for the offer.”

“Suit yourself, then…”

So, both of us were sitting on the stairs and stargazing. Many constellations were forming interesting figures up in the sky, and that looked absolutely beautiful. My thoughts were going slow.

“Huh. It’s quite strange, isn’t it?”

Spitfire suddenly asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked back.

“Well, how our worlds met… And how we met,” Spitfire said with a hum. “You know, it’s actually quite strange that we didn’t talk about this before.”

“True. To be honest, I was scared at first. Scared and jealous, that’s more correct. Hell, when I’ve first saw you, I was scared,” I laughed. “Meeting a creature, that’s superior at almost all aspects – that was an experience, that’s for sure. And then the news came, that our technologies are superior to yours, which compensates the lack of magic. That was a relief. And after that, we’ve found out that ponies are peaceful, with their own set of goals, such as friendship, stable job and other bullshit like that. Well, that’s not bullshit, but… Eh… Well, you’ve got the idea.”

“You know, I was scared, too. Not “run-for-your-lives” kind of scared… Concerned, maybe. But still, I was nervous, too. I was nervous because of the possible conflict, which would mean that I needed to throw my Wonderbolts into the maw of the danger,” Spitfire said. Her voice was serious.

“Well, at least our nations have managed to befriend each other,” I replied and released a big cloud of smoke from my mouth.

“Yeah, that’s true… Hey, remember, how we’ve first met?” Spitfire asked. Now her tone was cheerful.

“Uh-huh. I’ve piloted the plane around Cloudsdale, and you’ve forced me to land on the street just because you were curious,” I chuckled. Spitfire blushed in embarrassment.

“That’s not true! You’d entered the city’s airspace, it was my duty!”

“Yeah, and saying that it looked like a giant dragonfly also was your duty?”

“But it did look like a giant dragonfly!” Spitfire laughed. I chuckled after her.

“Yeah, maybe… And just six months after it, I moved here. And learned that you needed a temporary place to stay. That’s how it looks like for me,” I released a pleased sigh.

“Uh-huh, that’s true. However, now I am considering to stay for a little bit longer.”

“Why so?” I asked, being surprised.

“Well, mainly because of you. I mean, I don’t have many friends with who I can just talk, eat, drink or smoke casually. There’s Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot, Cloudchaser, and, um… Well, you. What about other ponies, there’s a reason why I shout at them and why they must show some respect to me. It’s a big responsibility to be a commander, and I use any available moment of my life to pretend like I am a normal mare. I have my own needs, you know?” Spitfire answered. Her voice sounded even more tired than it was before. I looked at her. She laid her head on her palms, supporting it with her hands.

“Well, I was just curious. Of course you can stay, if you want. I enjoy your company, too.”

“Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

“No probs, mate.”

For some time we were sitting in silence.

“You know, even with your temperament, I don’t actually understand how you are still single,” I said with a thoughtful hum. Spitfire turned her head to face me, and smirked.

“If that was a proposal, then you do a bad job to seduce me,” she said with a laugh, and finished her last bottle of beer.

“No, I am actually serious. I’ve talked to lots of ponies and men, and everyone agrees that your attitude is very attracting. Or, they just like you in a flight suit!” I laughed loudly. Spitfire followed behind.

“Gross,” she said with a chuckle and got up. “Alright, I think that’s enough of fresh air we got here. Let’s head back.”

“Sure thing,” I responded. I put out the cigarette, and got up. As I gave the street my last look, I sighed. After that I got inside my house and locked the door. I felt myself good – I was slightly drunk and tired, and a warm bed was waiting for me. So, without much hesitation I wished Spitfire a good night and walked up to my room to sleep.