Life with Spitfire

I walked down the street, listening to the music that was playing in my headphones. The sunset was coloring the city of Canterlot in golden tones, creating a nice ambient. I was looking for a certain bar that should be somewhere nearby. As I couldn’t locate it by myself, I walked to the unicorn that was standing nearby and smoking.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said as I got closer, getting his attention, “I am looking for a bar that should be nearby, but I can’t find it. Could you help me, please?”

He glanced at me from behind his sunglasses. “You’re not local, eh? I’ll head to the bar soon, too. We can walk along, if you want,” he said.

“Sure. I’ll smoke too, if we’ve got some time before setting off.”

I fished a pack of “Belomorkanal” cigarettes from a pocket of my trench coat along with a lighter. As I smoked, I looked at the unicorn that stood near me. He was tall and slender, wore an expensive-looking jacket and trousers, and had shiny shoes. Not that did I care much about his look, but he definitely had a sense of taste.

“What a strange cigarettes do you have,” he suddenly said. “Care to share?”

“Sure thing. “Belomorkanal”,” I replied, and took another cigarette from the pack. The unicorn picked it up with his grey magic aura, and, as he finished his own cigarette, lit it up. The air immediately filled with coughs from his side and with chuckles from mine. “Carefully, that’s some strong stuff.”

“I *cough-cough* have figured that… Strong stuff… What the Tartarus is this?”

“Just tobacco. Not used to this kind of cigarettes?”

“I’ll just stick to my pack, I guess,” he said with a small chuckle. “Anyway, let’s go to the bar. It’s actually nearby.”

So, we set off quickly and walked down the street. I noticed how the unicorn was giving me quick glances from time to time.

“So, looks like you’re a human?” he finally asked. “Never met one before, though I’ve seen a lot of your kind while watching the TV.”

“You are correct. Though, I’ve moved here not too long ago. Didn’t have enough time to learn the city plan,” I answered with a shrug.

“Well, I can see that. Not just because you don’t know the city plan. Most of citizens here wear more fancy clothes. No offence.”

I looked over myself. I wore an old black trench coat, a pair of old black jeans, and heavy military boots.

“I think I’ll just stick to my clothes. They’re old, but reliable. Besides, if I’ll wear something like a tuxedo during my work, it will be ruined pretty quickly.”

“And what do you do for a living?”

“Building and testing airplanes. I’m an engineer and a test pilot of a small design bureau.”

“That’s good. My elder brother Screwdriver is an engineer, too. Though, his work is a bit more… Sterilized, so to say,” the unicorn said and stopped in front of some building. “Well, we are here.”

“Thanks for the help, mate. Maybe we will meet again,” I gave him a handshake as we entered the building. As we parted and he walked somewhere else, I scanned the bar for the mare that I needed. Pretty soon I’ve found her sitting behind the table along with few other pegasi. All of them wore bomber jackets with Wonderbolts insignias. So, I came closer to the table.

“Hello there, Spitfire. Sorry I’m a bit late – I got lost while trying to find the place,” I said, taking the headphones from my ears. Spitfire just smiled.

“No problems. You didn’t miss much,” she got up to give me a handshake. “So, meet my squadmates – Soarin, Fleetfoot, Cloudchaser and Rainbow Dash. I’ve told you about them.”

“Pleased to meet you all. Name’s Nick,” I exchanged handshakes with everyone and sat down. “I’ve heard a lot about you all. Never knew that someday I’d find myself in such a company.”

“Yeah, we’re quite awesome,” Rainbow Dash said proudly. “But still, if you’ve managed to befriend Spitfire that certainly means that she’s found something in you, too.”

“Maybe. Or maybe not. Never thought about that, actually,” I chuckled and gave a sign for a waiter. As he came closer, I ordered myself some whiskey.

“So, let’s work on knowing you better, then,” Soarin said and sipped from his glass of beer. “What do you do for a living?”

“Constructing and testing airplanes. I am an engineer and a test pilot of a small design bureau. You know, one pony actually asked me about this today,” I answered. After that, the waiter brought me my whiskey and I thanked him.

“Airplanes are quite cool. Not as cool as having wings, but still,” Fleetfoot giggled.

“Well, I have no wings. Building aircraft fulfills my desire to fly just fine. Though, I’ve always wanted to join our Aerospace Military, but instead I had to join the land-based army.”

“You’ve been in the army? What did you do there?” Cloudchaser asked curiously.

“I’ve been a tank driver. T-80U is quite a powerful machine, if you ask me.”

“Oh, now I get it. The tank is a machine that has big cannon on a spinning turret?” Rainbow Dash hummed in thought. “I’ve seen a few photographs of your military vehicles. Land-based machinery looks too big and heavy, if you ask me. And speaking of aerospace, I really liked your army’s jetfighters.”

“Yeah, they are pretty awesome. I’ve always wanted to be a pilot of an interceptor jetfighter – they fly higher and faster than anything else,” I agreed. “However, thanks to my health state, I had to join the ground forces.”

“And what about your design bureau? Don’t you build such machines as these jetfighters?” Soarin asked.

“No. Such machines are very complex and expensive. Besides, I think that I don’t have enough engineering experience to even make a blueprint,” I sighed and took a gulp from my glass of whiskey. As I did so, I also took a cigarette from my pack. “Can I smoke?” I asked everyone.

“Leave one for me, pal,” Spitfire raised her hand, so I gave her a cigarette, too. As I lit it up with a lighter, and she started to smoke, everyone looked at her with confusion.

“Um, Spitfire… When did you learn to smoke?” Soarin asked, scratching his chin.

“A few weeks back. I was tired as Tartarus, so I asked him to leave a couple of cigarettes to me. Plus one to bad habits,” Spitfire answered, pointing at me. I just shrugged.

“She’s a grown up woman, she can make her own bad decisions.”

“If you say so… But anyway, back to business,” Soarin blurted out. “What kind of airplanes do you build at your design bureau?”

“Mostly civilian machines, but also trainers and stunt planes. I’ve even learned a few elements of top pilotage, though my health won’t let me to perform at professional level,” I smiled.

“That’s a shame… Being dragged backwards by your own body sucks,” Cloudchaser agreed, but then smiled cheerfully. “But still, being able to fly like that is still quite awesome! Me and Fleetfoot have always wanted to find a flying buddy who would train with us in group pilotage.”

“Why so? You don’t like our company?” Rainbow Dash released a loud laugh.

“No, of course not! It’s just… Well, being a Wonderbolt means that we must perform at our maximum all the time. But, when not performing or training, I want to fly in group with someone, who just enjoys the flight. We with Fleetfoot form a nice pair, but I’ve always wanted a third to join.”

“Well, I’m at your service. I can give you an address and a schedule of our test flights. I think that our boys from the control tower won’t mind much,” I replied and took a sip from my glass.

“You’ve said that you can perform some stunts. What can you do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Standard kit – barrel rolls, low passes, loops, knife flight… Maybe even something that includes big centrifugal forces. Not for a long time, however – blood vessels on my legs are bad. If something goes wrong, I can be left without pedal control.”

“Still, that “standard kit” is something that not anypony can perform. And I guess, that not any pilot, too,” Soarin said with a cheerful smile. “We should drink on that, I think. For our flying skills?”

“For our flying skills,” everyone replied, including me. Though I wasn’t sure about my piloting skill, I decided that I should pass on that. So, our glasses clanged, and I finished my portion of whiskey. After I ordered another glass of it, we continued our talk.

“Well, thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate that. But still, I think that I’m more into flying at high speeds than performing stunts. That’s a main reason why I’ve wanted to be an interceptor and not to join the tactical aviation,” I said and released a cloud of smoke thanks to the cigarette.

“And what about tactical aviation? They have pretty fast airplanes, too,” Spitfire shrugged.

“Yeah, they do. But interceptor aircraft are much faster. Our MiG-31’s can reach the altitude of more than twenty kilometers, and a speed of more than 3200 kilometers per hour.”

“These are the characteristics to talk about,” Fleetfoot said, being stunned by my words. “I don’t think that any magical creature can achieve that!”

“Well, I can fly at speed of sound, and I am quite maneuverable at the same time,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. It seemed like she wanted to show that the characteristics of our airplanes weren’t as admirable as I tried to show. So, I flashed my “ace of spades”.

“You know, our jetfighters from tactical aviation are as maneuverable, as you are. And at the same time, they can reach Mach 2.5. If you don’t believe me, you can look up the characteristics of Su-27, MiG-29 or T-50 in the Internet,” I replied, and grinned mischievously. Rainbow Dash’s eyes became wide as saucers.

“And he’s not joking. I’ve looked it up not too long ago,” Spitfire said, surprising me. As I looked at her in confusion, she just gave me a wink.

“Well… I am still the fastest pony in the world,” Rainbow Dash replied. However, her voice became quieter.

“Don’t worry about that too much. You are still the fastest one around here. What we’d achieved via the technology and hard work, you do just naturally, because you can,” I tried to cheer her up. As she smiled back, I assumed that it worked.

As I gave myself a little break, all Wonderbolts started to talk with each other. I took a big gulp from my glass, and walked outside to breathe some fresh air. As the door closed behind me, I took a cigarette from the pack and lit it up. As I smoked, I saw how different creatures were passing by the street – griffons, changelings, earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns… It looked nice. However, my streetgazing was cancelled by the tap on my shoulder. As I turned around, I saw the same unicorn that helped me to get to the bar.

“Well, hello there, nice sir,” he said with a smile. We shook our hands, and after that, he lit up his own cigarette. “Breathing the fresh air, eh?”

“Uh-huh, something like that. You?”

“Same thing. Having a nice time?”

“Definitely.”

We stood for a couple of minutes in silence. I watched how the flow of Canterlot residents moved. Some of them were in a hurry, some were moving slowly, enjoying a good evening. There were a lot of lovely pairs…

“Huh, that’s funny. We didn’t even present ourselves to each other,” the unicorn said with a chuckle and extended his hand. “White Light, pleased to meet you.”

“Nick. Same here, pleased to meet you,” I gave him a handshake. “Yeah, that was an awkward situation, isn’t it?”

“Sure. But now everything’s on its right place,” he released a laugh. “Do you plan on returning here anytime soon? Maybe we can have a beer or two together.”

“Maybe. Quite a nice place with nice ponies to talk with.”

“If that’s not a secret, who did you meet here?” White Light asked curiously.

“Maybe you know the Wonderbolts crew. To be more precise, Spitfire and her squadmates.”

“Woah, really? Wonder, why I didn’t notice her,” the unicorn replied, being surprised.

“I don’t know. Maybe she can blend into the crowd!” I released a loud laugh.

“You must be lucky, if she considers you as a friend. I’ve heard that she has an explosive temperament.”

“She has. But sometimes she can have some time for herself, I think. She’s like everyone else.”

“No, she’s not. First of all, she’s a celebrity. And secondary, many colts have been trying to hit on her, and everyone has failed. Many of them should be jealous on you right now!” White Light laughed.

“No, thanks. I’m already married on aeronautica,” I chuckled back.

“Really? You’re that close to her and you don’t even think about making a relationship with her?”

“Yeah… I’m not too good with ladies.”

“Huh, that’s sad. But, I really hope that someday you’ll meet someone, who’ll love you back as you will do.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that. We really should meet each other here more often.”

“Definitely. Care to share the address and a phone number?” White Light asked. After that, we’ve exchanged with our contacts.

“Well, I must go, right now,” finally, the unicorn said, and put on his sunglasses. “Goodbye!”

“Goodbye, pal,” I said back, as he set off somewhere away from the bar. After that, I’ve returned back int the building, to continue the talk with the awaiting company.