Like Memories of dying Days
It was deep winter, and the full moon hung brightly above Downtown Las Pegasus in a dry, ice cold night.
Commuter traffic had long since died down, and the silence was only broken by a lone skywagon soaring through the nightly sky.
Jet Stream gave a sigh, leaning his head against the window as his gaze went outside, looking at the brightly illuminated skyline. His eyelids were getting heavy, and he could feel the exhausting day that lay behind him weighing on his back, the temptation to close his eyes and drift off seemingly overwhelming.
He let his gaze linger on the interior of his chariot for a few moments, the dark root wood and faux leather catching his eyes. He normally didn’t care too much about luxuries like these, but he had to admit, after a day like this, the comfy benches and soft cushions made his post-work day a bit easier, and he couldn’t help but to thank his partners at EquestriAero for talking him into going for one of the more luxurious models.
And still, comfortable as his wagon was, right now the only place he wanted to be was back home – come home, lay down in his bed, and try to find what rest he could get before his alarm clock would go off again the next morning, announcing that another day full of meetings, congresses and sucking up to investors was upon him.
He sighed again, closing his eyes and letting his head drop against the window.
He liked being the head of his own company, he really did. The thrill of running a business; the liberty to be his own boss, and the daily challenge of making decisions that could make or break his still young company… it all felt quite exciting to him. He considered himself a determined, ambitious stallion, and really, it felt like he had found his destiny with EquestriAero.
And still…
The fact remained that, if he would screw up, he could end up being left with nothing in less than a week. And as much as he liked running his own company, it were thoughts like these that kept him awake some nights – and that stopped him from unwinding in moments like these.
“Ain’t easy being a boss, huh?”
Jet’s ears perked up, and he felt himself want to flinch as he felt the touch of a hoof against his, giving it a reassuring pat.
Jet Stream could feel a certain tension vanish from his heart as he turned his head to the side, looking at the pony sitting in the carriage next to him.
Involuntarily, he could feel a smile form on his face as he looked into her eyes – those lovely red eyes looking back at him with a loving affection he knew he could only get from her.
“You’re telling me, DV,” he said with a smirk, leaning over to her and putting a wing around her back, feeling his heart go weightless as he felt her reciprocate the contact, gently leaning against him. “If I’m a boss, you’re a boss too,” he said, slowly leaning his head against hers. “We’re partners, remember?”
That prompted a brief giggle from the cyan pegasus mare. “We sure are… partner,” she said softly, raising a hoof and tracing it in circles over his chest before leaning forward and planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “But really, I’m glad you’re in this with me, Jet,” she said as she pulled back, resting her head on his shoulder. “I really am.”
“I’m glad to have you too,” Jet replied, a little absentmindedly as his gaze went out the window again, his thoughts going back to the meeting he would have to be at tomorrow, trying to get a large investment firm interested in his company. If… if he wouldn’t get the investment, that could end up causing some financial issues if he-
“Come on, don’t be like that,.” Delta said, a bit scoldingly as she tapped her hoof against his chest. “Work is over for the day, remember? Let’s just let it go for today.” He could hear her smirk, “Together we’re unstoppable, right?”
Jet Stream remained silent for a moment, breathing softly as he let her words sink in, then gave a sigh, feeling his tense muscles relax.
“Yeah…” he agreed, once again turning away from his window and leaning toward the mare sitting next to him., “Yeah, you’re right.”
“I know I am,.” Delta replied with a mock cockiness as their bodies gently touched, the feeling sending a shiver down his spine., “But that’s why you love me, don’t you?”
Again, the stallion gave a soft chuckle. “I sure do, Delta,.” he said, tightening the grip of his wing around her body, and pulling her closer. “I sure do.”
Jet Stream snored softly and awoke with a jolt. His look shot around, scanning his surroundings. He was indeed still inside his skywagon, on the way back from a congress in Manehattan.
Only that now…
His look went to the side, revealing that the seat next to him was indeed empty.
There was nobody here with him.
Not that, right now, he’d want to be with anyone but… but…
He swallowed as the light blue mare filled his mind yet again.
He hadn’t seen her since their breakup one year ago.
He didn’t know where she was; what she was up to, or if she was doing well, poorly, or anything in between.
All he knew was that, right now, he missed her. Missed her like he had never missed anyone before.
Thankfully, moments like these had become increasingly rare over the past months, and he had learned to distract himself from those moments of longing. But every so often there were moments like right now, where he… just didn’t care.
He didn’t care about the increasing success of his company, he didn’t care about his beautiful daughter waiting for him at home, being taken care of by the nanny he had hired, and he didn’t care about the amount of money he had made in just a few years.
He just… he wanted to see her.
He knew that there was no way she would get back together with him, forgive him, or even look at him, but… he needed to see her. See that she was doing well. See that she had managed to get back on her hooves after their breakup and wasn’t… suffering or anything.
A shudder ran through his body as his mind drew up images of all the ways his ex-marefriend’s life could have gone down the drain.
‘What if… what if she’s homeless?’ a worried voice in his head asked, ‘What if she has fallen to crime? What if… if she has frozen to death, or starved, or…’
Jet Stream shook his head again, trying hard to clear his head. This was… this was all just nonsense! She probably was doing just fine without him! She was a smart pony, and she could stand on her own legs! She could!
He… he had to distract himself somehow. He couldn’t let this drive him insane.
He hesitated for a moment, thinking, then felt his stomach give a low growl, and came to a conclusion.
Leaning forward, he pressed a hoof against a button integrated into the armrest of his armchair-like seat and spoke into the integrated microphone, which was linked to a speaker up front, allowing him to contact his chauffeur; the pony pulling his skywagon.
“F-Ford?” Jet spoke up, still sensing that telltale feeling of depression nibble away at him, but quickly shook his head a second time. “Can you… maybe stop by a restaurant or something real quick? I’m getting hungry.”
“Sure thing, Mister Stream.” The voice, slightly muffled from wind blowing into the microphone poured from a speaker in Jet’s armrest. “Anything in particular?”
“N-no.” the stallion thought for a second, already feeling his mind begin to go to less pleasant places again, “Just… just get me something fast. … Please.”
“Of course, sir.” Sky Ford, Jet Stream’s chauffeur, affirmed a final time, before Jet could feel himself become weightless for a moment as the skywagon began its descent.
Trying hard to keep his mind away from that certain subject (or rather, pony), Jet turned his head to the side again, his gaze going out the window and looking at the blinking neon signs flashing past him outside.
Yet, despite his best efforts, time and time again he only found himself thinking of the mare he once had by his side. Wondering where she might be right now; what she might be up to… and finding himself get increasingly restless as more and more somber images of her current situation flooded his mind.
He drew in a sharp breath, pressing his lips shut.
‘What if… what if she had to become criminal to survive and now is rotting in prison?’ that voice continued to draw up gruesome scenarios, ‘What if she has to whore herself out to pay the bills? What if… what if she has… slipped into drug addiction… has overdosed and…?’
He forced his eyes shut, feeling his body tense up in frustration.
“Shit!” he cussed, slamming his hoof against the chariot’s wall next to him.
Why… why was he thinking these thoughts? He shouldn’t be! He really shouldn’t be! Delta was out of his life; had been out of his life for a whole year now! For crying out loud, he had plenty of things in his life to worry about! What did it matter what some… some mare he had once been with-
No.
No, she wasn’t just some mare.
She was… she had been his mare. His one and only. The one he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.
He gave a heavy sigh.
But she was gone now. Out of his life, once and for all.
He turned to the side as he felt the chariot’s descent come to a halt as Ford announced that they had approached the drive-thru.
Jet made a face, wanting to argue that he wasn’t really in the mood for fast food, but quickly fought that thought back down. He had had to skip breakfast at his hotel and hadn’t eaten since – hunger would force down even the worst kind of junk food, and talking with the pony working the drive thru might just give him the distraction he needed right now, even if it’d just be a short chit-chat.
Shrugging and concluding that beggars couldn’t be choosers, he turned his head to the side, winding down the window of his chariot and looking at the familiar order-terminal of a local fast food chain.
Jet took a deep breath of the dry nightly air, feeling relief wash over him as those unpleasant pictures and thoughts of Delta were blown away by a light breeze hitting his face.
He… he just had to forget about her… and carry on with his life.
His ears perked up as a burst of static poured from the terminal’s speakers, and seconds later a disgruntled-sounding mare at the other end of the line gave an audibly annoyed sigh before reciting the standard welcoming-phrase.
“Welcome to Jolly Burgers. May I take your order?”
Jet had already opened his mouth to place his order, but hesitated as he heard the mare’s voice. He looked in silent surprise at the terminal for a moment, his eyes wide, before cracking a smile and giving a short chuckle.
Wow.
For a second there he really thought that mare sounded like Delta Vee.
He chuckled again, shaking his head. That’s what he got for thinking so much about his ex-marefriend. He was getting all but obsessed over her.
“You gonna order something or what?” the now visibly disgruntled mare inquired again.
“Y-yeah. Sure,” Jet Stream said a bit sheepishly, forcing out a brief, awkward snicker. “Sorry, you sound a bit like my ex-marefriend. Had me a bit confused for a second there.”
“I don’t care,” the voice replied swiftly, getting more and more annoyed. “Now, you can either tell me what you want, or buzz off. I’m not getting paid enough to listen to your ramblings.”
‘Sheesh, lady,’ Jet thought to himself, rolling his eyes. “Fine, I’ll take a burger with fries. And make it quick.”
“Yeah yeah. Get your stuff at the next window.” the mare serving him cut him off, snarling, right before the connection was dropped. “…fuckface.”
“What!?” Jet shot back, now legitimately angry too. Who did this mare think she was, huh? He was a customer; he was paying her wage, so she better not talk to her like that!
Feeling his own anger rise, Jet ground his teeth together as Ford hovered the chariot forward, bringing him face to face with the milk glass window where he would receive his order.
Oh, that mare better get ready for a dance when she’d open that window. He had a lot of built-up frustration from a weekend spent in nerve-wrecking meetings that was yearning to be set free, and his growling stomach wasn’t adding anything to his mood. He normally was a pretty calm and level-headed stallion, but even he could explode when given enough fuel and a spark.
And really, he felt like this mare was about to ignite this unpleasant mixture of sadness, frustration and anger seething within him.
What did she know, anyway? What right did she have to treat him like that? Didn’t she know what he’d been through!?
He leaned forward, clenching his teeth shut as he watched a shadow appear behind the milk glass, and stretch out a hoof to slide the glass pane aside.
Yes, he was going to give it to her straight. This mare wanted to fight? Well, she had chosen the wrong stallion to snarl at tonight!
Feeling his body tense up with anger about to be set free, he watched the glass panel slide to the side, revealing the mare Jet Stream had been so dead set on giving a piece of his mind.
His jaw dropped.
Jolly Burgers… really wasn’t a nice place to be.
After the company’s success in downtown Manehattan, the management had decided to expand into Las Pegasus a few years ago, and standing in the still fairly fresh-looking kitchen of their latest restaurant, was she.
All things considered, it still was the overall best job she had had in… well, in quite a while. She didn’t really want to think about how long she had to deal with these kinds of jobs by now.
But in any case, it was a… somewhat secure job, she didn’t have to stand outside at any wind and weather, and she didn’t have to… she cringed… do certainother things.
And still, as she stood there, bagging the order of yet another faceless soul that had found its way into the shady fast food restaurant at the dead of night, she couldn’t help but to feel like… well, utterly horrible, really.
She really didn’t mind working night shifts. It would be wrong to say that she had any sort of day-night-rhythm whatsoever, and while the night admittedly brought out the… less pleasant parts of Las Pegasus’ population, there wasn’t nearly as much congestion, and she could enjoy a minute or two of peace.
She handed the lone customer his bag with a snort, he grabbed it without a comment and disappeared through the entrance.
Delta Vee rolled her eyes as she looked after him for a second, then turned back towards the drive-thru window which was still standing open. Looking over her shoulder to make sure that the only two other ponies in the restaurant with her –a burly unicorn buck working the kitchen and a skinny pegasus; her ‘supervisor’ as he liked to call himself– weren’t paying her any mind, she turned around, sticking her head out the window.
She sniffled, feeling her nose begin to run as it made contact with the icy air outside. Temperatures were around the freezing point, thus not too cold, but having lived in Las Pegasus all her life, her body apparently wasn’t used to such kinds of temperatures, and since heating in her… shelter was inadequate at best, she had come down with a nasty cold about a week ago.
But she shrugged it off and, with a well-practiced movement of her wings, reached into the chest pocket of the bright orange polo with the Jolly Burgers-logo on it, pulling out what she had come to call her ‘little saviors’.
Delta smirked mischievously as she pulled a cigarette from the packaging, leading it to her mouth and lighting it up.
She took a long drag, feeling the pleasant warmth fill her insides, then blew a puff of the blue smoke out into the night, feeling herself relax again as her thoughts drifted off.
Really, sad as it may sound, those nightly cigarettes had become the highlight of each day for her. Although… that really wasn’t much of an accomplishment. Between working almost 60 hours a week, living in a crowded ‘shared apartment’ (which really wasn’t much more than a slightly better homeless shelter) with seven other mares and stallions, and watching her own health go down the drain from drinking and smoking her frustration away whenever she wasn’t working… there really wasn’t much competition to those cigarettes when it came to nice things in her life.
Delta sighed deeply, taking another pull from the cigarette, and frowned.
Damnit.
Now that the thought of alcohol had crossed her mind, she could already feel that craving feeling crawling up her back; noticing how her mouth began to water at the prospect of coming back from work with a bottle of cheap booze, and just drinking away until her mind was too numb to notice or complain about how messed-up her life was.
She clenched her teeth together, her wing’s grip around the cigarette tightening.
This… really wasn’t what she had imagined her life to be like after breaking up with her coltfriend all those months ago. Yes, she hadn’t expected the best, but her current scenario just undercut all her worst expectations by a long shot.
True to her pompous announcements to Jet Stream, she had ‘moved’ to Manehattan the very same night the two had broken up. It wasn’t so much about actually living in Manehattan (she could care less about that sinkhole, really), as much as it was about her getting as far away from Jet Stream and the life she associated with him as possible. Heck, she could have just as well headed for Canterlot, Fillydelphia or even the Griffin Kingdom, but Manehattan was pretty much the first best city she had managed to come up with, and thus had set her sights on Equestria’s largest city.
As expected, she had spent the first nights on the street, and fed off… well, trash was kind of a harsh word. She saw it as making the world a better place by saving… mostly edible food from the dumpsters.
To her sobering disappointment, however, she had been quick to find out that, apparently, aerospace firms weren’t exactly licking their lips for somepony like her. As she had found out a few very frustrating weeks later, this was only partially due to the fact that she still didn’t have a regular income; that she was homeless, looked, and smelled the part, but mostly due to the fact that there were next to no aerospace firms located in Manehattan, which was more of a financial center.
Aerospace was, as most ponies had told her, something she would be most likely to find in Las Pegasus.
She had been hesitant about going back at first. After all, there were… certain ponies still living in this city who she really couldn’t care less about.
And Celestia knows the last thing she wanted was for this… this smug asshole to see her in the state of misery she now languished in; looking down at her and laughing, or… even worse… offering her help!
However, her demeanor had changed when she had heard ponies talk about an upcoming company looking to hire all the ‘young professionals’ they could get their hooves on. It was an airline, so not really her main field of interest (as she was more interested in science of astronomy and rocketry) but she had seen it as an opportunity to get herself back on the market – after all, with a proper job, and the appropriate appearance, she was sure doors would be open for her in all aerospace-related companies, and she could always change professions a year or two down the road.
Thus, full of newfound hope and determination, ready to kickstart her career in the aerospace-industry once and for all, Delta had… hitched a ride on the train to Las Pegasus (seriously, those conductors never bothered to check who might be riding on a train’s roof) and put on her best (and only) attire, ready to pay her future employer a visit.
Having been raised in this very city, the fact that Las Pegasus-citizens weren’t really the friendliest in all of Equestria was nothing new to her, and it had taken her a fair while until she had asked her way through and found the headquarters of this new, upcoming company she had heard so many positive things about.
The CEO, as ponies on the street had described him, was a rather young stallion with only a few years of experience in this branch, but full of endeavor and determination, willing to see his company at the very top end of the food chain. A charismatic, intelligent and barnstorming daredevil who, allegedly, was on his way to the very top faster than anypony else in this city.
Or, in short, a stallion just after Delta’s tastes.
As she stood in front of the newly-built skyscraper hosting the company’s headquarters, freshly groomed and showered –courtesy of one of Equestria’s few homeless shelters– ready to take this leap of faith into her new life, she could see her future boss in front of her. A strong, assertive, self-confident stallion, who would no doubt be impressed by her knowledge and intellect, and hire her with no questions asked.
And hey, if he would turn out to be as handsome as ponies made him out to be… heck, who was to say that the two couldn’t… well… get along? She certainly wouldn’t mind a little ride in the hay after the trainwreck that had been her previous relationship.
However…
Her demeanor had changed abruptly when she had caught sight of the clear acrylic glass sign hanging next to the entrance of the highrise building, revealing the company’s name, along with its top management.
And there, standing on that nicely laser-engraved hard plastic sign, was the name that made all her determination; her endeavors, and her dreams of a better future, shatter like a broken mirror.
Jet Stream – C.E.O.
“No…” Delta whispered numbly, unbelievingly, as she read the name a second and third time.
This… this couldn’t be true! She couldn’t believe it! There was no way in hell this was the-
Her eyes traveled upward, reading the name of the company.
EquestriAero
A cold shudder ran down her spine, and she could feel her heart pound in her chest as her legs began to tremble, her body tensed up, and tears formed in her eyes.
“No…” she said again, louder this time, her face contorting, “No!”
This… this was the new, uprising company ponies had spoken so highly of!? This was the company that would, according to journals and newspapers she had stumbled over in her search for food, soon be at the top end of the aerospace-industry?
Jet Stream’s company!?
How… how didn’t she notice earlier? Hell, she had overheard ponies on the street talking about ‘this company’ and once the name of the street it was in had been mentioned, she had dashed off without a second thought, and without stopping for a moment to see the obvious.
And still, here she was. Looking at the company she had been expecting so much of, and seeing that it was the company that had essentially kicked off her life’s descent all these years ago.
Delta gave a low growl as the integrity of things came crashing down on her, and she felt her hooves begin to tremble, her body shaking all over.
“Fuck!” she cursed, punching the concrete wall with a hoof. It hurt like hell, but she was blind to the pain in the heat of the moment. She was angry. She was mad! She felt a stinging pain in her chest as her heart seemed to shrink up painfully, tears bursting into her eyes, bitterness and hatred seeming to consume her entire being.
“You… you piece of shit!” she hissed bitterly as she punched the wall again, gaining a few bewildered looks from passersby. “Can’t you stop screwing me over for once? Just once!?” she yelled on top of her lungs, tears now running down her face – tears of anger, frustration, but most importantly hurt.
All those petty hopes and dreams about finally turning her life around and making it big after all were going down in flames left and right, and it hurt.
It hurt like hell.
However, even that hurt was easily overshadowed by her next realization: Jet Stream, the stallion she had helped get where he was now; the one she had sacrificed so much for, was now somewhere up in this fancy skyscraper, raking in bits with her ideas, while she was down here, quite literally stewing in her own juice.
It was a realization that caused her to sob again, although more out of frustration than legitimate sadness. She sunk to her haunches, feeling each and every muscle in her body tense up in a vain attempt to express all the anger boiling within her. She was trembling all over, her face contorted to an unnatural grimace.
The moments that followed were… a bit of a blur in her memory. She recalled jumping back to her hooves, turning around and giving the acrylic sign a hard buck with her back hooves, causing it to crack in the middle and fall off the wall in a dozen shards.
Breathing heavily, standing in front of the facade, looking down at the cracked sign; this… had been truly the biggest relief she had felt in years. She wished the sign would have had a picture of Jet on it, but watching his name with a big crack going right through it was good enough – for now, anyway.
Actually, no.
It was… not good enough!
The following minutes she remembered being filled with an incredible satisfaction. She couldn’t quite remember the details, but she did recall beginning to run when she heard a police siren blaring in the distance, flying off into back roads, and leaving behind a thoroughly shattered plastic sign, a demolished mailbox, and a severely cracked partition in the building’s glass facade.
She had only escaped the cops by a hair that day. Having grown up in Las Pegasus, she knew a lot of secret paths – not to mention the city’s barely used canalization, which was home to a few burly, but mostly friendly, homeless ponies, so even with her rather poor health, escaping two overweight stallions wasn’t too much of a challenge for her.
Celestia knows she could have gotten in trouble had they caught her. Vandalism charges in Las Pegasus weren’t too heavy, but with her savings amounting to just about nothing, she would have probably faced a prison charge – and really, while she had sunk very, very low, there were still places in this world which she didn’t want to see with her own eyes.
But she didn’t care.
That had just… been way too satisfying to worry about any possible consequences.
However, her relief and satisfaction were, unfortunately, short-lived, as it didn’t take longer than a few hours until the endorphins and the thrill of giving Jet a wipe were gone, and Delta found herself facing the very same problem again: she was homeless, with no money and nowhere to go.
As she would only find out over the course of the following weeks, there was a very good reason why all the ‘young experts’ were flocking to EquestriAero. Namely, because they were just about the only aerospace company in all of Las Pegasus, possibly all of Equestria, who were hiring ponies with little to no practical experience; such as Delta. All competing companies –as a handful of… very frustrating job interviews had confirmed– wouldn’t even look twice at somepony with ‘just’ a completed degree in rocket science, but no working experience.
And thus, it had happened that Delta had once again stood before nothing, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Any thoughts about taking a closer look at EquestriAero were quickly put off with a furious shake of her head – even if they didn’t have video surveillance and would recognize her as the pony who had vandalized their headquarters… frankly, she would rather chop off her four legs and wiggle her way down The Strip than to work for the pony that had taken everything from her.
Eventually, however, driven by desperation and hunger –eating what essentially counted as trash wasn’t something she cared to do for too long– she had come to the conclusion that she had to get a job – some job; any job.
And with the way she looked after half a year of living on the street, there weren’t too many firms willing to employ her, which ultimately led her to work for what counted as easily the most rundown, under-class, low-quality fast food restaurant in all of Equestria.
And… well, here she was. Looking out the drive thru-window, puffing away, and trying to fight down the urge to drink her brains out to forget just how low she had sunk.
Hmm…
Sloppy, the fry cook working the shift with her, normally had a bit of a stash with him. Weed and a few funny pills, mostly, but if she nicely flattered her eyes at him a little bit, she might just manage to talk him into yielding to her the flask he had hidden in the inside pocket of his Jolly Burgers-vest.
She bit her lip.
She hated begging ponies for things, but at this stage she really wasn’t sure how she could get through the remainder of the night without a little pick-me-up. The cigarette was nice enough, but… oh, what she’d give for a swig of whisky right now.
Really, if only she could-
“Ugh… Delta, are you smoking again?”
“Oh shit.” she hissed a curse as she flipped away the still gleaming cigarette and quickly pulled her head back in again, finding herself face to face with a cobalt blue pegasus stallion.
“No I didn’t, boss,” she said a little gruffly, shaking her head and giving a quick cough to get the bitter aftertaste out of the back of her throat. “Why would you even ask that?”
The stallion looked at her in silence for a moment, his face looking like a mixture of annoyance and genuine concern.
“Come on, Delta,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “Don’t be like that, alright? I asked you not to smoke on your shift. What are customers supposed to think?”
“What customers?” Delta asked bitterly, nodding her head into the direction of the deserted dining area.
The stallion –what was his name anyway? He had told her once, but she kept forgetting it. Flippy? Flim? Filou?– sighed briefly. “Come on, Delta. Work with me here. I know you’ve been through… a bit of a tough time, but-”
“Wha– what do you know, huh!?” Delta snapped at him, blushing ever so slightly. Who did this stallion think he was, digging into her personal life like this? What made him think that-
“You… kinda kept grumbling about a guy named Jet and how he ‘stole away your ideas’,” her manager explained a bit awkwardly, running a hoof through his dark blonde mane. “The rest I just concluded myself.”
“Pfft.” Delta hissed, breaking the eye contact and looking away. “What do you know about those things, anyway. Probably been working in a damn fast food joint all your life.”
That actually gained a brief, bitter chuckle from the stallion as he shook his head. “Afraid not.”
She turned her head, looking at him with an eyebrow raised, but just as she was about to ask him about it, a light ding announced a new customer entering the drive thru.
Delta rolled her eyes. Her craving to see Sloppy and free him from some of his booze, or at least light up another cigarette, was growing stronger than ever.
But she controlled herself. Pissed as she was, even in this moment she had enough reasoning within her to know that her doing something like this now might just lead to some not-so-pleasant consequences.
Thus, without her manager having to encourage her, she reached for the headset hanging ready on a holder next to the still open window, which she quickly shoved shut, and put the device on her ears, adjusting the microphone so that it was in front of her mouth.
A brief spurt of static announced that the connection with the order-terminal at the front end of the drive-thru had been made. Delta gave a last, annoyed sigh, then, seeing how whatshisface was still standing right next to her with an inspecting glance, properly recited the welcoming-message she was expected to greet every customer with.
“Welcome to Jolly Burgers. May I take your order?”
Her manager gave her a confirming nod, a smile, and a thumbs-up with his wings. She rolled her eyes and looked away.
Coming from the other end of the line, however, was nothing but dead silence, and the distant sound of somepony breathing.
Delta closed her eyes in annoyance, pressing her lips together. Celestia help her if this was another one of these prank-calls.
“You gonna order something or what?” she asked, slightly annoyed, and let out a brief sigh of relief as she heard somepony finally speak up.
“Y-yeah. Sure.” A stallion’s voice came from the speaker on her ears. It sounded vaguely familiar, but the poor audio quality made it hard to spot any details in the transmission. “Sorry, you sound a bit like my ex-marefriend. Had me a bit confused for a second there.”
Delta rolled her eyes again, snuffling. Not another one of those ponies who came to Jolly Burgers at night to share their life stories. Celestia knows Las Pegasus had a lot of those.
“I don’t care.” Delta decided to cut him off before he could go further, giving him the standard reply she would give to anyone who would turn up here and try to start up a chat with her. “Now, you can either tell me what you want, or buzz off. I’m not getting paid enough to listen to your ramblings.”
That prompted an annoyed sigh from the stallion at the other end, who appeared to be mildly annoyed by Delta’s harsh tone.
Good. Annoyed guests weren’t going to stay and get on her nerves for long.
“Fine, I’ll take a burger with fries.” the stallion finally placed his order, causing Delta to let a sigh of relief. “And make it quick.”
Delta’s eyes narrowed at that last part.
So he was this kind of customer, huh? One of those ‘too busy for this’ businessponies. She knew ponies like him. Always looking at their watches, telling her to go faster, and throwing a tantrum if things didn’t go the way they wanted.
Yes, she knew these kinds of ponies.
And she hated them with a passion.
“Yeah yeah.” she confirmed half-heartedly, her look gong over to the window where she had stood smoking before, and where she would soon have to face this… stallion and give him his damned burger. “Get your stuff at the next window.” she pulled off her headset, already giving a sigh of relief, but couldn’t keep that last word from slipping out her mouth. “…fuckface.”
She smirked, already hearing the stallion pipe up with anger in her mind, but quickly cut the connection with the push of a button on her headset. A quick glance over to her manager confirmed that the stallion hadn’t heard her little attack on the customer.
Feeling the faintest of smirks creep on her face, Delta turned to the side and prepared one of the paper bags standing ready to put together fuckface’s order. There were a couple of ready-made Jolly Burgers in the display, which had been lying there for a few hours, and were just about as cold as the rare Las Pegasus snow.
Of course, she was aware that company policy would require her to always have burgers freshly made for customers, and Sloppy could surely have a new batch of burgers ready in a moment if she would say the word. Likewise, she knew damn well that her manager would turn a blind eye if she were to smuggle the old, unsalable burgers out after her shift, essentially getting her a free breakfast.
However, just picturing the face of this entitled business-asshole when he would unwrap his burger and find it to be cold and mushy was well worth a grumbling stomach the next morning.
So she quickly stuffed the old burger into the paper bag, threw in the oldest and most raunchy-looking fries she could find, gave the bag a good shake, making sure that the fries would nicely grease up the burger wrapping for maximum slipperiness –if that burger would slip from his grip and soil the insides of his wagon, Delta would see it as a personal success– and finally placed it next to the window.
“Haaanding out the order now, boss.” Delta chanted, a little too happily, as she stepped towards the window, ready to face that entitled jerk and hand him his crappy burger.
“Uh… sure, Delta. Good job… I guess?” her manager replied a little confused, and Delta turned towards the window, preparing for sweet justice as she slid it to the side, and looked into the eyes of the entitled jackass she had been talking to earlier.
Her eyes widened.
Time seemed to come to a standstill as the two ponies stared at each other in silence, both their minds needing a fair while to realize just who they were looking at.
Almost a whole minute passed, in which the only kind of noise came from Delta silently dropping the paper bag, and it hitting the floor with a barely audible thud.
Finally, it was Jet Stream who managed to bring out words again.
“D-Delta?” he asked, eyes so wide he was worried they’d fall out of their sockets.
“You…” finally, it seemed, the mare in the Jolly Burgers-polo had found her voice too.
“Is it… is it really you?” Jet gasped, “God, I… I was thinking about you earlier and…”
“You…” Delta repeated herself, her eyes narrowing.
“You… you can’t believe how glad I am to see you’re alright!” Jet affirmed, visibly relieved, “I-I mean, I was worried you might have-”
“You!” Delta growled, repeating herself a third time, anger now clearly dominating her voice, “What the fuck are you doing here!?”
That caused Jet to flinch for a second, leaning back from the confrontation. “I… I was just…” He fell silent as his gaze lowered, looking over the mare he had once been with – or what was left of her anyway. Truly, the mare in front of him, with the bags under her eyes, the ruffled-up mane, the running nose, her strong scent of old cigarettes, and the look of pure bitterness and disgust in her beautiful red eyes bore little resemblance to the mare that stormed out of his apartment a year ago.
In fact, the only thing about her that hadn’t changed completely –safe for her ever-beautiful crimson eyes– were the black-rimmed nerdy glasses sitting atop her nose, reminding Jet of better times.
“What…” he gasped, feeling his body go limp, “What happened to you?”
Now it was Delta’s turn to cast a look of disbelief at him, although it was tinted with a subtle anger.
“What happened to me?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Are you… are you being serious right now?”
As her ex-coltfriend just looked at her confused, it finally burst out of her.
“You happened to me, Jet!” she shouted, leaning forward out the window. “You and your goddamn company ruined it all!”
Her words hit Jet like a stab in the heart. Flinching noticeably, his face showing first traces of pain, he fought for breath for a second, before swallowing. “I… I’m sorry you feel that way, Delta,” he fought to bring out, the normally so cocky and self-confident stallion now reduced to a stuttering, insecure mess. “I mean, you have no idea how glad I am to see you’re…” he hesitated, “…alright, but…”
“Oh shut up!” the angry mare snarled at him. “You know exactly that I look like shit, so don’t try to play it down. And let me tell you, Jet…” she leaned even further out the window. “I’m not! Doing! Much! Better!”
The stallion retreated even further into his carriage, feeling his heart contort painfully. “I…” he stuttered, a little lost. “Is… is there anything I can-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Delta warned him with a raised hoof and wide eyes. “I don’t need your goddamn charity!”
“But I…” Jet wanted to counter, but seemed to be at a loss of words, sighing and lowering his head.
“Just take your damn burger and leave.” Delta said dryly, picking up the paper bag she had dropped earlier and tossing it into his direction.
Still having his head lowered, Jet failed to catch the bag, and it hit him square in the muzzle, prompting Delta to smirk for the first time in weeks, and give a brief, evil chuckle.
“Funny…” Jet groaned, wiping a hoof over his face, freeing it from the black muck that used to be on the ground of Jolly Burgers’ kitchen.
He sighed, shaking his head. “Look,” he focused his ex-marefriend, “I’d… I’d like to talk for a second. Just… to go over things and-”
“No. Bucking. Way.” Delta affirmed decidedly, shaking her head and crossing her arms.
Jet Stream gave a pained sigh, blinking for a second longer than normal, his thoughts racing. “Please,” he said again, locking eyes with his ex and putting on the best begging look he had in store. “I… I know I screwed up. Screwed up… big time. But I wanna make it up to you, I really do!”
As Delta frowned, looking thoroughly unconvinced of his sincerity, he began another attempt to reach her. ”Look. Is there anything I can do to talk to you for a moment? I just…” he shook his head, failing to find the right words, “just wanna talk.”
Delta snorted, screwing up her face. “Unless you got some booze in that fancy wagon of yours, I’m not interested.”
Jet Stream cocked an eyebrow, not understanding at first, “Some…? … Oh.” he lowered his head, confusion on his face making way for something that looked almost like grief.
“I, uh…” he said uncomfortably, “I’ve got a bottle of bourbon in the storage compartment. If… if that’s what it takes to get you to talk to me, then…” he awkwardly scratched the side of his head, “I… I guess you can have it.”
Wrapping his offer up, he raised his head again, nervously looking over to his ex.
“Bourbon, huh? Of course the great Jet Stream wouldn’t go for the cheapskate stuff,” she said tauntingly. “Oh well…”
She looked behind herself where her manager was busy making eyes at one of the rare nightly customers – a middle-aged red pegasus mare. The blue stallion cast her a slightly worried glance as he caught her glimpse, but was quickly drawn back to the talk with the customer.
Turning back to the window where her ex was still anxiously waiting for her reply, she gave him a dry glare, and pulled the orange baseball cap with the Jolly Burgers logo on it off her head.
“Ten minutes, Jet,” she said sharply, looking him in the eyes intently for a moment, before stepping aside and through the narrow plastic door located next to the window. “Ten minutes. Or until the bottle’s empty,” she clarified determinedly, “not sure which’ll come first.”
Two minutes.
Two minutes and thirteen seconds, as confirmed by the clock located opposite to his seat, had passed since Delta had opened the door of his carriage and sat down on the upholstered seat next to Jet Stream.
And not a word had been spoken since.
Well, other than a brief dialogue in which Delta had snarkily asked where Jet was ‘keeping the booze’, and her ex-coltfriend had hesitantly opened the small cabinet embedded in his armrest, and reluctantly handed her the bottle of whisky, which she had snagged from his grip with a pleased grunt.
And ever since then, there had been silence. Silence that was only occasionally interrupted by Delta raising the bottle to her mouth and drinking… far too much, far too quickly for Jet’s taste – and definitely not because she was downing easily twenty bits with every mouthful.
“D-Delta, I…” Jet Stream spoke up hesitantly, just as his ex finally lowered the whisky again, the pint-sized bottle already a quarter empty.
Holding on to the bottle tightly with her wing, Delta slowly turned her head towards him, cocking a truly annoyed-looking eyebrow.
“I… really wanted to talk with you,” he forced out, fighting with himself as he saw the disdain in Delta’s eyes. “I… I just don’t think things can go on like this.”
“Like what!?” Delta retorted snarkily, shrugging and almost turning the bottle over in the process. “You raking in bits like there’s no tomorrow? Living in luxury? Are you sick of it already?”
Jet shook his head. “I mean you killing yourself! It just…” he gasped, searching for the right words, “It can’t go on like this!”
“Boo-flippin’-hoo,” Delta snarled at him, taking another long swig from the bottle, then finally setting it down. Her movements were already getting slightly less coordinated thanks to the alcohol in her system. “Don’t pretend like you suddenly care about me after all this time, Jet. It’s too late for that.”
“I do care about you, Delta!” Jet affirmed with wide eyes, but fell silent as he saw Delta pull out her cigarettes and put one in her mouth. “Can you…” he begged, feeling himself get more uncomfortable by the second. “Can you please not?”
“What?” she snarked, pulling out her lighter, fumbling with it for a bit longer than normal before she finally managed to ignite the flame, “Don’t wanna get your… fancy-ass wagon to smell like smoke?”
“I don’t want you to kill yourself!” Jet almost shouted back, “Smoking is… is just suicide in installments!”
“Heh… What’s wrong, Jet?” she retorted dryly, lighting up her cigarette and blowing a gust of smoke into Jet’s face. “Lost your balls on the way up?”
Jet frowned, his face looking almost pained. “I… I just can’t stand seeing you like this, Delta,” he said, pointing a hoof at her. “It’s killing me to see you throw your life away like this!”
Again, Delta smirked dryly, taking another pull from her cigarette. “Funny you should say that,” she kept the smoke in her mouth for a moment before releasing it to the side. “Remember who screwed me over when my life was at its high point? Remember who turned me into this?” she asked, pointing down at her Jolly Burgers-polo.
At Jet’s agonized but wordless expression, she leaned into his direction, putting another log on the fire. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, Jet,” she said with a light slur, her eyes narrowing. “You have no fucking clue what I went through while you were up here living the life of the rich kids.” She took the burnt down cigarette from her mouth, stubbing it out on the faux leather seat in a way which she knew would leave a nasty burn.
But Jet's attention was entirely on her at that moment, looking over at his ex with eyes that were nearing tears.
“So don’t fucking think you can lure me in with your charity,” she clarified, puffing out a final gust of smoke before leaning forward in her seat and reaching for the bottle again, her hoof swaying back and forth for a few moments before it finally got a hold of the bottle’s neck.
Jet Stream let her words sink in for a moment, then let his head down, and sighed, closing his eyes.
“I know, Delta,” he whispered faintly. “I know, alright?”
Finally he raised his head again, looking at Delta as she tipped the bottle toward her mouth again. “And I want to help you,” he clarified. “I… I just can’t go on with the knowledge that you’re out there on your own. Please…” he said, focusing her. “My place is just around the corner. You can take a hot shower, crash there for a few nights, and find a proper job.”
He took a moment to let his words sink in as Delta downed the next swig of whisky, then slowly, tentatively, added, “Heck, I can get you a job at EquestriAero if you want to. You’d earn four times as much as you’re earning in that…” he made a face, “that sinkhole.”
Delta had already aligned the bottle with her mouth again, but lowered it once Jet made his proposal. She looked at him in silence for a moment, then slowly shook her head. “Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Have me live with you; work for you, and keep me on a short leash again, huh? That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“No!” he hastily affirmed with wide eyes. “That’s… that’s not what I meant,” he sighed. “Look, I know this is sudden, but you deserve better than that. You deserve way better.”
At that, the cyan mare paused for a moment, then smirked dryly. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” she said after a moment, putting the cork back onto the half-empty bottle and half-setting, half-dropping it on the ground. She turned towards him, watching his face light up with new hope. “I do deserve better.”
Jet felt a hopeful smile form on his face. “So… so you…”
“I deserve better than you,” she snarked bitterly, turning to the side and getting ready to open her door, but struggling with the handle due to her drunkenness.
“I… I…” Jet wanted to protest, feeling his heart ache all over again as he found himself losing this battle. “Wait!” he finally shouted, reaching a hoof into the chest pocket of his white button-up shirt. “Wait just a second!”
“What!?” Delta snarled, pulling her hoof back from the slightly bent metal handle, the bottle of bourbon tucked safely in the inside of her polo.
“I… I wanted to show you something.” Jet fought to explain himself, pulling out what looked like a small black wallet. “Just… just one more thing, then you can go.”
“What is it, Jet!?” Delta growled, seeming fed up by this charade, but fell silent as Jet opened up his wallet and presented the inside of it to her.
It wasn’t the half inch worth of bank bills that presented themselves to her, neither was it the black Equestrian Express Platinum credit card that caused her to falter.
No, glued to the inside of Jet Stream’s wallet was a photo of himself, holding in his arms a foal. A… a little filly, not older than four years. The photo saw the two happily smiling into the camera, the filly snuggling comfily against her father’s chest fur.
Suddenly, the world around Delta seemed to come to a standstill. The rocking of the chariot around her, the obnoxious tingling in her running nose, the alcohol-induced dizziness in her head, and the burning in the back of her throat the pricy bourbon had left behind… it all vanished in an instant, and all Delta could see in her tunnel vision were these two red eyes looking back at her, looking awfully similar to her own.
Delta gasped. “Is… is that…?”
“That’s Apogee.” Jet confirmed calmly, “Our daughter. … Your daughter.”
Like in slow motion, Delta leaned forward, and took the wallet from Jet’s grip, feeling her legs begin to tremble as she led the picture closer to her face, her eyes seeing nothing but the little filly she had loved and nursed for so long.
She… she had grown so much since Delta had last seen her. Still looked a lot like her father, but… but there were elements of Vee in her too, no doubt.
The blue streaks in her mane she had inherited from her mother, same with that trademark smile she wore on the photo; a smile Delta couldn’t remember having on her face for… far too long. And of course, those two red eyes looking back at her, only a tint brighter than those of her mother. If nothing else, it were these two pretty eyes that made Delta realize that it was her own daughter she was looking at here.
She was just… looking so… so… perfect.
Jet could feel himself going weak too as he watched the anger and frustration on his ex’s face vanish, making way for what looked like genuine sadness. He watched a single tear form in her eyes, shimmering in the light of the full moon outside, and running through the valleys of a face drawn by a hard time of living out on the street. Years of bitterness and frustration that were etched into her features now seemed to disappear, replaced by nothing but genuine love… and sadness.
She opened her mouth, and barely audible over the sound of wind rushing outside, Jet could hear her whisper three words that seemed to break his heart right then and there.
“My… my little filly.”
She let her head sink, biting her lip and pulling Jet’s wallet closer towards herself, pressing it against her chest.
For several moments, she remained like this in complete silence, then Jet spoke up, saying the words that he hoped would seal the deal once and for all.
“Our… our place isn’t far from here, Delta,” he said carefully, cautiously. “If you want to see her…”
The cyan mare silently shook her head, keeping her eyes shut as she enjoyed a moment of closeness with all that was left of her relationship with her daughter – a photo in her ex’s wallet.
With increasing discomfort, Jet watched her hold the picture close to her heart, then take a deep breath.
“Why are you doing this to me, Jet?” she asked, her voice so weak it was barely audible. “Why are you putting me through this?” she pressed her lips together, the grip of her hooves around the wallet tightening. The alcohol was evident in her voice. “Do you just hate me so much?”
“Delta, what are… what are you talking about?” Jet asked wide-eyed, now completely failing to understand. “I don’t hate you!” he assured her firmly, “I just… “ he shook his head, his mouth failing to produce the words he wanted to say.
“I want to help you!” he finally clarified, leaning over towards her. “I want to help you from what you’re putting yourself through! I want to save you while there’s still something left to save from the mare I love!”
He bit his lip, tripping over that last part, but then lowered his head, anxious to see Delta’s reaction.
As his words rang out, silence reigned for a few moments, then, slowly, Delta lowered his wallet and turned her head towards him.
Delta looked at him in silence, feeling her head swim as the almost half pint of whisky in her system began to do its job. Her blinks seemed to get longer with every passing second, her eyes soon being shut for just as long as they were open
She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again and turned her head away.
“Why… ugh…” she muttered, forcing her eyes shut and blinking a few times, the alcohol blurring her vision. “Why can’t you just…?”
Her head slammed back against the headrest, and she pinched her eyes shut again, letting out a groan. She… she might have underestimated the alcohol concentration in that bourbon.
Her eyes remained shut, and her ragged breathing became more and more quiet as Jet Stream’s chariot soared through the night.
A week’s worth of little to no sleep on an old, uncomfortable mattress were starting to show their effects; the excessive alcohol and the gentle rocking of the chariot merely served as the catalyst that caused Delta to drift away from this world in a deep slumber.
Only moments later, Jet watched her head slide to the side, and with a light snore, his ex-marefriend had nodded off.
Delta woke up… sometime later. It must have been early morning, as the sun hadn’t risen yet, but her surroundings were… bright.
Too damn bright.
She pinched her eyes shut, scrunching up her face as she came around, her mind only slowly catching up with everything.
Where… where was she? What had happened? Why was her head feeling so…
Delta’s eyes shot open.
She was lying on a sofa in a living room.
In an awfully familiar living room.
She shot upward, her look darting around the room. However, her hangover was quick in getting back to her, as her vision went white, and her world swam for a few moments.
She… she was back home!? Had this… had this all been just a…?
She held her breath, hearing only her heart pound for a moment, before she let out a sigh, and her shoulder dropped as she remembered what had happened last night – how Jet Stream had run into her at Jolly Burgers, how they had talked about… things, and how she had somehow ended up drinking almost half a bottle of pricey whisky all by herself.
Delta gave a low groan, rubbing her head as she leaned back against the sofa, her mind struggling to digest everything that had happened.
The fact that her underside was covered by the same silk blanket Jet had bought to cover up her pregnant belly all these years ago was something that crossed her mind only briefly, before her body stiffened with an awful thought.
Why… why had she fallen asleep so suddenly? And why had she woken up on his sofa? Had he… Had he…!?
Delta felt her pulse quicken, throwing the blanket off her body as her body tensed up.
No way! No fucking way had he…!
She took a deep breath, focusing for a moment, before relaxing again.
No.
No, he hadn’t touched her.
There was no trace of his scent –which she still knew all too well, even after being away from him for so long– on either her or her immediate surroundings.
Especially from their time in university, she knew that, after intercourse, the two partners would often carry the significant other’s smell on them for several hours. It was a pheromone of sorts that was particularly hard to get out of one’s fur and mane, and would oftentimes only wash out after a day or two, even when showering regularly.
She gave a sigh, relaxing, but then feeling a frown form on her face. Was she… was she vilifying Jet too much here?
He had taken her… home after she had passed out in his skywagon; had given her a place to sleep away the drunkenness she herself had induced, and had even covered her up with a blanket to make sure she wouldn’t be cold.
That… that counted for something, right?
Hell, she really was feeling a lot better now! Of course, the fact that she hadn’t showered in a week –the shower in her shared apartment was not a place she enjoyed being in– was still showing, but her back wasn’t hurting nearly as much as it normally did, and her cold felt like it had disappeared too.
And… try as she might, she couldn't deny that it was thanks to him. Thanks to… Jet.
Delta pondered these thoughts for a moment, then shook her head. Shewas… just way too hungover to think about all these things right now.
Instead, she gave another sigh and leaned back on that very same sofa she had so many memories of – spending so many wonderful nights with her coltfriend Jet on it; lying here, reading books about balancing her soon-to-start career with her motherhood during her pregnancy… or sitting on this very sofa for hours on end, waiting for Jet Stream to come home from another “meeting”, only to find him trying to sneak into bed, smelling suspiciously strong of alcohol.
She shook her head, attempting to distract herself before her thoughts went too far downhill.
Instead, she let her gaze wander throughout the rest of the spacious living room. What she saw was… surprisingly familiar, really. If she wouldn’t know better she’d think she would have never moved out.
Of course, the remains of her… parting gift to Jet were all cleared out by now; the shards removed, the trashed papers tossed, and the torn-up plush animals –knowing Jet– probably buried somewhere in the garden. However, the foundation remained the same – the photos hanging on the wall –those she hadn’t torn down on their parting day, anyway– the books standing in the shelves… heck, she even recognized the stereo standing opposite to her, and her records leaning against it.
She closed her eyes, an intense shudder running through her body. Sitting here, taking it all in, it really did feel like she would have never left.
And really, the longer she sat here, and the more she thought about it, the more she… couldn’t help but to feel like… like…
She felt a thin smile form on her face.
Maybe… maybe it wasn’t all bad.
Maybe running away that night had been the wrong decision after all – hell, where had it gotten her in the end? She had spent half a year as a homeless, the other half in a crappy, crowded apartment and an even crappier job.
So… should she have stayed? Or rather… should she stay if given the chance?
Given his words yesterday, it seemed like Jet would be ready to take her in for a few days… or weeks.
And Celestia knows, after seeing that photo yesterday… she… she really wanted to see her daughter again.
By all means, she wouldn’t have to start up a family with Jet, let alone get back together with him or anything else.
But what if she would take him up on his offer to crash at his place for a few days? Take a long, refreshing, hot shower, throw on some decent clothes, and really deck herself out, and surely she would reign over any future job interviews.
So why didn’t she do it?
She sat up on the sofa, slowly nodding her head.
Life had screwed her over, now it had offered her a chance to get back on her hooves – all she had to do was take it.
Yes, why didn’t she?
She thought for another moment, then straightened herself up, ready to get up off the sofa and look for Jet to talk about whether he was being serious with his offer, but hesitated when her gaze came to rest on the coffee table in front of her, and she saw something.
It wasn’t the glass of water or the aspirin standing ready for her –courtesy of Jet, no doubt– that caused her to falter, neither were it her glasses which, apparently, he had taken off and stored for her to prevent them from getting bent while she was sleeping the night before.
No, what caused her world to come to a standstill for a moment was a small piece of paper lying next to her glasses, placed in a way that allowed her to easily read it from her seating position on the sofa.
It was a cutout article from a business magazine, neatly laminated to preserve it. Squinting, Delta read the title… and felt her stomach turn.
RISING STAR DECLINES EASA JOB OFFER – PROCEEDS TO FOCUS ON BUILDING UP OWN COMPANY
Sitting below the bold headline was a smaller block of small printed words, next to a photo of a smug-looking Jet Stream in front of what looked like a wall painted with the logo of EquestriAero.
“No…” Delta whispered to herself as she leaned forward, reading through the article, too aghast to bother putting on her glasses.
The article said something about how incredibly daring her ex-coltfriend’s decision was, that he continued to serve as a prime example of entrepreneurship, and that, while EASA surely must be frustrated about not getting their hooves on such a rising star, the author wished nothing but the best to young Jet Stream on his steep ascend to the very top.
“No.” she said again, clearer this time. “No!”
This… this was… ugh!
Aerospace was her thing! She was supposed to be on that photo! She was supposed to live in this fancily furnished apartment! And she was supposed to get that job offer from EASA! She had poured all her ideas into their shared project during their early days! Half the things Jet knew about aerospace she had taught him!
And now he… he was claiming all the rewards for her hard work while she was… was…
Delta felt her teeth clench, anger boiling up inside her.
Hell, she didn’t even know if she should be glad or angry that Jet had declined the EASA-offer. It… it was her dream! Not his! She deserved to be employed by EASA! And she deserved to have an article written about her great plans and her bright future! Not this… this ungrateful, deceitful, backstabbing piece of-
Her body began to shake, her primal anger barely restrained at this point.
He had shown that he still cared about her; had offered her a well-paid, secure job… heck, had even offered to take her in for the time being to get her off the street and out of the misery she was undoubtedly stuck in.
And yet…
What he had done… made her decline the chance of her life… used her shamelessly for his own, short-sighted goals… and let her bleed out for three whole years, using her as his private maid and nanny while he was out laying the foundation of not their but his future.
She took a deep, shaky breath, pressing her trembling hoof into the sofa’s polster as her anger threatened to overwhelm her again.
The temptation to give in, into one direction or another, seemed overwhelming. Really, she could see herself seeking for Jet and asking him to take her in and give her a job at EquestriAero for the sole purpose of not having to go back to the hell she had crawled from the night before, just as likely as she could see herself suddenly snapping and trashing the entire living room like she had done more than a year ago.
It was an unhealthy mixture of emotions clashing inside her that she felt could drive her insane before long.
Why… why did he put that article on the table? Did he… did he really want to rub it in her face so badly that he had gotten a job offer from EASA and she didn’t? Did he… did he get some sort of sick pleasure out of watching her suffer?
Was this the reason why he had insisted on taking her with him the night before? Just to have her tell him how utterly horrible her life was without him? Did he… did he get off to the thought of her living in misery or something?
Her teeth ground against each other as she sat there, feeling like she was getting torn apart from the inside out.
There was no… no way she was going back to work at that burger place and live in that flophouse again.
She clenched her teeth.
And there was no way she was going to move in with this fuckface again. Whatever he was trying to achieve by bringing her here, she was having none of it! She’d rather die than to give in and accept him throwing a measly bone at her while he was feasting on a banquet she had made possible in the first place!
No, this was… this was just… just too much for her. She… she needed to get out of here. Not after breakfast, not in five minutes, but right now!
She jumped up off the sofa and span around. Behind her was a large window to which she quickly soared over to.
She couldn’t take this. Why… why couldn’t he just leave her alone!?
Hissing a not so quiet curse, she shook her head, feeling tears form in her eyes. A quick push of a hoof, and the window slid open, offering her a first-row view of another glorious Las Pegasus sunrise, accompanied by a gust of icy morning air blowing into the room. Her eyes, lacking the protection of her glasses, began to tear up; partly due to the cold wind hitting them, partly because…
Delta shivered, spreading out her wings.
This was for the better.
She was better off doing her own thing. She damn well didn’t want to go back to the crappy life she had lived before, but at the same time, going back to how things were before she had finally snapped and broken free from it all was… just not an option.
She sighed, pinching her eyes shut.
She… she wanted to do her own thing! She needed her own place; her own refuge to work out where she was going to go from here – what she was going to do with her life, where she was going to live.
Her look went out the window, and into the distance, far beyond the city limits of Las Pegasus.
Yes.
There was an idea.
Despite everything, she could feel a slim grin form on her face for just a second at the thought of settling into one of the many abandoned houses and hangars outside the city of Las Pegasus –remains from an economically better time– and turning it into her own.
Just… blocking out the entire outside world, and doing her own thing; being her own boss, in the truest sense of the word.
That… that would be nice.
And yet, she could feel a new surge of bitterness flow through her body as she looked behind herself again, images of the life she was about to leave behind once and for all flashing past her mind’s eye.
She forced her eyes shut.
Those… those weren’t tears forming in her eyes. She was… she was happy. She was glad!
It… it was… for the better.
She shook her head a final time, then stretched her legs, ready to jump out the window and be on her way, but hesitated as she spotted something in the corners of her eyes.
Slowly, she turned her head. Lacking the support of her glasses, her vision was noticeably impeded, and everything further than a few yards away from her was shrouded in an unpleasant blur. It took a few seconds, but eventually Delta found herself cocking an eyebrow as she recognized that very same black wallet she had held the night before, and she couldn’t help but to remember the dozens of money bills within it, as well as…
Delta hesitated, making a face, then swiftly stepped back from the window, and made a dash for the wallet.
“Delta?” Jet asked out aloud as he came trotting from the kitchen where a batch of fresh pancakes were sizzling on the stove.
Anticipating that his ex-marefriend must be exhausted after what had happened last night, he had –much to the dismay of his business partners– chopped up his schedule, giving him this morning off to take care of this mare who, apparently, was in quite the need for help.
He had heard some commotion earlier, but had decided to not go into the living room just yet so as to not startle her. Soon enough, however, he would see her with some freshly made breakfast, offer her a shower, and then talk about… well, where things were going to go from here.
True to his word, he had already made all the necessary precautions to accommodate Delta in their formerly shared home – he had grabbed an air mattress from the basement, had dug out the set of ‘business casual’ clothing she had worn during their early days as business partners, and had even flown to the 24 hour-store and bought the shampoo he knew she liked most – anything to show her that he was willing and ready to take her into his home for the time being, and provide her with what help she needed to get back on her hooves.
He… was a little worried that he might have been a bit too up in her face by leaving that article on the table for her to see, though. He had left it there, hoping to show Delta that EASA was highly interested in luring executives away from EquestriAero – essentially laying out to her that she could easily join his company as an executive member, ‘work’ –in name only of course; she wouldn’t have to lift a hoof if she didn’t want to– for him for a month or two, and then let EASA ‘steal’ her away, giving her the job she had dreamt of all her life.
At least, this had been his plan. He genuinely wanted to help his ex-marefriend, and Celestia knows if there was one thing he could do to make up for his shortcomings in the past, it was helping her get that dream job of hers he had made her decline almost five years ago – by any means possible.
However, shortly after beginning his makeshift breakfast-preparation –he had never been a good cook, but he was sure Delta would appreciate the gesture– he had heard her cuss all of a sudden, followed by more commotion. Having been caught up in trying to get his words out ready for when he would finally face his –hopefully sober and not quite as bitter– ex-marefriend, it had taken him a moment to recognize it as her voice, but when he had, he had promptly turned on his heel and walked into his living room with quick steps, only to find…
“Delta?” Jet asked again, feeling his ears fold back as his heart sank.
The large window behind the sofa was standing wide open, and he could have sworn he saw a blueish blur disappear somewhere in the distance. A set of large, black-rimmed glasses on the table were the only thing that was left of his unexpected visitor.
The stallion gave a sigh, wanting to sink back to his haunches, but perked up as he saw something lying in front of the window – something that looked an awful lot like his wallet, which he must have forgotten here the night before.
His pessimistic brain was quick in counting one and one together, and he felt his heart sink even further as he trotted over to it, knowing that he had had well over five hundred bits in there.
“Delta… no…” he weakly whispered to himself as he trotted around the couch, stopping in front of his wallet which was lying on the ground folded open.
She… she couldn’t have… Please…
He quickly tapped it with a hoof, noticing with a mixture of surprise and relief that the bundle of money in it appeared to be untouched, and his credit card was still there.
But why was-
A gust of cold wind hit Jet from the side, and he could feel his legs wanting to give in, heart breaking in two right in this second as he saw it.
Truth be told, Jet Stream had experienced a lot of pain in his life. Only from his college days, he could easily recall dozens of baseballs to the testicles, basketballs to the wings, or slaps across his face from mares he had twisted around his hoof for a night of fun.
He remembered all too clearly the crash he had experienced in flight school that had cost him a milk tooth, or the time he had broken his hoof after an unfortunate fall.
And yet, he was sure that what he experienced in this second hurt him more than all of these things combined.
Lying in front of him, he saw the photo of himself holding Apogee in his arms, both of them smiling into the camera with genuinely happy, cheerful smiles.
Only that… by now, all that was left of it was Jet’s face and shoulders. The part of the photo showing Apogee had been neatly torn out, leaving behind only a disembodied, but still happily smiling Jet Stream.
He took in a long, deep, and calm breath, feeling his chest begin to tremble with what was about to come, then remained motionless for a second, ready to let it all out. All the frustration, all the pain, and all the regret he had felt ever since the night Delta had left him, was now weighing heavier than ever on his shoulders, and was begging to be set free.
Jet knew exactly what would happen next. He normally considered himself a rather strong and manly stallion, and it had been a while since he had last shed a tear, but now… now he could feel it.
He would cry. He would wail. He would let it all out in one long, tear-soaked frenzy, and just hope that it’d make him forget at least some of the pain that was tearing his heart apart right now.
However, split seconds before his body tensed up, ready to open the floodgates, his ears perked up, and he heard something.
“Daddy?” the voice of a little filly came from the other end of the living room. Quickly, Jet turned his head to find Apogee standing in the doorframe leading into the hallway, wearing her rocket-patterned pyjama.
“M-morning, s-sweetie,” Jet forced himself to say, his voice having a distinctive whining undertone. He quickly cleared his throat, giving his face a wipe with a hoof. “Good morning,” he repeated himself, his voice clearer this time, “What are you doing up already?”
“I heard noises,” the filly explained, coming walking over to her father, the socks integrated into her pyjama muffling her steps on the wooden floor. “Is everything okay?”
Jet nodded his head, snuffling his nose. “Y-yes, sweetie.” He cleared his throat again, “Everything’s okay.”
“I heard somepony speak when I woke up,” the filly said as she sat down next to her father, snuggling up against him against the cold coming from the still open window. Looking at the blanket still lying on the sofa, she inquired, “Did somepony sleep here?”
Jet Stream took another deep breath, having to focus all of his concentration into not breaking out in tears right on the spot. “Y-yes,” he replied briefly. “A… friend of mine. She… she had to leave early.”
“I wanna meet her!” Apogee spoke up excitedly, turning towards her father, eyeing him with those beaming red eyes of hers. “Is she going to be back soon?”
Jet chewed on his lip again, giving a slow, hesitant nod. “One day, sweetheart. … I hope.” he added under his breath. Shaking his head again, he corrected himself, focusing her again. “You’ll meet her one day. Promise.”
“Awesome!” the filly shared her excitement, before her look was again caught by the slowly rising sun outside, which eventually led to a few moments of silence.
Slowly, Jet Stream turned his head back, letting his gaze wander over the room around them, then sighed again and shook his head, breaking the silence after a bit more than a minute.
“We’re… we’re moving, sweetheart.”
Apogee turned towards him, her eyes wide with surprise. “W-what? Where?”
“Don’t worry.” he said calmingly, putting a wing around her and tucking her in a little closer, “We’ll stay in Las Pegasus. Even in the neighborhood if you like it here. I just think that…” he looked behind himself again for a second, swallowing, “we could do with a change of scene. Don’t you think?”
“Change of what?” his daughter asked, slightly confused, then thought for a second and asked, “So we’ll live in a new home?”
“Yes,” Jet affirmed with a nod of his head and the thinnest of smiles on his face.
“Cool!” she said happily, inching a little closer towards her father as another gust of wind blew into the room.
Another moment of intense silence followed, then the filly let out a soft huff.
“Daddy,” she softly spoke up, causing her father to turn his head and look at her. “When I heard that mare… I thought mommy was back.”
Jet had to screw up his face for a second, fighting to swallow the lump of tears forming in his throat, and gave a slow nod.
Innocent and naive the filly was, she had no idea how close to the truth she was with her suspicion… how close Jet had been to winning Delta over, and making not only her life, but also his and Apogee’s life a lot better.
Quietly, his voice on the verge of breaking as he fought to hold back his own emotions for the sake of his daughter, he said, “Me too, sweetie.”
He sighed softly, looking out at the slowly lighting up skyline of Las Pegasus where he knew Delta was right now, fending for herself again – voluntarily choosing a life without money or shelter over all the comforts and amenities he could offer her, solely because it meant living near him.
It was a thought that still managed to tear his heart clean in two, and only through the warmth given to him by the filly’s body sitting snugly against his own could he stop his thoughts from becoming too abysmal – like a light saving him in the ocean of darkness Delta had thrown him into.
Feeling how a single, small tear finally managed to escape his eye and run down his cheek, he blinked for a second, feeling a new lump of bitterness slide up his throat before he swallowed again, softly nodding his head, and gently leaned into his daughter’s touch.
“Me too.”
Author's Note
Whew, that was one intense story to write, let me tell you. If you remember Jolly Burgers, you're awesome and I love you. If you remember the "manager", you're even more awesome, and you have my utmost respect for sticking with me for this long. But seriously, that story was cringy.
