Lightning Dust disliked the smell of smoke.
It was a reasonably new trend among younger ponies as of late. She had heard of smoking being a thing in some communities way down south or abroad, but it wasn’t until recently that she had seen it take off in popularity.
It made sitting at the bar unpleasant. The burning, ashy smell filling her nostrils made her want to cough or hold something over her face. She was glad she was only stopping here a short while, waiting for their next train to roll through the small town.
She idly spun herself on her stool, watching a group of young ponies laughing and talking. Not all of them were smoking, but a unicorn with long, pink curls stood out, puffing on the end of some sort of stick. A pegasus in a fur-trimmed jacket like Lightning’s own sat opposite the unicorn, a half-finished cigarette between two of her feathers. Lightning Dust clenched her jaw, a tinge of annoyance rising inside her at the mare’s carelessness.
She knew she wasn’t one to judge. She was half a pegasus and none of the flight, and if she was a generation younger she would be one of the ponies at that table, bucking up her lungs just to look cool.
Turning back to the bar before she was caught staring, Lightning wrapped a hoof around the glass in front of her. She stared into the glass, opaque and bubbling. Soda was as much a vice as anything, but it was better than any harder options. She disliked drinking too.
“I’m not a fan either,” said a voice beside her, high and melodic. Lightning Dust turned back to her right, greeted with the view of a red-maned pegasus roughly her age, smiling at her. She was already sitting down on the stool beside Lightning Dust.
“It’s not good for you,” Lightning Dust said. That irony wasn’t lost on her, bringing a twitch to her lips. “But I get why they do it. I’ve been there.”
The other pegasus glanced at Lightning Dust’s side, at the hole in her jacket for a wing that wasn’t there. “I can tell,” she said, letting her eyes linger. She didn’t look offput by it, retaining her smile and lifting her confident green-eyed gaze up, meeting Lightning’s eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s fine.” Lightning Dust shrugged, both her shoulders and her one wing lifting. “I’ve gotten over it. Mostly. Maybe.” She snorted, then turned herself on her stool to face the other pegasus.
“Still, it’s a little rude of me,” the pegasus said. “Let’s start over. Strawberry Sunrise, the prettiest pegasus you’ll meet in this town.” She held out hoof, which Lightning took briefly.
“Lightning Dust. That’s a pretty bold assumption.”
Strawberry giggled, bringing her hoof in front of her face. “I’m either right or delusional, but either way I’m happy. I might have some competition, but she’s not from here, so she doesn’t really count.”
Lightning Dust blinked, then gestured quietly to herself with a hoof. When Strawberry giggled again and slowly nodded, Lightning’s cheeks began to burn.
"I’m—“
“Not from here? This is a small town. You kinda get to know everypony that lives here, even with the new construction sometimes literally sprouting up and drawing in new folks.” Strawberry leaned in, reaching out a hoof to rest on Lightning Dust’s thigh. “As for you being second prettiest… I think first place is a great judge for that, don’t you?”
Lightning barely heard the youths laughing away, the splash and glug of a glass being filled, or the creak of the stool on her other side. All she made out was Strawberry, and she gripped on tight for the only words she could find.
“I’m married.”
With those words, Strawberry deflated. “Ah.” Rocking back on her stool, she dragged her hoof off Lightning’s leg. Still, she smiled, an ember of embarrassment touching her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Just, you know, a pretty mare on her own looking miserable…”
Lightning shook her head and laughed. “It’s fine. Actually, it’s kind of reassuring, you know? She loves me, but sometimes it’s hard to tell if that means she sees past who I am on the outside.” Her wing twitched. “I just needed to… lay out some boundaries, y’know? It’s not that you’re not pretty, because gosh…” Her eyes flickered up and down Strawberry. She wasn’t as strongly built as some of her in-laws, but she had some tone to her. “…You’re a kind of an active filly, huh? I guess I kinda have a thing for mares with some muscle to ‘em.”
There was the sound of a throat being cleared behind Lightning, sending her hackles on end. The blushing Strawberry glanced over Lightning’s shoulder, and her eyes opened a little wider. Clicking her jaw shut, Lightning turned around as casually as she could before meeting the bright blue eyes of her wife.
Fiddlesticks’ glare was decidedly neutral, but Lightning got the feeling she had found herself on a tightrope.
With all the casualness she could muster, she sipped her drink and offered her wife a, “Hey, sweetheart.”
“‘Mares with some muscle to ‘em’?” she asked, her country drawl toned down. She quickly eyed Lightning from head to hoof, though it was certainly less inviting than what Lightning would have liked. “It’s a wonder you even got into my good graces with flirtin’ like that.”
Lightning laughed, coming out as a sheepish, nervous noise. “It’s not like I’m being too serious here,” she muttered, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “You’re my mare, the only one. I was just being friendly.”
At that, Fiddlesticks smiled. It was a rare smile, but she recognised it as more than just adoration and understanding.
Lightning’s heart picked up its pace, and she half-turned back to Strawberry, who looked an awful lot like a bug that wanted out of a jar.
“Ain’t much wrong with bein’ friendly.” Lightning caught her wife’s gaze shift from her to Strawberry, and the pegasus shrank. “It’s who you’re friendly with that counts.”
Slowly stepping off her stool, Strawberry let out a not even half-hearted laugh. “I’ll just get going. I didn’t mean to…” She got most of her tush off the stool before Fiddlesticks spoke up again.
“I didn’t say y’could go.”
It was amazing what just a few words spoken in the right way could do. Strawberry immediately sat herself back down, a streak of red matching her mane crossing her face.
Lightning had been bossed around before, by former teachers and superiors, by doctors and other authority figures. She never liked the way they spoke to her, condescending and commanding.
Yet when it came out with that angelic country drawl…
Lightning bit her lip, jealous of the other pegasus, and she let herself turn around to fully enjoy the show.
In that time Fiddlesticks had stepped off her stool and around Lightning, putting herself almost between her and Strawberry. “So… what was it you like about my dear, beautiful Lightnin’?”
Strawberry swallowed, and pulled her lips up in a smile. “Well she was kinda… brooding, looking into her drink and tucked up over the counter. Makes her look all mysterious and alluring and stuff, you know?”
With a nod, Fiddlesticks said, “I know. Can’t say that’s her shining quality. It’s… Oh sweet apples I hate usin’ the term—“
“Resting bitch face,” Lightning provided, flashing Fiddlesticks a smile and leaning one leg on the counter.
Fiddlesticks rolled her eyes and shot Lightning a brief, mirthful look. “That,” she said. “I never understood why ponies think that’s an attractive look. Just makes ‘em look like a sourpuss.”
“And yet…” Lightning sipped her drink.
“Shush you.” Fiddlesticks bumped her flank into Lightning’s stool. “That said, it does mean one thing. Can you take a guess what?”
Strawberry glanced between the two mares. “What?” she asked.
“It means her smile is so much sweeter. Rarer than a zap-apple, that, and you…” Fiddlesticks stepped closer, then around Strawberry, where she leaned on the counter and came at her from the other direction. “You get her to smile, and you cherish it. I reckon you could bring it outta her. You got her to laugh at something that weren’t one of her own jokes.”
Pulling her head back as Fiddlesticks leaned in, Strawberry cleared her throat. “I thought she was being polite. I was very forward with her, but you and her—“
“Lightning, love of my life,” Fiddlesticks said, talking right over Strawberry, “I’m givin’ you permission to flirt with this gal. Don’t want her gettin’ all awkward because she thinks she’s in the middle of some lovers spat.”
Lightning tilted her head. “Really?” she asked a little flatly. “I never really took that as your kind of thing, Fiddlesticks, my beloved.” She chuckled, amusement in using a pet name she’d never touch but delighting in the way it made Strawberry squirm. “After all, neither of us know this filly.”
“That ain’t quite true,” said Fiddlesticks. “Ain’t it, Strawberry.”
Strawberry gulped. It was audible and visible, a lump running down her throat. “Don’t you dare—“
“Stop sweatin’, I ain’t gonna say anythin’ dangerous.” She paused. “Well, not that kinda dangerous. I can do plenty else that’ll make you sweat for other reasons.”
Strawberry squeaked, and Lightning laughed out loud as she stepped off her stool. This briefly caught the attention of the youths in the distance, and Lightning shot them a smug glance.
“I’m taking it you two know each other, then?” asked Lightning.
Fiddlesticks nodded, then gave Strawberry a nudge with her hoof, prompting her to nod too.
“Well, uh.” Strawberry squirmed, but she put on a small grin, glancing up at Fiddlesticks. “Fiddly—Fiddlesticks used to live around here ages back, when we were teenagers. We knew each other back then, and…” Her voice somehow dipped low and high all at the same time, squeaking as she whispered. “Let’s just say I wasn’t always the prettiest mare in town.”
Lightning laughed at that, beaming broadly, and she lifted a hoof to Strawberry’s leg. She kept her eyes on Fiddlesticks for a few moments as she spoke, before adjusting her gaze back to Strawberry. “Well I’d say you two give each other a run for your bits now.”
“Lightnin’!”
With another laugh, Lightning shook her head. “You’re still the most beautiful, Fiddly—“ Both mares twitched, and finally a bit of red snuck onto Fiddlestick’s face “—but Strawberry here is a close second.” Lightning leaned in, putting her face close to Strawberry’s and trapping her between Lightning and Fiddlesticks. “Good to know you two clicked at some point though. I hate to ask, but what took you two apart?”
Fiddlesticks cleared her throat, some of the humour gone from her face. “We… both needed to figure ourselves out.”
Strawberry spoke up. “She realised she was only into mares.” She tucked her head low, ears folding back “And… I hadn’t figured out I was one.”
Blinking, Lightning flicked her gaze between the two mares for a few seconds, and her smile only broadened. “Alright,” she said after a moment, and Strawberry looked down. “Well, let’s call it a second chance for you two, one I’m happy being a part of.”
Strawberry’s ears pinged back up, and she breathed out. Lightning could practically smell her relief. “I always hate that part.”
With a chuckle, Lightning leaned in that inch more needed for their noses to touch. “I get it,” she said, also lowering her voice. “Glad you felt brave enough to tell me.” She then glanced up at Fiddlesticks, who grinned back down at them both.
“Only reason we didn’t try again is ‘cause I moved away,” she said, answering the unspoken question. “But if you’re willin’…”
“I’m definitely willing,” Lightning said, and she pushed into Strawberry, gently nudging her back until her head met Fiddlestick’s chest. The poor mare’s face was almost the same colour as her namesake, and her ears flattened out when Fiddlesticks brought a leg up to rest on her head.
“Shame we’re only stoppin’ by for a little while. We got—“ Fiddlesticks glanced just out the window “—an hour and change before we gotta go.”
With a chuckle, Lightning leaned back, beaming down at a flustered Strawberry. “I can do a lot in an hour.” She laughed again when Strawberry wriggled in her seat. It drew the attention of the youths again. She didn’t need to follow up with another look. Let them watch an old mare work.
An hour was plenty.
The trio sat and lay in a private cabin aboard the train. It wasn’t what Lightning or Fiddlesticks had initially booked, but with a little sweet talking to the conductor—whom honestly looked like they wanted to be out of the situation—they managed to snag a private space all to themselves aboard the train.
Lightning was happy enough to have a private space to sleep in, and one to find herself more familiar with her wife’s old flame. She sat on the edge of a bed, resting her head in a hoof as she watched the landscape pass by the window. Fiddlesticks lay behind her, her hat over her face and hooves behind her head, humming a tune away. Meanwhile Strawberry lay her head on Lightning’s lap, and Lightning rubbed a hoof through her scarlet locks, behind one of her ears.
“I wasn’t expecting this when I woke up this morning,” said Strawberry softly. “I’m going to have to get another ticket back real quick.”
“We’ll spot you,” Lightning said, looking down. Strawberry had her eyes closed, one foreleg bent, if a little awkwardly, to support her head. Despite that and the worry she voiced, she smiled, looking almost peaceful.
“You two are spoiling me.”
“Nah.” Lightning looked back out the window. The sun had vanished behind the distant mountains back Canterlot way, leaving the sky a painterly pink and red. “We’re spoiling ourselves. Really we should be thanking you for indulging us.”
Fiddlesticks’ humming stopped as a quick little giggle bubbled up through her. “She did plenty of indulgin’,” she said. Strawberry fidgeted, kicking a leg backward to knock one of Fiddlesticks’ which only made the farm-mare laugh louder. “You know you love it.”
“Noo,” Strawberry countered, rising up from where she lay. “You just think I do so you think you can get away with teasing me constantly. It’s just like being in school again.”
Lightning reached over, catching the rising mare’s cheek and turning her head toward her. “So you’re just smiling and blushing to be polite, then?” she asked.
Strawberry stared back, trying and failing to hide her grin. “Exactly. Definitely. I’m just hiding my hatred of apple farmers and their wives to be polite.”
Pulling Strawberry in, Lightning pecked her nose and pat her cheek before drawing away. “Every second I see what she sees in you.” She twisted her torso, gazing down at Fiddlesticks, still hiding underneath her hat. “You can crash at ours tomorrow night, get some rest in something that doesn’t move and make so much noise.”
“I’d like that,” Strawberry said. “Just one night, though,” she quickly added “I have to get back home and back to work. I might be my own boss but that doesn’t mean I can just disappear, you know.”
Lightning’s expression softened, and she nodded. She had considered that fact, that disappearing from one life and popping up elsewhere was not actually normal, or even really healthy.
Strawberry seemed to notice. Reaching out with hoof and wing. “Something up?”
“Just reflecting on something.” Lightning shrugged. “I’d rather not sour the mood. We’re meant to be having a good time.”
With Strawberry’s angelic giggle, Lightning’s spirits rose back up. “I am having a good time, silly filly. Don’t you worry about that. Not that I’ll pry. I’m still curious about the dark and mysterious Lightning Dust, but I’m sure you’ll tell me all about yourself eventually.” She glanced down at Fiddlesticks. “Well… Assuming this is more than a fling.”
Fiddlesticks must have sensed both mares’ eyes on her, and she lifted her hat off her face enough to look at Strawberry with one eye. “It’ll be a might tricky with the distance,” she said.
“I know! It doesn’t have to be too serious, though. If you don’t want to…”
“I ain’t saying no,” said Fiddlesticks, and she and Lightning shared a look for only an instance.
As if of one mind, Lightning and Fiddlesticks shifted and turned and rose, both of them bearing down on Strawberry and knocking her to her back with a squeak. Fiddlesticks pressed herself to the top of the bunk and into its corner, while Lightning took up Strawberry’s escape route. Not that Lightning expected Strawberry to go anywhere.
"Again…?” Strawberry’s voice was strained, and she gave both Fiddlesticks and Lightning a look that was on the edge of pleading.
Quite possibly pleading for more, Lightning thought, and it made her chuckle as much as Strawberry’s squirming did.
Lightning burrowed her snout into Strawberry’s neck, her teeth just giving the fur and skin there a slight pinch. Wrapping her forelegs around Strawberry’s barrel, just under her own, Lightning rolled to her side, and in the very same moment Fiddlesticks had the elbow of a wing in her teeth.
Each nibble and nip drew a wavering whimper out of Strawberry’s throat. She kicked her legs the same way she did at Fiddlestick’s teasing, but this time there was nothing but bed sheets to bunch up. For as strong as Strawberry was, both Lightning and Fiddlesticks were stronger, their grips keeping Strawberry from escaping.
Not that she was actually trying.
“Was she always like this back then?” asked Lightning, keeping her voice low. She felt the fur on Strawberry’s neck and around her ear stand on end, and she gave a little grunt and a weak shove.
“More’r leth.” Fiddlesticks pinched the tip of one bright yellow wing with her fetlock. “’Glad to know her weakspots still work.” With that she dived down.
Lightning and Strawberry both shuddered at Fiddlesticks’ work, gently biting and tugging at the feathers closest to where the limb met trunk. While she couldn’t see it, Lightning knew her wife was oh-so-delicately brushing her other foreleg against the joint.
Strawberry bent backward, giving way to Fiddlestick’s touch and pressing her chest and neck into Lightning, which gave the other pegasus plenty to nibble and caress with her own hooves.
An hour was plenty before. A whole day was ahead, and would be plenty more.
