Chapters Flight or Plight? (Rewrite)
The cold wind of the early winter morning was gently passing through her fire orange and yellow mane and tail. The air was almost as cold as one of those world famous Super Double Chocolate Triple Scoop Twirl Sunday from Sugar Cube Corner. The skies were full of grey fluffy clouds floating in less than a uniform fassion, slowly and gently laying a light blanket of snow upon the homes of the still sleeping ponies below.
Perfect time for her cold weather endurance training Spitfire thought to herself as she looked out over the barely lit morning skies, Celestias' sun only just peeping over the top of the bordering mountains in the distance as it was gently and perhaps reluctently roused from its peaceful slumber. Lunas' moon still slightly visible on the opposite side of the sky quite ready to trade places with its sibling.
Spitfire quite often took the chance to go out training in the waking moments of the morning when most other ponies were still wraped up snugly under thier blankets, pleasantly dreaming of warmer things. It was easier to avoid the fanfillies and colts while they still slept.
She stretched out her yellow wings, gently flapping them to remove any stiffness she might have had from sleep the previous night. Falling asleep on her couch had been a rather silly thing to do, but she was just too tired to even bother with moving all her wonderbolt paperwork from her bed where she had roughly stashed it, mere hours before dozing off to the sound of her television blairing more divel about some rumours and gossip about her or her team members again.
There was a slight tug on her left wing, as though somepony was trying to get her attention. she looked around to find the assailant, but no pony was there. When she outstretched her wings a second time, she felt the same tug. Deciding it was something she could figure out after her morning warm up rutine, she prepared herself for her first cold weather endurance flight this new winter.
Straping her goggles to her head, she looked to the cloud she was standing on to examine the size of it. She judged that it was sufficient enough to give her a small running start, giving her better lift off, and a good kick start to her warm up.
She trotted as far back on the small-ish fluffy, snow filled cloud as she could without falling off the far edge. She pulled her standard issue blue lense gold strapped goggles down over her eyes to allow top flight speeds without the hastle of the cold frigid wind and snow drying or damaging her eyes. Spitfire smiled at the thought of the freedom of flight and the amount of joy and excitment it allowed her.
With one last glance at where she was standing upon the cloud, she crouched down, gave a small smirk and then began running full speed to the end of the cloud, her wings flew open as she was reaching the middle of her fluffy launch pad, again granting her the phantom tug on her left wing. Choosing to ignore it for now as she had already pumped herself up for her flight, she continued to run toward the edge and lept into the wide ocean of blue freedom!
Her wings snapped taunt as she used them to take advantage of the cold wintery air currents to lift herself higher and further from her starting platform. after a few moments of freefall gliding, she began to flap her wings to pick up the pace, first slowly, to allow her musscles to adjust to the climate, soon her wings per picking up more speed. The idea of letting loose was getting too hard to ignore, and before long, her caution flew to the wind, nearly as fast as herself. That moment of carelessness was all she needed.
With a grand flap of her unacustomed and still tense wings, she was off at great speeds, the reaction was instant, where once there was a wonderbolt captain, was now a pony shaped hole in a cloud that she had been nearing.
Leaving a long thundering storm cloud trail behind her, the wind from her speed in front of her, and her caution nowhere to be seen, she pumped her wings for all they were worth!
The force of her wings flapping at such speed caused a few clouds around her to shift possition and sprinkle thier snow somehwere else other than thier original destination.
Spitfire was soaring though the winter skies with a little less than no dificulty. The blue and gold Wonderbolt Suit she wore, being made out of special silk, allowed her to cut through the air with the ease of a hot knife through ice-cream, plus the added bonus to it was that it also kept the heat in, allowing her to slowly aclimatize to the cold weather at her own pace, not when the winter decided that it was going to be in the negatives.
The speed she was currently flying at was astounding, even to herself. The freedom she felt at this moment, while soaring through the clouds of Equestria was her idea of pure bliss. The pride she felt for her wings and talents were unmatched in all of Canterlot, perhaps even the whole of Equestria. The wind on her face and the great mood she was in gave her the feeling that maybe, just maybe she could perhaps break her current speed record, make it even harder for her team members to surpass, not that it wasn't already impossible for them.
With a huge grin on her face, from ear to ear, she flapped her wings as fast as ponily possible. Her speed doubled in an instant, the effects became instant!
The wind became colder and heavier as it whisked passed her face, cold and heavy enough that she began to even feel it through her special Wonderbolts uniform.
Without any form of warning, her left wing decided that it was time to suddenly cramp up, causing her surprise and pain!
The pegasus pony couldn't stop her wings flapping fast enough, each subsiquent push with them caused her wing to shoot lances of pain through itself, her body and her mind. Again and again her wing launched its attack untill she could stop it from flapping. at that moment, she realised her mistake and found herself tumbling toward a wide green and white landscape.
In her mad panic to stop her wings from flapping, she haden't realised that she had fallen below cloud level.
Beginning to worry because there were no longer any clouds below her that she could try to land on she tried to start flying again, to gain altitude, or to slow herself down, anything that would at this moment, be more helpful that a full speed tumble dive to the ground.
The pain in her wing returned with a vengance each time she tried to pump it, instinctivly causing her to lock it into a less painful folded possition.
The landscape and what she could now make out, in her fright, as a small town was till hurtling toward her. She spread her wings out as far as she could to create as much surface area to fight the wind as possible, but only managing one.
Her left wing was still folded to her side, no ammount of force or life threatening despiration seemed to be changing that fact.
Quickly remembering an old codger of a teacher she had, and what he's said about free fall when she was still a student at flight school, she spread all of her limbs out trying to make herself as wide as possible and even took a deep breath to widen her frame even the smallest amount more, With enough surface area to resist the wind, the slower she would fall. With all four of her legs and only her right wing out she could actually feel herself slow down slightly, but not nearly as much as she needed
Hoping for a miracle or somepony to save her, she closed her eyes. A small smile crossed her face, "If I bite it now, atleast I did so doing what I loved. hurtling through the sky at great speeds! Even if it was down." Just as she was about to chuckle at something she would, at any other point in time, not find funny, she felt a sudden and violent thump on her stomach and a less than pleasant (But not unwelcome) stop.
With the air knocked out of her, her eyes snaped wide open in a panic, but before she could adjust to see anything more than pure blinding white. brown and a hint of green, a snapping noise filled the air, to which she followed with a new tumble of her own, Having had the mere moment to adjust that she needed, her eyes saw branches, rows and rows of blury branches below her, more than a few poised to catch her in a hard and wind knocking way.
With a yelp of pain, surprise, a hint of hopeful joy and a large amount of snapping brances, she fell from the (So far) life saving tree and into the large roof of someponies' house below.
A topple, a scream, a slam and a crash later, she landed on the floor of a second story room with a mixed pile of roof rubble, snow and dirty laundry. Amazed to still be alive with only a few bruses, scratches and maybe a broken rib or two from the tree, Spitfire just layed there with a stunned look on her face, the amount of pain she was in was dulled immensely by the adrenaline thundering through her whole body, screaming for her to 'do it again!'
With a cough, a groan and a little bit of a lot of effort, she Looked around her at the suroundings that she had pretty much demolished. to which she noticed, was someponys' bedroom, or at least a guest room.
Seeing a heater in one corner, busted by a collapsed roof support beam, and a bed with a pony shaped lump on it in the other, She surveyed the room some more. thinking that whoever the pony in the bed is, has got to be the heaviest sleeper in all of Equestria.
Seriously, who sleeps through another pony plummeting through their roof?! A small smile spread across Spitfires' face as she asked herself this, before she passed out right there in the pile of rubble, snow and quitethe possibly dirty clothes.
Feeling a slight chill, the pony under the covers begins to stir, her right eye opening only a fraction, revealing a lush ruby iris. She begins squinting at her alarm clock, noticing that it is only half past five in the morning. "Who's stupid enough to open the blinds at half five in the morning, and what’s with this draft? Did somepony open all the doors to the outside or something?" The unamused pony grumbles to herself as she starts to push her body up from the warmth of her bed.
Sliding herself to the edge of her mattress with her back hooves dangling off the side only just off the ground, she grabs her warm dark blue blanket that she was using that night to fend off the cold of winter, she continues to wrap it around herself and jump off the bed. She then begins Staggering sleepily out of her room over the mounds of clothes and rubble and an unconscious pony.
Heading into the bathroom she stumbles over a few clothes on the floor. "Have to move them across the room today I think." She mumbled to herself while staggering toward the bathroom. Her horn began to glow a misty grey color as she used the little magic she could muster in her morning daze to open the door leading to the bathroom. She enters the room and drops the blanket on the floor before stepping in front of the mirror.
As she looked into the mirror a white Unicorn pony with half closed eyes, ruby irises and a frizzy electric blue mane stared back in the reflection. "My mane is a wreck! I'll have to fix it." the pony shakes her head violently. "There, now that’s style!" She exclaimed as she admired her mane. Any normal pony wouldn't have been able to tell if there was any change.
Using her magic to levitate her toothbrush and toothpaste, she goes about her morning prep. After gargling some water and spitting the toothpaste out, she looks into the mirror with a stunned look about her. "I live alone! That means I left the blinds open!" giving a heavy sigh she wanders out of the bathroom and passes her blanket, leaving it there on the floor.
In the kitchen she begins making herself some breakfast. "Dj Chocy pops are the best" She exclaimed with a massive grin on her face. After finishing her morning meal she gets up from the table leaving her dishes where they are and decides to head upstairs.
Trudging up the steps, the pony notices there is a draft heading down passed her hooves, little snowflakes were playfully floating down each stair. She follows the tiny trail of snow, trying to figure out where they were coming from. With a keen eye on the snow she follows it up the stairs, through the hallway and into her bedroom.
Rubbing her eyes she looks at the amount of roof on the floor and the sleeping mare smack dab in the center of it. "Was that there when I went to sleep last night? I guess I’m going to have to investigate." Making a feeble attempt at trying to act professional she ends up grabbing a small stick from outside and poking Spitfire.
"Oh Celestia! SHE'S DEAD! What do I do? What do I do?!" In a panic, she trips over some of her clothes on the floor that got tangled around some of her hooves. After crashing to the ground and with her face embedded in an old sweater she starts to calm down. "Take it easy Vinyl, don’t want to start flipping out now do we?" She says to herself, trying to stop herself from making it any worse than it already was.
The pony in the rubble stirs a little with a small grunt and a tiny snore. "Thank Celestia that she's alive!" Vinyl said with a heavy sigh of relief. "Now what do I do? Do I try to wake her, move her? Or should I just leave her there?" Vinyl sat there looking at the mare in the rubble. "Why does she look familiar?"
Spitfire opens her eyes as she looks directly at the horrified pony. "I figured I would just crash here for a little while. Hope you don’t mind" Spitfire said in a joking manner. Vinyl, still with her horrified look on her face just stares at Spit as the beat up pony tries to stand. After taking a step forward she falls again. Vinyl stands up and steps over to help the poor pony up. "Cheers" Spitfire says with a warm smile as Vinyl picks her up.
Vinyl took the pony over to her bed and put her down on top of it. "It’s very soft. It must have cost you a fortune. How can you afford something so posh?" Spitfire asked. Vinyl just smiled and said "Dj business is good." with that vinyl walked out of the room to fetch her blanket off the floor where she had left it.
Walking back into her room she noticed the heater. "Oh man, even the heater got wrecked. Heh, looks like you did a good one to my home there pony" Vinyl grunted with a slight annoyed tone to her voice. "I only just replaced it two days ago. What a drag"
"I'm sorry. I'll be happy to pay for the repairs to your home and anything that has been broken Miss...?" Spitfire exclaimed.
"Vinyl Scratch. My name is Vinyl Scratch, and my mother was a Miss, not me. Just makes me sound old."
Spitfire smiled "Spitfire is my name. I'm captain of the Wonderbolts. Pleased to meet ya."
"I would say likewise, But..." Vinyl said with a roll of her eyes.
"I understand, it’s gotta be a little... Hard... for... you-" and with that Spitfire was out again
"Figures, Just my luck, a hole in the roof... In winter!" Vinyl sighed as she put the blanket over Spitfire.
"What am I gonna do with you?"
Spitfire opened her eyes to the sound of rocks grinding together, the gentle twinkling hum of unicorn magic and the short hisses of a broom brushing on the floor.
Sitting up, Spitfire surveyed the room slowly, noticing that the room was considerably cleaner than it was when she had passed out. The hole in the roof was covered by a blue tarp to at least keep the snow from forming a pile in the center of the room every time it snowed.
"Looks like somepony decided to finally wake up! About time if you ask me. Now grab a broom or something and help me get all the snow and dust out of here." Vinyl said as she cleaned the room. "Yeah, sorry, I'll grab a broom and start sweeping right now. Where are they?" The still half sleeping pony said as she shuffled over to the edge of the bed, now cold due to the snow. "Here, use this one." Vinyl levitated a broom from the hallway over to Spitfire.
The soft grey aura of magic vanished from around the broom as Spitfire took the handle in her mouth. "Right, start sweeping. There is plenty of dust and rubble to go around. Don't be shy." Said the unicorn, not even taking her eyes off the tools she was using. "Yesh" Spitfire mumbled from behind the broom handle in her mouth.
She limped over to the now smaller but still considerable sized pile of rubble in the middle of the room and began to sweep the floor with the broom. With her head cocked and crooked she moved it back and forth in an awkward manner to get the broom just to do any good.
"How about I open the window and you just blow all the dust and snow out with your wings. I'm sure that would be easier."
"Thrt Wrld br gd idyh yf-" Spit mumbling out from behind the broom
"Huffa duffa wha?" Vinyl asked with a genuine look of Confusion on her face. Trying desperately to figure out what in Celestias' name the pegasus pony was trying to say.
Spitting out the broom to her left, Spitfire looked at Vinyl just as the spit covered handle of the broom hit the wooden flooring of the bedroom with a very large crack. "I said, that would be a good idea if only my wings were working."
"Oh, Brilliant. A pegasus pony who can't fly. I suppose that fact had something to do with this?" Vinyl Pointed to the Pony sized hole in the roof.
Spitfire looked to her hooves as she dug at the floor in an embarrassed fashion. "Y-yeah, I'm sorry for that. I made a mistake up in the air and now I suppose I’m paying for it."
"You and me both."
Spitfire picked up the broom and began to sweep again.
The two were silent for what seemed like an eternity. Both just working in an awkward situation without so much as a peep. Apart from the Hissing of the bristles on the broom pushing the dirt out of the room into a well placed bag by the door there was no sound.
Pushing the final amount of dirt and snow into the bag, the room was finally clean. A soft grey aura enveloped the bag as it lifted into the air and tied itself up.
"Right, now that that’s all out of the way, let’s have a look at ya shall we?"
Vinyl walked over to Spitfire, Put a hoof on one side of her face and pushed it left, right then up. "Few scratches, looks like your uniform is totally wasted too, torn from mane to tail. That’s going to be a hassle to fix. Right, I'm no doctor, so I think it’s high time we went and saw one. Let’s go."
Spitfire just nodded and followed Vinyl. The unicorn was down the steps and waiting at the bottom for Spit, who had just stopped dead at the top of flight of stairs. "How is this supposed to work? I can barely walk on normal ground let alone stairs." thinking of how pathetic she was looking to Vinyl right now for being halted by a mere staircase.
A heavy sigh was heard coming from the floor below, the frustrated look on Vinyls' face was clear. She’s not even trying to hide it. Spitfire thought to herself "Right, here I go." With that she took a step forward onto the step in front of her. "One down, nine to go."
"Not helping!" Spitfire snapped.
She moved onto the next step, then the next and so on. Each time she put her hoof on a step it hurt more than the last. Finally to the bottom, Panting, Spitfire looked smiling at Vinyl, who was sitting on the kitchen bench just a few meters away. "I did it!"
"Yep, and it only took a few years. Oh well. Let’s go and get you checked out, then you're buying the drinks."
Spitfire stood there with her jaw slightly ajar. "Drinks? It’s only-" She looked at the clock and saw that it was half passed four in the afternoon.
"Oh wow, how long was I out? How long were we cleaning, and why do I have to buy the drinks?" Vinyl looked at her, "let’s see, answer to question one: Hours. Answer to question two: Hours, me longer than you. Answer to the third question: Because I'm between pays at the moment."
A cheesy grin escapes Vinyl and she turns around and walks out the front door into the snow covered yard, Spitfire limping closely behind. She notices that Vinyl, because of her fur color, was almost invisible in the snow. The only reason she was visible was because of her electric blue mane, tail and the purple tinted sun glasses she had put on when Spitfire wasn't looking.
Vinyl turns to look at Spitfire, stares her directly in her amber eyes and begins to blush. Spitfire begins to worry about the Unicorn, there seemed to be more blood in her face than in the body of a pony twice her size. "What? Is there something wrong? With me, or you? Are you ok?" Spit asks in rapid succession
"Where is the doctors’ surgery?" Vinyl said, tilting her head to the left with a confused look on her face, clearly being serious.
Spitfire facehoofed. "How should I know!? I don’t live here." mumbling from behind the hoof sliding down her face.
"I just figured you would have seen it on your fall from glory. I don't really get sick so I haven't had a reason to visit."
"Don't you have like a taxi service here or something? Speaking of here, where am I anyway?"
Having to give it some thought, Vinyl finally gave her an answer. "Welcome to Ponyville! Winter style!"
Spitfire facehoofed again. "You had to think about where you live? Are you serious!?"
Vinyl Laughed a little. "I have a house here, yeah. But I don’t actually live here. I'm just here while I’m doing a gig."
"A gig? What do you do again?"
Vinyl cleared her throat and began to speak with a slightly elevated tone. "I am a great D-J, I have been announced as the greatest young D-J in all of Equestria! My dear, you are standing in the presence of the one and only D-J Pon-3!"
Spitfires' jaw dropped open! "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!"
Vinyl begins to do a slow nod with her two front hooves crossed and a smug look on her face. "Is that name meant to mean anything to me? I have no clue who D-J Pon-3 is." Spitfire said with a totally straight face.
The Smug look on Vinyls' face was quickly replaced by one of shock,
"How could you not know of D-J Pon-3?"
"Simple, I don't listen to much music, I'm often too busy training for shows and what not."
"What about magazines?! You have to at least read some of those, right?"
"Nope, I usually use all my free time to practice."
An awkward silence took over, for what seemed like an age in silence was soon broken by a small awkward chuckle from Spitfire.
"Hehehe... I uh... Guess we better go find that clinic huh? What way do you think we should go?"
"The town is relatively small I suppose, I guess we could just go walking until we find it."
"That would be fine if I thought I could just aimlessly walk around town. How about we go and ask somepony for directions?"
"Alright, I know just the pony to ask. Follow me."
Vinyl started walking out the gate with a limping Pegasus close behind. She turned left and followed the footpath that was visible because somepony had recently cleared the snow
.
They walked into the center of town, only a few ponies were out in this weather, all of whom wore scarves and other attire to keep themselves warm.
"How much farther?" Spitfire asked.
"Not much, see that very large old tree over there?"
Vinyl pointed at the largest tree in town, it had windows with lights shining through to signal that it was a home for somepony.
"Yeah I see it. Is it important?"
"That’s where we are going to get directions to the doctors’ clinic."
"Why there? Why not just ask somepony around here?"
"I would rather be sure. Besides, I have a few books to give back to her."
With a heavy sigh Spitfire just followed the Unicorn toward the large tree. The sound of snow being compressed by her hooves could be heard as they trudged along. Her Wonderbolt uniform had rips and tears all over it, it no longer kept the cold out and she looked like a total wreck.
She lifted her hoof up and pulled down on a zip that was hidden by some fabric on the hood of the Uniform. She pushed the hood off her face, it fell down behind her mane. It covered some of the large tear along the back of the Uniform and added just a small amount of extra warmth over her back.
The two finally reached the large tree home, Vinyl wasted no time and knocked a few times, a few times more and then a few times more.
"Jeez Vinyl, I'm sure they heard you. Just give them a little bit of time."
After she had said that the door opened with a less than impressed Baby purple dragon with a green spine.
"Hey Vinyl, I should of guessed it would be you, Nopony else is that impatient... Save for Trixie I suppose."
"Sup Little S, I'm here to give Twilight some books back and ask for some directions."
"Sure. Come in while you wait, your friend as well, it’s too cold out there."
"Cheers Little S!"
"Who's that?" Spitfire asked in a quiet tone so that only Vinyl could hear her.
"That's Spike, He’s the Number one assistant to Twilight Sparkle. He’s pretty awesome, and HE knows who D-J Pon-3 is!"
"Yes, yes. I get it. By the way, did you say Twilight Sparkle? THE Twilight Sparkle, Celestias' prodigy?!"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say prodigy." A voice came from the doorway.
"More like just a good student."
A Purple pony walked into the lounge room. Her cutie mark was that of a large pink star surrounded by smaller white stars.
"It's good to see ya Twi. Cheers for letting me borrow these books on music. I'm not often one for reading but these helped a bit with my mixing."
"Glad to help Vinyl, Just give them to spike, he'll sort them out for us."
Twilight smiled as Spike took the books from Vinyl and walked off into another room.
"Cheers again. Now, I would like to introduce you to this here pegasus. Her name is-"
"Spitfire, I know. Rainbow talks about her and the other Wonderbolts a lot. So much in fact that it feels like Rainbow knows more about them than she does about herself."
"Right, yeah, anyway. We need directions to the clinic. Spitty here decided to crash at my place this morning."
"Don’t call me Spitty, No-pony calls me Spitty. I hate that name" Spitfire shot a look at Vinyl that would rival Fluttershys' 'Stare'.
Twilight giggled at the look on Vinyl's face, it was a mix of pride and fear, the pride obviously coming from the fact that she now knew how to rile Spitfire up easily.
"Right, well the Clinic isn't that far off, maybe a two minute walk that way."
Twilight pointed north-west.
"It’s a big building with a giant red cross on the front. I'm surprised you don't know where it is Vinyl. You have been here for around two months now."
"How long do your gigs go for Vinyl?" Spitfire asked with a small confused look on her face.
"She isn't on a gig right now Spitfire, She’s just here because she’s-"
"Well, thanks for the help Twilight! We had best get Spitfire to the clinic A.S.A.P. BYE!"
Vinyl pushed Spitfire out the door and slammed it behind her.
Twilight just stood there, puzzled at what had just happened.
"Was it something I said?" she thought to herself as she went back to her room to finish reading her many books.
"What was that all about Vinyl?" Spitfire asked as she was being pushed through the snow by the unicorn whom was suddenly in a hurry.
"Oh, nothing. I just think you should see the doctor as fast as possible."
"There is something clearly going on here Vinyl"
"Nope. Nothing at all Spitty" Vinyl said with a giggle
"Stop calling me Spitty!" She yelled, clearly annoyed at the new nickname Vinyl had just taken to calling her.
"Sure thing Spitty." She said with huge grin across her face.
Spitfire, clearly unamused, stopped resisting Vinyls’ attempts to push her through the snow.
A look of disdain was across Spitfires’ face as she was pushed all the way to the Doctors’.
"Hey, what do you know, it wasn't far after all. Let’s go. Come on Spitty! To the doctors’!"
Vinyl pushed one of her hoofs high in the air like she was a hero on a quest.
Spitfire got up and just limped, now wet and cold, into the large cream colored building.
"Hmm, a few scratches here and there, nothing too major. Your ankle seems to be a little bruised, same with your ribs, nothing broken in your body thankfully. How did you say all this happened again?" Nurse redheart asked while going about her normal doctorly duties.
"I was doing some morning training. Something happened with my wing and it started to really hurt, after that I couldn't seem to fly. I went into a freefall and was practically stopped by a tree and her roof." Spitfire pointed to Vinyl, who was just sitting quietly at the back of the room reading a Music Monthly.
"I see. Well I have some good news and some bad news for you my dear. What would you like to hear first, hun?" The nurse asked while looking over what seemed like overly complicated notes and test results.
"The good news first please." Spit said while trying to seem calm about the bad news to come.
"You're pretty much all fine. All you'll need is a few days rest, and try not to move around too much."
"And the bad news?"
"As good as your body is, your wings are a different story. You see they are fractured in many different places,
most likely due to you falling through a tree and a roof. It looks as though you landed on your back. Is that correct?"
"Yeah, I did. But I don-"
"I thought you said nothing was broken?" The voice coming from Vinyl who was now looking at the doctor over her magazine that she had almost finished. A skeptical look on her face.
"I said nothing in her body was broken, her wings are a different story." Looking back at Spitfire the nurse continued. "You see dear, your wings are going to take a much longer time to heal, a few months to a year maybe."
"That can't be right, that can't happen. I have my job as a wonderbolt! I can’t just take a year off! I can’t let my team down like that! I'll have to go back sooner. I can’t just stop." She practically shouted with a scared and confused look clearly on her face.
"I'm sorry hun, but if you try to fly before I or another doctor gives the O.K, it may damage your wings more and you may never be able to fly again. I'm sure a year at most of waiting is worth not having a lifetime grounded."
"I... I suppose so. Thank you Nurse Redheart. Is that all?"
"That’s about it for now. I would like to see you again in a month to see how your wings are going. Just be careful, and until you get the O.K from a G.P I urge you, do not use your wings for anything."
"Alright. Vinyl come on, let’s go."
"Sure." The unicorn said as she got up and placed the magazine that she had just recently finished reading back onto the desk. She turned to face Nurse Redheart.
"Thank you."
Spitfire was limping out the door to the clinic when Vinyl came up beside her. No words were said until they were outside.
"Time for those drinks! YEAH!" Vinyl screamed, doing a hoof pump into the air, a huge smile across her face.
"I’m surprised at your lack of concern for my wellbeing." Spitfire said with a disgruntled look upon her face.
"Follow me Spitty, I know the best place to get a good drink!"
Spitfire gave a heavy unamused sigh, she figured as long as she didn't use her wings like the doctor instructed, she should be fine to go get a drink at least.
Vinyl was practically skipping to the bar, the huge grin from earlier only seemed to have gotten larger in her excitement.
"How much further, I’m starting to think that a strong drink should do me good. Get my mind off all this and what not."
"Not much, it’s just up here. Only a few limps away." Vinyl gave a snicker at the joke she just made at the expense of the Pegasus.
Spitfire gave another heavy sigh of annoyance, but decided not to say anything.
"Here we are Spitty, this here is the best place to get a drink." Vinyl pointed to the sign that read 'Brollys' Booze'
Both trotted inside, having a gander at the bar, they concluded that it was surprisingly empty for the time of evening it was. When both had taken their seat at the bar, the bartender, a good looking stallion with a brownish grey coat and a whisky glass as a cutie mark strolled over.
"What can I get for you two lovely ladies?"
"The usual, Brolly! Woo!" Vinyl shouted out with her hoof in the air.
"And you miss?"
"The strongest you got, and make it a double."
Brolly looked the run down pegasus over.
"Rough day eh?"
"Yeah... And I don’t expect that to change for the next year."
The bartender nodded and walked off. He soon walked back with some glasses and two different bottles of alcohol enveloped by a magical brown aura coming from his horn. He placed the glasses in front of the two girls, taking note that they both had very different moods showing, the white unicorn all excited about to have a good drink, and the pegasus all down, drinking to make it easier to deal with.
"Now you sure you want this? It’s pretty darn strong. Vinny here couldn't even take more than two gulps of this stuff."
Spitfire looked over to Vinyl and giggled.
"What’s so funny?" The unicorn asked with the glass of alcohol about to touch her lips.
"I just never thought you one for the nick name Vinny."
The bartender still standing there waiting for an answer to his question cleared his throat to announce that he was still there.
"Oh, yeah. Pour it in."
The bartender poured it in with a sort of scared look on his face. He reared back when he gave it to Spitfire.
She took a swig of her drink, her eyes widened and she looked directly down at her drink with a look of astonishment.
"I love this drink! I used to have it all the time back up in cloudsdale!"
Both Vinyl and brolly looked at the pegasus with amazement.
"I think her mood just picked up a bit." Brolly whispered to Vinyl with a pleased look on his face. There wasn't anything he liked more than to see someone happy.
It had been an hour since Vinyl and Spitfire had started drinking, neither showing any signs of inebriation. Vinyl had been chatting to Brolly the entire time while Spitfire had been relatively quiet.
The door to the bar was heard opening, neither of the ponies looked to see who had come in.
"Welcome to Brollys' Booze, I'm Brolly. How can I help you today?"
A high pitched laugh as sharp as nails on a chalk board shrilled through the bar.
Spitfire whipped her head around as fast as she could to see the pony who had just entered the bar. Looks of shock and displeasure sprawled across her face as she recognised the laugh that had sent shrills down her spine and the face that she wished she had never seen.
"Spizzy! It’s been sooooooo long I-I almost didn't recognize you without your team! It’s been a very overly too far much over the top long time since we could hang out together! I'm so much excited at this thing that just happened!"
Spitfire gave yet another heavy sigh as she facehoofed.
Vinyl was in the middle of taking a drink when the pony had walked in and started calling Spitfire Spizzy. Vinyl dropped her glass and began laughing hysterically.
Once she had calmed down and regained her composure, she looked the mare over, quickly making note of her being a pegasus, her blue mane that was far more of a mess than her own, The colors were relatively the same, except this new pony had a darker blue mane with a white lightning streak through it. Her tail was similar.
Vinyl looked quickly to her cutie mark, it was a three pronged lightning bolt, Not sure what that could represent she looked toward her face. A huge smile was swung across it. Her cheeks were being pushed slightly over her eyes. Her irises were a dark ocean blue, her pupils were very small, about one third the size of any normal pony.
"Psst, hey Spizzy," Vinyl asked with a slight giggle unable to keep a straight face.
"Who's this? She seems to know you. More importantly she seems to really like you."
"Don't you dare start calling me Spizzy! Her name is Skitz. She and I used to be really good friends back in flight school."
"Used to be?"
"Yeah, before her little accident."
"Accident?"
"Yes Vinyl, You see she and I were having one of our races through Cloudsdale. We used to always have them. She decided to up the stakes, the winner was to get to ask this colt out that we both liked. It was her choice of track, she picked one that was a little dangerous. We took off on this race and something happened… She was gone for a while, just up and disappeared. When she finally came back she wasn't herself anymore. She used to be cool, calm and collected. A down to earth pegasus if you will. But after the accident and her disappearance and reappearance... She's been... This. An over the top crazy pony.
"Right, I kinda regret asking now." Vinyl said with a roll of her eyes.
"The story is hard to take in, I know."
"Not that Spit, it’s that it was just so long!"
Clearly unamused at Vinyl's lack of interest in anything she had said, Spitfire stared daggers at her.
Being caught up in the story, neither of them had noticed Skitz sit next to Spitfire. She leaned right in, almost touching Spitfires right ear with her nose. The huge grin hadn't left her face once.
"Good old days Spizzy! They were Awesome. So who’s this you're talking to? Is it your marefriend!? I didn't know you had a marefriend! We need to celebrate! This is awesome!"
Skitz got up and bolted over to Vinyl taking her hoof in her own. Spitfire, a little shocked at what Skitz had come to assume.
"Hi! I'm Skitz! I'm Spizzys' best friend ever! What’s your name? I don’t know! Im Skitz! When are you two getting married? Oh my gosh! You're getting married! I’m so happy for you!" Skitz gave a squee of delight as she let go of the totally stunned Unicorn, flipped around and gave Spitfire a hug, lifting her off her chair and spinning around and around while still squealing with joy.
Spitfire let out a cry of pain as Skitz squeezed harder around her bruised body.
"Vinyl! Help me! Get her off me now! She’s hurting me!" Spitfire yelled while being swung around in the tight grip of Skitzs' hug.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Give us a hand Brolly! I'll need you to help me pull 'em apart. You hold Spits and I'll Grab Skitz, heh, that rhymes. I'll need to write that down later."
"Sure thing Vinny."
The two unicorns used their magic to grab hold of the two pegasi in the death grip. Brolly had his brown aura around Spitfire while Vinyl had her grey aura around Skitz.
"One! Two! Three!" they both yelled in unison using all their magical strength to pull the two apart. With a tug from the unicorns the two were separated. Spitfire was let go. She collapsed to the floor panting and in obvious pain.
Skitz, on the other hand, was struggling to get out of the aura that was holding her in the air away from Spitfire, franticly trying to continue her hug.
After around 5 minutes, Skitz had finally started to calm down. After she had totally calmed down around the 7 minute mark Vinyl let her down. Vinyl collapsed on the floor panting from the excessive use of her magic.
"I'm totally exhausted spits! Next time she goes for a death-hug, im’a let her have you."
Vinyl gave a small giggle at her half- hearted joke.
Spitfire looked at the totally exhausted unicorn and smiled.
"I don't blame you Vinyl. Cheers for that. To thank you, the next few rounds are on me. Up we get. Hop onto the seat."
"What do you mean the next round is on you? Don’t you remember our discussion at the house? They're all on you."
Spitfires' eyes opened wide in a flash, immediately regretting what she had just said. She looked over at Skitz who was already at the bar chanting.
"Drinks on Spits! Drinks on Spits! Drinks on Spits! WoooHoo!"
Spitfire facehoofed.
After many more drinks, the three sat in silence. Vinyl in an affectionate mood, stood up and hugged Spitfire. Spitfire turned her head to look at the clearly hammered pony with a look of surprise.
"Say Spits, How about me and you go out and play a prank on our old pal Twilight Spiral."
"Who?" Spitfire asked.
"You know! The book pony girl in the tree!"
Spitfire facehoofed and gave a grunt of annoyance.
"It’s Sparkle, Vinyl! Not Spiral. It’s bad enough that you get her name wrong, but having me, someone who has only been here a day, remind you what your friends’ names are, is downright embarrassing.
"Oh"
The unicorn goes back to her stool and continues drinking, Spitfire does the same.
Noticing that Skitz hadn't been making a lot of noise lately, she looked over to see the blue pegasus slumped over, her head on the bar and a scornful look slung across her usually over the top happy face.
Spitfire noticed that Skitz was mumbling something under her breath, she tried to listen in.
"Stupid Spizzy, getting married and not even inviting her best friend! Didn't even tell her best friend! I'm thinking that if Skitz ever found out she would be angry with Spizzy for not inviting her. She wouldn't like that. Not. One. Bit. I would think that she would just go off and not invite Spizzy to something important! Yeah! That’s what Skitz will do! That’s what I need to do!"
A little worried with what she had just heard come from Skitz mouth, she decided it was time to go. Vinyl was hammered, Skitz was hammered and getting scary, she herself felt a little tipsy on top of it all.
"Right, Vinyl I think it’s time to go. You're drunk, Skitz is scaring me, and Brolly is probably going to ask me for more bits than I have for all these drinks."
"Righto Spizzy Spits Spitty Spitoo!"
Spitfire immediately slammed her face on the bar, unamused with Vinyl using so many horrible nick names in one go.
"Right. How much do I owe yo-" Spitfire stopped mid-sentence. She patted her pockets, she realized she hadn't been carrying her Cash bag.
"Shoot! It must have fallen out sometime today. Oh no!"
"Don’t sweat it miss. I'll just pop it on Vinnys' tab, like I always do." Brolly gave a small chuckle. "When she pays that off, I'll be able to retire immediately!"
Spitfires’ eyes widened at how much Vinyl owes the bartender.
"That would be much appreciated."
The stallion gave her a warm smile as she picked Vinyl up off the stool. With the injuries and the weight of Vinyl, Spitfire was in a bit of a Pickle.
"Umm, you wouldn't be able to give me a hand would you Brolly? She doesn't live far but I can’t carry her all the way there on my own."
"I'm sorry miss. I can't. I can't leave the bar during open hours."
"I understand."
An idea dawned on her, not a very good idea, but an idea none the less. One that may cause her to regret it later, but right now it was the only thing she could think of.
"Skitz, Can you help me please?"
"Pfft, why should I help you? You didn't even invite me to your wedding! I'm your best friend! You didn't even tell me!" Skitz now moving onto the idea that Spitfire was already married.
"I’m not married Skitz, I’m not getting married nor is this my marefriend! I didn't tell you anything because there was nothing to tell you!"
"Oh? you're not getting married? OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE NOT! I'm so sorry it didn't work out between you two. I guess all couples aren't meant to last! Sure I'll help you!"
Skitzs' sudden mood change from angry to sympathetic put Spitfire off a little. As did when it suddenly changed again into another angry mood.
"But if you ever decide something big and not tell me again! I will end you! Got that Spizzy! Right, let’s go!" Her foul scary mood had once again shifted to a cheery one, the scornful look on her had been replaced by one of genuine happiness.
The two helped the very drunk unicorn out of the bar and down the street, Spitfire keeping a close eye on Skitz in case she tried anything weird. The two trudged through the snow, the ice and the dirt. It was dark and cold outside, it would have to be very late at night for it to be this dark.
The three ponies finally reached the house.
"So this is where you're staying huh? I guess I'll have to come and visit now that I know where you are! There won’t be a long period of time in between us seeing each other ever again."
Spitfire knew at this moment that this was the part of her idea that she would come to regret.
"Thanks Skitz, I can take it from here. You can go home now if you want. I'll take Vinyl in and put her to bed."
"You're not my mum! You can’t tell me when my bed time ish!" Vinyl struggled to say.
"Sure thing Spizzy! I'll see you soon! Very soon!" With that said Skitz let go of Vinyl and flew off laughing.
Vinyl's weight suddenly all on Spitfire was almost too much for her and her battered body. But making an effort she pushed forward, through the snow in the front yard of the house. After reaching the front door, she rummaged around in Vinyl's knapsack trying to find her keys. After a small battle with the oddities Spitfire had found them, unlocked the door and began entering the dark, cold house.
Taking Vinyl to her room up the stairs was clearly impossible for Spitfire, The couch in the lounge room would have to do tonight.
"C'mon Vinyl, you're heavy. Work with me here. I need to get you onto the couch."
Spitfire Wobbled and limped over to the couch, Staggering in near darkness of the house with only a small light coming in through the window from a lamp post outside.
Spitfire staggered forward after something had gotten wrapped around her hooves, most likely a shirt. It had sent her barreling forward onto the couch. With her quick thinking she was able to move Vinyl in the right way so that they both landed on top of the couch.
Vinyl, laying on her back opened her eyes to see a panting Spitfire on top of her, oblivious to the fact that Spitfire had only landed there due to the trip. She smiled at Spitfire, a small blush racing across her cheeks. Vinyl leaned forward and pressed her muzzle against Spitfires.
A bright red blush crossed her cheeks as well as she pressed back into Vinyl, both sharing a deep, passionate kiss.
The two were woken by loud, continuous thumps on the front door.
Spitfire opened her eyes first to see that she was still laying on top of the Unicorn that had kissed her the night before.
Vinyl awoke second, with a grunt she put a hoof to her head in an attempt to alleviate the pain that was being caused by the hangover.
"Spits, I had the weirdest dream last night, it was about you."
"Really? What happened in it?"
"I'll tell you when you answer the door, tell whoever is still slamming on it to quiet down. It’s killing me."
"Sure thing Vinyl."
Spitfire got up and trotted over to the door, still half asleep from the night before. She didn't get quite as drunk as Vinyl, but she could still feel a small hangover.
As she walked over to the door, still being slammed on, she could hear Vinyl groaning in the other room. Giving a small smile she opened the door, only to be met with a hoof to the head.
"Ouch! What the hay was that for?!" She yelled at the unpleasant surprise.
Opening her eyes she looked at the pony who had so rudely woken them up at such an early hour.
"Oh! Sorry Spizzy! You just opened the door so fast that I didn't have time to figure out that it wasn't there anymore."
"Skitz! One or two knocks would have been enough. You didn't have to almost batter the door down with endless slams. Now. What do you want at this hour?" She looked over to the clock, her eyes widened at the hour.
"Half Six! Are you mad! How are you even standing with such a look on you when you had almost as much as Vinyl last night, and she can’t even deal with sound yet!"
"Oh, I was here to give you this! It was at the post office for you! That’s all! I'll be back later and we can hang out then! Until then I have training!"
"Training? What do you mean?"
"I'm in the best flight team in all of the Everfree forest! Soon to be all of Equestria! Whatever that means. I'm a Shadowbolt!"
Spitfires' eyes widened at the news. She felt a little bit of anger swell in her heart as she replayed the word in her head over and over again. Shadowbolts! Shadowbolts!
"I can’t believe you! Why would you join them? They aren't the sort of team anypony should be a part of!"
"The pay is good! The flying is fun! And the team aren't that bad when you get passed the crude mean weird crust outside thingo. Plus they let me do whatever I want! Isn't that awesome!"
"No Skitz! It isn't awesome!"
"Oh! Ok then! Anyway. This is what was at the post office for you"
Skitz handed over a letter with the same grin she always wore. The letter had Spitfires name on it, but Vinyls' adress.
"Skitz! You went through my mail?"
"Yup! Aren't I good friend! Anyway, I'm off to training! Bye Spizzy!" Skitz flew off with the same enthusiasm as she had the night before, laughing at something Spitfire didn't understand.
Closing the door Spitfire went back to the lounge room where Vinyl was sitting on the couch, head in hoofs, still groaning.
"Spits! Remind me later that I need to buy some duct tape to wrap around her mouth for the next time she's here, and how did she know where I lived?"
"Well, I... Err... Well..."
"Nevermind. I'll ask again later when I can think properly! So what did she want?"
"Just to give me a letter that was for me in the post. It’s amazing, I have only been here for about a day and the mail service knows where to send my post. It’s astounding the speed it got here too."
"Right. Well, is it important?"
Spitfire looked the letter over, taking note of the wonderbolt crest in the top right hand corner.
"It’s from the Wonderbolt Coach. It’s pretty impressive that he knew where I was. I was going to send him a letter later on explaining my situation, but I guess that’s not needed."
"That’s nice, but that doesn't answer my question, is it important enough to have some clearly out of her mind pegasus come all the way to my place, at Celestia knows what time in the morning to personally give it to you, waking me up?"
"Well, it’s from the Wonderbolts. If it’s from them, any and every letter is important enough to wake you from your sleep." Spitfire said with a grin.
Opening the letter, throwing the envelope on the floor she began to read it.
Vinyl was watching her, noticing that her face had gone from one of excitement at a letter from her coach to one of shock and sadness.
"What's up Spits? I'm guessing something in that letter isn't to your liking?"
"It's... I... I was... They just..."
Spitfire, struggling to get the words out, her voice trembling with the threat of her bursting out into tears. She went silent, dropped the letter and sat down next to Vinyl, just staring off into space, her eyes beginning to water with tears.
Vinyl picked up the letter and began to read.
'Spitfire, Captain of the Flight team: The Wonderbolts.
This letter is to inform you that you are to be suspended from the Wonderbolts without pay until further notice.
You have been suspected of foul play and are currently being investigated.
Sincerely, Coach.'
Vinyl flipped the letter over to see if anything was on the back. She discovered a small note from the coach.
' P.S. It’s sad to see you fall like this Spitfire. I had such high hopes for you. I guess my trust was misplaced. Remain where you are and we will contact you again in the near future.'
Dropping the letter on the floor, Vinyl looked over to the distressed pegasus weeping in silence next to her. Hating to see somepony so upset, she wrapped her hooves around Spitfire in a comforting manner.
"I suppose I'll tell you about my dream another time then eh Spits."
Spitfire cleared her throat, taking a deep breath and sitting up straight she calmed herself down.
"Thank you Vinyl. I think I'll be ok now."
Giving a weak smile to Vinyl while looking into her Ruby eyes, Spitfire leaned in and pressed her muzzle against Vinyls’.
The shocked Unicorn amazed at the sudden action pressed back.
After a long time the two broke the kiss off and looked one another in the eyes.
"It wasn't a dream was it?"
Spitfire giggled a little
"Nope."
The two laughed together while in one anothers embrace in the cold winter morning. Celestias’ sun watching over the couple as all their troubles faded away.
Vinyl was sitting in the kitchen holding her hooves to her face, trying desperately to block out the pounding in her head.
"Spits, can you close the blinds there. The sun is too bright."
Spitfire trotted over to the window and closed the blinds
"Vinyl, Can we talk. About last night and this morning.
'Hm? Oh umm... Sure Spits. What about it?" She replied, still holding her hooves to her head.
"Well I've been thinking, about a few things actually. You see, for one, I have never done that with a mare before. And another thing is I think I kind of liked it." Spitfire moved toward the table where Vinyl was sitting, Grabbing a chair and sitting on it, she rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, all while trying to avoid eye contact with the mare across from her.
"W-Well... Being drunk can make you do some pretty weird things, and being sad can sometimes make bad ideas seem good sometimes. Not saying it was a bad thing. I'm just you know... Rationalizing... I think." A large blush was rushing across Vinyl's cheeks as she talked.
Spitfire, now looking at Vinyl, smiled while the blush on her face grew even more,
giving a slight awkward chuckle she looked away from Vinyl, again rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof
"There's well err... One more thing you should know."
Vinyl looked at Spitfire quizzically
"And that would be?
"I... Uh Kind of like you, I think"
Vinyl's eyes shot open not quite sure how to take the sudden confession
"You like me? Like, like like? Or just like? And why is this so sudden!? I'm confused! You're confusing me Spitfire! Stop it!" the blush seemed to have doubled in intensity and her hooves were now over her face.
"I don't really know, I think it’s like-like, but it sorta only happened last night when you kissed me, and I think I kinda got feelings for you..."
"Well... Where do we go from here? It’s not that I'm not comfortable with being with a mare, I mean I have been with one or two before, but none of them Like Liked me"
"Well I-"
Just as she began to talk Spitfire was interrupted by a thumping on the door.
"I'll tell you in a minute." She stood up and headed toward the door, leaving Vinyl with a lot of thinking to do and a heck of a hangover to do it with.
Another few knocks were heard on the door.
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." Spitfire opened to door and looked at a Cyan Pegasus with rainbow colored mane and tail. "Hey there Rainbow Dash. Long time no see.”
Rainbows’ face showed one of confusion and excitement.
“Oh my gosh! Spitfire!? What are you doing here? I didn’t expect to ever see you here!” A large blush crossed her face as she realized that she hadn’t fixed her mane up in its usual style and that it sat flatly on her head. “Hehe. Sorry you had to see me like this. I didn’t have time to fix my m-“ Stopping mid-sentence, she noticed spitfire was bruised and scratched all over.
“Dash? Is there something wrong?”
“Spitfire, what happened to you? You look like you picked a fight with a manticore and lost. Are you alright?” a look of concern showed that Rainbow was clearly worried about Spitfires’ injuries.
“Yeah, I’m fine Dash, just a little mishap in mid-flight. No biggie. Anyway I guess you’re here to see Vinyl?”
“Yeah, I am. I didn’t know you guys knew each other.”
“It’s a long story. Perhaps we can talk about it later. Come on inside. Vinyl is in the kitchen. Just try to keep it down because she has a bit of a hangover.”
“That’s an understatement.” Vinyl walked in from the kitchen still holding one hoof to her head.
“Hey Vee. I’m here to bring back the music I borrowed from you a while ago. I meant to bring it back last night. But I kinda got side tracked.” Rainbow trotted inside passed Spitfire who was holding the door open for Rainbow.
“No probs Dash. I wasn’t here much of last night anyway. Was out drinking with Spits and her friend most of the night.
“Spitfire stayed here over night?”
“Yeah, I did. I’m gonna be here for a while too.” She said while closing the front door behind Rainbow.
“Oh? Why’s that Spitfire? What about The Wonderbolts?”
“She was kicked from them.”
“VINYL! You didn’t need to tell her that!” spitfire screamed, with a look of fury and sadness
“Sorry Spits, I didn’t know it was a secret.”
“Wait! She was WHAT!?” Rainbow yelled in confusion.
“Well, I wasn’t kick out, I’m on suspension”
“For what?”
“I have no idea Dash. I was going to have a talk to them next time I get the chance, but due to my condition, I can’t get to Cloudsdale. I’ll need to send a letter as soon as I can.”
Rainbow stood in the middle of the room with a stunned look on her face, unable to comprehend what she was being told. Her idol, her one true hero was suspended from The Wonderbolts, the aerial team that she respected the most.
“That’s upsetting, Spitfire. I hope it all works out. If you ever need anything, just ask me. Oh yeah. Here Vinyl. The music I borrowed. They’re pretty sweet tunes.” Rainbow grabbed the music discs out from under her wing and passed it to Vinyl, whom took it with a soft aura of magic, enveloping it, into the lounge room to put it back with the rest.
“So how long have you known Vinyl?”
“Around about a day. How about you Dash?”
“Two months. I met her when she came to Ponyville on her gig. It’s sad about what happened to her. Don’t you think?”
“What? What happened? She never told me anything about it?”
“Oh, well around three days after she got here she was doing a gig for-“
“Oh look Dash! I found another disc you might want to listen to! You might want to get home so you can listen to it A.S.A.P. I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting. They’re pretty sweet tracks. Cheers for coming Dash! Be sure to drop by again soon. Ciao Dash!” Vinyl pushed the confused Pegasus out through the front door that she had opened with her magic into the snow.
“Hey! Vinyl! What are-“ before Rainbow Dash could finish speaking Vinyl had pushed her outside and closed the door on her. Rainbow looked on the floor in front of her to see the music disc that Vinyl must have been talking about. Dash picked it up and flew off, confused at what had just happened.
“Vinyl! What are you doing?! Dash was here to visit you and you pushed her out before she could tell me... Oh... I see now. So Twilight was about to tell me something yesterday before you pushed me out and just then when Dash was about to tell me something just then you pushed her out too. What’s going on Vinyl? Something’s up.”
“You’re not going to drop this are you Spits?”
“No, now talk Vinyl.”
“Fine. Come sit down in the lounge room.”
Vinyl sat on the couch with her head in her hooves worrying about what Spitfire would think of her after she found out what was wrong with her.
“Oh why did this have to happen today? Of all days?”
“hmm?” Spitfire said as she walked into the lounge room from the kitchen, holding a tray with two cups of coffee on top of it in her mouth.
“Oh, Um... Nothing, Spits” Vinyl said, startled at Spitfires sudden entrance.
“Alright, I guess I’ll take your word for it Vinyl." She said as she placed the tray on the small wooden table in the middle of the room, moving one cup of coffee from it to just in front of Vinyl and the other in front of her.
“I suppose I should start talking then huh? But where to begin....”
“How about you start at the beginning and when you come to the end, you stop.”
“Gee! Thanks Spits! That clears the whole thing up!” Vinyl leaned down to the cup and slurped up a good gulp of it.
“Vinyl, that’s adorable! You drink your coffee like a small child!”
“Shut up Spits!”
“Anyway, we’re here for your story, not your habits.” She said while lifting the cup of coffee to her mouth, blowing on it a little to cool it down and taking a sip.
“I suppose you’re right. I’ll try to keep it short and simple.”
“As long as you tell me what’s going on”
“Well it happened around two months ago when I came here for a small gig. Apparently a few people from neighbouring towns came here to Ponyville for some sort of function, can’t quite remember what it was, but anyway, there was a little alcohol at the function. I’ll tell ya, some of them ponies were not kind drunks. So I was doing my job, playing music, you know, the usual stuff, until one pony, came up to me and started abusing me! Something to do with the music I was playing was disrespectful to his wife who had passed away or something. I tried to tell him that I had no idea what he was talking about, but he wouldn’t listen. He kept going on about it and trying to stop the music, I got kind of annoyed when he wouldn’t stop, so I kicked him off the stage.”
“I don’t blame you Vinyl, I hate it when someone doesn’t listen and starts making a fuss over something small.”
“Hmm... Anyway, so when I kicked him off the stage, he fell into a group of others, they didn’t take too kindly to somepony falling into them, so they started yelling at him, and he started yelling at them, then everyone started yelling at each other, and before I knew it, the whole place was in a sort of bar room brawl, after that all I can remember is a large broken bottle hurtling toward me, then nothing. I woke up two days later in the hospital, they told me what had happened. They did the whole, Do you know where you are, do you know WHO you are... problem was, I failed all of the questions. I didn’t know who I was, or where I was... I had lost my memory, I think they called it Anesuma.”
“It’s Amnesia Vinyl, and oh my gosh! Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just let me finish! Anyway since then the doctors want me to stay here in Ponyville. After a while, it all started to come back to me. I remembered my name, where I lived and my profession. I’ve remembered almost everything.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah, almost, there are a few things I don’t remember. Like my parents, my relatives or any of my friends except the ones I’ve met here. To be honest, I’m a little worried, because when I was in the hospital, no one came for me. No one. I’m scared that the reason why I can’t remember my friends or family might be because I don’t have any! That scares me Spits!” Vinyl was beginning to tear up and break down, her words began to stutter as she tried to hold back the emotions.
“It’s ok, it’s ok! Let it go.” Spitfire grabbed Vinyl in her hooves and began to pet her mane.
Vinyl broke down and began to cry hysterically in the embrace of Spitfire. Holding Vinyl, Spitfire did the best to comfort the upset unicorn.
“I-I don’t w-want to be all al-lone in the wor-l-ld” Vinyl struggled to say out from behind her tears.
“It’s alright, Let it out! I can’t imagine what it would be like. It’s alright. I’m here for you Vinyl. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here for you.” She continued to reassure Vinyl.
After about an hour of crying, Vinyl finally fell asleep on Spitfires’ lap. Gently moving Vinyls’ head off her lap and onto a pillow without waking her she stood up. She headed down the hall to the linen cupboard and grabbed a blanket and took it back to Vinyl. Not having needed one the night before because the two had slept together, they had each other’s body warmth to keep them from freezing.
Spitfire placed the blanket over Vinyl and stepped out of the lounge room and headed for the front door. Grabbing a pen and paper, she scribbled a small note that read
‘Vinyl, I’m off to the post office for a little while, I’ll be back shortly and I’ll bring some breakfast. Love Spitfire.’
After reading over it again, she scribbled out Love and wrote under it ‘from’ and figured it would be good enough. Trotting over to the lounge, she placed the note on the table next to Vinyls’ cold half drunk cup of coffee.
“She’s defiantly cute while she’s sleeping.” Spitfire trotted back over to the front door, and grabbed a scarf that was hanging over the hat rack. “I’m sure Vinyl won’t mind if I borrow this for a while.” Giving one last glance over at the sleeping unicorn, Spitfire smiled and opened the door, only to be met with a hoof to the head.
“Oh! Sorry Spizzy! How did you know I was about to knock on the door? You must be psychic! I didn’t know you were psychic! How long have you been psychic for Spiz-“
Spitfire rubbed the top of her head with one hoof and slammed the other on Skitzs’ mouth shutting her up.
“Shut up Skitz! You’re too loud! Vinyl is asleep! Out, out, out! Move!” Spitfire pushed Skitz out into the yard and stepped outside. Closing the door behind her, still holding one hoof to Skitzs’ mouth. “Right. What are you doing here? I thought you went off training with the Shadowbolts?”
“I did Silly! Our training sessions only last an hour and a half in winter! It’s to stop our insides from freezing up and making us ice sculptures on the inside. But when I think about it, I think it would be awesome! We could be like Ice ponies!”
“Skitz, that wouldn’t even work!”
“Oh, sorry, so where ya headed Spizzy? Huh?”
“Just off to the post office, I need to have a chat with the coach about... The problem I’m in.”
“What sort of problem would that be?”
“I’ll tell you about it later Skitz, alright? Just stop flying upside down!”
“Why?”
“It’s freaking me out!”
“Why?”
“Because it's not normal!”
“Why?”
“Skitz! I swear to Celestia that if you don’t knock it off, I will pull you to the ground myself!”
“Fine.” Skitz landed next to Spitfire and began to trot along with her, the unnatural smile not once leaving her face.
The two walked side by side into town, not saying a word, Spitfire intent on getting to the post office, and post the letter about her sudden suspension and why it had happened. Skitz was trotting alongside her, an eerie smile on her face.
“Skitz! Is there something you want? Or are you just going to stare at me with that weird look all day?”
“Sorry Spizzy! I just haven’t seen you in like a super ultra mega really long time. I’m excited! You’re like a lot older now! You’re taller and you look better! Except for that grey hair there.”
“What?! Where?! Are you serious? Oh no! I’m not that old! Grey! Oh no!”
Skitz topples over giggling at Spitfires’ reaction. Her hooves are on her belly as she chuckled at the frantic movements given by the overly worried Pegasus over a a grey hair.
“I was joking silly!” Skitz manages to say though her hysterics, her laughing and speaking being broken by gasps of air.
Spitfire, clearly unamused stormed off with a huff, leaving Skitz to her fit of laughter.
“You can be so annoying Skitz! You know that! Gah!”
Skitz stopped laughing and flew after Spitfire, landing on her back as if she was a rodeo rider.
“Skitz, what the hay do you think you’re doing? Get off me!” Spitfire flared at the sudden pressure on her injured back and sides.
Skitz just giggled and wrapped her front hooves around Spitfires’ neck and her back hooves around her belly.
Spitfire Winced at Skitz’ hooves and the pressure they were putting on her injured wings. Spitfire let out a small shriek of agony as Skitz got herself into a more comfortable position on her back. The shriek of pain startled Skitz. She jumped a little, causing a small shock of tension and pain to shoot through Spitfire.
A small grunt escaped from Spitfires’ mouth as she tried to endure the pain.
Skitz realised that something had gone wrong and flew off of Spitfires’ back as swiftly and as gently as possible.
Looking into Spitfires’ eyes as she hovered in front of her, she began to understand.
“Oh! Now I get it Spizzy! I was wondering you were staying with the white pony and not in a cloud home... Well... I wasn’t. But now I am. And I think I just figured it out! You were in a crash! Yeah!” Skitz’ announced in a loud triumphant tone, as if she had just solved an age long question.
“How could you tell Skitz? Was it my screams of pain? My bruised body? Or perhaps it was the bandages that are wrapped around my wings?” Spitfire said in an exasperated tone, unamused at the time it had taken Skitz to realise the state that she was in.
Skitz put on of her front hooves to her chin as the thought long and hard about what had caused her to realise.
“I would have to say that it was your slightly pained expression more than anything.” She said as she looked down to Spitfire from above. A sage look across her face.
“Slightly? Skitz! I’ve been walking around town! I have bandages over my wings, I jerk and twitch to everything that touches my body! There’s nothing slight about the expression I’ve had all day.” Spitfire stated bluntly.
“Oh! And what about the white pony? Does she know that you’re hurt too?”
Spitfire looked at Skitz with a confused expression. Wondering on how Skitz could even think that somepony else wouldn’t notice. The thought of how Skitz doesn’t even care how she was put into this state crossed her mind for a moment also.
“Her name if Vinyl, Skitz. And yes, she knows. Heck... I crashed into her roof! I didn’t really feel it all that much though. I think my mind was more focused on how I had survived a fall such as that, and the adrenaline was probably keeping me from feeling the pain of the situation.. I guess I passed out after that.” Spitfire recalled. The mind focusing on the strange circumstance she was in.
Spitfire had been focused on her memories that she didn’t even notice that Skitz wasn’t listening and in fact flown off in some odd direction, disappearing in the snow.
She shook her head, glad that Skitz had flown off for a bit and given her a moment to herself.
She worried about Vinyl, and how quickly she had broken down.
“Most ponies would usually slowly break down or cry... Vinyl just sort of dropped off the edge without warning. I wonder if she is mentally stable? And why would I confess a love to her already? I’ve known her for a day? She kissed me! She was drunk! We were both drunk! This doesn’t even make any sense! I shouldn’t like her this much this quickly!”
Spitfire looked around to notice that a few pedestrians around her were looking at her. She realised that she had been talking to herself, quite loudly. Her face turned red, but the yellow of her face hid it pretty well. Embarrassed she slowly walked forward, not making eye contact with any of the ponies staring at her.
“I knew you and Vyrol were getting married! You didn’t tell me! Not only that! You said you weren’t! You lied to me Spizzy!” Skitz had snuck back when Spitfire had been talking to herself. Startling Spitfire with her sudden and unexpected return.
“Oh! Skitz! You scared me! Don’t do that!” Spitfire exclaimed.
“Don’t scare you? Why? You lied to me about getting married to Vyrol! And you tried to keep it a secret! You’re telling me what not to do and you’re doing bad things!” Skitz said in a loud, almost screaming in anger tone.
“Look Skitz, We’re not getting married. I only told her I liked her this morning and her name is Vinyl. Not Vyrol. Vie-nil! You need to say it correctly. Besides. I’ve never lied to you. Plus it’s bad to listen into other ponies conversations with themselves. Even if it is out loud.” Spitfire assured Skitz as best she could.
Skitz had calmed down and landed next to Spitfire.
“Sorry Spizzy. I guess I kind of got things confused a little. Oh, and if you like her? Why isn’t she here with you? I don’t get it Spizzy. If somepony likes you, and you like them... Shouldn’t they hang out a lot?” Skitz asked, staring at Spitfires bandaged wings.
“She’s at home, sleeping. We had a talk and she told me how she was scared about being alone. She started crying and all. So I stayed with her until she fell asleep.” She explained to Skitz. Not sure what compelled her to tell Skitz anything about it.
“Oh... Umm... Spizzy? I may not be a smart pony, but if somepony was crying about not wanting to be alone, and then fell asleep. Wouldn’t they worry a lot and get sad if they woke up and they’re all alone again? That’s my guess. I spent a lot of time in hospitals. I picked up a few things from the doctors. Those evil mean doctors!” Skitz had started thinking about something in her past, completely taking her focus off of Spitfire and what she had been talking about.
As much as Spitfire didn’t want to admit it, Skitz was correct. If Vinyl had indeed been crying about not wanting to be alone, and Spitfire had promised to be with her and Vinyl had woken up alone, then it would be awful.
“Thanks Skitz! I suppose I can go to the post office again some other time. Cheers for the talk! Bye!” With that, Spitfire galloped back home, leaving Skitz to her memories.
Spitfire galloped quickly back home, through the street, dodging every single pony on her way. Every slam a hoof took to the ground sent a sharp pain through her body. The cold air stung her lungs, and icy wind dried her eyes and the wind stiffened her bones, but she was determined to be there for Vinyl.
“Please don’t wake up yet Vinyl. I’ll be back shortly!”
The door swung open, allowing a large breath of icy cold air to swiftly push passed Spitfire into the lightly lit hallway. Snow drifted passed her as she stepped through the open doorway, closing the door behind her.
Her eyes narrowed into the lounge room that was slightly to her left, looking for any sign of Vinyl. A large sigh of relief pushed passed her lips as she noticed white hooves dangling over the edge of the lounge. Moving slightly forward, keeping her noise to a minimum while on the hard wood floors, she crept into the carpeted lounge room.
Another sigh of relief was let out as she saw that the note that she had written was still where she had left it, unopened and unexamined by Vinyl.
Spitfire moved toward it, watching the note as though it would vanish if she so much as blinked.
Lifting the letter, she moved into the kitchen, to dispose of the note that she had written.
The note that incriminated her.
As she moved toward the kitchen, her front hooves caught the edge of a sweater, tumbling around to keep her balance, her tail swiped across Vinyl’s nose. Spitfires attempts at stability failed and she was sent spiralling down to the floor, the letter still in her mouth.
A small yawn and creaking from behind her could be heard as she gained her bearings.
“Uh... wha...? S-Spits? Is that? Did... Am I... I don’t get it” Vinyl managed to slur from her sudden end to her slumber. “Wh.. What are you doing on the floor with my jumper wrapped around your legs and some paper in your mouth? Did I miss some sort of party?” she continued, quickly gaining alertness.
Spitfire realised that she had been busted, her attempt at stealth had failed and Vinyl had awoken before she was able to throw the note in the trash.
Spitfire quickly scrambled to her hooves and stood up, the sweater still tangled around one of her front legs. The note pressed in her mouth as the thought about what to do.
Turning around to face Vinyl, she sucked in the note and swallowed it without a second though.
“Oh! You’re up Vinyl. I thought you would sleep forever, I was just about to go to the kitchen to make us another cup of tea or coffee, I hadn’t quite decided yet.” Spitfire lied. She was a poor liar and Vinyl could see it.
“Uh-huh” Vinyl replied, obviously not convinced, even in her sleepish stupor. “And then what was with the note that you sucked down just a moment ago?” She asked.
“Oh, you know... Nurse Redheart said that a page of paper a day will help me recover.” Spitfire said, sweat dripping down her face, eyes darting left to right in a guilty action.
“Uh, Spits? I was there you know... And she didn’t say anything about paper...” Vinyl announced, obviously seeing the guilt in Spitfires eyes now.
“You’re not going to drop this are you Vinyl?” Spitfire asked, lowering her head and looking to the left as though she had just lost a bet.
Vinyl gave a slight giggle, Spitfire found her giggles rather cute and attractive.
A large grin crossed Vinyls’ face as she shook her head.
“Nope. Spill it. What was it? Why did you eat it? And I would like coffee. White, four sugars.”
It took Spitfire a moment to figure out why Vinyl had placed an order of coffee, until she realised what she had said earlier.
“You sure like your coffee sweet Vinyl, I can’t have more than two sugars in mine.” She replied, avoiding answering the questions.
Vinyl just shrugged as she watched Spitfire trot off into the kitchen.
Yet another sigh of relief passed through Spitfire as she was able to get away without answering the questions vinyl was throwing her way.
“I guess eating the note made it seem more suspicious now that I think about it.” She said quietly, tapping her hoof on her chin.
“What?” vinyl called from the other room, clearly hearing something that she thought was directed to her.
“Oh, just thinking out loud about whether I want tea or coffee.” Spitfire lied.
She put the kettle on got out two mugs that she had found and cleaned earlier in the morning when she had made the drinks for Vinyl and herself.
After a small tile, Spitfire re-entered the lounge room with sweet cup of coffee for Vinyl and a cup of tea for herself. Placing the tray with the drinks upon it onto the coffee table, she looked at Vinyls’ eyes. They were red and puffy from when she had been crying earlier.
She took a seat next to Vinyl without saying anything. Vinyl leaned up against Spitfire almost immediately after she had sat down. It was more of Vinyls’ half hearted hug than anything.
Spitfire leaned back into Vinyl. Both supporting each other as they sat there for what seemed like an eternity, neither saying a word, making a move or drinking their drinks.
After a long while of silence, Vinyl spoke up
“So... what was with the paper that you felt the need to digest?” she asked.
“Damn.” Spitfire announced. She was sure that she had gotten out of answering it. “It was a note. That’s all. Nothing important, nothing big. Just a note.” She said. She was pleased, with herself, telling Vinyl the truth, and yet not telling her anything.
As pride got the better of her, it all came shambling down when Vinyl asked a follow up question.
“What was the note about? Who was it to? Did you write it?”
Spitfire sighed, she had given up, she was never a good liar, and she didn’t much like the feeling that came with keeping secrets from others.
“It was a note to you, yes I wrote it and the note was telling you that I would be back shortly.” Spitfire recounted all the events of the morning, starting from when Vinyl had fallen asleep to the moment when Vinyl had been awoken by a tail to the face.
“I see, so you thought I would freak out about how you weren’t there? And I would feel all sad and upset over you going to find out about why you were suspended?” Vinyl asked. “I’m not that heartless, Spits.” Vinyl giggled.
A red streak rushed across Spitfires’ face as she watched vinyl giggle away. For such a ‘cool’ persona that Vinyl had, her giggle was quite girly and cute.
Spitfire was glad that her yellow coat hid her blush well.
Vinyl sat up and stretched her front hooves out. She leaned down and took a sip from her ice cold coffee the same way that she had done it earlier.
Spitfire giggled as she did when Vinyl had done it the first time.
“Spits” Vinyl said, looking at Spitfire in the eyes. “I know what the note said; I read it and put it back.” A cheeky grin crossed Vinyls’ face as she admitted the fact.
Spitfire slammed her hoof into her face.
“You mean to tell me, that the whole time; you’ve been playing me like a fiddle?” Spitfire asked, her voice slightly mumbled from her hoof still embedded in her face.
Vinyls’ grin grew even wider.
“I would say more like a DJ Mix Table.” Vinyl answered.
Both ponies giggled as they leaned into each other again.
