The crowd in the stands cheered to their hearts content as Soarin and the rest of his team landed on the cloud floor of the stadium, with Spitfire at the head.
They all waved before turning around and marching out of the arena and into the locker rooms.
"That was some flight!" Fleetfoot called out as she stuffed her crumpled up uniform into her locker before slamming the door shut in excitement. "I mean, did you see the crowd after we pulled off the Stars 'n' Stripes?! They went nuts!"
Spitfire chuckled as she trotted over to the energized mare, ruffling her teammates mane affectionately. "You did good for your first time in a big crowd. Keep it up, Fleetfoot."
In the short second before Fleetfoot burst out through the ceiling, she reminded Soarin of a certain rainbow-maned Pegasus.
Soarin was the last of his teammates to leave the locker rooms- waving his wings in goodbye to Spitfire before turning off from the rest of the group to head to his apartment.
Thunderlane blushed brightly through his dark fur.
He had struggled to hold the binoculars in his hooves in order to focus their lenses on the sleek body of his idol. The feat would have been impressive, considering that 'holding' wasn't a thing ponies could really do. Rather, Thunderlane had pressed the pair of binoculars together in between his shaking hooves as his eyes tracked the blue blur of a stallion named Soarin.
But the event had long since ended, and Thunderlane was back on the dark streets of Cloudsdale- silently making his way home while his eyes focused themselves in his memory.
He shivered slightly in pleasure as he recalled seeing Soarin's sleek muscles ripple underneath his flight suit with each twist or flap of his wings.
To put it in Thunderlane's own words, Soarin was Celestia's gift to all Pegasi.
Thunderlane took that a different way than most tended to.
But instead of letting his mind wander along Soarin's perfect Pegasi body, which would have caused some nighttime passerby's possible disgust at the results, Thunderlane simply willed his hooves to carry him home.
That is, of course, a certain Pegasus managed to break out of Thunderlane's mind and into reality.
Soarin let out an audible yawn as he pushed open the door to his apartment, stepping inside and kicking his hind hoof back against the door lazily before trotting off in search of a light snack before bed.
It had been a grueling three hours of twists and turns in the air, flying tightly in formation at the point where the next pony overs' wing was merely a hair away- or the reverse, where their formation was so spread out that it would have been impossible for a team member to tell if they were falling behind or speeding ahead.
Luckily, either there were no critical eyes in the crowd tonight or the ponies simply didn't care.
Soarin liked to imagine the latter.
With a soft murr at the crisp coolness of his blankets, Soarin slipped under the covers and lay his head against a rather large cloud pillow.
Thunderlane couldn't believe his eyes- or his luck!
A yard or two down the street stood Soarin- the Soarin -, unlocking the door to his apartment before stepping inside.
The black-coated Pegasus flapped his wings once or twice in excitement as he barreled off down the street before skidding to a halt just outside his door.
What the hay are you thinking, Thunderlane? The poor stallion's probably worn out- and the sun has already set! Just let him sleep... Thunderlane thought guiltily before letting out a sigh and beginning to turn away.
But then he noticed that Soarin's door wasn't completely shut.
All logic and knowledge of the law left Thunderlane's head the moment he saw the tiniest sliver of light escape from the slightly open door.
He turned his head to the left and right to make sure nopony was watching before uttering a silent prayer to Princess Luna and Celestia and quietly sneaking inside.
He hid behind the cloud sofa as Soarin rummaged through cupboards before stuffing some crunchy snack into his snout and trotting off towards what Thunderlane presumed to be his bedroom.
Thunderlane wanted to punch himself in the jaw.
You could've just shut the door, Thunderlane- just acted like a normal, considerate pony. But nooooo. Now you're hiding behind somepony's...Soarin's couch in the middle of the night.
A soft sound- much like somepony in immense pleasure - sounded from the direction Soarin had left, and Thunderlane's cheeks flushed.
No, he can't be...He couldn't...Wouldn't hurt to check...
Softly, carefully, creeping towards Soarin's bedroom, Thunderlane poked his snout into the room.
"Can I help you with something?"
Soarin raised an eyebrow at the wide-eyed, black-coated stallion who was currently peering into his room.
"Hello?" Soarin called out again, thinking for some strange reason the stallion in question hadn't heard him.
To Soarin's surprise, and unfortunately the stallion's horror, the newcomer turned tail and attempted to flee- but Soarin reacted swiftly as he shot out of bed, around the corner and then straight into the terrified Pegasus.
As Soarin tumbled over the floor, clinging to Thunderlane- who was desperately trying to escape if only to save his sanity -, the pair came to a rest with the panting Wonderbolt standing over and pinning down the quivering Pegasus.
Thunderlane took one single, tiny second to process the situation- Soarin's panting body standing over him -before his wings unclipped themselves from his sides and "pomf'ed" open.
Just a note to you, Armasyll: I'm tired. So I'm going to bed. The story is marked as completed because when I submit it, it will be completed. And remember, Armasyll: Only you can prevent forest fires.
