Limits

Chapter 16:
– For Memories Sake –

"Now that's something I haven't seen in a long time." Spitfire murmured nostalgically.

She leaned nonchalantly against the door frame of Soarin's dressing room watching him struggle to straighten his tie. The military uniform had hung in his closet untouched for years, brought out only reluctantly for parades or special occasions, of which he declined to attend most. At previous Grand Galloping Galas he, like the other Wonderbolt's, had worn his flight uniform as was customary for those participating in the show. This year however was different, as he wouldn't be participating but instead attending as a guest.

He gave a grudging smile. The uniform was as uncomfortable as it ever was, itchy and snug, or maybe stiff was a better word. He couldn't imagine why he'd bother trying to impress the filly by wearing his military uniform.

"You really ought to practice." Spitfire said, giving the stallion a small smile and stepping nearer. Her wings flicked out and re-knotted the mess he'd made of his tie. "I'm not going be around to do this for you anymore."

"Where...are you going?" Soarin frowned. He hadn't been around very much the last few weeks, and before that he'd been lost in his own thoughts and hyped up on painkillers, paying as little attention to the goings on of the Wonderbolts as he could afford. He hadn't heard or noticed anything about Spitfire's retiring or even going on leave for any reason, especially since he would have been next in line to take her position were anything to happen to her.

"I'm not going anywhere." She answered, prodding him in the chest with a hoof. "You are the one that quit the Wonderbolts. Or have you forgotten that too?"

"Spitfire...what I said back then, I didn't mean it.” The stallion rubbed a hoof self consciously through his mane. His normally wind swept look had gotten a bit overgrown in his absence from the aerial team and without the constant rush of wind to keep it styled for him it had become somewhat of a unshorn mess. “Things were just hopeless and I didn't know what else to do..."

"That isn't an answer." Spitfire said, grudgingly. "But, I suppose I wouldn't have believed you. Not then. I can see things are different now."

The orange mare gave him a somber smile, her eyes distant. "When I was a filly all I ever wanted was to fly, but I had to work for it, I had to work hard. When I met you I thought I saw the same. The same determination, the same reasons. I realize now that maybe that cutie mark doesn't mean what I thought it did. It may look like destiny to some but perhaps it means something more."

"Like what?" Soarin asked glancing at the familiar mark on his flank. He always thought he hated flying, a part of him loathed it for a while, but there was something about the sky and the wind that was and would always be a part of him. Unlike other Pegasi there was also a guilt that weighed him down, a guilt that until recently he had always tried to bury. He didn't hate flying at all, he simply hated the fact that it was tied to a memory he often suppressed and couldn't ever quite rid himself of.

"You tell me." Spitfire said, snapping the colt from his thoughts. She watched the flicker of doubt and possible realization skim across the stallion's clouded emerald eyes. It was there, he just had to search for it and she hoped he would one day be able to forgive himself, if not now then perhaps...

"It was my fault." He said, a shimmer of pink brushing his cheeks. It was a flush of shame rather than one of embarrassment or attraction. His voice quivered a bit, but he went on, speaking slowly, his words purposeful. "I broke the rules that day at the factory. I stayed behind when every pony left. I thought I'd gotten over it but meeting her again, I realized it's only been gnawing at me. Constantly, constantly gnawing..."

“Is that why you let yourself go?” Spitfire whispered.

Soaring shook his head. “I don't know...Maybe.”

"I've met your mare friend you know." Spitfire sat on the edge of his bed, picking absently at her wings. "She's sweet and funny. Cute. Not the sort of filly I thought you'd fall for."

“I'd forgotten...” He smiled slightly and blushed furiously, torn between the memory of the filly he'd first met and the beautiful, though somewhat awkward mare she had grown into. He'd found himself still flustered all these years later.

“Apologize to her” Spitfire said getting to her hooves abruptly, her wings settling into place. Spitfire closed her eyes her brow furrowed. “Tell her how you feel. Let her know before...before...” There was a subtle tremble to her body, as if she were fighting a war with herself. The stallion blinked a couple of time's before reaching out a hoof and touching her shoulder lightly. “Hey? Are you...”

His words were cut short as the orange mare threw her hooves around him and pressed her lips to his. He was startled for a moment but then as if he'd wanted to his whole life he returned her kiss, enough so that she knew he didn't blame her for it. Someplace deep down maybe he himself had wanted to do the same. His wings inched ever so slightly away from his body, enough to show that he had been affected by her gesture, perhaps even somewhat flustered by it.

“Spitfire...” His mouth hung slightly agape as she withdrew.

“That's Captain Spitfire to you!” She said backing away, the moment replaced with studious formality.

The colt snapped to attention saluting as if on autopilot. Spitfire bit her lip as she returned the gesture, the spark in her eyes mirthful in the wake of her blunt confession. She turned abruptly and headed for the door, in a rush because perhaps she wouldn't be able to help herself if she stayed, leaving the colt confused and a little unsettled. He hadn't known Spitfire felt this way. They had been the best of friends for years, partners for nearly as many, but that...that was something else.

"You'll comeback won't you? After all of this?" Spitfire asked, lingering in the doorway her gaze turned elsewhere. The confusion and consequent awkwardness had been replaced with longing and maybe a bit of hope, “The Wonderbolts, they aren't the same without you..."

"I'll come back Spitfire.” He said flashing her one of his award winning smiles, the kind that made all the fan fillies swoon. The one that simply made her smile in return. “I promise."

--

Rainbow Dash kicked absently at the dark fluff of storm cloud. It hung in the air above her home, dripping constant dribbles of rain and dangerous strips of electricity at odd intervals. She hadn't meant to conjure the storm but her emotions had been riled lately and she supposed unconsciously she had created it. Getting rid of it was proving troublesome.

"Go away you stupid cloud!" She shouted kicking it harder. It merely snapped and sizzled in response, vibrant shafts of lightning buzzing along it's surface, like a foal throwing a tantrum. She squealed and fluttered out of range as a particularity bright line of lightning shot toward her face, as if the cloud had heard her and was retaliating. She snorted in contempt and stuck her tongue out at it indignantly.

"Thought you were supposed to be good at that sort of thing?" A mildly familiar voice said from somewhere, a hint of amusement evident in her words. “You are a weather pony aren't you?”

Spitfire hadn't realized just how far she had flown. After her discussion with Soarin, after her rather blunt confession rather, she had need to escape, to get as far away from him as her wings could take her. Trying to outrun her roiling emotions had proven pointless so she decided that a distraction would be a more viable option. Thus she sought out the home of Rainbow Dash. She did not know the town of Ponyville very well, she had only visited a hoofful of times, but there was one thing that set the rainbow maned filly apart and that was her elaborate floating cloud-house, the only one in the vicinity of the small town, and seemingly the only one currently being harassed by an out of control thundercloud.

“For you're information,” Rainbow Dash stated smuggly, turning as she spoke, “being a weather pony is harder than it looks, and this cloud, this stupid stupid cloud...” The awestruck filly gave a sheepish grin doing her best, and failing, to hide the angry ball of fluffy vapor behind her body, despite the fact that the cloud was easily three times her size, as she noticed Spitfire watching her."Is just a stupid cloud! Nothing I can't handle."

Spitfire raised a disbelieving brow, her eyes hidden behind a pair a shades despite the onset of evening. “Oh?”

The mare had her arms folded across her chest, reclining on a bit of fluff she herself had conjured, using the little bit of weather knowledge she herself possessed. It was nowhere near the same educational knowledge that an actual weather pony would have but she had learned enough in her training to be useful, making clouds out of residual vapor notwithstanding. Generally, from what the mare understood clouds of ones own creation were the easiest to disperse, however this particular cloud seemed about as temperamental as the filly herself.

“Yeah.” The filly said giving the storm cloud a rear kick that did little more than agitate the already boiling tempest. The filly squealed as the thundercloud unleashed a wave of lightning that zapped her, a bit of smoke rising from the burnt fur on her flank, just below her cutie mark.

“I might know a trick or two,” Spitfire offered casually, “if you want help.”

“What kind of tricks?” Rainbow Dash asked absently, punching the cloud as it zapped again, the filly deftly dodging the zaps. There was a moment of doubt in Spitfires mind. Was this filly really the right choice to take over Soarin's spot in the Grand Galloping Gala performance?

“Wonderbolt tricks.” She answered.

“Show me.” Rainbow Dash said, the gaiety at seeing one of her idols in action uninhibited in her voice.

Spitfire dissolved her cloud as she shot into the sky, a blazing shimmer of flame not unlike the trail of a comet trailing after her. Rainbow Dash had been to every performance she could get to, and seen countless performances at events like the Gala, but to see the captain of the Wonderbolts performing just for her, the filly was nearly overwhelmed with emotion before she remembered to pay attention. The thundercloud snapping and sizzling angrily behind her helped to keep her attention focused where it needed to be.

Rainbow Dash was one of the fastest fliers in all of Equestria, that was not in question, but watching Spitfire work was something else altogether. She was not as fast as Rainbow Dash but for all the speed she lacked she had a finesse the filly could only dream of. She fell from the sky like a comet, and Rainbow Dash nearly found herself screaming before the mare tugged herself up at the last moment The dark cloud fluff trailing after as if she were on fire.

The pegasus stopped abruptly the dark mass of clouds rushing past her as it dissolved, pulled apart by the force of her inertia, her mane tugged alongside it. There was still the problem of the ball of lightning remaining, which pulled at Rainbow Dashes attention with even more forceful snaps and zaps. But Spitfire took care of that too. As the blue filly watched the mare plummeted once more circling the lightning, spinning the ball of errant electricity. A well placed buck sent the ball shooting across the sky sparks trailing and dissolving in it's wake until the core exploded in a shower of light not unlike a firework.

“Wow.” Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. Spitfire gave the filly a playful rub on the mane, the remainder of static charge left in her body causing the filly's multi-hued locks to stand on end. “How...How did you...?”

“Trade secret.” Spitfire said with a conspiratorial wink, “but if you're willing I got some other neat tricks I can teach you.”

“Where do I sign?” Rainbow asked a little too enthusiastically

“This isn't a joke Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire said forcefully. “I need you committed. If you truly want to learn what I have to teach you then you will have to prove to me that you are able. This is very important to me, and to the pony you are replacing. Do you understand?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. Spitfire was a bit reluctant to accept her nod as a commitment but time was short. “Alright then. Let's get started.”

"Now?" Rainbow Dash intoned her voice breaking. "But what about..."

"Either you begin now or you don't begin at all.” Spitfire said, a bit harsher than she intended, but her point was clear and her mind made up. “Is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Rainbow replied snapping to attention with a sloppy salute. Spitfire gave a lengthy sigh and gathering what composure she had before returning it in proper form.