Soaring Skies

by Gallifrey

Interlude

Spitfire woke up groggily the next morning. In a sleepy haze, she vaguely wondered why she was cramped up at the edge of the mattress. She opened her eyes and was greeted by an eyeful of dark blue mane.

"Oh yeah..." she mumbled, sitting up and watching the blankets beside her rise and fall in tandem with Soarin's slow, deep breathing. It was rather hypnotic.
A knock on the door snapped out her drowsy reverie.

"Spitfire?" The voice of Rapidfire floated slowly into her ears. "You in there?"

"Yeah," said Spitfire on the way to the door. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She opened the door to the stallion, who looked concerned.

"'Cause Soarin' sure ain't in his room," he said fretfully, "nopony knows where he is!"

"Oh don't worry," Spitfire chuckled, "he's in here with me."

Rapid looked over her shoulders to see the slumbering stallion. Spitfire saw his eyes widen dramatically.

"Whoa, hold up, you slept with him?"

"What?! No no no!" she spluttered, only just realising how misleading the situation appeared. "He came back yesterday after a date with Rainbow Dash, and he looked a mess, so I cleaned him up and he just fell asleep on my bed! I didn't want to wake him up, so I left him there."

"Okay, that makes sense, but why didn't you just use his key to go and sleep in his room?"

Spitfire faltered.

"I... didn't think of that," she said honestly.

"No, you wouldn't," said Raipidfire with a knowing glint in his eyes. "Listen, Spitfire, I'm here if you ever wanna talk."

Spitfire was about to deny his suspicions, but thought better of it.

"Thanks, Rapidfire," she said sheepishly.

"Now go wake that lazy git up, we've got to get the train to Appleloosa!"

"Okie doke, see ya in a bit."

He nodded in response. Spitfire closed the door and wandered over to the stallion.

"Soarin'," she said gently, nudging his barrel. "Wake up."

"Mrrrrh," he moaned in his sleep.

"Come on." She poked him in between the ribs, eliciting another sleepy groan. "Urgh, I know you're a heavy sleeper, but this is ridiculous!" she jabbed him in the neck a few times, in the barrel again and lightly batted his face, but her efforts were futile. She sighed and sat down, looking at the useless, yet sexy, lump of pony beside her. She knew a way that could wake up any pegasus, and it was suitably devious enough to give her a wicked grin.
"Ohhh, should I, or shouldn't I?" she mused, her eyes narrowing as she wondered whether she was feeling daring enough. After a minute, she shrugged. "Eh, what the hay? At least it'll wake him up."

Spitfire took aim, and pushed a hoof into his back, where his wings joined his body. It also happened to be where a dense network of nerves to his wings ran, and they were very sensitive.

*Pomf!*

Soarin' yelped as he sprang up, wings joining him in said springing. He floundered and collapsed in a heap, under a twisted pile of blankets.

"Well, that's one way to wake you up," Spitfire remarked as Soarin' poked his head out of the tangle, "remind me to do it again some time." She smiled slyly at him.

Soarin' however, was too preoccupied to acknowledge Spitfire's constantly flirty nature.

"I'm so sorry!" he pleaded, trying and failing to fold his stiff wings back, "Oh, this is so embarrassing!"

"It is? I've seen you get wingboners before, you've seen me, what's the problem? It's natural, dude."

"But these are morning ones," he explained with the air that one and one make two.

"I don't follow," said Spitfire confusedly.

"No, I don't expect you would," said Soarin', realisation dawning on his face.

"And why would that be?"

"Well, you're a girl; it's kind of a guy thing."

"Ohhhh! You mean morning wings? I get'cha."

Soarin' nodded.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that, 'cause they're not morning wings," she said casually.

"What do you mean?" asked the puzzled stallion.

"I poked you in the wing joints to wake you up."

"Y-you did?" said Soarin' weakly, surprised that Spitfire had prodded him in such an intimate area. Though after a moment's thought, he shrugged and came to the conclusion that it wasn't all that unexpected from the flirty mare.

"Yup, you wouldn't wake up! It was that, or pour a glass of water on your face, so I chose the more enjoyable route. Now come on, get up and have a shower. I'll have to condemn that flight suit if you don't," she said, flashing him a grin.

-----------

Spitfire, having the foresight to predict Soarin's inevitable restlessness on the train journey to Appleloosa, bought a jigsaw of Equestria before they left off.
It had just passed lunch, and Soarin had put all the edge pieces together and was now working on sorting out the land pieces from the sea, all under the placid gaze of Spitfire.

"Soarin'?" said Spitfire, breaking the comfortable silence that had descended upon them, punctuated only by the rhythmic clattering of the train tracks over the wheels.

"Hmmm?" he replied, without looking up.

"What exactly did happen with Rainbow yesterday?"

"'S'like I said," mumbled the stallion, raising his head to look at Spitfire's inquiring gaze. "I said some stupid things and it all fell to pieces after that."

"No, I mean, apart from that bit. That can't have been the whole evening... right?" she added hesitantly.

"Of course it wasn't," he said with a chuckle, piecing the Everfree Forest together. There was a brief pause as he finished. "It was going quite well at one point."

Spitfire waited patiently for him to elaborate, but when no explanation seemed to be forthcoming, she pressed the subject.

"Well?"

"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, looking up from his puzzle. "Um, well, at the start of the date, I asked the waiter guy if he could get the two musicians to play by our table, that certainly went down well."

"You smooth bucker," said Spitfire with a sly smile, "that's surprisingly romantic."

"And what does that mean?" asked the blue stallion.

"Just sayin' I didn't think you had it in ya," teased the golden mare, sticking her tongue out.

"Bah, I'll show you."

Anywhere, any time, pony boy, she thought.

"So it was going well?"

"Yeah, she enjoyed the music, we kept up good conversation, the food was great, everything was. Until I started zoning out."

Spitfire rolled her eyes.

"I was so tired, Spits! You know how exhausted you get after a show."

"I'll give you that," the mare conceded.

"This whole business is more difficult than I thought," sighed Soarin', resting his head on a hoof to prop it up.

"What, finding a special somepony?"

"Yuppers."

"You could make it so much easier ya know," said Spitfire with half lidded eyes, a flare of courage suddenly taking light inside her.

"Nah, I doubt it: love's never easy," he said, looking down at his jigsaw.

"Y-yeah, you're right about that..." she mumbled, the fire in her heart sputtering out as soon as it materialised.

"Sweet! I've done the Everfree!" burst out Soarin happily.

Spitfire couldn't help but smile.

"I'm gonna go stretch my legs," she said, "we've got a long haul ahead of us yet."

"No probs, see you in a minute."

Spitfire got up and headed all the way down, through several carriages, to the rear of the train. She opened a door and stepped outside, onto a small platform surrounded by railings. Rearing up, she rested her forehooves on top of the rails, taking in the scenery.
It was a patchwork landscape of dry, sandy areas which were the flatlands, and grassy forested areas which flourished on the hills and mountains. In a few hours, all would be dry and arid, as they headed south towards Appleloosa. Spitfire heard the clatter of the rails change their tone for whatever reason and tried to look around the side of the train, but to no avail. Not that it took long for her to find out the cause, the ground disappeared from beneath the tracks and the train began to travel over Ghastly Gorge. The canyon began to unveil it's majesty to the Wonderbolt, the many layers of rock exposed in the geological rift, the small, sparkling river at the bottom, cutting through the rock with the definition of patience. So entranced by the beautiful scene before her, she wasn't aware that she was no longer alone.

"Pretty ain't it, pony gal?" said Soarin', nudging her in the withers.

Spitfire started at the surprise appearance of her best friend.

"Sure is," said the startled pegasus, regaining her composure.

"Makes you wonder," he said slowly, emerald eyes glazing over as he surveyed the canyon, "about life and stuff."

"Life and stuff?"

"Yeah... like how little time we really have in this world. We live in the faintest sliver of light between two chronological eternities of darkness..."

Spitfire's mouth hung open in shock and awe.

Soarin' turned and looked amiably at her.

"What?" he asked.

"Y-you just said something amazing! About a tiny bit of light between two voids of darkness or something, and with big words!"

"I did? Doesn't sound like something I'd say, Spits."

"Exactly! But it was beautiful! A bit depressing perhaps... but still beautiful!"

Soarin' looked puzzled. He didn't remember saying anything in particular, just looking at the splendour of the ancient canyon, and feeling so very small compared to it.

"Nah, you must have misheard me, I probably said something silly as usual. Anyway, I'm gonna head back inside, that jigsaw needs doing." He playfully punched her again and made his way back.

Spitfire watched him go, and pondered upon the new facet of Soarin's character that had suddenly revealed itself.

---------

It was mid-afternoon, and Soarin' was snoozing lightly when Rapidfire and Fleetfoot visited their carriage.

"Hey guys," said Fleetfoot pleasantly, sitting next to Spitfire.

"S'up?" said Spitfire lazily, who had her hooves behind her head.

"Not much," said Rapidfire, coming into view, carrying a martini.

Spitfire snapped out of her peaceful state in an instant.

"Rapid!" she barked, slamming her hooves on the table, causing Soarin' to jerk awake.

"What?" he said innocently as Soarin' yawned widely.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with that?!" she exclaimed, pointing at the drink in his hoof.

"Aw, c'mon Spitfire, it's only one!"

"No! We have a show this evening!" she said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, in like six hours!"

Spitfire simply held out a hoof and waited. Eventually, Rapidfire handed the drink over. The golden mare stood up and poured it out the window, much to Rapid's dismay. Spitfire may have been well known for her laid back attitude, but she wasn't team captain for nothing and took her work seriously.

"Urgh, fine!" He slumped down next to Soarin', who was struggling to wake up. Rapid slapped him on the cheeks a few times to aid his return to reality.

"What you got goin' here Soar?" asked Fleetfoot, looking at the puzzle on the table.

"Jigsaw. Spits got it for me in Ponyville," he said happily.

"It's Equestria, right?" asked Rapid, tilting his head slightly.

"Yup, just gotta do the northern half and the seas now."

"Can I help?" asked Rapidfire enthusiastically. This looked like fun.

"Sure, after that nap, I could use a hoof," he chuckled.

The two mares proceeded to watch in amusement as the pair of stallions squabbled over where the pieces were supposed to go. It was a messy but fast process, and within the hour, they had succeeded in completing the map of Equestria.

"So where are we now?" asked Rapid, tracing a hoof between Ponyville and Appleloosa.

"About here," said Spitfire, pointing at a spot about three quarters of the way between the two towns.

"When will we arrive?" asked Soarin'.

"In about two hours," she said. The blue stallion groaned.

"Isn't there any faster way for us to travel?" he groused, looking at his captain desperately.

"Technically, we could fly," said Spitfire, "but then we'd be in no condition to perform- so that's obviously not an option. This is the best we've got pony boy, I guess you'll have to suck it up." She stuck her tongue out at the pouting pegasus as the train steamed on.

--------------

Rolling gently into Appleloosa's slightly dusty train station, the Wonderbolt's journey had come to a halt for the time being. The team and their support gathered together as Spitfire hovered above them all.

"Right guys, business as usual tonight: team, we're gonna grab some dinner then start warming up for the show at eight, everypony else, you do your stuff to make tonight amazing. We're gonna do a sweet-ass show as usual, and you can all chill and do whatever the hell you want until tomorrow morning where we'll move out at nine. And no matter what hijinks you get up to, I'm not accepting any excuses alright?" There was a murmur of assent. "Excellent, now come on, let's get something to eat!"

Soarin' had noticed Spitfire's dramatic return to top form since leaving Ponyville. Whereas before she was flustered, and easily lost track of what she was doing, now she was back to being an effective leader. The blue stallion was glad that she was 'back,' but he still wondered what had caused the rapid change in her behaviour.

--------

The airshow for that night was taking place in an area of flatland on the outskirts of Appleloosa. The small pioneer town didn't have any fancy sports arena, so like Ponyville, they improvised with the surrounding landscape.
The Wonderbolts were currently squeezing themselves into their aerodynamic flight suits in a large tent.

"You ready for tonight, Soar?" asked Spitfire, pulling her head through.

"Sure am!" said the stallion enthusiastically, struggling with his trapped wings.

"You sure? You've got some tricky shots to pull off tonight."

"Super sure," he said, finally freeing his wings and reaching into his bag for his flight goggles. "Spits, can I ask you something? I've been meaning to but keep forgetting."

"Of course you can," said Spitfire, experimentally snapping her own goggles over her eyes.

"Why were you so featherbrained the other day?"

Spitfire yelped as she lost the grip on the goggles.

"N-no reason," she said quickly, rubbing her eyes, "just felt a bit under the weather ya know, headache and stuff."

"You managed to perform as fantastically as always with a headache?! Spits, you're unstoppable!"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Spitfire said, sighing inwardly. "You ready to go?"

"Yup," confirmed the stallion, flexing his powerful wings, making the yellow mare's heart flutter.

They walked out onto the dusty plains, and the rest of the Wonderbolts converged on Spitfire. The crew were setting up bright stage lights all around them, to illuminate the Bolts when they were flying. Spitfire had them do a few laps to warm their flight muscles up, then moved them on to loops and corkscrews.
Once she was happy, she had them land and the ponies of Appleloosa were allowed to enter the makeshift stage.
At five to eight, she called them together in the tent for the pep talk.

"Alright guys, I know night shows aren't your favourite, because of the bright lights and all, but do your best as always, and just roll with it." She flashed them all a grin and slapped them on the shoulders on the way out. Soarin' was last to leave, and Spitfire resisted the strong urge to slap his cutie mark instead.

"Spits?" he said, waving a hoof in front of her face, "C'mon pony gal, it's go time."

"Yeah," said the mare vaguely, mind full of plot. She shook her head violently and reality rushed back around her. Her brows furrowed in determination. "Let's go."