Chapter 18: Alone Time… or not: Pt. 2
“What’s he running for?”
“Is something wrong?”
“I hope that he’s okay.”
These were a few of the words that made their way to him as he shoved through the crowded streets of the market district, but he heard nothing over the sound of his throbbing heart. After turning the corner, he had stopped with the pain of the stabbing emotions in his heart. Tears welled up only to be blinked away. Something was pulling at him, urging him to turn around and, for a moment, he nearly did. A soft voice spoke inside his head, a taunting and higher-pitched version of his own. Back to Rainbow Dash.
He shook his head violently. “No, she doesn’t love me.”
Spitfire?.
“She… doesn’t love me either.”
You don’t seem to believe that. Or… The disembodied voice seemed to draw closer to him. You love her so much that it hurts to say that she d—
“No! Don’t say it!” It was then he noticed that he was standing in a street full of befuddled ponies with varying degrees of concern on their faces. He finally pulled his hoof from the cloud and stepped forward. With an effort, the string that connected him to whatever was behind him snapped and he found himself falling forward onto his face. The crowd around him chuckled uncertainly, their laughter dying out as he glared up at them. The anger and pain that roiled inside of him pushed to be released, alternating between begging and seducing his mind into letting go. He roused himself and stood, walking towards the circle of pegasi. The fearful ponies all backed away to allow him space to pass in silence, for which he offered a silent thank-you to the royal sisters.
He continued in a slow canter along the paths between the ever-bustling activities, eventually finding his way to where he had been heading. Looking down at another section of Cloudsdale, he couldn’t see anypony around. It was the closed section of the city, the part that the inhabitants wish would simply disappear and fade into nothingness. Just the place I wanted. Tensing his legs, he jumped into the empty air, seemingly to his death in the eyes of the ponies that watched him. A collective gasp ran through the crowd, the breathy noise mixed into the howling of the wind as it rushed past him.
He pulled off a landing that seemed impossible for his build, barely stumbling as he hit the clouds. Waving up to the crowd that looked down at him, he turned away and smirked to himself. “That’s better.” His voice echoed back to him from the sagging walls of the buildings that somberly looked at him from the either side of the road. He regarded the silent watchers with an air of silent respect before sitting down on a broken bench made of leaves, which had been quite the thing in Cloudsdale a few years back but died down due to the fixtures blowing away if one too many pegasi flew past them.
He sat in the silence, bathing it the cool feeling of isolation. It had always helped to calm him when he just sat and stared into the sky to watch the clouds. He smiled as he watched the far-off puffs of white gently blow across the canvas of blue above, their clumsy bulges swirling gracefully into different bulges that were just as awkward as their predecessors. “There’s a bit of popcorn.” He smiled contentedly as he returned to the childish game of the past. “And there’s a pony on a bench, sitting… er… weirdly.”
And there’s Rainbow Dash, flying through the sky. The snide voice cut through his happiness like a hot knife through warm butter. Don’t you want to go join her?
“No, I don’t want to.”
Why not?
“Because…” He tried and failed to find the words to explain his reasons. “Because I…” He smacked a hoof against the bench.
Because she doesn’t love you… isn’t that right, Wind? The cruel voice inside his head seemed to put on a smile when he didn’t respond. Or is it because you don’t love her anymore?
“I could never stop loving her.” His voice was husky with emotion as he lifted a hoof to his face to rub at his eye. “Never. Even if she doesn’t love me.”
Oh? I wouldn’t be so sure about that…
“Oh yeah? What do you know? You’re just that side of me that I hate.” He punched the bench again. “I hate you.”
You only hate me because I’m right…
“No! You’re not!” His shout made the clouds vibrate as he stood up and stomped over to one of the buildings. Kicking out with a hoof, he obliterated an entire section of the sagging wall in his anger. “I. Will. Never. Stop. Loving. Her!” Each of his words was accented with another punch as he effectively did the work of an entire construction crew to the unfortunate building. “Ever!” With one final kick, the broken walls began to fall from the sky. A shifting underneath his feet pulled him from his trance and placed him roughly back into reality. “Oh buck.” With that, the floor of white dissipated and deposited the grey pegasus into the unforgiving air that held no haven of cloud below it.
“Wind Cutter!” A streak of orange crossed his vision for the briefest of moments. “Don’t worry, I got ya!” With a jolt, he was stopped in midair. “Gah, why are you so fat?”
“Spitfire?”
“Yeah… that’s me. Now get back up there!” After a few moments, they were both standing on a more-stable part of the district; Spitfire panting with Wind Cutter looking at her confusedly.
“Spitfire, what are yo—“ He was silenced by an orange hoof that crossed his face and left his vision swimming with black dots. “What was that fo—“ This time, his words were ended by a pair of orange lips smashing against his own. Emotions galloped alongside his heart as they fought for the lead in some imagined race. Confusion. Happiness. Anger. Guilt. Sometime between the start and end of the kiss, he just let go and bathed in a strange kind of bliss. After the orange pegasus pulled away, she slapped him again.
“That wasn’t cool, running off like that.”
“I’m sorr—“ He didn’t get to finish his sentence due to another assault on his mouth. This time, he didn’t even wait to let go.
Outside of his consciousness, the voice that had been speaking to him spoke once more. I told you so.
Author's note: Well, I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual. Don't gripe at me, please. Also, what the hay is with getting 6 dislikes? Seriously... I hint at who the couples will be like 4 chapters in advance and suddenly when I DO make them be together it's suddenly bad. If you don't like it due to the pairing, don't DISLIKE it... Just stop reading it. If this was badly written (these recent updates that is, I know the previous chapters aren't as good), then I would understand.... Rant over. Hope you enjoyed it guys.