It had taken only the first words she had spoken to her prospective husband to make Limestone realize how utter garbage she was going to be at this. When she briefly left her room to put the plate away, she took the time to assess the first impression she made.
Complete failure.
She had asked him about family out of concern, and to assure him that he wasn't some kind of prisoner. From the way he suddenly started apologizing, he took it to mean that she was desperately trying to get rid of him. She pressed a hoof against her forehead. That look of fearful surprise too when she pushed him down on her bed. At least, she knew that he wasn't married or in a relationship. Then again, the Choosing Stone may be insane enough to pick a feather-back, but not a married one. With the plate clean, she walked back to her room, but stopped by the door.
How to bring him around what was supposed to happen...
He was a feather-back. There was no getting around that. It was incredibly unlikely that they would respect any earth pony tradition. He had that weird, goofy-looking grin that suggested that he normally didn't take things seriously. He might not be particularly good at being a feather-back since he crashed here. She sighed, and shook her head. 'Okay, Limestone, back up,' she told herself. 'Let's take inventory of his good points first. Then, we work from there.'
Good points...well, he was sort of handsome; strong jaw, pretty eyes, smooth coat, pleasing coloration. His mane looked nice despite the styling. He was clearly athletic from the muscle tones. He wasn't earth pony strong, but he was strong for a feather-back. He wasn't rude or anything. At least in comparison to her...
Limestone clenched a hoof with determination. This wasn't so bad. Well...it was mildly bad, but absolutely workable. The Choosing Stone paired her parents up, and she knew full well how devoted those two were to each other. It couldn't be wrong now. She opened the door by just a crack and peeped in. The sound of snoring was enough for her to back away. Let him rest for now. What to do, though?
Limestone banged her front hooves together. The clownsuit! It was badly torn up thanks to his crash. She'll fix it up so it'll be ready once he was healed. She trotted over to the suit, and inspected it. This would be easy. It certainly felt like a wife-ly thing to do. She'll just ease him to the idea, that's it. She better start right away. The healing stones worked quickly. He'd probably be good to go after a couple of days of rest.
Two days passed by as if they were two hours. Outside, Soarin was already taking practice flights to stretch his wings. The healing stones had done their job, as expected. Inside, Limestone clutched the patched up clownsuit tightly. Things hadn't gone as swimmingly as she had hoped. That is to say, she spent those two days more as a grumpy nurse than a devoted fiancee.
It couldn't be helped, though! She had work to do. Peak season was upon the farm. With even her parents gone, she had a lot of chores to manage. Squeezing in time to attend to Soarin proved really difficult. Besides, he proved quite the strong sort indeed. He healed up rapidly, and made a show of athleticism. Limestone reckoned that fussing over him would just make her annoying.
The past two days had not been entirely stagnant. They managed to talk while she fed him. He wasn't a clown at all. He was a Wonderbolt, apparently. A highly-trained, high-flying performer in a famous group that did travelling shows, and ocassionally showed up as air support for the Royal Guard. They were based in Cloudsdale, where they honed their flying techniques often.
From her spot in the quarry, she watched him perform a daring, complicated set of loops with ease. She had never been particularly interested in aerial acrobatics. Pinkamena loved to talk it up in her letters. When they were younger, Pinkamena wouldn't shut up about seeing a flying show. Limestone dismissed the whole thing as unproductive feather-back shenanigans.
Getting a good view of Soarin, though, there was an elegance to his fancy swoops and dives that made Limestone feel something.
She didn't like the feeling. She felt crude and graceless. Slow and plodding. Watching him fly made her legs feel light, as if she was about to be carried away by the wind like some feather-back.
When he winged over to wave at her, Limestone had to look away at first to try and put a smile on. Her cheek muscles seemed to creak with the effort. When she returned the wave, she hoped she had a smile to answer his. Through the corner of her eyes, she noticed her workers look at her in horror. Soarin, however, only widened his grin and flew off. When he disappeared from view, she turned her now-glaring visage on her workers. "What are you imbeciles looking at? Not enough work distracting you? Maybe we should increase your quotas."
All of them looked away, and pounded harder.
When she returned to the house, Soarin was already standing in front of her room.
"Hey," he said. He had that goofy-looking grin still, and he was scratching his mane with a hoof. "Thanks again for all your care. I'm perfectly fine now. I figured I should get out of your hair."
Limestone's heart sank a bit. She bit into the corner of her lip, though she made sure he didn't see. His leaving would complicate things, but she obviously couldn't keep him here. "Wait," she said. She trotted over to the next room, and brought out his flight suit. "Here," she said, her gaze away from him. "I fixed it up for you."
"My suit!" Soarin sang out. "Thank you so much, Miss Limestone!" He took the suit from her.
"No problem," Limestone replied. "Don't crash any--"
The next moment found her caught between Soarin's forelegs. Instinct nearly kicked in. That instinct being to seize one of his forelegs, twist it off, then repeatedly bash him with it. She swallowed hard, suddenly aware of her wildly beating heart. She stretched out her own foreleg and awkwardly tapped his back.
"I'll pay you back for this, Miss Limestone," Soarin said once he let go. "I promise."
"Just..." Limestone turned away again. "Just Limestone's fine. You don't owe me or anything."
He smiled again, a nice soft smile this time. Nothing goofy, just a pleasant, warm feeling. The corners of Limestone's lips twitched in response. "Go on, then!" she blurted out. "I've got work to do!"
With one more wave, he was off. Limestone sighed and looked at the Choosing Stone again. Oh, this was hard. Now, she had to chase this speedy, flying stallion. It was so tempting to give up. "He's probably not interested," Limestone sighed.
The stone still pulsed.
"Ugh!" Limestone groused. "Fine! I'll try to see him again!"
The wheels in her head turned. Limestone already planned a trip to nearby Ponyville or Canterlot. Get some kind of schedule about the Wonderbolts. She just needed to make it through peak season...