Soarin' to new Heights
Before Seven
"Ravish me." The mare whispered seductively into my ear. She laid on the bed in a suggestive position. She was a fine mare. Her toned body, styled mane and tail, and her eyes – such a beautiful shade of ice blue! - combined to make her a lady worth my time. Her burgundy coat grew a bit redder over her face area as I soothed her into a position that would be used to make love... If you could call it that, there would be no love involved.
"With pleasure." I gave her a deep, meaningless kiss. Her moan was full of pleasure; I could tell this was going to be easy, and very pleasurable. With one hoof she traced circles onto my chest; the soft touch of her hoof caused me to shiver with excitement. With all my experience with ladies I knew all the places that could make a mare convulse with pleasure.
I ran my hooves up her sides and caressed some of her more sensitive areas, like on the base of the wings. I loved the way she squirmed with my touch. I laid myself into position on top of her and prepared to start, but before I stole one more kiss.
"Come on big boy." She nibbled on my ear. I smiled deviously and... Waaaa! Damn it! Little Wings started to cry in the other room. "What's that?"
"Hold on a sec, babe." I pushed myself off the attractive mare. The annoyance on her face was obvious. I strode out, and headed two doors down the hall, and bashed through the door.
A few days before I had bought all the things that Spitfire had put on the list. It took some maneuvering to buy the items without anypony getting suspicious, and yet with all this stuff my son was screaming his head off.
"Geeze, kid, what's wrong?" I wasn't expecting a response, but I did get one of sorts. The smell made contact with my nose. I gagged… damn kid pooped himself again. I picked him out of his crib and brought him over to the changing table. Even in the little time I had this child I had learned how to change a diaper. I undid the straps and removed his dirty diaper, and before I threw up my guts I tossed it into a nearby trash, put talcum powder on his rear (I knew what it is for), and put a fresh diaper on him. "Go to bed."
He looked up at me like I was supposed to do something; I didn't know what, so I returned him to his crib, before tucking him into his blanket. I grudgingly added: "Please."
The door closed softly behind me as I returned to my room.
"Now, where were we?" I said in a deep smooth voice, but she was gone. A far off slamming of my front door told me that she had already left. Damn kid, ruined the night. Usually, I would have gone to get her back, but it had been a long day so I decided to just lay down, cover myself up in the warm blankets, and fall asleep...and that's exactly what I did.
Six o'clock, like clockwork, Little Wings would wake me from my slumber. I grunted. Why couldn't he just let me sleep? The next week would be my only time to sleep in for months. His cries were worse than my alarm clock... and more effective, too. I rolled out of my bed's warm embrace, and made the short distance to my bastard son's room.
I don't know how his mother could have done this every day, wake up at six then spend the whole day taking care of this little brat. I picked him up out of his crib to hear his tiny tummy rumble. He stopped crying and gave me an ador - err- I mean, a bubbly smile that definitely had no effect on me. I found that putting him on my back was the easiest way to carry him. I trotted to my kitchen. Wrappers and trash littered the room, but it wasn't bad enough to compel me to clean it yet.
I retrieved a jar of baby food and began to feed him. After Spitfire had taught me how to feed him properly, it was getting easier to get Little Wings to eat without much of a fight, but sometimes I still had to coax him into eating. After he finished up the jar, I took him back to his room to let him play with one of the many, many toys I had bought him in hopes I wouldn't have to play with him.
I heard a knock on the door. I looked at the clock: 6:30. Who could be bothering me at this hour...besides Little Wings? I left Little Wings to play with his toys for a while, before I went to go answer the door.
Flash! There were countless as I opened the door. The paparazzi were standing outside my door taking pictures of me and shouting questions at me. Luckily, I had been trained for this and put on my most dazzling smile as I waited for my manager, who was most likely following the media.
I didn't have to wait long for my manager to show up, with Rapidfire in close behind. They landed next to me on the doorstep.
"Ponies...ponies...I need to discuss something with Soarin'. We'll be back to answer your questions in just a second." My chubby manager said. Rapidfire stayed behind to appease the crowd.
I had managed to keep the whole 'I have a son thing' just between me and Spitfire: I had been meaning to tell the rest of the Wonderbolts, but I thought that could wait until my time off was over.
"Soarin', what is this?" He slapped down a newspaper on a nearby table. The headline read, 'Soarin' has a foal, insider says.' My manager looked at me with a crooked eyebrow. I thought back to how the paparazzi could have found out... Damn mares. It hit me: the mare I had over last night had heard the cry, and then left quickly.
"Uhhhh..." I tried to think of a good excuse. "I have a son."
"Well, duh. Where is he?" The chubby pony asked. I could already see it in his eyes, he was going to try and squeeze as much money out of my little son as he could. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. He gestured for me to go to get him and I obeyed.
Little Wings shied away from the chubby pony… I didn't blame him. If I was nine months old he would creep me out too. My manager was looking him over, eyeing every inch of my boy.
"This is great. We can get you the family audience, if you play the role of family stallion...who's the mother?" He asked. I could see bits in his eyes; all he saw in my bastard was money. I didn't like the kid, but it's more than a bit offensive to think of a foal as a bag of money... not that I cared any.
"She passed away." I responded. Little Wings fluttered onto my back.
"Oh, that's just too perfect. We can pose you as the caring dad that took in his infant son in the time of need-" He started to ramble.
"Hey, show a bit of compassion, his mother just died." I interrupted, but my manager just kept on talking about how to appeal to the public with this situation as much as possible. The crowd cheered as Rapidfire entered my home.
"Hey, so what's going on?" He asked in his usual casual voice. He was sweating a little so I figured that he must have performed a few tricks to keep the crowd entertained. He trotted over to us. "Who's this cute little guy?"
"It's Soarin's son." My manager said between his ramblings. Rapidfire stepped around the chubby pony to get closer to me.
"So... You're a dad?" He asked. Rapidfire, I knew, would be the Wonderbolt who would take this information the best and the calmest.
"Yeah... His name is Little Wings, and before you ask his mother is dea-... passed away." I said. Rapidfire put on a kind smile and ruffled Little Wings' mane. Rapidfire eyed our manager to make sure he wasn't listening.
"I love ya, like a brother, but I don't think you're ready to take care of a foal, and you know our manager will push the little tyke too far." Rapidfire said in a whisper. "I think you should put him up for adoption."
"I wish I could, but I was threatened that my reputation would be ruined if I did." I explained. I thought back to the very tense argument that I had with the mayor of Ponyville. I realized I now had a loophole: ponies already knew about my son, and all she had on me was that I hit her, but the Wonderbolt's PR department could work that down to nothing… but then again...
"Alright, let's go out there." My manager interrupted my thoughts: almost as soon as he said those words I found myself on my door step once again, but this time Little Wings was sitting on my back. The crowd gasped, and for a rare moment, the flashing of the hungry cameras halted so they could get a look at him. Almost as suddenly as they stopped, they began to flash their cameras again. I put on my most dazzling smile again. I glanced back at my bastard son; he looked dazed and more than a little upset. He hid himself behind his hooves. I felt for the little guy: I remembered my first time in the limelight, it was a scary time... and I was a lot older than Little Wings.
"Soarin'! Soarin'!" A reporter called out, and I turned my attention to him. He had a quill ready to write down my every word. "How long have you been hiding your foal from the public?"
"About a week." I answered. Another reporter got my attention.
"Soarin' where is the mother?" The voice was feminine.
"Little Wings' mother has passed away." I put slightly somber tone in my voice. All the reporters scribbled on their notepads.
"How will this effect your time with the Wonderbolts?" Another questioned.
"In light of recent events, this will not be effecting my performing with the Wonderbolts; this includes our next show at Stalliongrad." I flashed my smile again and there was another wave of flashes. I thought I could feel Little Wings shiver on my back; it wouldn't be long until he started to cry.
"Have you considered putting him up for adoption?" A deeper masculine voice asked. I thought about it… I could get away with it now. Nothing could stop me from giving him away, and getting my life back to the way it was supposed to be. I was too young to be weighed down by the little guy, and as much as I hated to admit that I wasn't good at something, I wasn't a good dad. "Mr. Soarin'?"
"Yes, I will be holding private interviews for his adoption over the next week." I could almost feel my manager glaring at me for ruining his plans to squeeze money out of Little Wings, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rapidfire gave a nod and a look that told me I did the right thing. "I feel that it is better for the both of us if he finds a more stable household."
Another wave of flashes, and that put him over the edge. Little Wings started to cry.
"Just a moment folks, I'll be right back." I said, to get a few moments of reprieve from the crowd. As soon as we were inside he calmed down. Rapidfire had followed me in, and put a hoof on my shoulder.
"I know it's hard, but you're doing the right thing." Rapidfire assured me. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was something I hadn't felt in quite a while: doubt.
"Yeah..." I gave him Little Wings. His tiny wings buzzed happily now that he realized that he wasn't going to have any more cameras flashing at him. "I could use my old life back."
Those words sounded more foreign than what I thought they should have been, but I shook myself from it. I was a Wonderbolt, a master of speed and agility, not taking care of a little foal.
"Alright, I'm going back out there." I said before I started to think too deep on the situation. I took the few steps back out to my doorstep to go out into the storm of reporters, and all of this before seven o'clock.
Thanks to my beta reader.