Race the Wind

by Skyblitz


Chapter 4: Blaze

Chapter 4: Blaze


"Salted wounds..."


The tingling sensation in Soarin's chest finally melted away has Doctor Tourniquet's horn dimmed.

"There", the dark blue unicorn said with satisfied voice, "all of the bone damage has been repaired, however I recommend you get some rest and relax for the next couple of days. The newly healed tissue will need time to become durable like the other ribs, so I don't think you should leave just yet.”

Soarin' stared at the Doctor as if he had just said that pie was the most disgusting dish on the planet.

"Um, yeah...um, sorry Doc."

Soarin' zoomed out of the room faster than a lightning bolt, leaving the stunned unicorn gaping at the door. Soarin' laughed to himself. He spun round Nurse Redheart and barged out of the medical wing's doors. Rapidfire struggled to keep up with his newly healed friend as he followed him out into the twilight air.

The sun had set, and Luna's moon slowly began to creep above the eastern cloudbanks, bathing the city of cloudsdale in a silvery magical glow. Soarin' spread his feathered wings, breathing in the clear night air with greedy lungfulls. It tasted so pure and fresh compared to the stuffy confines of the hospital wing. Rapidfire hovered up by his side.

"Where’re you goin'?" the grey pegasus asked.

"Um, home? I'm really tired and I might get an early night. You know, rest and stuff like the Doc said..." Soarin' replied, gazing into the main city to locate his cloudhome.

Rapidfire sighed a little bit. Soarin' didn't notice and dived down from the floating Academy to the racing wind currents, his feathers caressing them perfectly.

"You sure you don't wanna stay out?" Rapidfire called from behind Soarin'.

"Why? What d'you have in mind?" Soarin' asked as he looped in the air, relishing in the glorious and liberating sensation of flight. Rapidfire had a sly grin on his face.

"Well, I heard thats theres a new club in Greater Cloudsdale, called Platinum Lace..."

Soarin' laughed out loud. He knew the name, every stallion in the Academy knew the name. The pale blue pegasus turned to his light grey friend and smiled broadly.

"A strip club? Really? Rapid, you dirty old colt"

"Oh c'mon Soar! Nearly every other stallion in the school's been there, and plus, I thought you'd fancy a pleasant atmosphere after yesterday". Soarin' laughed again, still continuing toward his cloudhome.

"And it'll properly shut you up about not having a marefriend.  For virtually all of last week you wouldn't stop moaning and moaning and moaning-"

"Alright! Okay, okay. I'll give it a shot..." Soarin' reluctantly said.

He immediately regretted it. Spitfire was the one he wanted. He didn't want some random mare from a sleazy nightclub, he wanted the most beautiful mare in the Academy, probably all of Cloudsdale. He wanted Spitfire...

Rapidfire beamed.

"Nice one Soar. I think its this way..." he said as he veered off towards the centre of Cloudsdale.

Soarin' had never felt so guilty in his life. Even though he wasn't going out with Spitfire at all yet, he felt as if he was betraying her. He sighed bitterly. The more he thought about it, the more he realised a simple truth:

Spitfire would never go out with him if he didn't tell her about his feelings. They had been brewing up for months, and never once had he found the courage to look her in the eyes, those beautiful, beautiful eyes of golden amber, and tell her what his heart felt.

But the events of the previous day flooded back to his mind. He could have been killed...

All at once, Soarin's confident, goofy self came flying back to him. Yes he wanted Spitfire, but Spitfire wasn't going anywhere, right? Why not enjoy the club for one night at least. He'll tell Spitfire in the morning. Yes. He would tell her at school in the morning. But tonight, he needed to unwind, and the pale blue pegasus tilted his wings and followed his friend.



Loud music pumped into the massive dark room as Spitfire sat motionless in a semi circular booth, next to her... coltfriend. She blinked as lasers and strobe and multicoloured lights pierced the darkness at random intervals. Laughter and cheers flooded from the huge crowd at the centre of the room, where ponies- virtually all of them stallions- hollered and wooed at the seductive and barely clothed mares dancing in the middle of a large dance floor on a silver podium. Spitfire cringed.

Hurricane's idea to celebrate his 'victory' was to go clubbing with his friends, and his newly made marefriend. What Spitfire hadn't expected, however, was that he'd have the audacity to take them to a strip club. Platinum Lace the club was called, and the golden mare despised it. All around her, drunk and lust crazed stallions shouted and screamed at the top of their lungs at the - admittedly attractive, Spitfire thought - show mares as they spun round in sexy positions on the polished mirrored poles at dotted the room at random intervals. The entire place smelled of alcohol, sweat and sex, and Spitfire thought she might pass out.

But the next that came to her ears disgusted her even more...

"Hey Spitty, why not have a drink with me and... S-sorry, what... W-was your name, sexxxy...?" slurred Hurricane's drunken voice, his breathed reeking of strong spirits. He gestured to a slim lilac pegasus mare, her foreleg buried within his blue mane.

"Rose Petal, honey," she whispered seductively into the white stallion's ear.

Spitfire turned away in revulsion. A strip club of all places. She knew Hurricane was a plothole, but this was just plain disrespectful. Spitfire leaned back in her seat and waited for the night to be over.



"Stop! How old are you, colt?" asked the tall intimidating bouncer outside the entrance to the club.

Purple neon and white lights glowed above his head, spelling Platinum Lace in fancy curled letters.

"Seventeen" replied Soarin' confidently. The tall stallion before raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Ya know what, I don't even care... go on in, enjoy yourselves" muttered the guard in a voice that showed just how boring his job was. The pale blue pegasus smiled.

"Why thank you good sir!" he said in a terrible Trottingham accent.

Rapidfire laughed and the two stallions strutted into the club filled with confidence.

The atmosphere was one of pure lust as Soarin' and Rapidfire entered the main room. Soarin's eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets when he saw the show mares. They were everywhere, on stallions' laps, on poles, on tables. His heart was pounding. So this is where everyone came to in order to relax. A tingling touch on the back of his neck revealed itself to be the hoof of a stunning turquoise pegasus, her eyes heavily made up and a seductive smile creeping across her face.

"Hey handsome, never seen you here before... and you’re so young" said the mare in a tone of voice that made Soarin's heart pump even faster.

"Name's Sunflower..." the stripper continued, tracing her hoof down Soarin' spine. A quick glance to his left showed that Rapidfire was receiving an equally stirring visit from another light blue mare.

"Ooooh sweet Celestia..." muttered Soarin' as Sunflower's hoof wove its way down his back and up again, "don't stop..."

The show mare laughed and dragged Soarin' by his hoof towards one of the private booths. Soarin' could feel his wings stir into upright ready position against his will, but he didn't care. Right now, all he wanted was some fun. Spitfire would never know, and plus, she didn't know how he felt...

Sunflower straddled Soarin' as he sat completely mesmerized by the mare's erotic movements down his body. Her hoof traced down his chest, sending shivers down the pale blue pegasi's spine.

"So strong for somepony so young..." whispered the stripper.

Soarin' laughed, more out of embarrassment than anything. As popular as Soarin' was before Hurricane had arrived, he had never had that much experience with mares. He remembered dating one light grey pegasus in his second year at the academy, but she had turned out to be quite stupid and generally a bit ditzy. Plus she had really strange eyes...

But this was the first time that Soarin' had ever done anything with a mare before. All of his feelings were mixed in a giant ball of confidence tempered with excitement and nervousness. He felt his wings go rock hard before a certain tingling sensation stirred between his hind legs...

Rapidfire burst into the booth, completely terrifying the young stallion.

"Whoa! W-what the hay are you doin'?" Soarin' asked frantically, falling off the seat in the process.

His friend's eyes widened at the sight of Soarin's erect wings, and the fact that there was a sexy mare still perched on Soarin's stomach. She smiled.

"Why don't you join us, hun..."

Soarin' scrambled to his hoofs quickly, unceremoniously dumping Sunflower off him.

"Um, err, no that won't be happening. Um, thank you..?" Soarin' mumbled before throwing a few bits at the dazed mare.

He and Rapidfire exited the booth back into the main room, where the lighting flashed madly in a rainbow of colours.

"What the hell dude? You can't just come int-" Rapidfire silenced him with a hoof to the mouth.

"Look over there..." he said blankly, pointing a hoof over to the seats around the main dancefloor.

Soarin's erect wings instantly fell limp to his sides. He felt numb, and almost dropped to the floor had he not held his legs firm.

No... No, it can't be...



"I said, don't touch me!" Spitfire yelled as she shoved a drunken Hurricane off her body for probably the hundredth time that night. The white stallion laughed - she really hated when he did that - and started to mumble slurred words that barely made any sense. But the words that Spitfire could make out went something along the lines of "I-want-to-buck-you-you-are-so-sexy". She batted him away again with her wing. Thankfully, only one of Hurricane's friends still sat with them, the other two having gone off with two mares.

"C-commme ON S-s-s-Spit-Spitty, just this onnnce. I pwwomisssse it will be FUN!" the blue maned pegasus belched in between swigs of dandelion wine and Germane-ian beer. He lunged for her again, missing completely and smacking his head against the table. Spitfire shook her head in disgust and left the table - something she should of done hours ago.

But what she didn't count on were the pair of emerald eyes staring at her and Hurricane, tears welling in them.

"Buck..." she whispered.

Soarin' stared - no, glared at her and then back at the drunk form of Hurricane. For the first time since they were foals, Spitfire watched her best friend start to cry...


Soarin' turned and left as soon as he felt the first tear fall. He cursed himself silently. He hadn't cried in years, not since his cousin died when he was a foal. He ignored Rapidfire's frantic questions as he shoved his way through the heaving crowd of ponies towards the exit.

"W-what the buck...?" he thought out loud to himself as he entered the cool welcoming embrace of the cool night air.

He rubbed a forehoof over his eyes and sniffed. He flinched violently as somepony touched him on the shoulder. it was Rapidfire. Soarin' turned away to try and hide his wet eyes, but failed miserably.

"Its okay buddy, I kinda guessed that you liked her, from like, the way you act when you're with her..."

"J-just, leave me... Just... I need some air..." said Soarin' mournfully, and spread his wings into the night sky. Rapidfire didn't follow.

Spitfire came barging out of the club, her fiery mane dishevelled and falling around her face.

"W-where is he..?" she gasped as she was greeted only by Rapidfire.

"He's gone. Can't say I blame him really..."

"What?"

"How could you Spitfire? How could you stab your best friend in the back like this. The bucker nearly killed him, and now you're dating him? What the buck, I mean... Thats low, dude, real low."

Spitfire's amber eyes briefly flared at Rapidfire before calming once again.

"It’s not what you think, or what Soar thinks. Its all just some mistake, really, I can explain, just-"

Rapidfire stopped her.

"Then go and explain it to your best friend." He gestured his head to the swiftly fading pale blue shape in the night sky. Spitfire spread her golden wings and took to the sky after him.

"I'm so sorry, Soar... just slow down..." she muttered as tears of her own began to fall.