It made no sense. Sky Stinger knew what he should be feeling, after the longest four weeks of his life had concluded and he finally had time to rest. The feeling that should have normally accompanied that familiar, pleasant ache in all of his joints, the sensation of the sweat drying on his brow, and the soft cushion underneath his head reminding him of what his hard work, blood, and sweat had earned him at last: fulfillment.
But laying on his bed alone, the evening sunlight creeping through his closed blinds, that wasn’t what he felt at all. He stared into space, trying to fill in the blank white canvas of his ceiling with images of what he had accomplished at the academy, remembering how his heart had pounded when the gold pin now fastened to his uniform had been put there by the Captain Spitfire herself while he held his head up high. He replayed that moment in his head over and over again, gritting his teeth together.
He turned his head to look at the neatly folded uniform lying beside him. Sure enough, there it was, pinned to the chest. The way the sunlight glinted off of the pin made it twinkle like a wishing star, only now, there was no need to make one. His wish had already been granted, and now, here he was.
He had never felt so empty.
With a sigh, he sat up against the headboard, averting his gaze from the blinding sunlight streaming through his window. None of it made any sense, and the more his mind mulled over that point, the more frustrated he became. Was he ungrateful? Stupid? Or perhaps, both?
But there was something else he could picture in his head as he remembered that proud moment in his life. It wasn’t him, Spitfire, or even the beautiful blue sky above his head. His breath caught in his chest when it suddenly flashed in front of his mind’s eye.
He couldn’t just see her. He could feel her, standing beside him with her head held just as high as his. The smooth, flowing contour of colors in her mane lightly moving in the breeze. Like him, waiting for Spitfire to give her the symbol that she had also achieved her life’s greatest dream…
Sky froze. The sunlight beamed harshly at him through the window, resting on his face. The heat which now rose on his cheeks felt like someone had just given him a sharp slap to the face.
Her… life’s greatest dream. Her…her life’s…
A little shiver traveled down Sky’s spine, and he felt his own pulse pounding in his ears. He expelled the pent up air in his lungs with a single, long exhale, and a bead of sweat trickled down from his brow. Alone in his apartment, he lay motionless on his bead with a thoughtful grimace in the silence of his room.
But then, despite the tired ache in his legs and wings, Sky felt a surge of electricity pass through them. His aimless, wandering eyes were now fixed on the wall in front of him, pupils dilated until his irises were barely visible. Then, they turned to the window. With the sun staring right back at him, Sky’s heart thumped in his chest. The hairs of his mane prickled on his neck, and another chill traveled down his spine.
The corners of his lips twitched upward into a tiny smile.
Sky rocketed up from his bed, threw open the window, and spread his wings open in flight.
From her seat at the kitchen counter, Vapor Trail sipped at her freshly brewed cup of tea. The steam from the cup left a thin film of condensation on her forehead and between her eyes every time she took a sip, but she breathed it in with a content smile. She remembered how crestfallen she had been when she first entered the Wonderbolt Academy mess hall and noticed a severe lack of hot beverages to drink. She never would have thought that a simple cup of tea could be taken for granted, but now that she was finally back, the whistling of her tea kettle sounded more like a birdsong to her ears.
Her apartment was never something Vapor thought much of. After all, there wasn’t exactly much to look at; from her seat, she could see almost everything. But now that she was back from sleeping in a cot in a room with more than a dozen other ponies, her little studio felt like a mansion. She panned her eyes from side to side, fascinated by how such a small space now felt like it stretched on and on.
But most of all, she let her muscles relax at the sweet feeling of silence. Taking another sip of tea, her eyes fluttered closed as the realization that she was now truly by herself sank in fully. For the first time in weeks, she could sit back in her bed with a good book under the soft light of her bedside lamp, relaxing under her covers with her favorite pajamas on.
Oh, and a non-communal shower was nice, too, she thought with a sheepish grin.
But despite all of these things, thoughts about all of the luxuries of being back home faded out of Vapor’s mind even more quickly than they had entered. Eyes staring straight ahead, she downed the last contents of her teacup and set it down with a clink on the counter. She slouched forward over the counter, sliding the teacup away from her in the process.
In her new position, her eyes were pointed toward the floor. And when Vapor Trail saw the blue and yellow uniform there, lying in a crumpled up heap in the middle of the room, she couldn’t help but cringe a little bit. If she were back at the academy, Captain Spitfire would have her hide. But despite that faint, conditioned feeling of guilt at seeing her uniform like that, Vapor Trail just let it lay there anyway for reasons she couldn’t quite pin down.
The longer she stared at it, the more the content smile on her face faded away. Pulling her gaze away from the discarded uniform, she laid her head on the smooth, hard surface of her counter and hid her eyes behind her front legs. The scent of the tea lingered in the air. A quiet sigh escaped her.
The journey for her was over. Wasn’t it? It was his life’s dream. His. Only now, he could pursue it all by himself. The only wind he needed under his wings was his own.
Vapor’s eyes fluttered. A simpering smile showed itself, but it wilted away. Her wings drooped, the feathers loosely fanning out as she sighed again.
She could have fallen asleep, right then and there. Aching, she let her eyes drift closed…
A hard knocking on her front door jolted her awake. Vapor’s eyes snapped open, and she popped her head up from the counter to look to the door.
Another trio of knocks. Vapor’s brow furrowed downward. Getting up from her seat, she walked softly over to the door.
“Hello? Who is it?” she asked politely. She angled her ear toward the door, listening closely.
But the voice that answered her was one she would have recognized anywhere.
“Hey, Vapor, i-it’s Sky.”
Countless times, Sky Stinger had knocked on this door. But tonight, it almost felt like he was knocking on it for the first time ever.
And even then, he certainly hadn’t stuttered.
There was a pause from the other side of the door. Only a few seconds, but that was all the time it took for Sky to feel like his hooves were going to leave permanent imprints in the floor. For a moment, Sky began to wonder if she had heard him, but just as he was about to repeat himself, her voice piped up again.
“…Sky? Oh, I… um, hey Sky!” she stammered. An odd air of uncertainty underlined her greeting. “Come in, come in!”
The doorknob wiggled for a second, and then, slowly swung inward to reveal Vapor Trail, regarding him with her usual warm smile and bright eyes. She stood partly to the side of the doorway, allowing him a space to enter.
But it was only when her smile fell, even though just a tiny bit, that Sky suddenly realized he was giving her a blank stare in return. Seeking to correct this issue immediately, Sky forced a wide smile and greeted her back with his heart thumping in his chest.
“Hey, Vape! I uh, just thought I’d drop by, you know, to say hi and congratulate you for everything!”
Somehow, Sky miraculously managed to keep smiling during his awkward, stuttering greeting. But that almost went away when he noticed the glint of uncertainty in Vapor’s eyes and the fading of her own smile in response. However, her original expression returned as quickly as it had gone away. She smiled.
“Oh, well, thanks Sky! Yeah, big congrats to you, too!” she said. A quick gulp. “Here, come in!”
Sky had to try to suppress a sigh of relief when she waved him into the room. Desperate for this tense and awkward moment to end, he gave her a quick nod and came in, having to stop himself from practically leaping into the room.
But fortunately, as quickly as it had risen, the tension in the air melted away with the smooth, sweet smell of honey and tea. The moment Sky stepped in, he breathed in the aroma that floated around the room, and the tightness in his muscles lessened. It wasn’t even that he liked the smell of tea that much, per se, but it was the familiar smell of home… or rather, his second home.
He smiled knowingly, looking over at her little white kettle on the stovetop. Without having to say a word, she saw that look on his face and knew exactly what he was thinking. She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, you know me. I got the water boiling almost as soon as I got in the door.”
She laughed; it was all it took. Just like that, with just one little joke made at her own expense, the awkwardness at the door was practically forgotten. Sky breathed in, feeling like his lungs had been set free from a cage, and let the air back out in an amused snort.
“Yeah, I should’ve known that would be the first thing you’d do. You should’ve seen the look on your face that first night in the mess hall when all they had was coffee. Pretty funny,” he teased.
Vapor’s nose scrunched up at the mere mention of the bitter brown drink. She nodded her head in agreement with him, walking over to the kitchen stove where her tea kettle was still steaming gently. “Ugh, I’ll bet it was. Still don’t get how you can even drink that sludge. Don’t suppose you’d want a cup of tea right now, instead?”
There it was; the same question she almost always asked him every time he came into her place. It was a formality by now, a running inside joke between them: she’d offer, he’d say no thanks. Vapor gripped the handle of the kettle in her hoof and tilted her head toward him playfully, a little smile on her face indicating she already knew what he’d say. Smiling back, Sky almost reflexively waved her offer away with a ‘no thanks’ and a curt headshake. Just like all the other times…
But for some reason, he stopped himself. He found his eyes riveted to the kettle in her grasp, and his mouth froze before his reply could fall out of it. Vapor’s eyebrows raised as the seconds once again stretched out…
It was almost as if Sky was fighting against himself when he finally let his answer out. His eyes were aimed at the floor.
“Uhh… I’ll… sure. I mean, I guess…”
Silence. Sky grinned nervously and clenched his eyes shut, and slowly looked back up to her, realizing that this was the first time he hadn’t followed the script.
He saw now that Vapor was regarding him with a blank stare. The expression made him nearly bust out laughing, but he bit his lip to keep from doing so. She blinked once, and for a moment the kettle seemed to be suspended in midair by her head. But she recovered quickly, and after a rattling shake of her head she opened the cupboard.
“Oh! Well, that’s… wow, that’s great!” she said, seeming to change her mind about what she was going to say at the last moment. A smile broke out on her face. “Finally branching out, huh? About time! Here, I’ll get you something I know you’ll like, a special blend…”
Sky watched as she began rummaging through her cabinets, scanning through her various jars and boxes of tea for the right one while she excitedly mumbled to herself. He noticed the way her ears had perked up the moment he accepted her offer, as well as the tiny, barely noticeable hop in her step as she darted back and forth behind the counter. Watching her, it took several seconds before he finally realized he wasn’t breathing, upon which he took a long, deep inhale while his heart fluttered weirdly in his chest.
Vapor soon had the kettle whistling yet again, as well as two cups and saucers on the table containing, Sky had to admit to himself, a pleasant smelling tea bag in each one. Setting his cup in front of him, she gradually poured the water over the little bag until the cup was about full, and with an enthusiastic grin she lightly slid the cup all the way over to him before filling her own cup. Sky took a seat on her little loveseat while she sat in the same armchair she always did.
“I know you don’t like the green tea stuff all that much, but this one is pretty sweet and I think you’ll like it a lot. Just let it steep for a minute or two before you take a sip!”
The enthusiasm in Vapor’s voice was, despite his usual aversion to tea, contagious. Sky smiled up at her, and he suddenly found himself looking down at the steaming cup and counting the seconds until he could give the drink a try. The water gradually turned hazel in color, and the almost fruity aroma wafted upward and slowed the beating of his heart down.
Vapor observed him closely. She saw his expression and smirked knowingly. He wouldn’t admit it, at least not yet, but she could tell he was at the very least intrigued. The two of them let a little more time drag past before Sky finally picked the warm teacup in his hooves, and gingerly raised the edge to his lips to take a careful sip.
The moment she saw his eyebrows raise, she pumped her hoof in victory. “Yes! I knew you’d like it, I knew it!”
They both knew what this moment meant. After years, neither one of them budging, Sky had lost; the epic battle of the beverages was over. He looked down at the cup in his hooves, and sighed in defeat. He nodded his head slowly.
“Yeah, yeah… I guess there is one tea out there I like…”
“Oh, stop it,” Vapor chuckled. She took a big sip from her own glass, being sure to make it as obnoxiously loud as possible. “I’m gonna make you a full-blown tea drinker one of these days, just you wait.”
Sky gave her an amused shake of his head. He did, however, take another drink from the cup. It was a little bit too good to refuse. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Vape. But tell you what: next time we’re over at my place, I’m going to make you a coffee. One I know you’ll like. Sound like a deal?”
Vapor’s cocky smile disappeared as soon as the proposition left his mouth. She wrinkled her snout in distaste, but shrugged her shoulders. “Blech. Well, I guess it is only fair, right?”
Sky smiled inwardly. He shrugged, and took another swig of his tea. “Yep, it is. But… seriously, thanks for this. It’s actually pretty good.”
Vapor raised an eyebrow. She nodded her head silently, and while still looking at him through lowered eyes she sipped slowly at her tea, savoring the moment just as much as the sweet liquid itself.
Silence reigned over the next couple of minutes, save only for the occasional slurps of tea and the clink of their porcelain cups against the table. Perhaps for most ponies, such a long period of time with neither party saying a word, exchanging nothing more than looks, would have indicated something wrong. Perhaps it would have felt awkward or tense.
But somehow, as Vapor reached over and readied another teabag in his cup, Sky felt fine. An oddly placid smile stayed on his face, watching the clear liquid trickle into the cup and turn hazel once again. For some time, he watched the tendrils of steam rising from the cup, absent-mindedly tracing them with his eyes from the cup to the open air until they dissolved into nothing…
“Sky?”
Hearing Vapor’s soft utterance of his name was like someone zapping him with a storm cloud. His wings tensed up, and he jolted a bit in his seat; however, he kept his surprised flinch admirably under control, and as coolly as he could, Sky whirled his head around to face Vapor.
He was greeted with the sight of her smiling at him, her head tilted slightly downward. But the smile wasn’t the same playful, amused one from before. Instead, it was tinted with uncertainty. “You okay?”
Sky noticed the creeping worry in her tone of voice. An unexpected ache began in his chest as he saw her expression change rapidly to one of concern, and her bright and expressive eyes fixed him to the spot. It took a moment for him to even process her basic question, which he answered with a rapid series of blinks before he could even get his voice to work.
“Oh! Uhh… yeah, yeah. Sorry, was just, you know, spacing out for a second there. My bad…”
Vapor frowned. In the ensuing silence, she switched her focus back and forth between him and her half-empty cup of tea, lips pursed in thought. She slowly raised the teacup to her lips and took a tentative sip.
“…Yeah. You’ve, uh, been doing that a lot. Tonight.”
Vapor hadn’t asked a question. But to Sky, the simple observation sounded almost like a demand from her to know what exactly was going on.
And after all, that was why he came here to begin with, wasn’t it? Yet, his lips refused to move and his eyes continued to gaze off into space. But while his stare may have looked vacant, the thoughts racing around in his head nearly made him spring up from the couch and rush to the door. He could feel the pressure, the anxious regret that he had even decided to come here at all tonight building up inside of him…
But in a moment of strength, Sky pushed it back down. A little fire sparked in his heart, and it slowly began to consume the anxiety tying his insides into knots. Instead, he directed his nervous energy deeper inward, grinding his molars together with frustration at his own cowardice and hesitance.
But no more. This was it. With a new flame burning in his eyes, Sky faced Vapor Trail, and met her eye to eye.
“Vape… why’d you do it?”
The question cut through the air like the slash of a sword. Vapor’s hoof came to a sudden stop, and the liquid inside the teacup she held nearly sloshed out over the edges.
Already, Sky could feel the nervousness radiating from her. The way she seemed to freeze in place, her only movement being to gingerly set the cup down on the table, as if afraid to make a sound…
She knew what he was referring to. But still, Vapor asked the question anyway.
“Err… do what, Sky?”
Sky locked his eyes onto her and leaned forward in his seat. “You know, Vape… all of this. You came with me. You went to all the classes, did all the exercises, all the drills, woke up all those early mornings, ate all that cafeteria food for weeks… and you put up with me. Why?”
He did not mean to raise his voice so much toward the end, but the pent up anxiety was bubbling to the surface. A surprised expression formed on Vapor’s face, and she reared her head back, a wisp of her mane falling in front of her eyes. Rather than brush it away, she angled her head away from Sky, letting the hair act as a shield from his eyes.
Sky almost pressed her again, but he held himself back. There was no reason to repeat himself; he had been clear as crystal. And from the silence that now reigned in the room, she needed time to think of an answer… but whether that answer was the truth or an excuse, he did not know.
Vapor’s discomfort was evident. She closed her eyes and nervously traced a circle on the couch cushion with her hoof while Sky sat still, waiting for her voice to break the silence.
Until at last, it did.
“Because… because you’re my friend, Sky. That’s why…”
Sky shook his head, smiling ruefully. He sighed with a hang of his head, and to his shock, he felt heat rising to his eyes. When he blinked, his vision blurred.
“I know, Vapor. I know you’re my friend. You’ve always been my friend, but… you shouldn’t be.”
The moment the words left his lips, he heard Vapor gasp. Her head whirled around so fast that the dangling hairs of her mane flipped back onto her head. Sky was met by a hurt and confused stare that made his chest ache. “What? What’re you even talking about now, Sky? I don’t…”
She trailed off, mouth agape. Sky sighed again, trying to breathe deeply to keep the ache in his chest from getting any worse, and stared at the floor.
“Vape, after everything I did, everything I said… I treated you like dirt, for years, a-and you just… y-you…”
Vapor watched as he slowly sank into the couch cushion. He continued down his train of thought while the gears in her mind began to turn. “Sky, w-wait…”
“...but you put up with me anyway. I w-was a jerk…”
“Sky, listen. Listen…”
“I treated you like dirt, u-used you…”
“Sky,” Vapor said, a little louder.
“...called you a terrible wingpony. As if you being my wingpony was more important than being my friend, a-and..."
"Sky!"
He froze mid-sentence, and winced as Vapor Trail's usually meek voice cut through the air. It silenced him mid-thought.
Vapor inhaled deeply, almost like the effort it took to raise her voice drained her of all her energy. Reaching for her tea cup once again, she took a slow, pondering sip. The slurp she made sounded much louder in the tense, almost tangible silence.
Then... with one more long sigh, Vapor spoke.
"Sky," her voice trembled. Through wisps of her mane, Vapor looked up at him. "None of it was your fault. Okay? And every time you acted like a... jerk, I knew it. And if I had told you, I-I know you would have been different..."
"So why didn't you? Out of all the times you could have said something, w-why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because... Because if I told you, then you wouldn't... you wouldn't... Sky?" Vapor hunched forward, lowering her head in between her shoulders. Bracing herself. "What do you want my answer to be?"
And in that instant, it was as if all the breath in Sky Stinger's lungs left him at once. All of the pressing questions, his almost interrogating manner... disappeared in a moment.
This time, it was Vapor's turn to press.
"I told you I was your friend... but that wasn't enough for you. I told you it wasn't your fault. So what did... what do you want my answer to be?"
Tightness in Sky's chest practically squeeze the breath from his lungs, and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He was too frozen to the spot to wipe them away.
But he delved within himself, and found and with the hairs on his neck raised and a shaky voice, he answered her.
"The truth."
In the ensuing silence, Sky watched. He watched as Vapor Trail's face, normally a pale eggshell white, turn pink. He watched as her lips parted, and her pupils dilated until her pretty turquoise irises were barely visible.
The space between them seemed to shrink to nothing. Neither of them even realized how long they had met one another's gaze, but as the seconds floated by, neither of them looked away.
Neither of them could look away. Sky's lungs felt like freely floating balloons in his chest, bobbing and bouncing off of one another with every inhale. Vapor's cheeks flushed red, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood high. So did his. Her eyes filled with water.
“Sky… I-I…”
The only warning Sky got was the unfurling of her wings before she pounced.
His hooves reflexively spread wide as she bowled into him, burying her face into his chest and squeezing tightly around his barrel. Her wings enveloped him as Sky fell onto his back with a shocked gasp.
At first, he remained frozen to the spot. But the feel of her breath against his chest and the soft, but still unmistakable sound of a sob from her mouth brought his hooves around her withers. They drifted under her wings, the soft feathers feeling like wisps of silk on his fetlocks.
Vapor tried to open her mouth to say something, but the words died on her lips. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the stallion she now held so closely to herself.
Vapor rubbed her tearstained cheek against his chest, wetting his fur. More tears spilled out of her closed eyes. Sky’s hooves had a mind of their own, running up her back until they cradled her behind her head. All the tension in her shoulders, built up from the night’s events, begin to ebb away like a receding tide. As she melted in his hooves, Sky craned his neck, brushing through her mane with his snout and resting his chin on the top of her head. Vapor squeezed him even tighter.
While not a word was spoken, Sky knew the meaning. And he knew, in that moment, that now there was no more room for hesitation.
“Vapor,” he whispered. Hearing his voice, every muscle in Vapor’s body tensed up once more. She tucked her chin against her chest, closing her eyes tight and clenching her jaw.
She began to stammer, breathing heavily. “Oh, Sky, I-I didn’t mean to… I’m sor—mmph!”
Sky’s lips met hers. He clasped his hoof around her head and pulled her into a deep kiss, one which took both of their breaths away.
No need for apologies. No more hesitation. No more. Warmth washed over Vapor Trail’s entire body, filling her up and making her feel as though they were floating on a cloud. Her eyes, which had widened to the size of saucers, finally fluttered closed, and with a moan of relief she kissed him back, locking her lips with his. Vapor’s wings curled around the back of Sky’s neck, pulling his head up from the sofa and taking him deeper into the kiss. Sky’s hind leg twitched, and his heart beat so erratically he thought it might burst from his chest.
They kissed until a darker shade of blue showed up on Sky’s face, and the two at last parted, gasping for air. But huffing and puffing all the while, Vapor Trail smooched him again, smacking her lips against his. Tiny sobs and sharp inhales escaped her in between pecks, sometimes even missing his lips and landing on his cheek, chin, and the tip of his snout. Sky only took one breath before he joined her again, pulling her back into another kiss even deeper than the last.
“S-Sky… aah…”
Vapor shivered as Sky’s lips left hers, only to caress the nape of her neck. His hoof rubbed the spot on her back between her fluttering wings. She let out an adorable squeak as the sensation sent a war tingle up and down her spine. Sky kissed a line from her neck to her ear and spoke softly into it.
“I love you, Vapor…” A wet kiss on her cheek. “...I’m… ah… I’m sorry I kept you waiting… so long. So so long… I-I didn’t know…”
Vapor melted against him. She panted for air while he smooched her lovingly up and down her neck, her legs spreading out over his barrel and allowing herself to be held against his chest.
Then, she giggled. A tearful, relieved giggle that made the air itself seem to dance around them. She gave Sky another peck on the cheek, one of many more still to come, and curled up on top of him.
“I know… believe me Sky, I know... but it was worth the wait."