//------------------------------// // Chapter 88 // Story: Unshaken // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Silver: 8 Votes After a moment to think about it, and thinking about what was to come in two days, Kestrel’s mind found its way back to the silver mare who looked up to her like a big sister. What she’d tried to pull late that one night had strained their relationship in some intangible way, and though neither mare had brought it up since it had happened, Kestrel still felt the air needed to be cleared regarding it. If there was a chance they were all going to die on Friday if the conference job went south, then she at least wanted to get that burden off of her chest. It took a little bit to find Silver, though Kestrel wasn’t exactly in a hurry to do so. She had the entire afternoon to find the younger mare and share a few words, after all. Quickly poking her nose around the campsite failed to turn up the silver pegasus, so she started walking around the perimeter of the lake. Finally, she found Silver lying on her back on a sunny patch of grass, her hat pulled just low enough to keep the sun out of her eyes while she gazed at the clouds. “Enjoyin’ yourself?” Kestrel asked, coming to a stop a comfortable distance away from the younger mare. Silver jolted in surprise, her wings fanning and fluttering at her sides before she realized it was just Kestrel. “Oh, Kessie, you startled me,” Silver said, an embarrassed smile taking hold of her muzzle. “I was just takin’ things easy for a bit.” “I can tell,” Kestrel said, striding closer and sitting down on the grass near Silver. She put on a teasing smirk and added, “So, what, you imaginin’ what it’s like to be a pony without any wings, watchin’ the clouds from below?” “It ain’t as much work as flyin’ above ‘em and watchin’ ‘em from up high,” Silver said with a chuckle. “Nice and relaxin’, though the ground ain’t as comfortable as the clouds, that’s for sure.” “Yeah.” After a moment, Kestrel spread out her wings and laid down on the ground next to Silver, likewise pulling the brim of her hat down to block out some of the sunlight that would be otherwise be shining into her eyes. She sighed with relief as her muscles relaxed and she splayed her limbs out, finally having a moment to enjoy some downtime and not have to worry about running here or there. Though of course, that peace of mind didn’t last too long for Kestrel. She still had to talk about what she came here for, at any rate. So, working up the courage to bite the bullet, Kestrel cleared her throat after a few minutes. “So… Silvie, I wanted to talk to you ‘bout somethin’…” Silver blinked in surprise and her shoulders tensed for a moment. “Oh… what’s that?” “Just… y’know.” Kestrel awkwardly waved her wing, gesturing vaguely at the nothing above them. “Just that… other night. The thing that happened. Y’know?” “Thing that—oh.” Silver’s cheeks began to burn red, and she coughed a few times to try and mask it. “I, uh… do we have to?” “Listen, I just want to clear the air,” Kestrel said, turning her head to the side to look at Silver, who tried her best to avoid eye contact with Kestrel. “What I did was… inappropriate. I don’t know what got into me, but that weren’t the best way to go about that… or anythin’, I suppose. Maybe I was drunk or somethin’, I don’t rightly know. I just wanted to say sorry.” “Oh. Yeah. Uh…” Silver scratched the side of her neck and fidgeted in place. “Apology… accepted?” Painfully awkward silence hung in the air between the two mares, both too uncomfortable to look the other in the eyes. Eventually, it was Silver who broke the silence with a little cough. “Look, Kessie… I don’t really know what was goin’ on that night,” she said, keeping her eyes fixed on the clouds instead of on Kestrel. “I’m just gonna pretend you was out of your right mind or somethin’ like that. But I just wanna say…” It seemed to take the younger mare a great deal of effort and courage to bring out her next words. “I hope you don’t feel anythin’ like that towards me. Because I don’t think I could reciprocate it. You… get what I mean?” Kestrel sucked on the corner of her lip, remembering what Miss Irons had told her several nights back. Silver’s love for her simply wasn’t the romantic kind. It stung in a strange way Kestrel still hadn’t figured out, but it was the truth of the matter. “Yeah,” she finally said. “I get what you mean.” “That’s… good.” Silver let out a deep breath and rolled herself onto her hooves. “I, uh, I think I’m gonna get a bite to eat or somethin’,” she said, scuffing a hoof along the ground. “I didn’t really get a chance to eat anythin’ since breakfast, since we was waitin’ for Starlight to come around. Do you… want anythin’?” Kestrel shook her head. “No, but thanks for offerin’. Think I’m just gonna stay out here for a bit, ‘til dinnertime.” “Ok.” Silver fluffed her wings, and after a few awkward steps left and right, she nodded to Kestrel. “See you later then, Kessie.” “You too, Silvie.” The younger mare took that as her cue to leave, trotting back around the perimeter of the lake and towards camp. Kestrel didn’t move for several minutes, and only when the world was quiet and still around her did she let out a long sigh. She’d had her talk with Silver. She just didn’t know how to feel about it now, or where exactly she still stood with the younger pegasus. 1.     Surrogate sisters. [THIS WILL END ALL FUTURE ATTEMPTS TO ROMANCE SILVER WINGS] 2.     Just friends… at least for the moment.