Ponyville.
An old fashioned, simple looking town that carried a relaxed and friendly vibe.
A young Soarin strode away from the Ponyville florist’s stand with a bunch of colourful flowers. Although the mare behind the counter had been very helpful in picking a variety of tasty, great looking flowers. The young stallion could not remember the name of a single one. He spotted the others in their little group who had come from Coudsdale, Blackout, Fleetfoot and Silver Zoom.
“Who’s that for?” Blackout, the midnight black young stallion with a deep blue mane asked.
Soarin transferred the flowers from his mouth to his right forehoof. “My special somepony.”
“You have a special somepony?” Blackout laughed. “No way, I thought you were gay or something the way you hang out with fillies all day.”
Soarin scowled, Fleetfoot giggled.
Silver Zoom, the grey stallion with a light grey and white mane observed the reactions of the other teens. The teenager turned to Soarin, tense. “You’re not talking about your best friend, are you?”
The light blue colt in question broke out into a huge grin as he spotted the young mare who had just entered Ponyville’s airspace.
The young speedster cut her speed back to legal levels and Soarin waved at her. The others in the group glanced back to see who he was waving at. Fleetfoot smirked and muttered something. Blackout waved, his face otherwise impassive. Silver Zoom looked happy to see their final member. Soarin noticed the look on his face and felt a pang of jealousy shot through his system like hot fire.
Spitfire pulled off a tight loop and landed in front of Soarin. The couple grinned at each other, delighted to be reunited. The colt offered the flowers to his young mare.
“You got me flowers, you must be happy to see me.” Spitfire chuckled as she accepted his gift.
Soarin could not help but notice the shock on Silver Zoom’s face, something inside him felt really good seeing that surprise. “Well, I am glad to see you. Guys, meet Spitfire. We’re together.”
“I thought that was just some silly rumour.” Blackout muttered. “But whatever, good luck.”
“Hope you had a good flight here,” Fleetfoot strode up to Spitfire and gave her a hug. “You’re so lucky having your special somepony with you, my girl has to stay back in Cloudsdale.”
“Your girl?” Silver Zoom scrunched up his muzzle, “oh, you’re one of those fillyfoolers, aren’t you?”
“Who I sleep with, snuggle and love is none of your business.” Fleetfoot held her head up high and sat pointedly beside Spitfire.
A blush crept across the grey stallion. “And you let her hug you, that-”
“It also does not stop her from giving friends a hug.” Spitfire cut Silver Zoom off, her tone cold as ice.
“Yeah,” Soarin added.
Silver Zoom rubbed his forehead with a grey hoof. “Whatever... this is weird… Just- let’s get on with it, shall we.”
“Alright,” Blackout agreed.
“Who’s boss?” Fleetfoot asked, ready for action.
“What?” Blackout eyed the arctic blue mare, “why do we need a leader?”
Fleetfoot shrugged. “You know... every squad needs a leader... so I just thought, maybe Spitfire could be ours.”
The fiery filly cautiously eyed her friend, “I dunno about being a leader, Fleet.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should be our leader.” Silver Zoom puffed himself up proudly. “I am really good at teaching others and leading and stuff.”
“Go for it dude, I don’t care.” Backout shrugged.
Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes and warily regarded the grey stallion. “You sure you don’t wanna be our leader, Spitfire?”
“Silver Zoom wants to do it, I say let him.” Spitfire shrugged.
“I’m with Spitfire.” Soarin added, “so I guess that makes Silver the lead pony here.”
“You’re always with Spitfire,” Fleetfoot muttered as she rolled her eyes.
A small tightly knit group of pegasi flew over the Everfree Forest at breakneck speeds. The trees were blown this way and that as feathers and hooves came within inches of impact. Silver Zoom led, eager to show off his skills. Blackout kept pace, focused and ready. Behind him flew Fleetfoot and Soarin both of whom were currently exchanging silly faces. Spitfire smirked as she caught sight of her husband hanging his tongue out and allowing it to blow wild as they sped along.
At Silver Zoom’s guidance, the small group cut through three wild clouds, sped through the outer trees then alighted outside the forest’s boundary.
“Alright. That’s part two done.” Silver Zoom smoothed his mane. “How about we break for lunch and check out what book work we should be doing this afternoon.”
“How come we leave class and still gotta do the boring bits?” Soarin wondered.
“Theory helps you refine the practical side. At least, it does for me.” With a cocky grin, Silver Zoom took to the skies.
“I mean hey, it might end up being helpful depending on what sorta jobs we get. But don’t worry, I too am looking forward to the day we finish all the book work too.” Blackout smirked then took off after the pale fiery colt.
Soarin turned to his wife, “there isn’t much writing for this course, is there?”
“No. I took a quick look through the paperwork submitted to Celestia. We have way more flight time than everypony in class.”
“Oh good.”
Fleetfoot cracked a grin, “afraid you won’t get enough action there?”
“No, it’s not that?” Soarin shook his head.
The icy blue mare gazed from mare to stallion, sly and sure as she continued to grin. “Hey, I mean… if you two wanted to sneak off for a quickie I could always cover for you.”
A hopeful smile radiated from Soarin and he looked to his wife for confirmation.
Spitfire rolled her eyes then scanned the surroundings. Seeing nothing but the retreating forms of their two other classmates she shook her head. “Not today. Baby has left me feeling like I’ve flown twice what we did.”
Concern killed the joy and Soarin was quick to give his mare a hug. “Are you okay? Do you wanna sit out the extra laps next time?”
Orange eyes blazed with defiance as they met care laden green irises. “And look weak?”
“Would you rather look weak or wear yourself out?” Fleetfoot interjected.
“If I slow down, those two will ask questions.” Spitfire retorted.
Fleetfoot rolled her eyes. “And you’re gonna have to tell them sooner or later.”
“I know…” Spitfire sighed. “But a part of me isn’t ready to tell them yet.”
Fleetfoot eyed the barely visible baby bump. It was still small enough that it could easily be mistaken for a bit of extra body fat or missed entirely. “Well… I only see something because I know it’s there. But I’m sure more and more ponies are gonna notice and when those other two realize, well… I’m sure it will be better if you two say something first.”
“I know.” Soarin nodded in agreement as he gave his fiery mare a winged hug. “Just uh.. give us like another week.”
“Alright.” With a stiff nod of acceptance, Fleetfoot unfurled her wings. “Come on you two. We got four hungry pegasi to feed.”
As the arctic blue pegasus shot off toward Ponyville town Soarin lit up with a pleasant smile. He gave his wife’s barrel a careful brush with his forehoof and tightened his winged hug just a bit.
Spitfire snuck in a quick kiss then took to the skies. “Hurry up pie boy. Like Fleet says. I’m eating for two here.”
“Oh! I have the perfect pie for you!” Soarin eagerly joined his mare.
Spitfire scoffed, “I said two. Not a whole army. Besides, I’m sure the pub is closed at lunchtime.” The fiery mare twirled gracefully, her limbs sore but still flight worthy.
“Oh yeah… Hey, how about we go there for dinner!” Soarin twirled then clipped a nearby tree. The eager young stallion quickly righted himself, grinning sheepishly as he flew to his wife’s side.
“If you don’t smack into a tree and knock yourself out first.” With a snicker the speedy young mare took off, leading her husband into town.
As the sun set over Ponyville, four large clouds hovered on the outskirts toward the Apple family farm.
Silver Zoom’s cloud was roughly moulded for himself to comfortably curl up. Backout had hollowed out his cloud enough to fit himself and saddlebag inside. Fleetfoot gave her carefully flattened cloud a gentle press in the middle then glanced over at Spitfire and Soarin’s cloud.
Idled with her forehooves over the edge lay Spitfire. With great care, Soarin worked around her. Rather than simply hollow the cloud, Soarin worked to build up two soft walls on either side of his mare. With skilful hooves, he crafted a covering for them using a second cloud. He attached the two sides from the lower cloud to the upper one. With a not so subtle look at his wife’s hindquarters, the blue stallion formed a rounded wall on the rear, thus joining the two sides. This left one way out, the way Spitfire faced. Occasionally the fiery mare would drop a comment or ask for a part of their interior to be adjusted. With very little direction, Soarin even formed a small lip to the opening that comfortably supported her hooves and chin. As Soarin ceased work on the inside, it became clear there was ample space for two pegasi to stretch out inside and even a small raised space for their bags to sit.
Soarin darted outside and formed small swirls in the outside of the dual cloud. As he finished his creative work, Silver Zoom caught his attention.
“I see you're already her servant. You're not gonna have much fun if you marry her.” Silver Zoom lay down, smirking.
“I ask, he does. It’s a working system.” Spitfire smirked back.
“Well you certainly have picked a pony who knows how to work clouds, I’ll give you that much.” Backout casually commented as he relaxed on his own cloud. “Maybe he could even help others to improve their cloud shaping skills sometime?”
“Well sure.” Soarin shrugged as he took his place at Spitfire’s side. “But you’re not that bad.”
Blackout scoffed, “says the pony who made a small house out of three clouds. I bet that will easily last your stay here. Our cheap jobs won’t last a day.”
Backout directed his gaze pointedly at Silver Zoom, “I mean… my cloud is just a simple hollow out job and some others haven’t even done that.”
“Hey,” Silver Zoom retorted. “At least I’m better than her.”
All eyes followed the grey hoof’s direction. Fleetfoot sat up, offended. “You’re not better than me.”
“Yes, I am. Your crummy job looks like a foals attempt at cloud shaping.”
“It does not!” The light arctic blue mare stood, her wings quivering, ready for action.
“I could make a house.” Soarin broke into the argument.
Everypony turned to the blue colt. He took a step back, shyly. “I- I mean, I probably could make us all a cloud house to share.”
“Why?” Fleetfoot questioned, her wings relented and she settled down a bit. “I’m okay with what I made. I can sleep on this. And it would take you at least a week of hard work to make a full size house to fit every pony. We’re not even staying around here that long too, so it would be a waste.”
Soarin glanced at his wife. After a quiet moment, she shrugged.
“Well, I mean. It could be a fun challenge.”
“And maybe everypony could help him and learn something too?” Spitfire added as she too turned to face the others.
Blackout and Silver Zoom shared a look. Blackout shrugged and settled down, “not tonight. I’m tired and feel like sleeping.”
“A proper house does sound nice. But are you sure the teachers would allow it?” Silver Zoom asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Spitfire replied. “Long as they know we made it… well, that might even help our grades.”
“Alright.” Fleetfoot nodded, “sounds like something to consider. Now, I’m gonna agree with Blackout. It’s time for some shuteye. Sun’s going down and everything.”
“You two won’t keep us up, will you?” Silver Zoom cast a pointed look toward the couple.
Spitfire scoffed. “Of course not. What do you expect us to do besides cuddle?”
Fleetfoot struggled to keep a straight face as she shared a glance with the other two solo pegasi. “Exactly.”
“Had to ask.” Silver Zoom replied. "Already heard of two idiots in school getting caught banging behind the flight course." With a flap of his wings, he propelled his cloud further away from the collective group. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Spitfire quickly responded then span around to face her husband and nuzzled up close. As her lips reached his ear the mare felt a smile slip across her muzzle. “You hear that stud? No sex while this lot are around.”
Soarin nodded and whispered back; “sneak out after dark?”
Spitfire shot her mate a deadpan look. “You might as well announce that we’re off to have sex right now.”
The light blue stallion grinned. “You want to, or shall I?”
A yellow hoof shoved the cheeky stallion away. He lightly impacted with the wall and lay there, still grinning, pleased with himself. Spitfire shook her head and settled down for the night.
“You know I was joking, right?” Soarin whispered as he cuddled back up to his mare.
Spitfire nodded. “Yeah. And you know I’m joking when I say you’re getting laid tonight.”
Green eyes flew wide open. “Okay… I get it. I get it.”
“Good boy.”
The next two weeks flew past. By day they trained under Silver Zoom’s command. Their practise sessions were filled with a mixture of fun and laughter as well as focus and hard work. The slacking off was usually led by Soarin while Spitfire or Silver Zoom were usually the ones to corral every pony back on to task. The group often referred to the notes their teachers had left them in a keen effort to progress through the assigned work quickly. Although Silver Zoom was their chosen leader, Spitfire found herself often pointing out the intricate details of their flight. The trio of friends enjoyed frequent competition among themselves. After the first few days, it became clear just how driven Soarin’s companions were. By the end of the first week, Soarin had been taken aside three times by Spitfire during their training and given a hard word or two. Any time they were not in the middle of complex practice it seemed the absence of teachers naturally led to the chill colt goofing off. At times Fleetfoot could be almost as bad because she enjoyed provoking him. The arctic blue pegasus also proved rather good at picking fights with Silver Zoom and many a session was disrupted by their heated but brief bickering. There was the odd morning that Spitfire was grouchy. On two occasions Soarin was the only one to show up in the morning with a generic excuse for his partner. By the time Spitfire later appeared in the midst of their training, she appeared fine. Blackout was the quiet one of their team. He followed Silver Zoom like a dark shadow through the lessons as they unfolded.
In the evenings, Soarin led the construction of a cloud mansion large enough to house the whole team. Soarin flittered between shaping the most intricate parts of the house and guiding the other pegasi as they worked on shaping the walls, halls and archways. Two days a week Spitfire would disappear into town for cooking lessons, leaving her companions to continue on without her. The four bedrooms were the first to take shape along with the large fluffy base that Soarin had great fun shaping into one extra large swirling cloud. The skilled young stallion extended the cloud base outward to form a platform outside the front door with tendrils at its edge.
The weekends were a time of rest and relaxation for the group. In this time Fleetfoot would spend the day in Ponyville or Cloudsdale with High Winds. Spitfire and Soarin would either join their two friends or fly off for their own, more private time.
As the second week came to a close, the cloud house was mostly finished. The dwelling was a little rough in places and it was obvious that hooves of varying skills had worked on its creation. But it was good enough for five young pegasi to live comfortably.
As another week of intense learning flew by the five teens found themselves relaxing with a few ciders on the soft porch of their dwelling.
A figure appeared on the horizon. The pegasus was clearly flying at great speed against the wind. Blackout was the first to point out the incoming form. “Guys. Look at that. Somepony is coming in fast.”
“Maybe it’s a Wonderbolt doing a speed run..?” Soarin wondered as his wing slipped around the yellow barrel of his missus.
Spitfire gave her husband a cautioning sideward glance but let the intimate gesture slide.
Silver Zoom stood and stretched. “Wonder if it’s a teacher, they were supposed to check up on us today.”
“Oh yeah…” Fleetfoot grinned. “Good thing most of us-“ her gaze met Soarin who scowled. “Are doing really well.”
“I’ll do just as well as you when they test us.” Soarin shot back.
“Remember some of this course is not yet finalized. You might find yourself in trouble Soarin. You don’t have the rest of the class to make you look good.” Silver Zoom commented then took to the skies. “I got a feeling this is our teacher. I’ll be right back!”
Soarin poked his tongue out at the departing form of their pale firey classmate. He stood and cast a glance toward the home he was responsible for creating. “You think they will like our house?”
“Are you joking?” Spitfire rose and playfully shoved her mate. “This will blow them away. No one at our school has made a proper house.”
“Yeah, but it’s not yet a proper cloud house.”
“What did you tell us?”
Soarin glanced around, “uh... it’s not done?”
“No.”
“…Two more weeks?”
Spitfire nodded, a pleased smile upon her lips. “Exactly. I’m sure our instructors will be understanding.”
In no time at all the incoming pegasus and Silver Zoom drew near and it was clear that it was indeed their flight instructor. The stormy blue and grey stallion slowed his flight and looped around the small mansion a few times. With his gaze impassive, the weathered pegasus landed in the middle of the front cloud porch then strode up to the front door. “Who did you hire to construct this?”
“Soarin.” Spitfire casually replied with a pride laden smirk.
“Really?” Maelstrom turned to Soarin, a light smile on his muzzle. “Somepony has a gift I see. Has this rather large project been in place of the assigned school work?”
“No sir,” Soarin answered. “We have been building this after the day’s assigned work is done. I’ve done the more complex bits and every pony else has helped by making the walls and stuff you walk on. It’s been kinda a cool challenge since I never really got to make something this big at school.”
The stallion nodded, thoughtful. “And it meets Cloudsdale building regulations?”
“It will. We need another two or three weeks to finish it.”
The flight instructor nodded thoughtfully. “And what if I tell you to move to a new location before then?”
Soarin shrugged, “we take it with us.”
The stallion nodded, pleased by the answer. “May I take a look inside?”
Soarin shared a glance with his fellow students. “I mean, sure.”
With a nod, Maelstrom pushed open the door and entered. The kitchen and living space were currently blank and their walls were still rather pudgy. Eager to show off the group’s real progress, Soarin pushed forward into the hallway that had five doorways, four bedrooms and at the end of the single straight hall, the bathroom.
A glance into the first bedroom on the left revealed Blackout’s room, neat and lean. The teacher nodded to himself then opened the doorway to his left. Before him was the messy living space of the group’s couple. The double bed was unmade and there were several pie tins on the nightstand opposite the bed. “Ah yes. Spitfire and Soarin’s room right..? Considering your marital status, I guess this is reasonable, even though students are not normally allowed to bunk with peers of the opposite sex.”
Spitfire and Soarin froze.
“Marital status?” Silver Zoom blinked a few times then gazed at the young couple, shocked. “What?”
“Does this mean they are engaged or something?” Blackout questioned from the back of the group.
Maelstrom glanced around his small group of elite students, realization quick to dawn on him. “My apologies. I was unaware that Spitfire and Soarin had chosen to withhold this information from their peers. Considering the timing and all.” His gaze came to rest on Spitfire.
The fiery young mare suddenly felt highly nervous. Why did she have to become the center of attention now? This was bad. She instinctively placed herself closer to her husband. “Soarin and I are married. Okay?”
“What?” Silver Zoom almost exploded. “How could you marry that lazy colt?”
Spitfire rounded on the grey colt, “because I love him.”
“Yea. Right now. What happens when-“
“Alright, calm down everypony.” Maelstrom intervened sternly.
“Calm down?” Silver Zoom shot back. “How can I calm down when these two have lied to us. Why- I bet those nights you two were late you were sneaking off to-“
“And this is exactly why they didn’t tell you!” Fleetfoot cut the angry colt off, her wings flared touching the soft hallway as she faced off against him.
“The filly fooler is in on their little game? You haven’t been sneaking off to lay with your little minx too have you?” Silver Zoom sneered.
“I-“ Fleetfoot stuttered, “no!”
“Like I would believe a fillyfooler like you!”
“Alright. That’s enough.” Maelstrom placed himself between the two antagonized students.
With a flick of his grey wings, Silver Zoom turned. “Fine. I’ll be outside. When you’re ready to assess us, I’ll be ready.”
Fleetfoot slumped against the wall, her frown laced with pain. Spitfire hurried to her side.
“Are you okay?” Yellow wings reached out and offered a comforting hug between friends.
“I’ll be fine…”
“Does he do this often?” Maelstrom spoke up, his voice unusually tender for the usually hard stallion.
“Sometimes..? It doesn’t matter if I have a fillyfriend instead of a colt does it?” Fleetfoot gazed up at Maelstrom desperate for an answer.
Maelstrom sighed. “Who you love is your choice. Ignore him.”
“Right… right…”
“I know it won’t stop his words from hurting, but…” The stallion sighed. “Look. I’m no good with these things. And I’m here to see how you five are progressing with your flying. Do you feel ready for action or shall I return tomorrow?”
All eyes rested on Fleetfoot as she sat there. “I- I think some flying would be good.”
“Then let’s go.” Maelstrom led the way out, his tour prematurely ended.
With that everypony hastened outside, Fleetfoot at the rear. Upon exiting she shot the pale firey colt a death glare. He turned his nose up at her then faced the flight instructor, ignoring her.
"You would do well to watch your mouth, Silver Zoom." Maelstrom addressed the pale colt. "Or I may have you sent back to Cloudsdale."
"What about those two!" Silver Zoom pointed at the young couple. "You should send them home for indecent acts."
"Well, they are married." The flight instructor shrugged then faced the young couple "I assume you both are being responsible."
"Well yeah. It's not like we're disrupting their sleep or anything." Soarin replied as casually as possible.
"Right. Then I see nothing wrong here. Everypony take flight. I want to see what you have all been working on for the last three weeks." With his instruction issued, Maelstrom's wings flickered into life and he shot off into the sky.
Soarin poked his tongue out at Silver Zoom then followed.
The light brownish grey colt huffed then raced off, keen to lead the pack. Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Blackout kept close behind the leading colt as he flew.
Under the command of their tutor, the group ran through the drills and the routines they had worked on over the last three weeks. There was an icy atmosphere hanging in the sky. It was particularly stagnant between Silver Zoom and Fleetfoot as they refused to acknowledge each other.
Added to this, was a rising level of awkwardness, two colt’s stares were often directed at the married couple. With one of their two secrets out, both pegasi did their best to act professionally as they flew together.
After flying with the five teens, the flight instructor bid them goodbye and began his flight home.
The small team alighted on the soft porch of their cloud home. Soarin was quick to head for the door but froze when Blackout cleared his throat. The light blue colt sighed and turned to face his teammates.
“So… why are you two married already?” Blackout’s gaze flicked between husband and wife, keenly seeking answers. “We got a lot of couples at school. But no pony gets married this early unless they got an extra special reason.”
Spitfire and Soarin shared a glance and after a moment’s silent communion they faced the two teenaged colts.
Soarin cleared his throat. “Spitfire and I are married because… she is pregnant with our foal.”
“What?” Blackout took a step back and his wings shot out in shock.
“No way!” Silver Zoom retorted, “That’s an affront to our school! Why… you should be expelled from the course for something like that!”
“Thank you, not helpful.” Fleetfoot cut in, her stern gaze fixed upon the shocked grey colt.
Silver Zoom quickly collected himself and gave the icy blue mare a hard stare. “And what if I have more to say, fillyfooler? Do I need to hide my sister from you too?”
“What? Eww… No! I mean shut up!”
Silver Zoom scoffed. “Whatever. I’m out of here.” With that, light brownish grey wings flicked to life and the angry colt flew off toward town.
“And don’t come back!” Fleetfoot cried out.
“What is his deal?” Blackout wondered out loud.
“I dunno. But with that attitude, I wouldn’t hire him if I was looking for new wings for the Wonderbolts.” Spitfire commented dryly.
“Yeah. You know… you could be the boss…” Soarin offered.
“Yeah. And kick him out.” Fleetfoot added sourly as she sat and folded her forelegs in a huff.
Spitfire sighed. “I’m starting to consider it… especially since I only have another month or two of high speed flying in me before my baby slows me down.”
“So… How long have you two been hiding this…” Blackout wondered cautiously.
Spitfire cracked a dry grin, “just over five months. And uh… the last two were getting a bit hard.”
“So that um… little extra weight you're carrying isn’t you bulking up then..?” Blackout ventured cautiously.
Spitfire shot the colt a dangerous glare. “Did you just call me fat? Soarin, did he call me fat!?”
“No. No he did not.” The blue colt was quick to jump in. “You’re beautiful and skinny and very hot.”
“But what if I feel fat, thanks to you?”
As Spitfire’s muzzle impacted with the panicked blue nose of her husband, Fleetfoot sprang into action and tackled Blackout, carrying them both over the edge of the cloud.
“What are you doing?” The dark colt asked, surprised by the sudden action.
“I think you set her off. It’s safer to just get out and let Soarin deal with it.” Fleetfoot replied as she let go.
Concern ripped across the young pegasus’s face as he righted himself. “Are you sure? She looked ready to hit somepony.”
“Have you ever spent much time around a pregnant mare?”
“Uh… no.”
“Then trust me.”
With a final glance back at their dwelling, Blackout sighed. “Alright. How long do we need to wait?”
“Let's do a loop around town… come back. Then we can relax.”
It was dark outside. Yet Spitfire lay awake in bed. Her husband slept peacefully by her side. He occasionally wiggled around a little bit or muttered something about fire and pie. Each time his forehooves found her own, he would relax and a huge dopey smile would fill his muzzle.
At least she was pretty sure he was smiling. The room was pitch black and but Sptifre knew her mate’s body almost as well as her own and something was telling her, he was currently rocking a grin large enough to split his face in two.
A sigh escaped the vibrant young mare. “Come on… sleep already…” her annoyed mutter broke the silence.
With a snort, Soarin snuggled closer and his warm breath tickled her cheek. A smile escaped and Spitfire felt a little bit better. Now if only sleep would come. Tomorrow was set to be another intense day of training and study followed by work on shaping their kitchen.
Yet the conversations and residual mood from the day left the young pegasus with a sour taste in her mouth. Her lower abdomen was a swirling mess that left her unsure if their slowly forming foal was reacting to her mood or if it was all her.
“What are we doing..?” Spitfire mused quietly.
“I dunno…” Soarin whispered softly in her ear.
Spitfire shot up in bed. “Soarin, don’t do that…”
“Do what?” Groggy with sleep, the young stallion sat up in bed and gave his wife a sloppy kiss.
Spitfire melted into the affectionate exchange and quickly found herself straddling her husband.
“That’s not your leg I can feel is it?”
“Nope…”
Spitfire rolled her eyes, thankful that her reaction could not be seen in the darkness. “Think you can fly?”
“I mean… sure. Why?”
“Then let’s go.”
“Does this mean we get to, you know?”
The fiery pegasus extracted herself from their shared bed and smirked as she hauled her husband up too. Without another word she snuck out of their room and headed for the world outside. As Soarin opened the front door something crashed into the soft cloud deck.
Instantly awake, the young couple rushed to the aid of whatever poor creature had left such an indent.
“Oooh…”
Spitfire promptly backed off from the crater as Silver Zoom staggered to his feet. She could smell him better than she could see him under the light of the moon. The almost adult stallion smelt so strongly of alcohol, Spitfire worried it might affect her too. Light blue wings shot out as Soarin hauled the grey pegasus out of the crater. Silver Zoom promptly unloaded the contents of his stomach onto the cloud under hoof.
Soarin leapt backward in disgust. “Woah.. what happened to you?”
Bloodshot eyes stared back at the light blue colt. Even in the dim light of the moon, you could see one eye was swollen. “avay… get- I... Oof.” Silver Zoom face planted into the soft cloud.
The couple shared a look. A snore rang out from the downed pegasus.
“Should we take him to his room?” Soarin pondered aloud.
“I could leave him out here for now,” Spitfire replied then took off into the night.
A moment’s hesitation was concluded as a second snore rang out. Soarin gave his classmate a poke, decided he looked okay then took flight.
After several minutes of flying in silence, Spitfire found a cloud over the Apple family’s farmland and settled down upon it.
“So… I take it we won’t be having sexy fun time?” Soarin concluded as he alighted next to his mate.
Spitfire huffed. “No. Sorry, hot stuff. I uh… wanted to talk.”
“Oh. That’s cool too…”
With a loving nuzzle, Spitfire snuggled up to her colt. It was nice to just lie here, outside. Out in the open air.
“So… What’s up?”
Spitfire’s eyes flickered open. Since when did my eyes close? Her gaze was met with the inquisitive, loving stare of her husband. Soarin’s green eyes illuminated her world, washing away her fears. Yellow met blue as Spitifre initiated a slow, loving kiss. Time passed blissfully on as they held onto the shared show of affection.
They eventually parted to reveal two lightly panting ponies who shared a smile.
“Love you Spitty.”
“Love you, Soarin.” The fiery young mare lent against her lover.
Soarin allowed his mare to take her time. He was in no hurry. Despite the late hour, he was happy to enjoy snuggling. Any lack of sleep could be a problem for tomorrow’s Soarin.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Soarin jerked in surprise at the admission. “Huh?”
Spitfire scoffed and scuffed their cloud with a forehoof. “I know. Since when do I not sleep..?”
“No. I get it.” Soarin quickly lifted his mare’s beautiful face so that he could gaze into her eyes.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I had hoped we could keep our son a secret just a bit longer…” Soarin trailed off, prepared to have his lover correct him.
No correction or smart comment was forthcoming.
The light blue colt took a deep breath, somewhat surprised by a lack of retort. “So… poor sleep. Should I make us a new bed?”
“No. That cloud is perfect. I’m glad you put it in our room.”
“Today was kinda wacky, wasn’t it?”
Spitfire gave her colt a loving nuzzle, “yeah…”
“How do you feel, body not too sore or anything?”
“I- better than yesterday I guess. I think our little one is as hungry as you. I feel like a pig when we eat out.”
“I like eating out. Especially when it’s you I get to enjoy.”
“Soarin. I’m serious.”
“Sorry.”
The couple fell into silence. For Soarin, it was a rather awkward silence as he had no idea what to say to take back his stupid comment. So he instead opted for trying his luck with a gentle nuzzle. He smiled as his mate reciprocated and their soft action led to a sweet kiss.
Spitfire was the first to pull away. “Think you can be serious for a moment?”
“Uh, yeah.”
The sunny yellow mare rolled onto her back and gazed up into the stars above. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Well yeah, but not as pretty as you,” Soarin murmured as he inched closer.
Spitfire tore her gaze from the spotted canvas above and immediately spotted the luminous green eyes of her lover gazing down at her. With a tender smile, she looped a forehoof around his neck and gave a tug.
Soarin was quick to shuffle closer and found himself met with a kiss. As spitfire slowly withdrew and relaxed against the soft cloud she spoke up; “I did ask you to be serious.”
“And I am...”
Spitfire gave a slight nod. “What are we doing here?”
“Cooler school stuff?” Soarin offered.
“Yeah...”
“And hiding our baby.”
“Yeah...” Spitfire’s gaze fell away from her husband.
“And this is how we will get into the Wonderbolts.”
Spitfire’s gaze snapped up to meet the loving gaze of her husband.
“We will get into the Wonderbolts. I promise you.” Soarin followed up with a quick kiss.
“You had better work harder then. You’re falling behind.”
Soarin sighed. “Yeah... I know...”
As the light blue stallion rose, yellow forehooves and wings ensnared him. “So... this promise you just made. You know how to keep it?”
Soarin nodded. “I’ll try.”
Spitfire shoved her mate off. “Stop saying that every time...”
“I”m sorry! I’ll- be better.”
“And?”
“And... I won’t make dumb notes and sleep when we do book work.”
“And?”
“And... I’ll focus properly when we are flying and doing team stuff.”
Spitfire rolled over and settled onto her side. A yellow wing rose, an offering for cuddles.
Soarin tentatively accepted and settled down right next to his sunny mare.
“I will do it,” Soarin spoke softly. “But I want to see what you are like as our leader.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I think you’ll make a wonderful leader.” Soarin nuzzled up close and planted a kiss on his mare’s cheek. “Maybe even the best.”