Why did you give in like that, Celly?"
The court was now empty and Luna conversed freely with her sister. "He was considering it a raid instead of a simple mistake," she continued.
The older sister only sighed. "There was more to it than that. He was wrong to blame us for malice but you can't be an effective ruler by correcting every detail."
"Did I do something wrong...?" Luna asked with a tad bit of worry.
"No no, Lulu. It's just...we have some unfortunate history with that country and it's made relations rather cold. In addition, that Actus was under extreme pressure."
"Oh? Well I imagine border trouble can be stressful..."
The white mare shook her mane. "No, it was something else. There was some other matter that was eating at him and that's why he was so intent on closing the matter as quickly as possible. I expect it's also why he had even less diplomatic posturing than he normally would have."
"So something else other than a border breach was on his...plate?"
Celestia smiled at Luna's brave attempt at integrating more modern terms into her speech. "Quite. But that's for him to deal with and us not to find out. We already have enough to handle as it is without worrying about the internal affairs of a different nation."
"Couldn't it become our problem, though?"
The white mare massaged her forehead with her front hoof as if she had a headache. "I hope not, Lulu. I really most definitely hope not."
Chirp chirp.
It was the sound of birds chirping in the morning breeze. Morning breeze...wait. Morning?
Spitfire rocketed up from the warm sheets to find herself still in Celestia's room. Doing a double take, she quickly realized that she had somehow moved from the Princess' bed to a separate bed. It wasn't there when last she was awake so it must have been brought in after she had fallen asleep. How the Princess had transferred her to it without waking her was a mystery.
Feeling something off about her face, she reached up to find a small note lightly stuck to her forehead. It read "I love sleepovers but you steal the sheets."
Spitfire quickly crumpled the paper and was about to use it as ammo against the still sleeping mare when she remembered her schedule. She needed to get moving if she was going to make it to the Wonderbolts' morning meeting that was supposed to happen today. Forgetting the paper ammo on the floor, she rushed to make herself presentable in the Princess' bathroom. Promising to herself that her look would do, she raced out of the bedroom and tried to be inconspicuous as she exited the palace. However, it wasn't long after she left the towering castle that she ran literally into one of her 'Bolts.
"Oomph!" Fire Streak groaned as he picked himself off the ground.
She hadn't meant to collide with him but he had ran around a corner immediately in front of her. "Sorry, Fire. I take it you're late to the meeting too?"
"Spitfire? Uh...yeah. Well I guess I'm not anymore since I'll be showing up with you," he smiled. It was the age-old walked-in-with-the-teacher tardiness block.
"Ugh. Lightning better not nag about it. Seriously! Every time you get out of something..."
"Or into it," Fire Streak added. "Clearly he's jealous of my superior ability."
"More like your superior mouth," Spitfire mumbled under her breath.
He heard it but luckily didn't catch the words. "Huh?"
"Oh look. Blaze in a dress!" Spitfire pointed down a long crowded crossroad.
Like a magnet finding its opposite, Fire Streak whipped his head around in a desperate search. Seeing Blaze in anything girly was a rare occasion and the guys had an understandable fascination with every instance of it. In this case, however, Spitfire had merely made it up so that she wouldn't walk into the meeting with Fire Streak. Considering her absence the previous evening, she didn't want any of her teammates to think weird stuff.
Fire Streak stood there dumbfounded for a good thirty seconds before realizing he'd been duped. If it was Soarin' then he might have stood there for a good five minutes. Needless to say, Fire Streak was late for the meeting.
The meeting was only at the usual level of chaos by the time all of the Wonderbolt members arrived. One, two, four, eight, twelve, Spitfire counted. Everypony was present, which made sense considering the current level of noise that clouded the hotel lounge they were meeting in. The hotel was plush to say the least and very accommodating towards the celebrity group. They regularly reserved their facilities for the Wonderbolts' private use.
Spitfire, resuming her authoritative position as the 'Bolt leader, took in each of her members. Soarin' was close by and clearly itching to ask her a question or three. Misty was properly seated in one of the lounge couches and was having a muted conversation with High Winds. Knowing the latter mare, it probably had something to do with hair styles or dress fabrics. High Winds was the resident 'Bolt on vanity - perhaps a minor conundrum if one thought too much about it. Fire Streak and Lightning Streak were in an opposing couch having what looked like a debate. The two were rivals in every sense of the word but acted more like brothers when matters got serious. The debate likely began when Fire started complaining about Spitfire's little stalling maneuver from earlier. Fleetfoot and Blaze were standing along with Wave Chill and Silver Lining smack in the middle of the lounge. One of them had started a word game, probably Silver Lining. In any case, Fleetfoot was looking like she was having a hard time keeping up. As expected, Rapidfire and Surprise were each in separate lounge chairs, not really engaging with the others. Rapidfire was the posterpony introvert and Surprise was just shy, so it wasn't of any note.
Spitfire moved towards the center group of four and called out for the entire group's attention. Silence fell and a certain stallion was first to speak, as she expected.
"Where were you again?" Soarin' complained.
"Captain's privilege. Now what's the agenda?" Spitfire expertly dodged the question.
Blaze moved over to nudge Misty and whispered, "Think she got a date?"
The mare just rolled her eyes in response. High Winds was the one to reply to the captain, "You had us schedule this meeting to check ratings - all of which are green as ever. Minus last night's light show that is. The fans were quite sharp in noticing your absence, Cap'."
"Yeah, I don't remember you ever trotting out like that. Something up?" Wave Chill remarked.
Spitfire decided to keep it low key, "Nothing. I just got a little tired from a new workout I've been trying."
"What did I say?" Misty chipped in. "You never take breaks."
"And when you don't take breaks you end up taking medical leave," Silver Lining added. "Overwork and you burn out."
Spitfire turned crestfallen. She couldn't really deny it, especially if she wanted to keep her secret from them. "I'll be more careful."
"You won't. We know you, Cap'," High Winds was once again on the ball. Only, this time, she decided to take the reigns. "Which is why you're going on a special holiday with us."
Except for Spitfire, all of the mares smiled. The males of the team only gave confused looks to each other having, apparently, been left out of the loop. "Huh?" Soarin' asked dumbly.
"Me and the girls discussed it and we've decided it was about time for us to have our own getaway," High Winds explained.
"Hotel, spa, shopping...we've set everything up," Fleetfoot beamed. She must have taken personal pride in the accomplishment.
"We thought it best to make the stay at a different hotel so we wouldn't get distracted by thoughts of work," High Winds remarked.
Spitfire was frozen in time. She didn't know what to say. What would she do about Celestia's training if she went on this goalless snooze-fest? But her thoughts were quickly broken.
"The girls get a special vacation?!" Soarin' moaned.
Fire Streak, still a tad bitter from Spitfire's earlier trick, was more agitated. "And what about us? Are we chopped carrots to you?"
Blaze merely laughed. "More like...cabbage..." she piped between chuckles.
"Figures," the normally quiet Rapidfire lamented.
"Get ready fooooooor Girl's Night!" Blaze hollered without any sense of refinement.
Silver Lining took the cue that the meeting had long been over, if even it began in the first place. Politely he exited the room. The others were less swift. "Are you kidding me?" complained Wave Chill.
Misty decided to be more reserved. "Aren't you being preemptive about this? It's still morning..."
"But that's check-in time at our special resort hotel. We can get in even if we leave right now," rebuked the more level-headed High Winds.
"Ca-" Soarin' tried to speak but was cut off.
"We've got nothing left for today so let's just get to it, girls!" Blaze relentlessly continued to shine her unnatural enthusiasm. She grabbed Misty to her right and Spitfire to her left, hanging her front hooves around their necks. Smiling, she continued, "Don't you already feel better, Fyfy?"
"What did you just call me?" Spitfire asked with a worried expression.
Misty just sighed as she went along with it.
"Don't be that way. We're having a vacation. A vay-cay-tion. Loosen up!" Blaze nudged her.
There was a flash and each of the 'Bolts looked over to Fire Streak who had just snapped a photo of the three unintentionally-posing mares. Breaking out a golden grin, he quickly hid the camera behind his back. Lightning Streak facehoofed and Soarin' decided to wrap things up. "Okay, stallions out."
Rapidfire flushed with relief as he and the males exited the lounge. Soarin' gave only one closing remark before leaving too, "Try to relax, Captain. You need to."
With only the mares remaining, the room seemed much larger than it had before. Misty shook off Blaze's hoof and started towards the elevator. "I suppose I should get the sleeping bags."
"I thought it was a hotel?" Spitfire asked in confusion, still trying to figure things out.
Fleetfoot was the first to answer this time, "It's a double Queen, which only has enough bed space for four. There's a couch but it's in another room. We thought it would be better if it was more like a slumber party, so we're putting two sleeping bags in the bedroom."
Surprise had slowly made her way over to the other mares once the stallions had left and took the moment to finally speak. Her voice was not light but gave the impression that she was even younger than she was. "Who has to use the sleeping bags?"
Blaze grinned evilly and Spitfire immediately began questioning why she had ever let the mischievous mare into the group in the first place. "Truth or Dare. First two to chicken out get the bags," Blaze snickered.
Spitfire could hear poor Surprise gulp. Blaze had cruelly targeted the mare's weakness. The only question was who the second victim would be. "You are a very cruel and unusual pony, Blaze," the captain remarked.
The mare in question tossed her mane as she replied, "Cruel? It's not like I'm targeting anypony. I have to play too, you know."
"There's no truth you wouldn't spill and no dare you wouldn't leap at. And I don't really mean that as a compliment," High Winds put in.
When Blaze looked around for support, she was appalled to find none. Even Surprise was nodding her head in agreement to High Winds. "Well..." she tried desperately to hide her advantage, "...well...you've all been dying to hear Misty's big secret, riiiiiiiight?"
Spitfire grimaced. There it was. The one thing that every member of her group struggled with: gossip. The other mares fell straight into the trap and Spitfire immediately felt sorry for her poor friend. Misty would be nothing but fodder for the T or D game. The captain would have to give her an extra dose of solace. After all, Misty would be resting in a sleeping bag tonight.