Over The Rainbow

by Kwisatz-Haderach


Beautiful.

"Thank you so very much, Pinkie Pie. It means so much to us for you to help set up the party so...quickly..."

"You're so welcome, Spitty! Did you know that I designed the Party Cannon all by myself? Did you? Well, it's true! In fact, I even took night classes at Vanhoover Tech in Ballistics Engineering just to build it! And I took Metal Shop classes and how to write blueprints and how to fit cake into tiny spaces and--"

"Well, that is very impressive, but we really have to get back to work..."

"And did you also know that I received a grant from Canterlot University for creating such an invention? It's true! Hee hee, isn't that neat? You make something really really super duper awesome and cool and smart and stuff, and then they practically throw lots and lots of money at you! Isn't that just awesome?!"

"I'm sure they do and yes, yes it is awesome, but we have--"

"And did I ever tell you I--"

"YES, THANK YOU!!"

Spitfire, despite her best efforts to be courteous and polite in the face of her perky verbal barrage, had no choice but to practically slam the door on Pinkie Pie, timing it just right to make sure she didn't hit the pink Pony square in the muzzle or get her face caught in the frame - as if to say that would actually silence her for a split-pilosecond... The Wonderbolt then pushed her back to the door and slid down in relief, letting out a very audible sigh of exasperation.

"Okay, I guess you're done setting up the party! Thanks for hiring me!" Chimed Pinkie before happily bouncing down the outside hallway.

"No offense, Spitfire, but you really gotta work on your Pony skills..." Said Soarin'. "Sometimes you can't just be a little ball of fire all the time." She was indeed known for her red-hot personality and demeanor, but today, Spitfire felt like her fire was but an ember.

Soarin' quickly took notice of Spitfire's exhaustion, walking closer to her to make sure she was okay. "You alright, Spitz? Something wrong?"

The fire-maned mare let out another tired sigh. "Yes, I'm alright, Soarin'..." She said, shifting her gaze up from her belly and into Soarin's worried eyes. "...I'm just...tired."

"Tired from what? She did all this work for a relatively measly hundred Bits... What could possibly be the problem?" Soarin' gestured to the Canterlot ballroom before them. It was the exact same room where Rainbow Dash saved his beloved Apple Pie during the infamous Grand Galloping Gala fiasco two years ago, only now it was decorated with yellow and blue balloons, banners, party favors, buffet and cake - all courtesy of Ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie of Ponyville. Everything was ready for the guest of honor: Rainbow Dash, leaving Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts in the room to chill out, chat, dance a bit and wait for the big event, which was only a mere two hours away. Celestia's sun dove down behind the mountain vista in the west, bathing Dream Valley in its fiery orange glow and even though the ballroom's massive windows were all facing northeast, they still poured vermillion cascades onto its diamond-patterned marble floor. The whole place was ready for its Rainbow-maned mare of action, but not even all the streamers and punch in the world could make Spitfire feel like it was ready; To her, it just seemed so...empty for some reason.

"I don't know, Soarin'. Maybe it's just...maybe it's just that I've been under a lot of stress lately..." Said Spitfire. As cool-headed and hot-blooded as she was, there was just something throwing her off her game today. She felt a knot tugging and twisting inside her gut, her muscles tensing over nothing and above all, her heart feeling cold and empty. She was very used to being in heat, being able to discreetly sooth those "lady problems" whenever she was in estrus, with or without Soarin' or any of the other team members, but today it felt like those defeated primal hormones were somehow gnawing at the mare's very soul. How could they if she had "relieved" herself only an hour ago?

"Maybe it's mating season." Soarin' suggested. "A mare's scent tends to throw me through the loop whenever I'm in heat..."

"No, it's not that." Spitfire got off of her rump and onto her four hooves, still dodging eye contact with her sky-blue friend. "Estrus is supposed to make me feel hot, not so...cold..." She shivered like there was a draft in the room. "I feel stressed, but I can't put my hoof on what it is exactly."

"Maybe you're just feeling excited about the party..." Said Soarin', who trotted over to the nearby buffet table to get a drink of punch with Spitfire following close behind him.

"I am excited, but I've gone through these sort of events so many times, I barely feel a thing...Stress-wise, that is. I just don't really know what I'm getting so nervous about." That was dangerously close to a lie - deep down, Spitfire's body and essence knew it so well, it was almost biologically manifest. Every little cell and volt of magic that made up the mare's body knew what was troubling her, but her consciousness did its best to make sure that their calls fell upon deaf ears. "Also, you should really use a cup next time, you've got punch dripping down your chin."

"Oh, sorry..." Soarin' grinned sheepishly. "...my bad."

Shaking off the excess droplets of punch like a wet dog, the blue stallion shifted his focus back onto Spitfire. Without even pausing to think about his next words or their repercussions, Soarin' - like so many times before - simply let his brain dump its contents into his mouth and off his tongue. "Maybe you've just got a crush on Rainbow Dash..."

Spitfire froze, tensing her muscles tightly in shock as her friend's suggestion, feeling her whole face fill with blood as she blushed with an almost unseen intensity. Even though she was known in some discreet circles as a very sexually liberated mare, having developed an underground reputation for promiscuity among her closest friends and team members, Spitfire was never really the type to simply settle down and engage in a romantic relationship. That kind of sappy, touchy-feely stuff was only for overly-hormonal teenagers and middle-aged empty-nesters, not for a hot-blooded free spirit like Spitfire; It just wasn't her Modus Operandi.

Noticing her intense blush and look of shock, Soarin' lowered his ears in humility, bracing himself for what might be the first time Spitfire ever really raised his voice at him in a long time.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Spitfire, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" He stammered nervously. Even though Spitfire was a firm, but fair Captain, if there was one thing Soarin' absolutely hated, it was being yelled at. He has hated it ever since his mother first caught him sneaking cookies from the pantry, being the strict disciplinarian she was. "Err, I meant to say, sorry if I embarrassed you or- I...err... Please forgive me! It won't happen aga--"

"It's okay, Soarin', you didn't do anything wrong..." Said Spitfire, raising her voice by only a couple Decibels in a stern, but forgiving tone. "...I'm just...frustrated..."

Soarin' let out a heavy sigh of relief, releasing the tension in his shoulders. "...You wanna talk about it?" He added. The Wonderbolt's unofficial team therapist, Fleetfoot, had always been there to talk to the Stallion about his concerns and worries, having had mother problems in her childhood herself. Since she would always remind him that talking about one's personal problems in a mature and private matter was a better alternative to bottling them up, Soarin' figured that he would do the same with Spitfire to help her out with her own issues. A team has to work as a team, after all...

"Yeah, I guess that wouldn't hurt..." Replied Spitfire. The two walked out of the ballroom and over to a nearby settee, which replaced benches in the opulent grandeur that was Canterlot Palace. The two sat down next to each other, very similar to the way Dash and Twilight did earlier today.

"So tell me..." Asked Soarin', placing a gentle hoof on Spitfire's shoulder. "...What's going on?"

The fire-maned Mare let out a tired sigh, looking down at her reflection in the tiled floor below. "Well...Even as a little filly, I never really had much interested in anything girly or flowery, especially when it came to things like love or romance. Some of the other kids at school remarked that I may as well have been born a colt... In college, after I discovered the joys of sex and sexual studies, I used that as a way to fill those holes inside me that even my later fame and fortune couldn't fill, no pun intended... It was also a way for me to not only 'bond' with you and some of the other Wonderbolts during periods of downtime as 'team-building exercises', but to also sort of rebel against all those bastards that I've met all throughout my life that kept insisting that mares like me shouldn't be flying around like a Scalectrix car when I could and should be stuck in a smokey kitchen cooking dinner for some pot-bellied slob and popping out foals every year."

"Ouch..." Said Soarin'. "You really feel hung up about that, huh?"

"Yep. Still do..." Replied Spitfire, giving the stallion a worried, zoned-out stare.

"So tell me more, Spitfire. I want to know what I can do to help you..." It was an interesting case of role-reversal; Normally, Spitfire is the one who has to help Soarin' out with his problems, not the other way around. He always saw her as the strong one - a kind of safety net to catch him whenever the spectre of anxiety came down and knocked him off balance. She was always there to reassure him whenever he felt down in the dumps or ashamed of himself for not always acting his age. With a repressed childhood like his, nopony could really blame Soarin' for spending his free time as an adult stallion for goofing off and fulfilling those simple, childish joys that his overly-controlling mother made him miss out on. But even though he loved the taste of homemade sweets and carefree carnival games, his nagging, self-conscious conscience cruelly labelled him as a "manfoal" all too often. It always struck his self-esteem down like a cold lead pipe, that inner voice often did.

"Hmmm..." Expressed Spitfire, contemplating her next words. "...Another thing I've been kind of hung up about lately is knowing that our biggest fan, Rainbow Dash, is going to be an official member of the Wonderbolts tomorrow and I was wondering how that would affect us in one way or another." The yellow mare folded her arms like she was cold, even though their flightsuits were designed to keep their bodies at a comfortable temperature. "She's feisty, she's fast, she's energetic, she's perky, she's athletic... Heck, she was practically born to be one of us! She and I are almost the same in personality and interests, she saved our lives, she's shown so much effort as a teammate and...and as a friend..."

"Go on..." Said Soarin', looking at her intensely. It was odd for him to stare at her like she had something crawling all over her face, but a peculiar fragrance seemed to turn all thoughts unrelated to Spitfire to grey, pasty slurry. No matter how many times it crossed his nostrils, its exact odor was difficult to pinpoint with the dull, blunt, primitive tool known as the English language. The only word that could come close was "fiery" - Not in the sense of the natural phenomena of fire, but rather the kind of searing-hot aura that Spitfire seemed to constantly radiate in a tangible form.

"I also just feel...so cheated. I mean, at the Gala, you and I really wanted to hang out with her as much as she did, but were denied by all those...dare I say...snobs that kept pulling us away for photo shoots and autograph sessions. I just wanted to spend time with her, but the unspoken duties involved in being a celebrity always forced me to please my wealthier fans rather than my biggest fan. I never really found the time to hang out with her at the event and when I did, she was nowhere to be seen. I remember once, when I was listening to some rich guy talk about being a sponsor for the Wonderbolts, I looked over to the side and saw Rainbow Dash leaning against the outside wall. She looked so...alone, so sad, so...betrayed, that she was left out even though I invited her to hang with us. I looked at that sad look on her face and I just couldn't help but feel like...a scumbag; It was like somepony stabbed me in the chest with an icicle. Rainbow Dash never deserved any of that and I still feel responsible..."

Spitfire's voice began to lower - waver, even; Her speech became much slower, like she was unsure of which word to use after the last one. Her tone switched from that of uncertainty to that of sadness. "...I mean, she's headstrong, yet kind-hearted, she's loyal to her friends, she's always helping them out..." She interrupted her sentence with a sniffle, her eyes glazing over in defeat. "...she has such lovely hair...her cute face..." The mare lowered her head in shame, guilt running through her conscience like a fever chill. "...her brash, yet innocent demeanor...she's..." Spitfire finally let it out with a penitent sigh. "She's beautiful, Soarin'. Dear gods, she's just so beautiful..."

"...So you have a big crush on her, huh?" Soarin' said, finishing her sentence. Spitfire only bashfully nodded in reply, blushing as she felt her chest tighten around her heart from the stress of admitting all of this.

"But what exactly does that have to do with your sex life?" Asked Soarin'. "I mean, you changed the subject from that to Rainbow Dash all of a sudden. Are you..." The stallion froze, interrupted by the shocking, sudden revelation that his brain made after connecting the dots: It's mating season, which means that Spitfire is in heat. Rainbow Dash is going to be a card-carrying Wonderbolt by next morning, which means that she will be traveling and touring with them a lot, often staying with them overnight. And last, but not least, Spitfire was not only going to be her Captain, but also her lover, which meant that...

"Spitfire..." Gasped Soarin'. "...Are you saying that you want to have sex with Rainbow Dash?" The blue colt couldn't help but feel his face burn red hot and wings harden from the thought of those two becoming intimate with each other.

Spitfire hung her head straight down in shame. "Yes, Soarin'..." She said, her voice flat with guilt. "...I love her. *sigh* And not in a strictly sexual sense - I really, really, genuinely love her. Yes, I know it's inappropriate for somepony of my rank and position to have those feelings for both a brand new recruit and our biggest fan, who we've only met eleven or twelve times for two years, but..."

"But what?" Soarin' interjected.

"But I don't just love her because I want her body..." Spitfire replied. "...I love her because I want her...heart." She couldn't help but cringe at how unbelievably corny that sounded. "It's what my own heart keeps telling me as well as my own body. This is something I've been fantasizing about her since we met at the Gala last year. And you know how I am with fantasies..." She felt so humiliated from admitting all this. She had a reputation for her indifference to all of that ooey-gooey mushy romantic crap and yet here she was, confessing that she was the exact opposite. She felt like a complete tool - lying to herself and others about that "tough girl" facade she always flaunted so feistily.

Soarin' blushed and chuckled, scratching the back of his head nervously with one hoof. "Yeah, you really are a wild animal, aren't you?" He said, smiling. Seeing her friend flash his trademark happy-go-lucky grin couldn't help but make Spitfire smile a bit herself, quickly dissipating that angsty dark cloud that loomed over her during her confession.

"Yeah, you know me: 'Spitfire: The Burning Beauty and Beast"..." She chuckled lightheartedly, remembering that extraordinarily corny nickname that the Ponyville Express gave her when she first joined the team.

"Yeah, you really live up to your name..." Soarin' said, smiling. "But seriously, there is really no shame in feeling so lovey-dovey about whoever you're...well...in love with! That's just natural. You and I both know that, so what are you so afraid of?"

Soarin's question bored into Spitfire's psyche, extracting a couple gems of truth from her mouth. "What I'm afraid of is...is what may happen if I come onto her and she says 'no' and I end up scaring her away..." Said Spitfire, who was as confused about her own feelings as much as Soarin' was. "...That's pretty normal, I guess. But it still feels like there are more things that I'm afraid of and I have no idea as to what they are."

A concerned frown grew from Soarin's face. "Well...I guess all you can really do is just...wait it out and...see what happens..." He said, unsure about how to respond to his friend's question, let alone properly express his own thoughts. "Maybe it's best if you just cross those bridges when you come to them; It's just like what our old coach used to say: 'You'll miss the target if you keep worrying about where it is.' Or something along those lines..." The stallion scratched his chin, reflecting on those words. "But aside from that, just know that it wasn't our fault that the Gala was full of stuck-up jerks that kept dragging us away for autographs. And you know that it was never your fault if it was never your intention..." Soarin' then gave the yellow mare the most heartwarming look of approval as "humanly" possible.

Spitfire gave him a weak smile. "Thanks, Soarin'..." She said, raising his body heat and stretching his wings with a gentle kiss on his nose. "...You're always wiser and smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"I..err...umm...Y-you're welcome, S-Spitfire..." Stammered Soarin', blushing furiously as the kiss sent blood rushing towards his wings, face and sensitive side.

"Now let's go and see if they brought in that Kareoke machine, okay?"

"Of course, Spitz. Lead the way!"

The two happily trotted back into the ballroom, their spirits enlivened and free of any doubt that this would truly be the best night ever for Rainbow Dash. Tonight, all eyes will be set upon her and Spitfire and nopony else. It was her night and there was absolutely nothing that could possibly go wrong...