Spitfire hummed as she walked the streets of Manehattan, unbearable boredom having driven her from the hotel very quickly after she had awoken that morning. After raiding the complimentary breakfast the establishment provided in the lobby, she had been struck with a bit of wanderlust. Spitfire struggled to recall the last time she truly had no responsibilities to anypony but herself and, thusly, the opportunity to satiate such a desire. She glanced at her injured wing in disappointment.
Glancing upwards, she noticed the Manehattan skies were abuzz with activity. From Spitfire’s position on the ground, it appeared as though Rainbow was making good on her promise to kick some flanks in the weather crews. Dozens of pegasi filled the sky above her. Ponies in blue and orange vests worked in small teams to bring clouds down below the reach of the trade winds to heights of only a few hundred feet above the buildings.
Spitfire occasionally spotted a faint rainbow contrail darting from team to team, never staying in one spot for more than a minute or two before disappearing in a multicolored flash. Spitfire smiled, glad the young pegasus seemed to be having success in her new role. She looked forward to seeing Rainbow tomorrow evening and speak to her about her newfound job.
Seeing the weather manager talk about her work, the frustration in her eyes at the little mistakes, and the burning passion to make things better all reminded Spitfire of her own passion for her work. She gave the Wonderbolts everything she had both in the air and behind the scenes. To her, there was simply nothing more beautiful than seeing a pony practicing their craft with skill and passion. Spitfire sighed; Wednesday night suddenly couldn’t arrive fast enough.
She wandered the streets for the better part of the morning, window shopping as she moved from block to block. After stopping in an outdoor diner for a light lunch consisting of a fruit salad and fresh lemonade, she made her way to one of the smaller parks that had a good view of the sky. She wasn’t terribly surprised to see a dozen or so young fillies and colts playing in and around the small playground, their respective parents or foalsitters lingering a small distance away.
Spitfire found herself a nice spot of soft grass under the shade of a large oak tree. Lying on her back, she put her forelegs up behind her head and sighed contentedly. There were few ‘wild’ clouds in Equestria—a well-managed weather team ensured that—but that had never stopped Spitfire from enjoying watching the weather teams do their work. Perhaps Rainbow had been right: the clouds were much nicer to watch up close.
“Captain Spitfire?” a stallion called from somewhere she couldn’t see.
‘Oh buck me…’ She cringed internally upon sitting up to get a look at the stallion. He had a rusty brown coat with a brown mane and soft brown eyes. Spitfire was suddenly glad she had forgotten to put a fresh bandage on her wing when she rolled out of bed that morning.
“Red Top...” She regarded him coldly as she brought herself to a sitting position. “What brings you here?”
“Hey,” he said feigning a hurt look. “I take a day off now and then.”
“In a park?” She asked in cold monotone.
Red Top sighed and pointed to a small unicorn filly and colt playing tag around the playground. The colt was a spitting image of Red Top, the same unkempt brown mane, and the same rusty brown coat. The filly’s coat was tan, her mane a light silver color. Both were too young to have earned their cutie marks yet. Spitfire shot Red Top an incredulous glare.
Red Top noticed the look. “I’m out with my kids,” he noted with a proud smile. Noticing Spitfire’s withering look, he frowned “What? Is it really so hard to believe I have a family?”
“Well, given your…uh…work,” Spitfire answered carefully.
Red Top laughed. “Fair point, but we all do what we must to pay the bills. Tell me, Captain...” He sat beside her, his eyes keeping track of his children. “Word has it that a Wonderbolt was in the hospital the other day for an unspecified injury, and you were absent from the team’s last show. Care to shed some light on it?”
“For inquiries about internal team matters, talk to our press office,” Spitfire answered evenly.
“Yeah, but I have the team’s captain sitting right here,” Red Top noted with a smirk. “The team captain who mysteriously misses the last performance of the season around the same time I get a tip about an injury on the active roster. Tell me, Spitfire, what brings a Wonderbolt to the ground?”
Spitfire had to force herself to look bored, a task not made easy by the potent mixture of anxiety and irritation the questions caused. She certainly didn’t like Red Top, but she could at least respect the nosey unicorn’s gift for sniffing out stories. Arcus had made it very clear he was to be avoided, but he hadn’t given her any detail on what to do if he stumbled across her. The wrong answer could very easily end her career, and she wasn’t about to kick a pony where his children could see. With a sigh, Spitfire decided to roll the dice and make something up.
“Health issues among team members is privileged information; if that pony wanted their health to be public knowledge, then you would know.”
“Fair enough,” Red conceded politely. “What about you?”
“I’m just here on holiday,” Spitfire half-lied.
Red Top cast a disbelieving glance at her.
“What?” She squawked. “I take them from time to time.” She emphasized her point by returning to her relaxed position to watch a group of cloud pushers haul a large nimbus from the height of the trade winds to only a few hundred feet.
“Not a lot of pegasi cloud watch from the ground,” he noted.
Spitfire smirked; it hadn’t been an accusation, just a statement of fact. Most pegasi didn’t watch the clouds from the perspective of the so-called ‘ground pounders’.
“Point being?” she replied, doing her best to maintain a disinterested tone.
“No point,” Red top answered casually. “Just an observation.”
Spitfire shrugged.
“Well, enjoy your vacation, Captain. I’ll certainly be in touch if there’s any news.” He smiled politely before trotting away.
Spitfire held her breath until she was sure he was gone, releasing it in a long sigh.
“Too close,” she mumbled wearily. “That was too close.”
She gazed up to the sky, her attention loosely focused on a group of pegasi that were maneuvering smaller clouds around to provide even coverage. She didn’t see a hint of Rainbow anywhere, probably a good sign for the young weather manager. To be busy was far better than to be bored, and Spitfire was quickly earning a PhD in boredom.
With a groan, she rose back to her hooves and shook the grass from her coat. She needed to find something more active to do. As Spitfire left the park, she cast an annoyed look at the terrestrial ponies that surrounded her.
‘How do you ponies live without wings?’ she wondered, gritting her teeth in frustration.
She wandered through the city for a while longer, noting a couple of promising venues for Wednesday, before ultimately making her way back to the Manehattan stadium. The security ponies guarding the staff entrance immediately recognized Spitfire and let her pass without interruption.
As she trotted through the concrete hallways, she couldn’t help but smile when the familiar sounds of arguing drifted to her ears. It probably wasn’t a good sign for her long term mental health that she enjoyed this sort of thing. Pushing her way through a set of wooden doors that led to a large conference room where the team held their meetings, she found herself suddenly the focus of attention.
“Boss!” Misty exclaimed loudly, tackling Spitfire to the ground before the poor mare had a chance to react. “You gotta save us boss!”
“Misty…ow…” Spitfire cringed as she disentangled herself from the canary-colored mare. “Save you from what now?”
“Screw them, save me!” Rapid shouted from his position at one end of a conference table. Soarin’, directly opposite of him, sported a wicked smile.
“Heya Boss!” Soarin’ smiled at her quickly before returning his attention to Rapidfire.
“Oh-kay. I think I’m missing some vital details,” Spitfire mused out loud.
“Tomorrow is media day,” Soarin’ explained. “Misty, Fleetfoot, and Rapid drew the short straws.”
“Ah,” Spitfire clucked, an amused smirk teasing the corners of her mouth. Media day was the worst of all the off-season days for the team: a full twelve hours of interviews and photo shoots. Nopony on the team liked it, though some were certainly more…dramatic than others.
“P-please boss, you gotta save us,” Misty mewled, her bottom lip quivering and her eyes swimming in unshed tears.
Spitfire groaned and pressed a hoof to her forehead. “Misty, stop the waterworks. It’s not nearly as persuasive as it used to be.”
Misty sighed and flopped onto her belly. “Killjoy,” she pouted.
“Yup, that’s why I get paid the big bits,” Spitfire boasted, patting Misty’s head gently.
“I did it last year though,” she moaned like a filly faced with the prospect of visiting an antique store. “Make Blaze do it.”
“Come on, Spits, I’m your brother!” Rapid pleaded from across the room. “Pretty please?”
“Medical leave, not my problem,” Spitfire smiled. “Besides, Soarin’s the boss now. Kiss his plot, not mine.”
“Aww,” Rapidfire pouted, “but … but his plot is s—”
“Finish that sentence and I will sell your pinions to the local library,” Soarin growled.
“For pete’s sake,” Spitfire groaned. “By the power vested in me as Captain emerita, I now pronounce you two husband and wife.” She waved her hoof at them in a blessing manner.
Misty burst into giggles at Spitfire’s hooves while Soarin’ and Rapidfire exchanged an uncomfortable look. Their silence only lasted until Rapid’s trademark smirk emerged.
“I call husband!” he grinned, winking at Soarin’.
“I’m bigger than you,” Soarin’ leered, ignoring the burst of giggles from the two gutter-brained mares in the room.
“Yeah, but you’re soft like a mare,” he smiled back.
The larger stallion was taken aback momentarily until he hit upon an idea. He leaned to the side in a relaxed posture, flashing Rapid his most demure smile and bedroom eyes.
The shift in his attitude left Rapidfire suddenly very uncomfortable.
“Oh honey,” Soarin’ purred in a voice that seemed factory-built to make mares swoon, his wings relaxing into a low, halfway open posture that pegasi generally displayed at moments of intimacy. “Be a dear and help me, just this once?”
Spitfire nudged Misty, who was transfixed by the scene in front of her. “Go get a camera, right now. This is gonna be hilarious,” she whispered.
“Get it yourself; I’m actually enjoying the show,” Misty shot back.
Spitfire rolled her eyes, but didn’t press the issue. She wasn’t about to miss how this ended. Soarin’ sauntered his way over to Rapidfire, who had unfortunately wedged himself in the corner of the room and had a look on his face that was roughly akin to a trapped mouse with an approaching cat.
“C-come on now, Blue.” He held up his hooves in surrender. “We can talk about this.”
Soarin’ didn’t stop as he encroached into Rapid’s personal space. Rapidfire squeaked uncomfortably when the larger stallion wrapped a foreleg around his shoulders and pulled him close. Soarin’ started to speak again, but was interrupted when Rapidfire planted a big wet kiss right on his lips.
“Gah!” both stallions recoiled, Soarin’ leaping away like he’d been burned.
“Celestia’s great flaming teats... Dude, what was that!?” Soarin’ yelled, frantically trying to scrape the taste off his mouth.
“Oh stick a sock in it. I was just calling you on your bluff,” an equally-miserable Rapidfire answered.
“Uhg, didn’t your mother ever teach you to brush your teeth?”
“Hey now, you’re no prize either! That apple pie isn’t nearly as good from this end.”
“I will give you five hundred bits to do that with tongue!” Misty interjected between fits of laughter.
“A thousand if you do it on camera,” Spitfire added.
“What kind of sister are you?” Rapidfire stared flatly at his twin.
“Hey, you kissed him all on your own.” She sniffled melodramatically and wiped a fake tear from her eye. “I’m so proud.”
Rapidfire glowered at the mare for a moment before exchanging a look with Soarin’. Both stallions smirked, finding themselves in a rare moment of understanding.
“Alright Spits,” Rapid started, the sentiment earning both mares sudden attention. “I’ll make out with Soarin’ if Misty makes out with you.”
“What?” Misty balked. “Leave me outta this!”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Spitfire asked. “I mean, come on Rapid, I kiss mares on my own time.”
“She’s got a point,” Soarin’ nodded. “Oh! We should get Surprise in on this! She might go for it.”
“Okay... I’m just gonna’ leave now before this gets really creepy,” Misty said, slowly retreating from the room.
An awkward silence settled on the three after Misty left, eventually Spitfire broke it with a chuckle.
“I knew you two would be a cute couple.” She smiled, causing both stallions to groan and slink away from each other.
“I’m thinking divorce sounds good,” Rapidfire grumbled.
“Yeah, irreconcilable differences and stuff,” Soarin agreed.
“Wimps,” Spitfire smirked. “So, the last few minutes notwithstanding, how are things going here?”
“It’s only been a day, sis,” Rapidfire laughed. “Give us time to mess things up a bit.”
“I got bored. Sue me.” She shrugged.
“Hey, I know what I’m doing,” Soarin’ pouted.
“I stopped by to check on you yesterday,” Rapid said as he trotted up to give his sister a hug, which she returned. “Left you a note.”
“I saw. Thanks for taking the uniform to get cleaned. I’ve been meaning to do that,” Spitfire replied.
“So I noticed. What’d you do yesterday? Have any fun?” Rapid asked.
Spitfire found herself hesitating, unsure of exactly how much, or how little to tell them. Suddenly visiting the team no longer seemed like the best idea. Then again, Rapidfire was her brother, and Soarin’ was probably her closest friend. She trusted them both more than any living creature. She couldn’t say she was in a relationship with Rainbow Dash. One date certainly wasn’t enough for that. But Rainbow wasn’t exactly the most subtle pony Spitfire had ever met, and given how active she was in the skies it was only a matter of time before somepony on the team spotted her.
“Yeah…yeah it was a great day.” She used her rear hoof to kick the door closed.
“Okay, spill it. What happened?” Rapidfire eyed her knowingly.
“Well, I kinda… Ok, you two need to keep this a secret for now; especially from Blaze and Fleetfoot.”
“Huh?” Soarin’s face scrunched in confusion.
“Yesterday I wasn’t in my hotel ‘cause I was hanging out with Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire confessed in a mumble, her words flowing together so quickly that it was difficult to tell them apart.
Both Rapidfire and Soarin’s jaws fell open.
“She’s in town!?” Rapid exclaimed, a massive grin spreading across his.
“Yeah, she’s running the weather team here for a couple months,” Spitfire explained.
“That’s awesome!” Soarin’ grinned.
“Yeah, I’m meeting her again tomorrow.”
Rapidfire’s excitement quickly turned to concern. “Like, ‘hangout’ meet, or ‘date’ meet?”
“Uh…”
“Oh no. Spits…” He put his head in his hooves. Soarin’ just shook his head.
“Hey, it’s not like I haven’t dated a mare before.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t just any mare,” Soarin’ pointed out.
“Arcus will have a bird when he finds out,” Rapid noted blithely. Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Would it have killed you to keep out of trouble just once?”
“Alright look, first of all, it’s just a date. To the casual observer it would just look like two ponies having dinner and talking. Second, it’s not like I’m gonna sing a sappy love song in a karaoke bar then stick my tongue in her mouth and ask for her hoof in marriage. Thirdly, neither of us are in town for more than a couple of months, so I’ll be surprised if this lasts to a third date. Either way, I know what I’m doing. So can it, Rapid.” Spitfire said through gritted teeth.
Rapidfire locked eyes with his sister for a long moment before he let out a sigh and pulled her into another hug. “I just don’t wanna see you get hurt again.”
Spitfire returned the embrace, her mind drifting to unhappy memories.
“Never again,” Spitfire muttered. “I’ll never let that happen again.”