Chapter 1---
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The ballroom lay in ruins. Chunks of marble littered the tiled floor, scattered around in broken heaps that nearly meshed together to create a solid blanket of rubble. The local band's instruments, dented and fractured far beyond recognition, lay in assymetrical positions around the room. Many of the animals from the garden still skittered about through various rooms, their loosely-aimed sprints unceasing until they'd explored every last nook and cranny within the castle walls, leaving muddy pawprints everywhere. Many of the royal guards and servants were tending to the enormous mess, for the most part ignoring the animals, but the occasional shout and hoof chase was not uncommon. After the pillars collapsed, most of the remaining partygoers had moved outside into the still-intact garden, small groups of ponies still gossiping and chatting about the six mares who were responsible for this disaster.
Holding glasses of punch in their hooves and still contemplating shock, two of the most famous ponies in all of Equestria stood, pondering what had just happened. Spitfire and Soarin were likely to be the most-loved ponies on the Wonderbolts team. Spitfire was the flight group's first ever female captain; that alone was obviously enough for the public to adore her. But Soarin was a whole other ball game; he'd only been in the Wonderbolts for little over a year. His group aerodynamics needed some patching up, but his speed and stamina when going solo more than compensated for it. Plus, he had never had a problem with being the youngest flyer to join the team in fifteen years. For that very reason, mares and fillies of all ages would squee in delight when he trotted by. You'd think a young stallion like him would enjoy that, but Soarin thought it a tad annoying. Still, he'd learned over time how to drown it out with thoughts of pastries such as pie, and other sweet beverages.
The young Wonderbolt's stomach growled at him. Even the thought of such wonderful, delicious things made him feel hungry. His emerald green eyes glanced out the nearby window, and sure enough, Luna's beautiful night sky was sparkled with stars, the moon high at its centre. He sighed and moved out towards the balcony, either unaware or uncaring of the pair of eyes trailing him. The rush of cold that ruffled his midnight-blue mane when he opened the balcony door made him shiver, but he ignored it. Soarin stepped out into the open sky and lent his forelegs against the guard rail. Taking a deep breath, he let himself be calmed by the fresh air of the night.
"Well, this has been a complete screw-up." The dejected colt muttered aloud, quickly downing the last of his punch like one would with whiskey, before tossing the empty cup over the edge of the balcony. He leaned his chin on his hooves again, propped up by his elbows this time, and stared up into the endless night sky. "If only I'd have tried harder to talk to her..." He wanted nothing more than to be alone at that moment, but alas, such things can become quite difficult when you're famous.
"Hey Soarin, What are you doing out- Ugh!.... g-great Celestia it's cold!" though he heard Spitfire exclaim and shiver behind him, he didn't look back. His thoughts were too preoccupied.
When Soarin didn't respond to Spitfire's next comment, she trotted up behind him and poked the back of his wing. He jerked upright and span around with a small yelp. She laughed.
"Skipping the midnight snack are we, or are you finally too full to eat another pie?"
"Hm?...Oh. Uh, well, I guess so." Soarin looked back up at the moon, his eyes glazed over as if he didn't really care either way. She frowned slightly. He wasn't his usual perky self tonight. Come to think of it, his mind had seemed completely preoccupied for the entire night after that blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash, saved his pie from splattering all over the floor. Sure, he'd eaten that thing just as eagerly as always, but she saw hesitance, as if he was eating the pie solely through sub-conscious habit.
"What's up, Soarin? There's been something on your mind all night, I can tell... You've been too quiet." She asked playfully, taking a sip of her punch. The young Wonderbolt sighed for what must have been the hundredth time since the destruction of the ballroom.
"Well, I... I just...I..." There was that hesitance again. "-You...You know that filly, Rinbow Dash?"
She smirked at him. "Yeees."
Spitfire watched the youngest member of her team trace imaginary circles on the rail he was leaning against. "...Well... I kinda... wanted to... say something to her... tonight..." his voice grew ever softer and more timid. "...But then all this crazy stuff kept happening, and I couldn't find a chance to be with her. And, after the party got thrown into chaos, she just... disappeared! ...The...The weirdest thing is...I-I can't stop thinking about her..." He went back to tracing circles as an excuse to not look at his captain. Spitfire stifled a proud chuckle. Soarin was a colt of high standards. He could get any mare he liked, but when it came down to it, he had no idea how much some ponies would give to go on a date with him.
"Eh, don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fult the Gala is always this-..." Spitfire cut herself short when a sharp annoying glint struck her gaze and momentarily blinded her. The yellow pony leaned over the rail in sudden curiosity, and looked down. There, at the entrance to the castle doors, was a solution to all her teammate's problems. Well, at least some of them. Either way, her face lit up in a huge grin as an epiphany hit her.
"...Soarin?"
"H-huh?"
"When was the last time you had a vacation? Or rather, a few days off?"
Soarin shrugged. "I dunno. I think I haven't actually had one since I joined." His expression suddenly changed from shy and hesitant to confused. "What are you getting at?"
Spitfire grinned. "I want you, to take at least the next week off-" Soarin began to interrupt, but was quickly cut short "-Nope! I won't hear a word of it! You are taking a week off to go find that mare of yours, starting TONIGHT, and that's an order!" Even under his suit, Spitfire could still see Soarin's face burning bright red as he stammered to find his next words.
"W-Well, I-I don't-...uhm."
"Look Soarin, I've seen and had my share of romances; it's time YOU got away from all this publicity and took some time for yourself. Besides, It's obvious you like that enthusiastic little mare. And the only way you're gonna get the girl, is if you go out there and FIND her." She moved his head with one hoof, and pointed at the shining glint below with the other. Then, giving him a quick hug he barely even acknowledged, she headed back inside.
Soarin was more than gobsmacked to say the least. Not only had Spitfire figured him out in but a second, but she had let him out of an entire WEEK of arduous training and drills! Now, he'd always admired Spitfire and all, but this was just AWESOME!! Over the past month, he and the rest of the team have had to put in an extra amount of effort into new stunts and acrobatics they'd been working on for an upcoming show in Canterlot. They'd spent hours on end training and training, and until one perfects such things, life is nothing short of exhausting!
Soarin shook his head to clear those thoughts. If he was going to have the next week off, he'd might as well make the most of it and forget about training for a while. Now... what was he supposed to be thinking about again...? Oh, right, the glinty thingy. What was that anyway?
The cool night's breeze ruffled his feathers as the young Wonderbolt glided lazily down to the main entrance of the castle. Usually, he would have given the royal guards standing at the door some pestering at their stiff posts, but his mind was too ablaze to even think about it. The closer he got to the shining object, the more he came to realize what it was.
Rainbow Dash's head crest!
"... She must have dropped it on her way out." he muttered to himself. After glancing around as if someone was going to accuse him of stealing, Soarin picked up the head piece and clipped it back together, admiring how the moon's light reflected off its surface. Tucking it under his wing for safe keeping, he made his way down the last flight of stairs and headed towards the Wonderbolts' portable tent.
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Authors note~-
Eh... I know it's short. I feel like it was kinda rushed and I don’t think I got Spitfire’s personality quite right either. But In any case, I hope you liked it and feel free to leave a comment ^.^