Chapter 2: Do You Want To
“Captain?” Fleetfoot pushed her question on to Spitfire, “Do you like him?”
Spitfire coughed. After it passed, she took another drink of her whisky, finishing the beverage off. “What did I tell you about calling me, ‘captain’? Anyway, to answer, it’s complicated,” the orange mare leaned more onto the bar, trying not to become dizzy from the alcohol she just took in.
“Complicated, huh?” the white maned pegasus seemed interested, “Do share!”
“After I get another drink. Barkeep! One more Crown Royalty, on the rocks this time!” Spitfire shouted out to the stallion behind the bar.
The brown pony behind the counter trotted up to the two female Wonderbolts, “Sorry, Spitfire, I’m going to have to cut you off. Don’t want your liver to fail on ya.”
A scoff escaped the orange mare’s lips, “Alright, alright, I’ll stop with the sauce. Can I at least get some water then? I’m sure I’m gonna need it.”
“Right away,” the bartender took out a glass and filled it with water for the Wonderbolt.
“Thanks,” Spitfire said as she took the glass of water. Taking a sip of the water, she sighed.
“Alright, so you got the drink, now spill, what’s with you and Soarin?” Fleetfoot edged on.
Spitfire looked down at the wooden surface of the bar. “Soarin and I go way back. The two of us grew up in Cloudsdale and met on the middle school flight team. It was pretty cool back then, we had a friendly rivalry. We would always try to one up each other. It was simple then.”
The blue mare grinned, “That sounds like it was really awesome.”
“It was, until puberty had to stomp its hoof down. I saw Soarin as more than just a teammate and a friend, but as a stallion,” Spitfire took a drink of her water.
“So?”
The fiery mane on Spitfire flew around as she quickly turned her head to Fleetfoot, “So? Don’t tell me you haven’t had feelings for somepony.”
“Well, actually I’m seeing somepony now,” Fleetfoot’s face grew a pink tint as she began to act bashful, “He really is something….”
“How in Celestia’s name did you meet this special somepony?” the orange pony raised an eyebrow.
Fleetfoot sheepishly smiled, “Oh, we just happened to bump into each other in Ponyville….well, rather I happened to crash into him. Oh, he’s just so handsome and rugged, and so dreamy….”
Spitfire rolled her eyes, “Sorry I asked.”
“I’m sorry, Spitfire, go on.”
“Anyway, when I saw him as more than just a friend, things just got weird for me. It’s why I tried to distance myself from him. We were still friends and what not throughout school, but I just had to hide how I felt and all,” Spitfire sighed heavily into her water glass, “Went the coward way about it. Not exactly happy about that.”
“I see,” the blue pegasus nodded as she listened.
“And from there, the two of us just happened to get in the Wonderbolts. Nothing else much to say that,” the orange mare finished with a cough, taking a drink of her water.
Fleetfoot was quiet as she nodded. Both ponies sat in silence after Spitfire’s ending statement, unsure of what to say.
Across the bar, music began planning from the jukebox. A few stallions started dancing and signing along with the song. Their voices carried across the bar, “When I woke up tonight, I said I’m gonna make somepony love me. I’m gonna make somepony love me. And now I know, now I know, now I know, I know that it’s you. You’re lucky lucky, you’re so lucky!”
The main riff of the song was causing Spitfire to tap her hoof on the surface of the bar. “Do you know who plays this song, Fleetfoot? They sound really familiar.”
“Yeah, they’re Friesian Ferdinand. This is one of their more well-known songs, ‘Do You Want To’,” Fleetfoot recalled.
Spitfire started to hum the tune along with the stallions who were drunkenly singing over by the jukebox. With another cough, she continued,“Oh, okay then.”
Fleetfoot was also swaying along to the song. However, she continued her question, “Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking a similar question that the song is asking, but do you want to tell Soarin how you feel?”
Spitfire took another drink of her water as the song’s music and lyrics continued to cause her to move. She continued to look down and away from her teammate. Her hoof continued to keep the beat as she answered, “Half of me does, yet the other half doesn’t. I’ve liked him since, well, you know. But I’m worried that it will complicate friendship, that’s exactly what I was thinking back then and I still am worried about it.” The mare looked over to see that all but one other Wonderbolts had left the bar, leaving Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rapidfire who was sitting on the far end of the bar, flirting with a pony. Spitfire added one last thing, “And now that I’m captain of the Wonderbolts, I could do so much worse.”
“I guess I see why you are hesitant about telling then, Spitfire. It can’t be easy to hold on to those feelings for so long,” Fleetfoot commented.
The orange mare mumbled incoherently before she finished her water.
“Maybe I can help you out with telling Soarin how you feel,” the blue Wonderbolt stated.
“Huh?”
“Think about it! I was able to tell my coltfriend how I felt after my concussion and now look at us; we’ve been dating for a number of months now! He’s just so wonderful. Kind, caring, gorgeous, and he has such a way with words too,” Fleetfoot’s words were full of love as she spoke of her special somepony, “Oh, I simply can’t wait to see him again with his bold red coat!”
Spitfire glared at the blue pony, “First off, you’re a helpless romantic. Second, I don’t need your help with this.” Turning her head away, Spitfire coughed a couple times after her statement.
“Are you sure? Don’t you want to tell him how you feel before he leaves?”
“What’s the big deal? He’s going to be gone for the summer, that’s it. If I really have to tell him anything, I can wait until he gets back. Otherwise, I have no reason to tell him anything,” Spitfire explained herself as she hopped down from the barstool.
Fleetfoot looked concernedly to her superior, “If you say so, ma’am.”
Carefully balancing on her hooves, Spitfire slowly started trotting towards the door, “I do. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow at practice, Fleetfoot.”
“Yes, Captain!” Fleetfoot raised her hoof up to salute.
Spitfire turned around to speak, “I told you to not call me tha….oh whatever, I give up.”