//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: I Smell a Rat // Story: Fleeting Romance // by Sketchy Changeling //------------------------------// Fleetfoot and Cory continued to stare at the headline as it was displayed on the television screen. They then looked up to see who was reporting the story, and their eyes widened even more, if that was even possible. It was an earth mare that had a short black mane and tail with a gray coat. “Good morning, Canterlot,” she said with a disarmingly happy demeanor. “I’m Inkblot, and here’s your daily celebrity gossip.” Fleetfoot nearly choked on her food when the mare said her name. “I knew I recognized her! That’s the mare from the party!” she thought. “In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Royal Sisters held a garden party last week, and everypony’s still talking about it today,” said Inkblot. “The sisters were even generous enough to provide every invitation with a plus-one pass, and some ponies have taken advantage of that. I had the pleasure of meeting the Wonderbolts right when the party was about to end, and I saw that there was one pony, or should I say person, that was with them that caught my attention. The Wonderbolts said that he was merely their companion for the evening, but thanks to an anonymous tip, I’ve found out that this mysterious human is actually the boyfriend of the Wonderbolt Fleetfoot.” Fleetfoot began to rub her temples, “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening,” she repeated to herself. “The tipper couldn’t give me the human’s name,” Inkblot continued, “but I was able to catch a picture of Fleetfoot and her beau getting into a carriage limo with the other Wonderbolts.” As the mare said that, a picture of the scene she described appeared on the screen. If it was any consolation, it was very dark at the time, the only illumination coming from inside the carriage, and Fleetfoot and Cory’s backs were turned to the camera. “We’ll have more on this story as new information surfaces,” Inkblot said before Fleetfoot muted the TV and slammed the remote on the table. “That BITCH!!!” she shouted and she clenched her free hand into a fist. “I swear to Celestia, if I see her on the street-” “What I don’t get is who she got that tip from, and why they didn’t mention my name…” Cory pondered. Fleetfoot let out a deep sigh and calmed herself down a little. “Well, the tipper probably didn’t give your name in case we decided to look for him or her. You don’t know that many ponies in Canterlot, so that would really narrow down the search.” “Withholding my name wouldn’t help, though,” Cory said. “It’s obvious that it had to have been somepony that knew about our relationship.” “Well, we’ll find out who ratted us out, Cory, whoever it was,” Fleetfoot vowed. “And then what?” he asked. “… I don’t know…”she said after a pause. “I should get going.” “Hold on,” Cory said as he ran upstairs to his room. He came downstairs a minute later and tossed something to Fleetfoot, after taking a good look at it, she saw that it was a black hoodie. “Here’s a pair of shades, too,” Cory said. “It’d be a bad idea to stay here, but you can’t go out in the open, either, so this should keep anypony from recognizing you. If you fly to the hotel, it’ll help even more.” Fleetfoot looked up at him lovingly. “Thanks, sweetie,” she said. “No problem,” he replied. Fleetfoot threw on the hoodie, put the shades on, and pulled the hood over her head. Cory walked her up to his bedroom window and opened it for her. Not a word was exchanged as she zipped out the window towards the hotel. “That BITCH!!!” Blaze yelled. She and the other Wonderbolts were all in Spitfire and Fleetfoot’s hotel room, watching Inkblot’s gossip exposé. “Who does she think she is, taking pictures when nopony’s looking!?” “Damn, Blaze. If you’re this mad, I don’t even want to know how Fleetfoot reacted, assuming she’s seen this,” said Soarin. “Where is Fleetfoot, anyway?” asked Misty Fly. “I don’t know,” Spitfire answered. “I haven’t seen her since last night. She said was going to Cory’s because she forgot to give him his pass to the flying competition.” “You don’t think…” Misty trailed off. “Looks like Fleetfoot had a sleepover at Cory’s house,” Soarin said with a laugh, and Rapidfire choked on his morning coffee. “You okay, Rapid?” Soarin asked. “I’m fine,” he said bitterly. Soarin didn’t hear the venom in his voice, but Blaze picked it up in a heartbeat, and she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “Anyway,” she said, not taking her eyes off him, “I’d like to know who tipped the media. Whoever they are, I hope they covered their tracks, for their sake.” “Regardless, we’ll just have to help Fleetfoot through this,” Spitfire said. “Well, I’m going back to my room,” said Rapidfire. “I’ll catch up with you later, Rapid,” said Soarin. “I’m gonna head out, too,” said Blaze. She looked at Misty and signaled for her to follow, and the young mare picked up on the hint. “Oh, me too,” she said as she followed Blaze out of the room. “Where are we going?” she asked once they were out in the hallway. “You’ll see, kid,” she answered as she led Misty down the hall and caught up with the pony she wanted to see. “Hey, Rapidfire!” she called out. The stallion was just opening the door to the room that he and Soarin shared. “Yeah, Blaze?” he answered. “I need to talk to you for a sec,” she said, and she let herself and Misty into his room. “Sure,” he said cautiously as he closed the door behind him. “I noticed your reaction when you heard that Fleetfoot spent the night at Cory’s house,” said Blaze. “That was quite the response.” “I was surprised,” Rapidfire said. The mare scoffed at him. “I’d would be too, if I were you. I bet that’s the last thing you wanted to happen, especially after selling Fleetfoot out to the press.” Misty Fly gasped and Rapidfire’s ear twitched as he turned to look at Blaze. “How did you find out?” he asked. “I was never really sure,” she replied. “I just acted on a hunch. I knew that you didn’t like Cory, but that wasn’t enough to prove it was you, so I just took a guess, and I happened to be right.” “Rapidfire, how could you?” Misty asked. “Because I think that Fleetfoot deserves better,” the stallion argued. “Don’t give us that bullshit,” Blaze snapped. “You think that Fleetfoot deserves you.” “It all makes sense now,” Misty said, more to herself than to the others. “You barely say a word when Cory’s around, and you’ve been so bitter ever since we met him. It was so obvious, and we didn’t even notice!” “I warned you that you were gonna regret meddling in other ponies’ business, Rapidfire,” Blaze threatened. “What, are you gonna tell on me?” the stallion retorted. “Real mature, Blaze.” “As much as I should, and as much as I want to, I won’t tell anypony,” she said. Misty Fly’s eyes widened at this. “What!? But Blaze-” Blaze raised her hand in front of her, and Misty promptly stopped talking. “I’m only keeping quiet because I know that Fleetfoot is gonna find out on her own. If not now, then later. Once she does, she’ll never forgive you, and I think that’s punishment enough. You’ve done nothing but dig your own grave, Rapidfire.” Without another word, Blaze stormed out of the room, with Misty following close behind. The older mare slammed the door as hard as she could, leaving Rapidfire to his own thoughts. Meanwhile, in Spitfire’s room, she and Soarin were still talking about what they had just seen on the news. “I was afraid this would happen,” the captain lamented. “I knew that their relationship would eventually get out.” “It wasn’t her fault, though,” Soarin reminded her. “Somepony sold her out.” “You implying that I did it?” she asked, sounding a little offended. “No, no!” Soarin said, waving his arms in front of him and shaking his head. “I know you wouldn’t do that. I’ve seen how well you and Cory have been getting along since we all went out to dinner last month. I know that you trust him with Fleetfoot.” “So what are you trying to say?” she asked. The stallion sighed. Why did Spitfire always have to assume that there was some hidden meaning behind everything he said? Then again, it was one of the things he liked about her. “If I’m trying to say anything, it’s that you shouldn’t be too hard on Fleetfoot when you see her. Try to think about how she feels. I know you’re mad, but-” “I’m not mad at her,” she interrupted. “I’m just mad that she and Cory have to go through the same hell we went through. All this exposure is gonna ruin their relationship.” “That’s not necessarily true,” Soarin said. “If they try, they can get through this. They don’t have to just give up.” Spitfire merely stayed quiet as the words sunk in. “Funny,” Soarin thought. “The one time that there was a hidden meaning behind what I said, she doesn’t say a word.” Just then, Soarin and Spitfire saw something coming towards the balcony. It looked as though somepony was flying towards them, but they couldn’t recognize who it was. Whoever the pony was, the black hood and shades combined with the shadows completely obscured their face from view. “Who is that?” Soarin asked. “I dunno,” Spitfire answered, “but I have an idea of who it might be.” She got up and walked towards the glass door leading to the balcony. After unlocking it, she opened the door and waited for the hooded pony to reach her. The pony gently touched down on the balcony and removed her hood and shades. “Fleetfoot?” Spitfire asked. “I’ll give you two some time alone,” Soarin said as he got up and left the room. Spitfire led Fleetfoot into the room, and Fleetfoot sat on her bed, placing a hand on her forehead. “I saw the news,” the captain said. “We all did.” Fleetfoot said nothing. “What’s wrong?” Spitfire asked her. “Nothing,” she said. “Just preparing for the shitstorm.” “I’m not mad, Fleetie.” “How could you not be mad? You told me that all this would happen and it did.” “Yeah, but it wasn’t your fault,” Spitfire said consolingly. “Why didn’t you come back last night?” “Well, I went to Cory’s to give him his ticket, like I told you, but then we started talking… and I ended up staying the night,” Fleetfoot nervously explained. “Hopefully she won’t ask if we did anything else,” she thought. “I wonder if they… Nah, they wouldn’t,” Spitfire thought. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” the small mare said desperately. “I don’t want drag Cory into all this drama, but I don’t want our relationship to end, either.” “You don’t want to end up like me and Soarin,” said Spitfire. Fleetfoot shook her head. “No, I don’t. I know it was a mutual thing between you two, but-” Spitfire didn’t really catch the rest of what her friend was saying. The word “mutual” was stuck in her head. All this time, everypony thought that her breakup with Soarin was mutual, when it was anything but. “Fleetie,” she said somberly. “Yeah?” “There’s something that you should know about me and Soarin,” the bigger mare said as Fleetfoot looked at her with a questioning look on her face. “He and I… our breakup wasn’t mutual at all.” “It wasn’t?” Fleetfoot asked in surprise. Spitfire shook her head. “No, it wasn’t,” she said. “It was my idea to break it off. I couldn’t handle all the heat from the press, and I thought that I had to end it before things went sour between me and him.” “How did Soarin take it?” the small mare asked. “He wasn’t happy about it,” Spitfire answered bluntly. “While he understood where I was coming from, he thought that we could get over the hurdle. I wasn’t so sure, though.” “Does he still feel that way?” Fleetfoot asked, receiving a nod of the head as a response. Then, she saw something that she hadn’t seen in a long time. She thought she was just seeing things, but then she heard a sniffle. There was no doubt about it, Spitfire was crying. The two mares held each other tightly, and neither of them said a word, because there wasn’t anything more to be said. They just stayed there, shedding tears. Meanwhile, in the hallway, Rapidfire was making his way to Fleetfoot and Spitfire’s room, but when he got there, he could hear a strange sound coming from inside. He moved his head closer to the door so he could hear better, but once he did, he wished that he didn’t. The sound of crying and sniffling was too much for him. He had hoped that the exposure from the press and the self-doubt that he ignited in Cory would cause the couple to break up, allowing him to swoop up and have Fleetfoot to himself, but his actions did nothing but make the poor mare miserable. Rapidfire’s mind then flashed back to when Blaze first warned him about this. “Don’t start meddling, Rapidfire, ‘cause you’re gonna end up regretting it, mark my words.” “Dammit, Blaze,” he whispered to himself as he walked away from the door.