"Oh yeah! I whooped your ass good!" Britt cheered as Colton dropped his Xbox controller in frustration. "What's wrong, boy? Can't take the heat?" She knocked his hat off his head while he playfully struck her shoulder.
"Ok ok, you won that round, Brittany. Good game. Though next time don't hog the Banshee, got it?" Colton laughed. He recalled how in their previous match she had spent the entire game flying around in a Banshee killing him 3 times for every kill he'd receive. He had to admit that it got annoying, but he loved playing video games with his best friend.
"'Brittany?'", She said in a tone that he could only describe as confused. "You haven't called me by that since we were in high school in JROTC."
"Oh, I haven't?" He smiled. "Well, Brittany, it's getting late. Maybe I should-" He didn't get to finish before he felt a set of lips pressed against his firmly, knocking him backwards onto the couch. At first his eyes went wide in shock, focusing only on the woman he'd known for years, her eyes closed and breathing heavily as she kissed him, then he began to relax a bit as he felt her move closer and closer.
"Wait-" She gasped and quickly buttoned back up her shirt that she had just discovered had been undone. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She said in a hushed voice. "You just got out of a relationship, and it's been sooo long since I've been with anyone, and I just-"
"Britt, it's ok." He held her hands in his. "I think..." This time it was his turn to get closer. This was his best friend in the entire world. She knew how badly his ex had treated him, how he had only stayed with her out of fear of the lies she could spread about him. And she was the only person on this base he could trust completely. "I think we both need this." He kissed her next. She immediately pulled him to the bedroom with her, their lips never once breaking contact, and shut the door behind her.
---
Colton awoke with a pounding in his head that he hadn't felt since he had been hungover once in LA. He wondered if he had done anything he might regret as he searched around for his clothes, hoping he didn't end up naked next to someone's girlfriend again with his wallet missing. Granted, that had been a fun night, but his superior's didn't exactly look kindly on his funds being depleted within a day.
It took only a few seconds for his to realize where he was. On a couch in a beautiful old-fashioned farm house with a bottle of hard apple cider on the nightstand behind him. He chuckled at the thought of passing out on cider, thinking the rumors of airmen being lightweights were true after all, but he didn't let it bother him. He smiled as he sat up, his head slowly calming down as he set his hooves upon the floor.
Hooves.
He grumbled when he saw them. He couldn't help but wonder when he'd get to become a human again. Colton wasn't exactly happy with being a horse, but he didn't exactly mind it either. It'll be ok, he thought to himself as he stretched his wings out to each side. He had to admit, he loved having wings. Becoming a Pegasus was probably the best thing that could happen to him coming to this world. Considering he was most comfortable in the air and flying as opposed to the possibility of being a grounded regular Earth pony. Of course, some of the ponies he met at the party prior to his drunken stupor were pretty cute. He even had a pretty decent conversation with a younger one named Apple Fritter. She wanted him to sneak off with her badly, but Rainbow Dash had kept a close eye on him most of the day.
He thought he should go find her, but one look at the clock told him it would be best not to. "2 AM in the morning?! Wow, she's definitely in bed by now." He sighed as he trotted down the hall to his left looking for a bathroom of some kind.
"...telling you, this time it's different." He heard a voice coming from another room. He looked down the hall and saw a bedroom door cracked open with light spilling out of it. Curiosity killed the cat, as it was said, but he didn't really care much at this point.
Sounds like Rainbow Dash, he thought to himself as he carefully peered through the crack of the door. Two ponies sat on the bed together, one a large stallion with a red coat and a large apple for a cutie mark, and a cyan Pegasus with rainbow hair. The stallion must be AJ's brother, he thought.
"How do you know, Dashie?" The stallion spoke. He had a very deep voice, almost monotone.
"I just do." She said. Her voice sounded sad and tired, almost as if she were deep in thought. "My past... I don't like it. I've made some mistakes, but I don't wanna do little flings or just 'have fun' anymore, you know?" She sighed. "I want what AJ has, a stallion who looks after her and cares for her. I want it so bad. Just to settle down and be a wife and mom, no more crazy fast lifestyle. I want..." She broke off, looking into the red stallion's eyes. Big Macintosh had always been there for her. They had even dated for a while and sometimes Rainbow Dash wished that they still were. "I want a good life. I'm a Wonderbolt, I'm the element of Loyalty, I'm one of the best fliers in Equestria. Do you know what I'm not? Somepony worth keeping." She said, her voice almost breaking.
"Dashie.." He put a hoof around her. "You are. You're one of my best friends."
"Not what I meant, Big Mac. I want a pony I can make love to one minute and argue about what to cook for dinner the next before chasing them out of the house with a frying pan." Big Mac stifled a laugh at the visage of RD chasing some stallion out of a house with kitchenware. "I had a taste of that with you, but I want it to last for good."
Colton's heart sunk. His best friend had told him the exact same thing the night before he was shipped out to Colorado, and it hurt bad when he heard this young Pegasus say it. His father had always taught him to treat women well, to treat them as they should be treated. He didn't know about Equestrian society, but he had an idea of what to do to make her feel better.
"And then this Colton guy shows up, and oh boy he's just..." Colton turned back around at the mention of his name and kept listening, nearly bumping the wall. "Amazing. Did you see him on the guitar? And the way he looks at me and smiles at every little thing I say? Not the creepy kind of smile, but the 'oh Celestia you're hot take me now' kind of smile. It's almost like..." She smiled slightly. "Like somepony thinks I'm special."
"Oh, and I wasn't special?" Big Mac nudged her playfully.
"Hey, you were! It's just you know why we broke up, and I don't want to wreck our friendship again." She kissed his cheek. "I thought you deserved better than a slut, you know?"
"Rainbow!" He said loudly. Colton winced at the word. "You had sex, big deal. We had sex, it wasn't-"
"Special? Of course it wasn't. I was your first, but you were far from mine." She said almost painfully. "I'm sorry..." She noticed the pain in Big Mac's eyes. "I'm just going to go-"
She didn't get a chance to finish. A set of lips found hers as she felt her wings unfurl and fold around the stallion beside her. "You're beyond special, Rainbow. I want you to know that." He said as he smiled. "I wish you all the luck in the world with Colton." She smiled back, a slight blush coming across her face now. There was a reason she stayed his friend, he was there for her in ways no other pony could. And Colton knew it. He wanted to be there for her. Part of him saw a bit of his best friend in her, maybe a little more.
Yeah, he knew what he had to do.