//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The First Steps // Story: This Bright Blazing Future // by Dynasty-Kaine //------------------------------// Spitfire did not back down from Soarin's request, and she pushed on through the door into the steam filled shower room. She was surprised at how hot the stallion had made it in here, as well as how he kept the vents from sucking out the steam. As she rounded the barrier wall she saw him sitting in a chair directly in front of her. His dark grey-blue mane slicked back from moisture, his light emerald eyes closed to her as he laid back in the chair in relaxation. He was only wearing a towel around his waist covering his privates, his pale blue body covered in beads of sweat. Spitfire felt herself swallow back the thoughts and memories that spilled forth from the sight of Soarin like this. "Are you just gonna stand there and stare?" the stallion said breaking her from her mind temporarily. "S-Sorry Soarin!" she apologized pitifully. "Just didn't expect to walk in to you like this." "Well I don't usually do this while I wait, but I felt compelled today." he said with a content smile. "I didn't expect it to be so relaxing." Spitfire looked around for another seat, purely assuming Soarin would have brought another one. She couldn't see one anywhere, even the ones intended for bathing were gone. "You don't get to sit and relax Captain." Soarin's voice drew her attention back to his face. "What do you mean Soarin?" the golden mare returned, her focus on his eyes now looking right at her. "Exactly what I said." the pale blue stallion said sitting more upright in his chair. "I won't make this easy for you in any way, and you can count on that Captain." She sighed. In her heart she knew this was going to be how things went, but she had not anticipated the reality of how cold he could sound when he was serious. She remembered what his letter had said as well, and she knew he still withheld his apology. Even if he was willing to help her help herself. "Well fine then, I'll think outside the box." she told him as she knelt down and sat on the floor. He sighed, "For coming so far, you're still as stubborn as a mule." "What can I say, its a part of who I am." the fiery maned mare replied with a shrug. When she shrugged though, she noticed how much steam had clung to her body. Her clothes were slowly dampening, and her hair was losing its windswept flare as it began to fall naturally to her shoulders. Every inch of her body was covered in the heated liquid, and it was beginning to make her uncomfortable in all the worst ways. "Enjoying the atmosphere I've set up for you Spits?" Soarin broke into her thoughts. Had he planned all of this? No, he couldn't have known she would show up this time for sure, unless Nydus tipped him off. Never mind, that made logical sense if Soarin wanted to make this as hard as possible for her. As she looked at him her eyes drifted for a moment, and what she saw surprised her. "You're wearing swim trunks under there!" she shouted. "You mule faced son of a gryphon!" "Ah, so you couldn't help but look could you Spitfire?" he replied standing up unphased and removing his towel. "Shame, shame. I thought by now you would have a bit more control." "Hey don't blame me for catching that, it's kind of hard to miss from this perspective." the golden pegasus said referencing where she sat. "You still could have avoided doing it, maybe you aren't ready for this yet Captain." the pale grey-blue stallion said sitting back down. Instantly Spitfire's heart began racing at Soarin's evaluation of her behavior, her eyes wide as a state of panic set in rapidly. This might be her only chance to mend things, and she may not get a chance to return if she failed miserably now. That failure could send her right back into her old spiral and she would lose everything in her life, most notably though would be losing Dash. "Okay look, I'm sorry about that Soarin." she apologized somberly. "Some old habits still die hard. You know that about me best." "Yeah, like the way you never remembered your back washing loofah?" the stallion replied with a snicker. "The first day we met, you had forgotten it. And I offered to wash your back for your kindness that day." "To which I nearly bit your head off for, but inevitably agreed to." Spitfire answered with a smile. "I nearly fainted from the blood rushing to my face when you said yes." the light blue stallion said with a chuckle. "It was after that I just knew, somehow we would end up close friends." She could see where this train of thought was heading, and she did not delight in staying the course one bit. She had to do it though, or else nothing would be solved. "And we did. Every fight, every party, every moment." the golden mare mused. "Even the day we were accepted into the Wonderbolts was the same." "And then the day you were promoted to title of Captain, I was instantly named co-captain." Soarin recalled the past clearly. "A couple of years later even, when you almost died in that accident." There it was, the beginning of what Spitfire knew would lead into their one night stand and the spiral that followed. The accident in question was no joking matter in the least. Soarin was serious when he said she had nearly died from it, and the close call with death sent her into her all out free for all behavior. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had been a training accident at the academy that nearly took her. The recruits were acting their usual cocky way, but this time it seemed they had been picking on the newest student. Daring him to push for more and more, breaking boundaries put in place for safety. Spitfire allowed this because they had kept it within reason, and it let her see just what the rookie was capable of. She should have known the moment she turned her back the dares would escalate in danger. Misty Fly had happened to be with her at the academy that day, and it was because of her that the rookie lived. She called out to Spitfire in a scream of utter terror, and spinning around what she saw horrified her as well. The Wonderbolt Captain wasn't one to wait though and she charged into the air, the rookie was free falling unconscious to the earth below. The fall would surely kill the young flier, and Spitfire was a lot further from the colt than she first thought. She had to push with all her might to reach him, a stream of flame literally erupting from her tail at her velocity. He was about to hit the ground, but in the last second she grabbed him and spun her body quickly to shield the colt from the impact that was inevitable at this point. She had held on to that young pegasus with all her might as her body plowed into the ground, leaving a trench in her wake. Her body was broken and battered by the unforgiving earth that had caught her, and she felt a cold sleep creep over her. She just knew that death had come to collect her this day, for robbing him of the young one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And you were the first one I saw when I came back." Spitfire said softly. "I always would be." he answered. "But the result of your near death experience was just as bad as losing you. You were never the same again after that." "Soarin, I know where this is going." the golden mare started. "Please don't bring those memories up." "I will bring them up weather you like it or not Spits!" the pale blue stallion roared. "It is time that you faced up to what you did to me, because it pales in comparison to the rest of the team!" She simply stared on in silence at his words. The rest of the team suffered more than him, how could that be? "We were always like brother and sister the two of us, and I was personally fine with that." the stallion began with a surprisingly even tone. "I may have noticed you as more than that from time to time, but I never let the thought take me. Cause I knew we were just friends, but as close as any family. I never thought you would become so involved in alcohol after you got out of the hospital, but when you did I said nothing trusting that you could handle it. That it would pass." Spitfire cringed and looked away, "But, it didn't." "No it didn't stop, and slowly I began losing faith in you." he replied with what seemed a heavy heart. "Night after night I would escort you home, drunk beyond belief, so you could sleep it off. Every night that was exactly what you did, crawled into bed with no fuss and went to sleep. The more you drank though, the higher your tolerance seemed to get. And on a night your limit had not been fully reached, I made the mistake of taking you home early." Every moment Soarin recounted the past, was a moment she was reliving as if she was there within her mind. She wanted so bad to stop herself in the dream, but no matter what she did it continued to play. How she flirted with him the entire walk home, to the point where she used all that she had to seduce him, even the moment that their bodies connected in bliss, and finally ending the next morning when she left him alone in her bed. The pale blue stallion had stopped speaking seeming to know she was reliving the memory even without him saying it aloud anymore. Her eyes were glazed over with tears when she looked back at him, she knew what he needed to get out most of all. How he had felt that morning, and the event that came the next evening. "Please Soarin, no more. I'm far too ashamed of what I know is next." she begged feebly knowing her request would be rejected. "Spitfire do you know what it felt like?" Soarin ignored her and fumed on. "To wake up and find you gone. You needed me? More like you had a scratch you couldn't wait to itch! I let my guard down and feelings out and you crushed them dead. The sad part was, you weren't done yet were you?" The golden mare now pulled her knees up close to her chest in what she felt was her last defense against this onslaught of shame. The stallion was right what happened next, was quite possibly the worst thing she could have done to the kindhearted pegasus. "That evening I received a call from your usual bar, and I figured I would just have to come get drunk old you out as usual." the dark grey-blue maned pegasus raged. "But no, it was something far worse. You and Fleetfoot had gone out together that evening, the both of you got beyond drunk, and you got that itch burning inside again. I was called in to get you to stop acting so lewd openly with Fleetfoot." It was all true. Spitfire still had to admit though she regretted her actions, she discovered Fleetfoot was an amazing kisser! The Wonderbolt had to scold herself for that thought though as well because this wasn't the time for those thoughts. She couldn't break under the pressure from Soarin now! "But the worst offense was what I saw when I finally arrived." the pale blue stallion said tears threatening to break free. "The bar's front door was locked, and so I went around back knowing how to get in. As I walked inside, I quickly found out you decided to change the owner's mind about having you removed from the premises. As well as a few of the other patron stallions. Not to mention you pulled Fleetfoot in with you, and had some of those kind stallion patrons give her a good time as well!" Spitfire couldn't deny any of his words, and it was seared into her memories far too clearly. What she remembered though of that day was that instead of breaking up the situation Soarin left. Not moments later, did the police arrive and arrest them for lewd behavior in a public establishment. He hadn't spared them a moment before acting. It was in the jail that Fleetfoot had asked Spitfire if they could do this more when they finally got out, a request that she eagerly accepted at the time. "Do you even know the half of what Fleetfoot has become because of you?" Soarin seethed. "What?" the golden mare replied totally caught off guard. "Never mind, you don't need to know about that at this point." the pale blue pegasus' tone completely shifting. "This is between us after all, and you seeking my forgiveness." "Don't you just drop something like that on me and not tell me what is going on Soarin!" Spitfire roared back to life, a fierce worry lighting her eyes. "Get over it Captain, you will find out eventually." he answered in a stoic tone. "As for why you will learn later, it's because to earn my acceptance of your apology, to even have a chance at gaining my trust again, you must complete my task. My task for you is to rebuild this team, piece by piece. If the others will accept you, then maybe I will. But you have to work on curving their problems first." "Then tell me where Fleetfoot is and I'll bring her back right now!" the golden mare harped on. Soarin laughed, "You think I will start you off with the worst of your damage? No, I'm not taking requests Captain. You do this my way or not at all." She looked back at the stallion with a mock challenge in her eyes, but surrendered it to him just as easily. Soarin would have his way, like it or not it seemed. "Then where would you have me start?" the golden mare said rather deflated. "Either at Valkyrie or your brother, Rapidfire." he answered. Her gaze bolted up to Soarin, "Rapidfire got dragged into this? That isn't possible!" "You're right, he didn't." the stallion answered crossing his arms. "Fleetfoot tried getting a hook in him but he ignored her and disappeared into the wind the day before we were given vacation time. Not even I have heard from him since." "So he isn't a big concern in comparison to Valkyrie then?" she answered. "Pretty much, since you are the only one that knows where he would have gone." Soarin answered closing his light emerald eyes. "Valkyrie will probably be easiest when it comes to accepting. She always knew her problem and usually kept it to herself, until a spider came along and drug it out of her for the spider's own gain." Spitfire sat in silence, she remembered the medical secret her old friend had harbored. The secret she had sworn to never tell another about, even the way that it was being treated. Yet to manipulate her the blind golden mare had broken that confidence in her. "Where can I find her now Soarin?" the orange maned mare sighed from her memory. "She is at her vacation home in Vulcan Hoof Flatts, training for next season. Even if there isn't one." he answered her grimly. She stood up and turned to walk away from Soarin. This was too much, every memory of how she betrayed her team, her family, was flooding back into her mind. She couldn't handle this much she needed to call the doctor, immediately. "Spitfire!" Soarin's voice rumbled loudly from behind her. "What you have done is horrible but...it is not beyond repair. No matter what you think, I believe you can find the answer." She turned to look at him, and saw him blushing. Obviously he was embarrassed to give her words of inspiration. Yet she could not feel happier that he was still on her side, even if he still held a grudge. He was there, as always. She smiled at him and turned once again to exit the shower room. She would be back once she had gotten her brother and Valkyrie back again, and not a moment before that. As she stepped out of the academy front doors she was blinded by the setting sun. It was getting late, and she was going to need her rest for the long flight out to Vulcan Hoof Flatts. She jumped into the air, spreading her wings, and took flight back to her apartment. After being in that steamy shower, it felt amazing to be soaring through the skies utterly free.