//------------------------------// // Alone Together // Story: Playing With Fire // by Orion97 //------------------------------// I felt a soft gust of air blow over my face as my senses began to come alive. I noticed the breeze came at regular intervals as well. My mind was still just barely working at the moment but it occurred to me that I had slept inside so a breeze wouldn't make any sense unless a window was left open. I cracked one eye open lazily to determine the source of the wind. Just inches in front of me I saw Fleetfoot laying right on top of my chest, still asleep and blowing air over my face as I looked at her, her mouth was open just a little and she was laying on me haphazardly, it looked like she rolled on top of me in her sleep and didn't notice. As I tried to free my arm from under her a drop of saliva landed on my cheek. Eh...now that's charming...come on, time for you to get up... I did my best to move Fleetfoot without waking her up but it seemed impossible. She was heavier than she looked. I'd be able to move her but not without waking her up so I did the only thing I could, I laid on the floor and accepted my fate. When I noticed another drop about to fall on me I did my best to tilt my head away but I couldn't make it out in time, this time it landed right between my eyes. "Aw come on..." I whispered to myself as I tried to escape, but as I squirmed she only grasped on tighter to me, like I was a runaway pillow. Soon another drop fell on me. "Come on, Fleet. Let me up..." I was going to have to wake her up after all. I didn't want to sit like this for who knows how long until she woke up. She closed her mouth and blinked her eyes lazily as she grumbled and took in another breath. Then her eyes shot open when she noticed the close proximity between us. Our gazes locked onto each other and held for several long moments, neither of us quite sure what to do. It felt like I was staring through the depths of deep blue gemstone and into her soul, and she was doing the same with me. I couldn't think clearly while I looked at her, all I could think about was how calming and beautiful her eyes were. Eventually she whispered something but maintained the short distance between us. "Good morning, James..." "Morning, Fleetfoot. Um...this is unusual." "Oh...right. Do you want me to move?" "...no. This is actually...really nice." I whispered back to her. I saw a warm smile form on her lips as she laid her head down in the crook of my neck and held it there. We laid there for a time before drifting back off to a blissful sleep. A few hours later my internal clock told me that dawn was on its way, crawling through the atmosphere to take the mantle that the night had held. Once I opened my eyes I was pleased to see Fleetfoot still there, only just waking up herself. She looks so peaceful when she's asleep...if only this moment could last longer. Moments later she woke up with a lazy smile and an adorable case of bed-head. "Hey James..." she said with a yawn. "Hey." I whispered back. "Hmm...I don't wanna get up." "We have to at some point." I said as I reached an arm up and prepared to take the top off the pillow fort. "I swear I will get North Star to turn you into a frog if you don't keep your cuddly ass down here right now." she giggled as she pulled me back down. "Well this is fun..." "Yes it is. Ah damn it. I didn't realize how thirsty I am." "Get some water then, you're the one on top." "Meh...it's such a hard choice." "You can get some water and we can get back to just being like this if you want." "Sounds good to me." she whispered back to me with a grin. Then we heard a small cough of surprise from just outside of out pillow fort. She exchanged an "oh shit" look before she threw off the top of the pillow fort and saw Spitfire and Soarin looking back, Soarin seemed amused and was starting to snicker while Spitfire looked like she'd just seen a ghost. It didn't help that Fleetfoot was still on top of me. "Um...you kids behaving?" Soarin creaked out. We all shared a long awkward silence before Fleetfoot spoke up. "I swear I didn't screw the alien." Unfortunately my mouth started working before my brain did and opened at the wrong time. "Aww, did you not like last night babe?" I was swiftly rewarded with a punch in the side of the face, Fleetfoot maintained eye contact with the other two as she did so. After she hit me she kept a hoof there over my mouth to keep me silent while she started blushing a crimson hue on her cheeks. "How long have you two been standing there?" "About five minutes." Spitfire said with an awkward expression. "Were we interrupting something?" Soarin asked. "We were just sleeping together." She said before realizing that only dug the hole deeper. "I mean we were doing anything we were just kinda...laying next to each other. It was um...he was cold." Soarin silently left the room for a moment as Spitfire spoke. "We came to tell you that the doctors found something unusual with Jame's blood and they ask that you two come by within the next couple days. That's it." Being on her own, she shuffled awkwardly and avoided eye contact until Soarin returned. "We'll leave you two be to...yeah..." Spitfire croaked before departing down the hall. Soarin silently put a condom on the floor and pushed it our way slowly. "Here ya go..." he chimed before following Spitfire away from the room, closing the door behind him so we could be alone with the awkwardness that lingered in the air. I picked up the condom and held it, in front of me. "Extra-large. Not sure what material. Flame-retardant?" I turned it around "Dragon-ex?" Fleetfoot took this time to cover her face with her hooves and bury herself into a pillow. "Oh my god they think we're sleeping together..." "Technically..." "Shut up." "What if they think I'm easy or like a slut or something? They're not ones to gossip but still word could get around. Fleetfoot, two days is all it takes." She groaned and buried herself deeper and began to make sniffling noises. "Hey, it's not like that, and we didn't do anything. No one's going to think you're a slut. You're a great gir-I mean mare and anyone that thinks otherwise is an idiot." I proclaimed confidently. She sniffled again and retrieved herself from one of the pillows that belonged to our now crumbling pillow fort. "Y-you think so?" She choked out, a lone tear broke through and slowly roll down her cheek as if uncertain whether it should fall. I gently placed a hand on her cheek and wiped the tear away. "Yes. And I mean it, come on. They're your friends, we can just tell them it was a misunderstanding, and it's your life, no matter what you do, do what you think is right and don't worry about what others think." I gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a hug. "You're really sweet you know...thank you so much." "Sure thing. After all you've helped me so much. When I got here, I was scared, hell I still am." I exhaled and stared into her sapphire blue eyes. "But you have helped guide me and gave me the greatest gifts I could ask for." She returned the look I gave her and waited with bated breath. "You gave me, a person you had never met before, your trust, your kindness, and your friendship and I appreciate it deeply and I will do anything, anything in the hopes that I can someday repay you." She smiled genuinely and I watched a few more tears run from her eyes as she squeezed me tightly, holding on for several long moments. She sniffled slightly and spoke in a soft, almost loving tone. "I think I know how you can repay me..." She held her hooves at my shoulder but backed away so she could face me. "If you want to repay me...ask me..." She shut her lips and seemed to hold her breath as she looked away for a moment then back to me. "Ask me..." "Yes?" I said as she avoided my eyes again. "I want you..." She bit her lip and closed her eyes tightly before continuing. "I want you to ask me on a date..." She said quickly and in a nervous tone. She looked at me nervously. "I'm sorry I'm all emotional for no reason, you don't have to say any-" "Yes." I cut her off as she looked back at me, uncertainty painted across her face. "Huh?" she uttered in a baffled tone. "Fleetfoot, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?" For a moment the very air between us stood still. "I'd love to!" She shouted with glee and squeezed me until I swore my eyes were about to pop out. We both smiled and she even giggled a bit. "Fantastic! Just gotta figure out where the date would be then." I stood up straighter and made sure the robe was covering me adequately. "There's probably a good place in Canterlot. We can go whenever you're ready." I noticed Fleetfoot was practically beaming at this point and though I only now realized it there was a joyful smile on my face as well. "Great, let me just grab a water bottle real quick...they're in this one right?" I asked as I reached into Fleetfoot's nightstand. I fumbled around briefly before finding an unusual pink object and a couple batteries. "Hey, what's this thing?" Ordinarily I would have thought that would be stupid to ask but be as early as it was my brain wasn't quite working yet. "What's wha- NOTHING! Put it back! It's um..it's a special order toothbrush!" She shouted as her cheeks burned red. "Are you sure? Wait it looks kinda like a vibrator..." I said suspiciously. Within seconds I was tackled and her vibrator went straight up into the air. My mouth gaped in surprise as I fell to the ground in perhaps the worst timing I have ever seen. A second later I accidentally caught it in my mouth. Fleetfoot offered a mixed expression of horror and simple surprise. We both sat still as I awkwardly pulled it out of my mouth. Once it was out Fleetfoot snatched it and popped it back into her nightstand in the blink of an eye. She looked at me awkwardly before finding a pillow to cover her face with. "What. The fuck." She withdrew her head from the pillow only to smack herself in the face with it again before throwing it against the wall. "Well that was..." "Shh. That never happened. You did not have my vibrator in your mouth. End of story." Without another word we grabbed a few things and left to find a balloon to take to Canterlot. After a few minutes we found one and the attendant charged only a modest fee for us to take it to Canterlot. It was a deep shade of crimson and surprisingly had enough room for a few to lay on the floor of the basket comfortably. Soon we were off in the sky with only the occasional howl of the wind to break the silence. I spent about ten minutes simply admiring how the balloon looked since I had never ridden in one before. It would be about another half an hour before we would arrive so I thought now would be a good time to start back up the conversation. "It didn't taste bad at least..." Fleetfoot's responded by banging her head on the rim of the basket and sighing. "No, Fleetfoot. Murder isn't alright." She said to herself. "Sorry...well this morning still turned out nice don't you think?" "Yeah...actually it really did." She turned back to me and smiled. We began to talk about our thoughts about the past couple days and even share a bit about what our home worlds were like. She seemed to be in awe about some of the feats in technology that humanity had made and what some people could do even if as it turns out, pony technology rivaled humanity's in many ways. That was when I told her about human history. She wasn't as disturbed as I'd picture she would at least but she certainly didn't approve of much of it. I filled her in on the basics of our history and she told me as much of her world's history as she could. As it turns out Equestria is just the country while Equis is the name of the planet itself and with minotaurs and gryphons being apex predators in nature they ended up having more wars and a historical trend comparable to that of humanity.. Ponies meanwhile appeared to have a relatively bright and fascinating history to explore. Eventually the discussion turned to more personal matters... "So...who was your first marefriend? Or would it be girlfriend?" Fleetfoot asked. "Oh well...first real one was named Sierra. I mean she was nice and all but it didn't last long, we got along and had plenty in common it's just, there were no sparks or anything. It was a little weird for both of us so we eventually went back to being friends." I explained with a shrug as I looked out at the landscape below. If I looked carefully I could see a majestic city resting on the side of a mountain which I could only assume would be Canterlot. "What about you? Who was your first relationship?" "Well...first relationship I had was actually a gryphon named Valerie, though she was fine with just Val." "So you used to be into girls?" "Well I'm with you now so...guess I still might be." Fleetfoot flashed a cheeky grin. "Aww...am I pretty at least?" I asked in a girly tone. Fleetfoot burst out laughing. "Yes you're beautiful, darling." She responded jokingly. "Why thank y-" I began as I glanced over the side of the basket, seeing a blue scaled dragon flying just underneath us. "Holy shit! Fleetfoot look! There's a freaking dragon right under us!" Fleetfoot gave me an interested look and looked over the side with me. "Hey I think I know her! That must be Nova! I met her through Vinyl and Anders not too long ago." Fleetfoot cupped her hooves around her mouth and tried to shout towards the dragon. I really, really hoped she was friendly... "Yo! Nova! That you!?" She called out. The dragon maintained her slow flight but turned her head to look at us. "Oh, Fleetfoot. How nice to see you. Who...another human?" She responded in a calm, but easily heard voice. When she noticed me she fixed her eyes on me with curiosity "...another human?"