//------------------------------// // Around the Skies // Story: Light My Heart Afire // by Material Defender //------------------------------// The stars began to shine in the skies just as Shift made it back to the post office. It was easier to pick up speed when the worry of having loose letters or packages falling out from his saddlebags wasn't present, so he made good time on his way back from Ponyville. Spitfire was pacing around outside the post office, and looked to the skies when she heard the telltale sound of quick, but powerful wing flapping, followed by a woosh as Shift circled the skies above her. He quickly increased his rate of speed as Spitfire tried to keep her eyes on him. Then, suddenly, he wasn't anywhere anymore. Spitfire looked around the skies to see where Shift went. "You ready?" he said, appearing directly to her right. Spitfire jumped in shock, earning a laugh from Shift. He'd quickly jumped winded down behind the post office and landed quietly behind her. "Wha--?!" Spitfire shook her head. "Really, you and your talents. You sure you don't want to sign up for the Wonderbolts?" "I might, if you ask nicely," he laughed. "Okay, tough guy, let's get this race started." She flapped her wings defiantly as she wore a confident grin. "I've been training, Shifty!" "And so have I, Spitfire. Don't pretend like my mailpony job doesn't do me any favors, either," he laughed. "Okay, so ready up, then!" She crouched into her starting gate stance, ready to bolt when the notice was given. "Come on, Shifty, don't... hey, wait, where are you going?" Shift walked up the stairs and stopped outside the post office door. "I have to turn in my saddlebags. Oh, you can go on ahead, I'll catch up." He stood for a moment, letting the statement sink in as Spitfire began to scowl. "I'm serious! Stop joking around!" "Alright, alright, just hold on a moment," Shift said, walking inside. Spitfire could hear the sound of some conversation as Shift spoke with Post, and soon he was back outside again, minus his mailpony saddlebags. He gave a wry smile. "That offer was serious, you know." "I want to beat you fair and square," she said confidently. "Tonight's the night you lose your title of fastest flyer in Equestria." Shift raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Rainbow Dash hold that title? You know, the one prospective recruit you were talking to me about?" "Well, yeah, but you're probably the fastest flyer I've ever known, and you're not even in the Wonderbolts!" "I'd rather keep it that way, thank you very much," he said, nudging her in the shoulder. "I already have you and Dash wanting to fight for my hoof in marriage by challenging me to a race, you know," he sarcastically continued, waving his hoof around in dramatic fashion. "Hey, I am totally not trying to--wait, a race? With Rainbow Dash?" "Yep; just tomorrow, actually. Ran into her over Ponyville. She sort of had a hard time trying to keep up with me," he chuckled. "Pegasi just don't like to do long-distance flights like they used to. Speed and endurance, I say, but the only thing everypony cares about in Cloudsdale is the speed these days." "Speaking of speed... the race?" Spitfire asked. "Oh, right. Around the city, like old times?" he asked, crouching down in a lunging stance. "Wouldn't have it any other way," she responded, mirroring him. "Loser buys dinner?" "You're on!" Time seemed to slow down for Shift as he slowly turned his head away from Spitfire. His gaze fell not upon a specific object, but the entire scene before him as a whole. He carefully took into account every possible obstacle on his way up to the skies, and he knew which towers they would be racing around. So long as Canterlot hadn't undergone any substantial renovations lately, he knew the race path like the back of his hoof. "Ready..." he heard himself say. "Three..." This was it. He was in the zone. "Two..." When he was in the zone, he could practically do anything if he so wished. "One..." Like win any race he wanted. Fly like the way he wanted. Like a master at his true craft. "Go!" The world came rushing back to him with a gust of wind as he immediately stomped off the ground and took to the air. He quickened his ascent as he looked over his shoulder for a moment to see Spitfire lagging just a bit behind him, her face molded with a determined look. Shift didn't feel a sense of amusement at seeing Spitfire. In his mind, she was catching up. He would do her one better, and stay one step ahead. He found it exceedingly hard to focus on anything other than the race at hand, with the finish line being his goal. The two quickly broke the skies above the roofs of Canterlot as they began to veer towards the southwest watchtower, their first checkpoint. They swung around the outer perimeter as Shift casually waved to the royal guard that was on watch, mentally grinning at the sight of the shocked unicorn's face. He didn't focus long, however, as he heard the indicative woosh of Spitfire making her turn. She did get better: her turns were quick and controlled now, not like the reckless swing-and-bank that she used to do. He flapped his wings in powerful swipes of the air, creating a backlash behind him, picking up speed. Spitfire, however, in her years of racing with Shift, knew better than to fly directly behind him: any other pegasus caught by that backblast would have been stopped right in their tracks, losing at least a good two-block distance before they could get their bearings again. "Not today, Shifty!" Spitfire shouted, giving a flap and then closing her wings as her streamlined form began to slowly inch up beside him. The southeast watchtower was quickly approaching now, and the turn coming up was going to be crucial, like the other three in this route. "Yeah, for you, maybe!" he shouted back. He flared his wings and turned his body sideways, facing to the north, then gave several powerful flaps as he literally just sailed around the tower, barely grazing the round walls. Spitfire had to suppress her surprise at this new technique. She had to bank hard to the left and made a wide turn, losing a good three city blocks' of distance to Shift's unexpected advantage. Spitfire couldn't believe it! Something as insane and crazy as that, to fly so close to the walls that any mistake could send him crashing and cost him his life? Not even the Wonderbolts were that crazy enough! But that definitely sounded like Shifty. He was always a pretty average pony to know when he was on the ground, but in the air, he could do practically anything. She steeled herself and flapped even harder, bringing her wings in again to increase speed like Wonderbolts practice had taught her. It was a long distance stretch, but with this, she might be able to make it! In fact, she could even try Shift's new technique at the northeast tower, maybe it'll work! But it was something new! And the last time she tried to do something new, she nearly crashed! No! She could finally win a race against him! The Captain of the Wonderbolts won't be left in the dust! Oh, dear, he flew really close to that tower when he went around the corner. Maybe this isn't the best time to try something new...? Bank! Bank left, you idiot! Before you hit the castle's wall! She ended up backing out of her attempt to follow Shift as she again pulled a wide left turn, narrowly avoiding making friends with the Canterlot royal castle walls, and was now exasperated at Shift's now substantial lead. Every time she finally thought she had the upper hand on him, he always tried something that blew anything she had out of the water! And he was just a buckin' mailpony, for Celestia's sake! A first-class mail-pony. She could hear him already correcting her in her mind! He could be such a fierce competitor and flyer when he wanted to be. So why doesn't he want to be in the Wonderbolts? She angrily shouted to herself as the wind rushed past her ears, and flapped harder to try to keep up with Shift. Shift only spared himself a single look at the beginning of the race, but that was something more of an allowance that he permitted himself. Normally, he would never look back. It disturbed the focus and concentration of paying attention to the things ahead of you. And when you're flying at these speeds, the last thing you need is to get distracted... He quickly held his breath as he began his third featherdrift, a self-patented term, around the walls of the northwest tower. He'd practiced this for days whenever he ran the routes that led through the deserts to Las Pegasus, weaving in between the massive rock columns that dotted the canyons on his way to any and every city on that route. And then from there, it was smooth sailing to the finish line of the race: Weststratus, the old-time restaurant that he and Spitfire frequented in their youth. It wasn't particularly the most affluent shop in Canterlot, but the locals knew it because the old-timer working there had been making food worthy of the royal court itself for as long as he could remember, and all for a very reasonable price. It had a clientele of workers and the high-class of Canterlot and many fans throughout the city. He banked around several chimneys before aligning himself down the street where the restaurant awaited. He quickly flared his wings as his speed decreased, before finally beginning his descent, landing with a soft clack of his hooves, right outside the restaurant. If his assumptions were correct, he would be waiting for a bit before Spitfire finally arrived... ...and around a minute later, he could see the yellow pegasus flying towards him. "You're a buckin' jerk!" she laughed loudly. "And here I thought that training of yours would finally be useful for something! Don't tell me Canterlot's finest Captain--mmhm?!" Spitfire had covered his mouth with her hoof as she nervously looked around. "Don't tell anypony that I'm here, okay?" she whispered. "Yes, I'm Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, but nopony else has ever seen me outside of my uniform before..." "You'd think the mane would give it away..." Shift sarcastically said. "Shh! Ponies leave me alone out here because they don't know who I am! And the paparazzi are too concerned with Soarin' to try to track down who I actually am, he's just too easy a target for the tabloids! So, please, don't blow my cover." "Okay," Shift said, as Spitfire brought her hoof away. "Loser buys dinner..." he sang. "Ugh, fine," Spitfire said. "Come on." They walked over to the doors of Weststratus, still the same as it was years ago, aside from a new paint job, making it a dark blue. "Ladies first," Shift said, opening the door. "Why, Shifty, that's so nice of you," Spitfire joked. "Shifty, the gentlecolt, who would have thought?" They both shared a laugh before entering the restaurant. It would seem that even though the night had since began, the amount of guests present was actually... quite substantial. There were ponies of all kinds rubbing up shoulders here, enjoying the delicious foods that the chef was cooking up behind the kitchen doors. "Ah, Shifty! How nice to see you here!" Shift turned to his left as an aged, but lively earth stallion waiter approached him. "The usual spot?" "Evening, Desk Keeper. And, yes, the usual." The stallion chuckled. "Ever the youngster, huh? I saw you flying in through this street like a parasprite on an empty belly! You challenge the miss to another race again?" he said, nodding to Spitfire. Desk Keeper, although he was looked rather plain for his role, was actually the owner of Weststratus. "How'd you know?" "Because otherwise you'd just order something to go in advance! Really, Shifty, you're always so busy. We can literally expect you at the same time every other day to swing by and pick up your meals! I swear, you practically live in the skies... but not like pegasus do in their fancy cloud cities. You, my friend, literally live in the sky." Shift laughed. "Of course, Keeper, I wouldn't feel like myself otherwise." "Whatever you say!" Keeper led them to a table just left from the entrance, sitting at the corner with a nice window view. "I know how you always like looking at the sky wherever you are, so we try to keep this table as empty as possible." "I appreciate it, Keeper. Thanks." Keeper quickly wiped off the table before throwing the cloth over his back. "The, uh, usual again for you two?" "Sure, why not? It's been a while since we've eaten here, right, Spitfire?" "Yeah... I've been traveling a lot," she said sheepishly. "Maybe having a little taste of home and the good old times would be nice right about now." "So the usual it is then: two daisy-and-daffodil sandwiches, with a side of hay fries, and two strawberry milkshakes. All of that made to order by Skillet. You remember him, kid?" Keeper asked. "No way? He still works here?" Shift curiously asked. "The old stallion's a tough nut, I'll say that much. Said he'd rather keel over and die than give up his kitchen! He'll be glad to hear you popped in for a visit, but he probably won't get much time to talk to you, what with all these customers." Keeper looked around, but it seemed that nopony needed a waiter at their table at the moment. "Business has been booming, as usual. Even had one of the Captains of the Guard visiting here with his marefriend when they got back from their honeymoon, but all those onlookers... Oh, hay, if I wanted to know how many ponies could fit in every inch of this room, I would have just made everything a 2-for-1 sale." "Oh, yeah, I never got around to asking: how did you guys fare when the changelings showed up?" Keeper laughed. "You kidding me? The first thing Skillet does is grab a... well, skillet, and he barricades the doors and windows, shouting some nonsense about keeping them out of his precious kitchen. We're just lucky that none of them actually got in, because it would have been a real mess." "Wow. I heard that the changelings were all over the city, but..." "Yeah, tell me about it," the old-timer chuckled. "Better go turn in those orders now, wouldn't want you and your marefriend here to starve." "Yes, thank you very--hey! You totally have it wrong, she's... she's not my marefriend!" Shift shouted, earning only a boisterous laugh from Keeper as the waiter disappeared into the kitchen. "Geez, really..." "They keep talking about us so much. Maybe we really should become an item." Shift gave her a look. "Relax, I'm just joking. I can't hold down a relationship, anyway, not with all the traveling I do..." "Yeah..." Shift said, his voice drifting off. His eyes widened when he realized that he was daydreaming again, and recovered himself before Spitfire noticed. "So, been a while since you were in town. How's the..." He leaned in. "...the Wonderbolts?" She shrugged. "I guess it's fine enough." "Oh, come on, it has to be more than just 'fine enough'. Come on, tell me, I want to hear everything about it." She gave a pouty face before taking a deep sigh. "Okay, so we were just at Las Pegasus just last month, and let me tell you, it is the most amazing place that I've seen. I mean, I've been there multiple times already because they always love our performances, but it's always just a nice place to visit, you know? The hotels are so nice, especially when you get the penthouse suites like the owners gave to the team," she shot out. "Whoa, whoa, slow down! No need to go too fast, we have time... and I want to hear everything. So how'd your team do over there?" "Oh, you know Soarin', with his pies and all that. He ended up crashing into the pie table at the Moon and Stars hotel... that was really awkward to explain to the manager... oh, and Fleetfoot totally showed me this awesome masseuse place that they have at their relaxation center. It totally feels like they're turning your body into clouds. You should try it sometime." Keeper appeared beside the table, quickly dropping off the two shakes before winking at Shift, who merely rolled his eyes as the waiter again laughed his way back into the kitchen. "That old coot just loves toying with me... so, how was the performance?" "The Las Pegasus Aerodrome is pretty nice, but nowhere near as flashy or grand as Manehattan's. It could hold enough ponies, and it sat straight in the middle of the city so practically everypony could hear the sounds and cheers of our performance. It was a grand night. We did a new routine back then, a Tri-clone Twister that Rapidfire thought up. He could always think of something that was so large it couldn't just help but dazzle the crowd." She took a sip from her shake. "Ah, the taste of home..." Shift, lost in the details of the conversation, realized that he had one sitting in front of him, and took a sip, as well. "And you'll be in Manehattan next month, right?" Keeper brought out tray with the food and deftly set the plates before them, this time attending to other customers before he had a chance to poke fun at Shift's expense. "Yep! I know you won't have any problems arranging for transportation. You can toast bread and fly there and back before it even finishes." "Well, I eat my bread only lightly toasted, so..." "Oh, you know what I'm getting at. Definitely be there, okay?" "You know I will be. I never go back on my promises, Spitfire." He took a bite out of his sandwich. Made perfectly to order, Keeper should have mentioned. Undoubtedly one of Skillet's finer works. "Yep, just like old times." "So, enough about me," Spitfire said. "What's up with you?" "Oh, just doing my mailpony job. Speaking of which, I probably shouldn't stay out too long..." he said, glancing at the clock. It was actually only about half an hour to eight. Much earlier than he had anticipated. "Yeah. Just doing my mailpony duties." He took another bite and then a mouthful of hay fries. "That's it? That's all you've been doing every day?" "And breaking my own records, of course. Do you know any other pony that can do Manehattan to Las Pegasus in less than half an hour flat?" "I can sort of do that distance... in an hour... or so..." she muttered. "It's okay, Spitfire, you still have me beat in the social game. I can only imagine how much praise you get." "Ugh, tell me about it. I know, seeing all those little fillies and colts coming up to get my autograph, wearing all the Wonderbolts merchandise, is supposed to be really cute, and it is, don't get me wrong, but sometimes... I just want to get out of the spotlight, you know? Kind of like what I'm doing right now." "The spunky and confident daredevil wanting out of the spotlight? That's impossible! The windigos are going to freeze the world again!" Shift laughed. "Hey, I'm a normal pony, too, you know?" she said, sipping on her milkshake again. The bustling and conversation of the restaurant was actually quite deafening, and made for casual conversation rather easy. She continued mindlessly sucking on the straw, staring at the table, until she stopped to ask a question. "Hey... do you think I should... stop being a Wonderbolt?" "Huh?" "Like... maybe settle down... get a job..." "Now why would you think that?" Shift was genuinely confused by her question, but simultaneously intrigued. "Come on, now, Spitfire, you've got a good place in the Wonderbolts, a totally awesome job. There are plenty of pegasi that would send themselves to the moon just for a chance to be what you are now." "Hmm..." she said, finishing up her food. "...I guess so. Just wanted to know what it was like being... normal. Like you." "Like me?" "Yeah. You always have it so easy. You wake up early, and the only thing you do every day is just fly. Fly to your heart's content, and then some. Whenever you're in the air, you always seem so happy and confident, and I... I guess I sort of wondered if it could be the same for me... oh, I'm just talking to myself now, don't mind me... excuse me, I think I have to... go back to practice..." She left the bits for the meal on the table, before looking at Shift. "I guess I'll see you around then? It was really nice talking to you." "Uh... yeah... it was really... nice..." Shift said awkwardly. Spitfire left without a word as she left him to ponder what had happened. The empty plates and cups were ignored as he stared at the reflection of his face that he saw in the coins. Was Spitfire unhappy with being in the Wonderbolts? Why? She was keeping something from him, but why? She never did this before... and she'd never been this troubled before, either. He had to know. "Mare troubles, eh?" Keeper said, collecting the kitchenware. "Don't let it get you down, you'll find her someday." "Yeah... the bits are... uh, right there," he mumbled. He left the restaurant, looking into the night sky for a moment, and saw Spitfire nowhere around. He shook his head as he took to the skies again, but found no solace in his flight on the way home. He had to get a good night's sleep... he was going to be racing Rainbow Dash tomorrow, after all.