With My Wonderbolt

by ScatMan2001

Chapter 2: The Party

The day has past much like any other day; with nothing happening but the usual governmental business that you do not participate in.

Due to your rank, you get to attend many meetings that the Princesses go to, and a number of those meetings do not officially exist. There are secrets locked away in your brain that very few creatures in this world know.

But you’d never tell anyone. You’re loyal.

It does make you a little nervous sometimes, though. If somepony wanted to know something, they wouldn’t have to go after the Princess, they could go after you.

They could, but if anyone tried such a thing, you would kick their ass. You didn’t get to be Lieutenant in Royal Guard at your young age for nothing. If somepony wants a fight, they’ll get it, and they will lose.

You have been training to fight ponies and other various creatures for years now, and you have excelled at doing so.

In practice anyway.

You were a sergeant at the time of the Battle of Canterlot, with all the Changelings and such, and managed to not get you or your squad in deep shit. In fact, your squad was one of the only ones not to be overtaken by those bugs.

You figure that’s what helped propel you to becoming a Lieutenant.

Aside from that brief struggle, nothing much has happened in your career, besides the multiple promotions in a short span of time.

There have been a bunch of 1,000 year old enemies of the Princess returning recently, but you have not had the honor of fighting any of them. So you wait for your chance.

It’s bound to happen eventually.

Anyway, it’s the day of some massive Ball. Ponies from all over Equestria, but mainly from Canterlot, will show up to dance and drink and do whatever they really feel like.

You will be standing guard, which is mainly equal to standing and watching the party happen for the remainder of the night. These parties rarely get out of control, and it only happened once in recent memory.

And the Elements of Harmony will not be in attendance this evening. That makes your job a little bit easier, you think.

All around, ponies are running back and forth in the Dance Hall, setting up tables, setting up the dance floor, building the stage for the band, bringing in bottle after bottle of expensive wine, and so on…

This party will be built entirely within several hours of the guests arriving, and then deconstructed hours after they all leave.

You never really noticed how many ponies work here until now. It’s a lot.

As you do one final check to make sure the guards are in place, you go off to find the Princess of Sun, and from there you will wait until the party begins.

==========

“It’s party time,” Princess Celestia says to you as her guests begin arriving in mass. She says that every time one of her parties begin. She thinks she’s really funny.

This isn’t really a party, though. It’s a Gala or Ball of some kind. You can’t keep up with all this nobility nonsense. They seem to have one of these giant parties once every week or two to celebrate something that hasn’t been relevant for centuries. You assume that these traditions where the Princess throws some kind of party for the nobility started centuries ago for some reason, but nopony can really remember for exactly what reason.

Nevertheless, nopony wanted to stop the parties, so they keep throwing them and ponies keep showing up.

Some of these events are much bigger than others. Like the Grand Galloping Gala is the biggest of these parties, but also somehow manages to remain very exclusive.

You’re always invited, though.

The Princess of the sun is standing at the top of a very large staircase in the main hall, with you standing by her side. Sometimes you stand next to her, sometimes you don’t. It depends on where the Princess or Captain Armor want you to be.

Captain Armor and his wife are out of town, though. You don’t know what they do. So Princess Celestia asked you to stand next to her for the first part of the party.

Sometimes Princess Celestia doesn’t want you being next to her because “it may intimidate the guests.” For whatever reason, though, she doesn’t seem to think that right now.

Or she doesn’t care if her guests are intimidated. Which is entirely possible.

Princess Celestia is a bit of an oddball, if you may say such a thing.

This party begins as any other party at the castle would; with noble ponies arriving in their beautiful carriages, checking in with the guards outside (to make sure they were actually invited), and then they all come to greet the Princess.

You don’t know why, but every single pony that comes here will first greet the Princess. Nopony whatsoever will go straight into the main hall without climbing a mile of steps to greet the Princess.

Sometimes you think the Princess purposely put herself in such a high position to discourage ponies from talking to her. As her personal bodyguard, you know which nobleponies she likes and dislikes.

You hear about that stuff all the time. She complains to you a lot, if you may call it ‘complaining.’ Despite not responding most of the time, she does talk to you a lot, and asks you a lot of rhetorical questions.

But some of these nobleponies are real assholes, if you may say such a thing. But you just keep it in your head, like mostly everything else.

You have had your own personal encounters with numerous nobleponies on the streets of Canterlot, and they haven’t always been as kind as they could have been. Of course, you weren’t wearing your armor at any of those times, so they probably never knew you were a guard.

It may have been a custom to greet the Princess before entering the main hall, but perhaps the Princess has gotten tired of that. She’s been doing this sort of thing for centuries now.

Oh well. Time to think about something else.

You know this castle like the tip of your snout; you know just about every single pony who works here, does business here, guards, cleans, cooks, or does absolutely anything else here. If somepony is in this castle, you will know about it.

You also know every single tile and brick in this entire establishment. And this place is very large. If something is even slightly out of place, you will know about it.

Thankfully, though, everything seems to be going perfectly fine tonight. A great way to end a great day.

Well, you tell yourself it’s great, but honestly it’s really no different than any other day.

But then again, every day working for Princess Celestia is a great day.

You stand by Princess Celestia’s side, silent, observing everything around you very calmly.

==========

After an hour of standing as still as a statue, Princess Celestia is informed that every guest has officially arrived, and they have all greeted the Princess. As the final noble stallion kisses Princess Celestia’s hoof and walks away after a few pleasantries, the Princess turns to you.

“Well that was fun,” she sighs, magically cleaning the front of her shoe with a cloth. “Another successful party.”

Princess Celestia does not typically attend her own parties. She does a lot of the time, but when she does, she only shows up for the last half hour or so.

She’s not necessarily busy with anything else, she just isn’t the biggest fan of these parties anymore.

“Lieutenant,” she says, glancing at you. You straighten up to stand at attention, looking straight ahead. “I order you to go to the party.”

Huh. You have never received that order before.

“At once, Your Majesty,” you respond, as you should. “What is it exactly that you would like for me to do?”

Princess Celestia doesn’t usually have guards going through the party, as it may disturb the guests.

“I want you to enjoy yourself for the evening,” she says. You are not looking at her face but surely she is smiling.

Once again, that is an order that you have never received, and you are left a little confused by it.

The Princess continues. “You are to attend the party and mingle until it is officially over, and you are not to leave before then. Understood?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” you say, rather unsurely. “Though I have nothing to wear.”

“You may remain in your armor but do not wear your helmet.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Very good. You are dismissed, Lieutenant. Now go have fun.”

You stand at attention for a few more seconds before descending the stairs. On the way down, you can’t help but feel a little nervous.

Guarding these ponies is one thing, as you have been trained to do it, and have been doing it for years.

But talking to them? Royal Guards don’t talk! Royal Guards don’t mingle!

There is nothing in your training that could have prepared you for this night, but if it is the Princess’ wish, you shall obey. Without question...

But why is it the Princess’ wish? Why does she want you, and only you, it seems, to attend this party?

She could’ve gotten a different Lieutenant to do it, but she picked you. Does she think you’re charming and speak well? Because you’re not and you don’t.

Your legs feel a little shaky.

There are many ponies in Equestria who would qualify as being “extroverted,” but you aren’t necessarily one of them.

Especially not in these sort of situations.

As far as social rank goes, you’re as low as it gets, really.

Social rank doesn’t really mean anything to most ponies nowadays, but it still seems to mean a lot to these nobleponies here tonight.

Now you’re all nervous. You have to make a good impression with every single pony. Every single one. This is incredibly important.

If only Royal Guards could question their orders. Maybe then you could get out of this. But they can’t, so you don’t.

Who are you supposed to talk to anyway? None of these ponies know you. Or want to know you.

You enter the main hall where the party is in “full swing,” as they say.

On the far side of the hall is a small stage with a small orchestral group playing. You know for a fact that Octavia is there, playing her cello with her music buddies, or whatever they call themselves.

It would be nice to see her, but she is working. You’re usually working at this time too, so you’re at a loss of what to do.

If nothing else, you can always get a drink and listen to the music. Classical music is all right, you think. It’s not the best thing ever, but it can be cool.

As you walk through the party, you subconsciously observe anything and everything around you. Along the walls are a few Royal Guards; some of them can be hard to spot, but you know where they all are.

You see nobleponies chatting with each other about who knows what. There’s a lot of that going on.

Countless ponies in Equestria, who are not in attendance here tonight, would kill to be at this party.

Only to find out it’s not that great.

Aside from dressing up real fancy and dancing slowly, not much happens here. Aside from the gossip.

The stallions typically talk about business, or some other vaguely personal topic, while the mares group up and gossip about anything and everything. Nothing is sacred; everything gets talked about.

You don’t know why anypony would want to be apart of that, but that’s just you. Gossip has never interested you. If somepony you don’t know or barely know, does something, you probably don’t care.

The Wonderbolts are here, as they always are. And, of course, they are all within their little roped off area.

You have gotten to know them pretty well recently. At least the ones that attend these parties all the time and when the Princesses go to see one of their events in person.

On occasion, you have guarded them before.

You have all their autographs too. It’s not like you’re their biggest fan, as you can’t fly, never will fly, and don’t care about flying. But they’re cool.

Honestly, you have only ever gone to any of their events because Princess Celestia does every once in a while. Flight shows don’t especially interest you.

And it’s not like you can afford a ticket anyway.

But you do know some of them on a personal level, because some of the Wonderbolts attend every single one of the Princess’ parties. You don’t know why, but they always do.

You know the Captains, Spitfire and Soarin, but just a little bit. You talked to them once months ago when you were still a sergeant, and were guarding them one night. You weren’t supposed to talk, but you said a sentence or two.

However, you do know Fleetfoot really well.

Fleetfoot grew up just down the street from you. It’s not especially common for a Wonderbolt to not be from Cloudsdale, but Fleetfoot is from Canterlot, as you are.

You used to hang out every single day. You were childhood best friends.

That is, up until a few years ago.

You didn’t fall out or nothing with her, but you both just got so busy with your respective lives that you haven’t been able to talk or see each other almost ever. She left for the Wonderbolts, and has been very successful there, and you left for the Royal Guard.

Those three all seem to attend the Princess’ parties, so these are the three you know on some level. You wouldn’t say you’re friends with any of them, though. Not really.

Maybe you should go over there?

Fleetfoot is probably over there. It’d be great to see her for a bit. It’s been a while.

But it does look really crowded. Maybe you should do something else or come back later. You are a little too shy for this.

Maybe it’s time for a drink.

There is a large table just lined with drinks. What drink it is exactly, you cannot say, so you pick it up and sniff it.

It’s not something you’ve ever had. It smells expensive.

You take another whiff.

Is this wine? It’s not purple. It’s basically clear like water, but has bubbles.

Taking a quick glance over to your side, you see a couple ponies staring at you and talking in hushed tones.

You smile and chuckle nervously, your cheeks flushing, before downing your drink. You put the glass back down on the table and decide to walk to another part of the hall where ponies don’t think you’re weird.

You still don’t know what that drink was, but it was awful. It has left you with a terrible aftertaste in your mouth.

Walking through the party again, you can’t help but smack your lips, trying to get rid of that taste. What the hell was that? Seriously, does nopony drink soda anymore?

Octavia and her orchestral group can be seen up on their little stage, playing some classical song, as one may expect.

In front of the stage is a large group of ponies, dancing those fancy, well rehearsed dances that a peasant like you wouldn’t know.

You smile to yourself, being a peasant at a party for nobleponies. Something about that strangely makes you smile.

With that thought, a rather loud voice calls your name. Not your rank, or that you are a guard, but she shouts your name.

Not many ponies in this world would do that. And fewer ponies would be so loud as this in such a crowded, high class party.

You turn but don’t immediately see anypony. Who should you be looking for?

The only two mares you know at this party is Princess Celestia and Octavia, and that voice doesn’t belong to them…

“Over here!” the voice shouts again.

You, and everypony else in the immediate area, turns to see the source of the voice.

Walking towards you, with everypony watching and staring, is the one and only Fleetfoot, your old buddy. She is wearing all her Wonderbolt gear, and she even has her flight goggles hanging around her neck.

“I thought a Royal Guard would have better hearing than that!” she booms, before laughing. Everypony around is now looking between you, but you are very used to that, so it doesn’t bother you.

“How have you been?” she asks, wrapping her forelegs around you. “I haven’t seen you in months!”

You return the hug, but her grip is a little strong, so you can’t say anything. She has always been a little bit of a tomboy, but you’d never tell her. She thinks she’s a normal girl.

Upon noticing you not responding for as long as you have, she pulls back a bit and looks intensively at your face.

“This is you, isn’t it?” she asks, repeating your name. “I know you Royal Guards all look the same, but this looks just like you.”

You chuckle. “It’s me, it’s me. There aren’t very many earth pony Guards, you know.”

“Nope! How the hell would I know that? I don’t work here.” You roll your eyes. She always talks really fast. “So how have ya been? It’s been months!”

“Not quite. But I’ve been real good, Bigfoot.”

‘Bigfoot’ was Fleetfoot’s nickname back in the day. You gave her that name years ago, when you were in middle school together. It’s something that she hates, but you think it’s funny. Everypony back then used to call her that.

She groans. “Can you not call me that? Nopony calls me that anymore.”

You think for a second. “Hmm… Nah, I’ll call you what I want. So how’ve you been, Bigfoot?”

“Great!” she exclaims, ignoring her name. “Wonderbolts are awesome, you know? We travel, and fly, and eat, and party and stuff! Sometimes we go to these parties, sometimes we have our own. We do whatever.”

She’s really hyper and moving around all the time. You’re not hyper and don’t move around all that much. You make unlikely friends.

She gasps, very loudly, regaining the attention of those nobleponies around you. She leans in really close to you and looks around with her eyes, as though she thinks somepony is spying on you.

“Are you breaking any rules by talking?” she asks. “Or not wearing your hat?”

“It’s a helmet,” you correct. “And I won’t tonight. Princess Celestia ordered me to fraternize with the noble folk.”

The pegasus brightens. “Great! Come with me!”

She zips off through the crowd, and you slowly follow, not really knowing where you’re going, but happy to have found somepony you know to talk to.

Fleetfoot leads you directly into the roped off Wonderbolt section, which you enter without a problem, as you are a Lieutenant and a friend of a Wonderbolt. Good for you.

Spitfire, who is standing by herself, just listening to the music, is bumped into by an excited Fleetfoot. Spitfire turns rather calmly to her fellow pegasus, who you are now standing behind.

“Hey, Captain!” Fleetfoot greets. “I would like to introduce you-”

“I know who this is,” Spitfire interrupts, smiling and extending a hoof to you. “Lieutenant,” she nods, saying your name.

“Captain Spitfire,” you say, shaking her hoof. “It’s a pleasure.”

“How did you remember him?” Fleetfoot asks, almost in disbelief that Spitfire knew who you were.

“I’m good with faces,” the Captain responds.

“But they all look alike.”

“Not the Lieutenant. He’s an earth pony. Everypony knows how rare that is in the Royal Guard.”

“Except me, apparently. I didn’t even know it was actually him when I first saw him. I had to ask a couple times.”

“Thanks, Bigfoot,” you say. “We’ve only known each other for like, 20 years now.”

“Can you not call me that?!” Fleetfoot whines, stomping a hoof.

Spitfire chuckles. “Bigfoot?” She laughs again. “I really like that one. Why do you call her that?”

Before you have a chance to explain, Fleetfoot cuts in. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain later. Bye, Captain! Follow me!”

Fleetfoot zooms off again, and you are expected to follow. “Great to see you again, Captain Spitfire.”

“Likewise, Lieutenant. Please feel free to come back and talk if you want. That is, after Fleetfoot drags you all over the place.”

You chuckle. “I will surely try, thank you.”

With that, you try to catch up to your old pal who seems to be incredibly excited right now. But she is like that most of the time.

You catch up to Fleetfoot, who is pouring a cup of punch for herself at the Wonderbolt table. She downs it very quickly before turning to you.

“Want some? It’s pretty good,” she says. “Tastes a little acidic, though. I bet somepony spiked it!”

“No thanks, Fleetfoot, I’m good right now.”

She scoffs. “You’re still as boring as when we were kids. Hey, Misty Fly!” she shouts to another Wonderbolt. “Come here for a sec!”

“I’m not boring,” you protest.

“Pfft! You have the most boringest job in the history of boring jobs.”

“I guess it depends on how you look at things.”

“I look at things the awesome way.”

Misty Fly, another Wonderbolt, comes stumbling over, seeming slightly tipsy. Or more than slightly.

Fleetfoot begins. “Misty, I would like to introduce you to my old best buddy,” she says saying your rank and name again. “He works here at the Castle, which is pretty cool, but pretty boring, right?”

Misty ignores her fellow Wonderbolt. “You’re really cute,” she giggles, getting uncomfortably close your face. You can easily smell the alcohol on her breath. “I’ve always wanted a… stallion in uniform.”

She giggles again before sliding a hoof down your chest. This sort of thing can happen, as a Royal Guard, so you instinctively don’t move, but are ready to defend yourself, just in case.

“Great Misty, thanks,” Fleetfoot says, pushing her friend away. “Thank you, Misty, good to see you.”

She clears her throat before beginning again. “Sorry about that. Ahem. Anyways! On with the Wonderbolt tour!”

“Is she okay?” you ask, looking back at Misty, who is drinking some of the (presumably spiked) punch.

“Eh. Maybe. She’s been drinking since like, 10 o’clock this morning.”

You would ask why, but it’s none of your business, and you don’t gossip, so you let it be.

Fleetfoot continues to drag you along, and the next Wonderbolt is Captain Soarin, who is debatably the most popular of the Wonderbolts.

You don’t know much about him, aside from what you hear from others or read in magazines. Whenever you go to the dentist or doctor and sit in the waiting room you read, and sports magazines are always what they have available.

He’s also one of the most famous ponies in Equestria, if not the world. The Wonderbolts travel to different countries to perform, so everypony knows at least something about him.

But not everypony gets to meet him.

Usually meeting Wonderbolts would make a pony nervous, but you haven’t felt that way at all. Perhaps it’s because you’ve known one of them for years.

Or whatever you drank earlier was alcoholic, and it’s helping with your nerves.

Soarin is just standing by himself at the far end of the designated Wonderbolt area, staring at all the ponies dancing in front of the orchestral stage. He’s smiling a bit, as he always seems to be when you see pictures of him.

“Howdy, Captain!” Fleetfoot booms as she often does. Thankfully, the only ponies in the immediate area are Fleetfoot, Soarin, and yourself.

Soarin looks around, searching for the source of the voice. With nopony else around, he quickly spots you and your loud Wonderbolt friend.

“What’s up, Fleetfoot?” the captain asks nonchalantly. Immediately, you can see at least one difference between the two Wonderbolt captains. Soarin already appears to be much more casual, while Spitfire seems to act like an officer.

That’s the first impression, anyway.

Soarin then turns to you. “Hey, Lieutenant!” he says, saying your name with a smile. “It’s been a while.”

“Good evening, Captain Soarin,” you reply.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Fleetfoot says, before leaving.

She just leaves. She’s been showing you around and talking to ponies with you, and now she just decides to leave.

Whatever. You could use a break from her for a few minutes.

“How have you been?” Soarin asks. “It’s been a while.”

“Yes it has. I’ve been real good, thank you. How about you? And what are you doing all the way over here, Captain?” you ask. “I would think, at a party like this, you would prefer mingling with fans than being off by yourself.”

“Nah,” he shrugs. “I mean, you work here, you’re always here for these parties. And I am too. And so are all of these ponies.”

He gestures to all the nobleponies on the dancefloor and everywhere else in the hall.

Soarin continues. “I must’ve talked to all of these ponies a dozen times over in the past three months alone. There’s nothing wrong with that, but eventually it gets old, y’know? The small talk and pleasantries just get annoying.”

“I can understand that,” you say.

He laughs. “I know you’d get it. You’re around royalty 24/7, and they’ve gotta be doing all these... mundane activities a lot more than I do.”

“Yeah, that’s the truth. It’s none of my business, and I don’t care what the princesses do, really, but I know it grates on them after a while.”

“Well, it definitely gets on my nerves. I don’t want to sound like all I do is complain!” he says rather quickly, defending himself, though you made no accusations. “I don’t mind it. I love talking to fans. I do more autograph signings and public appearances than anypony I know! But it’s good to just be away from it for a bit.”

You assume he is implying that he wants to be alone, so you back up a bit. You really didn’t mean to impose on the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and feel completely embarrassed to have done so.

“Oh, of course, Captain. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“No, no, no, no!” he exclaims, causing you to stop in your tracks. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he chuckles. “I’m happy to talk to you, Lieutenant. It’s not too often that a Royal Guard actually talks! Especially to me. Please stay.”

“I will be more than happy to do so,” you smile at the blue stallion, who returns it even more so.

You hear an announcement being made at the dancefloor, causing both you and Soarin to look at a large congregation of ponies that have suddenly gathered.

“What’s going on over there?” Soarin asks, looking back at the dancefloor.

“Everypony is partnering up for one final dance,” you answer. “It’s how every party ends. They all do one long, final dance, and go home… You didn’t know that?”

“Huh. I guess I never stuck around long enough. I’ve never stayed at one of these parties so late.”

“Really? Do all the Wonderbolts leave together?”

“Not typically, no. I’ll leave first most of the time, and Spitfire always leaves last. I swear she’s always the last one here.”

“Why’s that?”

The orchestra starts playing rather loudly, and everypony gets to dancing. When ponies hooves start clopping on the hard ground, such as the dance floor, it can make quite a bit of noise.

“What?!” Soarin shouts, not being able to hear you over the music and dancing that has just begun.

“I said, ‘Why’s that’?”

Soarin shakes his head, presumably not hearing you once again. He gestures to you with a hoof to follow him and he turns, heading onto the balcony just outside of the dance hall. You oblige and follow right behind the stallion.

Once onto the balcony, the drastic change in volume is immediately noticeable. It was way too loud in there, but it’s pretty peaceful out here.

The air is also very cool. You didn’t notice how warm it was inside, with all of those ponies wearing their clothes and dancing and whatnot.

But anyway, the birds and crickets chirping at this time of night, complemented with the moon and the stars and the temperature makes for a very nice evening.

The both of you walk to the far end of the incredibly large balcony, which is empty aside from the two of you. Soarin leans his upper body against the stone railing, and you quickly follow suit.

The royal gardens are very beautiful, but they can hardly be seen at night, even with the bright moon and stars shining down.

“There, now I can hear,” Soarin says with a smile. You swear, that stallion must be one of the happiest beings on the planet, because he always has that smile. “I’m sorry,” he says your name, “what were you saying?”

You chuckle. “I was just wondering why Captain Spitfire is always the last one to stick around at these parties.”

“I’m not 100% sure, honestly. I was actually going to ask you, considering you work here and are probably around later than she is.”

“I do stay pretty late. I see Captain Spitfire quite a bit, but I can’t talk when I’m working, so I don’t know.”

“You’re not working right now?” the blue stallion asks.

“No, actually. Princess Celestia specifically ordered me to mingle at this party. For what reason exactly, I cannot say, but I follow her orders when she gives them.”

“And what a strange order it is. I’ve never heard of a Royal Guard being commanded to go to a party before. She must be getting pretty bored,” he jokes.

You laugh, having thought the same thing once or twice this evening. “Yes, that’s possible. Couldn’t ask for a better boss.”

“How long have you been a Guard?”

“A few years, but I’ve been training for it my whole life.”

“Same with me!” he says, sounding pretty excited. “I’ve wanted to be a Wonderbolt since before I could even fly. When I was just a colt I would run around the house pretending I was flying, just wanting to be a Wonderbolt.”

“How long have you been a professional flyer?”

“Hmm,” he thinks. “It’s been, what… six years now? Something like that. I started early because I dropped out of flight school to do it. I clearly had the talent, and was just wasting it at school.”

You laugh. “I dropped out of school too. To join the Guard.”

“No kidding! That’s awesome!” He laughs. “Life worked out pretty well for us then, huh?”

You shrug. “It’s not bad.”

You don’t know why you said that. Whenever somepony asks you how your life is going, you always say it’s great. That’s your go-to response for that question every single time it is asked. But you answered differently this time.

Huh.

“I know I’m not the smartest guy,” Soarin continues, “but I’m one hell of a flyer.”

That he is.

For the longest time, you and Soarin just talk, getting to know each other as the party rages inside. Time passes without either of you recognizing, or really caring about it.

==========

“It’s good to make appearances abroad,” Soarin explains. “It’s good for business and is a great way to promote the Wonderbolts and all that. But I don’t think we’ll be going back to Saddle Arabia for quite a while,” he laughs.

You laugh too, having thoroughly enjoyed his story. “That’s probably for the best.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, before the both of you settle into a comfortable silence.

Which is almost immediately broken by your oldest friend.

“Alright you two! That’s enough chitchat!”

The both of you turn back towards the castle and see Fleetfoot walking towards you. She is wearing an incredibly large smile, which is rather unsettling. The female pegasus wraps her forelegs around both yours and Soarin’s necks, squeezing a bit and staring up at the sky.

“What a beautiful night!” she says in a hushed tone, which is not very characteristic of her. “It’s so romantic!”

You feel your cheeks, and your whole body for that matter, warm up, not sure what she may be insinuating.

“Sorry,” Fleetfoot says to you. “But I gotta take Soarin away.”

“For what?” the Captain of the Wonderbolts asks his subordinate.

“For what? Pfft! You two have been out here for over an hour! Blabbering about Celestia knows what!”

Has it really been that long?!

“In that hour,” the mare continues, “no autographs have been signed, no pictures have been taken, and I would really love to go to bed.

“The only reason the Wonderbolts come to these things is to mingle with as many ponies as possible. Which you have not accomplished tonight, Captain.”

“Whatever,” Soarin sighs, pushing Fleetfoot off of himself. She releases you after that.

“Spitfire is also getting a little ticked off,” Fleetfoot explains.

“I’ll deal with that in a minute, Fleetfoot, ok?” Soarin asks. “Go inside, I’ll be right there.”

“You got it!” Fleetfoot wishes you a goodnight before zooming back inside.

The two of you stand on the balcony in a momentary silence before Soarin begins. “Sorry about her.”

“No need to apologize,” you say. “We grew up together. I know all about Fleetfoot, trust me.”

“Really? That’s awesome! I can’t believe we didn’t talk about that.” He laughs again. “But anyway! I was just wondering, before I go, I’m having a party tomorrow night at the Wonderbolt house. It’s only a few blocks from here. I was wondering if you wanted to go?”

Without even thinking, you give an immediate response. “Absolutely!”

Your nervousness resurfaces soon after you give the answer. “What kind of party is it?” you ask.

“Oh, it’s nothing huge. I know Royal Guards have to keep their images spotless, but we Wonderbolts do too, so it won’t be anything big.”

Great! When was the last time you were invited to a party? And not like a Gala or a party thrown by royalty that you have to go to.

Now that you’re thinking about it, you probably haven’t been invited to a party since grade school, when a classmate would just invite everypony in their class over.

It’s been a while.

“What’s the occasion?” you ask.

“For the party?” He chuckles. “I guess there really isn’t one. We just have ‘em every once in a while. It’s good to keep the public interested in us. It gives normal ponies an opportunity to hang out with us for a bit.”

“Well, I am a normal pony, I guess.”

“No, no! I didn’t mean you. I really didn’t mean you, honestly,” he says your name, and you’re slightly impressed that he remembered it. He looks all flustered as he moves a little closer to you. “I really like talking to you and everything, and it’d be great to hang out with you again! I don’t just want you to show up, I want you to hang out with me. I think we still got a lot to talk about.”

You blush a bit upon seeing how much Soarin legitimately seems to want you to come to this party of his. It makes you feel really good.

“Yeah!” you say. “I’ll definitely go. I’d love to. Thank you for the invitation, Captain.”

He chuckles. “Hey, it’s no problem! You’re welcome over anytime. Me and Spitfire live at the Wonderbolt house.”

“You do? Just down the block? In that big ol’ mansion?”

“Yep!” Soarin exclaims, with his same smile. “It’s great. It’s a real nice house, and it’s huge. Technically, any Wonderbolt can apply to live there if they want, but only me and Spitfire actually do live there.”

“How is it living with Captain Spitfire?”

“It’s not so bad, I guess. Took a while to get used to, though. We’re not so alike. We stay out of each others way most of the time, so we just see each other at work. She can be hard to live with, between you and me, so I try to stay out of her way. We live on opposite sides of the house, so that’s pretty easy to do.”

“Well that’s pretty good.”

“Hey, I’m really sorry,” he says your name. “But I gotta get going. If I stay out here any longer Spitfire will give me hell.”

“Yeah, of course, go on ahead.”

“Thanks, really. I’ll see you tomorrow night, right?”

“Absolutely. I’ll be there.”

“Great! Great. I’ll see you tomorrow! Party starts at 8, but you can come over whenever you get off work.”

“All right, Captain, I shall, thank you. Have a good night.”

“You too!”

And with that, Soarin heads back inside the castle to do whatever it is that a Captain of the Wonderbolts does.

You follow a minute after, having just collected yourself after speaking with the most famous athlete in all of Equestria, if not the world, for over an hour, and having been personally invited to his party.

You still can’t really believe that any of that happened. When you were talking to him, it didn’t even seem like you were talking to a celebrity. You were just talking to somepony that you didn’t know anything about.

And he appears to have really liked you. Liked you enough to invite you over to his house, anyway, which is way more than any other pony can say.

The Wonderbolt area is now packed full of ponies, trying to get autographs or pictures or whatever they’re looking for.

Most of them look at you, probably wondering why you were out on the balcony with Captain Soarin. But that’s none of their business, so you pay them no mind.

Normally, you would attempt to have a word with Octavia, as her band has officially stopped playing. However, it appears that it is too late, as she and her music buddies have already left.

Damn.

Anyway, after walking out of the Wonderbolt area for the evening and on your way out of the castle, you are joined by none other than the Princess of the Day, who seemingly pops up out of no where.

You don’t know how you didn’t see her coming, as she is literally twice your size.

She is looking unusually happy for this time of night.

She isn’t a night pony. This is the first time you have seen her wearing a smile at night.

“Have you had a pleasant evening, Lieutenant?” the Princess asks, walking by your side, as opposed to the other way around.

“Yes, your Majesty,” you say, taking a slight bow, as you ought to do when confronted with royalty. “How did your night go, Princess?”

“Eh,” she says, more casually than one may expect a princess to be. “It was ok. Not memorable.”

Looking at the Princess for the first time, you notice something. “Princess, you have a bit of frosting on your chin.”

“Oh!” She wipes her chin with her foreleg, not a handkerchief, cleaning herself. “How do I look now?”

“Wonderful, Your Majesty, as ever.”

“I noticed that you were in the Wonderbolt section for a very long time, Lieutenant. Have you made some new friends?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I believe I have.”

“Splendid! I would be delighted if you would share the details with me tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”

“Not now, Your Highness?”

“No, Lieutenant, I am much too tired to be paying much attention to anything. And I have exhausted my ability to pay attention, or to pretend to pay attention, for the night.”

“I will walk you back to your chambers then,” you say.

“No, that will not be necessary. Please get some rest now, and I will see you in a few hours, sure enough.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

“Have a good night’s rest, Lieutenant.”

“And to you, my Princess,” you say, taking a deep bow as she walks off up the stairs and off to bed. Once she is out of sight you make a quick stop by the barracks to pick up your helmet and leave to head on home.

It has been one interesting day, and you cannot wait for the sun to rise on tomorrow.

You knew it would be a great day! And what a great day is has been.

Author's Note:

God bless all of you

Comments

[GiantFunnyShark]

I really enjoyed this chapter, but I wish they could be up a lot sooner because I kinda forgot about this fic.

Keep up the good work!

[Daralact]

yay, new update

[PrinceCelestia]

cool not bad not bad at all. some 2nd person fics would usually make to much of a back story for you as a person and it ruins the anonymity but i thing you had a great balance of it and mystery. good job!

[TheTownCrier]

This is one Damn fine read. Keep up the good work.

[crazysticks]

I love this fic so much! It's so well written, the characters are all written well, and it manages to have a second person perspective that actually pulls you into the story instead of pushing you out. I simply can't wait for more! Easily one of my favorite fics on this site!! Keep up the great work!

[IWillEatYourShirt]

This fic is really good so far. I like the slow pace of it, and how it doesn't just throw you into the romance. It's a nice change of pace. Really looking forward to the next chapter.