Bullets of Fire

by BlackWater

9 - Mares in Motion

Something felt weird. Something thin and cold...something large and warm. In her dream, Spitfire saw a thin small snake coil around her and a large ostrich was trying to push her around. She was confused, not knowing how it all related to what was happening in real life.

Spitfire awakened slowly and groggily like she always did. Only this time, she awoke to see Surprise's face only inches from her own. The other mare had an odd expression of embarrassment and giddiness. When the captain tried to move, she found her hooves tied - literally. It was so early in the morning but she already found herself sighing. She never got any slack. There certainly wasn't any in the rope that tied her to Surprise.

"Morninng, Cap'!" Blaze nearly hollered. It threatened to give the lead mare a headache.

"Blaze, I know you did this."

"Don't ask me to loosen it. Blaze was the one that went overboard so she should be the one to fix it," Misty said, obviously awake. The others were also up and were probably prepping themselves in the bathroom.

Blaze acted cool, "You don't seem too surprised. I wanted you to freak out or something when you woke up all tied."

"It's annoying. Not scary," Spitfire remarked deadpan. Not helping but to notice Surprise's almost hurt expression, she had to add, "Not seeing your face, Surprise. I meant the rope's uncomfortable."

"I don't think we can do anything if we're tied together this tight," she wavered with a faint smile.

Misty decided to take the lead as she shoved Blaze out of the other bed. "Lossen it. And get rid of the rope on their hooves."

Spitfire hadn't noticed until Misty just mentioned it but there was indeed an additional rope tying their back hooves together. Blaze must have hopped that they would stumble when they tried to get off the bed. It was unnecessary since it was already impossible to do anything with the mid-body rope tying them so tight.

Blaze reluctantly fixed the rope. "Thanks," Surprise responded a bit too grateful.

"This is going to be interesting," Spitfire mumbled as she scooted to the edge of the bed. At least they didn't have to unwind from the covers. Blaze already pushed them aside to fix the bindings.

Surprise tried maneuvering herself to match her orange companion. When they started slipping off the bed she couldn't help but eek out, "Ah, careful."

"This is going to be a loooong day," Spitfire cried. Carefully she titled off the bed, dragging Surprise with her. The tilt gave both mares a chance to get onto their hooves. Once they were both standing properly, tied side-by-side, they both gave a curt "hah" of victory.

"Ji-"

"-nx, you owe me a soda!" Surprise finished.

Spitfire tried to clack her hoof against the floor but it only made a muffled swish against the heavy carpet. Fleetfoot laughed as she turned the corner into the bedroom. "You two!"

Blaze grinned and addressed the two funny looking mares, "Shopping at the grand market. I suppose your going to have to buy double everything."

The rope might have been loose enough to move in but they were still close enough that Spitfire's left and Surprise's right wing were pressed firmly together. There was no chance of flight if that had ever been a possibility in the first place. The feeling was vexing for the captain but the others seemed to get a kick out of it. Even Surprise seemed to be enjoying the novelty. Well, she probably wouldn't for long. Such things lost their charm rather quickly.

"You all just do whatever shopping you want. I don't think we can do anything but window shop like this. Was there anything you wanted to go see, Surprise?" The orange mare barely turned her head to address the one tied to her. Turning her head all the way was likely to cause them to knock their skulls together.

"No, I...wait, yes. I did want to check the bookstore," she hesitantly answered.

High Winds walked into the room. "What a sight!"

Misty groaned, not wanting to go through anymore of the ridiculousness. "I'm going. If anyone wants to start with Chance's then you better hurry up."

"Oh! They have a new dress I want to try out," Fleetfoot hurried behind Misty as she left the hotel room. Blaze, however, just stuck her tongue out.

"Let's just go," Spitfire moaned. Unfortunately, she nearly faceplanted when she tried walking forward. Surprise tried to match her captain's movements but the two mare had different strides. Spitfire took longer steps and put her weight forward while Surprise took smaller steps and slipped into her movement rather than throwing herself forward. It was going to take practice for the mares to work in tandem.

When they finally managed to compromise enough to at least walk, they exited the exorbitant hotel.

It was as the other girls were browsing the sports-grade flight goggles at Chance's Fashion that the unexpected happened. Spitfire had tried quite successfully to hide her involvement with Celestia from the group. The Princess wanted it after all. So she never expected what was coming when both her and her white side-pegasus got magically pulled into a dressing stall. Both their mouths were plugged with Celestia's hooves. "Shhhh," the white alicorn shushed.

After she slowly removed her hooves, Spitfire whispered, "What the hayseed are you doing?!"

Celestia just laughed - quiet enough not to be heard outside of the stall. "I was wondering when you'd get back and I come to find you having a ball without me."

"This," Spitfire motioned to the rope, "isn't what I'd call a ball. It's really hard. Almost as bad as a three-hoofed race."

"I love those," Celestia remarked nonchalantly. "But I don't think we've met before - not like this anyway. Nice to meet you, Surprise."

The white pegasus was shocked in silence until then but nervously gave her reply. "S-surprise is a-all mine."

Spitfire wrapped her front hoof around her teammate, "It's okay, Surprise. You can talk to her like you would to me."

The Princess grinned. "And how do you talk to your fellow Dare victim?"

"How do you know about the dare?" Spitfire quickly asked.

Her grin got bigger. "I have that Extreme Edition. It's really not that extreme but it's still fun to play with Luna. I gave her that dare once...it was a very interesting evening."

Spitfire rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear the million different ways that she teased her sister. It must have been a sibling thing. "What are you doing again? I didn't catch the part about you pulling us into a stall," Spitfire finally complained.

"Training, Fire. You can't miss it."

"Well I've got some problems as you can see," the captain remarked. Surprise whimpered with her head already drooping. She was the third wheel as usual. Spitfire tried to reverse it but was too late - even for her practiced super-kind voice. "No, I didn't mean it like that, Prize..."

Celestia sighed and effectively got both of their attentions. "You both should come with me."

The ruler took a scouting peak out of the stall. None of the other bolts were in visual range, which was amazing considering how many there were. "I don't think we can run," Spitfire declared.

"You don't need to. I just wanted to make sure that none of your team members would be close enough to notice."

"Notice what?" the captain asked. Only her answer came in the form of a powerful teleportation spell. After a bout of brief nausea, both of the pegasus realized they were in some sort of garden. A garden that the Wonderbolt leader was familiar with.

Shaking her head, the orange mare seethed, "That was uncalled for."

Celestia's tone, however, was more severe. "I think it was."

She pointed to the other pegasus and Spitfire noticed it. She always knew how emotional Surprise was, which is why she was careful around the mare. As a teammate she was just as good as the others at putting on the show mask but her true personality was a different matter. Sometimes Spitfire even questioned whether or not it was the right decision to add certain members. She had faith in Surprise but it seemed like a loosing battle sometimes to keep the mare afloat. She was just too...self-aware. No, maybe it was more accurate to say she lacked confidence in herself. Surprise was crying.

Celestia walked off to a cushion that was kept for her in the garden and left the two mares to talk. Spitfire noted that the rope had been severed off.

"Prize..." the captain started. "What's wrong?"

"I'm wrong," she responded too quickly, nearly choking over her sobs. "I give it everything everyday and it's still not enough! I'm always the third wheel. I don't deserve to be arou-"

Her words were cut short when Spitfire embraced her. Surprise, her own teammate, had been struggling this whole time with this. It was clearly not something that she had come to on a whim. Just a few taken-the-wrong-way words were all it took to push her over the edge. Spitfire wanted to scream. What about herself? She often gave more than she had to keep the Wonderbolts going and she still couldn't handle her team right.

So she stood there on her back two hooves, wrapping her front two around Surprise. She almost felt like crying along with the mare. She had too much on her plate. What would she do if any of her other members broke down like this? Everything was going to chaos.

"Prize," Spitfire whispered as she stroked the mares trembling back. It was a trick her mother used to use on her to get her to settle down from a fit. "I'm right here and I'm not going to let you go. I want you to know that."

Surprise kept crying but her tears slowed. They remained like that for what seemed to be hours. It was really just minutes - long terrible minutes. Once Surprise had settled down enough to speak, Spitfire let go and the two settled down to lay in the grassy garden. The white pegasus couldn't stand anymore because of her trembling legs. "I've never belonged," she finally said. Her voice was raspy and quiet from the previous crying.

"Why do you think that?" Surprise gently asked.

Surprise shook her mane. "I'm not like any of you. You always have a better time when I'm not around."

Spitfire wanted to respond right then but allowed the mare to continue.

"I'm scared to death everytime we have a performance and I've always felt like I've been living a dream. Like it's not my real life. I'm not supposed to be here."

All of the mare's negative thoughts were surfacing.

"I've...I've..."

Spitfire waited patiently.

"I've always idolized you, Spitfire!"

There it was. The foundation of the problem. Spitfire was no psychologist but she could see how things worked just by looking at her fans. It wasn't just her own fans either. She had heard similar things from other ponies made popular by their professions. The problem occurred when somepony idolized another and belittled themselves. They would start judging themselves by the standards they made up from the "perfect" stallion or mare - whoever they decided was their "hero."

Surprise continued, "You're something I'll never be. You're even friends with the Princess!"

Spitfire saw the opening finally come. She laid a hoof on Surprise's and waited until she could feel the mare stall her trembling. "Do you know why I chose to let you join the team?"

Surprise's voice wavered like a shrinking shadow, "I don't know..."

"Because you're not me," she whispered. "I'm not what you think I am. I'm not what a million ponies think I am. I know what I'm like and that's why I don't want other people like me on the team. I want to be more like you, Prize."

"Why...?" Surprise almost began to cry again.

Spitfire kept holding onto the mare, refusing to let her slip away. "Because you're always so honest and you're considerate of others. You're pure and I don't feel that way. So I never want you to leave the Wonderbolts. They need you just like I do."

"That's not-"

Spitfire leaned forward to look the mare deep in the eyes. "No. I don't want you to say it doesn't matter. Because it does. You matter to me, Prize! If you feel like you don't belong then I want you right by my side. I want you flying on my right wing, where you belong."

Surprise finally started crying again but for a different reason. The emotions were too much for her and she felt, at that moment, like everything in her life was a hurricane.

Celestia approached again and whispered to Spitfire, "Let's get her to the bathroom. She needs a cold rag."

Nodding, Spitfire waited until Surprise had spent her tears and then lead her to the Princess' bathroom. She helped her 'Bolt cool down and talked to her about their formation revisions.

It was after some time had passed that she was finally back to normal in Celestia's bedroom. The captain ordered her to rest in the bed and the alicorn ushered Spitfire out. As the two left Surprise and headed back to the garden, Spitfire couldn't help but ask, "Should I have left her? Maybe I should stay-"

"Fire," Celestia corrected. "She'll be fine. She's tired out from the stress and she's already fast asleep, trust me."

Almost thinking to argue, Spitfire realized she could trust the immortal ruler. "She had a breakdown. A complete breakdown. What does that say about my leadership? I've been blowing it."

"Nopony can do everything, Spitfire," the ruler declared concretely. "You're doing everything you can. You were the only one who could connect with her and you did. I guarantee that would not have ended well if it was anypony else saying the same things to her."

"I guess I should take that encouragement," Spitfire replied blandly. "But now she knows about my connection to you. Don't blame me either. You started it."

"Oh, I have some ideas about what to do with this," Celestia grinned.

Spitfire, however, gave a grim look in response. "I will not let you tease her in any way."

Looking aghast, Celestia countered, "I wouldn't dream of it. I'm not insensitive you know."

"Really?"

Celestia smiled, "In fact, I think I know something that will help cheer her up."

Comments

[Celestias Paladin]

"She had a breakdown. A complete breakdown. What does that say about my leadership? I've been blowing it."
While I really don't want to rub salt in her emotional wounds Celestia could have responded this way: "My sister went stark craving bonkers and tried to plunge Equestria in eternal night."