Cough Syrup Ch. 1

Cough Syrup
Written By Closer-To-The-Sun (Joseph Noblit)
Ch. 1: Goin’ Out West

“Bartender! Another glass of Crown Royalty, on the rocks!”

“You sure that’s a smart idea, Captain? Getting another glass of whisky?” the blue coated pegasus asked her superior.

The light orange mare turned to her friend, “You don’t have to be so formal when we’re just hanging out at the bar, Fleetfoot. Besides, Soarin said he was buying for all of us Wonderbolts here, so there’s no way I’m not going to take advantage of this.”

Fleetfoot still gave an uneasy look, “But what about your cold? It sounded pretty bad.”

“Pfft….please it wasn’t that bad. Besides, a bit of alcohol helps, you know,” Spitfire waved her hoof nonchalantly. However, she did give a couple of soft coughs to the side. She continued, “Really!”

“Well, if you say so, Captain,” the blue pegasus gave one last glance to Spitfire before taking a sip of her appletini.

The crowd of Wonderbolts continued to chat in the busy bar for a while longer. Amongst the talking, laughter, and drinking, a pale blue stallion got up to quiet everypony down.

“Settle down, settle down. I’m sure all each and everypony is curious why I called you all here to The Loose Harness tonight,” Soarin spoke up.

“Because you wanted us to drink all on your tab!” a voice called out. Laughter followed.

Soarin was also sharing in the laugh, “No, no, that’s not it. It’s because I want to share some awesome news with everypony!”

“What, are you taking your love of baked goods to the next level?” Spitfire called out, taking a sip of her fresh glass of whisky. More laughter followed.

“Nah, nothing like that. I got an offer to go out to the west coast and fly over there!” the stallion mused happily.

Hooves came together, clapping for Soarin. Along with the cheering, Fleetfoot spoke up, “Awesome! What does the job entail for you?”

“The offer is basically for the entire summer. Go out to the base over near Las Pegasus and help around with training and what not. Nothing too extreme or anything. Who knows, they might ask me to stay on as permanent staff over there. To be honest, it sounds like just an awesome vacation, you know?”

Another voice called up, “Anything to get out of work here, right?”

Yet another voice followed, “More like anything to not have to deal with Captain Spitfire for a bit!”

The entire group of Wonderbolts came together in laughter. Even Spitfire herself joined in the laughter at the statement. Soarin, despite the smile and chuckle, insisted otherwise, “It’s not like that, and you all know it. I just wanted to give myself a chance to do something different and outside of Canterlot for a change.”

“Well, more power to ya, Soarin! Best of luck out there on the west coast!” a voice called out.

“Hear, hear!” a few ponies shouted in unison.

“And here’s to Soarin who’s picking up the tab!” another pony said allowed.

“Hear, hear!” even more ponies spoke this time, with a few glasses of different types of alcohol being raised into the air.

Soarin laughed, “Enjoy everypony, just remember we still got practice tomorrow.”

“Practice?” Fleetfoot scoffed, “Please, look at the Captain right now!”

A number of pony’s eyes turned to Spitfire, who was sitting at her barstool, taking a drink of her whisky. “What?” she asked with a shrug, “what’s wrong with a touch of whisky to relax?”

“That’s not how you nurse a cold, Captain!” a voice called out, causing laughter to follow.

Spitfire shrugged it of as she finished the small amount of alcohol in her glass. She turned back around to the bar all called out for another drink, “One more Crown Royalty, sir, neat please!”

“Anyway, enjoy yourselves everypony! Thanks for coming!” Soarin finished his speech to his fellow Wonderbolts. Trotting over to two mares, Soarin spoke out, “Hey, Spitfire! Fleetfoot! How are you two doing tonight?”

“Great, Soarin! Thanks for letting us all get something to drink!” the blue mare happily welcomed her teammate.

Spitfire turned her head to see Soarin. She smiled and playfully hit him with her hoof, “Hey, you, congrats on the offer in Las Pegasus!”

“Haha, thanks,” Soarin bashfully rubbed the back of his neck with one of his hooves, “But if it weren’t for all of you ponies, there would be no way that I would even be considered! Especially you, Spitfire.”

Spitfire waved her hoof casually, “Oh, come off it. You’re a great flyer, ever since you started flying back in Cloudsdale. You were awesome back in flight camp and all of that, remember.”

“Well, yeah, thanks to you helping me, Spitfire! If it weren’t for you, I’d be just another flyer with their head in the clouds with silly dreams,” Soarin insisted.

“Oh, you guys knew each other before joining the Wonderbolts?” Fleetfoot inquired about her fellow members.

“Totally! This mare right here is one of the best flyers in Equestria, hooves down! She set records that still stand back in school!” Soarin bragged, “She’s awesome!”

Spitfire became a bit timid yet snarky, “You’re building me up, pie boy.”

Laughing, Soarin placed his hooves on both of his fellow Wonderbolts as he bidded them farewell, “Either way, I have all of you to thanks. Speaking of which, I have other ponies to see real quick. Enjoy the evening!”

“See ya tomorrow, Soarin!” Fleetfoot called out. Turning herself around to sit in the barstool properly, she continued speaking, “Wow, I never knew you two were childhood friends. That’s really cool!”

“Yeah, a freaking fantasy,” the orange mare replied. The bartender came up and gave Spitfire her drink. After thanking him, the mare took a drink of the whisky.

The blue pony turned her head to face her superior, “I still think you should draw the line somewhere.”

“Oh, what do you care, Fleetfoot? It’s my body,” Spitfire’s attitude had turned bitter like the beverage she had been drinking.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?” Fleetfoot asked, tilting her head.

As her drink arrived, Spitfire looked at the whisky in the glass. “Peachy, just peachy.”

The blue pegasus nervously continued, “Are you really?”

Spitfire sighed as she stared at the alcohol, “Of course not.”

“Do you want to talk about it, Captain?” Fleetfoot meekly asked.

“I told you, don’t call me ‘captain’ when we are here,” she replied. The orange mare was then silent, allowing the noise from the rest of the ponies fill the air. However, she broke her silence with her coughing.

“That cough sounds pretty bad, ma’am,” the blue mare stated.

“I told you I’m fine!” Spitfire bit back. Her expression quickly changed from annoyance to melancholy. She continued with a sigh, “Sorry about that, you’re not the one I’m infuriated at, Fleetfoot.”

“Then, who?”

Spitfire turned her gaze to the blue stallion that was with them only moments ago, “A really dense colt….”

Fleetfoot followed Spitfire’s line of sight to see whom she was talking about, “Soarin? Why him?”

She didn’t reply. Instead, she took a large drink of her whisky.

“Oh my Celestia….do you have feelings for Soarin?” Fleetfoot spoke in a hushed tone to Spitfire.

Spitfire did not reply.