Waiting in the Wings (Zipp Storm x Fem Reader)

Chapter 3

Passing by the unknown ponies, you incessantly searched for the mare who in just a little time, had done something many failed to do in several days: Steal your heart. Until, after lots of minutes of unstoppable searching, your face lit up when you finally found her, walking out of the ballroom.

Unceremoniously, you walked past the ponies, this time unapologetically for the inconvenience, desperate to talk to her for a little longer.

She turned, startled, hearing panting breaths behind her. However, she soon calmed down to see that it was just you and not another of several suitors who always harassed her at every royal ball she attended.

"Oh, it's..." She paused, remembering that she didn't know your name. "It's you."

"Me." You smiled.

"Yeah. So why are you here?" She asked bluntly.

"I... I wanted to know your name." You replied, looking away shyly.

"My mom screamed my name at the top of her lungs when we met." She said.

"I didn't hear her right when she said it. Besides, I wanted to hear from you." You replied, which made her smile at you again.

"You can call me Zipp." She answered.

You smiled and introduced yourself to her.

"If you'll excuse me Y/N, I want to take a break from that boring royal ball." She said.

"Then take me with you, I was dying to get out of there too." You asked.

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "How? You're like, the most princely princess I've ever met in my life."

"Thank you. But it's just for show, I can only be myself in my room, if no one is there with me, of course." You explained.

Zipp immediately remembered herself when she was younger, when she felt she needed to be in a skin where she didn't feel like herself, because everyone needed her to be that way.

But one day, she realized that how she felt was much more valuable and she wanted to encourage that in you. For some reason she didn't know, she felt like she trusted you to say anything. 

And she didn't usually trust much in ponies she knew in a short time. The only ones were Sunny, Izzy, Hitch and now, you.

"Come with me." She whispered.

"What? Where to?" You asked.

"Run away from the royal ball. That's what we want, right?" She asked with a smile.

You nodded and followed her. You two walked to a place where there was a painting on the floor. She pushed the frame, which revealed a passage.

"Are we going to have to go in there?" You asked.

"Are you afraid?" She asked between giggles, as she entered the passage.

"Afraid? No." You denied it, trying to look brave in front of her.

"Then come with me, there's no danger, trust me." Her voice echoed from inside the secret passage.

You took a deep breath and apprehensively entered the hole in the wall.

Surprisingly it was well lit inside although it was a bit narrow, you could see Zipp's tail as she went, so you knew exactly which direction to go as there were other tunnels.

After shuffling through the passage for a while, you two arrived at the place she wanted.

She flew down and you were soon confused to see that she had left you alone on the ceiling. A short time later, she returned with an embarrassed smile.

"Oops sorry I forgot you don't have wings." She apologized between nervous laughs.

You could never be mad at Zipp when she was being so cute like that.

"Want some help getting down?" She asked.

"Sure." You replied with a shrug.

She soon reached flight again and flew to you. She wrapped her front legs around your shoulders, caught you and lifted you into the air.

"Please don't drop me." You asked, avoiding looking down to get even more scared.

"Don't worry, I won't." She assured you.

Even so, you closed your eyes as she led you downstairs, feeling a little wind hit your face and the sound of her wings beating.

You breathed a sigh of relief when you opened your eyes and saw that you were on the safe ground.

"Are you always this scared?" She asked between laughs.

"Not always, just in some cases when I'm about to fall from a height of more than 15 meters." You answered and you two laugh together.

You took a look around, it looked like a long-abandoned place.

"What was this place?" You asked curiously, looking at a board with mathematical equations.

"It was a station when ponies of other species used to visit the city." She explained. "But now it's my space where I do things I love to do, a new station is being built somewhere else."

"It's really cool. Sorry to ask, but why here and not anywhere else in the castle?" You asked, hoping you weren't impolite.

She gave a sad sigh.

"This is the place where I could be myself without bothering to hide behind various fake masks." She replied in a melancholy tone of voice.

"... Like what?" You dared to ask again.

"When we used to lie to our own people that we were the only ones who knew how to fly, from my controlling parents and..." She paused, as if it was a difficult thing to say. "When I was forced to hide who I was from everyone. I mean, I know it's over and now things have changed for the better, but I feel like the scars that were left will be forever."

You immediately felt a painful tightening in your chest at seeing her so sad. Determined to do something to try to lift her spirits again, you approached her and rested your hoof on her shoulder.

"When I'm sad about something bad that happened to me, my uncle always tells me it's 'a blessing in disguise'. Maybe it wasn't like that with you too? Because it's all right now, right?"

"More or less, but definitely things are better than they were before." She replied, trying not to continue the sentence and say "When my father was alive".

Soon after, she gave you a beautiful smile. Mission accomplished.

"You're lucky you can be free like this." You muttered.

"But you can too, you can do anything. You just have to believe in yourself and in the great strength that exists within you."

You couldn't tear your gaze away from hers as she spoke to you. She was so encouraging, one more thing on the list of things you loved about her.

You smiled back at her and she smiled back at you, before turning her face to look into the large open space, where the third and largest stained glass window once stood, but which now gave the perfect view of when the moon was full.

You felt your heart flutter in your chest whenever you looked at her, she was so beautiful.

"Come on, you can do it." You mentally encouraged yourself to give a little demonstration of what you had started to feel for her, without getting nervous.

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, leaned in, lips poised to rest on her cheek, white as snow. But suddenly, you felt a very different texture of a cheek. Confused, you opened your eyes and were completely shocked by what had just happened. 

You just kissed her.

On the lips.