YAY! NEW COVER!

Authors note: Just a quick one this time, because I know how easily I can start ranting. In this MLP universe Equestria has more advanced technology than it does in the actual series. You have no idea how many times I've had such good ideas that involve modern technology. I mean, I know they're ponies but- *RANT ALERT*!

Oopsie. Okay, on with part two of 'An Intimate Trip'!

RosaSilvermist- I'm glad I changed your opinion about SoarinDash. Whenever I read that someone loves my story I jump up and do this little dance. (Meh, I'm a little crazy).

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"So, what do ya want?" Soarin asked Rainbow Dash as they sat across the table from one another. They were at the local hayburger and, as usual, it was buzzing with customers. A few had come over to ask Soarin for his autograph and even asked Rainbow Dash for some, too. The rainbow maned mare seemed to love the attention she was getting. They had already given their order to the mare serving the customers and they had nothing to do now but wait. Soarin gasped when he saw something on the far side of the room.

"Oh my gosh, CRAYONS!" he squeed, zooming over to grab some and surprising a few fillies and colts. They seemed a little aghast that there was a grown up over there. He returned to the table with crayons of every colour of the rainbow and a large colouring book. Rainbow shifted her eyes awkwardly.

"Um…Soarin, aren't you a little old for that?" she asked him, using her menu to hide her face. Soarin gasped and looked at Rainbow Dash as if she'd just told him she was a murderer.

"You are never too old for crayons, Dashie, NEVER!" he told her, clutching his colouring book to his chest. Rainbow shrugged and put the menu back down on the table. She may have been hanging out with a childish stallion, but this was not an ordinary stallion, this was a childish Wonderbolt!

"Here you go," the waitress from behind the counter appeared and put their meals in front of them. Soarin had ordered a large box of horseshoe fries and an even bigger carrot cola and Rainbow Dash had ordered the largest burger on the menu and a huge vanilla milkshake. The waitress eyed Soarin and his crayons. "Um…do you want some more crayons?" she asked in a sugary sweet voice that she only used around foals. Soarin nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes please, ma'am," he grinned as he began colouring in a rocket ship. The waitress headed over to the table with the crayons and returned with a small packet of them.

"Here you go," she said in that sweet voice again. "Please don't eat them," she added as if she were talking to a little colt. Soarin didn't seem to care and eagerly opened the box. Rainbow chowed down on her burger while Soarin coloured and crunched on his fries. Soarin finished colouring in his rocket and after staring at it proudly for a few seconds he folded it up and put it in the pocket of his officer's uniform. He looked over at Rainbow Dash who was wiping some ketchup from around her mouth. She was a messy eater, but then again so was he. He continued munching on his horseshoe fries whilst observing Dash with one eye. He noticed that aside from wiping mayo and stuff off her face from time to time she didn't really care about how messy she ate. She didn't even wipe her face with the napkins they had been given; she just used her hoof. Soarin knew that a lot of mares liked to have really good manners, but Soarin didn't see why. Who were they trying to impress? Personally, Soarin didn't give a flying feather about manners; he actually found them quite irritating.

"Soarin?"

The Wonderbolt co-captain's thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who had almost finished her burger. She was looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" Soarin asked her simply.

"You were just staring at me," she replied. "It's a little weird," she added. Soarin hadn't realising he'd been staring at her until now. He cleared his throat and returned to gulping down his fries.

"Sorry," he apologised, mentally scolding himself. It was rude to stare at mares. "Great, now you're the one concerned with manners," he thought, realising he was going against the thought he'd had while staring at Dash. The two of them ate their food in silence for a few minutes. Soarin began slurping down his carrot cola and was about halfway through it when he heard Rainbow Dash groan. He looked over to her and saw that she was clutching her head in pain.

"Holy Celestia, Dashie, what's wrong?" Soarin exclaimed, feeling a wave of protectiveness for the cyan cadet. Rainbow tapped her head and squeaked out.

"Brain freeze!"

Soarin noticed that there was vanilla milkshake dribbling out the corner of Rainbow's mouth, so that explained that. Soarin felt relieved that this was nothing more than an ice cream headache and returned to his seat, Rainbow Dash recovering from her brain freeze a few moments after. Soarin knew how painful a brain freeze could be, especially after one time at an air show when he'd challenged Rapidfire to a slush-drinking-race at the after party. He'd been in the lead until his brain suddenly began to feel like ice and he'd fallen to the ground screaming. Not only did he have to be carried out of the party but Rapidfire beat him in the drinking race. It was a lose-lose thing.

Soarin let out a loud belch as he finished the last of his cola and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. Soarin found himself laughing along with her. Burps were just so darn hilarious!

"You call that a burp?" Rainbow Dash asked the stallion. "Check this out," she breathed in before releasing an even louder burp. Soarin almost fell out of his seat with laughter. He'd been out-burped, that was certain.

"Nice one, he complimented her, wiping his eyes since he'd been laughing so hard. By that time, Rainbow was almost done with her milkshake, and Soarin was sucking up the last droplets of his soda. When there was nothing left in the cup, he kept on slurping, just to make that funny noise. Rainbow later joined in the slurping once she had finished her milkshake. After several minutes of slurping, the waitress from earlier marched over and ordered them to leave. Turns out, they were disturbing the other customers. Soarin looked around the food place and sure enough, most of the ponies in there were giving him and Rainbow Dash dirty looks. After they had left, they headed off to their next location: the movie theatre.

"I remember going to the Cloudsdale Cineplex when I was a little filly," Rainbow Dash recalled as they flew. "I never knew a screen could be so big!"

"You're lucky, Dash. When I was a colt, I never went to the movies. Thought, I remember my dad once told me about a time when he went to the Cineplex to see An Officer and a Gentlecolt."

Rainbow scoffed a little. "Whoa, that's an old movie," she commented, though Soarin couldn't tell whether she was talking to him or just thinking out loud.

"But it's still a cool one," he assured Rainbow Dash. They arrived at the Cineplex and walked in. Almost immediately, Soarin was completely mobbed by fans. After fighting them off and, of course, giving out some autographs, he trotted over to Rainbow, who at some point during the 'attack' had sat down on a plush orange couch with a magazine.

"You okay?" Rainbow asked him, not raising her gaze from her magazine. Soarin nodded and sat beside her.

"Yeah, I'm good. I almost got flattened and my pen hoof has a cramp but apart from that- ONE OF THEM STOLE MY TIE!"

Rainbow snorted with laughter. "Don't you enjoy being swarmed by rabid fans wherever you go?" she asked him. Soarin let out a half-hearted laugh and slumped lower into the couch, allowing himself to sink into it a little.

"You wouldn't think it was so cool if your mane looked like this," he pointed at his spiked mane, which was now ruffled from the fans attempts to pull out some of his hair. Why did they even do that? Suddenly a (crazy) thought entered his mind. What if they were planning to clone him?!

"Hey, how about we see this movie?" Rainbow Dash interrupted his nightmare of a whole bunch of Soarin's. The pale blue pegasus looked at the magazine Rainbow was reading ad discovered it was a guide to what movies were being shown. Soarin had heard good things about the movie she was referring to: The Colt in Our Stars. Apparently it was supposed to be the best selling movie here. Soarin enthusiastically agreed and went to buy their tickets. Since it was most popular movie here, it was also the most expensive, but Soarin had promised Rainbow Dash that he'd pay for everything, and if there was one thing Soarin didn't do, it was break his promises. He brought a tub of popcorn for each of them and led Rainbow Dash into their screening room, Room 7, and they sat in the eighth row. Soarin personally wanted to sit at the very front, where viewers were able to sit on these huge beanbags to watch the movie, but according to the usher, whom Soarin had an argument with about the subject, if it wasn't on your ticket, you couldn't sit there. "Stupid rules," Soarin cursed in his head, before moving along the eighth row, so he and Rainbow could sit in the middle, where it had the best view of the screen. The place was packed with ponies of all colours and sizes, though there were no young fillies or colts since this was a PG-13 movie. A stallion with a large tub of nachos sat beside Soarin, and a couple of chatting teenage mares sat beside Rainbow Dash. A young stallion with a soda sat behind Soarin and immediately began slurping his drink obnoxiously loudly.

"When does it start?" Rainbow Dash asked Soarin after they had been sitting in the room for ten minutes. Soarin needed not reply because as soon as the last syllable escaped her mouth, the lights dimmed and the huge screen began playing the commercials.

Soarin personally hated the commercials before the movie because they always showed ones for other movies. He'd been to the Cineplex several times in the past few years and he had started to notice that all the commercials or previews as they were called when a movie was being advertised, gave away the ending. He remembered when the Wonderbolts had gone to the movies after an air show one time a few years ago and Spitfire had refused to go. When asked why she'd replied: 'Because I don't feel like paying thirty bits to sit in a dark room for two hours watching ponies chew with their mouths open and dealing with foals kicking the back of my seat!'

Soarin began to see the cons of having somepony sitting right behind you. The stallion sitting behind him put his back hooves on the top of Soarin's seat. He decided to just go with it, since no harm was being done. The commercials were almost finished now and they were showing an ad for 3D glasses. Soarin also remembered how Spitfire had reacted that same day when she'd been told the Wonderbolts were going to see a 3D movie. She'd grumbled and told them: '3D does not make your movie any better, it just makes it closer! If I wanted to see 3-Dimensional things, I would just go outside!"

The movie finally started after the last advertisement and some brief opening credits. About twenty minutes into the movie, Soarin was pretty hooked. It had seemed a little depressing at the very beginning but picked up a little later. He became aware of some irritating noise coming from his left side. He looked to see the stallion with the nachos crunching loudly on his snack. Soarin shook it off and went back to watching the movie, but now that he'd noticed the crunching he couldn't seem to focus on anything else. Soarin prodded the stallion, who turned his head to address Soarin.

"What is it?" he asked the Wonderbolt.

"Sorry, but would you mind chewing your nachos a little quieter, please sir?" Soarin felt like it was a pretty dumb question, but right now he wanted to watch the movie without a single distraction. The stallion nodded and managed to crunch a lot quieter. Perfect.

"So, like, who's he?"

Soarin looked over Rainbow Dash to the two teenage mares from earlier. One was hot pink with a blue and white mane in a high ponytail, while the other was white with a yellow and pink checkered mane.

"He's one of the teachers from the support group," the white one said to the pink one. Soarin immediately realised that she was wrong and leaned over Rainbow Dash to correct her.

"No, no, he's not the teacher, there was only one teacher, he's the one who's going blind," Soarin explained to them. The two mares nodded in thanks and Soarin leaned back in his chair, resuming eating his popcorn. After about ten minutes, Soarin felt something hit the side of his head. "Hey, what gives?" he groaned, rubbing his sore head. Turns out, the stallion sitting behind him had tried to swat a fly with his back hoof and kicked Soarin.

"Er…sorry dude," he apologized, putting his hooves on his seat where they belonged and slurping his soda. Soarin exhaled and turned his attention back to the movie. It had just got to the part where the two main characters go to Amsterdam* when the two mares began speaking again.

"What's happening now?" the pink mare asked her friend, looking up from her phone. Soarin would have given the mare a stern look if it wasn't too dark for her to see him. Maybe if she stopped texting and paid attention, she wouldn't have to ask!

"They're going to Amsterdam to buy a book," the white mare replied, rolling her eyes. Soarin face hoofed. Why was this filly explaining it wrong? He leaned across Rainbow Dash once again, aware of the cyan pegasus grunting as he knocked her popcorn a little.

"No, they're going to Amsterdam to track down the mysterious author of the book who disappeared after its publication," he corrected her once again. Soarin leaned back to his own seat, once again knocking Rainbow Dash's popcorn and even spilling a little in his mane. "Oh, thanks," he said to Dash, plucking the pieces of popcorn from his hair and throwing them into his mouth. Just when Soarin thought that he'd be able to watch the movie in peace, he heard this terrible noise that made him jump clear out of his seat. Rainbow Dash fumbled for her popcorn as Soarin knocked the bucket from her hooves and skilfully caught it, glaring up at Soarin with dagger-like eyes. He mouthed 'sorry' and sat back down in his seat, trying to figure out what the heck that noise was.

SLLLUUUUURRRRP!

Soarin looked behind him. That dude with the soda was doing the same slurping thing that he and Rainbow Dash were doing back at the Hayburger.

SLLLLLUUUUUUUURRRRRP!

Soarin was beginning to see how you could become irritated with this kind of thing. He fixed his eyes on the screen and did his best to ignore the Hannibal Lecter noises gnawing away at his brain. By now the movie had reached the point where the two main characters were being sent away by the author.

SLUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRP!

"SHUT UP!" Soarin stood up on his chair and put his hooves on the back of his chair and staring angrily at the stallion, who dropped his soda with fright. It was a good thing looks couldn't kill.

"Is there a problem, sirs?"

Soarin looked to the side to see the usher from before, looking pretty un-amused at Soarin's outburst. Soarin sat back down in his seat and folded his arms, mumbling grumpily.

"No, everything's under control," he replied, shooting an uncharacteristically harsh glower behind him at the stallion, who had sunk lower in his seat. The usher rolled his eyes and trotted away, mumbling something about hating his job. Soarin looked over at Rainbow Dash, who had her face buried in her hooves mumbling 'why me?'

The rainbow maned mare tapped Soarin on the shoulder, whispering his name. Soarin shifted his eyes to the side to meet hers.

"Soarin, please don't make a scene," Rainbow Dash silently pleaded. "I'd appreciate it if we didn't get thrown out of here."

"We won't get thrown out, Dash, it's just some ponies can irritate you to the point of insanity," Soarin hissed his reply, fighting the urge to give the surrounding ponies menacing stares. Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times before raising her brows in confusion.

"Who are you and what have you done with Soarin?" she asked, smirking slightly before turning to stare at the screen again. Soarin awkwardly sat through the…*hmm hmm* scene and then began to feel a little depressed when the main stallion announced he was going to die. When the stallion was dying in hospital and Soarin was on the verge of tears-

"What just happened?"

Soarin grumbled as that annoying pink mare piped up again. Soarin had never realised just how annoying somepony's voice could be. It was kind of like listening to an alarm clock first thing in the morning: plain irritating! That stupid white mare answered her friend.

"I think she gave him her cancer when they-"

"NO!" Soarin piped up not wanting to think about that scene. The surrounding ponies all looked over at him and Rainbow Dash raised a hoof.

"I have no idea who this guy is," she lied before burying her face in her popcorn bucket, which was almost completely empty by now. Soarin quickly sat down before the usher could notice the commotion. He leaned over Rainbow Dash again to talk to the two (pesky) mares.

"If you two were paying the slightest bit of attention, you would know that he already had cancer…" he began mimicking the two mares' voices. "…and FYI, cancer can't be passed on like that!" he then sat back in his chair and watched the movie through slitted eyes. He was beginning to see why Spitfire hated going to the movies. Next time he wanted to watch something, he would do what any normal pony would and rent a darn movie!

After that, everything remained quiet, and Soarin found his usual good mood returning. He didn't usually snap like that…at all, but he felt a little on edge at the moment, not that he knew why. Once the movie ended, Soarin had tears rolling down his cheeks and he wondered how Rainbow Dash could stay so straight-faced. She must be made of stone or something. Soarin and Rainbow Dash left the Cineplex, one snivelling, one whistling. They leaned against the wall of the building where Rainbow Dash broke into a rant about the movie and how she was relieved Soarin didn't get the two of them banned for life.

"You okay, Soarin?" Rainbow asked the co-captain after she'd finished talking, noticing for the first time that he was sniffling. Soarin wiped his nose with a hoof.

"Yeah, it's just a stupid movie, I just get emotional easily," he admitted, biting his lip in embarrassment. Rainbow rolled her eyes and put a hoof on Soarin's shoulder.

"Don't worry 'bout it…we all cry sometimes," Rainbow chuckled as she said that, though Soarin had no idea that she was quoting Spitfire's earlier statement. "Ya know, putting your descent into madness aside, that was actually pretty fun," Rainbow smiled up at Soarin, who nodded.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed. Despite his irritation with the other viewers, he had genuinely enjoyed himself. He always enjoyed himself when he was with Dashie.

Soarin suddenly realised that it was true: he loved being with Rainbow Dash. He felt different when he was with her. He felt more energetic and smiled easier, probably because she liked to smile a lot too. She seemed to bring out a less professional, carefree side to him, which was something that most ponies couldn't do. He loved how he would feel an ecstasy of joy when she walked into a room, how her eyes would glow when he congratulated her on a fantastic flight, how his chest lurched whenever she told him he was awesome.

Soarin's brain buzzed as realization slammed into him like a wrecking ball.

Could he…like Rainbow Dash?

"Soarin, anypony in there?"

Soarin hadn't realized he'd drifted into thought until a blue hoof began waving in front of his face. He shook his head to get his mind working again. Rainbow Dash was gazing at him with obvious concern.

"Oh yeah, I'm…I'm right here," Soarin replied, suddenly feeling warm from head to tail. Rainbow gave him one of those huge grins and enthusiastically spread her wings, as if about to take off.

"So, where to now?" she asked him. Soarin gave her the one answer he could think of right now.

"Anywhere."

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"Tho, he really thaid that he'd fly around the track with hith thuit full of apple thauce if he felt anything for Rainbow Dathh?"

Braeburn nodded in response to Fleetfoot's question. He was taking a fifteen minute break and the white maned mare had been with him in the kitchen the entire time, just sitting in the seat next to his. Fleetfoot let out a chortle.

"I hereby announce Thoarin to be the Chief Drama Maker of Cloudthdale," she announced, throwing her hooves into the air for dramatic effect. "I'll have to properly give him his title when he gets back."

"How?" Braeburn asked her, unsure of where the cheeky mare's plan was headed. Fleetfoot's eyes darted around the room and she jumped up when she saw something on the counter. She grabbed a large baguette and held it above her head.

"I gueth I could knight him with this or thomething," she shrugged. Braeburn chuckled at her plan. He'd learned that Fleetfoot was a pretty random pony from time to time. Just then, the door creaked open and Soarin entered, wearing a small smile.

"Afternoon, Prince of the Pies," Fleetfoot greeted Soarin as he walked over to them. "How'd it go?" she widened her eyes until Braeburn was sure they'd pop out. Soarin gulped and chuckled nervously. Braeburn knew that look on his face. Soarin always made that face when he'd done something wrong. The earth pony face-hoofed and looked up at Soarin with exasperation.

"Aw no, Soar, what did ya do?" he asked his friend, unsure of what to expect. Soarin sighed and glanced over to the table that Braeburn and Fleetfoot were sitting at. He trotted over and grabbed something that was on it. Braeburn's jaw dropped and Fleetfoot gasped when they saw what he was holding.

The tin of apple sauce.

"What're ya doin' with that?" Braeburn asked, blinking rapidly. Soarin flushed red, a feature that Braeburn got on his face almost constantly these days. The Wonderbolt stallion began heading out the door, looking over his shoulder at his friends as he left.

"I'm going to find my Wonderbolt's uniform, of course. I've got a track to fly around."

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Endnote: Brace yourself, this is a long note:

Holy Celestia that chapter was hard to write. I never knew how hard it was to write a chapter where almost nothing happens! I'm not particularly proud of this chapter but I'm glad that Soarin had his epiphany.

*Dam- A dam means the mother of a foal.

That's one thing I can be proud of in this chapter because I don't think Amsterdam has been invented in the MLP universe yet. SWEET LUNA, I INVENTED A COUNTRY IN EQUESTRIA! *squee*.

Now, guys I have some good news and some bad news. Don't worry, it's nothing major.

The bad news is that there may not be a new chapter until the New Year. This is because I'm going to stay at my grandfather's house for the holiday season.

But, the GOOD news is that I'll be taking my laptop to his house with me, so I'll still be able to WRITE the chapters; I can't upload them because Gramps has no internet connection. So, the chances are that by the time I get back home, I'll have MORE THAN ONE chapter to upload, so that can make up for the lack of updates.

So stay tuned for chapter 12, where the Academy Assembly is held and the search for the culprit of the GHM (Golden Horseshoe Mystery) continues. (Don't forget to PM me your theories on whodunit if you haven't yet).

Merry Christmas, everyone!