200 REVIEWS!

Oh my gosh, thank you all for helping me reach this achievement! I remember when I first started this I didn't think in my wildest dreams that this would even reach the 100 reviews, but for once I'm glad to have been wrong. I really couldn't do this without you all; hearing from each of you and knowing that you like what I do fuels me up to keep going, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. *cyberhugs for everyone!*

And congratulations, YoungBlood23 for being the 200th reviewer!

AND 40+ FAVOURITES, TOO?!

You guys are literally the best! I wanna hug you all right now! (And thanks, Luna'snight65 for being the 40th favourit-er!

IT'S TIME GUYS!

After 33 chapters of randomness, fluff, drills, OC's, muffins, obstacle courses, races, the flu, horseshoes, surprises, parties, pie, plans, and a whole lot of thingamabobs, it's finally gonna happen in this very chapter!

If you don't get what I mean get your head out of the clouds!

Actually no, put your head back in the clouds, because that's where this story is set!

Now let's move onto the replies and let the feels begin! :D

Captain Alaska- Great, now I have to draw Lullaby looking like a therapist. Five checkered flags, eh… AWESOME! Hmm… I wonder if Rainbow Dash would know what reverse psychology was if somepony said it to her… I bet she'd just say bless you in response.

Kihu- Now as awesome as it would be to have this made into a movie it's just not that good… we all know that.

Dj Storm- Oh my gosh, happy (late) one-year-iversary! Also, hopefully by the name of the chapter you know what's gonna happen by now.

Psychopathic Potato- Yeah, I see what you mean. With all the murder theories, crude fanart, confusion, and repetitive fanfics I can understand how things can get annoying. I still enjoy playing the games, though.

RosaSilvermist- There. Brae's always been a good hugger.

Surprise: Thanks. Now, who wants ice cream?! :P

Yeah, I don't know about you but seeing Rainbow in a slump has to be one of the most depressing things to imagine, if Tanks for the Memories was any indication.

Luna'snight65- Wow, someone's sure excited. And I guess it makes all the difference since Dashie was sober and Soarin wasn't.

SummerGrace190- As Fluttershy would say: "You rock! Woohoo!"… and thanks for the second review, too. I had no idea this story was that good. Whenever I receive a review like that it really makes my day; so thank you very much for that. ^^

YoungBlood23- There's my 200th reviewer! And I think that was my favourite part of the chapter… who'd have thought learning about Rainbow Dash's bowel troubles would be so entertaining? xD

Litestardt- Great to meet ya, Lightning. And you guys aren't the only one's celebrating Fallout 4! I know that this is gonna be the best game yet and it was totally worth the looooonnnng wait! And I talked to Spitz about her behaviour… now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and get another steak for my black eye.

The Super Saiyan 3- Happier than Pinkie Pie, huh? Wow, I really wanna see that. If this is gonna make you happier than The Pink… ie Pie, then I guess I'd better make it happen, right? ;)

MidnightBlaze16- Yeah, I actually left out a name for Lullaby's crush on purpose so you and the other readers could just make something up for yourselves, but I see what you mean by her having a crush on Dashie. She doesn't, but if she did it could work… imagine what you will. :3 And I also understand why TwiDash is your OTP; it's a pretty sweet little pairing- The Egghead and the Racer… that could make for a good movie. And for my thoughts on episode 100 just go down the page a little bit.

Amelia Rose- I promise I'll keep it up. Thanks for reading and I hope the rest is good as well.

Snow Hurricane Blue- I'm so glad you think that. It's one of the more strange pairs, but I think it's unbearably adorable!

NOW FOR MY THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 100!

(SPOILERS AHEAD- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

I'm not much of a pony critic so this is probably gonna suck, but I'll try my best to put my messed up thoughts down on… oh wait, that's what I've been doing with this story since October. Maybe I won't suck at this after all!

Okay, firstly, I thought it was incredible to see what all of the background ponies do while the Mane Six go about their crazy adventures; I quote Dr Wolf when I say that the episode was kinda like a love letter to the fandom what with all the references it made to fanon stuff, like Dr Whooves being… Dr Whooves, and Derpy (Muffins… she'll always be Derpy to me) loving, what else, muffins. It just goes to show how much the fandom can make a difference, and I don't think any show has done something like this before; that just proves how amazing a fandom this is!

I think that all the ponies bustling about to plan a wedding was a brilliant plotline; kinda like a funnier version of A Canterlot Wedding with fewer changelings. The first sign I got that this was going to be a good episode was when I saw that DERPY was a mailmare! And then she goes ahead and offers MUFFINS to Cranky Doodle and that puts the icing on the cake… or the chocolate chips on the muffin in this case. And then you see her hanging out with Dr Whooves, too, and that made me smile like Pinkie Pie in a candy store! Yeah I'm a DoctorDerpy person… but that's beside the point. But they kinda made Doctor Whooves both like Doctor Who and not like Dr Who at the same time; and the accent was brilliant, me being a Brit myself- it wasn't stereotypical at all, which is something I can't stand.

Okay, now my new headcanon with Vinyl Scratch is that she's mute (can't speak), and I'm gonna portray her like that if I ever do write her- she was still an enjoyable character even with the absence of a voice and the idea of her and Octavia sharing a house that's designed to suit the two of them is genius! Now, about Octavia- my first thoughts when she spoke were "Oh God, they're gonna make her an English stereotype" (see- pet peeve of mine) but they didn't! Thank you Hasbro, for not irritating me! And the scene where Tavi and Vinyl play their song for the wedding was one of my favourites- I've re-watched that part the second most at least (aside from one other part which would probably be obvious).

As weird as this may seem, there was one part of the episode that made me feel a little sad. Amethyst Star has always been one of my favourite background ponies, don't ask me why, I just took a liking to her, and the part when she says "But nopony's asked me to organize anything since Twilight came to town," made me feel so sorry for her. And then they don't show what she did at all in the episode; that was the only thing I disliked.

And the flower ponies! HA! Their scene was based on their personalities from Applebuck Season aaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll the way back in season one, and to see them act like that after all this time was just great! THE HORROR! THE HORROR! xD

Okay, now we move on to Lyra and Bon Bon- one of my favourite pony couples of all time. As nice as it would have been to see those two as more than friends, this is a kid's show and Hasbro aren't planning to pull a Legend of Korra on us. …I admit that when Bon Bon said "best friends" I mentally added "with benefits"… I regret nothing. And then something totally unexpected happens! I'm very sure- no 100% POSITIVELY SURE- that nobody saw this coming! Bon Bon is really a special agent called Sweetie Drops who came to Ponyville to escape the Bug-Bear! Wowzers, that was weird! I admit, through the whole scene I was laughing my head off at the randomness, but I have to say that I think it was too random. Yes, I must face that there is such a thing as too random… still, I think that Agent Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon is the most popular thing that's come out in fan creations since the episode aired, judging by the amount of stuff that's popped up on the Brony website Equestria Daily and I can see why. Still, it was a really stupid idea on the writers part and she'll never be 'Special Agent Sweetie Drops' to me. However, this could make for some interesting stories. "The name's Bon… Bon Bon!" xD

And then there's my favourite part: the 'Jumping the Shark scene' named not only for the fact that it's a scene used to get the viewer's full attention, but also because of the fact that Vinyl and Octavia literally JUMP OVER A SHARK! There are so many cameos in that scene, to name a few, Berry Punch, Button Mash, Featherweight, Truffle Shuffle, Colgate, Filthy Rich, Pipsqueak, Thunderlane, Pokey Pierce, and the Twilicane!

Surely it couldn't get any more random…

WRONG!

I couldn't stop laughing (and for that reason I had to watch the scene three times to hear the whole thing) when we were able to hear GUMMY'S THOUGHTS, keeping in mind that this is the same little alligator who didn't move an inch in the Griffinstone episode! I found that absolutely hilarious!

And then there were the alicorn sisters actually acting like sisters instead of princesses, and Shining Armor weeping… that was actually kinda weird, but I could imagine him crying at his own wedding, too.

When, you ask?

WHEN THE BILL CAME! *ba-dum-tiss!*

But Mayor Mare's speech… did you guys all listen to it and think that this was kinda like the creators of the show speaking to the fandom? Now that was clever of the writers to put in! So, see how we as a community can affect the show in this way? All the things that we have done over the last five years has shaped the show into what it is, with all the references, character names, certain quirks that each pony has, that's all us!

So, in a way, we're the writers of the show, too.

(SPOILERS END HERE)

Now let's get this debacle in motion! There are two super-fast pegasi that need to kiss and make up… maybe even literally if ya get what I mean. *trollface*

---

Soarin flew through the rings of the air obstacle course, trying to clear his mind. Well, since he'd left his house his head had cleared enough that he was no longer drunk or groggy. But to calm his nerves he did what he always did when he was stressed, and went for a long, complicated flight.

He was trying to come up with some kind of speech that he could say to Rainbow Dash; one that would make him sound both apologetic and sweet, but not one that would make him look like a huge sap. This is what he'd come up with so far:

"Dashie…"

That was it.

Yeah, he was clueless as to what he'd say to her; in fact the thought of facing her made his wings turn into jelly- WAIT! He went off balance and lurched to the side, having to give his wings a couple of strong flaps to get back on course, almost clipping his wing on the side of one of the suspended rings. If this kept up he'd cause himself an injury… he had a feeling that the other Wonderbolts would be pretty peeved with him if that ever happened.

So for now he would keep on flying until he came up with a solution to his predicament. Oh if he were a smarter pony he'd probably know exactly what to say… okay, problem solved; he just needed to grow a dozen or so brain cells within the next hour, since that was probably the time he had left before he had a nervous breakdown and bailed.

Was this a bad idea?

Yep! This was too soon, not gonna happen, there was no way he could do this, no way, no how, no-

"Hey, slowpoke!"

Forgetting all about berating himself in his head, Soarin looked to his left to see a familiar pegasus mare flying alongside him. The sudden appearance of her darn near made him fly off-track and crash into the ground… and it made a deep blush appear on his face, which was to be expected by now.

"Hey… slower poke," Soarin would have face-hoofed if he hadn't been so flustered. Thankfully Rainbow Dash excused his idiocy, turning her own shade of red. The remained quiet whilst they flew around a few of the clouds that were scattered across the sky.

"Um… we- um, I mean- I need to talk to you," Rainbow shifted her abruptly shy magenta eyes in his direction. Soarin swallowed softly, knowing by both the look on her face and the tension hovering around them what she was going to say to him. Oh, Celestia were they gonna do this here? Now? While they were nearing the storm generator?

There was a funny story behind the storm generator, while we're on the subject. The Wonderbolts from a few generations back had commissioned a section of the obstacle course to be built that would enable the pegasi to practice flying through extreme weather conditions without having to use the storm cloud cluster- not too dangerous but tough enough that it would test the ponies' wing strength and durability. The inventor they had hired to build the storm generator managed to come up with a system that when installed underneath a section of the sky and filled with water could use the science of condensation to form clouds that could not be destroyed unless the machine was turned off. When the Wonderbolts tried it out it worked perfectly and they were thrilled with the results. But no system is without its kinks. The problem was that the inventor has been so focused on impressing the Wonderbolts that he had forgotten one little detail; there was no way to turn the machine off. So ever since then the storm generator had been stuck in place- oh well, as long as it functioned properly there was no point in complaining about it.

"And… I need to talk to you, too," Soarin couldn't look her in the eye. Man, this was harder than he'd thought. Why did things have to be so intense? He was surprised when Rainbow Dash perked up a little.

"Hey, how about a race first?" she offered. Soarin was taken aback by her offer at first, but figured it would be a good way to clear the air between them. After all, racing was what both of them did best. Soarin gave her a competitive smirk.

"You're on!" he cried. Looking straight ahead with narrowed eyes, Soarin gave his wings a powerful flap and he was zooming off, the rainbow streak beside him indicating that Rainbow Dash was flanking him. Holy Celestia, she was fast!

The two of them entered the storm generator at the same time, and Soarin immediately felt the strong with slam into his face, making him flinch. He lowered his eyelids to the point that he was squinting so he could focus on the sky ahead. It was a little blurred, but he knew the course like the back of his front right hoof, so that was no trouble to him. He was fairly certain that he had flown through the obstacle course hundreds of times in the past, and even though he hadn't tried it he was almost 100% sure that he could fly through the entire course blindfolded. Okay, the thought of accidentally crashing into one of the rings or being flung away in the confusion of the storm generator made him feel sick to the pit of his stomach. Maybe he'd fly the course a few more times before he got enough confidence to do that. Though seriously, if there ever was a time he needed a barrel full of confidence it was now!

Soarin looked to his side and noticed that Rainbow Dash was struggling a little against the wind, her mane being blown back and even into her face. To be honest the sight of her mane buffeting in the wind just made him realise how beautiful she was. His sudden distraction took its toll on him and suddenly he was flipped over. Remembering his Dizzitron training he tried to pinpoint where the exit of the generator was and focused his sight on the light ahead. Then, making sure he never broke eye contact with that particular spot, he flapped his wings as hard as he could until he was flying straight. He then wound up flying upside down; no trouble at all. Calculating the amount of power it would take for him to turn right side up, he pushed down on the air with his right wing and he twisted around, finally flying with his hooves facing downwards instead of up. He found that Rainbow Dash was giggling at his screw up and he cringed with embarrassment, though he forgot all about his humiliation when Dash gave him a playful shove from the side. Chuckling softly, Soarin leaned to his left and shoved her back. Before she could retaliate they emerged from the storm generator and were headed towards the next obstacle.

The fog machines were on full power, streaming out strong jets of jog so fast that if a pony were to get caught in it they would be flung right off the course. Soarin decided to go under the first one while Rainbow Dash went over; this resulted in a sort of synchronised routine where each time Soarin went up, Dash would go down, and vice versa, and then they would always meet halfway. Boy, Soarin wished that the two of them could just keep doing this all day; because at that moment, when they were dashing and soaring their way through all these obstacles, he felt more alive that he had felt in his entire life. If this was a preview to what he'd feel like if he was in a relationship with this gorgeous rainbow maned pegasus, then he wanted it more than anything.

They began descending towards the landing strip, each of them glancing at the other to see how far ahead they were. Locking eyes and seeing that they were both fighting for the lead, they shared a competitive smirk before looking straight ahead and pouring the last of their power into the final stretch of their race. As the ground got nearer, the tension got thicker, and Soarin felt like if he flapped his wings any harder he'd tear a bicep or something. But before he could, he had touched down on the ground, Rainbow Dash beside him.

"I won!" he proclaimed, sticking his nose in the air and striking a victorious pose. Rainbow Dash poked him in the chest.

"No, I won!" she argued. Soarin just rolled his eyes, not really wanting to get into a petty argument with her at this point.

"Fine, we tied. Happy now?" he asked her. Rainbow slanted her eyes to the side.

"Not really…" she pouted. Soarin knew how much she liked to win, so he understood why a draw didn't make the cut for her. But then she just shrugged and gave him a nod. "Okay, yes, we tied. We both won together."

'The way it should be' Soarin found himself thinking, and he felt the blood rush to his face. Before Rainbow Dash could question his sudden blush he drove the conversation away from it.

"So… I guess we need to talk," he gulped, the blush being replaced by beads of sweat trickling down his face; though whether this was from the pressure he was feeling or the fact that he'd just taken part in a race he wasn't sure. Rainbow Dash practically mirrored his look.

"Y-yeah… we do," she agreed, looking down at the floor. Soarin, however, decided to look up instead. Celestia's sun was setting by now, turning the sky a light pink colour. The clouds rippled across the sky, the light filtering through them casting threads of thin, golden beams down across Equestria; Soarin likened it to a painting in an art gallery; one that people would look at and wonder 'Wow, what I wouldn't give to see something like that."

"It's nice, right?"

Soarin looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was moving towards the edge of the clouds, staring up at the red setting sun. The reflection of it in her eyes made her seem like she was in some kind of trance.

"Hmm… yeah," Soarin knew that it was a little pathetic, but he couldn't really think of anything else to say. He moved along with her until the two of them were sitting right near the end of the cloud, where they had the perfect view of the land below them. If Soarin had thought the sun looked magical before it was nothing compared to the way they were looking at it here. The lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and drifted away in small clouds. The sky was darker in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. As the sun got lower in the sky, the clouds began to turn from pink to grey and the mist was touched with gold.

"Rarity and Fluttershy talk about how pretty sunsets are sometimes," Rainbow mused, not taking her gaze of the heavenly sight. "I never really understood what they meant, but now that I'm really looking, I think I realise what they're getting at."

Soarin couldn't remember ever seeing her so transfixed on anything before. Was it just because she needed a distraction from all the awkwardness? Probably.

"I guess it's the mist that makes it pretty…" Rainbow carried on, almost as if she were talking to herself. "All gold and silver."

"Yeah, you're right," Soarin returned his gaze to the setting sun; Celestia was making it extra pretty this evening. For a second he found himself wishing that he had the know-how to just paint all this himself; this was a moment that he would need to remember. He returned his attention to the cyan mare at his side as she let out a deep sigh.

"Why can't it stay like this forever?" she thought out loud. Soarin understood what she meant; the sky like this had to be one of the most beautiful things Equestria could offer sight-wise.

'Second most beautiful…' Soarin blushed as he caught sight of the golden tint of sunlight reflecting off Rainbow Dash's mane of many colours. Each colour of her mane glowed a different shade as the sunlight washed over it, and for a second, Soarin was almost certain that he was sitting beside some sort of angel descended from above. Feeling the blushes return to him, he tore his gaze away from her and fixed it instead on the horizon.

"Nothing gold can stay," said he.

Rainbow Dash gave him a baffled look. "What?" she asked him, looking at him as if he had just spoken to her in some sort of made up language.

"It's a poem I read once," Soarin was a little embarrassed to admit that he liked poetry. Almost automatically he began reciting it.

"Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf's a flower,

But only so an hour,

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay."

Rainbow Dash was staring at Soarin with her jaw slack. "Wow. Where did you learn that?" she asked.

"Robert Trots wrote it. I always remembered it because I never quite got what he meant by it," Soarin revealed. It had taken him forever to finally realise what the poet had been trying to say with the little rhyme. It kind of served as a reminder that things with the most potential can be easily contaminated, or that something extraordinary or beautiful cannot stay that way forever. Rainbow made an interested humming noise before looking back at the sun.

"It's funny… I never really noticed the colours until now. It's almost as if they weren't there before," she said softly. Soarin felt brave. He couldn't withhold this anymore, and frankly he didn't care whether he looked like the most macho stallion in the world, or Equestria's biggest dork. He just wanted her to know that he cared. So he reached out with his left wing and wrapped it around her; she seemed surprised at first, but became less tense in a matter of seconds, though she never took her eyes off the sunset. The blush on her face was enough to tell Soarin that she was okay with it. Thank Celestia.

"I… I like you, Rainbow Dash," Soarin gulped. He looked down at the clouds below, not wanting to know whether or not Rainbow had turned to face him. "I had to say it and not… yell it," he felt embarrassed at the memory. He heard the blue pegasus fumble over a few words before spitting something out.

"H-how long have you… ya know?" she asked him. Soarin didn't budge, knowing that if he moved even an inch he would break out into a huge blush; and that would kinda kill the moment.

"A couple of months," he admitted. "Remember back when we went out around Cloudsdale after you got struck?" he heard her wince at that thought, and he instantly wished he could take back what he said. "Sorry… well, that's when I first felt things for you," it felt weird. A week ago he was struggling to tell her, having to resort to crazy tactics in order to have a shot at telling her. Now here he was seven days later, spilling everything that he'd felt for her out. It felt… good. Like a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders.

"Really?" she seemed astounded. "That long?"

"Yeah…" Soarin wasn't usually shy; most of the time he would happily jump on a table in a public place and dance the cha-cha-slide, but now he felt as timid as Fluttershy. "I wanted to tell you, I tried so hard. I was chased by geese for you, Dashie!"

He heard her chuckle at that. Now, while being chased around by vicious birds wasn't all that fun, it sure must have looked funny to anypony passing by. Okay, yes it was hilarious; Soarin was laughing about it too by then.

"You're the biggest doof in Equestria," she commented. Soarin whipped round to face her, putting an offended look on his face even though he totally agreed with her. He then forgot the reason why he was supposed to be offended when the rainbow maned mare placed both her front hooves on his shoulders. "But I… like you for it," she said almost shyly. And there went the blushing.

Holy Celestia this was happening…

Deciding that there was no time like the present, Soarin wrapped his hooves around her waist and looked into those big magenta eyes of hers, blocking out the rest of the world. Who needed the rest of the world?

And then they were kissing. As Rainbow Dash's parted lips met Soarin's he started to feel breathless in this crazy, fascinating way. The space around the two of them seemed to melt away like snow and for a moment Soarin felt like everything was just perfect, like everything that had happened in his life, both good and bad, was worth the struggle. It was worth all the pressure he had received from other ponies, worth all the agony of training at the Academy. If this was his reward then he wouldn't have cared if he'd been through all of that twice!

Soarin had no idea how long the kiss lasted after that, but when they finally pulled apart, Soarin realised that his eyes were closed and opened them. Rainbow Dash was staring at him, her eyes closer to him than they'd ever been before. Immediately, the first thing the two of them did was blush intensely… and that kept up for a minute or two before they finally got their sense back. Rainbow Dash tucked her legs under her and looked out over at the setting sun once again, and Soarin rested himself beside her, wrapping his wing around her once again. They turned their heads and smiled at each other, neither of them saying anything…

…but both of them thinking the exact same thing.

---

IT HAPPENED!

I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to get this off my chest. It took thirty three chapters but SoarinDash has FINALLY happened. I also discovered that I suffer from ISS. I know that sounds like some really bad disease but I actually just made it up- it stands for Intense Squeeing Syndrome. It's what happens when you're writing something insanely fluffy and you can't stop squealing long enough to type. I love to hate that feeling!

Now, I'm gonna go all Dr Wolf on you guys here. I wanna hear from each of you. What did all of you think of the 100th episode, first of all; I would love to hear your opinions. And I also wanna hear how you felt at the end of this chapter. Did I do a good job? DID I?! :P

I'm Sassymouse and I look forward to hearing from you. ;)

(The poem Nothing Gold Can Stay is Robert Frost's work- though I wish it was mine...)