Igniting The Flame of a Rainbow

by Rumble

First published 26th of January, 2014

Soarin feels slightly disheartened at the fact he never got to pay Rainbow back for all she did at the Equestria Games Trials, but now he's found a way to help repay everything she's done for him. What will become of these two?

Soarin has wanted to help a certain rainbow maned mare for a while now after all she has done for him. Not just in the recent Equestria Games Trials, but even as far back as the Best Young Flyer Competition.

Now he has found a way to pay her back, but never in his life did he expect a rollercoaster ride such as this.

---

Thanks to: TheShadow for editing.
Thanks also to: KrishnaKarnak and SolidFire Cover art by: xnightmelody

Soarin's Idea

“You want to train the competition?” Spitfire asked her fellow wingmate as she looked up from her office desk. The pale stallion nodded awkwardly in response. It had only been a few weeks since the Equestria Games Trials at Rainbow Falls. In Cloudsdale, the Wonderbolts were still hard at work training for the big event only a few months away. However, a certain stallion had a few different plans... plans which Spitfire wasn’t happy about on hearing. The golden mare’s eyes shifted back to the desk for a few moments as her mind pieced together what he was trying to tell her. “So, you wanna go help Rainbow Dash for the games, huh?”

“Yeah, I just thought she could use some pointers. Besides, it’s not like I can’t help around here too.”

Oh Soarin, you’re so full of it, Spitfire thought to herself as she continued to debate in her head. There wasn’t any real reason for making him stay; he’d finished all that was needed to be done by him in the training aspect of being a Bolt. Also, many others were still taking a break from the recent trials.

Spitfire sighed heavily as she came to a decision. “Okay... you can help,” she started, gaining a smile from the stallion at the other end of the room. “But, I still want you here for training at least once a week, you got that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Soarin nodded confidently.

“Yes ma’am!” Soarin shouted, saluting his captain before leaving the office and trotting down the hall. Spitfire waited for the sound of the pony’s hooves to fade before rolling her eyes in annoyance as she got back to the paperwork set out in front of her.

Soarin made his way down the plush corridors of the Wonderbolt’s headquarters. His ears quickly picked up the sounds of a few ponies talking. When he rounded a nearby corner he noticed Fleetfoot and Misty Fly conversing next to the exit of the building. As the stallion trotted down the hallway and approached the two, they turned and smiled at him.

“Hey Soarin, what's got you all happy?” Fleetfoot asked curiously, Misty Fly nodded in response as her own curiosity piqued. Soarin grinned in response, Fleet sensing the smugness from the stallions face.

“Oh, nothing much... I’m just going over to Ponyville to help train Rainbow Dash,” Soarin replied almost casually. Fleet’s eyes widened slightly as Misty muffled a giggle.

“Wait... you’re gonna help Rainbow train? I’m not sure Spitfire would be all too happy about that. Besides, you're not exactly the type of Wonderbolt to give orders, Mr Marshmallow,” Fleetfoot said with a smirk, her playful attitude coming to light.

“Actually, Spitfire just said I could go, just so long as I’m back here every week,” Soarin remarked.

Fleetfoot exchanged glances with Misty before shaking her head playfully. “Whatever you say, Soarin, just don’t come back with your tail between your legs when she rejects you.”

Soarin rolled his eyes as he trotted past the two ponies and opened the door before spreading his wings and taking off into the air. Fleetfoot sighed, turning to her friend. “How long do you think he’ll last?”

The cream colored mare smirked. “I give him a day.”

“I give him five minutes,” Fleet retorted, the pair let out a giggle, watching the stallion shoot out of sight.

Soarin breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he flew across the skies of Equestria, he loved the feeling of soaring through the air, it was his talent after all. But there was something more to flying for Soarin than most ponies would think. The Wonderbolt saw the open air as a sanctuary, a place where he could always turn to, to do tricks and just let off steam or even feelings he was having. Soarin never really cared for much more... aside from a certain apple flavoured pastry and a few other little things, but he would trade it all for the skies any day.

It didn’t take long for the fast flying pegasus to reach the outskirts of Equestria where more of the smaller earth pony towns resided; some more famous than others. The pale blue pegasus quickly spotted the town he was searching for and, changing the angle of his wings, the stallion dove down through the clouds and to a lower altitude. His eyes began to wander as he scanned over the buildings and dirt roads that connected up the small village. He soon spotted a more familiar type of building in the sky above. Smiling, Soarin shot up towards the home and landed on the front steps of the cloud structure.

As he brought a hoof up to knock at the door, he noticed a letter was stuck to it. Taking the parchment off, he read the letter.

Dear, well anypony.

I’m currently being awesome somewhere else right now. Derpy, if this is you reading this then just leave the package at the door, don’t want a repeat of last month's ‘problem’. Anyways, if you wanna find me I should be on the outskirts of town, practicing my moves.

Rainbow Dash

Soarin turned the letter over, making sure nothing was scribbled on the back. Sighing, he looked out to the vast summer sky around him, the sun starting to dip away from its peak in the sky. He pondered on where was best to look for the pegasus on the outskirts of town. After a few moments, the Wonderbolt opted to simply fly around the town in hopes he may bump into the sky blue mare. Spreading his wings again, Soarin took to the skies once more.

Time started to tick away as Soarin flew. The pegasus stallion let out a yawn in boredom as he looked around the sky in an almost half awake mood. He thought he would have found the mare by now, but so far his attempts had been nothing but fruitless. His mind started to wander as his thoughts turned to the mare he was searching for. In truth, Soarin was wanting to train Dash for more reasons than just helping the her out for all she had done; the Wonderbolt had become slightly attached to the pegasus who had helped him only a few weeks ago. He had wanted to meet Rainbow again after the trials, but he knew that finding time within his busy schedule would be a slight problem. If only he could find a way to spend more time with-

“Hey, fancy finding you out here!” Rainbow Dash said happily, making Soarin jump and muffle a surprised gasp in response. Rainbow giggled cutely as she flew in front of the stallion and turned around to face him, putting her forelegs behind her head, but keeping her wings flapping. “So mind telling me why you're all the way out here?”

Soarin felt his cheeks burn ever so slightly. “Y-yeah, could I speak to you, maybe on the ground?”

Dash pondered for a moment, a sly smirk coming to her muzzle. Finally she spoke up, “Fine, I’ll do it, but first you have to race me.”

Soarin’s eyes widened. “R-race you?” he blurted out as Rainbow gave a nod. The Wonderbolt sighed, knowing he didn’t exactly have much choice in the matter. “Okay Dash, I’ll race you.”

Dash resisted a squeal and simply contained her joy in a warm smile. “Great! Okay, three... two, one go!”

“Wait, what?” Soarin said, but by then the pegasus was already shooting into the distance with a multi colored streak fading behind her. Soarin groaned as he doubled the pace to catch up with the mare.

Rainbow took a small glance over her shoulder to see the approaching stallion. Once Soarin was within earshot she spoke, “Okay, race to my place, we can talk there... if you can beat me that is.”

With that Rainbow shot off yet again. Soarin sighed in frustration as he strained himself to fly faster. He felt his heart rate pick up to accommodate for his new pace, his muscles showing themselves as he picked up the speed; he was never the racer type. Soarin cursed himself for not taking up on Fleetfoot’s offer to train on straight line speed. The stallion had always prefered tricks over speed. It was why he was accepted into the Bolts over the other applicants because of his style in creating new moves more to just how fast you could fly.

Finally Soarin started to catch up again as both pegasi raced back towards the earth pony town. Rainbow Dash was flying at a lower altitude than Soarin was, meaning she had to swerve around all the large buildings in the center of the village. This gave the stallion the opportunity to close the gap between him and the mare as they approached the cloud home in the sky. Dash soared up towards her home, confident she was still in first place, but Soarin had other plans.

With the cloud house almost just inches away, Soarin put all his strength into his wings. However, he wasn’t concentrating on the sky blue mare in front of him and before he could react it was too late. The Wonderbolt crashed into Dash and the pair rolled across the cloud layer of the rainbow mare's home. When they came to a stop, both ponies sprawled out, letting the cloud layer sink in around them. Dash laid her head to one side and narrowed her eyes at the stallion. “Hey... you... cheated,” she said through heavy breaths.

Soarin took a few moments to catch his breath before responding. “Well... we still tied... c-can I talk to you now... maybe?”

Dash rolled her eyes as she put her head back onto the cloud. “Okay Soar, what is it?”

Soarin sighed as he got up into a sitting position, wincing slightly from the pain that shot through his wings, but he continued. “I came over here to see if you maybe wanted... you know... some extra help for your training?”

Soarin felt his body tense slightly as he waited for the mare’s answer. Dash kept a straight face as she laid on the cloud, looking as if she was debating something in her head. Finally she replied, “You're kidding, right?”

Soarin was a little taken aback by the answer as he looked upon Dash’s face, which now had a mix of excitement and curiosity. He shook his head slowly. “N-no, I’m being serious, after you saved me again and all back at the trials... I kinda just want to pay you back, that’s all.”

Dash sat up as she raised her eyebrow. “Oh, you did, huh? Well, that’d be kinda awesome,” she admitted with a friendly smile.

Soarin felt his heart flutter a bit as a smile came to his features. Dash got back up onto all fours and shook her tousled mane to get it back to its normal style. Soarin watched in amazement at the beauty in front of him. Rainbow’s mane swaying past her magenta eyes was a sight which the stallion would not soon forget. Unfortunately for Soarin, it was over all too soon for him or rather sooner than he expected. Rainbow smirked as she looked over at the dumbstruck pony and muffled a giggle, causing Soarin's mind to switch back to reality.

“So, you wanna head inside, getting kinda cold out here,” Rainbow commented as she looked over at the sunset sky. Soarin nodded and the pair trotted across Rainbow’s porch and up to the front door of the home. Rainbow picked up the note she had left and took it in with her, Soarin following closely behind. As the two ponies entered, Soarin was greeted with a very large living space which had a few cloud sofas and other items of similar looking furniture. Rainbow yawned and threw the note into a nearby trash can before proceeding over to the living room and crashing onto one of the sofas.

“Sure is a nice place you have here, Dash,” Soarin spoke in slightly astonished tone, his eyes wandering their way around the cloud structure.

“Thanks, not easy being the manager of the weather team, ya know,” Dash replied confidently. Soarin chuckled to himself as he trotted around the home, looking at all its features. Dash watched the stallion and after a while she sighed in frustration. “Soar... are you gonna crash those hind legs already?” she asked curiously. Soarin felt his cheeks blush in embarrassment as he quickly trotted over and sat down on the couch opposite to Rainbow. The sky blue mare turned her head to look at the stallion.

“So... you really want to train me, huh?”

Soarin nodded proudly as a smirk formed on Rainbow’s muzzle. “Sure, I’m here to help!”

“So what are you gonna teach me?” Dash asked, catching the stallion off guard. Soarin felt his mind freeze as he tried to think up an answer. Come on, Soarin, think!

“Umm...” he started, rubbing the back of his neck as Dash let out a snicker.

“You haven’t really thought about this, have you?” Rainbow finished with a sly smile.

Soarin sighed heavily. “No…” he admitted, electing a slight giggle from the mare opposite him.

Rainbow shook her head. “Okay,” she said, muffling the last of her giggles and making Soarin hide his face more in embarrassment. ”Well... how about you be my flying buddy?” she asked suggestively.

“Say what?” Soarin blurted out before masking his accidental words with a few coughs, averting his eyes from the mare and over to some nearby pictures on the wall.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You know, we get up, we train together and race... besides, there isn’t exactly much you can do to train me,” she finished with a knowing look.

Soarin grinned, nodding, knowing this was really his only shot he had at being able to spend time with her. “Yeah, well, I guess I’ll take up on your offer... flying buddy,” he said, holding back a laugh.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes playfully as she got up off the sofa and swatted a hoof at him. “You try saying that again tomorrow when you can’t keep up with the awesomest pony in Equestria.”

Soarin grinned, happily getting up from the sofa as he trotted up to the mare. “Well... I’m glad you wanna do this, guess I just need a place to crash now.”

“Whoa,” Rainbow abruptly stated, cutting the stallion off. “Are you asking what I think you're asking?”

“Kinda,” Soarin said with a nervous smile. Dash smirked as she moved in closer to him.

“Well... that's such a shame, I only have one bed,” Rainbow said, clearly acting with her tone and posture, “I guess you’re just gonna have to share with me.”

Soarin's eyes widened in shock. “Are you serious?” He was quickly greeted with a swat of Dash’s rainbow colored tail.

“Of course not, wacko, that's a very high privilege,” Rainbow answered, trotting over to a nearby chest at the opposite end of the living area. She reached in and pulled out a blanket before chucking it at the stallion who fumbled slightly as he grabbed the fabric. “You can crash on the couch if you like though.”

I’ll get you back for that one, Dash, Soarin thought to himself as he trotted back over to the sofa while Dash trotted up the spiral staircase in the center of the cloud home, making her way towards her own room. Soarin sighed as he laid down on the sofa, pulling the blanket over himself and curling up into the plush surface.

“Goodnight Soar,” came the muffled sounds from above the cloud ceiling. The stallion smiled as he laid his head down onto the sofa, giving one last look at the room around him before slowly closing his eyes.

Flying Buddies!

”Come on, Dash! You can do it,” Soarin shouted gleefully as he looked on at the rainbow mare behind him. The pair had been racing across the whole of Equestria with an endless cheering crowd. The world was slightly foggy, but that didn’t matter to the stallion.

“I-I can’t do it, Soar, you're just too good for me,” Dash replied breathlessly as the stallion flew back over to her.

“No, Dash, you can do anything, you’re the best,” Soarin said happily as he flew back over to pick the mare up and flew them over to the finish line.

“I love you, Soarin,” Dash said as she nuzzled into the stallion. Leaning up for a kiss.

“I love you too, Dashie—”

“Hey, sleepyhooves, time to get up!” Rainbow said happily as the Wonderbolt awoke with a jolt, rolling off the cloud sofa and hitting the floor below. Soarin groaned struggling to stand back up on all fours while rubbing his head with a forehoof.

“I’m pretty surprised ya’ know, thought you guys would be up this early every morning,” Dash said in a slightly astonished tone. Soarin failed to reply straight away his mind still returning to the senses of reality.

“N-No we aren't usually up till sun...rise, wait you train at night?” Soarin asked in shock as he looked out of the window towards the sky, which was still a greyish dark. The stallion could hear Rainbow’s snickering in the background and shot a glare over at the mare in protest.

“Oh come on, Soar, it’s only an hour until sunrise, besides the air’s nice and cool at this time,” the sky blue mare happily chirped in response. She proceeded towards the kitchen to grab a few things as she left Soarin to himself to wake up fully. After a few moments she came back with a few bottles of water placed on her back. She rolled one off her wing in Soarin’s direction, the stallion picking up the bottle of liquid as he opened the cap, taking an encouraging gulp of the cool refreshment.

“Before we go training though it looks like you could use a shower,” Dash pointed out, cringing slightly at the smell that wafted through the room. Soarin felt his cheeks turn red as his eyes shifted across the cloud floor.

Dash snickered. “Okay, go get cleaned up, I’ll wait,” she said leaning on the wall, trying to hold back her laughter. Soarin slowly rose and trotted quietly up the spiral staircase to the bathroom.

Rainbow sighed as she waited. It didn't take all that long, with a few embarrassing singing moments which unfortunately reached Dash's ears. Soarin returned down the staircase once again in a much more freshened state. As he came down the stairs, the sound of a door opening directing the stallion's eyes over to Dash. The mare was leaning on the doorframe of the home. “Come on, Soar, let’s get training.”

“You were right about it being cold, Dash, it’s freezing,” Soarin stated as he flew alongside his partner, the light of the new day just beginning to crack through the night's clouds. When they had begun it was almost impossible to see, but in the last few moments the world had finally started to wake up once again.

“Like I said, it’s cool air, it’s better for your wings too,” Rainbow replied knowingly as she began doing flips and tricks in the air.

“What, your wings shivering is a good thing?” Soarin asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he followed the mare.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, your wings don’t get all hot and sweaty when it’s cold, besides you're a Wonderbolt ain’t ya, never knew you would be such the shy type.”

“Hey, I’m not shy!” Soarin protested. Rainbow smirked in response.

“Then show me,” she said plainly.

Soarin grinned as he flapped his wings powerfully, shooting up into the sky. He quickly rounded up a few night clouds into a triangular shape before he began to fly around them, spinning the fluffy textured mass. The three clouds began thundering and sparking as lightning began to shoot out from the core of the now agitated cloud. Soarin smiled, his work was now complete. With another powerful flap the stallion soared higher until he was directly over the three clouds, which were still spinning and shooting out powerful bursts of electric doom.

Soarin took in a deep breath before he let his wings fold to his sides and began to dive down towards the clouds. Rainbow watched from a close distance, her mind on edge as she came to the realisation of what the stallion was going to do.

Oh please, Soar, don’t be stupid, Rainbow thought to herself as she felt the slightest tinge of fear rise in the lower depths of her heart. Soarin was still gaining speed as he reached the clouds, he now began to roll slightly as he approached the final stage of his trick. Rainbow watched as the stallion neared the lightning and she stood in position getting ready to catch him if he fell. However, Soarin blitzed through the clouds sending sparks flying everywhere. Dash’s eyes widened as she watched the spectacle unfold into what looked like a fireworks show of lightning.

“Yep, it’s pretty awesome,” Soarin said proudly as he landed onto a nearby cloud, close to where Rainbow was hovering.

“H-How did you do that?” Rainbow asked in a stunned tone.

Soarin looked back to his flank. “It’s how I got this bad boy, I thought up the trick ages ago, it’s my signature move.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she hovered over to the cloud and landed next to him. “So...how come I’ve never seen it in any performances you guys have done in the Bolts?”

Soarin gave out a happy sigh before responding. “I dunno it's...just something I like to keep to myself.”

Rainbow was now very close to her mind being fully blown. “Wait...so why did you show me?”

Soarin only gave a wink in response before taking off again. “Come on then, Dash, thought you were gonna beat me in a race?”

Rainbow sighed, she’d get an answer later, for now training came first. She flared her wings before darting off after the stallion.

Soarin smirked to himself as he watched Dash fly ahead of him, the sun beginning to rise in the distance. There had been only one real reason he had shown her that trick, but for now the answer would remain his to know.

“O-Okay...I...I think it’s time….we call it...quits,” Soarin breathed out as he crashed onto a cloud, Rainbow doing the same a few moments later. The two exhausted pegasi clambered onto the soft surface of the fluffy mass before catching their breath.

Soarin looked out onto the now morning day sky. A smile came to his features as he felt the satisfaction of completing his first training day with Dash. Over the course of the past few hours the two had raced, trained and even played a game of wing tag, something that Rainbow had been doing at the academy as a training exercise. Now though he couldn’t even think about moving until he'd at least had a rest.

“Okay, Soar, you did kinda well I guess,” Dash started before the sound of muffled snores came through the cloud. Her eyes swung down towards the stallion who was now asleep, she smirked at the sight. “But you’re still not as good as me,” she finished in a proud tone, muffling a giggle soon afterwards when Soarin let out a particular loud snore. Rainbow looked over to another cloud nearby, she sighed feeling the need for one of her usual naps. Quickly hovering over, she laid down on the plush surface and closed her eyes with a yawn.

As the day marched on, below the clouds, five ponies were trotting down a dirt road, heading towards a large apple orchard, a small purple dragon sitting on the back of a lilac alicorn, his claws tapping away at his jaw, the boredom clear on his face. “Are we there yet?” he asked quizzically.

The lavender mare rolled her eyes. “Not yet, Spike,” she started shaking her head playfully, as an orange mare with a stetson hat continued.

“Twilight’s right, Spike. It’s only just around the corner, wish we’d found Rainbow though, just doesn’t feel right havin’ a get together without her,” the farm pony admitted with a sigh.

“Oh come, come now, Applejack, I’m sure Rainbow is having a fabulous time wherever she is, plus if she comes back, she’ll know where to find us,” came the voice of a snow white unicorn.

“I know, Rarity, but I still feel like we should try finding her again,” Applejack said, the tone of guilt in her voice.

“I think I see her,” said the voice of a pale yellow pegasus, her face slightly hidden by her long flowing pink mane. All the ponies looked around, their eyes settling on the rainbow tail of their friend, hanging from a cloud off in the distance.

“I’ll get her!” shouted a pink pony in the group. She raced over to the cloud before pulling out a rather large megaphone. “Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow and Soarin both awoke with a shock as they jumped slightly on their separate clouds, Soarin nearly falling off his makeshift bed. Dash averted her eyes from the embarrassing scene and instead looked over the cloud to see the pink pony below.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie, what’s up?”

“Hey, Dashie!” Pinkie called back from below as Soarin came around enough to look down at the ground. Rainbow looked over to the pale blue stallion and smiled.

“You wanna meet my friends?” she asked casually. Soarin looked back down at the bouncing pink pony as a few more ponies came into his view.

“I guess so, why not?” he replied with a calm smile.

“So, you’re here to train Rainbow?” Twilight asked, levitating a mug of cider over to the stallion. Soarin nodded happily as he sat next to Dash around the table in Applejack’s barn.

“Yeah, I’m her personal trainer for the games,” he replied.

“Well, you don’t train me...do you, Soarin,” Rainbow said looking over at him with a sly grin. The stallion only sunk his head slightly in response.

“Then...what do you do?” Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued. As the rest of Rainbow’s friends closed in on the two sitting together at the barn table.

“We’re uh…” Rainbow started, but quickly remembering Soarin’s reaction to the term.

“We’re flying buddies,” Soarin said in a straightforward tone, just managing to keep his laughter inside. Rainbow nodded in confirmation.

“That sounds fun!” Pinkie announced as she chugged down another mug of cider. Rarity was next to speak.

“So, darling, you're from Cloudsdale?” she asked, earning a nod from Soarin. “My my, I must say you are rather handsome."

“Hey!” Rainbow said, more firmly than she had intended as Soarin felt his cheeks flush. Rainbow scanned the room quickly, feeling the nerves rise before continuing, “I-I mean... hey, what do we all think of this cider?” she asked taking a quick swig of the drink, hoping the change in subject would help.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Are you alright, sugarcube?” she asked, slightly concerned.

“Me, I’m fine,” Rainbow answered casually as Twilight and Rarity shared a few concerned looks of their own.

“So, what do you guys all do then?” Soarin asked curiously, gaining everyone's attention and receiving a relieved look from Rainbow.

“Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle as you know, I research the study of friendship under Princess Celestia—”

“And she spends way too much time reading books,” Spike finished as he drank the last few drops from his mug. Twilight shot the small dragon a glare as Rarity started.

“Well, dear, I fashion the best and most desirable clothes in Equestria. I have a shop in Ponyville to which you're free to come by any time. I can already think of a few designs that would suit a stallion such as yourself,” the marshmallow coated mare finished with a wink as Rainbow crossed her forehooves.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! I love balloons and parties and balloons, oh I also love cupcakes and I live in the best candy store in town and I love cherry chungas and I love—” Pinkie started, but couldn’t finish because of her lack of breath.

“Um, maybe you should calm down first,” Twilight said putting a hoof around the mare’s shoulder as she breathed in heavy gulps. All eyes then turned to Fluttershy, the mare shying away from the crowd slightly, but when she saw Soarin’s warm smile she came out of her shell slightly. “I’m uh...Fluttershy, I care for animals in a cottage outside of the town, you’re free to come by...but only if you want to…”

Soarin kept his smile as all the eyes came down on him once again. Before he could speak up again though, music began playing from a stereo in the corner of the barn. Everypony turned to see Pinkie bouncing around. “I thought we should have a ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Soarin’ party, but rather than have it at Sugarcube Corner we can just have it right here!”

“A Soarin what now?” the stallion in question asked.

“It’s just Pinkie being...well Pinkie, come on, it’ll be fun,” Rainbow said, quickly taking Soarin’s hoof, the pair moving over to where the pink pony was dancing as the others joined. Soarin snickered slightly. “What?” Rainbow asked with a smirk, raising her eyebrow.

“You gonna tell me you're the most awesomest dancer in Equestria now too?” Soarin asked casually. Rainbow waved a hoof at his dismissively.

“Well it’s not like it’s a race...but I’ll still beat you,” she said confidently. Soarin rolled his eyes playfully in response as they started dancing with the other ponies around them.

Soarin felt the rest of the day pass rather quickly, luckily spending most of the time with Rainbow Dash. The mare was happily being more friendly with him now he was accepted into the group of friends that were quite well known throughout the world. Of course though, he knew he’d have to spend a lot more time with her if he was to reach his ultimate goal.

“So, did you have a good time? Did you, did you, did you?” Pinkie asked as Soarin and Dash stood outside the barn, getting ready to leave.

Soarin laughed. “Yes, Pinkie, I did. I’m honored to call you my friend, it was great to meet you all,” he finished, looking at the smiling faces of Dash’s friends as they too exited the barn and came out into the world once more, the sunset sky brining and orange hue to the ground below.

Rainbow yawned before speaking up, “Well I’mma hit the hay, come on, Soar,” she said, spreading her wings as Soarin followed.

“Wait,” Twilight started, “Soarin’s staying with you?” she asked curiously. Soarin turned his head as did Dash.

“Yeah, the flight to Cloudsdale’s just a bit too long to do everyday...so Rainbow let me stay in her house while we train,” the stallion answered.

Twilight was about to speak when another voice cut her off. “But...uh Rainbow...don’t you only have uh...one bed,” Fluttershy interrupted quietly, earning smirks from all of her friends.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well, of course we don’t share a bed.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “You mean this handsome gentlecolt has to sleep on the couch, that is outrageous if I do say so myself.”

Soarin could sense the argument rising and decided to calm things down. “It’s okay guys, really...I mean cloud stuff is really all the same anyway...even if the beds are slightly softer.”

Rarity shook her head. “Soarin, dear, as a guest you should not have to sleep on furniture such as a couch!” the mare said firmly. “I insist you stay with me, I have a bed which you may happily use any time you wish.

Rainbow rolled her eyes once more, “Come on, Soar,” she said darting off into the sky, Soarin turned around and smiled.

“It’s okay guys, I’ll be fine, I’ll see you around,” he said with a wave of his hoof, the others giving smiles and waves of their own before Soarin took off after the mare.

Soarin landed back onto the cloud surface of Dash’s home. While making his way inside he saw the sky blue mare trotting over to the chest in the corner of the living area with a blanket in her wing, a disheartened look plastered on her face. Soarin felt a pang in his chest at the sight.

“Hey, Dash, never knew you as the type to clean up,” he said happily trotting in and closing the door softly behind him. Dash looked up and her face seemed to brighten at the sight.

“Oh, but I thought...nevermind, do you want something to eat? I’m not much of a cook, but I can—”

“Whoa, this is a new approach, Dash, what’s this all about?” Soarin asked quizzically.

Rainbow sighed. “I just thought I’d be a bit more helpful, I mean you are here to train with me right?” she said happily.

Soarin nodded, “Yeah, but I didn’t think I’d be getting these kinda privileges...does that mean we’ll be sharing the now bed too?”

The stallion didn’t even have time to blink as a blanket was thrown directly into his face. Soarin scrambled to his hooves as he took the blanket, only to be met with a swat of a rainbow colored tail. “No chance in Tartarus, Soarin, as I already said, that’s a very high privilege...now go get washed up while I get something to eat.

Soarin laughed as he shook his head, beginning to trot over to the stairs. “Sure thing, flying buddy!” he said happily as Dash trotted into the kitchen to make something that hopefully wouldn’t burn the house down in the process. Both pegasi happy to have formed an even better bond than the day before...

Dinner and Late Night Memories

Soarin smiled gleefully to himself as he stepped out of the cloud shower. It was a neat contraption in itself; four rain clouds which were connected together into one giant, four sided cloud. The rain fell and deposited itself into the side below, keeping the cycle of liquid for the next use. This didn't matter to the stallion, who was drying off, though, his interest was more along the thought of his friend in the kitchen downstairs. His mind was working out what kind of meal he would be receiving tonight. The words of Rarity were running through his head, giving him hope that it would be something good.

He trotted out of the bathroom, quickly making his way down towards the hallway. His eyes were quickly drifting to the pictures which hung on the wall. The pictures varied between age and time, some pictures were of Rainbow and her friends in Ponyville, some earlier ones from her years at flight school. Suddenly a door past him, the structure was left slightly ajar, leaving room for a snippet of what was inside. Soarin’s eyes caught the interior of the room as something familiar sparked in his mind.

The stallion stopped in his tracks as his mind made the decision whether to go in or not, the choice to him was obvious. Putting a forehoof on the door, he swung it open to reveal a bedroom, the walls adorning Wonderbolts posters with a few other small items on some shelves at the far side of the living space. Soarin’s eyes traveled the room, his mind coming to the conclusion that it was indeed Rainbow’s bedroom.

“Hey, Soarin, I’ve made dinner—” Rainbow started as she reached the top of the stairs next to her room. The mare’s eyes darted over to Soarin who had just snapped his head back, he’d been caught red hooved. Rainbow raised an eyebrow with her trademark smirk. “Mind explaining?” she asked.

Soarin shifted his eyes from left to right, his whole face becoming red with embarrassment. Rainbow pointed a hoof towards the stairs, the Wonderbolt didn’t breathe a word as he followed her instructions. Soarin made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen to find two bowls of salad sitting on the dining room’s table.

“This looks great, Dash,” Soarin commented happily, still keeping his eyes away from the mare.

“Thanks, now mind answering my question?” Rainbow replied trotting over and taking a seat next to the table.

Soarin shrugged. “No reason, just curious.”

Rainbow chuckled as she dug into her food; Soarin did the same. “So, what do you do besides training then?” he asked, hoping to get a conversation underway.

Dash thought for a moment before replying. “I manage the weather team, practice tricks, hang out with friends...there’s one other thing I’m missing...oh yeah, saving the world on a daily basis,” she finished before both pegasi burst out laughing a few moments later. After they came down Rainbow continued. “So, what do you do besides bein’ a Bolt?” she asked curiously.

Soarin pondered. “Well not much, I hang out with the team after shows, go see my parents sometimes...but it’s mostly about the job,” he admitted taking another bite of his meal.

Rainbow nodded as she tried to think up of another question, a smirk forming on her face as one came into her head. “So, have you ever had any embarrassing moments when you perform?” she asked.

Soarin felt his cheeks turn a shade of crimson as a thought popped into his head. “There was this one time we had to perform a double helix. My partner was Spitfire, which first of all made me really nervous because she’s the captain, and two because it was my first ever show…long story short, I kinda...maybe...f-fainted in mid-air.”

Rainbow burst out laughing as she put a forehoof up to her mouth to try to stop the noise. Soarin flattened his ears as his cheeks turned even more red in response. After a few moments Rainbow calmed down, Soarin was ready with another question. “I’m guessing you have a past then, Dash?”

Rainbow smirked. “Yeah, what about it?”

“The usual, where did you grow up, who are your parents,” Soarin stated as he drank a cup of water. Rainbow took a few moments before she answered.

“Well, I was brought up in Cloudsdale, my mom is Firefly—”

“Wait, what!” Soarin blurted out, raising his eyebrows. “You mean the manager of Cloudsdale’s weather factory...Firefly?” he asked as Rainbow gave a happy nod in confirmation.

“Yep, my Dad was a racer, I think thats were I get most of my genes from. I went into flight school at an early age, where I met my friend Fluttershy.”

“The pony from today?” Soarin asked, referring to the pony in question with Dash giving another nod.

“Yeah, we were both great friends, so when I heard she was moving out of Cloudsdale I wanted to join her. Never really had anything to hold onto in Cloudsdale and also I could train wherever I wanted. So I moved over here with Flutter, bought some airspace from Mayor Mare and built this cloud home. Not much else to it.”

Soarin smiled happily, “Thats great, Dash, never knew somepony like you would have a life so...normal.”

Rainbow shrugged, “Well you know the story about the rainboom?” she asked Soarin, who was pondering for a moment before nodding. He remembered the story that had been told to him. “Well besides that and being the bestest, most awesome mare in Equestria, there isn’t much else,” she finished. Soarin was shaking his head at the pegasus’s antics.

Dash leaned back onto her chair a little bit as she spoke. “So what about you then, let me guess, you were accepted into the Bolts at five years of age and still gave the members a run for their bits,” she said in a sarcastic tone.

Soarin couldn’t hold in the laughter, it took the stallion a few moments to calm before responding. “Well, no not like that, I grew up in Cloudsdale too, my parents are both bakers—”

“What!” Rainbow interrupted with a confused look. “I thought you would have had like the most awesome parents ever.”

Soarin’s face also turned slightly confused. “Well, just because they make the best pies in the world doesn’t mean they're not awesome,” he stated earning a rolling of the eyes from Dash. “They own one of the biggest bakeries in Cloudsdale, I could show you around some day if you’d like.”

Rainbow snickered. “Yeah, that must a be a real great day out, Soar,” the pegasus replied with a smirk.

“So, um…” Soarin started feeling the heat sweating his forehead slightly. “H-Have you ever you know...gone out with anypony?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, her smirk only broadening. Soarin started to feel more and more nervous as each individual second started to feel more and more awkward than the last. To the stallion’s relief, Dash replied with a casual attitude. “Well...I’ve dated a few ponies, not too many just the odd pegasus here and there…was this one pony I used to date, called me blue songbird.”

Soarin’s laughter stopped the mare in her tracks, Rainbow giving the stallion a playful glare as he stopped shortly after before she continued. “Long story short, they were just dates in the moment...they never really got anywhere. I think it was usually down to me, I just wasn’t into it as much as I probably should have been,” she admitted, taking a long drink of her water. Soarin nodded understandably.

“So what about you then?” Rainbow retorted, seeming to return quickly back to her normal attitude.

Soarin sighed heavily. “I-I’ve never actually dated anypony.”

“Really?” Rainbow questioned, her tone a little shocked. Soarin nodded.

“Yeah, as I said, my job kinda stops me from socializing to that level.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Well you win some you lose some, eh?” she replied happily as she stood up, taking the plates and trotting over to the kitchen faucet.

Soarin chuckled. “Yeah, guess you’re right...so what are we doing tomorrow then?” he asked curiously as Dash dropped the plates into the sink and moved back over to the table.

“Well…” the mare started as she pondered for a moment, “not much, I guess we’ll just train again...unless you're too tired to go out for another run with the fastest pony in Equestria.”

Soarin rolled his eyes. “Well in that case I think I’ll hit the hay,” the stallion replied with a yawn.

Rainbow smiled happily. “Sure thing, Soar, guess you could use a break...but don’t be expecting a late start.”

Soarin nodded before heading out of the kitchen and towards the living area, not noticing Dash watching after him with a grin on her muzzle. Soarin took the blanket and laid down onto the sofa, his mind fully fixated on the day he’d experienced. In his mind, Soarin hadn’t been expecting for this all to be happening so quickly. He had half expected to come back to the Wonderbolts with Fleetfoot laughing her tail off, but in fact, he’d managed to secure a nice spot on Rainbow’s cloud couch and so far had managed to stay friends with her too. It was at that thought when Soarin began to think back on his earlier childhood…

A school bell rang out through a small playground of a Cloudsdale school. A young Soarin peered his head around the side of the school building, his eyes scanning the area, soon they fell on a certain filly with a rainbow mane and tail. A smile reached his muzzle, his eyes turning slightly dreamy as he watched the mare train her wings, her gleaming new cutie mark showing in the light of the sun. The colt turned to look at his own flank which adorned a new cutie mark of its own. However a voice snapped the young stallion out of his romantic trance.

“Well well, if it isn’t Soarin,” Hoops announced as he came up behind the pegasus. The colt looking up at the fellow eighth grader, “Still having the googly eyes for Rainbow Crash!”

“Go away, Hoops,” Soarin stated harshly, looking down at the cloud surface below. Luckily for the colt he was of the same strength and size of the fellow stallion, if not stronger. This made Hoops a little less serious around him. But that wouldn’t stop him from teasing the colt.

“Come on, dude, what would your parents think if you had the eyes for a bucking sixth grader? Not only that, but the most spastic one of them all—”

Before anyone could think Soarin was muzzle to muzzle with the colt, his eyes under a furrowed brow. “Leave me alone, Hoops, and don’t you dare go near her ever, got that?”

Hoops raised his forehooves. with a noticeable smirk coming to his muzzle. “Hey woah, man, we’re all stallions here, I won’t touch her at all, promise…”

With that the bully trotted away, Soarin kept his eyes on the colt until he was out of sight before looking back over to the playground. His eyes once again resting on the filly of his dreams. However, Hoops’ words had sunk in, doubt quickly started to fill his mind. The colt breathed out a heavy sigh choosing to leave, little did he know he would be moving that day as his parents had just been signed the job of a lifetime in a team that would soon take the colts’ own dreams in the future….

“Hey, Soarin,” Rainbow said quietly from the top of the stairs. The pale blue stallion quickly came out of his daydream to see the pegasus of his dreams looking down on him. His mind quickly caught up with him as he realised he hadn’t yet replied.

“W-What’s up?” he asked curiously.

“I just wanted to...you know, check if you’re okay…”

Soarin raised an eyebrow, “Oh really?” he started with a smirk as he continued. “You want me to sing you a little ‘baby blue bird’ song,” he asked teasingly.

Rainbow rolled her eyes playfully before trotting up the stairs. “Goodnight, Soarin.”

Soarin shook his head happily as he laid his head down. “Goodnight, Rainbow Dash…”

To be Continued…

Not Every Day is a Holiday

The days started to drop off the week one by one, Soarin had trained hard with Dash, though he knew that was going to happen before he took up the idea. The stallion however was just happy to be forming a close bond with the mare. The pair of ponies were practically ‘BFF’s’ or so Soarin thought anyway. Today though, was the day Soarin would have to head back to the Wonderbolts for the afternoon to continue his own training with the team.

The blinding light from the outside window was the first thing to annoy the stallion, whose spot was still planted firmly on the home’s couch. Soarin groaned and turned over in an attempt to remedy the situation, but to no avail as a voice called out to him.

“Hey, Soar, rise and shine! Haven’t you got Bolts practice today?” Rainbow asked, coming down the stairs where the stallion laid. Soarin cracked open one of his eyes and scanned the puffy floor below him, they quickly moved up to see the rainbow maned mare with a curious look plastered on her face.

“Mnhm,” was all Soarin could mumble in his dazed state, he moved a forehoof to rub the sleep out of his eyes, before trying to break away from his warm spot on the sofa.

Rainbow rolled her eyes at the lazy pony before speaking up. “Well today I have to get back to my weather duties, can’t be all fun and games, ya know,” she stated teasingly as she turned around and began walking towards the home’s door. Soarin quickly got up and went over to his saddle bags to collect what he needed; he knew that he would be able to get something at the headquarters and so just decided to take his uniform and flight goggles. Soarin turned to look back at the door, Rainbow was just about to leave the home when he spoke.

“So when are you gonna be back?” Soarin asked hesitantly. Rainbow pondered for a few moments as she tried to find an answer.

“Well I need to go visit Twilight’s, but I should be back for sunset, I’ll see you then, Soar.” With that the pegasus took off into the sky. Soarin shook his head, knowing that he would be left to lock up the home. The stallion went to wash up before going through the most annoying part about his job, the suits they were given were tight to reduce drag, but Soarin didn’t really care much for them at all. The hooves were easy to get into, but the rest was a pain in the rump. It took Soarin a few minutes to get into the suit before he placed the goggles over his head. He looked over to a mirror in the bathroom and smirked confidently, he then made his way to the exit of the cloud home and made sure to shut the door behind him before taking off into the skies.

Soarin breathed out a long sigh as he flew, this was the first free time he’d had to himself in a while, but he felt as if the satisfaction wasn’t cutting it, he knew deep down he’d never trade flying with Rainbow to just himself. The stallion began to ponder over his past few days with the mare, they’d had a lot more fun than he’d expected. Soarin felt a smile come to his face as he remembered all that the pair had done, he’d seemed to fit in well and to Soarin, that’s all that mattered.

Soon the pegasus came into view of the large and magnificent sky city; he could already spot most of the landmarks as he neared the destination. The Wonderbolts headquarters were easy to spot, the building sitting on the edge of the city. The stallion swooped down, landing just before the large gates which shut the building off from the public. Two guards stood their posts on either side, they eyed the stallion before smiling and opening the gates. Soarin thanked the guards before trotting into the building, his first place of call was Spitfire’s office.

The pale blue pegasus reached the door of Spitfire’s office, bringing his hoof down, he knocked and waited. Soon a voice spoke, “Come in.”

Soarin proceeded to open the door before trotting into the room, he could see the fiery mane of Spitfire as she continued to write on a piece of paper; probably contracts for venues her eyes never seeming to leave the page as she spoke, “Well if it isn’t lover boy, sit down, we need to talk.”

Soarin nodded before taking a seat in front of the wooden desk. Spitfire raised her head and put her sunglasses down before putting her hooves together. “So, are you still training Rainbow Dash?” she asked. Soarin nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve managed to go through a lot of things,” Soarin replied, knowing full well he’d not actually been instructing Dash and more just playing about while training. Luckily for him Spitfire was unaware of this. The mare raised an eyebrow, surprised.

“Well, Soarin, I wasn’t expecting that, me and Fleet both reckoned you’d be home whining about how she’d rejected you,” she said casually, making Soarin look away in slight embarrassment. “Enough of that, we need to get training, go find Fleetfoot and we’ll head off to the venue, I’ve picked the best spot.”

Back in Ponyville Rainbow was already flying through her day’s work, quite literally in fact. She’d busted half the clouds already and would leave a few others to finish the clouds around the east wing of the town. She flew across the village, spotting Cloudchaser and Raindrops chatting on one of the many clouds still occupying the area. A smile came to the mare’s face as she floated over to meet them.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” she asked curiously, landing on the cloud. The other two smiled as they greeted their friend.

“Hey, Rainbow, nothin’ much, haven’t seen ya around, besides that stallion you’ve been hangin with lately,” Raindrops said, flicking her turquoise mane.

“What, Soarin? Yeah he’s been helping me train for the Equestria games,” Rainbow said casually.

“Wait!” Cloudchaser started, Raindrops jaw slowly dropping. “You mean the Soarin as in the Wonderbolt!”

Rainbow smiled confidently. “Yeah, who else would it be?” she asked rhetorically. Both mares shared looks of shock between them before they immediately started asking questions.

“What's he like?”

“Is he as cute as they say he is?”

“How does he fly?”

“Does he teach you tricks?”

Rainbow laughed playfully. “Guys calm down,” she started waiting for the pair to shut their muzzles before continuing. “He’s a good flyer, he can at least keep up with me...he hasn’t really taught me any tricks so far...and yeah, he’s kinda cute, but I ain’t gonna go into that.”

Raindrops smirked. “Ohhh, somepony has a crush,” she said in a sing~song voice.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. “Woah! I do not, we’re just friends,” she explained. Cloudchaser muffled a giggle as Raindrops continued.

“Suuuurre, we believe you.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she felt the smallest tinge of pink fill her cheeks. “I’ll see you guys around,” she said before taking off into the sky, shaking her head playfully as she heard the giggles from the ponies still standing on the cloud. Her next stop was Twilight’s, she had a whole bunch of questions for her.

Meanwhile in Cloudsdale, Soarin was still searching the Wonderbolts headquarters for Fleetfoot; the mare sure had a good ability to not being seen. The stallion made his way into the main dining area of the building. He looked over to the food that was available to eat, his stomach suddenly started to rumble and he quickly put a forehoof onto his belly remembering he was still to eat breakfast. He trotted over and collected one of the pre-made trays of food and went over to a table to start eating, deciding Fleetfoot could wait till later.

He picked up one of the sandwiches, began to eat and was enjoying the time of peace until a voice spoke. “Hey, Soar, you managed to get Rainbow to marry you yet?” Fleetfoot asked, trotting into the hall with Misty Fly close behind. Soarin looked up at the mare, preferring not to talk with a full mouth. He swallowed the food before replying. “Haha, very funny,” he said sarcastically. Fleetfoot smirked teasingly, she had a good way of winding the stallion up.

Soarin wiped his muzzle before continuing, “Come on, Fleet, Spitfire wants us ready for today’s training,” he stated, getting up from the table. Fleet sighed annoyed.

“Really? This is gonna be so lame.”

Soarin raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about, Fleetfoot, sad you won’t having a cheering crowd?” he asked with chuckle.

“Well looks like you're a mind reader as well as a playboy huh, Soarin?” Fleetfoot shot back with a victorious grin. Soarin sighed, he knew beating Fleetfoot had a very slim chance of success. As the two ponies continued to walk through the hallway Soarin couldn’t help but think about the training ground Spitfire had spoken so highly of. His mind thought up a number of possible candidates some being the crystal stadium in Cloudsdale or even the Grand Galloping Arena in Canterlot.

“Okay, glad to see you didn’t get distracted while finding Fleetfoot, Soarin,” Spitfire said cutting the stallion from his thoughts. Fleetfoot let out a playful giggle looking over at the large pony.

“Well, when you say distracted, I’m pretty sure eating all you can comes under it.”

Spitfire shook her head playfully at the comment as Soarin fought back a blush of embarrassment. The three made their way out of the building before taking flight into the skies.

Soarin looked down past his flowing mane as he watched the city swoop past him. The curiosity in his mind was bursting at the seams, he couldn’t work out where Spitfire planned on taking the two. The Wonderbolt knew Cloudsdale like the back of his hoof, he kind of enjoyed the route they were taking, it was the same one he used to take to his favorite place as a colt, a place which was just beginning to show itself on the horizon.

Spitfire swooped down onto the puffy cloud surface, Fleetfoot and Soarin landing just a few moments later. The stallion smiled as he looked around at his old training ground. It was the first time he had come here that the stallion had entered his first pro league race as a foal, he was in tenth grade and could remember the day well.

Soarin could remember the sun shining onto his face, the cheering crowds of fillies and colts in the little stands the adults had helped set up for the race. Soarin had brought his own special goggles to compete though he wished his mother hadn’t gone too far. He wore a sweat band on his mane and forehooves, plus he was wearing an overly tight racing suit she had bought for him at last minute. Still, luckily his competition wasn’t much, this was until the colt recognized a rainbow maned filly trot up confidently onto the starting line of the circuit. Soarin smiled dreamily as he remembered the filly from a few years ago, nothing had changed about her, besides the growth in a few inches, but if anything that only made her look better. The filly’s magenta eyes looked over at Soarin and the colt quickly changed his gaze to fix on the starting grid, not knowing the playful smirk the filly had just given him.

“Okay, fillies and colts, are you guys ready?” an adult mare asked, trotting onto the course with a flag wrapped in her wing. Everypony quietened down to hushed whispers as Soarin and the others got ready for the start.

“Three...two...one...go!”

Soarin jumped off the start gate, knowing if he had a larger peripheral vision he would see the other ponies neck at neck with him as they continued down the straight path. It was the colt’s first race and he was indeed loving it already, they rounded the first corner in a flash, Soarin quickly realizing he was no longer in first place as a few ponies proceeded to edge just a few centimeters ahead. Soarin pushed all energy into his wing muscles as he flapped them violently. He could hear the cheers from the ponies on the stadium, he proceeded to look over into the crowds and his smile started grow bigger, but then...

“Ha look at Rainbow Dash, she’s really become Rainbow Crash now!” said a teenage Hoops as he pointed to the broken filly in the crowds. Soarin’s eyes quickly darted over to the next corner as the pegasus in question sat on her rump feeling her wing and wincing at the pain. Soarin’s mind quickly changed from race mode to full on first aid. The stallion broke off from the sprint and flew down to the filly.

“Hey, are you okay?” Soarin asked politely as he landed next to the filly. Rainbow nodded.

“Yeah, I’m cool just a scratch,” the pegasus filly replied swiftly as she winced at another painful touch of her wing.

Soarin looked over the filly concerned. “H-Hey let me help you with that,” he said kindly. The filly looked up at the colt with curious and slightly worried eyes, but they softened at his gaze; Soarin kept his warm smile as he moved a forehoof to her wing.

“Ouch,” Rainbow whispered harshly.

“Does it hurt there?” Soarin asked, already knowing the answer. Rainbow nodded.

“Okay, we’ll need to get some ice on that,” Soarin announced getting up and holding a hoof out for the filly to take. Dash looked away slightly in embarrassment. Soarin couldn’t seem to work out why, but finally the pegasus took the colt’s hoof as he helped her up. Soarin looked over towards the finish line which had been taken by an opal filly with a golden mane. Soarin caught the attention of one of the adults which came over to address the two.

“Are you both alright?” the mare asked kneeling down to be at eye level with the two.

“I kinda banged up my wing a little,” Rainbow admitted flexing her wing slightly. The mare nodded.

“Okay, let’s go get some ice on that,” she said ushering the filly away. The rainbow pony gave one last look at the colt and Soarin gave a small wave back before taking off again, happy he could help.

“Equestria to Soarin?” Spitfire shouted from across the training field. The stallion shot up before looking at his two teammates a small smile coming to his face before he took off to join them for the day.

Pancake Bonding

A wide yawn escaped Soarin’s lips as he leisurely flew back to Rainbow’s home. He still couldn’t work out why he was having all these flashbacks about her, but he didn’t really care, wasn’t like they were nightmares or something. Another yawn came out, Soarin chuckled to himself, Spitfire really has ways of tiring ponies out on training.

It didn’t take Soarin long to spot the earth pony town in the distance. Cloudsdale was floating towards Ponyville at this time of year, making it much easier to fly back and forth between work and Soarin’s temporary home. The pegasus stallion swooped down towards the cloud home and landed on the front porch of the home. Soarin hadn’t really taken time to admire Rainbow’s home, the large rainbow fountains teamed with cloud sculptures would wow anyone. Giving out a relaxing sigh Soarin made his way into the home.

“Rainbow?” Soarin called as he trotted cautiously into the cloud structure. Not getting any response told him that the mare hadn’t yet returned. The Wonderbolt proceeded to take off his uniform, if it wasn’t as hard to get on, it was even worse to get off. Soarin battled with the tight clothing as he made his way upstairs and into the bathroom to wash up. After getting the rest of his uniform off he stepped into the shower to cool off. Soarin took a bottle of shampoo from the rack, it wasn’t one he’d seen when he’d last been in. He turned the bottle to read the label and almost burst out in laughter when he saw the words Rarity’s Fabulous Shampoo. With his curiosity piqued, the stallion decided to see if it was any good.

After a while the stallion disembarked from the shower. The steam was quickly being extracted through the clouds above. Soarin turned to look at himself in the mirror and smiled when he saw his reflection. “Looking good, Soar,” he spoke to himself boastfully, making his way out of the shower room. “I do have a pretty mane.”

“Oh really, Soar? You want my Gala dress to go with it?” Rainbow asked when Soarin opened the bathroom door; the mare was leaning on the opposite wall. Soarin jumped slightly, holding a hoof to his chest. “Rainbow, how long have you been here?”

The mare snickered. “Ever since I heard a stallion talking about how pretty his mane looks, I didn’t know you were the type of stallion to care about your hair.”

Soarin blushed a little. “I’m not, I just like to keep my mane in check, ya know?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “So you used Rarity’s shampoo I’m guessin’, I can smell it from here.”

Soarin nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay, right?” he asked, a little nervous. Rainbow smirked, knowing she could have a little fun with him now.

“Well…” Rainbow said, pondering. “She did tell me to be careful in using it.”

Soarin’s eyes shrank a little. “W-why’s that?”

Rainbow tried her best to keep the laughter inside until the right moment and kept her act up. “Well, she said you're only to use it on places where there is too much hair, ‘cause it gets rid of it.”

Soarin felt himself freeze up. “A-are you saying I just used...hair removal?”

Rainbow nodded in response, she waited for a reply from her friend, the stallion was keeping very still at this point. Then suddenly, Soarin slammed the door to the bathroom shut, Rainbow rushed up and opened the door to see the stallion face down in the sink splashing water on his mane.

“I can’t go bald! Get it off, get it off!” Soarin shouted to no one in particular. Rainbow couldn’t contain herself any further and burst out laughing onto the cloud floor. Soarin heard the mares’ cries of joy and slowly turned his head around to see her. “What are you laughing about? This is serious!”

Rainbow shook her head with laughter, joyful tears almost leaving her eyes. “Soar, you are so gullible it’s unbelievable!”

Soarin sighed dejectedly. “Really, Dash?” he asked, turning the sink tap off before trotting over to the door. Rainbow looked up and smiled warmly.

“I’m just playing, Soar, besides it’s not like everyone in the world has just seen it.”

Soarin stopped in his tracks. “Yeah...mind not telling anyone else about this...you know, about my mane.”

Rainbow pulled a sly smile. “What’s in it for me?”

“What?!” Soarin spluttered out.

Rainbow let out a small giggle before continuing, “How about later on this week, we go out for something to eat...you’re buying?”

Soarin was speechless for a moment. “I don’t think I’ll ever get how you do that, Dash,” the stallion mumbled as she trotted down the stairs.

“Takes years of practice, Soar,” Rainbow shot back as she followed him.

“So uh…how was your day?” Soarin asked, sparking up a new topic of the conversation.

“Not too bad,” Rainbow started. “A few ponies on the weather team have been talking about you, but then again, you are a Wonderbolt and this town isn’t really known for its famous racing pegasi, besides me of course,” the mare said pridefully. “What about you?”

Soarin thought back on the day. “Not that bad, besides Spitfire’s training regime which is back breaking work. It’s not been that bad, we were training where I used to race as a colt, you know, I remembered the race when I helped—”

“Hey, Soar, look!” Rainbow shouted, cutting off the stallion mid-sentence. His eyes caught the mare galloping over to the window and pointing out of it. Soarin went over and saw what Dash was pointing at.

“It’s just a… rainbow,” Soarin said, looking out of the window. He looked down to see Rainbow Dash still staring out.

“I know, I sound like a foal and all… but rainbows are just cool, I mean not as cool as me, but they’re close.”

“Mnhm,” Soarin said as he shook his head playfully before trotting off into the kitchen. “Are you gonna make dinner or shall I?”

Rainbow looked back to see the stallion wandering into the other room. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Soarin was about to reply, talking about his great knowledge of food from his parents, but instead an idea popped into his head and a smile spread across his muzzle. “I dunno,” he said turning back to face the mare. “How about you help?”

Rainbow was a little taken back by this. “Soar, come on, I fry just about anything I cook, I won’t be much help to you.”

Soarin kept his smile, egging the fellow pegasus on. “Come on, Rainbow, I dunno whether I can cook something you’ll like. Come and show me.”

Rainbow sighed. “Fine, but don’t blame me if whatever we make becomes inedible.”

Soarin let out a chuckle as he let the mare by before following her into the kitchen. The home had quite a sizable one too, though it was mainly clean just because it was unused. Soarin however was about to change that. “Okay then, Dash, what would you like to eat?”

“I dunno...pancakes?”

Soarin turned to look at her shuffling into the room. “Pancakes, for dinner?” he asked, muffling his laughter. Rainbow looked away.

“I dunno, just choose something then.”

Soarin smiled. “Pancakes it is then,” the stallion cheerfully said, opening a few cupboards to get the necessary ingredients. He grabbed some flour and sugar before flying over to the other side of the kitchen to grab some milk and eggs. He then placed them on the countertop. Soarin looked over at Rainbow who was still watching but was also shying away to the other side of the room. Soarin smirked. “Come on, Dash, don’t tell me you’re scared about this.”

Rainbow’s facial expression changed to one of pure determination. “Not as scared as you’ll be when I kick your flank at this, Mr head chef,” the mare said confidently trotting up to the ingredients. Soarin watched as Rainbow opened the flour and poured it into a bowl, before staring at it. Soarin held back his laughter and put his hoof on the eggs. Rainbow looked up as he slid them over to her. The rainbow mare took two of the eggs and tried to open them without crushing them.

Soarin took Rainbow’s hoof in his and guided it to the edge of the bowl. Rainbow looked up at him with a curious look. Soarin positioned himself better and took both of her hooves in his and began to show her by cracking the eggs off the bowl and depositing them into the mix. Rainbow let out a small giggle, Soarin could tell she was enjoying the lesson so far. He let Dash pour the milk in as he moved over to a drawer and grabbed a whisk and then came back over, he put it in Rainbows hooves as she mixed the bowl.

“I feel like a foal doing this,” Rainbow stated with a snicker as Soarin sat back and let her continue to mix up the bowl.

“You’re doing pretty well,” Soarin praised happily before a bit of batter flew into his face. “Though next time try to keep it in the bowl.”

Rainbow held back her laughter. “Sure thing, Soar.”

Dash continued to mix the bowl until Soarin deemed it was ready, not too watery and not too creamy. He moved over to the cooker and lit up the stove, Dash looked over slightly worried. Soarin noticed the mare’s hesitant look as he stood back up. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

Dash nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool, but uh...you might wanna do that part yourself… unless you want the house burnt down.”

“Nonsense, I’ll show you,” Soarin said, ushering the mare over. “Now, put some of the mix into the pan,” he instructed. Dash did so, pouring some of the mixture into the pan, Soarin grabbed Dash’s hoof and helped her stir the pan until the mix was even across the surface.

“So, what now?” Dash asked, Soarin was still holding her hoof on the pan, the stallion smiled at the mare with what he was about to say next. “Now it’s the fun part, flip the pancake.”

Dash looked between Soarin and the pan a bit hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, come on, surely if you can do one of the best backflips I’ve ever seen then you can easily flip this,” Soarin encouraged kindly. He moved his hoof upwards slightly with Dash’s. Rainbow took the initiative and gave the pan a strong pull sending the pancake into the air. A moment of silence came over as both ponies held their breath. The pancake came back down on the pan. Rainbow sighed in relief before letting out a giggle.

“There you go!” Soarin congratulated. “Now one more time,” he said taking his hoof away, giving Dash full control. The mare felt a little more nervous this time not having any assistance, but she was confident enough to try again. She gave the pan another powerful pull sending the pancake into the air and back down again. Rainbow smiled triumphantly as she moved the pan over to the plate Soarin had pushed over and deposited the pancake onto it. She turned off the cooker before turning back to a proud looking Soarin. “Nice work, Dash,” Soarin praised kindly trotting over to the finished result.

Rainbow smiled happily. “Yeah, it is good, isn’t it?”

Still as boastful as ever, Soarin thought to himself. “I guess you should have the honors of eating this fine specimen.”

Rainbow shook her head as she picked up the pancake and bit down into its soft surface. She began to chew lightly and soon was taking another bite. Soarin watched with a smile, satisfied his teachings had worked.

“So I guessed you liked it?” Soarin asked after Dash had finished eating the entire meal. The mare nodded in response.

“Yeah, t-thanks, Soar, you didn’t have to do that,” Rainbow said happily, not used to giving out compliments. The Wonderbolt smiled.

“No problem, Dash, anytime,” he replied before trotting into the living room. Rainbow watched him leave, her smile still not leaving her, the thoughts from the day came rushing back to her, what Raindrops and Blossomforth had said.

“Hey, Dash, there’s still a little while before sundown, wanna go train a little?” Soarin asked. “Can we keep it a bit light though? Spitfire’s day training was enough really.”

Rainbow pushed her thoughts to the side for a moment, looking out the window she nodded to herself before turning back in the direction of the living room. “Sure thing, Soar, let’s go fly!”

To Be Continued…

Another Morning's Work

As the days continued to tick by, Soarin and Rainbow continued to train for the up and coming Equestria Games. Both had really started enjoying each other’s company now, spending more and more time together outside of their busy lives. Though the pair had only been training for a little over a week, Soarin really felt like he and Rainbow had gotten along well, not to mention the mare had begun warming up to him more and more. Of course this didn’t stop the jokes Soarin was still gullible for, something Rainbow loved teasing him on every time she got the opportunity to do so.

It was now coming into mid-week for Equestria, luckily Soarin had managed to keep both his Wonderbolts training and Dash’s at an even level so not to strain himself too often. Dash had been busy with her weather work, but was still up for normal training with Soarin when they both got the chance to. However, today was a day for a little relaxation, Rainbow had still held the stallion to a night out for the two, which pleased Soarin because it meant neither of them had to cook. But thanks to his lessons Dash was able to make a few simple meals that actually involved using her untouched oven. Soarin had picked a rather nice place in Cloudsdale for the night out, but of course this would all come later in the day for both of them. For now the rest of the busy day still laid ahead for the stallion that was arising from another night on the couch. Soarin put a forehoof to his head, he didn’t like having to get up this early in the morning, but then again not all days consisted of being able to sleep in.

Rainbow yawned as she trotted down the stairs from her upstairs room, spotting Soarin slowly making his way into the kitchen. She smirked to herself knowing full well the stallion hated early rises. “Work becoming a little to hard for you, Soar?” the mare asked, following the Wonderbolt into the room.

“No, I’m just,” Soarin paused as he let out a wide yawn, “tired, besides it wasn’t everyday in the ‘Bolts I had to get up at this hour to train.”

Rainbow smiled as she walked over to the fridge to grab a drink. “You’ll get used to it… maybe, but for now this works well for me, so I’m glad you’re still up for kicking flank at this time in the morning.

“Mnhm,” Soarin replied as Rainbow returned to the kitchen table with two bottles of water and two energy oat bars. She slid both over to Soarin, giving him an apple flavoured bar to keep him happy.

“Well, it’ll be over soon, the Equestria Games are only a few weeks away now, then you can kick back and do whatever you do at the Wonderbolts.”

Hopefully by then, Rainbow, you might be saying something a little different, Soarin replied in his mind, bringing a smirk to his face in the process.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

Soarin’s eyes widened slightly. “Nothing, just uh... thought of something funny, do you wanna hit the skies then?” he asked curiously. Rainbow nodded in response.

“Yeah, lets do this! Come on, I got something to show ya,” the mare said encouragingly as she sprinted to the door. Soarin followed quickly to see Dash already launching into the skies. He rolled his eyes before chasing after her into the morning air.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” Soarin asked. Dash gave a nod in response. The stallion looked over what the mare was pointing at again with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure this is in any way safe?”

Rainbow took a look again for herself. “Hmmm, no not really, but it’ll be fun, right?”

Soarin kept his eyes fixated in front of him for a moment, the gorge laid out before him was vast. It led all the way into the outskirts of Ponyville itself, but like the Everfree Forest, it was riddled with many dangerous creatures. Soarin just kept his hopes high in the possibility that they would all be taking nap or something.

“So, you ready?” Rainbow asked, slightly more excited than Soarin would have thought for a task so dangerous.

“So, a race, right?” Soarin asked, repeating the instructions Dash had given him on the way over. The pegasus mare nodded in response.

“Yep,” Rainbow answered. “A race through Ghastly Gorge, loser has to buy breakfast!”

Soarin sighed, already knowing the outcome. “Okay then, Dash. three… two-”

“one, go!” Rainbow finished in quick succession, leaping from the starting line and taking off into the land below. Soarin gulped slightly as he, too, dived off the cloud they had both been conversing from, and fell down into the gorge.

Rainbow blitzed towards the upcoming gorge, with Soarin managing to follow very close behind. The sky blue mare suddenly switched down a small tunnel, leaving Soarin to wonder where she’d headed off to, as he turned his head back to see what was in front of him, a wall of spiked vines greeted his eyes. The Wonderbolt quickly reacted, moving in and out of the vines, trying to avoid the many spikes, a few nearly clipping his wings. He breathed out a sigh of relief once he was free of the deathly vines, quickly spotting Rainbow darting back out in front of him. Soarin grinned, picking up the pace again until he was on her tail once more.

The two kept like this for a while, dodging rocks and rounding corners before Rainbow quickly flew downwards, leaving Soarin with a clear view of a large hydra dead ahead. His eyes widened, taking quick action he tilted his wings as he spiraled downwards so he was neck and neck with Dash.

“Look out, here it comes!” Rainbow exclaimed, her tone full of excitement. Soarin took quick glance behind him to see the giant monster give chase after them with an earth shattering roar. Rainbow could see the finish line approaching and quickened her pace. Soarin squinted his eyes at the sight ahead, seeing the small opening Dash was aiming for where a gap consisted between a pile of rocks. Soarin too, quickened his own pace as another roar sounded from the hydra not too far behind them.

Rainbow went into a knife's edge move, darting through the opening and soared up into the open sky once again. Soarin was next closing his eyes as he too sliced through the small opening. Once they were at a safe height, Rainbow looked back down onto the vast land where the hydra stood, roaring in utter rage towards the pegasi. Rainbow smirked and stuck her tongue out at the monster, only aggravating it further.

Soarin meanwhile was breathing heavy gulps of relieved air. The giggles from his partner caused him to turn and look at Dash who was still making faces at the monster on the ground. He chuckled slightly at Rainbow’s antics, the blue mare smiled as she turned around and lightly punched Soarin on the shoulder. “So what did you think of that?!”

“I think the word we’re looking for is ‘insane’,” Soarin started. “But I think that my excitement is filled for the day,” he concluded.

Rainbow nodded. “Sure thing, you wanna hit Sugarcube Corner?” she asked. “You’re buying.”

“Of course I am, what proper gentlecolt wouldn’t?” Soarin asked, Rainbow giving a snicker in response to Soarin’s failed attempt at a Canterlot accent. Rainbow took off again, heading back towards the village as Soarin followed, hoping Rainbow didn’t come up with anymore idea’s along the way.

The doors to the famous Sugarcube Corner were thrown open as two pegasi trotted into its main cafe area. Twilight turned around from her seat on one of the many round tables, her friends doing the same. The alicorn smiled as she watched both Rainbow and Soarin enter. “Hey, Dash, over here!” she announced. The pegasus turned to see her five friends at the table. Soarin felt reluctant to follow, not wanting Rainbow to be embarrassed and simply made his way to the counter to collect Rainbow’s ‘winnings’

Dash watched the stallion head towards the counter as she turned back to see her friends. “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

“Could be asking you the same question, darling,” Rarity asked with a wide smirk, taking a glance at the stallion buying a few items at the counter. “How have you and Soarin been?”

“We’ve been great, Rarity,” Rainbow replied with the best fake smile she could muster for her friend, who was clearly already going at the stallion Rainbow had recently become close friends with. Twilight was keen to steer the conversation away as quickly as possible.

“Only a few weeks now until the Games, how is your training together?” Twilight asked with full curiosity. Dash smirked as she recalled not only their latest event, but all the other times they’d trained in the past week or so.

“It’s been pretty awesome, I’ve been keeping him on his hooves, but he’s keeping up.”

Pinkie gasped. “Woah! So that means he must be like super duper fast to keep up with you, Dashie!” the party pony cheered happily.

Rainbow gave a slight chuckle. “Well of course, Pinkie, that’s why he’s a Wonderbolt, but you’re right, it’s pretty hard to be this awesome.”

At this point Soarin returned with a small brown bag within his grasp. He set it down on the table before turning to Dash and smiling happily. “I got your breakfast, I would sit down and talk with you all,” Soarin started, giving a friendly smile at all the mares around the table. “But I should get going to Cloudsdale to meet up with the team. I’ll see you at sundown, you know where the place is, right?” Soarin asked quizzically, Dash hearing a slight nervousness in his tone.

“Uh, I don’t actually, remind me?” Rainbow said, giving the stallion a small smile while quickly glancing around the table.

“It’s… wait, probably best if I write it down,” Soarin said looking around for any available writing utensil.

“Here you go,” Twilight said proudly, levitating a quill over. “I keep one handy just in case,” the alicorn explained, not noticing the shaking heads of her friends.

“Thanks, Twilight,” Soarin replied happily grabbing the quill from its magical aura and grabbing the brown bag that contained his friend’s food. He began to write the information down, Rainbow tried to lean over to see what it was he was writing, but couldn’t see a thing. After a few moments the stallion tossed back the quill before trotting towards the exit. “I’ll see you at sundown, okay, Dash?” Soarin asked again. Rainbow smirked.

“Sure thing, Soar, I’ll be there and you better not be late!”

Soarin only shook his head playfully in response, before darting into the sky with a quick flap of his wings. Rainbow looked back to her friends who were all staring at her with either grins or smiles. Dash however was looking at mostly Rarity and Pinkie who were both ready to start a conversation.

“Darling, I am very surprised, how could you not have made a move on that handsome hunk of a—”

“Rarity, please,” Rainbow groaned facehoofing. Twilight levitated out a chair for the pegasus to sit on.

“I was only mentioning that you have a very nice stallion staying in close proximity to you, I’d suggest you make a move before it’s too late, he is one of your idols.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Rarity, I like him as a friend. I’m not just gonna waltz right in like a fan filly and ask him out.”

Dash watched as all the other ponies gave her looks of sadness, but they kept their smiles. Rainbow could feel her heart ache slightly, she didn’t really know why at this point, but then again, she didn’t understand any feelings besides being awesome.

“So, how about we all try my new cupcakes! I call em’ Soaring Rainbows!” Pinkie shouted excitedly, changing the subject and the mood all at once. Everypony including Dash chuckled in response to the name. Rainbow leaned back on the chair as Pinkie shot off to acquire the food. Her mind was switching back to the stallion that had left only a few moments ago, she wondered where it was he was taking her. Then she realised, her eyes quickly travelled over to the bag of cupcakes with the scribbled writing of Soarin, her eyes widened slightly as she read the words on the bag:

To Be Continued...

Dinner

Soarin breathed a sigh of relief when he sat down for his own lunch in the Wonderbolts cafeteria. The day so far had been surprisingly pleasant. As an added bonus for the day there was also a small slice of lemon cake, it wasn’t apple pie, but it was much better than the healthy options that everyone, but Soarin himself, didn’t seem to mind. The stallion couldn’t help but ponder about the events later in the day. He wondered how he should act around Rainbow at the restaurant, he’d never formally gone out with Dash and wasn’t too sure if he should treat it as a date or just as he usually did when they hung out together.

“Hey, short stack, how’s life treating you?” Fleetfoot asked in her usual comedic tone as she sat down opposite Soarin. He felt the urge to roll his eyes, but opted for a simple smile as the mare started eating her own meal.

“Hey, Fleet, not too bad,” he replied, casually taking another bite of his tomato and lettuce sandwich. Fleetfoot nodded as she felt the bench she was sitting on move slightly.

She turned to see Spitfire sitting down next to her, a friendly smile on her muzzle. “Hello, Soarin, looking a little more perked up today. Fleetfoot not been tormenting you as much?” the mare asked.

“Only because he hasn’t been around that much for me to have any… friendly conversations with him,” Fleetfoot answered for him as she sent a smirk in the direction of the stallion. This time Soarin did roll his eyes in response.

“Well, I’m afraid I wont be here that much longer, I have to make my way to the Golden Mile street for sundown.”

Spitfire’s eyebrow raised in curiousity. “Something tells me you're going with a certain blue mare?”

Soarin felt a small blush tint his cheeks as he nodded. Fleetfoot let out a small chuckle before she spoke up. “Oh, you planning on asking her out? Don’t worry, Soar, if she says no... I’m here for you.”

Soarin groaned at that. “Asking her out wasn’t really on the list and... not wanting to burst your bubble, Fleet, but as much as you are my friend you’re probably not my first choice of pony I’d go to in a time of need,” he replied. Spitfire giggled from the remark that made Fleetfoot frown slightly.

“Well…” Spitfire started as she began to ponder on this, “are you sure you don’t want to ask her out? I mean, how long has it been now you’ve had a crush on this mare?”

Soarin set down his meal and put a hoof to his chin as he thought back for a moment. “About a month now,” he replied knowingly.

Fleetfoot clapped her hooves together in a mocking fashion. “Well done, Soar, that’s a new record for how long you can go without asking a mare out.”

Soarin gave a confused look towards his arctic blue friend. “What are you talking about, Fleetfoot?”

The mare snickered. “Don’t you remember the last mare you asked out? You were in love with her for just one day before you made the move, Soar. I think a month for you probably tells me this isn’t one of your flings,” Fleetfoot answered knowingly.

Spitfire nodded her head in response. “She’s right, ya know? You must really like Rainbow.”

“Well she did save us all from death at the Best Young Flyers competition, she saved me again a month ago at the trials and she’s just really nice and funny and kind and—”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to drag on, loverboy,” Fleetfoot interrupted holding up a forehoof.

Spitfire smiled happily. “Well, Soar, if you think she’s finally the mare you’ve been searching for all your life then I’d say go for it.”

Soarin returned the friendly smile. “Thanks, Spitfire… you know what, I think I just might,” the stallion said happily as he began attacking the other side of his plate of food.

“Seriously though, Soarin, do you even know how to get on a mare’s romantic side in the first place?” Fleetfoot asked suddenly.

Soarin opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it as he came to terms with the realisation that he had no idea how he was to even know if Rainbow Dash liked him. “I uh… don’t know,” he replied with a hint of sadness.

Spitfire pondered as she turned to Fleetfoot, suddenly a smirk came to her muzzle as she thought up a plan. “I think me and Fleet might just be able to help you out there.”

Soarin looked up to his friends who both held smirks of happiness, but also mischievousness, Soarin gulped the lump that was beginning to rise in his throat… he just hoped tonight would go down well.

Rainbow casually flew through the evening air, she looked out upon the large blue sky above the many white clouds below. The warm glow of the sun radiated down onto her coat, she’d decided to go without any fancy clothes, much to Rarity’s disapproval, and opted to go as she was, figuring that Soarin would be doing the same.

Dash soon spotted her home city in the distance, the mammoth structure slowly floating below her. The large skyscrapers and cloud shaped buildings became more and more visible the closer she flew. Rainbow could already smell the fresh air that was produced by Cloudsdale’s weather factory. She thought about paying her parents a visit while she was over, but she had more important things to deal with right now. The pegasus racked her brain quickly as she tried to remember the name of the street, once she’d remembered Rainbow then moved on to tackle the trickier part which was finding it.

The mare drifted over the outskirts of the city, weaving in and out through the large structures. When she made her way into the center of town, she noticed a street which was lined with golden ribbon. Flying towards the street, she spotted Soarin at the edge of the street. She was surprised to see him wearing a sleek black suit, but let the thought slip past. She was just happy that the stallion kept his promise of not being late.

“Hey, Soar, I guess you didn’t need my gala dress after all,” Rainbow said as she came up behind the stallion.

Soarin turned around at the sound of Rainbow’s voice and smiled when he saw the mare. “Hey, Dash, how was your day?” he asked, slightly nervous as Rainbow kept looking at his formal attire.

“It was kinda awesome, it’s nice spending some time with Twilight and the others, but I still prefer our training,” Rainbow replied.

Soarin was slightly astonished by this. “Y-You mean you prefer exercise with me to hanging out with your friends?” he asked with a slight smirk as the pair began to trot down the street.

“No, Soar.” Rainbow turned to face the stallion as they continued to walk. “Technically it’s not so much exercise for me since you have to keep up with me,” the mare said with a playful smirk. “Also, I said I just prefer flying to sitting on the ground and talking, don’t be getting ahead of yourself, Soarin.” Dash chuckled, lifting a forehoof and giving the stallion a small jab.

Soarin let out a slight yelp and massaged his side with a hoof. “Hey!” Soarin protested. “I was only asking,” he said with a chuckle.

Rainbow smiled happily as the pair continued to walk down the street. Soon Soarin stopped in front of a large structure on the edge of the street, the building was a tall standing building. It looked as if it was a mile high in the sky. “It looks neat, I could probably fly to the top and back in ten seconds flat, though.”

Soarin shook his head playfully as he proceeded to open the glass door which lead them into a small lobby with a desk and an elevator, centered at the back of the lobby. Soarin smiled as he and Rainbow cantered up to the desk where a black stallion stood, writing something down on what seemed to be like a reservation book. He glanced up and his eyes widened when he saw the stallion in front of him. “Oh. Mr Soarin, please right this way,” the stallion said, motioning the two over to the elevator. “Have a wonderful evening, sir.” He pressed the button to open the door to the lift.

Soarin felt an awkward moment as the doors closed the lift, the magic pulling the two up to the top of the building. His eyes drifted over to the mare beside him, he felt a wash of happiness as he continued to look at the mare he’d held a few feelings towards. However he didn’t realise how long he’d been staring at her.

“Got nothing else to look at?” Rainbow asked, as Soarin blinked a few times before looking away, his large blush visible from the elevators mirrored walls. Rainbow laughed at the stallion being caught red hoofed, she liked how Soarin acted when he was caught doing something. Most stallions would have a funny remark or would just simply deny it, she found Soarin’s reaction to be cute and as much as she would cringe at anything sappy, she liked Soarin being this way more than anything. For some odd reason it just made her heart swell slightly in happiness.

Suddenly the doors opened as Soarin and Dash arrived up at the restaurant floor, which was positioned at the top of the tall building, giving a perfect view of Cloudsdale and the world around it.

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Woah, this place is awesome,” she started, as a blush started to form on her cheeks in embarrassment. “I probably should have brought my Gala dress or something.”

Soarin felt the words in his mind, unfortunately these words happened to come out of his mouth before he had time to register what he was saying. “You look beautiful just the way you are.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock. That wasn’t something that just came out of Soarin’s mouth was it? she thought as she turned around to look at him. Soarin realised what he’d just said and did his best to grin, hoping he hadn’t just ruined things before they’d started. Rainbow felt happy inside, unfortunately, Soarin didn’t know this. Dash smirked as she shook her head playfully. The two ponies then proceeded to trot into the restaurant, they were greeted by a waitress.

“Welcome to the Mile High Resturant,” the mare said as she showed the two to a table next to the large glass windows that looked out onto the city. Rainbow lips still hadn’t moved from the large smirk that had formed a few moments ago. Soarin continued to let the nerves rise in his chest while his stomach tied knots with itself.

“Now, can I get you both a drink to start?” the mare asked.

Rainbow thought for a moment before coming up with an answer, “I’ll have a glass of cider.”

The mare nodded before turning to Soarin who smiled sheepishly as he spoke. “Can I get a glass of water?” he asked, noticing Rainbow’s raised eyebrow as the mare nodded and left the two ponies to themselves.

Soarin’s curiosity piqued and decided to disrupt the silence. “Are you gonna sit there with that smirk on all evening?” he asked with a slight chuckle.

Dash let out a muffled giggle as she replied. “I dunno, Soarin, do you recall what you said, oh, I dunno, about a minute ago?”

Soarin tensed up at that, had he pushed it too far already? Had he ruined his one good chance to get to know Dash better?

“I… thanks I guess.”

Soarin’s mind froze along with his heart. Did she just say… thanks? Soarin thought as he looked over to Dash to see the mare’s smirk had formed into a cute smile. Though this time the stallion decided to keep his thoughts from escaping his mouth until further notice. It was as if the panic button had been switched off in his mind that was until something out of the ordinary caught his eye.

As a flash of familiar colours trotted past him and Soarin’s head turned quickly. His eyes went wide as he saw two mares, who just happened to be Spitfire and Fleetfoot, both grinning as they turned back to look at the stallion. Soarin quickly snapped his head back to Rainbow who had not seemed to notice the two Wonderbolts while taking a swig of her drink that the waitress had just put on the table, the waitress smiled as she passed the glass of water over to Soarin, the stallion taking the glass of cool liquid in his hooves before shifting back over to his other two friends, who sat down at a table close to the pair. He knew this must have been what Spitfire was calling ‘help’

One thing was clear now in Soarin’s mind, this night was about to get a lot more difficult…

To be Continued…

The Question of Truth

So far the evening between Rainbow and Soarin had gone mostly to plan, besides a few hiccups and Soarin’s friends arriving on the scene, it was all going swimmingly for the stallion or so he thought.

Soarin exhaled a heavy breath as he put his drink back on the table, turning his attention away from his Wonderbolts teammates. He smiled as he made eye contact with Dash before speaking up. “So, y-you don’t mind me saying you're… beautiful?” Soarin asked quizzically, thinking back on Dash’s compliment only a few moments ago.

Dash rolled her eyes, returning to her more playful self. “What do you think, Soarin?” she asked with a slight smirk.

“Uh… you don’t?” he asked fearing the worst from the mare. Rainbow held in her laughter at the stallion’s goofyness.

“Soar, you really aren’t the sharpest knife in the box,” Rainbow said smiling. Soarin held back most of the blood running through his cheeks.

“Well thanks, Dash, so I guess we can—”

“Forget it ever happened?” Rainbow said with a mischievous look. “Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see…” the mare said cunningly. Soarin knew she would probably use it at an embarrassing moment in the near future. Despite this though, Soarin was again happy that the evening was going smoothly again. The two pegasi gave quick glances at the menu when they saw the waitress trot over to their table once again.

“So then, what can I get you?” the mare asked politely.

“I’ll have a pasta with chilli tomatoes and spinach,” Soarin said putting his menu back down on the table as the waitress wrote the item on her small pocket notebook.

Rainbow looked extensively through the menu, not finding many things that she knew were even classed as food. As Soarin waited for Rainbow to choose, his eye caught the flash of a yellow hoof. He turned his attention to his two disguised teammates who were both pointing at their own menus, Soarin tried to focus in on what they were pointing at. The stallion then noticed Spitfire using sign language, something which the Wonderbolts were trained to do when performing in shows. Unfortunately Soarin wasn’t very good at it, but managed to pick up that the mares were telling him to choose the item on the menu for Dash. He could only make out the two lines on the menu and couldn’t work out which one Fleetfoot was frantically pointing too.

Finally Soarin made his decision, turning back to the mare he smiled and said. “I think she’ll have the seta soup,” Soarin said confidently, not looking over to Fleet and Spitfire who had just both face hoofed at the stallion’s choice of spanish mushroom soup. Rainbow shrugged not really knowing what the stallion meant, but trusted him and nodded towards the mare who smiled. “Okay, I’ll get those orders in for you.”

Taking the menus the waitress left again. Soarin started to relax a bit, speaking up he said, “You know, Dash, have you ever thought you’d be as famous as you are now?”

Rainbow snickered. “Well, I am pretty awesome so I guess. I thought I’d get famous by just being a Wonderbolt, but now I get to be double famous being an Element of Harmony,” the mare replied boastfully.

Soarin nodded. “Well, of course, but being the Element of Loyalty must be a hard job to keep up.”

Rainbow pondered on the thought. “Not really, I mean since it’s in my blood and all I kinda just keep being awesome,” the mare answered with a shrug. Soarin was about to ask another question when Dash continued. “I guess, though,” she said feeling slightly disheartened for a second. “It’s hard to be loyal when you’re saying someone’s your coltfriend one moment and you break up with them the next, or it’s hard to stay loyal when your old griffon friend isn’t being the kindest to your new friends. But I guess those are times you just gotta be the best you can be, right?”

Soarin was slightly surprised by Dash’s mature words. “Wow, Dash, I guess you are right.”

“Well, of course I am,” Dash shot back returning to her normal self once again. It was something Soarin was loving more and more every minute. The time seemed to just fly past for Soarin, Dash just made the stallion’s heart beat in a way he’d never felt before and it was something he didn’t intend to lose quickly either.

Soon the waitress returned with the ordered food, putting down Rainbow’s bowl of soup. The mare looked up at Soarin as he got his plate, she smiled at the two before leaving. Rainbow looked at Soarin, who was just about to eat his first mouthful before he spotted the her look and instantly stopped. “What’s up, Dash?” he asked concerned.

“Is this what I think it is?” Dash asked pointing to the food in front of her. It was then Soarin had realised that Dash must have not liked whatever it was that was in the soup. Quickly taking a glance over to Fleet and Spitfire, the mares giving him a shake of their heads and pointing to the menu again, Soarin focused again and realised that it wasn’t what the two mares had wanted Soarin to order for Dash. The stallion felt a small bead of sweat run down his forehead as he was now put on the spot.

“It’s okay, Soar, I’ll just ask them to—”

“No, it’s fine, Dash,” Soarin said switching the plates around on the table so that Dash was now faced with Soarin’s meal. The mare looked at her friend hesitantly. “Are you sure, Soar, I know you probably won’t like it that much either,” she said looking at the bowl before sticking her tongue out.

Soarin laughed at Dash’s reaction, “Trust me Dash, it’s fine,” he said moving the plate closer to himself. He looked up to see Dash with a genuine smile across her face. It made Soarin’s chest feel a lot warmer. He held in his blush and simply began eating his meal, Dash doing the same. Soarin gave a small look over his shoulder at his friends who were now nodding their heads happily. It took Soarin a lot of guts to eat the meal in front of him, but he didn’t care, just spending time with Dash on a more private level was turning out to be one of the best dinners he’d ever had, despite the food.

Soarin felt on top of the world at this moment, it was then that a small piece of paper hit his hind leg. The stallion looked down to see the small piece of scrunched up paper on the floor. He bent down and picked it up making sure Dash didn’t see it. He opened it out, seeing a few scribbled out words.

Ask her out already! :)

Soarin could tell this who this was from seeing the writing had a small smiley face next to it probably meant it was from Fleetfoot. He was about to turn around to see his friends when Rainbow spoke up, “Soarin, I kinda need to ask something…”

The stallion stumbled slightly in his reply. “S-sure, I... what’s up?”

Rainbow pressed her hooves together as she spoke. “I never asked why you accepted taking me out for dinner?” she asked slightly sheepish.

Soarin smiled. “Well… I did need to repay you for letting me randomly turn up on your doorstep and sleeping in your house, didn’t I?”

Rainbow thought for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, but I say you still have a little more repayment to do for that, sleeping in my house doesn’t come cheaply, ya know?”

Soarin shook his head playfully, his mind now returning towards the note again. He started to contemplate the idea, but he began to feel the nerves race into his heart speeding up its beat. His head started to spin slightly as he thought of all the possible outcomes if he was to ask the question. Soarin began to tense up as he kept thinking. He looked at Dash, the mare to his mind was beyond beautiful. He had been wanting to ask this question for weeks, but now he had a decent chance at asking the question without getting rejected by Dash on the spot. But there was still the problem of ‘what if’.

“Hey, Dash…” Soarin asked. Rainbow looked up with a smile. “I kinda wanna ask something as well.”

Rainbow grinned. “What’s up, Soar? You wanna go training after we leave or something?”

Soarin smiled, but shook his head. “Well... I was actually wondering whether... if you’d like to do this again?” he asked, full of nervousness.

Rainbow didn’t miss a beat in nodding her head. “Sure, I mean, I don’t have an endless bank of bits like some of us do,” she said giving the stallion a playful look. “But it’d be awesome. Why are you asking?”

Soarin started to get cold hooves by this point. “Well... I was just wondering cause, you know, if you did want to do it again... perhaps we could do it together as something a little more…”

Dash cut the stallion off making his heart freeze. “Little more awesome? Well I mean there was always this cool restaurant in Manehatten, though I guess it’d be a long train ride to get there. We could go to this amazing place in Canterlot me and my friends went to, Spike says it’s the best place to get donuts.”

Soarin was becoming more and more terrified of asking the question. “Well, I wasn’t really talking about the place, m-more about... you and me.”

Rainbow Dash was now starting to catch on slightly as her own heart started pumping faster than normal. She tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, Soarin?” she asked almost innocently.

The stallion felt as if his heart had bounced into his throat. His front hooves both firmly pressed into his lower hooves as he tried to come up with the answer his mind was trying to get him to say. “Well... I guess what I’m trying to say Dash is… w-would you like, I mean I dunno, I guess it was just a stupid thought.”

Rainbow felt a wash of sympathy come over for the now shy Soarin. As the stallion reached out for his plate of food again, Rainbow met him halfway with hers. Soarin felt a slight shock at the touch and quickly looked up to see Dash still holding a smile on her face. “Hey, cheese ball, don’t get all scared about asking a damn question,” she said with a slight giggle.

Soarin was now letting his blush show right through as he let out a small chuckle. “Thanks, Dash, but I’ve never really asked this type of question well,” he admitted, knowing that now trying to act cool was probably going to get him nowhere.

“Well, why dontcha just ask me? I mean, it’s not like you're asking me to marry you,” Dash said with a smirk. “Though, I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

Soarin felt himself getting to a dead end, he needed to say what he wanted to say now, or this ending to a great evening would turn really awkward. He knew he wanted Dash, he had for as long as he could remember back. He realised his hoof was still in Dash’s, the mare still giving him that smile. That was all he needed. “Well… Rainbow, I-I’ve really come to like you... you know after saving my life twice... I think for a while... or really most of my life I’ve always seemed to have admired you for your looks or for your personality or your tricks. It... would mean a lot, no, the world if you were to accept my offer to... to be my marefriend?”

Rainbow was taken back slightly by this. “Wow, Soar I... I guess I’ll take that back that I wouldn’t be surprised by the question,” the mare said with a giggle. Soarin didn’t really have any response, his heart was still beating rapidly and his mind just focused solely on the mare’s answer. But he kept smiling, hoping that Dash would give the answer he wanted most.

Dash put a forehoof behind her neck and ruffled her hair. “Well... I mean I guess I did see this coming weeks ago.”

Soarin snapped out of his trance. “Wait, you knew I was going to ask you out?” he said with complete surprise. Rainbow nodded.

“Well, I mean, it’s not everyday a really famous Wonderbolt turns up at my door and asks to become my personal trainer,” Rainbow explained, her smile becoming slightly wider. “Although I did find it completely awesome, I decided to keep my cool with you, but I guess that didn’t really show with Rarity coming on to you the next day,” she said as Soarin accompanied her this time in a laugh. “I guess though there’s only one thing that surprises me, Soar.”

“W-what’s that?” the stallion asked quizzically.

“Well, you said you said you’d liked me most of your life,” Rainbow asked, slightly confused.

Soarin smiled as he thought back before answering the mare’s question. “Yeah, well... do you remember a race in Cloudsdale when you were little? You banged your wing up.”

Rainbow pondered at length on this as she thought back through years of memories, after a few seconds she nodded. “Oh yeah, that one… I remember it, I had this nice colt come and... wait…” Rainbow said letting her jaw drop slightly as she looked over Soarin’s features. The stallion leaned over and grabbed the ribbon that surrounded the table, putting it around his mane before tying it up to make it look like the sweat band before giving a small pose. It was then that Dash let her jaw drop all the way with wonder.

“Yeah,” Soarin started as he took the ribbon off. “I’d known you a little before that, but it’s one of my greatest memories of you… damn I sound really old now don’t I?”

Rainbow let out a snicker as she shook her head playfully. “Okay, so I guess that leads me up to the answer you really wanna find out huh?” she asked raising an eyebrow. Soarin nodded, slightly nervous.

Rainbow thought seriously to herself for a moment. She remembered the conversation she’d had earlier that day with her friends in the cafe. But this wasn’t Dash asking Soarin out, this was a Wonderbolt, a famous one asking her out. Rainbow began to think what kind of question she’d just been asked. Her heart began pumping loudly, but it wasn’t out of fear or out of embarrassment, it was out of happiness and excitement.

“Hey, Soar,” Rainbow leaning over a little closer to the stallion.

“Y-Yeah, Rainbow?” Soarin asked. If it wasn’t for the fact this restaurant was air-conditioned he would be in a puddle of sweat by this point, but he didn’t seem to mind. Rainbow moved the forehoof away from Soarin’s, the stallion felt a sinking feeling in his heart as the mare pulled away, but then the hoof moved up to his cheek as Rainbow spoke.

“Ya know something, Soarin,” Rainbow started, “if there was anyone in the world I could have said yes to going out with... it’d be you.”

Soarin blinked a few times as his mind registered what she was saying. Rainbow retracted her hoof away as she waited for a reply. “S-So you're saying…”

Rainbow laughed. “I’m saying yes, you big goof ball,” Dash said with a cute smile. “I guess… I’m willing to give it a try, it’d be pretty awesome.”

Soarin felt his heart beat start to relax slightly, the nerves being replaced with a much more pleasant feeling in his hooves. It was a feeling that gave him one of the biggest smiles he’d ever had. Dash smiled along with him. “I have to say, Soar, this is one of the sappiest things I’ve gone through,” she said with a slight giggle.

Soarin chuckled. “Is it a good type of sappy, though?” he asked. Rainbow nodded happily in response as the two enjoyed the rest of their meals for the evening. Soarin didn’t check behind him to see Fleetfoot handing over a few bits to a smug looking Spitfire.

“So, did you enjoy tonight?” the waitress asked an hour later as she took the plates away from the two ponies sitting at the table.

Soarin beamed up at the mare happily. “More than you know,” he said with a small laugh as Dash rolled her eyes.

“I’m glad you two have had a nice evening, I’ll leave you with the bill to pay as you wish,” the mare said putting a small plate with a piece of parchment attached to it. Soarin took the paper and looked at it before grabbing the bits out of his blazer pocket and putting it in the plate.

“You ready to leave, Rainbow?” he asked getting up from the seat with a smile at least a mile wide. Rainbow snickered as she got up and trotted past Soarin towards the exit of the restaurant. Soarin quickly looked behind him to see Spitfire and Fleetfoot, the captain giving him a wink. Soarin knew he wouldn’t be wiping this smile off his face for a long time as he followed his new marefriend to the exit of the restaurant.

Soarin breathed out a sigh of relief as he trotted out of the building. Rainbow smirked at him, flaring her wings out. “You wanna race back?” she asked.

Soarin nodded flaring his own wings. “I’d be honored, Dashie,” he said trotting up next to her.

Rainbow giggled. “Great, so now I’ve got you and Pinkie calling me that?” A nod from Soarin confirmed this as Dash rolled her magenta eyes before taking off at great speed, Soarin closely behind her.

The door to Dash’s home was thrown open as laughter filled the main living area of the home. Soarin threw his blazer onto the sofa as Dash made her way to the bathroom, leaving Soarin to his own devices. Once Dash had given him one last look before going out of sight, the stallion sat on the couch before pumping his hoof in the air. He was so happy at this point that almost nothing could bring him down. It was then his mind drifted back to the Equestria Games, he knew he wanted Dash to be on top of her game and he was going to be the best he could for her.

Suddenly Soarin realised, Rainbow would be competing against him, he didn’t mind that, he knew that Rainbow was competitive whatever team she was in. But winning would be a dream come true for Rainbow and would put her one step closer to the dream of having the job Soarin already had. Come on, Soar, you're overthinking things. Dash won’t care if she loses... okay maybe she will, but you can’t do anything about if she does or doesn’t... or can you?

“Hey, Soar, you gonna hit the hay, it’s gettin late?” Rainbow asked, returning from the bathroom and making her way down the stairs.

Soarin nodded with a slight yawn as he stretched. “Yeah, I think you’re right,” the stallion replied looking around on the sofa for his blanket. It was then he heard Dash muffle a giggle, he turned to look at the mare still on the steps of the staircase.

Rainbow smiled. “You sure you wanna sleep on the couch?” she asked.

Soarin thought for a moment looking slightly confused until his mind clicked on what Rainbow was saying. “Wait, Rainbow, are you saying—”

“No no, Soar, you wanna sleep on the couch, that’s fine by me,” Rainbow announced as she turned to trot up the stairs.

“Hey, Dashie, please come on,” Soarin pleaded. Rainbow couldn’t hold back her laughter at this and let out a giggle.

“Alright, Soarin, come on then,” Dash said giving the stallion a loving look before trotting up the stairs with the stallion hot on her hooves. When he reached the top of the stairs he saw Rainbow leaning on the doorway to her room.

“Never thought you’d get this far in life, did you, Mr superstar?” Rainbow asked raising an eyebrow.

Soarin grinned. “Well... I guess it is a good feeling.”

“Ha, sleeping with someone as awesome as me, Soar. It doesn’t get much better than that, like I said, it’s a high privilege,” Rainbow said trotting into the room with Soarin following. “Make yourself comfortable, Soar, you can have the left side.”

Soarin chuckled as he made his way to the side of the bed that the mare had chosen for him with a curious look on his face. “So, is there a reason why?” he asked curiously.

“Simple, I sleep looking to the left,” Dash said with a sly smile. Soarin felt a blush run to his cheeks. “Unless you wanna sleep on the floor?” Dash offered with a giggle as she got under the sheets. Soarin was a little more cautious about getting in and slowly shuffled himself under the covers. Dash rolled her eyes and caught the stallion’s forehoof to drag him onto the bed. Soarin soon found his head on the utterly soft and springy cloud surface of the pillow, his eyes looking directly at the gorgeous magenta orbs from across the mattress.

“Goodnight, Soar,” Rainbow said dreamily.

“G’night, Dashie,” Soarin replied with a yawn.

“I’m gonna have Pinkie stop calling me that, I can’t deal with having both of you saying it,” Dash said with a snicker. Soarin’s eyes widened slightly.

“Y-you don’t like being called Dashie?” Soarin asked nervously.

Dash smiled and leaned over giving Soarin a small kiss on the cheek as she whispered. “I like hearing it from you.”

“T-thanks, Dash,” Soarin said happily. Snuggling into the pillow to hide his blush even in the darkness of the room, he slowly lifted his wing out and placed it around Dash’s body. She smiled as she let out a sigh before slowly falling asleep. Soarin let out another yawn before letting his senses fade, the best day of his life so far, coming to an end.

To be Continued…

A Morning To Remember?

With the sun rising over Equestria, it was Soarin who was first to take the hit of the blinding light as it started to shine through the room. With a small groan the stallion repositioned himself on the bed, but quickly realised he wasn’t on his usual surface of the sofa. Cracking open an eye, Soarin found himself cuddled next to the rainbow mare he’d been sharing this house with for the past few weeks. After getting the initial reaction of shock past him, his thoughts started to reply in his mind. Soarin started to feel a warm sensation in his chest as he thought about the successful dinner night before and a smile spread across his muzzle, but before he could let his mind wander any further a certain voice spoke.

“Aurgh, Mondays suck,” Rainbow groaned, stirring slightly still under Soarin’s wing. He chuckled lightly, making the pegasus open her eyes slightly to look up at the source of the voice. “What’s got you laughing?” she asked groggily.

“It’s Friday,” Soarin corrected with a grin. Rainbow gave a few seconds of staring blankly at the stallion with a small blush forming on his cheeks as she did so.

“I knew that,” Rainbow answered hesitantly as she squirmed a little in her pocket of warmth next to her new coltfriend. “So, what do you wanna to do today?”

“Well, we only have another week until it’s time for the Equestria Games, how about we go training?” Soarin asked, thinking Dash would be wanting to do something along the lines of flying. However to the his surprise she gave out a slight groan to the idea.

“Soar, I think we can give ourselves a little break from the morning sessions,” Rainbow started, “besides, I think I had way too much cider last night. How about we go see the others? Guess Pinkie will wanna throw us some kind of party,” Rainbow said, giving playful shake of her head. “Then we can have a training session afterwards.”

“If that’s what you want, Dash,” Soarin replied, happily leaning in closer to the mare, he knew he wanted to give her an affectionate nuzzle, but wasn’t sure how to execute it without looking too shy. Rainbow grinned at the look Soarin was giving before letting out a slight giggle, causing the Wonderbolt to pull a face of confusion. Rainbow rolled her eyes and leaned up nuzzling him to get the message across.

“You do know how being in a relationship works, right?” Dash asked raising an eyebrow. Soarin nodded sheepishly.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just... I mean... well... how do you want it to work?” he asked, blushing slightly from embarrassment, not sure of a clear answer.

Rainbow moved closer and on top of him for a moment. Soarin’s eyes went wide at just how beautiful Dash could be in the morning, her fur soft and warm, her mane slightly let down from its usual style and her eyes half lidded from Dash not being totally awake; she was utterly amazing. Unfortunately what came out of her mouth was something entirely different to the fantasies that were flowing through Soarin’s mind at this point. “Well, how about we work this way. You make us breakfast, I’ll go get washed up.”

Before the stallion had time to even lift a hoof in protest, Dash was already heading out the door. She looked back at Soar with a smirk before leaving causing Soarin to sigh and let out a slight chuckle as he did so. The bed was still dragging him back to sleep at this point, but Soarin forced himself out and started trudging towards the staircase. As he trotted down he noticed his blazer from last night was still hanging off the sofa. He casually trotted over to the item and smiled, just as he was about to pick it up however something interrupted him.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t the stallion who managed to pull some flank last night.” Soarin turned around to see Fleetfoot hanging from the window ledge at the far side of the living area.

Soarin stifled a laugh as he rubbed his neck with a hoof. “Yeah, I guess I did, huh?” he said with a genuine smile.

Fleetfoot giggled slightly. “Well besides the fact you cost me a lot of bits last night I’m happy for you, Soarin,” the arctic mare admitted.

“Wait, I cost you—”

“Never mind that,” Fleetfoot said, cutting him off quickly, looking slightly nervous.

“So… I don’t wanna be rude, Fleet, but why are you here?” Soarin asked slightly puzzled.

“Spitfire caught me on break and asked me to come to you and offer her congrats on getting all mushy with Dash, but she also told me that the Wonderbolt relay team is going to be leaving a week early to the Crystal Empire, which means we’ll have to leave this week,” Fleetfoot said in a casual tone.

Soarin however wasn’t too pleased. “Wait, so I’m only just going out with Rainbow and you're asking me to leave her for a week?” he asked.

Fleetfoot rolled her eyes as she jumped into the room. “Soarin you're acting like you just got married to her,” she started chuckling as she put a hoof on his shoulder. “Trust me, it’s gonna be just fine, but you need to remember in whatever brain you have that you’re still a Wonderbolt. We’ve got duties we need to uphold.”

“But—” Soarin tried to say before Fleetfoot cut him off again.

“Besides, Soar, if she really wants this relationship, and I’m pretty sure knowing Dash, that she wouldn’t mind if you told her. It’s only a week,” Fleetfoot said, Soarin finally nodding in acceptance. It wasn’t like he was leaving for six months on a world tour, he would see Dash again before he even knew it... hopefully.

“Right, I need to go back to the Bolts. Have fun, slowpoke,” Fleetfoot finished walking over to the window before flying away.

“Ha, ha, ha,” Soarin said sarcastically, pretty sure that the pony was already out of earshot. The stallion looked towards the kitchen with a smile spreading across his muzzle. He then began making his way over to the room to start breakfast.

“This is pretty neat, Soar,” Dash said, entering the kitchen to see a stack of freshly baked waffles sitting neatly on a plate on the dinner table.

Soarin turned off the tap as he finished washing his hooves before turning around. “Thanks, it used to be my favourite breakfast, unless my mother baked a pie.

Rainbow snickered, “How you’re not the size of this village with all the pies you eat does amaze me, Soarin.”

The stallion felt a small tinge form on his cheeks as he tried not to look at her for a moment before sitting down at the table with his marefriend. Soarin actually struggled to believe that fact for the moment, but he liked it in every way.

“So… I can’t really ask how you’ve been,” Rainbow said with a smirk as she scratched her neck. “In fact, I heard you talking. Was there someone at the door?”

“Yep, Fleetfoot came by to check up on me, she also told me Spitfire had a message for me too,” Soarin replied hesitantly, taking a bite of his waffle.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow curiously. “What about?” she asked, before her lips turned from a smirk into a grin, “or is that some secret agent Wonderbolt stuff that I can’t know about?”

Soarin played with the thought of telling Dash it was secret information, but he knew in hindsight it would come back to bite him. “Well... Spitfire actually told me something I should probably tell you as well,” Soarin admitted with a sad smile.

“What’s up?” Rainbow asked. She stopped eating and leaned forward slightly with a concerned look.

Soarin swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing. “Well, Spitfire wants the relay team to go up to the Crystal Empire a week before the Games, which means I have to leave you here as well…” Soarin said, lowering his tone as he got to the last part of his sentence.

Soarin kept his eyes off Rainbow as he tried to think what her depressed expression must look like, but when he finally gained the courage to turn back to Rainbow, her expression was a lot less sad than Soarin would have expected.

“Don’t sweat it, Soar, I don’t mind. Besides, I guess I’m the captain of our relay team since I’m so awesome so that doesn’t mean to say we can’t go up early as well,” Rainbow replied with a wink. Soarin smiled at her happily. The two then dug into the rest of their meals before finishing off to make their way into Ponyville.

“So, why are we on our way to the library?” Soarin asked as the pair trotted through the main streets of Ponyville. Rainbow was currently looking through her saddlebags when Soarin asked the question and her response was muffled by the bag.

“Pardon?” Soarin said confused. Rainbow pulled her head out of the bag before replying.

“I said, we’re going to Twilight’s because all of my friends are there,” the mare said happily. She smirked at Soarin’s slightly nervous expression, but she was happy that she would get to share this news with her best friends.

Soon the two came up on the old oak tree which housed a few windows and a balcony. The large tree housed a red oak door with a sign not too far away from it indicating it was indeed a library. Soarin raised an eyebrow, puzzled. “Why does Twilight live in a library again?” he asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “Princess Celestia put her up here for her studies, plus she loves books more than she loves life itself,” Dash replied with a chuckle. “Plus it’s not like it’s that weird, because most of my friends live in the places they work. Rarity in her kinda fancy shmancy shop and Pinkie lives in Sugarcube Corner,” Rainbow explained as the two arrived at the door.

“Uh, ladies first?” Soarin asked hesitantly.

Rainbow felt the urge to roll her eyes, but instead she gently nuzzled the stallion before speaking. “You know you open the door first,” she said, lifting up her hoof to knock the door, “before saying that.”

The red door swung open to reveal a small dragon. His eyes fixed on an embarrassed and blushing Soarin, he then shifted his gaze to Dash and turned confused. “What did you do to him?” he asked casually.

Rainbow smirked as she looked back over to her coltfriend before returning to Spike. “Soarin’s just bein Soarin,” she said playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

“Welp, make sure you don’t make him too crazy cause I need some guy friends around here,” Spike said opening the door wider to let the two ponies in. Soarin shook his head playfully as he and Dash trotted into the home towards the five ponies that were currently chatting.

Upon seeing the arrival of the two ponies Twilight smiled and greeted them. “Hey guys, take a seat anywhere,” the alicorn offered. “How are you?” she asked happily.

“We’re good,” Soarin replied as Dash sat down on one of the cushions, patting it with a forehoof to tell Soarin to sit next to her.

“Yay! We’re all super duper happy!” Pinkie exclaimed from her position on the pile of books Twilight had yet to color coordinate and file into her book shelf.

Before Twilight could reply to Soarin, Rarity spoke. “Yes, Pinkie dear, like you’ve said all morning,” the mare said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice before turning to the two new arrivals. “Soarin, may I say your looking quite delightful this morning.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Soarin replied with a slight tinge of redness coming from his cheeks. Rainbow shot Rarity a glare, to which the fashionista just rolled her eyes at.

“Ya’ll look pretty snug there on that cushin, ya’ll have somethin you wanna tell us?” Applejack asked from the couch, smirking at the two.

Rainbow tried her hardest not to blush as she spoke up. “Well, actually we kinda wanted to tell you, me and Soarin are goin’ out,” Dash answered earning slightly shocked looks from the ponies, as well as Rarity’s jaw dropping slightly to which Rainbow reveled in the envy.

“I thought you said, back at Sugarcube Corner—” Twilight tried to say before Rainbow cut her off.

“Well, actually I wasn’t the one to ask someone out,” she said with a proud look as she turned to the stallion next to him who by now was red from ears to cheeks. The five ponies in the room now understood what had happened and thankfully their smiles were of joy.

“Well, I’ll be the first to congratulate ya Rainbow, didn’t really bet on you bein’ the first to get with a pony since we all became friends,” Applejack said.

“Well, she is awesome,” Soarin answered happily. Suddenly he felt Rainbow’s tail wrap around his own, but out of sight of the five others in the main room. The two shared a loving glance before a loud bang caught everyones attention. Confetti began raining from the roof of the home before Pinkie started bouncing around at a fast pace.

“WE TOTALLY NEED TO GET A PARTY FOR THIS!” the pink mare hollered at her friends who all drew their ears back from the sheer volume of excitement coming from the earth pony.

After a few moments Twilight responded. “I guess that can be arranged,” she told Pinkie before turning to the two lovers, “what do you think, Dash?”

“Well, actually,” Soarin interjected. “Would you mind doing that after the Games? It’s just I need to get going early to the Crystal Empire this week,” the stallion asked.

Twilight looked over to Pinkie who trotted over to Soarin with a serious expression now plastered onto her face, everypony in the room found the need to hold their breath as the mare came within inches of Soarin’s muzzle. Pinkie Pie leaned in close before she spoke. “Pinkie Promise,” she said, poking Soarin in the chest with a forehoof. The stallion looked over to Dash cautiously.

She snickered slightly before turning to Pinkie. “I don’t think Soar knows what you mean, Pinks.”

Pinkie’s expression changed instantly to Soarin’s relief and surprise. “It’s easy!” she exclaimed, “it goes like this,” she said using the actions with a forehoof. “Cross my heart,” she said making an ‘x’ on her chest with a forehoof. “Hope to fly,” she continued making a soaring action with her hoof, “stick a cupcake in my eye,” she finished putting the hoof to her eye to show Soarin.

The Wonderbolt nodded hesitantly before repeating the words and the actions, “Cross my heart, uh... hope to fly… stick a cupcake in my... eye?” he said, hoping he had got it right.

Pinkie nodded happily. “That’s it, now you’ve Pinkie Promised!” she said.

“And I wouldn’t break it if I were ya, Soarin, I learned that first hoof,” Applejack said as Twilight and the others nodded. Pinkie though was oblivious to this and continued to bounce around the room.

The Wonderbolt nodded before Twilight started up another conversation with Applejack, Soarin turned to Dash and leaned down to whisper. “That went better than expected.”

Dash giggled. “Well what did you think, Soar, they’re my best friends, now you just have to tell your buddies at the Wonderbolts.”

Soarin smirked. “I think they might already know.”

Rainbow was confused by this, but decided not to question it. Instead she started to think about the up and coming Games, a few thoughts started to fill her mind. “Hey, Soar,” she started, causing her coltfriend to turn around. “You know how we’re both pretty... well known?”

“Yeah, what about it?” he asked, not getting what she was getting at.

“Well, don’t you think we’ll attract a lot of… attention?” Rainbow asked with a curious expression.

“I guess... that’s not a problem, right?” he asked, turning slightly nervous.

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, it’s all good, Soar. It’ll be fun, right?”

Soarin chuckled as he leaned in and nuzzled her when nopony was looking. “I think it will. Besides, I think a week apart will want us to be together even more.”

Rainbow smirked. “You’re getting better, Soar,” she said. Soarin smiled proudly before she spoke again. “Not as good as me, though.”

Soarin smiled, “Maybe one day,” he said chuckling slightly. Rainbow’s smirk turned into a genuine smile as the two shared a loving look. Soarin knew that Rainbow was the one for him, he just hoped that the next few weeks would be plain sailing. But knowing the crazy world they lived in, it was going to be a hell of a ride.

To Be Continued...

Train Shenanigans

A week had now passed rather quickly, soon it was time for the Wonderbolts relay team to start their early training. Being the captain of the Bolts, Spitfire had gotten up early to get everyone ready. However, it wasn’t going as well to plan as she’d hoped.

“So, if I break the sound barrier in the relay and blow the whole competetion away, can I be like second in command for the Bolts?”

“No, Fleetfoot, like I’ve said for the fifth time now this past hour, there’s more to becoming a captain or ‘second in command’ than just flying fast,” Spitfire stated as she lazily sat on her blue suitcase. The two Wonderbolts had been at Ponyville station for a while now. They knew Soarin would have wanted more time with Dash, but they were now both starting to question why they’d shown up as early as they did.

“So, if I was to—”

“Fleet, if you start this one more time, I’m throwing this suitcase at you,” Spitfire playfully threatened, shaking her head as she stood up and trotted to the edge of the wooden platform. She leaned her head out to check for any oncoming trains.

“Aurgh,” Fleetfoot groaned out while lying down on her own suitcase as she looked up to the ceiling of the platform, putting her shades back on. “Isn’t there something fun we could do while we wait?”

“Did somepony say fun?”

Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot turned to see a pink mare standing at the end of the platform. She was wearing what looked to be like a cheerleading outfit and was accompanied by what both Wonderbolts knew as the Ponyville relay team, minus Rainbow Dash.

Fleetfoot raised her sunglasses as she looked over to the ponies. “Hey, I know you guys. Ponyville relay team and... is it Pinkie Pie?”

The cheerleading mare nodded as she began bouncing around the wooden platform, making creaking noises as she jumped up and down. Fleetfoot raised an eyebrow. “And you’re all here for... what exactly?”

“WE ARE HERE FOR PONYVILLE RELAY PRACTICE!” Bulk Biceps hollered, before sitting down on his flanks and waiting for instruction. Fluttershy had to regain her balance before nodding to confirm what he’d just said.

“Wait,” Fleetfoot said, looking over to Spitfire who just shrugged. She then turned her expression to a little more of an annoyed one. “Why are you guys going to practice a week early, that’s our idea, which is why we—”

“—are so happy to have you come along,” Soarin stated proudly as he landed, cutting Fleetfoot off. She shot a glare at the grinning stallion. Rainbow soon landed by his side, the pair carrying suitcases of their own.

Spitfire just simply rolled her eyes. “Took you long enough to show up,” the captain said jokingly.

Soarin chuckled as both he and Dash clambered onto the platform. “Yeah, I know, we kinda... didn’t sleep that much last night.”

“Hmm, I wonder why...” Spitfire replied sarcastically, giving a mischievous grin to the pair.

Soarin’s eyes widened. “No no, it’s just I promised Pinkie she could throw me and Dash a party when we came back from the Games. But she did kinda insist that we have a small party for going to training a week early,” he explained.

Fleetfoot looked over to Dash, “So lemme guess, Soarin asked you to come along so he doesn’t get himself hurt from gawking at mares again?”

Soarin blushed from the statement as Dash snickered slightly, before she could reply however Pinkie Pie informed the two Wonderbolts. “Well, it’s funny you should say that, because Dash decided since Soarin was going to train in the Crystal Empire that for the awesomeness of the team she should go as well! But Twilight, Rarity and Applejack had stuff to do, so they couldn’t come,” Pinkie said deflating a little. “But,” she continued perking back up, “they’ll be there for the Games!”

“That’s just wonderful,” Fleetfoot remarked, putting her shades back on as the sound of metal clattering started to sound from the track just a few meters away. Spitfire turned back from the platform to grab her suitcase as the train pulled into view. The brightly coloured train halted itself parallel to the station, its doors opened to reveal a few ponies disembarking as steam from the brakes filled the platform.

A stallion wearing a tailor made blazer and a pocket watch came into view as he shouted, “All aboard for the train to the Crystal Empire!”

Spitfire motioned for Soarin to join them as they entered one of the carriages. Soarin looked over to Dash who just smiled back. “We’ll wait for you to have a chat with your team,” she said, trotting over to another carriage with her friends just after giving him one last wink. Soarin grinned at his marefriend before making his way into the train with his teammates.

Once the doors closed the train whistled, before the wheels began to grind against the tracks as the large locomotive began to gain speed, setting the train off towards its destination.

Soarin dragged his suitcase into the holding area of the cart before he heard Fleetfoot speak up. “Well, Soar, congrats on bringing half the town to come train with us!”

“What? I didn’t think it was a secret!” Soarin exclaimed as he turned around slightly shocked.

“It’s alright, Fleet. At least it’s not every team in the Equestria Games,” Spitfire said laying down on one of the seats. It was then that she eyed Soarin’s suitcase. “Eh, Soarin?” she asked the stallion who turned to face her, “either you’ve moved in to Dash’s home or you’ve robbed some store in town. How is your suitcase so big?”

Soarin felt slightly embarrassed by what he was about to say. “Rarity kinda... made me some stuff to wear at the Games. I did try to tell her I’d need to be wearing my Wonderbolts uniform most of the time, but she insisted,” the stallion explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Rarity… she’s the one that fell from the Cloudsdale arena, wasn’t she?” Fleetfoot inquired as she went over to the bag.

“Yeah, at least that’s all I remember before she knocked me out,” Spitfire answered as Soarin chuckled at the thought. It was then that a clicking sound was heard and both Wonderbolts turned to see Fleetfoot next to Soarin’s open bag. She was holding up a glittery golden Wonderbolts uniform while trying to hold back the oncoming laughter.

“Soarin,” Fleetfoot started while desperately trying to contain what little composure she had left. “If you wear this in public, I will give you 10 bits.”

Spitfire was trying to keep a hoof at her mouth to stop her own laughter as Soarin turned a deep shade of red. “Fleetfoot, why do you always try and make bets?”

The mare shrugged before throwing the garment at Soarin’s muzzle. Spitfire just proceeded to giggle before speaking up. “Alright, let’s calm down and get to business.”

“What do you mean?” Soarin asked as Spitfire pulled out a bunch of folders from her own suitcase and threw one each at Fleetfoot and him.

“I think we need to go over a few things before we start training,” Spitfire announced. “For example, safety rule number one: Staring at the cheerleaders may cause serious injury.”

Fleetfoot burst out laughing, not being able to contain much more before Spitfire continued. “Also safety rule number two: Don’t raid the energy drink supply in an attempt to see if you can go at the speed of light,” Spitfire said, eying Fleetfoot as it was her turn to be snickered at by Soarin. Spitfire grinned as she watched on, this was going to be a fun meeting.

A few hours later, the sunlight started to dip from its peak as the day progressed its way into the night. Dash was currently reading some of her classic Daring Do books while she sat on one of the many seats in the carriage. Fluttershy was looking out of the window at the passing scenery. Her eyes drifted back to the train as she gazed over to see her friend. With a smile, she got up and went to sit next to her.

“So uh... Rainbow, how are you doing?” Fluttershy asked as she sat next to her old time friend on the train.

Dash smirked as she flicked through a few pages in her Daring Do book before looking over and replying, “It’s awesome as usual, how’s yours? Still taking care of Angel?”

“Why, of course!” Fluttershy said happily, but keeping her voice to a minimum. Rainbow rolled her eyes, she really didn’t know what Shy saw in that rabbit. Still, she didn’t let that bother her.

“How are you and Soarin?” Fluttershy asked, catching Dash slightly off guard.

The rainbow mare put her book down on the seat before turning to her friend and raising an eyebrow. “What about us?”

Fluttershy fiddled with her hooves slightly. “I was just asking if you two were getting along well?” she asked slightly more nervous than she had been prior to the question.

“It’s cool, Flutters. I think it’s going well, I mean, it’s not everyday somepony asks you out,” Rainbow replied with a smile as she turned to look out the window of the locomotive.

“That’s nice,” Fluttershy said with a small smile.

Just then the door to the carriage slid open, revealing the Wonderbolt in question. A tired look was plastered on his face as he yawned to himself. The ponies in the carriage all looked at him with faces of confusion.

“Eh, you okay there, Soar? You look like you haven’t slept in days,” Dash remarked, getting up to give her coltfriend a quick hug.

Soarin chuckled slightly as he embraced her. “Although the talk with the team was fun, it does have its boring points,” he answered, yawning again and letting go of his marefriend. Rainbow rolled her eyes while Fluttershy let out a small giggle.

Soarin trotted over and sat next to Dash as Fluttershy moved away to talk to Bulk. The two had become fast friends since the qualifying at Rainbow Falls. Soarin leaned close to Dash as the sunset began to fade away from the horizon and fill the cabin with darkness as the lights flickered on to give the place some light.

“You know somethin’ Soar?” Dash asked looking up to her coltfriend. “I know it’s only been a week since we started, but I kinda feel like this is a little cliche,” Rainbow said with a smirk, thinking to herself.

Soarin raised an eyebrow curiously, “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

Dash suddenly changed her expression, looking around the carriage to make sure nopony was listening in. Once she was safe knowing the coast was clear, she spoke up. “If you ever tell anypony else about this, I’m totally gonna make you wear that Wonderbolt beach party suit Rarity made for you.”

Soarin was about to agree when he thought of a better way to make his promise. Smiling he said, “Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Rainbow smiled widely at the gesture, relaxing into Soarin again before telling her story. “When I was little... I used to idolize the Wonderbolts even more than I do today. I always kinda used to tell my mom that I would grow up to be a Wonderbolt and have Wonderbolt fans and I’d be on top of the world,” Rainbow said dreamily as she remembered the thought. “I kinda... also used to say I’d have a Wonderbolt coltfriend as well,” she chuckled. “Mom used to say I was a little too young for that part of my dream.”

Soarin smiled as he listened to Rainbow’s memory. “That sounds like a really nice life Dash, come to think of it,” he leaned down to nuzzle her ear, “you’re already halfway there.”

Rainbow flicked her tail at his snout. “Maybe, but what’s to say I’ll get all the way there with you?” she asked raising an eyebrow mischievously.

Soarin’s look turned slightly shocked. “W-What do you mean—”

Soarin was cut off by Rainbow laughing as she snuggled closer to him. “You’re so gullible, Soarin... I like it.”

Soarin grinned as he leaned into his Rainbow again, “I’ll be sure to keep it up then.”

Dash smirked as she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodnight, Soarin,” she said happily.

Soarin smiled as he draped a wing over his marefriend as the pair leaned against one another on the seat. “Goodnight, Dashie,” he whispered making sure no one in the carriage could hear. Rainbow smiled before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Soarin looked at his marefriend before he changed his view to the train window. He saw the dim lights of the Crystal Empire drawing ever closer. Soon both him and everyone on the train would be at the heart of this year’s Equestria Games.

To Be Continued…

Crystal Empire or Bust!

The first thing Soarin felt was a dull pain. His neck and spine hadn’t had the most comfortable of sleeps on the train seat. He groaned slightly as he opened an eye, searching the area around him. By the looks of the passing scenery the train had slowed down, signaling it would soon be arriving at a station. The scenery that was passing by also suggested the train was now on the border of Equestria itself. Soarin’s eyes began to travel downward as a smile crept along his muzzle at the sight of his still sleeping marefriend. Dash had curled up close to Soarin’s wing and was breathing contently through her nose, but it was still enough to tickle Soarin’s primaries. The stallion stifled a chuckle as she breathed in and out, not wanting to disturb her, but unfortunately their stop was approaching.

“Rise and shine all those for the Crystal Empire!” A familiar stallion with a pocket watch and blazer shouted as he passed through the carriage waking up the ponies that would need to get off soon.

Dash stirred slightly from her sleep, Soarin helping her the rest of the way back to consciousness with a nuzzle. The pegasus mare smiled as she awoke before yawning, “Mornin, Soar.”

“Morning, Dash,” Soarin said as the pair shared one more nuzzle before a blur of pink, ribbons and confetti shot past the two. Pinkie Pie pressed her face close to the window of the train as everyone turned around to see the unforgettable sight of the crystal palace. The scene passed by slowly with Pinkie only shouting in wonder at the sight she had seen many times before.

Fleetfoot rolled her eyes at the display of the pink mare before trotting down the carriage with Spitfire following close behind. “Come on, Soarin, we need to get going!”

The stallion chuckled as he looked to Dash. The pair got up and trotted towards the end of the carriage as the train slowly came to a halt at the crystal train station. Once the doors opened Fleetfoot shot out of the train, speeding around in the cool morning air. “It’s so good to be out of that tin can!” she hollered down at the ponies below as everyone disembarked.

Spitfire shook her head playfully as Soarin and Dash helped her bring out everyone's suitcases. Once everypony was out of the train, the locomotive whistled as it started its long return route home.

“Okay, guys, we’ve got one week to train before the big game. So let’s make the extra time count!” Rainbow called inspiringly to her team. Fluttershy and Bulk nodded before taking off in the direction of the training grounds with a happy Pinkie Pie bouncing her way after them.

Dash turned to Soarin with a smile. “I’ll see you later today?” she asked with a hopeful tone.

“Sure thing,” Soarin remarked with a similar look on his face as the rest of the ponies started to make their way over to the training areas just leaving the two of them on the platform. Dash smiled and kissed Soarin on the cheek before shooting off into the sky. He looked behind him to see his large suitcase and sighed. Perhaps letting Rarity make all these clothes wasn’t such a great idea afterall.

“You finally showed!” Fleetfoot announced as she and Spitfire saw Soarin approaching, dragging his bag behind him. Soarin looked up to see the two teammates already doing wing ups in the middle of the Crystal Empire’s large and decorative stadium.

“We were gonna start… setting a calendar up to see… how long you’d take,” Spitfire said in between breaths as she continued to press her muscles to the limit.

Soarin made his way over, putting the suitcase to one side as he started getting down on his belly. He then planted his wings to the ground and began pushing himself up. Soon he found a rhythm like the two mares beside him. This went on for some time until the exercise switched to sit-ups where Fleetfoot decided it was time to start up another conversation.

“So what do you guys think about the competition?” the arctic mare asked in between her exercises.

Spitfire looked over at the two. “Well with Rainbow in the race I’d say it’s gonna be a tough one, the griffons are putting up quite the competition as well,” the captain admitted.

“I think Ponyville might actually win it this year,” Soarin added in an surprisingly optimistic tone, earning eye rolls from both mares.

“We’re the Wonderbolts, Pieboy, I think we’ve got it in the bag,” Fleetfoot boasted confidently, playfully hitting Soarin in the shoulder.

“Well as long as we stay on top of our game, I think we’ll take gold,” Spitfire said in equal confidence.

“I-I guess you’re right,” Soarin admitted.

“Always am,” Fleetfoot agreed with a smirk as she and Spitfire went back to their exercises.

As Fleetfoot said those words, it was at that point Soarin’s mind began to wander. What if Fleetfoot and Spitfire were right? How would Rainbow take to losing against him, would she envy him or be jealous towards him? No, that wouldn’t be Rainbow’s style, but still Soarin felt nervous, he didn’t want to upset the mare he’d tried so hard to date in the first place.

“Hey, Soarin, are you alright?” Spitfire asked, turning to the stallion. “You’re staring off into space again.”

“I swear it’s because of all the pies he eats,” Fleetfoot commented with a grin as Spitfire gave her a questionable look. Fleet shrugged before getting up and flying into the air to start practicing.

“I’m fine,” Soarin answered as he got back up onto his hooves again. His mind was still on the thought though.

Spitfire raised an eyebrow slightly, concerned by the way Soarin was acting, but shrugged it off. “Come on then, let’s get some air!”

Soarin nodded happily as he and Spitfire took off to join Fleetfoot, however this new thought was something he was going to have to consider later on.

As the time ticked by things went well in training for Soarin and the other Bolts, besides the odd teasing from Fleetfoot for how slow he was compared to her. So far they had completed all the training aspects of the relay and now the day was slowly starting to come to a close. The thought that had slightly scared the stallion earlier on was still in his mind, but he’d passed it off for a few hours being more focused on his training.

“Okay, I think we can call it a day,” Spitfire said proudly at the two other Wonderbolts who nodded in agreement with the idea. “You guys all got places to stay? If not I booked us some apartments at a hotel nearby called the Crystal Hotel ironically,” Spitfire continued, rolling her eyes.

“Well... I’ll probably have to crash there,” Fleetfoot admitted.

“What about you, Soarin?” Spitfire asked as the three started trotting towards the exit of the stadium.

“I, uh… guess I’ll have to see where Dash is staying the night,” he said rubbing the back of his neck with a forehoof as the three made their way out of the stadium and onto the shining streets of the Crystal Empire.

“Well, Short Stack, I guess we’ll leave you for now. Come on, Spit I got somthin’ real cool to show you!” Fleetfoot said, taking off into the air.

“It better not be another dragon cave you just so happened to mistake for a train tunnel!” Spitfire shouted to her before taking off after her giving a wink to Soarin and leaving him on the ground. Soarin smiled before turning towards the center of the city and taking off to find Rainbow Dash.

As Soarin flew through the air over the city of the Crystal Empire, his mind again returned to the thought of Rainbow Dash and the potential that she could lose the relay. There was every chance she could win, she was one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria if not so the fastest. However his mind kept on assaulting him with doubts, he just wasn’t sure.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed his marefriend and her team trotting down the main street towards the crystal palace. Soarin smiled before diving down to meet them. “Hey, Dash!”

Rainbow turned around and smirked as her coltfriend landed behind them. “Hey, Soar, you finished training?” she asked. The stallion nodded as he trotted up to her and the rest of the Ponyville relay team and its only cheerleader who seemed as happy as she had been since the moment she woke up on the train. The pair shared a nuzzle as the cheerleader in question spoke up.

“Aww, you two are just so cute! Oh hey, maybe we can throw a party at the castle!” Pinkie exclaimed happily.

Soarin blushed at the compliment along with Dash before speaking, “I don’t think the castle would be too happy if we just walked in and demanded a party, Pinkie,” he said with a chuckle.

“Well actually,” Rainbow said with a grin, turning to Fluttershy who took a letter out from her saddlebags, “we got a letter from Twi saying she talked to her brother Shining Armour and we’ve been allowed to stay at the castle for the week to crash.”

“Wow, really?” Soarin asked astonished looking at the ponies who nodded.

“Yeppers!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing around the ponies, each one giving a slight chuckle at the mare’s antics before they all started to make their way towards the entrance of the castle.

The entrance opened up to a large hallway, which housed large, shining crystal walls and features. Guards patrolled the halls and doors in their respected golden armour plating, but one of them however wasn’t standing to attention and was directing the other guards instead. The stallion had a white coat and blue mane, his flank adorned a shield with a star centered in the middle and three smaller stars on top of the shield. Pinkie noticed this and shouted, “Shining Armour, over here!”

The large stallion turned around and smiled when he saw the group of ponies. “Hey, Twilight said you guys would be showing up,” he said happily, trotting over to the ponies.

“Yeah, Twi said you’d have a place for us to stay,” Rainbow said slightly nervous.

Thankfully Shining Armour nodded at the mare. “Yeah, she mentioned that,” he said with a smile. “Well, we have no guests staying at the moment so we have rooms for each of you, though Twilight also mentioned we may only be needing one for you and… Soarin is it?” Shining asked with a grin as his eyes looked over Rainbow and the stallion next to her. Soarin blushed nervously under the gaze of the Prince.

Rainbow grinned mischievously, looking over at Soarin. “Well, he might be able to share a room if he’s lucky.”

Shining Armor chuckled before asking the ponies to follow him. Some of the guards around the palace cowered slightly under Bulk’s gaze as he trotted by them, the stallion nearly a double the size of most of them. Soon they all reached the upper floor where the guest rooms were, Shining smiled as he turned around and showed the ponies the guest rooms to them. “There will be breakfast tomorrow morning if you're interested. Cadence wanted to welcome you all today but she had to rush off to a meeting with Celestia. She’ll see you tomorrow though,” Shining explained.

“This is just so exciting!” Pinkie Pie shouted, rushing around the halls looking at each individual room.

“Well, I’ll leave you all to it,” Shining said happily before trotting away and leaving the ponies to choose their own rooms. Each pony dispersed into their own places. From the earlier comment Soarin wasn’t too sure if he should follow Dash instead choosing to wait around awkwardly.

The rainbow maned mare noticed this and giggled as she turned around to face him at the doorframe of the room. “Oh, there’s only a double in here Soarin,” Rainbow said with a smirk, trying to keep her tone and expression saddened.

Soarin rubbed one forehoof with another. “W-What do you wanna do?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

Rainbow’s smirk widened. “Well, I guess we’re just gonna have to ask for two singles,” she said trying to contain her laughter.

“Do you want me to go ask—” He was cut off by a set of lips kissing his muzzle.

Rainbow giggled. “Soarin, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this,” she said happily. She quickly slipped her hoof in his as Soarin smiled, following his marefriend into the guest room.

The room was very tidy and housed a large balcony with a window which let light shine onto the foot of the large double bed. Rainbow slowly climbed onto the bed, rolling onto her back and waving a hoof over to Soarin to join her. However, before he could, a knock sounded from the door.

Suddenly a skinnier stallion with a neat black uniform popped his head in the door. He smiled when he saw the two ponies. “Hello sir, Mr Armour had me collect your bags,” he said politely.

Soarin raised an eyebrow at the stallion’s heavy breathing, but then he realised why as he slowly trotted in, holding the two suitcases on his back. Soarin took the bags quickly to save the trouble of him going any further.

“Thank you, sir, call me if you need anything,” the stallion said bowing, before making his way out of the room. Soarin nodded to him before putting the suitcases over to a side of the room and hearing a voice calling for his attention.

“Soarin,” Rainbow said. He turned around to the mare still laying on the bed, she motioned with a hoof for him to join her again. Soarin smiled sheepishly, he wanted to say she looked stunning the way she was on the bed, but decided to keep his mouth shut and followed Dash’s silent order. He proceeded to clamber onto the bed as Rainbow wrapped her hooves around him.

“So... hey,” Soarin started as Rainbow nuzzled into his chest. “How was training for you?” he asked.

“Went awesome,” Rainbow replied in her worn out tone as she snuggled closer.

“You tired already?” Soarin asked with a grin as he looked down to Dash. The mare murmured in response.

“We had a race,” she explained with a yawn, “me against the relay team.”

“You won I guess?” Soarin asked chuckling as he did so, already knowing the answer to his question.

“You know me, Soar. I love winning,” Rainbow said happily before yawning again.

“Yeah… of course you do,” Soarin said, his mind quickly drifting back to the thought he’d had earlier that day. Soarin was about to respond when he found the mare had fallen asleep and was now snoring against him. He proceeded to pull to covers over them and drape his wing over the mare’s frame.

Leaning down, Soarin placed a small kiss on her cheek. He knew his nerves were rising about what she had said. She loved winning… but what if losing could affect more than just Rainbow’s pride?

To be continued…

Morning Worries

A new day dawned, bringing the Equestria Games even closer. Laughter could be heard echoing from the walls of the Crystal Palace as two stallions wandered through the hallway on their way to the breakfast being held in the dining room of the castle.

“So sounds like you and Rainbow Dash have had a lot of fun since meeting each other?” Shining Armour said as Soarin trotted along side him, the pegasus nodding his head happily. The two had just finished looking around the castle before making their way to the dining hall. Shining Armour directed Soarin through the complex of corridors which lead to the large room.

“So, I’ve been told that you’re the Wonderbolt that’s famous for liking pie, am I correct?” Shining asked, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

Soarin rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Kinda…”

Shining smirked. “Ha, no need to be embarrassed,” the prince explained. “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he said, leaning over and turning his voice into a whisper. “Cadance is actually rather a large fan of chocolate.”

Soarin looked over to him in wonder. “R-really?” he asked surprised.

Shining nodded. “Yeah, but at least it’s easy to know what to buy her,” he said with another chuckle as the two reached a large set of wooden doors. Shining put his hoof on one and swung it open to reveal the large dining area. The glamorous crystal dining table was the eye catching centerpiece of the room with many chairs surrounding its length. Cadance was already there with all the other ponies of the Ponyville team as they ate happily on the food provided for them.

“Good morning dear,” Cadence said with a wave as she noticed the two stallions entering, Shining returned the gesture before the princess’s eyes turned to the pegasus standing next to him. “You must be Soarin then, Rainbow Dash here has told me a lot about you,” she said with a smirk, making Soarin feel his nerves rising in his chest once again.

Shining again leaned over to him and whispered, “Good luck,” before trotting over to sit next to his wife. Soarin gulped before he slowly made his way into the room as well before being interrupted by a voice.

“Soarin,” Rainbow whispered over to him patting a seat next to her. “I saved ya a seat,” she said with a playful grin. The Wonderbolt smiled as he trotted over to sit next to her.

“So, Soarin,” Cadence said happily as the stallion sat down, “Rainbow tells me you like apple pie, right?” Soarin nodded with a slight tinge of red on his cheeks.

“Well then, I hope you won’t be blushing and shuffling awkwardly to eat this one,” Cadence said keeping her smirk as she levitated a pie over to him. Soarin’s blush of embarrassment from the teasing only deepened the colour on his cheeks.

Cadence shook her head playfully at the stallions display. “I hope you won’t be blushing and shuffling on your wedding night either, for Rainbow’s sake,” the alicorn said teasingly as Rainbow let out a snicker before the princess turned to her husband. “I know Shiny was,” she said giving the shocked stallion a nuzzle before he too showed his embarrassment to the table.

“Oh, you all look like red apples!” Pinkie exclaimed happily from the other end of the table, the mare stuffing her face from the confections that littered the dining room.

Soarin kept his head down as he took a bite of his pie, relishing the taste in his own world as he looked on to the small argument Shining Armour and Cadence seemed to be having.

“I don’t really think that’s something we should be discussing at breakfast, honey,” Shining informed his wife.

“Quit whining, Shiny, you know I’m right,” she said holding her smirk as she took another bite of her meal. “I found it very cute,” she said with a giggle.

“So, Soarin, how’s the pie?” Rainbow asked, looking over to her coltfriend.

Soarin smiled. “It’s great,” he replied happily munching on the pastry. “Don’t think it’ll do me much good for training today... but who cares?” he said taking another bite.

Dash laughed. “I can see why Fleet jokes about your pies so much.”

Soarin shook his head playfully as he started thinking about what new things Fleetfoot would have to say to him after this.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, I’ll be taking home the gold anyways,” Rainbow said confidently as she took another bite of her food. It was then that Soarin stopped eating completely, her words had just put his mind in reverse as all the thoughts from yesterday came flooding back to him in a torrent of panic, how could he have forgotten?

“Hey Dash,” Cadence said, the pegasus looking over to the princess. “I think your stallion might have either suffered a heart attack or he’s got a severe case of staring at walls,” she said, pointing to Soarin who blinked a few times before coming back around.

“Hey Soar, you okay?” Dash asked getting slightly worried, this wasn’t the first time she’d had to ask this question over the past few days.

“I-I’m cool, just had a thought,” Soarin said nervously, trying to pass it off.

“I’m surprised you get him to speak so normally,” Cadence said with another giggle as breakfast continued.

After a few hours had ticked itself by, the morning was starting to turn into midday. The doors of the palace opened up as ponies trotted out of the exit to start their workout. Rainbow breathed in a lungful of fresh air before turning to face a more distracted Soarin as he came out of the castle along with the rest of the Ponyville team.

“Well, have fun training, Soarin,” Rainbow said happily as she trotted over to him.

“You too, Dash,” Soarin said happily as the pair shared a quick nuzzle before the rainbow mare flew off into the air with the other ponies following in her direction.

Soarin let out a sigh as he watched the mare leave out of sight. He had a rather long day of training to go through once again. His mind was now also plagued with the thought of winning the contest ahead of Dash and swimming with what his marefriend had said about winning. Could it be that winning was her only choice? Would she be a sore loser?

Soarin shook his head trying to get his thoughts out, he needed a clear mind for his training. Taking a deep breath the stallion took off in the direction of the stadium to meet up with the rest of his relay team, hoping the thoughts would wear off soon.

Soarin was slightly surprised when he arrived at stadium, being the only Wonderbolt there was confusing to him. Usually he was always the one to be late to training with the rest of the team. He looked over to the far side of the stadium to confirm his suspicions. There were a few ponies helping to construct a large torch which would be lit at the start of the Equestria Games. The purple tinted metal had been weaved intricately to make an eye catching sculpture which sat upon the large statue. Soarin studied the huge centerpiece in awe before something snapped him back to reality.

“Are you feeling alright, Soarin, usually you don’t turn up this early?” Spitfire asked happily trotting up behind the stallion who turned at the sound of her voice.

“Well, that depends if there was pie involved with the morning routine,” Fleetfoot said touching down on the stadium moments later with her usual smirk attached to her muzzle.

“So where did you stay the night?” Spitfire asked curiously, raising an eyebrow as Fleet trotted up to stand by her side.

Soarin smiled sheepishly at the mares, “Uh... stayed at the castle.”

Fleetfoot eyes widened, but she quickly regained her composure. “You’re bluffing.”

Soarin chuckled, shaking his head, “Nope, all true. I had breakfast with Cadence and Shining Armour showed me around the castle.”

By now Spitfire and Fleetfoot were both very surprised. The fiery mare took a few moments before speaking up. “Well, let’s put our fantasy destinations behind us and move on to some more training,” the captain announced as Fleetfoot let out a sigh.

“Do we have to?” the arctic mare groaned, rolling her eyes.

Spitfire breathed out a deep sigh, “Fleetfoot, you’ve been complaining since we got here, do you want a gold medal in this contest or not?” the mare asked, turning to face her friend.

“Well…” Fleetfoot started, “I mean I guess, but I could win with a blindfold on. We train like half the year anyways,” the mare stated.

As Spitfire and Fleetfoot argued. Soarin’s mind again flooded with thoughts, this race was becoming more and more unpredictable by the second. How would Soarin know who was going to win and even then he couldn’t predict the other teams’ reactions if his team won. This was all becoming a little more complicated, he couldn’t choose whether to try his best and possibly win the race or try and help Dash win for fear of losing her. But then Soarin remembered back to the trials... what did Rainbow Dash do when she couldn’t choose which team to race for?

“Well if you wanna fly in this team you gotta train hard, I thought you would know the Wonderbolts work code by now,” Spitfire explained to a defeated Fleetfoot. The two then turned to see a sight they’d been seeing a few times now, Soarin staring off into the sky. This wasn’t something the stallion would do, usually he’d try to break up the argument the two had just been having. Spitfire gave a concerning look to her nearby teammate. “Do you think we should... ask him why he’s doing that so often?”

“Dunno about you, Spit, but it’s starting to creep me out slightly,” Fleetfoot added as the both decided to trot over and confront their friend.

“Uh... Soarin,” Spitfire said tapping the stallion’s shoulder.

Soarin blinked and turned around shaking his head slightly. “W-what’s up?” he asked.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot exchanged worried glances before Spitfire continued. “Um… you’ve really been going off in your own little world a lot recently, are you absolutely sure you're alright?”

“Yeah, I mean we’d rather know now in case we need to put you in a mental asylum later,” Fleetfoot added, getting a glare from Spitfire as Soarin started to turn slightly red in embarrassment.

Soarin felt the tension rise and tried to pass off his thoughts once again. “Seriously, guys, I’m fine. Don’t worry,” he answered waving a dismissive hoof.

Spitfire didn’t respond for a few moments as she studied the stallion. Soarin felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his muzzle as she kept looking, but to his relief the mare finally nodded before speaking up, ”Okay, guys, let’s get started. I don’t want a single bit of slacking off today either,” she said, focusing solely on Fleetfoot before spreading her wings and shooting off into the air.

Fleetfoot pulled a shocked face at the pony flying into the air. “What, the energy drinks were on special offer!” she shouted into the sky before darting off after the mare.

Soarin grinned at the two before taking off after them, happy to get the thoughts out of his head for a few hours. But the stallion had already made his decision on the race, no matter what, he wasn’t going to lose his Rainbow Dash.

To be Continued…

The Accident...

As the days kept going past one by one, they only seemed to be bringing the tensions and nerves higher for Soarin, but not in the usual way he was for a show or even the Equestria Games itself. His mind had been completely troubled by the thoughts of winning and losing the race. In all honesty he wanted to get out and have no say in it, but there wasn’t a way he could do it without upsetting both his teammates and of course Rainbow Dash.

Soarin let out a small sigh as he slowly trotted down the spiral stairs of the castle. He’d taken a longer lie in this morning leaving Rainbow and the rest of the team to get up while he let his mind tick over. Also Spitfire had let him take some time off in the morning after yesterday’s training. He was starting to feel down from the ever mounting pressure that his mind was now forcing on to him as the Games got ever more closer. His hoofsteps echoed in his mind as he trotted down the rest of the steps and onto the hallway, but then suddenly a clattering of items cut the stallion straight out of his thoughts and Soarin turned to see an open door which led into a small storage room. A guard ran out of it holding a roll of toilet paper in one hoof as he knocked over several more items on his way out. Soarin raised an eyebrow as he watched the guard run off, leaving the pile of items on the floor in front of him.

Soarin looked at the mess in front of him before he shrugged and started picking the items up as he put them back in the storage room. Usually he would just leave it be, but he felt like it was something to get his mind focused on rather than becoming ever more depressed by his thoughts. However as he started picking up the last few he noticed one of them was a small first aid box. The contents of it had been spread across the floor, one was a sealed packet of white bandages. Soarin looked at the item, suddenly an idea went of in Soarin’s head… could he…

No, Soarin quickly dismissed to himself in his mind. He couldn’t fake an injury, how would he even be able to get past Spitfire and the others? They’d surely check to see if he was okay. The stallion was about to put the set of bandages back into the first aid box when his mind came fighting back. If he pulled it off he wouldn’t have to race and would be able to cheer Dash on, making her happy. It was a win-win situation.

“I can’t,” he said to himself as he looked at the bandages in more detail. He knew there was a slim chance, but if he failed then it wouldn’t just make everyone else upset, but disappointed. A pang of guilt hit Soarin in the chest, but he couldn’t see another way out of his predicament besides this and it was becoming a more enticing option by the second.

After a few more moments, Soarin closed his eyes and made the decision before putting the items in the box and stacking everything back into the storage room. Then he closed the door on his way out and made his way off towards the breakfast room.

“So then I asked the bartender in the hotel what he thought about my flank and he said some crap about ‘not wanting to get involved in the argument’ or something, and so then—” Cadence’s story to Rainbow and the others was cut off at the sound of doors being opened as they all turned to face Soarin, who trotted into the room and stood at the entrance.

Suddenly though, the smiles that were on their faces dropped quickly to ones of stunned shock as they saw the clear white bandages that were wrapped around Soarin’s right wing. Everypony stared at the injury in wonder as Soarin looked over the small crowd of ponies, nervously waiting to see what their response would be.

“Uh… please tell me you’re joking?” Cadence asked, looking over the stallion and raising an eyebrow. Soarin only looked down and fumbled with his hooves, he knew this was a bad idea from the start.

“Hey, come here and let me take a look at that,” Fluttershy said caringly, flying over to the stallion and looking at the bandages before hugging him. “Oh, you poor, poor thing,” she said softly. Soarin let out a sigh in relief, but it was mostly towards his plan working.

Rainbow was the next pony to trot over to the stallion. Soarin’s heart froze when he didn’t see a sympathetic look on the mare’s face, but only one of curiosity as she inspected Soarin’s wing.

“Uh... Dash?” Soarin asked in worry, hoping that the mare didn’t know he was faking.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What’s up, Soar?” she asked, her tone was slightly flat, but her facial expression seemed normal.

Soarin gulped slightly. “N-nothing, I just, it’s nothing,” he replied scratching the back of his neck, slightly stumbling over his words.

Fluttershy carefully put a leg around Soarin. “Come on, let’s get you all fixed up in bed,” the mare said calmly as she led the stallion out of the room. Soarin turned back just as he left seeing Rainbow looking towards him, but the stallion could sense the depression in his marefriend’s eyes. It was then a familiar pang of guilt hit him.

“Well Spitfire, that’s what you get for sympathising with someone. Now he’s probably off getting all the free pies at the castle,” Fleetfoot said, pushing up a bar with her forehooves that had a weight at each end. The two Wonderbolts had started training a while ago and had been expecting their teammate for some time.

Spitfire gave her teammate a curious look. “You really think he’d slack off?” she asked just as a set of hooves could be heard hitting the ground. Both mares turned, expecting to see their colleague.

“There you are, Soa… Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire asked when her amber eyes set upon the rainbow mare a few feet away from them. “What’s up, have you seen Soarin?” she asked, wondering why the mare was here instead of the stallion himself.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him,” Dash said, lowering her head slightly, causing both Wonderbolts to stop what they were doing and look towards the mare in concern.

“What happened?” Fleetfoot asked, opting not to tease at this point.

Dash sighed. “I… I dunno, Soarin’s been acting kinda weird lately. He’s been staring off to nowhere and now all of a sudden he has injured his wing,” she explained.

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “Hurt his wing? How did he manage that?” she asked confused and now slightly more concerned as well.

Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno, he won't tell anypony… I don’t understand, it’s just not the Soar I know. Usually he’d brush an injury off,” Dash said, her expression turning a little depressed.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot exchanged glances before looking over to Dash. “Um, Rainbow,” Fleetfoot started getting Dash’s attention, “Soarin’s been acting weird around us too lately. He’s been doing the same but he never talks about it,” the mare said.

“I just dunno why he’s acting that way,” Spitfire said, rubbing her forehead with a hoof as she tried to get an answer from her brain.

“I think he’s faking it,” Fleetfoot said bluntly, causing both mares to turn and look at her with weird looks. The mare raised her hooves. “What! Think about it for a sec. He’s obviously been having something on his mind. That pie machine never sits there and stares off into space so regularly and last time he broke his wing he still said he could fly even when it was clearly snapped,” the mare stated.

Both Spitfire and Dash looked at each other with looks of acknowledgement, they didn’t know whether Fleetfoot’s theory was true, but it would explain a lot of the abnormal things Soarin had been doing lately.

Spitfire looked up at Dash. “Maybe we should just go to Soarin and say—”

“No,” Dash said cutting the mare off, “I’m gonna go myself and do it. I’ll tell you guys if Soarin’s able to fly or not,” she said with a slightly dull tone before taking off into the sky.

“Should we… ya know, go after her?” Spitfire said, turning to Fleetfoot.

“I’d rather not get blood stains on my coat,” Fleetfoot replied jokingly before going back to her exercises.

Soarin was currently laying down on the bed in one of the many rooms inside the Crystal Palace. Fluttershy had since given the stallion some food and propped him up on the bed with a few extra pillows. He was alone with his own thoughts, his eyes staring blankly at the wall ahead of him. All Soarin could feel was guilt, that image of seeing Dash’s face as he walked out the breakfast room this morning was replaying in his mind, each time giving him a churning feeling in the pit of his stomach. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea.

Suddenly the sound of a door opening pulled Soarin’s attention to the side of the room where he saw his marefriend leaning against the doorway with her eyebrow raised in a curious manner. Soarin felt the nervous sweat return to his face, his eyes darting between the room and the mare.

“So,” Dash started, her tone sounding friendly. “You alright, Soar?” she asked, trotting over to him.

Soarin tried to hide his wing without looking suspicious. “I... uh... it’s okay, Dashie. I think it’ll get better over time,” he said with a small smile, trying his best to act innocent.

Dash only nodded as she came right up next to the bed and put her hooves on the plush mattress, causing it to dip slightly. “So, is there anything you wanna talk about? Heard you’ve been staring off into space lately,” she said, sounding concerned.

Soarin gulped, but quickly pulled a fake chuckle to mask his nervousness. “It’s nothing, Dash. I’m fine,” he said, hoping the mare would stop asking the questions soon.

Dash kept her expression blank, but continued to interrogate. “So I never asked… how’d you break it?” she asked, leaning in closer.

Soarin froze when the words entered his mind, he’d never thought this far ahead. He was so stupid to have forgotten to even come up with an alibi, the one thing he should have remembered to do before—

“Gotcha!” Dash said as Soarin quickly snapped out of his daze to see Dash right up next to him. Before he could react Dash ripped the bandage off revealing a perfectly functioning wing. It was then that Soarin’s nerves broke completely, only leaving sadness and guilt to fill his mind. His eyes caught a glimpse of Rainbow’s reaction to the wing. Her face turning slightly angry and disappointed. It was then Soarin let a tear fall down his cheek, the emotions finally getting the better of him. He turned away from Rainbow in shame, shutting his eyes and letting a few more tears fall. He’d ruined it, the worst possible scenario had come true. However, just when the Soarin thought it was all over, he suddenly felt a soft hoof caressing his cheek.

Soarin curiously opened his eyes again to and turned back to see Rainbow with a smirk on her face. Soarin was slightly astonished by this, however before he could ask Rainbow spoke up. “Soar, why did you go and do this, you big goof ball?”

Soarin sighed. “I’m sorry, Dash... I-I just didn’t want you to lose the race. I didn’t want your dreams to be crushed,” he said truthfully.

Rainbow rolled her eyes playfully. “Soar, is this really what all the fuss has been about?” she asked quizzically. Soarin nodded to return her answer. “I mean, I guess I do wanna win, but only if I win properly. Having you out of the race wouldn’t be the same, I’d feel like I only got the gold because I got lucky, not ‘cause I tried my hardest.”

Soarin accepted the words. “I know, I’m so stupid. Dash, forgive me, my nerves just got the best of me I guess,” the stallion admitted shamefully.

Dash chuckled as Soarin felt a blush run to his cheeks. The mare bopped him on the snout with a hoof. “Now that’s the Soarin I know,” she said, looking at the reddish tinge the stallion had. “I guess I’ll be willing to give you a chance, Soar, but first you’re gonna have to earn it,” she said with a wide grin.

Soarin wasn’t too sure what his marefriend meant. When she began leaning in, Soarin’s eyes widened as his heart started thumping faster. He began focusing on Dash’s face as he moved in time with her as they slowly met in the middle. Soarin’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head as his eyes shut closed. Rainbow smiled as their lips touched and closed her eyes as the two stayed locked together, sharing their love for one another in a tender loving kiss.

Unfortunately for Soarin some things just won’t last long enough, soon the two pegasi parted as their kiss ended. Soarin opened his eyes again to see Rainbow close to him with a grin plastered on her face. “Not too bad, Soar, you’re getting better,” she commented, trotting away from the shocked stallion and heading towards the door. “Come on then, Soar, I think you’ve got a lot of training to do!”

Soarin chuckled. “I love you too, Dashie,” he said, shaking his head before getting up and following his marefriend. Finally his nerves were starting to die down but something new would be taking place soon: the adrenaline, the excitement and the joy of the Equestria Games.

To be Continued…

The Ending of Adrenaline

“Soarin wake up!” Dash shouted as the mare jumped up out of the bed. Soarin’s eyes flickered open from the noise which rattled his eardrums. Looking around half awake, he spotted his excited marefriend quickly making her way over to the curtains and throwing them open lighting up the room instantly.

“What’s got you all excited, Dash?” Soarin asked, throwing the covers off him in an attempt to wake up.

“Soar, today’s the day! It’s the Equestria Games!” the mare said happily, trotting back over to the bed as Soarin finally got himself awake. He rubbed the sleep from his eyelids, before turning to her as the pair shared a quick nuzzle.

“It’s today?” Soarin said rattling his brain as Dash snickered a little.

“Of course it is, Soarin, the last few months have been leading up to this moment. Come on, we can’t be late!” Dash said. Before Soarin could react, her forehoof grabbed his as the two quickly made their way out of the room. As they rushed down the hallway they met up with the rest of Rainbow’s relay team who were all waiting excitedly.

“Come on, Dash, we're gonna be late! I’m too excited to be late!” Pinkie Pie said happily as she bounced on the spot.

“I thought the Games didn’t start for a few hours?” Soarin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dash nodded, “Yeah, but we’re all going back to Ponyville to get everypony and bring them up here. You’ll be fine without me for a few hours, right?” she asked with a smirk.

Soarin nodded as everypony in the hallway began to move towards the exit of the castle. Dash leaned over and kissed Soarin on the cheek before she started off after the others, but Soarin quickly grabbed her forehoof in his and brought the pegasus back to him.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “What’s wrong, Soar?”

Soarin smiled as he closed the gap between them as the pair connected in another kiss, but this one was new. However, as long as they weren’t in public Soarin knew he wasn’t going to get his flank kicked for it. After a few moments of this Rainbow broke the kiss and quickly nuzzled Soarin’s cheek before leaving, the two sharing loving glances as no words needed to be said. However as quickly as it started the two parted their ways and with a final wave they headed off to different areas of the Crystal Empire.

The large stadium in the Crystal Empire was the host of the biggest games that Equestria held. The large structure was decorated in different designs and large posters which adorned the sides of the building. A lot of reporters and photographers waited outside as they interviewed different athletes from all kinds of sports. Many of whom were famous faces such as the Wonderbolts themselves. When Soarin landed it only took a few moments for a few reporters to spot him trotting towards the rest of the Cloudsdale team.

“Mr Soarin, over here! How do you think the Cloudsdale team will win this year?” A pegasus mare asked with a smile as another few reporters gathered around each holding their microphones as close to Soarin’s mouth as possible.

Soarin tried to clear his throat and think of something to say. “I-I um think that there is a lot of competition around so this year’s kinda unpredictable,” he said, sounding as optimistic as he could.

“There’s been rumours around that you’ve been training with Rainbow Dash from the Ponyville team. Is this true and is there a reason for training with a rival team?” another reporter asked with a questioning look.

Soarin was taken back slightly by this one and was about to respond when he heard a voice, “Well, I honestly didn’t think you’d show up after all that,” Spitfire said coming up to the stallion as all the reporters suddenly went crazy at the sight of the arriving Wonderbolt.

Soarin shrugged, “I couldn’t miss it, even if the last few weeks have been crazy.”

Spitfire trotted all the way up to the stallion before hugging him, “I’m glad you’re here anyways Soarin, at least now we’ve got a full team to beat everybody else with,” she said confidently as the two trotted over to the rest of the team as the other reporters quickly followed them, snapping photos and shouting various questions as the Wonderbolts went into the large stadium.

Soarin smiled as they trotted through the arch-like tunnel and into the stadium which was filled with screaming fans and ponies from all corners of Equestria. The large purple sculpted torch was ablaze with fire and a current sport was being played in the main stage arena as the Wonderbolts trotted through the various hallways towards their destination.

Finally Soarin and the rest of his relay team found themselves at the large walkway into the middle of the stadium where a lot of other teams were gathered, waiting to go out and perform for their part of Equestria. The echos of the fans from above them sounded as Shining Armour trotted around announcing the various teams and competitors.

Spitfire looked over to Soarin and smiled. “So, do you think Rainbow Dash was a good move?”

Soarin pulled a dumbfounded look. “What do you mean, Spitfire?”

The captain chuckled. “Soarin, the whole reason this started was because a few months ago some crazed stallion asked me if he could go and train the mare he secretly loved. I said ‘yes’ and here he is standing ready to compete against her. Do you think the whole thing has been worth it?”

Soarin smirked. “Would saying ‘every second was worth it’ be too cliche?” he asked.

Fleetfoot gagged. “Perhaps a little bit mushy,” she commented.

Spitfire shook her head. “I’m so gonna have to get you court-martialed after all that time you spent slacking off with her,” she said playfully.

“Well, it wasn’t like staying with me wasn’t doing nothin’,” Rainbow Dash said, surprising the three Wonderbolts as she and the rest of the Ponyville team entered behind her. Soarin smiled as the mare trotted up to his side lovingly. Spitfire rolled her eyes at the display as everyone waited to be announced onto the stadium.

“You ready for this?” Dash asked.

Soarin nodded. “Yep.”

“You sure you're not gonna try and break your hoof on the way out?” Rainbow asked. Soarin shook his head. Dash nuzzled his neck in return.

“You sure if you're alright coming second?” Soarin asked.

Dash giggled. “Yeah, you never know, Soar, I might just beat that cute flank of yours,” she said confidently as Soarin blushed.

Spitfire giggled at the sight as suddenly Shining Armour announced the words that the relay teams had been waiting to hear for the past few months.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts, I present the Equestria Games relay race!”

Soarin closed his eyes as he waited for the sound of the race to start, it had all come down to this. Training, winning, losing, everything he’d worked for had come to this one moment. Now was the time to prove it was all worth it.

Suddenly the sound of the blank fire gun sounded. Soarin opened his eyes as he turned around to see Fleetfoot burst out of the gates with the other teams following close behind. Soarin held out his hoof. This was one of two passes he had to make perfect, he had to do it just like he’d trained.

Suddenly Fleetfoot was now getting closer and closer to the stallion with each hoop she passed through. Suddenly it had come to the stage as Soarin held out his hoof as far as his tendons would allow him, Fleetfoot doing the same. Suddenly their hooves collided as Soarin’s hoof locked on to the horseshoe. He quickly went into race mode as he charged his wings in a powerful flap as she shot off towards the nearest hoop. He didn’t take a moment to look anywhere else or back at the competitors he knew were on his tail. He continued plowing through the next few hoops making sure he stuck exactly to what he’d done in training, continuing to make every turn and twist as perfect as he could do.

Suddenly he realised he was coming very close to Spitfire, the mare was holding her hoof out, her eyes fixed on the stallion as she waited for him. Soarin increased his pace, using the last of his energy within his wings to push him ever closer to his captain. He quickly held his hoof up as they finally connected for the final trade of the shoe. Suddenly Soarin felt the emptiness as the shoe was taken from him. His job finally done, everything he’d trained for was now over. His part to play was finished.

A sigh of relief escaped Soarin as he watched the contrail of Spitfire vanish from his sight as the mare shot off to finish the rest of the race. His eyes travelled over to Rainbow, a genuine smile was on her muzzle as she looked at the stallion. “I’m so proud of you, Soarin, you did your best.”

Soarin smiled sheepishly. “I’d do anything for you, Rainbow. Thank you for getting me back into this,” he replied.

Rainbow kept on smiling. “I’d do anything for you too, Soar… I love you.”

Soarin’s eyes widened as the mare standing next to the two looked on with shock. The stallion felt a tear of joy drop down the side of his cheek as he replied. “I love you too, Rainbow, I always have.”

Dash saw Fluttershy approaching and gave one last wink to the stallion as she took the shoe and shot into the air in a sea of rainbow colours. Fluttershy looked on at Dash before turning to Soarin. “Uh... you’ve got something on your cheek,” she said with a smile wiping the tear off the stallion’s fur.

Soarin chuckled. “Thanks, Fluttershy,” he said happily, the two quickly going to cheer Rainbow Dash on as she competed with Spitfire in the last hoop towards the finish line. It was close, but Spitfire just edged past the mare as they ripped through the final hoop. Soarin felt a pang of sorrow that Rainbow didn’t win, but in the end he didn’t care and he knew Rainbow didn’t either. All Soarin cared about was that he’d done what she’d asked of him and that now, everything was the way it should be.

“The winners of the relay are Cloudsdale!” Shining Armour announced loudly as the ponies all gathered over at the podiums to take their respective medals. Soarin flew over to join Fleetfoot as the two hoof bumped before Spitfire came over to give them all a group hug in celebration of winning the race.

Shining Armour levitated the medals over to the teams. Soarin watched as Rainbow got her silver medal placed around her neck, she smiled over at Soarin as he smiled back. Suddenly he felt something cold rest on his chest as he looked down at his gold medal.

“Congratulations to the winners!” Shining said happily as the crowd gave a large roar of approval. Spitfire and Fleetfoot giving waves to the fans who were jumping in their seats before trotting back into the tunnel like all the other teams were doing.

Soarin looked over to Dash who trotted up to him with a wide grin. “Well done, Soar,” she said giving the stallion a nuzzle. Soarin was surprised the mare was doing this in public, but then he remembered what the mare had said to him only moments ago.

“Dash... did you mean it?” he asked looking at the mare.

Rainbow smirked. “Follow me,” she said, flying into the air. Soarin quickly followed her as the mare went into the sky and past a few clouds. Suddenly the stallion lost sight of her and stopped as he hovered in mid air looking around for any signs of her. Just then Soarin was tackled onto a nearby cloud as Rainbow stood above him with a wide grin.

“I meant every word of it, Soar,” she said leaning down as she kissed him lightly on this lips.

Soarin smiled. “So did I.”

Rainbow laid down on top of him and nuzzled his fur. “I think perhaps we should show how much we love each other.”

Soarin was rather shocked by this. “Out here on a cloud?” he asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t care, let them be jealous,” she said as the pair connected lips once again. Everything Soarin knew he wanted was here, this was what he’d been searching for...

Author's Notes:

Guys, I really just don't know how to show you how much I appreciate all your support and helpfulness throughout this entire fiction. This, like I've mentioned before is a showcase of my best work. I'm only 15 years of age and I think this is really something to be proud of, but I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for you lovely and wonderful people that take the time out of your day to read, like, comment, favorite or even hit that follow button. I just cannot express how much this has all meant to me and it's been an utter joy giving you this story as much as you've enjoyed reading it.

I want to first of all say thank you to my editor TheShadow who is sadly leaving now, but he's been the best editor I could have ever asked for, flawless in his work and I wouldn't have gotten very far without his help. I also want to say thanks to SolidFire and KrishnaKarnak for proof-reading this fiction again I couldn't have been able to post such good chapters without them either.

Lastly I want to thank all of you guys once again, because without you this fiction wouldn't be where it is today. You people reading this and acknowledging my work helps me to push myself into gear and write out these things and gives me the nice happy motivation I need to think up more ideas and write more words for you people. Without you guys there isn't any of me, so I want to say thank you for giving me this drive to want to write things and hopefully now your gonna see a lot more from me in the future.

Thank you for giving me your time to read my work, it means a lot to me. ~Rumble