“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.