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…