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…