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…