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.