A wide yawn escaped Soarin’s lips as he leisurely flew back to Rainbow’s home. He still couldn’t work out why he was having all these flashbacks about her, but he didn’t really care, wasn’t like they were nightmares or something. Another yawn came out, Soarin chuckled to himself, Spitfire really has ways of tiring ponies out on training.

It didn’t take Soarin long to spot the earth pony town in the distance. Cloudsdale was floating towards Ponyville at this time of year, making it much easier to fly back and forth between work and Soarin’s temporary home. The pegasus stallion swooped down towards the cloud home and landed on the front porch of the home. Soarin hadn’t really taken time to admire Rainbow’s home, the large rainbow fountains teamed with cloud sculptures would wow anyone. Giving out a relaxing sigh Soarin made his way into the home.

“Rainbow?” Soarin called as he trotted cautiously into the cloud structure. Not getting any response told him that the mare hadn’t yet returned. The Wonderbolt proceeded to take off his uniform, if it wasn’t as hard to get on, it was even worse to get off. Soarin battled with the tight clothing as he made his way upstairs and into the bathroom to wash up. After getting the rest of his uniform off he stepped into the shower to cool off. Soarin took a bottle of shampoo from the rack, it wasn’t one he’d seen when he’d last been in. He turned the bottle to read the label and almost burst out in laughter when he saw the words Rarity’s Fabulous Shampoo. With his curiosity piqued, the stallion decided to see if it was any good.

After a while the stallion disembarked from the shower. The steam was quickly being extracted through the clouds above. Soarin turned to look at himself in the mirror and smiled when he saw his reflection. “Looking good, Soar,” he spoke to himself boastfully, making his way out of the shower room. “I do have a pretty mane.”

“Oh really, Soar? You want my Gala dress to go with it?” Rainbow asked when Soarin opened the bathroom door; the mare was leaning on the opposite wall. Soarin jumped slightly, holding a hoof to his chest. “Rainbow, how long have you been here?”

The mare snickered. “Ever since I heard a stallion talking about how pretty his mane looks, I didn’t know you were the type of stallion to care about your hair.”

Soarin blushed a little. “I’m not, I just like to keep my mane in check, ya know?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “So you used Rarity’s shampoo I’m guessin’, I can smell it from here.”

Soarin nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay, right?” he asked, a little nervous. Rainbow smirked, knowing she could have a little fun with him now.

“Well…” Rainbow said, pondering. “She did tell me to be careful in using it.”

Soarin’s eyes shrank a little. “W-why’s that?”

Rainbow tried her best to keep the laughter inside until the right moment and kept her act up. “Well, she said you're only to use it on places where there is too much hair, ‘cause it gets rid of it.”

Soarin felt himself freeze up. “A-are you saying I just used...hair removal?”

Rainbow nodded in response, she waited for a reply from her friend, the stallion was keeping very still at this point. Then suddenly, Soarin slammed the door to the bathroom shut, Rainbow rushed up and opened the door to see the stallion face down in the sink splashing water on his mane.

“I can’t go bald! Get it off, get it off!” Soarin shouted to no one in particular. Rainbow couldn’t contain herself any further and burst out laughing onto the cloud floor. Soarin heard the mares’ cries of joy and slowly turned his head around to see her. “What are you laughing about? This is serious!”

Rainbow shook her head with laughter, joyful tears almost leaving her eyes. “Soar, you are so gullible it’s unbelievable!”

Soarin sighed dejectedly. “Really, Dash?” he asked, turning the sink tap off before trotting over to the door. Rainbow looked up and smiled warmly.

“I’m just playing, Soar, besides it’s not like everyone in the world has just seen it.”

Soarin stopped in his tracks. “Yeah...mind not telling anyone else about this...you know, about my mane.”

Rainbow pulled a sly smile. “What’s in it for me?”

“What?!” Soarin spluttered out.

Rainbow let out a small giggle before continuing, “How about later on this week, we go out for something to eat...you’re buying?”

Soarin was speechless for a moment. “I don’t think I’ll ever get how you do that, Dash,” the stallion mumbled as she trotted down the stairs.

“Takes years of practice, Soar,” Rainbow shot back as she followed him.

“So uh…how was your day?” Soarin asked, sparking up a new topic of the conversation.

“Not too bad,” Rainbow started. “A few ponies on the weather team have been talking about you, but then again, you are a Wonderbolt and this town isn’t really known for its famous racing pegasi, besides me of course,” the mare said pridefully. “What about you?”

Soarin thought back on the day. “Not that bad, besides Spitfire’s training regime which is back breaking work. It’s not been that bad, we were training where I used to race as a colt, you know, I remembered the race when I helped—”

“Hey, Soar, look!” Rainbow shouted, cutting off the stallion mid-sentence. His eyes caught the mare galloping over to the window and pointing out of it. Soarin went over and saw what Dash was pointing at.

“It’s just a… rainbow,” Soarin said, looking out of the window. He looked down to see Rainbow Dash still staring out.

“I know, I sound like a foal and all… but rainbows are just cool, I mean not as cool as me, but they’re close.”

“Mnhm,” Soarin said as he shook his head playfully before trotting off into the kitchen. “Are you gonna make dinner or shall I?”

Rainbow looked back to see the stallion wandering into the other room. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Soarin was about to reply, talking about his great knowledge of food from his parents, but instead an idea popped into his head and a smile spread across his muzzle. “I dunno,” he said turning back to face the mare. “How about you help?”

Rainbow was a little taken back by this. “Soar, come on, I fry just about anything I cook, I won’t be much help to you.”

Soarin kept his smile, egging the fellow pegasus on. “Come on, Rainbow, I dunno whether I can cook something you’ll like. Come and show me.”

Rainbow sighed. “Fine, but don’t blame me if whatever we make becomes inedible.”

Soarin let out a chuckle as he let the mare by before following her into the kitchen. The home had quite a sizable one too, though it was mainly clean just because it was unused. Soarin however was about to change that. “Okay then, Dash, what would you like to eat?”

“I dunno...pancakes?”

Soarin turned to look at her shuffling into the room. “Pancakes, for dinner?” he asked, muffling his laughter. Rainbow looked away.

“I dunno, just choose something then.”

Soarin smiled. “Pancakes it is then,” the stallion cheerfully said, opening a few cupboards to get the necessary ingredients. He grabbed some flour and sugar before flying over to the other side of the kitchen to grab some milk and eggs. He then placed them on the countertop. Soarin looked over at Rainbow who was still watching but was also shying away to the other side of the room. Soarin smirked. “Come on, Dash, don’t tell me you’re scared about this.”

Rainbow’s facial expression changed to one of pure determination. “Not as scared as you’ll be when I kick your flank at this, Mr head chef,” the mare said confidently trotting up to the ingredients. Soarin watched as Rainbow opened the flour and poured it into a bowl, before staring at it. Soarin held back his laughter and put his hoof on the eggs. Rainbow looked up as he slid them over to her. The rainbow mare took two of the eggs and tried to open them without crushing them.

Soarin took Rainbow’s hoof in his and guided it to the edge of the bowl. Rainbow looked up at him with a curious look. Soarin positioned himself better and took both of her hooves in his and began to show her by cracking the eggs off the bowl and depositing them into the mix. Rainbow let out a small giggle, Soarin could tell she was enjoying the lesson so far. He let Dash pour the milk in as he moved over to a drawer and grabbed a whisk and then came back over, he put it in Rainbows hooves as she mixed the bowl.

“I feel like a foal doing this,” Rainbow stated with a snicker as Soarin sat back and let her continue to mix up the bowl.

“You’re doing pretty well,” Soarin praised happily before a bit of batter flew into his face. “Though next time try to keep it in the bowl.”

Rainbow held back her laughter. “Sure thing, Soar.”

Dash continued to mix the bowl until Soarin deemed it was ready, not too watery and not too creamy. He moved over to the cooker and lit up the stove, Dash looked over slightly worried. Soarin noticed the mare’s hesitant look as he stood back up. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

Dash nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool, but uh...you might wanna do that part yourself… unless you want the house burnt down.”

“Nonsense, I’ll show you,” Soarin said, ushering the mare over. “Now, put some of the mix into the pan,” he instructed. Dash did so, pouring some of the mixture into the pan, Soarin grabbed Dash’s hoof and helped her stir the pan until the mix was even across the surface.

“So, what now?” Dash asked, Soarin was still holding her hoof on the pan, the stallion smiled at the mare with what he was about to say next. “Now it’s the fun part, flip the pancake.”

Dash looked between Soarin and the pan a bit hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, come on, surely if you can do one of the best backflips I’ve ever seen then you can easily flip this,” Soarin encouraged kindly. He moved his hoof upwards slightly with Dash’s. Rainbow took the initiative and gave the pan a strong pull sending the pancake into the air. A moment of silence came over as both ponies held their breath. The pancake came back down on the pan. Rainbow sighed in relief before letting out a giggle.

“There you go!” Soarin congratulated. “Now one more time,” he said taking his hoof away, giving Dash full control. The mare felt a little more nervous this time not having any assistance, but she was confident enough to try again. She gave the pan another powerful pull sending the pancake into the air and back down again. Rainbow smiled triumphantly as she moved the pan over to the plate Soarin had pushed over and deposited the pancake onto it. She turned off the cooker before turning back to a proud looking Soarin. “Nice work, Dash,” Soarin praised kindly trotting over to the finished result.

Rainbow smiled happily. “Yeah, it is good, isn’t it?”

Still as boastful as ever, Soarin thought to himself. “I guess you should have the honors of eating this fine specimen.”

Rainbow shook her head as she picked up the pancake and bit down into its soft surface. She began to chew lightly and soon was taking another bite. Soarin watched with a smile, satisfied his teachings had worked.

“So I guessed you liked it?” Soarin asked after Dash had finished eating the entire meal. The mare nodded in response.

“Yeah, t-thanks, Soar, you didn’t have to do that,” Rainbow said happily, not used to giving out compliments. The Wonderbolt smiled.

“No problem, Dash, anytime,” he replied before trotting into the living room. Rainbow watched him leave, her smile still not leaving her, the thoughts from the day came rushing back to her, what Raindrops and Blossomforth had said.

“Hey, Dash, there’s still a little while before sundown, wanna go train a little?” Soarin asked. “Can we keep it a bit light though? Spitfire’s day training was enough really.”

Rainbow pushed her thoughts to the side for a moment, looking out the window she nodded to herself before turning back in the direction of the living room. “Sure thing, Soar, let’s go fly!”

To Be Continued…