Soarin walked through the grounds of the soccer camp. He'd been going to his old camp for years. Most of his life actually. But this was his first time at this one. His family moved from Cloudsdale to Griffin Rock last year; which put out of the range of his old camp, so he had to go to this one. It was nice. And he was sure he'd like it. But despite his `hawk and punk rock persona; he was really shy at heart. Meeting new people, making friends was something he just didn't like, but down right detested. But he loved soccer, he loved sports in general and that required being part of a team, so meeting people was a necessary evil.

"Hey there! I'm Rainbow Dash."

Soarin spun around at the sound of a voice that was so full of life and confidence; that it carried an almost physical force. Behind him was a black girl, about sixteen or seventeen, with hair that was literally every color of the rainbow. She was smiling and was holding her hand out to shake. She was also very beautiful. She looked like a cross between Serena Williams and Beyoncé.

"Oh, hi. Your name matches your hair." What the heck was that? That's right butt-head; insult the pretty girl right away. Why even bother to wait to mess things up? Just take care of that up front, he thought to himself. Still, he shook her hand anyway. To his surprise she took it and never stopped smiling.

"Actually my hair matches my name. Takes forever to dye it; but it looks awesome when I do. Your `hawk is pretty rockin' as well."

Soarin pulled back his hand and rubbed the top of his head. "Thanks," he said awkwardly. "Mine's easier to do than yours. So where are you from?"

"Equestria. I've come here every year since I was five. That's how I met Gilda. She told me you went to her school."

"Yeah. I just started last year. I used to go Camp Wonderbolt for about as long as you've come here, but I'm too far away now."

"Wonderbolt! I hear that place is BRUTAL! You must be good to have gone there." Rainbow was legitimately impressed. Camp Wonderbolt only took the best of the best to start with and made them all a 100% better. That's where she always wanted to go but she lived too far away.

"I'm ok." Soarin shrugged. He hated up talking himself. He was good. Great in fact. He was in the top ten at the camp. But saying it; bragging about it, seemed unnecessary and almost vulgar to him. "You must be pretty good yourself. Coming here all those years; I mean."

Rainbow laughed. "Yeah, I got some moves."

The two looked at each other for a while and Soarin felt awkward. Say something idiot! He thought. "Um, not too many black people here." Soarin cringed as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn't even try to hide it. "Wow, that was really racist; wasn't it? I'm sorry. Feel free to slap me now."

Rainbow looked at him for a second, blinked, and then busted out laughing. "It's cool. No, there's not. It's ok. My parents are white, so I'm used to it." Soarin looked at her confused; which made her start giggling. "I'm adopted silly."

"Oh, oh, yeah, right. I'm stupid."

"No, you're cute." Rainbow's cheeks grew hot as soon as she it.

Soarin blushed. "Um, yeah, you too. So does that create any weirdness between you and your folks?'

"No. Why should it. I mean, sure, I know some people want to discover their 'roots' or 'true family'. But to me; my mom and dad ARE my true family. They changed my diapers, feed me, clothe me, love me, who could ask for anymore than that. I don't hold any grudges against my birth parents. For whatever reason, they couldn't take care of me; but I wound up with two of the best parents anywhere. I know some kids who were raised by their natural parents and they had a much harder life than I did. Family is about love, not biology.

"As for the 'black' thing; eh, I am who I am. I refuse to conform to any group just because of one thing, skin color, genitals, whatever; we have in common. I'm my own person. Take it or leave it."

Soarin smiled. "Right on. I'm half Mexican. No one believes me because of skin color and eye color. But what they don't realize is that not all Mexicans, heck not even all Latinos, have brown skin and brown eyes. There's white, Native American, black Latinos. Heck in most Latin countries, the whiter the skin, the higher the social rank. Racism is just as alive well there as here in the states. Probably more so at the top. At the bottom of the social ladder is where most of the race mixing takes place.

"But, yeah, people are people. We all came out of Africa. No matter where you live or when you got there, we're all African something. And I'm babbling aren't I?" Soarin looked down in embarrassment.

"Yeah, but it's cute," Rainbow said with a smile. "So, you want my number?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh, yeah. Sure."

They pulled out their phones and exchanged numbers. After they put their phones away; Soarin said, "Well I should get going now. But I'd like to see you again."

"Duh. Why'd you think I gave you my number for? Good luck trying not to see me again."

"Ok, wow, that was really stalkerish; but, cool! So I'll see you later." Soarin turned and started walking away. Every so often he'd look back at Rainbow until he was completely out of site.

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"Hey Soarin; where have you been?" Carnan asked. Carnan was the unofficial leader of their group. He was a blond haired, blued, rich kid who thought he owned the world. He wasn't a complete jerk; more like a benevolent dictator.

"I just met a girl who I think is both totally awesome but completely frightening," Soarin responded.

"Rainbow Dash," all the guys said at once.

"You all know her?" he asked.

Carnan laughed. "Everyone knows Rainbow Dash here. Forget the counselors and coaches; she's the real queen bee here. And deservedly so. Boy, girl, doesn't matter; Rainbow beats all."

"Oh." Soarin smiled. And I got her number, he gloated to himself.

"But don't think about anything," Kerry, a small, thin boy said. "She's a lesbian."

"A lesbian?" Soarin just plainly asked.

Carnan nodded. "Sorry bro, but she's a member of the carpet muncher crowd."

"Well, then maybe I should call her and see if could double sometime."

All the guys suddenly stood up with shocked expressions on their faces.

"You got her phone number?" Kerry asked in awe.

"Yeah. And she's the one who gave it to me. And then she asked for mine." Soarin had a big grin on his face. He was loving the looks on their faces. He knew they had stereotyped Rainbow based on her looks and personality. So seeing them now have their assumptions rammed up their backsides made him smile.

"Well gentlemen," Carnan said as he walked over to Soarin, "looks like we have a legend in the making among us. Let us rejoice and pray he has full success in his endeavors."

The rest of the cabin started to cheer and Soarin felt sick to his stomach. Something wasn't right here.

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"Well?" Gilda asked as she saw Rainbow come back. "How'd it go?"

Rainbow smiled. "I got his number," she sang. "Oh yes I did -id. I got his number and now he's mine-ine."

A faint smile crossed Gilda's lips. "Good Dash. I'm happy for you. Just, . . . he's with Caran's crew. Just be careful, ok?"

Rainbow didn't like the tone of Gilda's voice. Something was wrong. "Why? You know something I should?"

"No. Just, Carnan's had a crush on you for years. Entitled white boys don't take well to seeing something they see as theirs being taken by someone else. And Carnan has a reputation for not taking 'no' as an answer. Just be careful. Ok?"

Rainbow nodded.

Gilda started to walk away and stopped. She turned around and looked at Rainbow with both fear and sadness in her eyes. "Pack hunters. Remember that." She then started walking off again.

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Over the first four weeks; Rainbow and Soarin would text each other, sit together by themselves at lunch, and generally got to know each other. Sometimes they would watcher the other practice and play some games. Nothing that would ever be considered a date, but it was enough. Enough for Rainbow to discover that Soarin was a very sensitive guy. He had mainly choose his look to keep others away from him. But he also really did like punk music. He introduced Rainbow to The Ramones, The Misfits, The Exploited, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and Bad Brains. Rainbow loved it all and couldn't wait to get back to change where The Rainbooms were going musically.

She also kept close watch on Carnan.

She would catch him and his crew looking at her and Soarin every so often. She didn't like it. Neither did Soarin. He would tell her how uneasy it was being around him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off. Rainbow pressed Gilda for more information but she would only give little, cryptic answers

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"Well, Soarin, old buddy; what are you lookin' so good for?" Carnan asked in an overly friendly manner.

Soarin was, in fact, very nicely dressed. As nicely as possible at least. "I'm going out with Rainbow Dash tonight. We're going to take a walk through the woods. It's our first official date." Soarin said that in a passing manner. He really didn't want it to seem like a big deal.

"Hey guys; looks like our buddy here is going to become a man tonight," Carnan called out to the others in that still overly friendly manner.

"What are you talking about?" Soarin asked annoyed.

Carnan walked over and patted Soarin on the cheek. "Everyone knows you're not a man until you split a black oak."

Soarin punched Carnan straight in the face; knocking him down and causing blood to shoot out of his nose. Before he could say anything; the rest of the guys in the cabin were all over him. He fought back as best he could; but they over powered him and pinned him against the one wall. Carnan got up, walked over, and started punching Soarin in the gut.

"You want to mess with me? Huh you stupid spic? Oh, I mean half spic. You know, I was going to see if you just wanted to have us pull train on that little darkie of yours tonight; but now we're going to stomp you into the ground and take her for ourselves." Carnan stopped punching and held Soarin's head in his hands. "Or maybe we'll get warmed up with you here now."

"Not on my watch."

Everyone looked around and saw Rainbow Dash and Gilda standing in the doorway.

Carnan just smiled. "Look guys, the Zulu girls are here. Come to save your boyfriend here Dash? You think the two of you can handle all of us?"

Rainbow smiled back at Carnan. "Probably, but I won't have to. My girl here finally filled me in on what you and your boys were like. So we cam prepared. LADIES!"

Out of nowhere, at every window, girls started popping up and started walking through the door.

"You see, guys like you give boys a bad name," Rainbow started again. "And, frankly, us girls, we're not having it anymore. So we've come to put an end to it."

The rest of the boys looked around nervously; but Carnan just snickered. "You and your little daisies here think you can run with the big boys? Ok, bring it!"

And so they did.

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"Ow. Ow," Soarin said as Rainbow applied peroxide to a cut above his eye.

The battle had taken about 15 minutes. Carnan and his crew had been reduced to a bloody mess. The laid on the floor, moaning and groaning in pain and humiliation. A few of the girls got busted up. Gilda had a tooth knocked out, but over all, they were in much better shape than their opponents.

"You couldn't have come in any earlier?" Soarin asked. "Mofo punched pretty hard."

"Dramatic timing," Rainbow said with a smile. "Besides, our plan worked didn't it?" Soarin just grunted and Rainbow gave him a kiss on the forehead. She then stood up and turned around. "Ok boys, you aint gonna say crap about crap, dig? If you do, the whole camp is gonna know you had your butts handed to you by a bunch of girls. So keep your mouths shut."

The boys just moaned in agreement.

"Alright ladies, thank you. You're all dismissed." All the girls started to leave as soon as Rainbow got done talking. Rainbow stopped Gilda on the way out. "Thanks again Gilda," she said.

Gilda smiled. " Thank you for making me do the right thing," she said. She then walked over to Carnan and gave him one last kick to the ribs. "That's for the fall dance butt hole!" she said and then walked out.

"I better walk you back to your cabin and then get one of the coaches," Soarin said.

"After you," Rainbow said with a smile.

Author's Notes:

I decided to make Rainbow Dash and Gilda black because I felt the EQG world was too white. I'll explain. Although never stated, in FIM, it is suggested Native Americans are buffalo, Africans are zebras, and Asians are yaks. So that would also seem to imply that the ponies are white. No you could argue that point. And rightly so. In the end, the ponies are, well candy colored horse like creatures and not people.
But, when you get to the EQG world and look at facial features, hair styles, it's pretty hard not to assume all the characters are of Caucasian descent (despite being just as candy colored). I felt that was unfortunate since little girls, heck people, of all races like the show and should feel represented.

I was going to make Soarin black at first. But that didn't sit well since he was a secondary character and I wanted one of the main characters to be black. So I chose Rainbow Dash. You could argue that was a bit stereotypical choice, and I'll take that criticism. But Rainbow is still one of the most popular characters and is a role modal for any girl who's a tomboy. So I think the choice stands as a good one.