A quick recap.

Three weeks went by after our trip to Manehattan, and the only thing that happened between then and now, was that Pinkie found out she's a distant relative to the Apples. Not much to really say about that though.

Not so fast mister!

Woah hey, how did you get into my thoughts Pinkie?

These are your thoughts? I thought this was just a recap for the readers?

It is.

So... is it your thoughts or a recap?

Neither it's both. Wait a minute, what are you doing here?

I'm here to correct how underplayed my discovery was. I mean, we took a road trip to Goldie Delicious to find out about our heritage 'cause the one I had, had a smug on it.

It wasn't that epic. We took my truck down to her cottage and got clarification. Where's the epic.

You mean we didn't go river rafting after the applecart broke down from too much weight?

Nope.

We didn't go through the scariest cave in Equestria and down a waterfall because we lost the map?

Nope.

We didn't learn any life-changing lessons?

N. O.

Huh, guess that happened to a different version of us. Oh well.

Anyway, all of us, minus the kids and Luna, were heading to Rainbow Falls for the qualification tryouts. Dash, Shy, and oddly enough Private Snowflake were competing for the relay. Good luck with that. As for Swagger and me, we would be there for Herot's athletes.

End recap.

https://youtu.be/QEjgPh4SEmU

The train pulled into a stop at the station at Rainbow Falls and we all filed out. While the girls made their way toward the relay section, Swagger and I went over to my kingdoms athletes. " Alright guys, get your shit and meet us by the ground events!" Our athletes consisted of three Greyhounds for the ground relay, a Bernard for the wrestling event, and a Husky for the following events, discus, javelin, hammer-toss, and shot put. Yeah, we're going to dominate.

" Yes my king!" They filed out of the station and toward the training grounds with us leading.

While we were walking around, Swagger and I couldn't take our eyes off the falls. " How can there be a waterfall made of rainbows?"

" They make it over at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, and whenever they pass by, they dump the run-off here." For the millionth time since he's been here, Swagger looked at me funny after explaining things about this world. " Hey man, you asked." He just shrugged and kept walking.

While we made our way to the ground games, we passed by the aerial relay and I saw two familiar ponies. " Swagger, come here, I want you to meet a couple of ponies." We took a detour and headed over to Spitfire and Soarin. " Hey, you two aerial dogs. How the hell have you been?"

Spits and Soarin along with another Wonderbolt whose name escapes me were wearing silver jumpsuits. Soarin came up to greet us. " Joe, hey long time no see. What's going on man?"

" Hah, you know, just leading some of my athletes over to ground games, see if they'll qualify for the games. What about you, what game are you going for?"

" Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I are qualifying for the aerial relay for Cloudsdale." The two mentioned Wonderbolts made their way over to us. " Fleetfoot, this is Joe, king of Herot and prince to Equestria. He also instructed the newbies this year."

" Wow, the legend himself!" Fleetfoot had a voice that sounded like she had laryngitis or something and sported a pair of shades like Spits. " I caught a glimpse of you training the new batch overhead, and I felt a bit scared there." We all had a small laugh at that. " So, are you here to compete as well?"

" Nah, it'd be unfair to the other athletes. So, I'm just coaching the athletes from my kingdom." They nodded in understanding. " By the way, this is my good friend Swagger. He was at Paris Island with me during our training, and he's also my General for the future Sniper unit of Herot."

" Bob Lee Swagger. It's nice to meet you all." He gave each of them a handshake before straightening up. " Tex tells me you guys are the elite flyers here."

" We are. And thanks to Joe here, everyone will soon be calling us death from above." Soarin had a goofy smile on his face when he said that. " If you'll excuse me, I got to train real quick." He put on his goggles and shot off the ground.

" Interesting guy. Well, it was nice to meet you all, and I hope to see you around. C'mon Tex, let's get going."

" Yeah alright. Spits, it was good to see you again. Fleetfoot, looking forward to seeing you around." We waved them goodbye which they returned, and we went on our way to the training grounds.

We've been on the grounds for two and a half hours and the athletes were doing great. The three greyhound girls, Angela, Sandra, and Rita, were making Speedy Gonzalez look like Regular Gonzalez. Alfred was making record takedowns in the ring. Homer was an ace with the javelin. Peter was second in shotput, the best went to a minotaur. Glen's Discus sailed through the air with style and grace. Finally, Stan couldn't be beaten at the hammer throw. By the end of the first day, I feel we had it in the bag.

" Alright, hustle up!" All my athletes paused their training and grouped around me. " Everyone, I can say with absolute certainty, that in two days time, you'll all qualify for the games and make all of Herot proud!"

" Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" Swagger and I left them to their celebration while heading over to the aerial relays.

" So Rainbow Dash needs two members for the aerial relay, and she picks Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps?"

" First off, his name is now Private Snowflake. Second, Shy has the capability to fly fast, she just needs the right motivation. And third, they were the only ones to volunteer that haven't chosen a different event." I explained to him as we came upon the girls and Snowflake. " Well, we're a shoo-in for the games. How 'bout yall?"

Dash was the one to answer for everyone. " It could be better. Bulk needs to fly without holding his breath as well as get through the loops. Fluttershy's doing alright but needs to be more assertive when grabbing the baton. If it wasn't for my speed, we wouldn't have a chance at qualifying." We both laughed at her confidence.

" Don't worry, I think I can help both of them." I walked over to Shy while she was eating a fritter. " Dash tells me you have trouble handling the baton?"

" Oh...um...I try to keep it in my hoof, but then I think I'm going to drop it, and then it does." She hung her head low, only for me to raise it again.

" Tell me. Would you drop medicine that could save one of your animal friends?"

" Oh my gosh, I would never!"

" Then that's what you'll do. Private Snowflake will give you the baton aka the medicine, and you'll fly that medicine to Dash aka the animal, as fast as you can. Think you can do that?"

" Well, I can certainly try. Thank you, Joe."

" You're welcome Shy. As for Private Snowflake here" I patted him on his shoulder " I have the perfect solution for him."

Snowflake grinned at that. " Really, how so?"

" Get your miserable corpse up in the air and through those hoops, or I'll put my boot so far up your ass, the sweat from my knee will quench your thirst! Now move!"

" Sir yes, sir!" With speed he didn't even know he had, he launched himself into the air and started flying through the rings with swift precision. In no less than two minutes, he made it through the course and landed back with us, breathing heavily.

I then turned to the rest with my arms spread. " And that ladies is how it's done." I was given a few claps for motivating Snowflake. When the moment was over, we all heard a bang overhead, followed by a scream. I looked up just in time to see Soarin slam into me. " Gah!"

We laid on the ground with stars filling our vision. Dash got Soarin off of me and tended to him while Jackie cradled my head. " Joe, are you alright?"

" Don't worry darlin', you know I survived much worse. Though I always appreciate your concern." I gave her a kiss before turning my attention to Soarin. " You okay there pal?"

Soarin was being held by Dash while he wailed in agony. " Ow! My wing! Ow! My liver! Ow! My lasagna!"

" Soarin, lasagna isn't a major organ." Dash corrected him.

He looked at her quizically " It isn't?" His anatomy lesson was cut short when he felt the pain in his wing again. " Ow! Dammit that hurts."

" What the hell did you do to cause such a wipeout?" I asked him while getting back up.

" Well, I was going through the course for my leg of the race, when I heard those two cheer-ponies. I went to look at them, and then I banged my wing against the loop, making me spin out and land on Joe there."

Swagger came over to share his opinion " There's your first mistake right there. You were checking out the cheerleaders on the sideline."

" As a former high school football player, I can tell you it's important to keep your head in the game. 'Course when I was sixteen, I was checking out the chicks on the sidelines, heh heh." This earned me a slap upside the head from Jackie. " Hey, this was before I met you and Luna. Plus, I was a teenager, the only thinking I had, came from my wang."

While the girls cringed at my joke and the guys nodded, the rest of Soarin's team came over to see the damage. " Soarin, what were you doing rubbernecking the chicks?"

" Sorry, you know how I get around cheerleaders." He tried to stretch his bent wing, but it didn't look like it would get him up in the air anytime today. " Dammit. I think I need to get this looked at?" As if sent by the gods, or from some onlooker, an ambulance cart came over to get Soarin. What's with the cart? His legs ain't broke. When he got on the cart, he turned to Dash. " Hey, thanks for helping me out Dash." He then sent her a wink before they carted him off.

While the girls giggled at Dash and her red cheeks, Swagger and I decided to head back over to the ground try-outs. " Think he'll be okay?"

" Hey, he can do a lot worse than Dash." Bob then went and slapped the back of my head. " Oh, you meant his wing. Yeah, he'll be alright. If he's still in sickbay, we'll bring him a beer." With that settled, we went back to my athletes.

A few hours later.

While I watched my athletes continue to train, I would catch glimpses of Dash flying with both her team and the Wonderbolts. " What is she up to? Swagger, keep an eye on things here, I got a small errand to run."

I saw her land over to a nearby pond and decided to confront her. " So, how are things going for the Ponyville team?" My presence made her jump and land in the pond.

She sputtered out water when she surfaced. " Joe, what're you doing here?"

" I thought I'd get a drink of water, after all, it's thirsty work watching you fly for two teams." Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks after I called her out. " What are you thinking, juggling two teams at once? For one thing, you're going to fly yourself towards exhaustion, to the point you'll be unable to fly for either one. Secondly, by flying with the Wonderbolts, you're letting your town, team, and more importantly, you're letting your friends down."

After my little speech, Dash looked conflicted about the whole thing. " To be honest, the Wonderbolts just want me to be their third during practice, at least until Soarin's wing heals up. Besides, I've seen the other teams practicing, and we'll still qualify for the games. I just really want to fly with the winners instead of... um, the... non-winners."

I was about to scold her, but then Spits and Fleetfoot made their way over. " Rainbow Dash, got a minute?" Dash gave me a look saying to wait while she went over to them.

Fleet spoke first. " You could really be an asset to our team so, we want you to join the Cloudsdale team... permanently." What!?

While Dash tried to hold in her excitement, Spits came with this. " It looks like Soarin's wings won't heal in time for the trials. We want you to fly with us." And they can't bring in another Wonderbolt because...?

" Of course, this means you won't be able to fly for Ponyville." My concerns exactly. " But let's face it, even with you on their team, their chances of qualifying for the games are pretty slim." We looked over to Shy and Snowflake practice handing the baton, only for Shy to accidentally knockout Snowflake.

" So... what's it going to be?" Dash looked conflicted over the whole thing and couldn't answer. " Take some time to think about it." And just like that, they flew off to their tent while remembering to wave at us.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Dash started celebrating by zipping along the ground. " They want me to fly with them! It's like a dream come true!"

" Yeah, well wake up from that dream, 'cause now you got a choice to make. Either fly for Cloudsdale and let your team down, not to mention waste Jackies time by making her make all those Brown Betty's for nothing, having Pinkie cheer for a lost cause, and having Rarity's uniforms never to be seen! Actually, the uniforms are crap and create too much drag. Or, you can fly with your team and do your best to qualify, and win or lose, you can say that you tried!" I was fuming at this point and rightly so.

" But this is my chance to fly for a winning team. What would you do if you were me?"

" What I'd do doesn't matter, this is something you have to decide for yourself." I started making my way back over to Swagger and my athletes, but not before looking over to Dash one last time. " I hope you make the right decision." With that, I left her, hoping that she would make the right choice.

The next day.

After hearing how Soarin was still in medical-bay, Swagger and I made to visit him with the cold one we promised. " So how bad do you think his wing is? I mean, I don't know anything about wing anatomy, other than that one thing Twilight showed me, but his wing didn't look bad enough to be out for this long."

" I didn't think so either. But since neither of us has a medical degree, our opinions mean Jack shit." We made it into the building and found the room Soarin was in. " Hey, buddy, how ya feelin'?"

Soarin laid in one of two hospital beds with his wing bandaged. " Hi, guys. Did you bring the beer?" We gave him a smile while I held up the cooler. " Now that's what I'm talking about." We made our way to his bedside and handed him the beer. " Thanks. So, how are things on your end?"

I gave him a shrug. " Not too bad. My athletes qualified in the event they were chosen for, so I'm pretty happy about that. How about you, how's your wing feelin'?"

He took a long swig from his beer before answering. " It's doing fine. The doc gave me the go-ahead to fly. I've just been waiting for Spitfire and Fleetfoot to come by. To be honest, you guys are the only ones to come and visit me." At hearing that, Swagger and me shared a look. " What? What's with the look?"

Swagger asked this. " You're saying that your wing's been fine for a while now and you're able to compete?" He nodded his head yes. " And your team mates didn't even come to visit you?" Another nod.

Seeing the situation for what it was, a low growl left my lips. " Soarin, get your ass up and follow me." With some reluctance he chugged the last of his beer before following us out of the room. " Can not believe she would outright lie about this."

" Who?" Soarin asked while keeping in step with us.

" Spits. She told Dash that you were still unable to compete for the qualifying race and asked her to take your place. As far as I know, she hasn't agreed to the offer, but that might change today." Soarin started to look conflicted over the whole thing. " I wouldn't blame Dash too much for this."

" Why not? She pretty much stole my position on the team, why shouldn't I blame her?"

" Because, Spits made her a difficult offer to refuse, a chance to fly with her idols and be on a team with a higher chance at winning. Could you honestly say you wouldn't be conflicted?"

He took some time to think about it. Once we left the hospital and made our way toward the field, his anger melted. " Yeah, I guess you have a point there. I still don't understand how my team would just drop me like that?"

" You mean besides your tendency to check out the ladies while you fly?" He let out a nervous chuckle after I said that. " I'm assuming you and the other Wonderbolts know that Dash is one of the fastst flyers around. What better pony to have on your team than her?" As we started making our way to the Wonderbolt tent, we ran into Dash, who was putting on a lot of bandages. " Dash, what are you doing?"

Once again, she jumped at the sound of my voice. " Quit doing that!" Her eyes then settled on Soarin. " Soarin? What are you doing here, I thought you were still in the hospital."

" I was, till I learned that Spitfire lied to the both of us." Dash looked shocked at hearing that accusation. " Joe said that Spitfire told you I was out of comission when in fact she hadn't even come to visit me once."

" What!? Why would she ask me to replace you if you're able to fly afterall?"

" Because, you're a much better choice than I am." He said in a somber mood. " And what's worse, is they're right. You're a way better flyer than I am and you don't get distracted easily."

Dash had red cheeks when Soarin was done talking. " Wow, you really mean that?" Soarin nodded, feeling a bit red in the face as well. Feeling a wave of determination, Dash got rid of the bandages and waved us along. " Come on, we have some ponies to see!"

We all marched over to the aerial relays and found both the Ponyville team and Cloudsdale team there. The moment I say Spitfire, my inner drill instructor kicked in. " Spitfire! What is your major malfunction!?" Spits spit out her water and looked over our way. " You've got some nerve pulling a stunt like this, leaving behind a team member and trying to steal someone from another team! What the hell crawled inside your head and ate what little brains you had left to think that was a good idea!?"

Spits babled out nonsense trying to come up with a good excuse. Luckily, she was saved by Dash. " How about you take back Soarin, I'll stick with Ponyville, and we'll forget this whole thing happened, deal?" Spits quickly agreed and flew off with Fleetfoot, escaping my wraith for the time being. With them gone, Dash turned back to Soarin. " Listen, I'm sorry if having Spitfire want to replace you with me made you feel inadequate. Are we cool?"

" We are, and hey, they weren't wrong about you being an awesome flyer, because I know you're an awesome flyer." They both started to get red cheeks as the conversation continued. Soarin made to leave but not before doing something very bold. " Hey, Dash."

" Yeah?" Without warning, Soarin gave a quick peck to Rainbow's lips before flying off with his team. Stunned at what just happened, she just stood there with her jaw hanging.

Seeing how she hadn't moved for five minutes, Fluttershy came over to see if she was alright. " Um, Rainbow Dash, are you okay?" Instead of answering in a calm and collective manner, Dash shot up in the air and started doing a whole bunch of aerial moves while screaming with joy. " So... is that a yes or a no?"

The judge started handing out the medals to the athletes that qualified and I'm proud to say, that all my citizens did perfect. On the other side of the field, the aerial relay team for Ponyville were recieving thier medals. When the judge moved on to the next team, I saw Soarin walk over to Dash. He pulled off his Wonderbolt badge and gave it to her. In exchange, Dash returned the kiss that Soarin gave her earlier in full vigor.

The spectacle got the whole crowd in an uproar, though Twilight seemed to be the loudest, and what the hell was she wearing? " Swagger, your girlfriend is truly a strange one."

" Yeah. But I wouldn't want it any other way." We shared a laugh before heading towards the station with the others. When we caught up with the girls, Swagger asked the obvious question. " So, you and Soarin huh?"

" I guess... I mean... I do kinda like the guy. And besides, we might be flying together in the near future." We chuckled at her moment of romance as we boarded the train.

I relaxed on the bench with Jackie cuddling next to me. " You know, I never thought I'd see the day where Dash would date someone."

" I'm not all that surprised, I mean, if they can invent a car that runs on water, I'm sure there was someone for Dash."

" Honey, are you talking about a boat? 'Cause those things have been around for a while."

" No not boats. It's a car that... just forget it, let's be happy that Dash has entered the dating game." Jackie gave me a peck before curling back next to me and started drifting off, with me following close behind.

Author's Notes:

Okay, so a different take on the original material, but at this point, it's to be expected. Also, I found this chapter to be a great shipping opportunity between Dash and Soarin.

Next up, three pals head to Midgard, with crazy results.

Clip.

https://youtu.be/T9-t6lPfGZo

Another one just 'cause I feel like it.

https://youtu.be/NO6pp5oaRkk