takes place during S2 E26 (A Canterlot Wedding Pt. 2)

The newlyweds waved to the ponies of Equestria, smiling brightly. After the two had been reunited, the true Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and of course, Captain of The Royal Guard, Shining Armour. Soarin watched with everypony, smiling at the sweet couple. He had always liked Princess Cadance. A wedding that had started out horribly, the changeling taking the princess’s place was whom trying to feed off love, Queen Chrysalis, had been defeated by the couple’s love for each other, and she and her minions had been banished back to her home. The real wedding had happened, and it was a rather heartfelt sight. As he watched their ‘I dos’ he had looked at her bridesmaids, the group of girls who had saved Equestria a couple times. He had learned their names.

Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armour’s sister and best mare, Rarity, the beautiful white unicorn he had attempted to save at the Best Young Flier’s Competition, Applejack, who had sold him the best apple pie at the Gala, Fluttershy, who had been the key to Ponyville successfully getting the water up to Cloudsdale. Pinkie Pie, a party pony who reminded him of his teammate Surprise, not that he had had much interaction with her. That left one more mare, a cyan pegasus with a rapturing rainbow coloured mane, bright magenta eyes, and a willful, adventurous personality. The mare who had saved his life, Equestria, and of course, his apple pie. Her name was Rainbow Dash, a pony who had impressed Soarin every time they had come in contact. She looks great,he thought to himself.

Spitfire had asked him to go to represent the elite flying team, considering she had lots of paperwork to do, and had thought Princess Celestia would appreciate having the second-in-command. Although he had been on the fence, considering the crowds of stuck up fans, he was glad he had appeared to witness the matrimony.

Now they were down by the garden and the pit, and he was watching the groom lead his bride in a loving slow dance, twirling her around and letting her lean on him. It was times like this where Soarin wished he had some pony to love. It never seemed to be his forte, and ended up with him unhappily going on dates and mindlessly ending up in their beds. It was a little lonely, and although he wouldn’t change his career for anything, it didn’t leave a lot of time for things like romance. Things like finding somepony to spend your time with.

“Let’s get this party started!” Pinkie Pie announced, signalling DJ Pon 3, who started up a catchy beat, and the pink pony tossed a microphone, which Twilight caught with her magic.
“Love is in bloom,” she sang, smiling. “A beautiful bride, a handsome groom, two hearts, becoming one, a bond that cannot be undone because love is in bloom, a beautiful bride, a handsome groom...”

Her pretty voice continued singing, and all around him ponies started dancing to the beat. He caught the six mares on the dance floor, all moving, smiles on their faces. His eyes followed until they landed on Rainbow Dash, her eyes closed, hooves tapping and body swaying to the music. She was totally entranced, tuning out everything else. His curiosity and physical attraction got the best of him, and he couldn’t resist walking towards her to see her up close. Ask her to dance! Surely she wouldn’t turn down a Wonderbolt.

Taking a deep breath, he tapped her on the shoulder a couple times until she stopped and swirled to face him. Her eyes widened and she smiled happily, lighting up those rather magnificent orbs. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, obvious delight on her features. “Um, I mean, what’s up, Soarin?” She shook her head. “Sorry, Commander Soarin!” she corrected herself, muttering that she was an idiot.

He chuckled at her reaction. “Call me, Soarin. How are you, Miss Rainbow Dash?” he inquired.

She snorted a little and waved a hoof. “Please, just call me Rainbow Dash. I-I don’t deserve any formalities, unlike you, sir.”

Soarin sighed, hoping she wasn’t going to be so... fan-girly the entire time. He wanted to know Rainbow Dash, the hero and pony, not the obsessive yet cute squealy fans

“Now, come on,” he said. “Seriously. Tonight I’m just Soarin. I kinda wanna try to get away from the whole Wonderbolt thing tonight.”

Her face changed to one of confusion. “What do you mean? Don’t you like the fame? All the admirers?”

He shrugged, tapping his hoof. “It is nice to have all the support. But... I get tired of getting treated like I’m better than everypony else.”

“But you’re special! You’re a Wonderbolt,” she replied.

He smiled faintly, sighing. “Yes, I am, and I love it. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to be. But, behind all that, I’m normal. I have things I like, things I don’t, hobbies, friends, a family, I’m messy, I sleep too much, I’m obsessed with pie. It gets tiring, you know. People only care about Soarin the Wonderbolt. Not me, Soarin the pony. The only ponies who do are my teammates. Besides,” he added with a slight smirk. “I haven’t saved Equestria before. Twice.”

“You heard about that?” she asked, grinning. “I was pretty awesome!” she bragged, wings opening up.

“Yeah! You see? I’m normal.”

She folded her wings and looked at the ground thoughtfully. “I’m sorry,” she told him, hesitantly meeting his gaze.

He frowned. “What for?”

She shrugged. “Treating you like you’re some prize. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always idolize you and your teammates, but I don’t want you to think I only care about your status. I was probably like that before, but... the way you put it... it’d be cool to get to know you.” She smiled and stepped closer. “You, Soarin the pony. All of you, as someone more than a celebrity.”

He was taken aback at her apology and honesty. There she went, impressing him again. He looked at her rainbow skirt, adorned with cloud trim, just like at the gala. Except there was no shoes on her hooves. Her mane was styled in a side pony, tied with a golden band, and a headband with three flowers bunched on the side, sitting on her head like some sort of tiara. She looked stunning. Realizing he was just plain staring, he met her gaze, trying to keep the slight flush off his cheeks.
“Thanks for that.” He smiled. “You’re something else, Rainbow Dash.”

She grinned. “I am, aren’t I?” she chuckled. “Thanks, though.” She glanced around, music still playing. “So, where’s everyone else?”

“What do you mean?”

She giggled. “The other Wonderbolts, silly. I thought they’d be here, considering it’s a royal wedding, you know?”

“Oh,” he said. “Spitfire was busy with stuff and she wanted to send me, since I’m second-in-command.”

“Huh, alright,” she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice, but it vanished. “I’m glad you’re here though!”

“Me too,” he said gently, gazing at her.

A blush rose up on her cheeks and she rubbed her neck. “Soarin, do you perhaps... wanna...” she motioned to the dance floor.

“Dance?” he asked, grinning. “Thought you’d never ask!”

With that, they began to dance, hooves moving and them laughing together. It was fun and natural, her enjoying herself and not worrying about how to act in front of him. Refreshing. “So,” he called over the music. “How’d you become a bridesmaid?”

“Well, my friend, Twilight,” she motioned to the purple unicorn. “Her brother is the groom and Princess Cadance used to foalsit her when she was a filly. They’re still close.”

“What’d you get to do to help?” he asked.

Dash shrugged, bobbing her head. “I helped Applejack bake a bit, and Fluttershy with birds, but I wasn’t very helpful. I tried with Pinkie and planning the afterparty, but she’s too serious when it comes to parties,” she laughed a little. “But my main thing was doing the sonic rainboom after the vows.”

Soarin stopped dancing for a moment. “That was yours?!”

She puffed her chest and nodded. “Yep! Cool, right? I didn’t even struggle this time.”

He stared in awe for a second. She was probably one of the coolest ponies he had ever met. And one of the most talented. “Wow,” was all he could muster.

“I know!”

They resumed dancing as the cameras flashed around them, taking their photo as she bowed down to him, smiling.

In those moments of twirling, dancing, and laughing, everything and everypony else faded away. And it was just him and Rainbow Dash, her bright energy lighting up the room, making Soarin forget who he was for a moment and let all his worries melt away. He had never felt quite so... free.

A few minutes later, another slow dance started to play. Soarin looked at the mare, who looked a little uncomfortable with the song. Since he had just met her, he decided not to ask for this dance and instead asked, “Wanna hang over there?” pointing to a mini garden with a birdbath and a bench.

“Sure!”

She followed him as he sat down and copied his actions, now sitting beside him. “So what was all that about a changeling?” he asked her. He knew the basics, but was itching for more. It was definitely not an everyday occurrence, even for a magical place like Equestria.

“Oh, well, Queen Chrysalis locked Cadance in the caves underneath the castle and took her place so she could feed off Shining Armour’s love for her. Then Twilight rescued the real princess and the changeling queen defeated Princess Celestia. Me and my friends tried to get to the elements to stop her, but all of the, um, mini changelings stopped us and changed to look like us, so we couldn’t get the necklaces. We got back and Shining Armour and Cadance were together again. They used their magic to defeat her and blah blah. Everything was normal again. Pretty intense. I wish we had listened to Twilight when she thought the princess was being stuck up and rude,” she said, sighing.

“What do you mean?”

“Twilight thought something was off with Cadance. Since it wasn’t actually her. But no pony believed her. I wish I had is all,” she told him, head down.

“Aw, well, everything turned out okay. And you weren’t the only pony who didn’t believe her.”

She smiled gratefully at him. “Thanks Soarin.”

“No problem,” he said. “Now, what elements exactly are you talking about?”

“Oh, you know the Elements of Harmony?”

He sat there until he remembered. “Don’t the two sisters control those? Weren’t they used to banish Nightmare Moon or something?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but when we first met Twi, we all went into the Everfree Forest to retrieve them. And then once we came face to face with Nightmare Moon, Twilight announced that me and my friends represented one element. We found the sixth one and defeated the mare in the moon, and brought back Princess Luna.”

Again, he went quiet with shock. He knew she had saved Equestria, but he didn’t know she was a freaking element of harmony! “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Should I bow?” he asked anxiously.

The cyan mare only laughed and nudged him. “One, you never asked, and two, you can if you want.” She grinned, a teasing glint in her eye. “I’m kidding. But yeah, we defeated her. I’m pretty cool.”

Brash, he thought and smirked. “You’re a hero, Rainbow Dash. You saved us from Nightmare Moon, Discord...”

“You, Spitfire, Misty Fly, your pie...” she added to the list.

He chuckled. “Yeah, guess you’re my hero.” He regretted the words as they left his mouth, but she only smiled at him.

“And you’re one of mine.”

It was silent between them, with him looking at those magenta orbs that pierced his soul like no other eyes had before. Nervously, she coughed and looked away. “Um... the music stopped, I should probably get going, you know, to wave them off. Part of being a bridesmaid, heh,” she brushed her bangs out of his eyes and turned, flying away.

“Wait, Rainbow Dash!” he called.

“Yeah?” she asked, turning to face him, looking beautiful in the moonlight.

“Um... what element are you?” Hope that isn’t too personal. But she is pretty boastful and ...proud...

At that, her lips formed a small smile. “Loyalty!” she shouted, and flew away.

Just as he was leaving, a security guard came up to him. “Commander Soarin?” he asked.

“Yes?”

The guard handed him a photo. “Photographer is handing these out to those who are in a picture.”

Soarin took it and looked. It had him and Rainbow, who was in a bowing form, looking up at him, a gleam in her eye as his eyes were closed, happily dancing with her. It was taken at the right time. Soarin smiled fondly at the photo. He would definitely be keeping this. “Thank you,” he said to the guard.

The guard nodded. “You’re welcome, sir.”

And with that, Soarin flew away, staring at the photo he was sure to treasure for a long time.