takes place before the flashback events of S6 E9, (Saddle Row Review.) and after the chapter Crash, Cider, and Cleanups

“Seventeen, me, another girl and a guy.” Fleetfoot smirked.

“Threesome for the first time? C’mere!” Misty yelled, raising a hoof, which Fleet eagerly bumped.

Rapidfire rolled his eyes. “Pfft, that’s nothing Flatfoot. My first time? Orgy.”

Spitfire flinched, making a gagging motion and grabbed a towel, wiping her forehead. “Did anypony here have, oh, I don’t know, a normal first time?” she groaned. “Like just you and another pony?”

Done with her shower, Dash walked back into the locker room to chill with her teammates. They were all in the middle of some light conversation, Misty, Fleetfoot and Rapid grinning, while Spitfire and High Winds had on weirded out faces. All she had heard was her leader mention something about having a normal first time. And Dash knew that normal could get boring. Why not give her opinion? “Normal’s boring,” Dash said.

Everyone stopped for a moment and stared, trying to cover their smiles.

Seeing this, she tilted her head. “What?”

Soarin and Fleet snickered. “So, Crash, you, uh, had an...” He waved his hoof around, crimson coating his cheeks. “An unusual first time?”

Dash blinked again. What the hell were they talking about?

Clearly her teammates saw that she hadn’t heard what they were discussing. “Sex, Crash,” Fleetfoot explained, stifling a giggle.

Dash’s eyes widened as she tried not to blush. She had seen over the course of the weeks that her teammates were close and unprofessional behind doors, but they discussed sex? Hell, she barely talked about that with her own friends.

“I... I...”

Soarin chuckled, smiling down at her. “I’m concerned for us too. They’re all too close.”

She saw the team send him unimpressed stares. “So you don’t talk about this stuff?” Dash questioned him, tilting a little to the left.

He shrugged, a small smile growing. “Gotta share some stories. Prepare to humiliate yourself in front of us for the rest of your life.” He winked.

She smirked, shock slowly wearing off. Maybe having the… occasional conversation about this could be entertaining. “So was yours unusual or boring, Clip?”

In the past couple weeks, her initial dislike of Soarin having feelings for another pony had mostly worn off. He was bound to have had crushes in his lifetime, just like she had. Although her list was very, very, small.

Soarin flushed a little. “Well, we’re not wasting any time now, are we?” he teased. “Why so curious?”

She smacked his leg with a swift shake of her tail. “Just joining in on the team bonding.”

“Wouldn’t wanna make you feel inferior to me,” he shot back. “I have great stories.”

Dash’s head raised, eyes narrowing. He could be smooth and suave one minute, sweet goofball the next. “I’ll let you know very discreetly, that you would have loved to be there,” she said in a quieter tone.

Her first coltfriend flashed in her mind. Rocket, a dark grey stallion with purple eyes and a black mane. Truthfully, Dash’s first time having sex had not been the best, but over the years when she had been too horny to ignore her needs, she had gotten pretty lucky with the guys and girls she had been with.

Dash saw her second-in-command blush heavily, his green eyes filled with surprise and an unusual intensity she hasn’t seen before. Was he… really thinking about being there? Wonder what doing it with him would feel li- No! You’re mother fucking Rainbow Dash, get a hold of yourself, she scolded.

“God, go bang already!” Misty shouted, a joking smile on her pale yellow face.

Dash turned to face her teammate, who, along with Fleetfoot, Wave Chill, Lightning Streak, and Surprise, were trying to hide their laughs.

The announcement startled her. Misty could be blunt. Very. “What?!” Dash blurted out, completely unprepared.

Soarin’s jaw dropped a little.

“The sexual tension’s too much to bear,” High Winds joked. She turned to everyone else. “Anyways, my first time was very normal. Just on a bed, one on one, very relaxed and not romantic at all.”

Spitfire let some air out of her nose. “Thank you, Hoof-In-Mouth. Anyone else have a normal one?”

Lightning Streak raised a hoof and rounded closer to Dash. “Nah, but I do know this rather dangerous stunt that’ll take the most daring pony on the team.” He winked at her. “Whatcha say, Rainbow? Up for it?”

Dash rolled her eyes and smiled. Lightning was always a flirt, but unlike Zephyr Breeze, it was funny. “Not. Interested,” she deadpanned. “When you have an actual stunt though... make sure to tell.”

Lightning’s eyes lit up. “Will do.” He grinned and followed Spit, Fleet, Rapid, High, Surprise, and Chill out of the room.

Dash chuckled, watching Soarin out of the corner of her eye, goofy smile on his face. “So,” she prompted. “What’s the smile all about?”

She saw his adam’s apple bob. “Uh, you’re just...”

“Awesome?” She smirked. “Talented? Daring? Cool?” she listed.

He laughed a little. “I guess. Never mind…”

That was a lie plain as day. And Soarin wasn’t usually a liar.

“Okay.” Stepping closer, Dash poked his bare chest. “What’s up with you?”

Soarin avoided eye contact.

Dash was unimpressed. He’d been doing this lately, after the night of her first show when she had taken him to Applejack’s for some evening cider. Up until then, he had been normal.
She wanted to know. It was weird and he only did it around her. Did she make him uncomfortable? Or scared? Or intimidated?

Dash erased the thoughts from her mind. She was going to get to the bottom of this. “Seriously. Out on the field, you’re… I don’t know… calm. And then you turn into this flushed, stuttering pony,” she stated.

Possibly not coincidentally, his cheeks turned red again. “It’s nothing, Crash, really,” he said.

“Really?”

He nodded. “Really.” He went to leave, but Dash stood her ground and stopped him. Curiosity was killing her.

She bit her lip, hovering for a minute as she played events over in her head and recalled Misty Fly’s request from earlier. Embarrassing as the comment was, Dash was determined. Again, it was only around her that he seemed kind of strange.

“Was it what Misty said?” she asked, mouth in a thin line.

He shrugged. “Well…”

She continued. “About you and me? In bed…” She tried not to let her face heat up too much.

“I… no, it was just a joke, right?” he answered awkwardly.

Dash smiled, although inside she felt a little… disappointed? Wait, no, that wasn’t the word. She had no idea. “Then why are you so embarrassed?” She was embarrassed too, but Dash had always been good at hiding her emotions. At least to everypony but her friends.

He swallowed again and started a different subject. “Her house, name was Sadie, just normal sex.”

Dash tilted her head. “Huh?” Is he okay?

“My first time. Everyone else was sharing.”

“Uh, yeah, okay,” she agreed. Definitely acting strange. And in light of that, she decided to say something risky. “You know, dumbest thing, can’t believe I’m telling you this, but Rarity… she thought you liked me.”

Soarin’s mouth opened again. “That’s… ridiculous.”

Really? She ignored his comment. “Is that why you were so embarrassed? Because it’s true?” She wore a cute smirk. Now she was joking. Dash had never really been a “normal” girl, like what a lot of guys preferred, too intimidated to be with someone who was just as good, probably better, than them.
Soarin backed up, and Dash felt something like humiliation wash over rather quickly. What was wrong with her? What was she doing, flirting like this? This was not her style. And she wouldn’t corner a friend over something as unimportant as a little crush. Especially because it was not true. Soarin didn’t like her, and she didn’t like him.

She relaxed her muscles and gave a good hearted smile, concealing her panicked emotions. “Relax, Clipper. I’m kidding. Your reaction though? Kind of funny.”

Soarin breathed out, letting a small smile creep up as he rolled his eyes playfully. “Very nice, Crash. And the reason? I, uh, well… none of them have ever made a comment about me and another teammate,” he confessed.

She raised a brow, finding this hard to believe. “Really? Not even you with Spit or Fleetfoot?”

“Well, not really, surprisingly. Mainly cause I would go on dates or something or I would have a marefriend already.”

“Huh, okay.” She started to make her way to the door with her pre-packed bag. She was leaving to go help Rarity set up her new and upcoming boutique in Manehattan. Technically she didn’t have to leave now, could’ve stuck around for dinner, but didn’t want to hear about Soarin’s last relationships, and didn’t want to hear the team’s teasing. “And seriously, don’t worry about what Misty said. Doesn’t mean anything, right?” She raised a hoof, offering a bump as a farewell.

Soarin calmly nodded, blush and stutter disappeared. So weird. “Uh, yeah, right. I’ll see you in a couple days. Tell Rarity good luck.”

She sighed. “Two days of listening to her freak outs? Big whoop.”

They shared a chuckle, and she was glad for it. “I can make a list of highly trained therapists,” he offered jokingly.

And just like that, as fast as lightning, they were falling back in sync. Maybe they weren’t exactly close, but he was secretly her favourite teammate. “She’ll be fine, as long as she has that ridiculous fainting couch.” She winked and giggled.

He grinned. “Ice cream too, right?”

Dash opened the door, smiling back at him. “Of course. Vanilla oat swirl as always.”

He smiled back. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” he said, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Her name sounded very smooth, very natural coming from him. Silky and flowing. She liked it. “Bye Soarin.”

She gave one last wave before heading back to Ponyville.