I felt isolated from all of my surroundings... the other ponies, the music, all of it seemed gone. All of my heart and mind was focused on the mare at the other end of my sight. Her beautiful magenta eyes - which typically reflected her strength and confidence - were welcoming. When she broke into a smile, I turned my head in awe and reflected perhaps the brightest and most jubilant beam I'd worn in ten years. My heart was leaping for joy and the thrill of seeing her again started propelling me forward. My front legs stepped out and my hind legs followed, and I walked gently but excitedly towards her with my smile only getting bigger. She must have no idea how nice she is making me feel right now.

In one way it's amusing for me to think of her like this; I'm sure if someone told filly Rainbow she had beautiful eyes she'd probably stick out her tongue in disgust. Most days she's the most confident and competitive pony you'll ever meet, something I always admired about her. If you dig deep enough though you can bring out the soft side in her, and not only does she not hide it, she embraces it. The compassionate, loving, and patient side was the very last version of her I had seen until this moment - that of course being when she offered me the feather from her own wing as I was pulled away from her which I have kept for ten years.

Whether it was tough, competitive Rainbow Dash or kind, friendly Rainbow Dash made no difference to me as I am deeply in love with her as a whole. I missed you so much. Walking forward I was inspired with the confidence she'd taught me as a foal and I prepared myself for our first conversation. I didn't want to tell her how the last ten years had gone. I didn't even want to tell (at least not yet, anyway) that I had kept her feather and guarded with all of my strength for all that time. Mostly I guess I just wanted to talk to her and to hear her voice again. I wondered if it was still the same adorable, raspy kind of voice that it was before. I just wanted to have the kind of conversation to good friends might have after a terribly long time apart.

As I approached her eyes started to light up, and the two ponies beside her- one of which, I now realized, was Fluttershy - gave me a curious but friendly smile of their own. And that moment right there is when Rainbow Dash was completely cut off from my vision - there was an unexpected flash of pink and almost of nowhere there was now standing about five feet in front of me a positively pink pony with a puffy mane and tail and baloons for a cutie mark. It was a mare, about as young as me if not a tad younger, and she was staring at me square in the eyes with an almost manic grin on her face. The smile on my face faded into bewilderment as I regained all of my thoughts and composure and figured out was going on now that I was forced out of my Rainbow-induced trance.

She appeared very happy and eager to meet me and I did not hold her timing against her though admittedly I did find it unfortunate. It came about that I literally stared blankly at her for about five full seconds in complete confusion as I tried to figure out what was going on and the huge smile that was burned on her face never left during that time. With a shy look in either direction I tried to clue her that I was a little confused, then laughed rather sheepishly. Talk to her already!

"Um... hello there." The pink pony's excitement could be bottled up no longer and she broke out into a super-hyper bounce of excitement, not to mention the fastest talking I think I've ever heard. My eyes widened and my mouth hung open as I frantically tried to keep my eyes on her.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Are you new here? Well, you must be, I've never seen you around here before, and I've seen everypony around here, because everypony is my friend! Are you having fun? Huh? Huh?" Changing direction on a dime she let out a sudden gasp as though some terrible truth had just come to her mind. "That means there's someone in Ponyville I'm not friends with!" She lowered her eyebrows for a quick moment in a manner I still can't quite figure out, and the with a super-quick trot she came right up to me with another huge smile, this time with hope to go along with excitement. "So, do you need friends? Will you be my friend?"

With those questions I think at that moment I think I finally realized who she was and I couldn't help but find it cute and endearing; it seemed this must just be a super-friendly, super-hyper mare who is kindly offering her friendship to me. I was still trying to catch up in my mind with what just happened but she stretched out her hoof for me to shake in acceptance of her offer. It hit me that this was the pony who was hosting this party in the first place.

"Yes I will," I said and I obliged her hoof shake. I tried my best to appreciate her sincerity and accept that I could talk to Rainbow in a minute.

As soon as my hoof touched hers, she started shaking it so violently that I had to pull it back and hold it in the air for a moment to let it breathe, after which the pink mare started bouncing happily and blissfully around me in triumph.

"You look *really* friendly!" She started singing, her high-pitched ultra-girly voice commanding the attention of a few ponies nearby. "I made a new friend! I made a new friend, and so did you!" she sung, before stopping right between Rainbow and me once again. She darted up right in front of me once more. "My name's Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"

"Sonic, Sonic Rain," I muttered with a smile, confused since she'd already introduced herself. "I'm from, well... Canterlot, I guess," I said, hesitating at my own words and thinking with confusion. It felt kind of weird to say I was from Canterlot considering the very short time I ended up spending there. She raised her eyebrows and poked her eyes out of her head with fascination.

"Canterlot, huh? I'll bet you don't know the princess. I know the princess! Do you know the princess?"

"Huh, well... actually I - kinda do, I guess - I mean she kindly let me stay in the castle since I didn't have a place to stay," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. I enjoyed her company and her willingness to get to know me but I still was mostly just thinking about Rainbow whether I wanted to or not. And it gets worse; after that last remark, Pinkie's smile faded into concern.

"You didn't have a place to stay? Why not?"

That was stupid! The last thing I wanted was to tell Pinkie exactly why I didn't have a place to stay. I knew it would make her feel sorry for me, and I hate doing that to ponies if I don't have to. Plus, what if she told other ponies? How would they react? Would they react negatively? What if Rainbow found out?

"Why didn't I have a place to stay?" I said nervously, as if stalling with a dumb question like that was going get me out of this. She nodded her head, her face unchanging. I took a gulp.

"Well, you see, I didn't have a place to stay, because, I ... What I'm essentially trying to say is that I... I had just moved to Canterlot, and I didn't know anypony, and because I didn't know anypony, I... actually, I did have a place to stay - you know, if you consider a patch of - but anyway the castle suite was just a little nicer than my own place... so the princess, uh, yea, well you know the rest," I said with a pathetic attempt at a smile, hoping she'd buy it. I'm not sure if she did or not, but she let it go and her eyes softened up as she tried to make feel at home.

"Sonic, you don't need to be afraid of me. We're all friends here in Ponyville, silly!" she said, putting her front leg around my shoulder. "Oh, that reminds me," she said, and my heart started pounding faster as she quickly pulled over a chair and stood up on it. That could only mean one thing. "Kill that music, Vinyl," she said to a white unicorn DJ pony, and the music went silent.

"Oh no," I whispered to myself, and tried to call it off before it could get started. "Look Pinkie, you don't need to - I really don't need-"

"Listen up, everypony! We have a new stallion in town! His name is Sonic Rain! He's from Canterlot."

Too late. Pinkie's eyes shut as she proclaimed with a frightfully loud voice to the whole party. As soon as her voice was heard, all the sounds in the room stopped except for the music, and all eyes were suddenly in my direction. The crowd of ponies made an "ohhh!!!" sound as though impressed when they heard where I was "from". Then awkward silence. Seriously? Even the music had to stop to? I felt so uncomfortable, and I knew Rainbow could see me now.

With all the attention I got with the incident in Canterlot one would think I would've been ready for something like this... nope. Not at first, anyway. I couldn't help but turn my head and offer a forced smile at the crowd as nothing more than an embarrassed young stallion. In hindsight it certainly seemed as though the initial reaction was positive and the looks were mostly encouraging.

"Let's honor him and welcome him to Ponyville!" she screamed, and the ponies all across the floor gave out a little cheer and some hoof-stomps. That felt pretty good, and I felt some confidence springing. Everypony is so friendly here. Pinkie Pie randomly started leaping from her spot on the chair as she realized something. "Hey, I know! How about we play pin the tail on the pony! Sonic's up first. Who thinks they can beat him?"

Ugh, alright Rainbow, just a little longer. My heart was aching to see her again. To talk to her. I still hadn't heard her voice. I wanted to thank her in my own way for her gift that lasted ten years. But, I was lucky enough to be here, and I didn't want to look like I was disinterested in them. I wasn't, or at least I didn't want to be; I just accepted that I'd have to wait a little longer to see her. I've waited ten years for this, a few more minutes isn't gonna kill me...

Looking out across the crowd for a challenger I intentionally avoided Rainbow's direction - I did *not* want our first interaction to be on this stage. Come on, try to have some fun for everyone else's sake,I told myself. I started relaxing a little bit. It happened that Rainbow was behind me, and even though I knew full well her eyes had to be on me it made it easier that I didn't have to make eye contact with her while being in the spotlight.

"I'll go against him," said a familiar voice. Not the voice of who you probably thought it was. Thunderlane, one of my only other genuine friends from my foalhood, stepped forward and flashed a competitive smile. Of all the colts back in Cloudsdale, Thunderlane was my best friend (and if you recall my first official friend at flight camp). I remembered he could be competitive and maybe even a little rough, but he never let it get the best of him and in the end he was a really good friend. He had some really quick wit for a colt and could be really, really funny. I hadn't thought of him in a while but I was really happy to see him and his feelings were clearly mutual.

He came forward until he was two feet in front of me. Ten years ago, he was significantly taller than me, but now we're even and I may even have an edge on him.

"Hello Thunder," I said quietly, and the two of us fed off the other's beam. "It's good to see you again."

"Awww," cooed the crowd of ponies around us, which embarrassed Thunderlane though he definitely enjoyed it.

"Well geez, now when I beat you I'm gonna feel bad," he remarked.

"Don't," I responded with a head shake.

He turned his head around and admired his wings as he stretched them and gently held them up. "True fliers' wings right here, baby." No doubt about it, he had some strong-looking wings, but just because you have strong wings doesn't necessarily make you a great flier of course. "You agree?"

"Yep. But I'll still take this," I replied, holding my hoof to my head, "and this," bringing it down and over my heart. The smile on his face faded as he apparently disagreed. He lifted his wings up slowly.

"Come on, *everypony* knows it's HERE," he said. He started soft, but then he wrapped his left wing around my neck and with a little help from his leg smacked me to the floor. Don't get the wrong idea, it wasn't malicious; this is just who Thunderlane is, this is his way of showing affection whether you think it's weird or not. I say that but I certainly wasn't expecting the move at all. Many of the ponies in the room let out a concerned gasp when I crashed to the floor clumsily and a few of them even laughed.

Either way I had been thoroughly embarrassed in front of everypony, including Rainbow. I turned around on my back rubbed the side of my head with my hoof, looking up at Thunderlane, who was smiling triumphantly. Part of me couldn't believe the just happened, but mostly I found his boldness pretty entertaining to be honest. Now I resolved I wasn't about to let him off the hook without any kind of retaliation of my own. Besides, I had to redeem myself in front of Rainbow who was watching from behind. How can I get back at him? I wondered, and then had an idea as I stood back up off the floor. I stood up and sneered a little, but not enough to give myself away.

"Thunderlane... " I said, chuckling, "would you be willing to put that wing power of yours to the test?" I asked, and the friendly smile on his face once again faded. The entire room went silent again. "When it comes to, you know, sheer wing power," I said, further taunting him. "If I were to, say, stand on my hind legs, could you, I don't know, blow hard enough with your wings so I lose my balance?"

"In a heartbeat."

His response was confident with no hesitation. The ponies in attendance all reacted with "oooohhhh!"'s and cheers.

"Alrighty then," I said, smiling smugly and stepping back.

Thunderlane chuckled and began stretching his wings. As the party ponies all cleared from behind me, I raised myself up on my hind legs and put one leg a little further back than the other, and tucking my wings in as best I could so I wouldn't catch extra wind. I heard whispers from the crowd in all directions, some ponies were making their predictions, other ones were cheering for either me or him. I hope this works...

Thunderlane raised himself up on his own back legs and began flapping his big wings violently. My main and tail began whipping all around as strong air rushed all around me. I kept my back leg strong in place, and I closed my eyes and leaned my body ever so slightly forward into his breeze, but trying as hard as I could not to fall too far forward. He was exhorting all of his energy into flapping his wings. The ponies were all cheering, and I opened my eyes to find him desperately still flapping. I sensed him losing his breath, and I actually eased up too much but just as I started to move backward, Thunderlane's front legs came crashing to the ground and he lowered his head just as low, gasping and wheezing desparetly for breath and creating some comical noises. The crowd erupted and hoof-stomped the ground.

He turned his head up from the ground and shook it either way, knowing he'd lost but had the expression of a good sport. He had his head low and his wings up, and his body was turned sideways toward me. While he breathed and breathed I stepped forward, raised myself up and spread my wings and gave three viciously powerful flaps. He stepped forward and fell clumsily to the floor, and the retaliation was complete. The crowd let out a roar of approval. Someone apparently decided that was a good time to start the music started back up, and all of the ponies began dispersing and going back to the laughing, talking, dancing, and socialization that they were doing before.

I walked up to Thunderlane and helped him up, which he lackadaisically accepted.

"You haven't changed a bit," I said, and smiled sheepishly as he regained himself.

"You have," he replied, putting his hoof on my shoulder proudly. "So much taller."

The two of us gave each other a hug. As we pulled ourselves out of it I saw standing behind him on the other side of the room, waiting for me to continue what I had started, the mare who consumed my dreams. Rainbow Dash was giving me a wonderful grin, as though encouraging me to come talk to her.

I felt my heart exploding over and over as my face transformed into the brightest smile I could possibly put on. Not only could I finally talk to her now, but she was smiling at me before I made eye contact with her. Realizing this was a wonderful comfort to me as I made my way over to her once again. Rainbow Dash is excited to see me. The words repeated themselves soundly, as though everything I could ever hope for or ever ask for was being laid down in front of me. As I stared into her purple eyes, I relived all of the wonderful moments we had as foals, and it supercharged happiness and bliss into me.

As I approached, my eyes never left her, but I could still see thanks to peripheral vision that she was now standing in between the same white unicorn as she had been before and a light green unicorn, one I immediately recognized as Lyra.

I couldn't stop smiling on my way up to her nor could I stop staring straight into her eyes. She was radiating with beauty, even though she was not as in touch with her appearance as her regal white friend.

As I stopped only two feet in front directly in front of her, Lyra shot me a huge smile of her own and stepped forward first.

"Sonic, you wanna dance?"

My eyes made their way from Rainbow to Lyra, and let me tell you, if you think I was on the spot before, you have no idea. I actually laughed at my misfortune, partly because I knew I didn't have the heart to say no to her - not that I would want to - I was very grateful for her wanting to dance with me, but it was eager to see Rainbow. Just dance for a few minutes and then leave to get a drink, I was thinking to myself.

"Yes," I said, using as much mental energy to try look interested as I did when I faced the wind from Thunderlane's wings. What was I gonna say, "no,"? I shot one more sincere, loving smile at Rainbow as I walked toward some open dancing space with Lyra, who returned a friendly if not disappointed smile back at me. As soon as we're done dancing. It'll just be a minute. Then we can catch up.

As Lyra and I began dancing around in the center, I noticed two large stallions come in through the front door. They both appeared to be my age; one was gold with brown mane that covered his eyes and basketballs for a cutie mark, the other was brown-coated with a white mane and dumbbells for a cutie mark. It hit me immediately that this pair of stallions was none other than Hoops and Dumbbell, my tormentors from the time at flight camp. A little bit anger and resentment filled me, but I quickly lost it when I saw Lyra smiling at me, which caused me to go back to at least attempting to dance joyfully around her. She was a nice mare, and even though I had no intention of anything beyond friendship, she deserved my good manners and my kindness.

Out of the corner of my eye as we danced, though, I kept watching the pair of them. They were looking at someone, and Dumbbell was whispering to Hoops about something. Hoops left the side of his buddy and made his way over to not far from where I was dancing with Lyra. My interest spiked exponentially when Dumbbell, on the other hand, made his way over to Rainbow Dash. Now I had a serious challenge; keep dancing with Lyra without making it too obvious that I'm staring at Rainbow and Dumbbell.

Dumbbell surprised me when he walked up to Rainbow with a sly expression on his face and began talking to her, to which Rainbow responded with immediate annoyance. Amidst all the ponies talking, I couldn't hear a word that was being said. All I could remember about Dumbbell was that he hated me. I kept on watching with great intent. I looked at their lips moving, trying to decipher anything I could. What are you saying?

He continued to whisper something to her, and she didn't seem interested. Then suddenly, he looked in either direction before he said whatever it was next, and Rainbow upon hearing whatever he had whispered to her suddenly raised her front legs and pushed him straight into the punch table, causing both him and table to tumble, with punch soaking him from head to hoof. I stopped dancing before everyone else, then one by one everyone else followed suit. The music was was killed, and everypony all across the party had gone silent. Heads were turning all across the party to get a good look at Rainbow, who was now hovering intimidatingly over Dumbbell, who was still lying on the broken table, covered in punch.

"What do I look like to you?" she asked him before looking up to find everyone watching them. Staring into the crowd for a moment before a look of embarrassment came over her. She had always liked attention, but not this kind. I wanted so badly to run up and console her somehow, but I didn't move and felt helpless as I wasn't sure what I would do or say. I hated so much to see her in such a state of discomfort. Ten years of thinking about her had me so attached to her emotions.

She shot a glance at her friends and then quickly exited the building. The party was over now it seemed as other ponies started quietly heading for an exit themselves. I was still frozen though. Hoops, who had been watching from right in front of me, was standing right in front of me chuckling.

"Told you you had no chance," he said to his angry, punch-soaked crony still lying on the ground. Hoops unknowingly took a step back into me, and turned around quickly after catching his trip. I don't think he recognized me, but he kept laughing even as he looked at me which I really didn't appreciate. Then he stepped to the side of me and walked away.

I stood there and saw a saddened Pinkie Pie picking up what she could from the punch table. I now had some serious things to ponder in my heart as I exited the building and made my way back home.