Rebuilding a Rainbow

Chapters

Dat Mane!!
Beauty is the Devil
Friend Zoned
A Photo Illusion
Getting Healthy & Loosing Fear
Surprises
A Hot Mare and A Hot Pie
Winter Wrap Up
Friends
A Different Type of Stallion
Loyalty and Generosity Don't Always Go Hoof and Hoof
Pinkie Promise?
Sacrifice
Pegasi with Wings and Magic
Kind Approach
Funny Business
Time to be a role model

Dat Mane!!

Spitfire was a strict mare when it came to training the future Wonder Bolts, so she expected each and every one of them to be on time for training. But, she was also a pony and felt sympathy for Rainbow Dash after what she had been through, so she tolerated her being late for a couple weeks. By now it and been two months since the mare returned, and she figured she had given her enough time to get her life back on track, so she should be showing up to training on time. It just so happened she hadn't been showing up on time still. So, Spitfire took matters into her own hooves and flew from Canterlot to Ponyville in order to give a speech to Rainbow and hopefully change her late habit. So, there she was at the mare's front door, where she was knocking and waiting to be let in.

Rainbow didn't answer her door which really aggravated the fiery maned mare. “Not only can she not show up to practice on time but she can’t seem to figure out how to open her Celestia dammed door,” She grumbled and started to knock harder on the door. “Oh this is just ridiculous.” She complained and began pounding on the door, clearly ticked off. Not only did she have to waste the little free time she had to fly down here and snap her cadet into shape, she was also being ignored by said cadet and was not pleased about it. “I quit!” She grumbled to herself and was just about to turn and take off when she heard a familiar voice, screaming back at her.

"What could you possibly want that was so urgent, you had to continuously knock!?!" The voice screamed, which made Spitfire snap around quickly where she was greeted by Rainbow’s soaking wet, messy appearance.

The cyan mare seemed as ticked off at Spitfire as Spitfire was with her, but her expression quickly fell when she realized just who she had yelled at and started apologizing to the Wonder Bolt.

Dash was not even trying to fix her appearance or her house’s structure as she lead Spitfire in and to the living room because something more important had come up, getting her boss to accept her apologies. “ You've got to believe me Spitfire I did NOT mean to, wait your gonna want to fly here the floor is kind of missing,” Rainbow said nervously as Spitfire glared back at her. “So as I was saying I am SO sorry Spi…” She began again, once the two of them had flew over the missing part of her floor, but was stopped by an orange hoof, which jammed it's self into her mouth.

“Listen Cadet, neither of us has all day, so I’m going to make this short, understand?” The rainbow maned mare nodded and the other continued. “Good, now as you may have noticed you have been incredibly late for many weeks now and I just cannot tolerate it anymore. So, I have decided to sacrifice my own time to come down here and get you back on schedule.” She explained, then removed her hoof from Dash’s mouth. “Now why is there missing pieces of floor and ceiling in your home?” She asked, with a clearly confused face.

Rainbow quickly explained the whole situation and apologized a few more times to Spitfire in the process. The Wonderbolt seemed to understand fairly well and lounged on the couch as the Cadet got back to readying herself for the practice. “That was horrible.” She sighed and returned back upstairs, this time to a filled bath tub. “Take two,” she mumbled and got into the bath tub to wash up.

Before Spitfire knew it a cleaned up Rainbow Dash was standing in front of her, in her training uniform and all ready to head off to practice. “Ready.” She smiled and went to sit on the couch but was quickly shoved back to her hooves by her boss.

“Yeah I know, now no time for slacking, let’s go.” Spitfire said and was out the door in an orange blur.

“Coming,” Rainbow called after her hopping into the air and letting her wings take over from there. She sighed, as soon as she knew Spitfire wouldn't notice it and then took off at full speed after her. The other mare’s surprise drop in had not gone well, she could tell and that meant a hard day of practice was ahead of her, probably couldn't keep up with because she really wasn't in shape anymore. This was because, since the kidnapping she hadn't really been in the mood to do anything, flying being no acceptation. This meant that she was having an extremely hard time keeping up with everyone else in practice, and with the bar raised today, she knew she would stand no chance. She would be at the bottom of a class she used to speed way ahead of.

They were back at the training head counters fairly quick, for the distance traveled and Rainbow was exhausted, but hiding it well from her boss. “Rainbow! You’re here early!” Called a very familiar sounding voice, one she could not mistake for anyone else’s, it was definitely Soarin.

“Haha…Yeah I am.” She said with a faked laugh, since she didn't have the energy to force a real one out. He caught onto this quickly, but seemed to ignore it and instead quietly scanned the mare over.

“Looks like you've had a rough day,” He commented after his scan over of her and she nodded quietly.

“You can’t even imagine.” She added and turned to follow after Spitfire, but she had seemed to disappear and in her place stood Surprise.

“Aw Dashie, you look so sad.” Surprise said, with a sad face.

“I'm not sad," Rainbow replied, standing up a little straighter. "A-and, i'm not tired either!" She added, then walked off before another word could be said to her.

“I think she still isn't over the whole kidnapping thing.” Soarin said, glancing to Surprise once Rainbow was gone.

“That must suck!” Surprise said loudly. “Maybe I should visit my cousin and have her throw her a BIG get better soon party! They are like best friends anyway and Pinkie sure wouldn't mind throwing another PARTY!” She laughed and glanced to Soarin who seemed to not be too sure on the whole idea. “Oh come on you big grump! There will be pie there.” she added with a smirked, which caused the dark maned Wonder Bolt to cheer up immediately.

“That is a great idea Surprise!” He shouted with a smile.

The white mare smiled back and said, “Then I’ll get on it now, Pinkie always loves my visits!” She then leaped into the air and sped off for Ponyville, leaving Soarin to fantasize about the pie that was in his near future.

Rainbow was drawn to the break room since she knew no pony stayed in there if they could help it. If you were training as hard as these athletes were and as often, you would understand that the less time spent in that room, the more time you could spend napping on the clouds, which used to be the Cyan mare’s favorite part of the day. She wasn't doing much napping anymore, actually she wasn't really sleeping more like tossing, turning and then being blinded by the sunlight with an occasional nap every here and there.

Just as she had expected the break room was empty once more and she smiled at the solitude. Ever since the kidnapping she didn't really want to be around other ponies as much because it frightened her though no pony knew, nor did they dare to ask her. She sat on the barely used couch and spread out, glancing up at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of others training. She couldn't explain it but since she was a filly the sound of wings flapping, any wings seemed to put her at ease, which is probably why she usually flew to clear her mind. She had tried this her first few weeks back but the vision’s continued to haunt her, so she stopped and stayed hidden away, afraid of the world and what it would do to her next.

“You should keep your mane like that, I like it.” A voice called out, suddenly knocking her out of her thoughts and off the couch, all as she let out a yelp. The voice chuckled and then came closer as the owner of it lifted her to her hooves once again. “I scared the crap out of you!” It bragged as a blueberry scented pastry hit her nose and she opened her magenta eyes to begin defending herself.

“I was NOT scared, just practicing my landings so I wouldn’t break a wing or something,” she said quickly, and glared at Soarin’s goofy face.

“Well then you’re gonna break a wing,” He said flatly and chewed on, finishing up his small snack.

“I guess so,” Rainbow replied with a nervous smile, embarrassed that he caught her in her lie. “What do you want anyway?” She asked, regaining her spot on the couch.

“Well I was going to hide some of my snacks for the day in here, since no pony is usually in here, but then I saw you and was like wow! She looks really good with that long hair, so I complimented you.” He said, turning so that she could see his saddlebags full of snacks.

“O-oh, um..thanks I guess.” She smiled, still embarrassed, though she was laughing inside her head. “I haven’t had Rarity fix my manecut in weeks!” She thought as Soarin flashed her one more smile and then headed over to some cupboards to put down his snacks.

Soarin had safely stashed his snacks away and was now concentrating on the mare lounged across the couch in front of him. He sighed as he scanned her features over; noticing what had become different about her appearance in the past few weeks. He did like a few of the changes such as the longer mane simply because it made her look more feminine but then there were the other changes like the dullness of her mane and tail that he didn't like. He pulled his eyes off her and then leaped into the air, letting his wings carry him to fly over her and catch her magenta eyes with his green ones.

“You didn't scare me that time.” She mumbled, looking away from him and to the wall where they would project movies if needed.

“I wasn't trying to,” He said and fell to the ground. “I was just trying to break you out of your stare at the ceiling.” He defended himself, looking back to her.

“Well it worked.” She replied and glanced to the clock. “But, now I have to go,” she added, getting to her hooves and heading out of the room, so she would be on the training field in time.

“Okay, bye!” He called after her and then exited himself to lounge on the clouds where the others that were off duty did.

“Rainbow you are slacking again!” Spitfire hissed from her spot in the air and Rainbow grunted frustratingly .

“Well sorry, again!” She hissed back and Spitfire flattened her ears angrily. “I’m not even supposed to be here right now and I’m exhausted!” Rainbow screamed on, motioning the air around her to show the mare that she was the only one here.

“I was trying to do you a favor, to catch you up to the level the other Cadets are on but you obviously don’t deserve it!” She yelled back and took off calling, “I’m done!!!” After her.

The cyan mare sighed and fell to the ground with a thump, tiredly. “Ugh…” She moaned, but peeled herself off the ground to fly to the exit and then home.

“Where you going Rainbow?” Soarin asked as he jumped into her path and she flew into him.

“Home!” She yelled, still angry from her time with Spitfire as tried to push back him but couldn't.

“I have strict orders from Surprise to keep you here. So stop being all mad over Spitfire, and stay awhile.” He said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and yelled, “Why don’t I just get a dam room here then?!” She then took off down the hallway, ranting on to herself. He chuckled and watched her walk off, then turned to walk in another direction.

Spitfire flew past Soarin and through the doors to where party planning was going on. She looked to both Pinkie and Surprise who were hanging streamers together and said “You two owe me BIG time for putting up with a tired Dash for so long.” The cousins glanced to each other and then chuckled. "Wait, what's so funny?" Spitfire asked, bringing both the laughing ponies' attention back to her.

“We don't owe you anything! Our Pinkie promise was that Surprise and I owe you one if you could keep Dashie busy until the party and you didn't!” Pinkie explained as she giggled on and Surprise nodded in agreement.

Spitfire rolled her eyes and said “Whatever, it doesn't matter. Soarin is on Rainbow Dash duty now,” she explain

"I am?" I didn't know you quit, i just thought you two were taking a break from training," Soarin said with a chuckle, but the other ponies didn't seem to find that too funny. "What? I'm pretty sure she's not going to find this place anyway. She's probably off taking a nap somewhere, Spit did work her pretty hard."

Surprise shrugged and said, "We're almost done anyway, just go get her," as she and Pinkie finished hanging the streamer they were working on, the last one.

"Okay," Soarin responded and then took off to find Rainbow again.

“Soarin!” Rainbow snorted as Soarin pulled her across the floor by her tail.

“If you would have come, I wouldn’t have had to pull you.” He said, muffledly, because he was still holding her tail in his muzzle as he spoke.

“Well maybe if you told me where I was…” Rainbow began to say but stopped as Pinkie yelled, “Surprise!!!” and squeezed her so hard she lost the air she was holding in her lungs.

“P-Pinky a-air!” She coughed, trying to breathe as the pink mare giggled and let her go.

“Oh sorry!" She said with a chuckle. "I always forget that you can’t breathe when I do that!” She yelled through some more chuckles and released Rainbow as the DJ began to play music.

“Pinkie no one can breathe when you do that to them,” Twilight said flatly before greeting Dash.

She greeted Twilight back and then looked to Rarity, who was all giddy as she looked at her. “Is she okay?” She asked, still watching Rarity.

“I am better then okay after seeing that you have finally decided to let your mane grow out. It. Is. Gorgeous!” Rarity responded and started to pet the mare’s mane.

Rainbow quickly pushed her off of her mane and rolled her eyes. “I have just forgotten to get it cut recently, it is NOT growing out.” She responded.

She then heard a soft voice say, “But it looks so nice like that,” and looked to see where it had come from to spot no other than Fluttershy, smiling back at her.

“ahm' gonna hav' ta agree with them there Dash,” Applejack added in and Rainbow sat in defeat.

“Fine, you guys win,” She sighed and they all laughed then took off to begin partying. Rainbow didn't move with the others, not really wanting to go in a place so crowded with ponies but was soon pushed into it by Pinkie and Surprise.

It was a long night for Rainbow Dash, to say the least. She felt surrounded the whole time and didn't like the fact that everypony there kept her stopping her to chat. She put up with it for a little bit and even flashed them all a big smile, but eventually she gave up and decided the only way to escape it all was to nap. So, she closed her eyes to drift asleep as her friends partied on.

She fell asleep quickly; from the pure exhaustion of the work out she had today and slept soundly even though she was having nightmares once again. They were nightmares of the kidnapping that always seemed to be able to creep into her mind, even with Luna’s frequent interference.

Suddenly, she was jolted awake by a loud mare screeching in her ear. “AH!!!” She screamed and jumped back, landing once again on the ground.

“Dashie are you okay?” The voice asked, coming closer to inspect her and she nodded. “I’m fine Pinkie, just practicing my landings so I don’t break a wing in practice tomorrow.” She said, quickly defending herself as she opened her eyes for the first time to see Soarin giggling as he watched the whole scene and ate a pastry.

“You sure do that a lot.” He said and chuckled some more, but Dash didn't find it the least bit funny and only rolled her eyes as she picked herself up off the ground.

“Well I noticed you were sleeping a looooong time ago but I thought; hey why not let her catch a few z’s? Maybe it will make her feel better. Sooooo, I left you alone but it’s time to wake up Dashie the whole party is over!” Pinkie explained, talking quite quickly as usual.

Dash nodded understandingly at Pinkie's explanation. “Yeah, yeah Pinkie I’m going and you should go t….” She began, but stopped mid-word as she glanced from Soarin to where Pinkie was before and found no signs of her. Instead of looking around she just shrugged, since it was Pinkie and knowing her she could be anywhere by now. She then began heading for the door, Soarin following behind her so that he could head home as well, now that he had finished ‘helping’ Pinkie to properly dispose of the left over pastries.

“Bye Soarin.” She yawned and then hopped into the air to take flight but noticed that the sun had already set and it was pitch dark outside. She froze immediately and fell like Fluttershy used to as a foal back to the ground, too scared to go any farther now that she knew anypony could be lurking in the shadows.

“Um…Rainbow, you okay?” Soarin asked, noticing her sudden fall to the grounnd, but she didn't respond. “Rainbow! Equestria to Rainbow!” He called on, still receiving no answer. So he flew around her to look at her face and read her clearly scared expression. “What are you doing Rainbow? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or huh?” Before he could finish what he was saying Cyan hooves were wrapped around him, clinging to him for safety. “What are you…Dash come on this is weird…” He protested, awkwardly as he tried to pry the mare off his chest, with no success. “How about I fly you home?” He asked.

“Yes, please.” She said, in a voice as soft as Fluttershy’s usually was, but she still refused to let go of him.

“Let’s go then.” He sighed, as he gave up on prying her off of him and then started to fly off crookedly, since flying with a mare strapped to your chest was not easy.

Beauty is the Devil

"Why are you still here?" Asked an annoyed, raspy voice as it stood over Soarin' who was snoring contently. "Soarin!" It yelled, even more annoyed that it was getting no reply.

"I'm up mom!" Soarin called as he sat up, rubbing his eyes to coax them from behind his eye lids.

"Do i look like your mom?" The voice asked, giggling at Soarin's sudden outburst.

Soarin's eyes shot open as soon as he heard the laugh and he looked over at the owner of the voice and said "That isn't funny Rainbow," with a roll of his green eyes.

"Yeah it was!" She yelled between her giggles, "Missing mommy much?" She taunted, which made Soarin angry.

"Not as much as you seem to miss yours, since i had to fly your sorry flank home last night!" He said, with a smirk, confident in his fast comeback.

"That isn't funny," Rainbow said, her laughing stopped just as quickly as it had started. She glared over at him with an annoyed expression before turning to walk to walk away, "Leave," she commanded as she walked away.

His smirk faded as he noticed how upset Rainbow had gotten at what he thought was a pretty good comeback. "W-wait Rainbow," he stuttered as he got off the couch and to his hooves to follow after her.

"I didn't mean to..."

"Leave."

"But, i'm sorry."

"Leave!"

"Come on Rainbow, don't be mad."

"Goodbye Soarin."

"Wow your really stubborn."

"Thank you. Now leave!" Soarin laughed a little at what Rainbow said last and stopped trying to get her to forgive him.

"Oh come on! You have to at least laugh, that was funny." He said as he caught up with the mare. A smile was creeping onto her face, which told Soarin she was holding back her laugh."Just laugh it doesn't hurt." He added with a smirk, which made her smile grow even larger and that didn't go unnoticed by his emerald green eyes. "Come on, smile! Look it's easy i'm doing it now," he said, making his smile even larger. The smile he had now did a pretty good job of intimidating Surprise or Pinkie's, but his face wasn't as used to it as theirs was, so it looked really strained, like his face was struggling to hold it, which it was.

Rainbow held her laugh in pretty well, until he put that big smile on and she lost it. "Does your face hurt?" She asked in between her laughs, which Soarin responded to by nodding as he wiped the smile off his face and moved his jaw around.

"So, can i stay?" He asked once the pain in his face had faded away.

Rainbow smiled, her laugh fading away and said, "You can stay until practice.

"What do you mean you have no pie!?" Soarin yelled as he searched through Rainbow's kitchen for the pastry he desired.

Rainbow was chuckling once again as she said, "Sorry i don't eat pie everyday of my life," a piece of toast rested between her hooves. "Just have some toast with me," She offered.

"Why are you laughing?! This isn't funny!" Soarin replied angrily as he sat down, giving up on his search empty hoofed. He then glanced to the toast Rainbow had been eating and waved a dismissing hoof at it. "I think i'll be fine, practice starts in an hour or two for me anyway," he replied, just as a pair of hooves pounded against the front door.

"Your stomach won't last that long," Rainbow replied, confidently. She had spent the last year of her live training at the academy and saw a lot of Soarin while she was there, so by now she knew of his eating habits and knew his stomach wasn;t used to be empty for more than half an hour.

"Yes it will," Soarin argued as he Rainbow shoved the last of her toast into her mouth and went to answer the door.

"Oh hey Scoots," Rainbow greeted as she opened the door and saw the familar orange coated filly standing before her. "Wait how did you fly all the way up here?" She asked, not spotting anypony else around that could have carried or brought her up here with them.

Scootaloo smiled, and opened her mouth to say that she had indeed flew all the way up here, but it slammed shut once again when Rarity walked into her view and opened her mouth to speak.

"I hope you weren't about to lie Scootaloo," she said, waving a hoof at Rainbow as a greeting while she talked. "Right now you could get your cutie mark for anything, and you certinaly do not want to get it for lying, correct?" She asked, to which Scootaloo nodded in response. She smiled, happy her message had gotten across and then turned to Rainbow to explain how they had gotten up here. "We simply borrowed Pinkie's balloon and left her with the rest of the Crusaders in hopes that they will get there cutie marks for something that had to do with planning a party, since that's what Pinkie was doing. Scootaloo here refused to stay though because she thinks visiting you is far more important than getting her cutie mark," Rarity explained, which made Dash smile because she knew getting a cutie mark was very important to Scootaloo and the fact that she had blown a chance of getting one off just to spend time with her made her happy, but Rarity seemed to not notice the signiffigance of what she had said because she was too busy explaining on. "So, because Scootaloo was so excited to see you i let her rush ahead while i tied the balloon up to your house, that's why she was all alone on your doorstep.

Rainbow nodded understandingly as she smiled down at Scootaloo who just blushed and smiled back. She then looked to Rarity and asked, "But, how are you standing on these clouds?"

"Oh, after i almost plumitted to my death at the Young Flyer's competition i decided to never again have Twilight give me magical, beautiful wings and instead forced her to teach me the cloud walking spell, so that if i ever did fall out of the sky again i could just use it to catch myself on a cloud," Rarity said with a smile. "Now, may we come in dear?"

Rainbow laughed a bit and then said "of course." As she turned to walk back to the kitchen.

"Rainbow Dash! This place is a disaster!" Rarity complained as she walked after the cyan mare, observing her messy surroundings.

"I hadn't noticed," Rainbow said flatly as he walked on.

"I think it looks awesome!" Scootaloo added as she walked by Rainbow.

Rarity rolled her eyes at what they had said and walked on, disgusted.

Suddenly the marshmallow colored mare felt nothing underneath her back hooves and fell through the hole from yesterday, that Rainbow had forgotten to fix. "Ahhhh! Twilight's spell wore off! I'm going to fall to my death!!!" Rarity screeched as she dangled from a piece of cloud and the two pegasi chuckled. "This isn't funny i'm going to die!" Rarity yelled madly, before Soarin came to investigate the noise, spotted her and pulled her up onto the clouds again. "O-oh thank you. Your such a gentlecolt!" Rarity purred as she regained her hoofing and fixed her mane.

"WONDER BOLT!" Scootaloo screamed, as she ran over to Soarin, avoiding the hole and hugged his leg. "I'm your biggest fan!" She said as he looked down with an awkward smile.

"Hey! I thought you were my biggest fan." Rainbow said as she pulled Scootaloo off his leg.

"Well if i'm your biggest fan and your his biggest fan, then i must be his biggest fan too." Scootaloo defended as she glanced from Soarin to Rainbow.

"Your my biggest fan huh? Is that why you were clinging to me as I flew you home last night?" He asked, sporting a smirk on his face.

"No," Rainbow responded, angrily as she pushed him out the front door and slammed the door behind her.

"I was going to leave and get pie anyway!" He yelled through the door before taking off. Obviously Rainbow was right, he couldn't last more than thirty minutes without eating.

Rainbow turned to walk back to where the other ponies were and was met by two big smiles. "That is not what happened," she said in an attempt to make their smiles disappear, but it didn't work. "J-just stop looking at me like that!" he She said, the identical smiles starting to creep her out.

"I came to try and run a brush through your gorgeously long mane, but this is way more important!" Rarity said with a smile. She was now sitting at the table, to Rainbow's left.

"I can't believe Soarin is your colt-friend! The club is going to love this!" Scootaloo added with a smile, sitting to Rainbow's right.

"He's not my coltfriend," Rainbow said with a sigh as she rested her head on her forehooves.

"Then why was he here?" Rarity asked with a smirk.

"W-well after the party, I was going to fly back to Ponyville with Pinkie, but she left without me. So, i was going to fly home alone, but Soarin offered to fly me home, so he did. B-but, i was not clinging to him, we just flew beside each other! Then, he stayed the night, because it was late," Rainbow explained with a shrug.

"Your lying!" Scootaloo pointed out and Rarity nodded in agreement.

"It's okay if he's your coltfriend, he is a pretty handsome piece of flank. There is nothing to be ashamed of there." Rarity assured her with a smile.

"Stop that's wrong..." Rainbow mumbled in response as she glanced over at Rarity who was just giggling to herself.

"No it's the truth," Rarity corrected as she used her magic to pull a brush from her saddle bags and used it to begin brushing through Rainbow's mane.

Scootaloo sighed and complained, "Now we have to get new hats to match you Dash!" As Rarity brushed on. "I like your old mane-do better anyway," She added and got up to explore Rainbow's house because watching Rarity brush through Rainbow's mane wasn't stimulating enough for the young filly.

"I do too," Rainbow said with a sigh as she watched Scootaloo walk off and turned her attention to her hooves. She was fidgeting with them boardly as she tried to forget the whole conversation she had before Rarity started brushing her mane, which is also why she didn't bother to stop her.

"There look how gorgeous you look!" Rarity said with a smile as she used her magic to put the last of her makeup away and let Rainbow look at her reflection in the mirror.

"I look too good." Rainbow complained as she tugged the dress that Rarity had gotten onto her while she was lost in her thoughts and messed with the red eye shadow that Rarity had also put on her.

"Stop! Your ruining it!" Rarity complained and tried to get Rainbow's hooves off her face.

"That's the point! I don't want to look good!" Rainbow responded as she continued to try and wipe the makeup off her face and get the dress off.

"Rainbow dear, calm down. There is nothing wrong with looking good," Rarity assured her as she continued to pull at Rainbow's hooves.

"Yes there is! That is how you get taken!" Rainbow yelled as her eyes teared up and she pulled away from Rarity, flying up to lock herself in her room.

"Oh, Rainbow i'm so sorry!" Rarity called after the cyan mare as she followed after her on hoof.

Scootaloo was attracted the the scene by Rarity's yelling and got there in time to watch Rarity hurrying up the stairs, so she followed, curious about what was going on.

"Rainbow, i'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you!. Please open up so i can comfort you," Rarity pleaded from behind Rainbow's door. She couldn't help but think this is how Rainbow and the others had felt when she had locked herself up in her boutique awhile ago and hatched an idea. "I'll go get the others! Yeah that way we can all coax her out of there!" She thought out loud and then turned to Scootaloo, a proud smile on her face. "I will be back soon, you stay here," she instructed as she started walking towards the stairs again,but Scootaloo stood in front of her, stopping her before she could get any farther. "What is it Scootaloo?" She asked, confused as to why the filly had stopped her.

"Well Rainbow Dash kicks clouds for the weather team and they disappear right?"

"Yes, but i'm not sure how that has anything to do with getting her out of that room," Rarity replied with a confused expression.

"Well, since the door is made of clouds can't we just kick it and it will disappear, then we can get in?" Scootaloo asked.

Rarity shrugged and said, "It may work, but i'm not quite sure. You see i have never kicked a cloud before. But, you can give it a try."

"Okay! Maybe i'll even get my cutie mark for cloud kicking!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she walked back over to the door and got ready to kick it.

"I'm almost there Rarity i can feel it!" Scootaloo said as she bucked the cloud for probably the tenth time.

Rarity glanced to Scootaloo as she spoke and then back to the door and sighed. "I don't think your getting your cutie mark for cloud kicking." She said flatly as she nudged Scootaloo away from the door and then readied herself to kick it. She then kicked the cloud and it disappeared, leaving an empty doorway in front of both the ponies. Scootaloo sighed and Rarity glanced back at the filly, "Well maybe you just need to practice it a little bit and then it will be your cutie mark. I pretty sure even Rainbow didn't get it right on her first try," She said with a smile, hoping to cheer the filly up and it worked.

"O-okay! I'll go practice!" She smiled and walked off to go kick some more of the clouds that made up Rainbow's home. Rarity didn't worry about her causing the house any more destruction than it already had because she knew Scootaloo couldn't kick a cloud out of existence, she had clearly proven that earlier.

"Rainbow, i have broken in!" Rarity proceeded to announce as she walked into the room and was greeted by just that, an empty room. "Rainbow? Rainbow!" She called and the noticed the cloud window that was wide open. "Celestia dam it!" She said under her breath after she had fully examined the room and came up with nothing. "Don't talk like that Rarity you are a lady," she reminded herself as she turned to exit the room, figuring Dash had dashed off and she wouldn't be able to find her, so she and Scootaloo would just go home.

Rainbow was far past Ponyville by now and on her way to the Wonder Bolts training area, her flying suit and goggles hanging from her muzzle. She had figured since she didn't want to sit around and mope that she would start flying to the training area to clear her head and be on time. She finally reached her destination and landed so that she could walk into the building.

As she trotted down the hallways to the break room she noticed she was getting a lot more looks then she usually did and she couldn't seem to understand why. "Why are they staring at me?" She thought. She knew she had scrubbed the eye shadow off and wiggled her way out of the dress she had been stuffed into, but she couldn't think of anything else that could be grabbing their attention until she bumped right into Soarin who had stopped in his and her tracks to look at her.

"Your mane looks awesome!" He said with a goofy smile and Rainbow face hoofed herself suddenly remembering that Rarity had styled that on top of everything else. She hadn't flown fast on her way here either, so it wasn't even slightly messed up and still appeared as it had been done.

"I'm having it cut tomorrow," she said flatly as she stepped aside and then walked past him. Continuing on her way to the break room.

Once at her destination Rainbow peaked into the mirror and examined the mane-do that her mane was forced into. Nothing was really different about it than before, except for the fact that it had been brushed out and for some reason even she couldn't denie it looked a lot better. "Ugh!" She complained and lifted her hooves up to mess with her hair when they were pulled behind her back.

"Hooves behind your back," said and unfamiliar voice as Rainbow's face grew confused, thinking it was a cop and not sure what she had done wrong.

"Um..what is this about?" She asked trying to glance behind her, completely forgetting that she could simply look into the mirror and see who it was.

"For trying to mess up that amazing mane," The voice replied and Rainbow frowned as she remembered she could see who it was in the mirror and did so,

"Soarin?!" She said, surprised that he had not only kept his composure for that long but also made his voice so different.

"Yup!" He smiled, still holding onto her hooves that were fidgeting slightly in his grip. "You shouldn't mess with it it looks good." He added and Rainbow rolled her eyes, ripping her hooves from his grip and returning them to the floor.

"And that is a bad thing!" She yelled as she tried to mess it up again but Soarin pulled her hooves behind her back once more, this time holding them tighter. "Let me go!" She groaned, struggling to free her hooves with no success. As she struggled she remembered a part of her kidnapping.

"You sure look pretty today." The kidnapper said with a smile as he entered where he was keeping Rainbow.

She huffed and said "I look like crap! But, then again i haven't showered in awhile. What's your excuse?"

He laughed slightly and said "Well your mane looks amazing as usual." He shrugged and sat down to turn on the news which happened to be about Rainbow Dash's disappearance.

"I'm going bald as soon as i get out of this rat hole," Rainbow grumbled as she yanked at the chains she was attached to and then threw her hooves down in frustration.

Suddenly, she was ripped out of her memories as pain stated comming from where Soarin was tightly holding her hooves. "I said let me go Soarin!" She yelled again and he still refused to do so. "Fine then i'm leaving!" She grumbled and let her wings out then took off, Soarin dangling by her arms.

"You messed it up." He sighed as he let go and flew beside her.

"I know." She smirked and sat on a nearby cloud, rubbing at her sore hooves.

Soarin sat beside her and said,"Why can't you just be girly for once? Spit does it and she isn't mocked for doing so." He glanced to her as she spoke, but she was too busy rubbing her hooves and sniffling as she fought back tears "You did it before, but since the...well, the kidnapping you have refused to do so even for the Gala." He continued, recalling seeing Rainbow at the previous gala wearing nothing, but her flight goggles and a frown. "I just want to know what happened," he added watching as she rubbed pointlessly at her hooves, which by now no longer hurt.

"You don't want to hear about it anyway." She said with a sniffle as she glanced up and over at him then bit her lip, still fighting off tears. She was never one to just break down or cry in public if she could help it, but as she met his simpathetic expression and his big green eyes she had a pretty hard time holding it all back.

"Yes i do." He corrected and she bit down on her lip harder before she began to explain. She talked slow and stopped often to catch her tears and push them back before they could come out, but as she got deeper into her explaining she lost it and the tears started to stream down. "Ugh, sorry," she said, stopping in her explanation to roughly rub her face clean and try and stop her tears once again.

"No, it's fine," Soarin reassured her, grabbing her hooves to place them back on the ground and save her face the ruff rubbing.

"No, no it's not," she groaned, giving him a tough expression that melted away like butter as he put his hooves around her, trying to calm her down once again.

"I said it was fine, just keep going," he said and she began her explanation once again, tears running freely down her face.

Spitfire sat nearby with Surprise beside her. They watched as Rainbow sobbed and spoke about something that they couldn't hear, all while Soarin hugged her. "I told you they were gonna end up together, you should have listened to me silly!" Surprise giggled and held her hoof out, "I believe our bet was 20 bits," she smirked.

"You don't know that for sure," Spitfire said, pushing Surprise's hoof away.

"Pinkie said Dash only takes her tuffy girl act around those she really trust, soooo she must really trust him." Surprise commented and Spitfire shrugged,

"Okay, so she trust him, still doesn't mean anything," Spitfire added.

"O-oh! And Pinkie told me she hid on the two of them at the party, then they hugged and flew home together like that! She even said Soarin slept over there last night too!" Surprise giggled and Spitfire sighed in defeat as she pulled 20 bits out of her saddle bag and hoofed them over to Surprise.

"How does your cousin even know all this?" She asked and Surprise smiled as she said,

"Us Pies have our ways."

Spitfire laughed and said "I guess i shouldn't question it anymore then," With a shrug.

"Well, catch ya later Spitfire, I've got to go collect from the other team members," Surprise smirked and sped off.

"Oh Surprise," Spitfire laughed and watched her leave.

Friend Zoned

"Now y-you've got me crying like a foal," Rainbow complained as she pushed away from Soarin to ruffly . She rub her tears away again.

"Your not a foal, but that colt is dead when i get my hooves on him. Doesn't he know i am a trained member of Equestria's military?!" Soarin said, puffing his chest out an angry expression on his face.

"Shh! Would you just calm down, it's done and over with n-nothing you can do about it now o-or could have down t-then," Dash mumbled as she let her hooves slid off her face.

"Dash don't say that, that just isn't something that you get over that easily! I hope he rots in prison for his crime if i can't get my hooves on him!" Soarin replied, his voice still raised despite Rainbow's efforts to shush him.

"W-well, the court doesn't k-know about it," Rainbow explained with a shrug as she glanced back over at him.

"Wait! What?" Soarin asked, confused as to what she meant.

"How was i supposed to tell them that?!" Rainbow hissed, throwing her hooves back into the air madly. She was sick of telling him to be quiet by now and tired of the whole conversation, which didn't end with a very happy Rainbow.

"Dashy, he is only in for foalnapping and will be out before we know it if you don't add these charges on him." Soarin replied, his voice calmer and softer now, so that she wouldn't get any madder at him.

"Yeah, well who's g-gonna tell them, cause i'm not!" Rainbow responded, obviously still angry about the whole situation. She looked at him for another moment and then stood to her hooves and stormed off to the end of the cloud where she took flight and sped off towards Ponyville, where the solitude of her house waited for her.

"Come on Rainbow!" Soarin groaned as he got to his hooves and then flew after her.

Soarin was fast, is an under statement of just how fast this colt could fly through the air, but Rainbow Dash was even faster when she was angry. By now he knew they were in Ponyville and was still just a few hooves away from the mare, he remained quiet and chased her. Soon they were at her front door and she was struggling to open the door with her keys with her sharp angry movements, which only made her more frustrated and angry. "Rainbow, let me do it," he offered, flashing a small smile at her.

"No! L-leave me alone!"

"I'm not going to leave you alone until you calm down."

"I'm fine!" She yelled turning to face him.

"Oh come on Rainbow, this is the worst argument ever," he said with a sigh. At this point she was tired of it all and just wanted it to all stop. So, she sat, dropped her keys and looked towards him as she sighed.

Soarin took this as her asking for help and retrieved her keys before they fell through the clouds, then opened her door to let her inside.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she walked in and up to her room, starting to calm down a bit.

Soarin sighed and threw her keys down on the couch then went to close the door when a big, pink, puffy maned pony appeared out of what seemed to be no where.

"We are busy Pinkie," Soarin said to her, not even surprised at her sudden appearance since he was around Surprise so often.

"I came to cheer Dashie up, Rarity said she wasn't in a good mood," Pinkie said with a frown and Soarin sighed, tapping his hoof, anxious to get up to Dash and see what she was doing.

"Really Pinkie, she is busy and i have to get up to her. So please leave," Soarin said, his voice still calm and collective as the pink pony sighed and took off out the door to a big pink hot air balloon. "She'll be back soon, she is just like Surprise and I know Surprise too well," He mumbled to himself as he shut the door, locking it behind him and then walked up to Rainbow's room.

"Rainbow," he began but was interrupted by the mentioned Mare as she complained about his presence in her house. "I'm not leaving Da-i mean Rainbow," he continued anyway and walked over to sit on her bed by her. Rainbow merely sighed and looked away from him, stubbornly. "I just have one question and then i'll leave you alone, but only if you answer it. Deal?" he added and she looked towards him, interested in his offer. She nodded. "So, if you wouldn't even tell the judge what he did to you, why did you tell me?" He asked and her face softened and went blank with thought.

"I-I don't know," she mumbled, looking up to his face.

He shrugged and said, "That isn't an answer, so i get another question," with a smirk and she shook her head.

"I will answer," she said, her facial expression softening as she gave it some more thought. "Get me a towel from the bathroom first though, okay?" She asked, pulling herself from her thought, because she had come up with an answer now. He nodded then took off down the hallway, already knowing where the bathroom and towels were from when he stayed over last time.

She watched him leave and exhaled then fell backwards on her bed, exhustedly. Getting all worked up could do that to a mare.

Soarin returned moments later with a black towel in his mouth and dropped it on the bed beside Rainbow who was now sound asleep. "Great, there goes my answer," he said with a sigh and picked the towel up again. "I guess i could whip her face off anyway," he said muffedly to himself as he started to pat her face with the towel. She fidgeted slightly in her sleep as he did this, but she didn't wake, so he continued.

"You look cute when you sleep," he said, chuckling to himself to himself as he threw the towel down and sat on the end of the bed. "I sure am tired," he mumbled and looked back at the empty space behind him. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if i just, took a nap, right?" He asked himself then shrugged and laid down, letting his wings get a rest from the fast, straining flight here. "I forgot how soft cloud beds were," he mumbled, a smile creeping on to his face as his wings rested on the cloud bed and his eye lids closed. "She is going to kill me when she wakes up, but it will all be worth it," He whispered as he fell asleep.

Moments later a silly pink pony jumped from a balloon into the bedroom, "I'm in now to find them," it whispered as it crept on and then noticed the two ponies laying in bed. Her eyes widened as she looked over the scene and a cartoon light bulb shone above her puffy mane as she said, "So, this is what Rarity was talking about a loooong time ago!" Happy she had figured it out. "Now I've got to get that picture for evidence like i Pinkie promised Rarity," She continued to say as she pulled a camera out of no where and snapped a picture.

"Okie dokie Rarity i'm coming, Dashie looks fine," She said to herself as she backed up, ran towards the window and leaped into her balloon, happy to know Dash was okay and that she had something for Rarity.

"Ugh," Rainbow mumbled as she rolled herself over onto her belly, beginning to wake up. She rolled over right onto Soarin's stomach and smiled as she nuzzled her head into his fur. "So comfy..." She mumbled on as she let her eyes close before they could even see stright and she fell asleep again. As she slept she shifted on and ended up laying on top of Soarin, clinging onto his body like a teddy bear, which she thought was a pillow. Again she awoke and this time was blinded by the sun shining in her window, "Ugh!" She complained again and slammed her face into Soarin's belly which caused him to wake and almost loose his last meal.

"Ah! Celestia dammit that hurt!" He groaned as he sat up and attempted to grab his stomach, but got rainbow's face instead.

"AH!!!!" She screamed and ripped her head from his hooves in a panic. "Don't rape me again! Just let me go!" She cried as she fell off the bed and Soarin forced his eyes open.

"Whoa calm down Rainbow!" He yelled to her and her head popped up to look at him from the cloud floor.

She glared back at him angrily and yelled, "What the buck are you doing here?!?" She suddenly stopped yelling though as she took in his image and then let her face fall to the bed miserably.

"Why'd you stop yelling? What are you lookin, oh..." He said as his cheeks lit up embarrassed and he tried to calm his over excited wings who seemed to be enjoying Rainbow's cuddling very much.

"Celestia dammit!" Rainbow groaned through the clouds and Soarin began to stutter.

"I-i s-swear n-no i-i-i...i Pinkie swear, no! I Pinkie p-promise t-that we did NOTHING."

"I know i remember i was just pulling your tail for scaring me," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she lifted her head to reveal a smile.

"You know you have a sick sense of humor," He grumbled as his wings finally fell and he tucked them in on his sides.

"Yeah, but you should have seen the look on your face!" She said as she laughed on and got up to sit by him on the bed.

"Y-yeah well...you should have seen the look on your face when you thought i was that colt," He added with a chuckle himself, but Rainbow's laughing stopped and he realized how horrible his try at a comeback was. "Rainbow i didn't..."

"Goodbye," she mumbled as she turned her body away from him and let her head hang.

"Look Rainbow...aw don't cry! Your messing up that pretty face...Come on show me those shinning white teeth! No? Fine then at least show me that beautiful face. No? Oh, just don't cry...It makes me feel as bad as that colt is," he said as Rainbow sat, looking away from him crying.

"I'm not crying and no, y-your not that bad," she mumbled and his ears perked up as he got up to walk across the bed and sit in front of her. "A-and stop calling me pretty. We all know i look like crap, no need to rub it in," she sighed as she lifted her head and glanced into the mirror across the room.

"No..don't say that Rainbow your don't look bad," He said and forced a smile at her but she sighed and his smile fell.

"Don't lie Soarin. Take a good long look at me and say it again if it's true," she added and he nodded as her magenta eyes fell sadly from the mirror to him.

"Well your mane is dull, and your eyes are swollen and sore. You look well hurt, run down, drained you know?" She nodded and looked away from him, she had always been concerned about her appearance it came with being cocky so she hated looking like she did, but she was just too afraid to fix her appearance because of him. "But, your still the beautiful mare i love," he continued and she glanced back to him, confused.

"y-you l-love me?" She asked as she stared blankly at him.

"Yes Rainbow, i love everything about you and i don't know why. Your always so pushy and mean with me, but i guess i like that," he said with a shrug and she smiled a bit.

"I love you to Soarin," she said with a smile and threw her arms around him. "Your a good friend, you know just how to put up with my crap. That's why i love you like one of the girls!" She said as she squeezed him, her smile big and bright on her face as his smile faded and his face fell as well.

"But, i didn't want you to love me like one of the girls," he thought, disappointed, but only said, "You better stock up with pies then, because i will sleep over like one of them," with a faked smile as she let go of him.

"Deal," She said, her smile, shining brightly and her run down face filled with joy.

"Yeah, better be a deal if i'm just a friend," he groaned softly.

"What was that?" She asked, not quite hearing him and he shook his head.

"Nah, it was nothing," he said and faked another smile for her, which she returned with an even bigger one on her face.

A Photo Illusion

"Are you sure you don't want any toast?" Rainbow Dash asked as she nibbled on a piece of toast she had cooked with a small thunder cloud that she kept to use as a toaster.

"Yeah, I don't really like toast, but you seem to have an obsession with it." Soarin replied as he took a seat by her at the kitchen table.

"I do not have an obsession with toast," Rainbow said flatly. "I just eat it a lot because Pinkie usually brings a couple loaves of her homemade bread over every time she visits me. "She explained.

"All i've seen you eat the days i slept over was toast ,and i doubt you eat anything different when i'm not around. I mean do you even have food in your fridge?" He said with a chuckle as he got up and opened the fridge the reveal just what he had said, nothing. "You really don't have anything in your house, but toast? Why don't you go fill this thing up?" He asked.

Rainbow just shrugged, not really knowing the exact reason why she chose to live off of Pinkie's bread instead of shopping for more food.

"Well have you gone shopping even once since you got back three months ago?" Soarin asked and Rainbow shook her head no, so he got lost in his thoughts, trying to piece the mystery together. "I know why your living off bread then!" He announced a couple minutes later, now sitting by her at the table again.

"Okay why am i living off bread then?" She asked with a sigh as she played with the crumbs of toast that were left over from her eaten breakfast.

"Well, this had to have started after you got back, since i always seen you eating some little snack you brought from home around the practice area before that. So, i figure that you are living off of bread because it is delivered to your house by Pinkie , which means you don't have to leave your house to eat and you don't have to face your fear of being out in public alone where somepony could grab you again," He said with a smile, proud that he had figured out the small mystery.

Rainbow just shrugged again and stayed quiet, still playing with the crumbs of toast.

"Dash i think it's time you get out of the house and face your fear, because chances are nothing is going to happen to you so you'll get over it and not have to live off that toast," He added.

"No, i don't think it is time to do that," Rainbow said, her facial expression becoming angry. "I'm perfectly fine with my toast."

Soarin sighed and rested his head on his hooves. "Calm down killer," he said as he watched her mad expression fade. He then offered, "I can help you shop if you want."

"Your morning practice begins soon and you have to go get some breakfast before you go, so you should leave," Rainbow said, calmly as she glanced away from Soarin's stare. She was trying to get him to leave so she wouldn't have to talk about her fear any longer because she knew she would probably start tearing up again and she hated those stupid tears.

"I guess i should," he mumbled as he glanced to the large, self standing clock that was placed in front of them. "Well i'll see you at the academy, i guess," he mumbled on and got up, walking to the door. He sighed as he stood in the doorway and then opened his wings to take to the skies. He hated seeing her so afraid like this and could sense she wanted him gone, so he left even though he still had plenty of time to do everything that he needed to.

"Lock the door," Rainbow called after him, brushing the crumbs off the table with a sigh.

"Get your flank down here Rainbow Dash," Apple Jack roared into a megaphone from below Rainbow's cloud house.

Rainbow heard this yelling from the couch she was lounged on, a Daring Doo book sitting wide open in front of her, but she didn't even get up. "Ignore her," she told herself as she tried to find the last word she had read in the book and pick up from there.

"Rainbow Dash lets go ya' missed the last eleven meetings and Ahm not lettin' ya miss this one," Apple Jack continued to roar over the megaphone.

At this point Rainbow had lost her concentration in the book she was reading and closed it with her nose. "I'm missing this one too Apple Jack, give up already, you always do," she mumbled to herself as she got off the couch, hitting the book to the floor.

"Hey! ah heard that," Apple Jack said this time without the megaphone because she was walking through the front door and knew she could be heard perfectly fine.

"How did you unlock the door?" Rainbow asked as she turned to face the farmer pony. "I'm pretty sure i told Soarin to lock it on his way to practice this morning."

"Well that fancy colt-friend of yours didn't listen," Apple Jack responded as she walked closer to Rainbow Dash. "Now lets go, the girls and ah are meetin' at ma farm and your commin,'" she added, skipping right to the reason why she had entered the home anyway.

"He isn't my colt-friend, i don't know where you and Rarity got that idea from, but your wrong," Rainbow corrected. "And i'm still not going!"

"How bout' this, we hoof wrestle for it. If ah win then your commin' down to the farm with me, but if you win then ah will leave ya alone. Deal?" She asked, already predicting Rainbow's answer simply because she knew how competitive the cyan mare was.

"You've got a deal," Rainbow said with a smile and walked to her kitchen so that they could hoof wrestle on her kitchen table, Apple Jack followed not short behind. "Alright ready?" She asked.

"No first i want ya to Pinkie Promise that you will come down to ma farm with me if i win," Apple Jack added with a smile and Rainbow frowned, but nodded and then went through the verbal agreement they knew as a Pinkie Promise.

"Now come on sugar cube, the girls are over here," Apple Jack said as she walked through the fields of Apple trees until they reached the barn. Rainbow Dash trailed behind her cautiously checking the rows for a sign of any pony else hiding behind them. "Hurry up Rainbow, i thought you were the fastest in Equestria," Apple Jack added and Rainbow sighed then ran to catch up with her.

"Rainbow darling, It's so nice to see you someplace rather than that filthy house of yours," Rarity said with a smile as she got off a purple cushion she had brought to sit on and walked over to great the cyan mare.

"Rarity your being a big meenie," Pink said as she walked over to stand by Rarity.

Rarity simply sighed and apologized as Twilight called everypony over to have a seat.

Rainbow sat on a barrel of hay in between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy as the other five friends began to chat amongst each other. "Um, Rainbow Dash are you okay?" Fluttershy suddenly whispered towards Rainbow so that she wouldn't draw any attention to their side conversation. "Yeah, i'm fine Flutters," Rainbow whispered back as she glanced to the butter colored mare who didn't seem to believe her, but she said nothing more, not wanting to bother her friend. "Okay, maybe i'm a little less than okay," Rainbow whispered still looking at Fluttershy who nodded and said, "I knew that, i just didn't want to bother you." Rainbow smiled at Fluttershy and said, "You could never bother me Flutters, your far to kind." Fluttershy smiled back at her and then was about to ask her what was wrong when Apple Jack interrupted their conversation.

"So how was your weekend Fluttershy?" She asked as she glanced to Fluttershy who in return glanced to her.

"Oh it was fine, thank you. Angel bunny and i were learning some new recipes out of a book i borrowed from Twilight," She responded. "He wasn't very happy with the outcome though and threw the book at me, but i managed to calm him down with his favorite treat from Sugar Cube Conner." She explained with a smile even though the other mares were clearly not pleased with her spoiled bunny's behavior. But, they didn't say anything, not wanting to hurt her feelings because they knew she and that bunny were very close. The group instead turned their attention to Rainbow Dash, since the rest of them had already shared their weekend stories before Fluttershy and Dash began paying attention.

"So Rainbow, how was your weekend?" Twilight asked and Rainbow merely shrugged.

"It was okay i guess, i didn't really do anything," she said and notice Rarity begin shuffling through her saddle bags.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, there is no need for you to hold back on your exciting weekend for us. Go ahead tell everypony what you did. Start with when i brushed your mane for you," Rarity said, trying to buy herself more time to find the item she was looking for.

"Well, Rarity came over with Scootaloo and she brushed my mane, put some of her make-up on me and then stuffed me in a dress, it was horrible," Rainbow said flatly and Rarity rolled her blue eyes.

"She looked amazing, but then she took off and i guess got rid of all my hard work," Rarity said with a sigh and then brought her attention back to her saddle bags. "I actually have a picture from Dash's weekend in here somewhere." She added. "Just give me a second to..ah! I found it, never mind," She said with a smile as she used her horn to levitate a picture from the saddle bags and onto the floor. "Everypony take a look."

The others crowded around the picture quickly, leaving Rainbow and Fluttershy to wait for them to clear up to get a glimpse of the picture, but they seemed to be looking at it for an awfully long time which aggravated Rainbow. So, she grabbed onto Fluttershy's left hoof and flew up into the air, pulling the shy mare behind her until she started to use her own wings to fly over the picture with Rainbow. "All i see is me napping, but i do that all the time, so whats the big deal?" She asked and the others backed up a little bit to reveal the second half of the picture.

"Rarity told me this was after you and Soarin had a little fun! I wish i could have been there too! I like fun!," Pinkie chuckled and Rarity sighed.

"Pinkie! You were not supposed to say that!" She said as the other mares looked to Rainbow, shocked.

From that moment on everypony seemed to be talking over each other, while Rainbow sunk to the ground and tried to listen to what they all had to say.

"I hope you were safe, i have a whole book on this stuff from my studies in school. You should really take it out and look over to make sure everything is okay."

"Pinkie! I told you not to tell anyone that until we had solid proof!"

"Well, you should have made me Pinkie Promise, silly!"

"Oh my, Rainbow i'm sorry if i upset you earlier. You seemed down about the whole thing."

"Rainbow Dash you know what Granny Smith thinks bout' that sorta thing, and ah think that way too. Ya shouldn't have done it, ya should have been waitin' for marriage!"

After Apple Jack's comment Rainbow was mad. So, she stood up and yelled so that everypony would stop talking and look at her, it worked. Each face in the room was now directed at her, waiting to hear what she had to say about the picture they had been presented with. "Listen everypony, that isn't what you think it is," she began and then the others picked up again. They were talking to her, but all at once making her unable to follow what each of them had to say, but she didn't care and yelled, "I said listen!" Which brought every pony's attention back to her once more.

"What really happened is Soarin and i were leaving practice when he offered to fly me home, but i didn't want to fly i wanted to race and he agreed so that's what we did. Once we arrived at my house we were both tired and sweaty so i sent him to get a towel from my bathroom so that i could wipe the sweat off my face before going to bed while i sat on my bed waiting. I was exhusted from the racing and i fell asleep before he got back, so he wiped my face and then sat for a minute to try and get the strength to fly back to his house. But, we had raced pretty fast and a far distance, so he couldn't do it and decided to sleep over at my house, he must have been smiling because it felt good to rest, not because we just had 'fun'," she explain making all the mares in the room nod, like they had wanted it to not be true in the first place because they didn't.

"Oh, i'm so very sorry we accused you of that," Fluttershy said, being the first pony to speak which was a rare thing for her, but she felt a strong need to apologize. "We should have asked if you minded sharing with us before we jumped to conclusions."

"Yeah, ahm' real sorry Dash, i shouldnt' of gotten so angry at ya, before asking you if it was really try or not." Apple Jack added as she dipped her hat to Rainbow.

"You can still check out that book if you want, I don't think its been used since i was back at school with Celestia," Twilight offered but Rainbow refused the offer, not wanting to do any reading that didn't have to do with her favorite character Daring Doo.

"Oh Rainbow dear, i am so sorry as well. I shouldn't have told Pinkie to spy on you and take this picture and then none of this would have happened, I'm as bad as that Gabby Gums column was. I hope you can forgive Pinkie and I for it all." Rarity apologized.

"Yeah Dashie, i'm so sorry that i did that i didn't want to make you all angry like that, because i love to see you smile!" Pinkie added, raising her voice on the last part about the smile and flashing a big smile of her own. Her smile was so large it made Dash smile back at her even though she still didn't like being called Dashie.

"Alright, alright, i forgive all of you," she said with a chuckle as they all closed in to wrap their hooves around her.

"Group hug! I love group hugs!" Pinkie shouted as she squeezed Rainbow happily.

Dash smiled at this and let them hug her back. She felt so loved in that moment that she totally forgot about her fear of leaving the house. She had her friends and that was all she needed to coax her out of her fearful shell because she believed as long as they were there nothing bad would happen to her again. "I guess Soarin was right," She thought as the girls slowly began to break off of the hug.

Getting Healthy & Loosing Fear

"Um, excuse me Rainbow," Fluttershy mumbled from outside of the Pegasus' house, but still she got no response from her friend.

"Rainbow, darling it is cold and we would greatly appreciate it if you would open the door!" Rarity said, as he paced and shook. A pink and purple scarf was wrapped around her neck and draped over her shoulder, a matching hat pinned into her hair and of course a pair of pink boots to top it all off, but it still wasn't warming her as much as she wanted, since they were at a high altitude.

"Oh, Rarity it isn't t-that cold," Fluttershy added with a smile, though she shivered as well since she only wore a pair of green boots and a green hat.

"Yes F-Fluttershy it is that cold!" Rarity said as she stomped her hooves against the clouds and began to complain, "I'm soooo cold!"

Fluttershy sighed and said, "Rarity, calm down, i'm sure Rainbow's just having a hard time getting down her stairs, that's all." She then smiled at the unicorn who didn't seem to accept her horrible attempt at making an excuse for their friend.

"Or maybe she is just ignoring us, she does it a lot lately and it annoys me," Rarity huffed as she walked up to the door and gave it a hard buck, giving them a clear path in.

"Oh, i thought Rainbow had that protected," Fluttershy said as she watched Rarity trot in. "She really should have that done, a-anyway," she added quickly as she followed after the annoyed mare.

Rainbow was sprawled out across her bed, glaring at the envelope that sat before her head. "Staring at it isn't going to magically open it for you. Your not a unicorn," she mumbled to herself, an attempt to force her body to stop staring at the sealed envelope and open it already.

"Yeah, but you did have to walk all the way to the mailbox a few minutes ago," she reminded herself, supporting her horrible habit of being lazy.

"Why can't i just be a unicorn!" She complained and then groaned as she moved her right foreleg up so that her hoof was flat on her bed.

"Because you love flying too much," she reminded herself as she lifted her other foreleg so that that hoof touched the bed and then let her back hooves do the same.

"Now stop being a lazy flank and open the letter!" She yelled at herself as she pulled herself to a sitting position. She then lifted the letter with her muzzle and rested it between her forehooves as she ripped it open. She groaned once more and pulled the letter from what was left of the envelope to begin reading it.

Dear Rainbow Crash,

So, hows my favorite crash test dummy doing? Funny i found out about that nickname, huh? Turns out your 'friends' are big fans of the Wonderbolts and were at our performance. They tried to start up a conversation with me backstage and i guess you were the only way they could begin one. Anyway, Spitfire told me to mail you this letter to remind you we will be back later today and that you better have done the wing-ups she instructed you to do when we left or she is going to kick you. Yeah, so have fun with that!

See ya soon, Soarin.

Rainbow rolled her eyes once she had finished reading the letter and hit it off her bed. "I'm not a crash test dummy!" She said angery as it hit the floor, but then a smile crept onto her face and she broke out into laughter.

"Okay, maybe it was just a little funny," she mumbled as she tried to make her face angry again, but failed. She then looked to the fallen letter once more and a frown appeared on her face. "I can't believe i pushed those wing-ups off for so long though," she groaned and forced her wings to open up.

She jumped onto the floor and got into wing-up position, though she really didn't want to. She had been instructed to do twenty a day, as the others in her group were in Spitfire's abstinence. Before she was kidnapped she probably would have blown them off and Spitfire would have never known because she was in good shape. But, since she hadn't really been trying her hardest in practice or doing anything outside of it she was not in that great of shape. Therefore, Spitfire would know she didn't do her instructed wing-ups and kick her.

By now she had a total of sixty to do before her instructor got back later that day and absolutely no ambition to do them, except for the fact that if she didn't she would be kicked. Being kicked would mean that Rainbow would no longer be aloud to train at the academy or have a chance at becoming a Wonderbolt, which was something she never wanted to happen. She knew that if she did get kicked then she would have to wait years until another former Wonderbolt announced they would be retiring and the academy would accept another group in hopes of filling that position. But, by the time that rolled around she would be way past her prime and wouldn't stand a chance of against the younger ponies.

So, she was now in wing-up position, ready to force herself to do the required wing-ups when her bedroom door flung open and hit her in the head.

"Rainbow are you deaf?!? Your lucky Fluttershy and I didn't freeze out there," Rarity complained as she paced before the two pegusi on the floor.

"No, but you could have made me deaf with that dam door!"

"Rainbow language!" Rarity said, stopping her pacing to look at the mare for a moment and then continued on with her pacing and complaining.

"Dam, dam dam!" Rainbow taunted, but was interrupted before she could say it again by a butterscotch hoof that was shoved into her mouth.

"Rainbow language!" Fluttershy repeated, stopping from looking at the mare's head to see if there were any injures because she could no longer take the foul language.

"Yes, listen to us. Ladies don't talk like that," Rarity added as she approached the two pegasi and glanced at Rainbow's head. "You look fine anyway, so get off the floor, run a brush through that mane, put your winter attire on and leave with us. Oh, and brush your teeth as well," Rarity instructed, reaching a hoof out for the mare.

Fluttershy re-claimed her hoof and said, "Yes, Rainbow you are fine, but there might be a slight bruise there tomorrow. Now, would you mind please getting ready for us so that we can go out together."

"Yes mom and dad," Rainbow sighed as she grabbed Rarity's hoof and was pulled off the floor. She then trotted off to her bathroom.

"That is mom and mom to you!" Rarity added as she walked away and then laid herself across the bed to try and calm herself. "That mare sure is a piece of work," she added once she knew Rainbow couldn't hear.

"W-well do you blame her?" Fluttershy asked as she floated up and then landed on the bed.

"No, but i miss the old Rainbow. Fighting with her over modeling for me, her fashion sense and mane-do was much more pleasant then breaking into her home and arguing about other unnecessary things."

"I agree," Fluttershy added. "She's like Angel Bunny when i first took him in. He had been left by his family and was scared, but after awhile he got better and came to be the sweet bunny he is today," she explained with a smile.

"Or she is like my sweet Opal, her real self underneath all that armor that only comes out with certain ponies," Rarity added and Fluttershy nodded, but Rarity sighed. "Speaking of my dear Opal, i haven't actually ever seen her real self," Rarity added.

"That is because her real self is what you see her like everyday, i told you that when you were picking her out, but you didn't seem to listen," Fluttershy said sternly, she was like this usually when animals were mentioned.

"I just like to lie to myself sometimes Fluttershy, like you do with Angel," Rarity said flatly.

"I don't lie to myself about Angel Bunny, he is always so sweet to me," Fluttershy corrected.

"Then call me over if you find a colt-friend," Rarity added, glancing to the mare, seriously. She feared that Fluttershy would find a colt-friend just like Angel, and that wasn't good since he was always bossing the poor mare around.

"W-what d-do you mean? I-if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy stuttered, not as comfortable now since the topic had been shifted from animals.

"Forget it," Rarity said with a sigh, sinking into the bed more. "Wow this is really comfortable," she thought as she snuggled into the bed a bit more.

"O-okay, i'll forget it," Fluttershy said submissively, still siting up on a pillow that rested on the bed.

"Alright, i'm ready," Rainbow mumbled as she walked out of the bathroom and glanced to the two mares on her bed. She wore a dark blue scarf and matching boots, not caring much for what looked good, but what was conveniently located.

"Rainbow dear, i know why you refuse to leave this little piece of heaven most mornings," Rarity responded, sprawled out across the bed with a smile on her face. "You have to explain how one of these things is made to me. Heck, i might even incorporate it into my designs, they will really sell then," she added as she pulled herself up and looked to the mare before her.

"Yeah, yeah, i'll so that later," Rainbow replied and walked closer to the bed. "Well lets get going guys," she added, impatiently, since she had to be back before nightfall to practice her moves and workout as she used to.

"I thought i told you to run a brush through that mane not just wash it," Rarity said flatly as her eyes wondered up to Rainbow's mane. "Do you just expect it to do itself?"

"U-um actually, that is exactly what she expects to happen. S-she um, has done it since we were foals," Fluttershy added as she glanced to Rarity.

"Yeah Rarity, how else do you think it gets done? I don't waste my time on that diva stuff, i have better things to do," she said as Fluttershy began for the bedroom door and she followed.

"I am not a diva! I hate that word! It is always used as an insult when referred to me!" Rarity complained as she followed after the two mares.

"U-um, Rarity she didn't call you a diva," Fluttershy corrected and Rarity rolled her blue eyes, not appreciating the mare's observatation.

"I know Fluttershy," she said flatly, walking out the bedroom door after Rainbow.

Soon the trio had reached where Rainbow's front door would have been, if it wasn't kicked out of existence by a certain marshmallow colored mare.

"Rarity! This is the second door I've had to fix because you got inpatient and kicked it!" Rainbow began to complain as she headed out the door to grab a cloud and begin her repairs.

"Well the first time i had to or Scootaloo and i would have been sitting there worried sick about you for ever!" Rarity said in her defense, but she soon noticed that Rainbow did not care for the explanation and had chosen not to listen to it.

"Well, you should get the house protected anyway," Fluttershy mumbled, though it wasn't heard over the two mares who were complaining about one another.

"I wasn't going to die or anything! You didn't have to worry! I'm grown up!"

"Yes you are grown up, but i am older than you and all the other girls except Fluttershy. Therefore, it is my job to make sure you all are fine!"

"No one asked you to foalsit us! In that case why don't i just foalsit Pinkie Pie, since i'm older than her,"

"You are only older than her by a month, that doesn't count. I am older than you by 9 monthes Rainbow!"

"Get off my flank Rarity!" Rainbow yelled as she turned to face Rarity, done with her repairs on the door.

By now Fluttershy had repeated her words multiple times and had grown tired of not being heard. So, she took a deep breath and shouted, "You should just get your house protected then!"

Suddenly, the room was quieted and Fluttershy was the center of attention, which scared her. "I-i'm so sorry i didn't mean to shout," she said quietly as she looked over the two mares who stared back at her.

"No, it's okay Flutters, we should have listened to you the first time," Rainbow said, to cheer coax the butterscotch mare out of her scared state.

"Yes, we shouldn't have continued to fight over your words," Rarity added, still watching Fluttershy.

"O-okay," Fluttershy stuttered, still a bit uncomfortable with all the attention being on her.

The room fell silent as the three mares looked to one another quietly. They all knew there was another apology in order, but the two mares who needed to give one we both too stubborn to start it off. Lucky for them the third mare was very used to apologizing, even if it wasn't necessary and was happy to give the two a boost.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Fluttershy asked, staring down at her hooves.

"Oh, um well....Rarity and...Oh forget it!" Rainbow huffed as she tried to help Fluttershy understand while dancing around the apology she knew was in order.

"Fine Rainbow, i'm sorry," Rarity sighed in defeat, knowing that it was left to her to start the apology off.. "I didn't mean to upset you, i was just worried, you know?" She sniffled as she flung her hooves around Rainbow's shoulders.

"Yeah, i guess that's okay," Rainbow said as she pulled Rarity off of her and flashed her a smile. "I forgive you and i'm sorry for getting all upset at you for watching me, since i am a bit reckless," she added with a slight chuckle.

"Good, i hate when we fight, i fight enough with Apple Jack," Rarity said as she walked out the door, apparently ready to continue her day.

Rainbow nodded as Rarity spoke and then turned to walk out, but stopped for a moment as she looked out and at Rarity who was waiting to be lifted down by Fluttershy. She had to resort to being carried up earlier and down now because Pinkie was no where to be found earlier, so she couldn't ask to borrow her balloon. This left her with only one option, to cast her own cloud walking spell and be lifted up by Fluttershy, which in her surprise worked.

"U-um Rainbow, w-would you mind flying out so i can get through?" Fluttershy asked shyly, now standing behind the cyan mare.

"O-oh, um... yeah! I'm going, sorry about that Flutters," Rainbow stuttered as she flew out of the door and over to Rarity, a bit nervous about leaving the safety of her home.

Fluttershy followed after her quietly, but she watched Rainbow, sensing that something was wrong with her. Rarity hadn't seemed to notice, since Rainbow hid it cleverly by offering to help her down instead of making Fluttershy do it. But, since she had known the cyan mare since they were young, Fluttershy could clearly see through the armor.

"W-whats wrong Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked as the two flew beside each other, Rarity walking below them.

"Nothing," Rainbow sighed, not even bothering to look towards her friend.

"O-okay," Fluttershy said quickly and tried to look away from Rainbow's nervous expression, but failed. "y-you know during winter wrap up i have to coax the animals out of their little homes. They are a little afraid at first, since they haven't been out in awhile, but i help them get over it and soon they are as good as new," she said with a smile.

Rainbow sighed and said, "I know, i get it Flutters, you know i'm afraid," in defeat.

"Oh, I've known you were afraid since you hesitated when we left your front door. It's okay though i'm here," Fluttershy added with a smile.

"I am too," Rarity added, glancing up at the two.

"I know, that's why i'm fine now," Rainbow responded, now knowing that Rarity had been listening and not comfortable enough to let her walls down with her in the conversation. She didn't know why, but she was always hesitate with telling Rarity about her feelings and her opinions even when she was designing her dress for a very important event, The Gala.

"Good because we are here, I'm going to take off and do a bit of shopping for myself, but you two have fun!" Rarity added as she looked up at the sign that said "Food Market."

"See ya," Rainbow said as she took off down an aisle with Fluttershy.

"U-um Rainbow, your going down the wrong aisle, that stuff is unhealthy," Fluttershy said, turning in a different direction which led to the vegetables.

Rainbow groaned and turned around to look at Fluttershy, "Yeah, but it tastes good, so lets go!" She said with a smile.

"I know that," Fluttershy said flatly, as she turned to face Rainbow. "But, you are clearly lacking in nutrition since you mane and tail seem dull. So, you need the vegetables, now come on."

Fluttershy's words were as soft as they usually were, but Rainbow could tell that the mare meant business. So, she sighed and trailed after her, secretly happy that she now knew how to get the vibrant colors of her mane and tail back.

The leading mare smiled, knowing that she was helping her friend get healthier and all she had to do was treat her like on of the animals she cared for. "I guess ponies and animals are more alike than i thought, since they both eventually listen to my reasoning and need the right foods to keep their coloring," she thought as she stopped to look through a bunch of broccoli.

After about an hour of whining, complaining and reasoning the two pegasi were finished shopping. They sat on a bench outside the door waiting for the marshmallow colored unicorn they had come with to finish her shopping as well. They didn't wait very long, since a few minutes after they finished the mentioned unicorn came prancing out of the store, levitating her bag of food behind her. "Oh, good! You two are done as well, now we can get to my favorite part of the day."

"What's that?" Rainbow asked as she jumped off the bench and began to walk forward, her items now being levitated by the unicorn as well.

"Oh, well we are going to the spa," Rarity said with a smile as she pranced on.

Fluttershy was walking with the others now and she nodded, "Oh yes, Rainbow we are going to have a nice relaxing evening," she said. A smile printed on her face as well.

"I thought that was kind of your thing," Rainbow said, glancing to Fluttershy for a moment and then back to Rarity.

"Oh no, that isn't our thing dear it is open to everypony. But, no pony ever joins us. Twilight is always too busy with some new kind of spell or order from Celestia, Apple Jack is always busy on her farm, Pinkie is always too busy with something i don't quite understand, and you just refuse to go out of fear that they will touch your precious hooves," Rarity said with a sigh.

Rainbow laughed nervously and then asked, "Wait they aren't going to touch them, right?"

"Not if you don't want them to," Fluttershy said. "It's like how i don't get my whole face covered with the seaweed mask where as Rarity does," she explained and the cyan mare nodded in understanding as they all walked along.

"Alright, now that are stuff is locked away i'm going to go sign us up for our treatment," Rarity announced as she started to leave the room they were standing in.

"Oh, Rarity just sign me up for a seaweed mask," Fluttershy called after her.

"Don't you want to stay for the whole thing with us?" Rarity asked as she glanced to Rainbow who seemed too content with the small bowl of berries on the table to pay attention to the other two mares.

"Oh, i would love to, it's just i didn't have time to feed my animals this morning and they are probably really hungry right now. So, i have to rush home and feed them, which will take awhile and i'd miss it all anyway," Fluttershy explained. "I'm so sorry to leave you two," she added with a small smile.

"Nah, it's okay Flutters we understand," Rainbow said, now paying attention to the other two since she had come to the bottom of the bowl. Rarity nodded in agreement.

"O-okay, again I am so sorry you two," Fluttershy responded, apologizing as usual.

"There is no need to apologize Fluttershy, we understand that your animals need you," Rarity added as she continued out of the room.

"O-okay," Fluttershy stuttered once more as she sat, waiting for Lotus and Aloe to come and whisk her as well as Rainbow off to the beginning of their treatment.

"There you are Mrs. Fluttershy. Just the cheeks as usual," Lotus said as she finished putting the seaweed mask on Fluttershy's cheeks. She then turned her attention to Rainbow and asked, "Do you have any preferences Mrs. Dash?"

"Um...I guess not," Rainbow said, not having the mask on before and not knowing if she really did have any preferences.

Okay then, allow me," she said muffedly as she dipped the brush she used to apply the mask into the mixture it was made from with her mouth and began applying it to Rainbow's face. Her sister, Aloe had been creating Rarity's mask as she worked on the other two.

"There you are," Lotus said with a smile as she placed cucumbers on Dash's eyes, finishing up the mask.

"Alright now i will set the timer and we will return at the sound of it to remove your masks," Aloe said, once her sister had finished Rainbow's mask and then the two walked out of the door.

Rarity listened for their hooves clopping against the floor and then began to speak. "So who is going first?" She asked, glancing to where she knew Fluttershy and Rainbow would be sitting, even though she couldn't see them with the cucumbers over her eyes.

"First for what?" Rainbow asked, not aware as to what Rarity was referring to, since she never went on these spa days with her.

"Oh, Rarity likes to talk about colts, fashion and other things that we don't normally get around to when we have our weekly meetings with everypony else," Fluttershy explained, glancing over to Rarity to see if she approved of her explanation.

Rarity nodded, letting Fluttershy know she did approve and said "Since you are the new member of our group, you should go first Rainbow," with a smile.

"Um, well...I don't really bother with colts, fashion or anything else you'd be interested in hearing about," Rainbow explained with a slight shrug, not knowing what she could really talk about that would fit into Rarity's interests.

"Well then, how are you and Soarin doing?" Rarity asked with a smirk.

"We're both alive," Rainbow said flatly as she laid her back and head down on the chair she was seated on.

"Oh, that's nice," Fluttershy said with a smile, trying to relief some of the tension between the two mares before her.

Rarity nodded, catching onto what Fluttershy had done and asked, "What about you Fluttershy?" In an attempt to take the attention off of Rainbow and calm her.

"Oh, well i got a new shampoo and conditioner for my mane and that's about it," Fluttershy said with a smile.

Rarity nodded, letting Fluttershy know that she listened to that bit of information and then asked, "So anything new with you and Big Mac?"

Rainbow sat up, knocking the cucumbers off her face when she heard the mention of Big Mac. She wasn't aware of anything going on between the two and was now listening carefully to try and figure it all out.

Fluttershy felt Rainbow's stare and glanced to where she was sitting, confirming that Rainbow was indeed watching her. So, she turned away quickly and focused on the timer so that she wouldn't feel so insecure about Rainbow's stare. "Well, he asked me out to eat, but i had to refuse because i wash my animals on that day," She mumbled in response to Rarity's question, her face flustered a bit as she spoke.

"Oh, well at least you now know that he is interested as well," Rarity said with a smile as she laid herself back on the chair.

By now Rainbow was even more confused and gave up on trying to figure the whole situation out on her own so she asked, "Wait! When did this start?"

"During the weeks that you were spending in your house," Rarity explained.

"Okay," Rainbow sighed, still wanting to know more about the whole thing, but not thinking that the others should be responsible for catching her up. Since, she had chosen to act like a foal and lock herself away for weeks.

The room was silent for a moment as Rainbow tried to piece together the information she had just been given with the few images she had gotten of Ponyville over the last few weeks. But, Rarity quickly broke the silence once she realized she had forgotten to tell about herself.

"Oh, i almost forgot to talk about myself," she said, sitting up and knocking the cucumbers off her face at her realization.

Fluttershy nodded at this and looked to Rarity waiting for her to begin talking.

Rainbow had already grew frustrated with trying to figure the whole Big Mac and Fluttershy thing out. So, she also gave Rarity her attention.

"Well i changed a few of my mane products, finished a few more designs, oh, and got back in touch with Bareburn." Rarity listed, not attempting to organize the thoughts from her mind as she usually did.

"Oh, that is good. Hopefully something happens between you two," Fluttershy said with a smile, referring to Rarity's mention of getting back in touch with Bareburn.

"I hope so as well," Rarity said with a smile as she started to eat the cucumbers that had fallen from her face so that the spa ponies wouldn't have to pick up after her.

Rainbow was quiet once again, trying to piece together when the whole Rarity and Bareburn thing started. Again, she came up with nothing and asked, "When did all that start?"

"Oh, I've always had an interest in Bareburn and wasn't quite sure about how his feelings towards me. So, i left him alone once we left Appaloosa, but when he got in touch with me a few weeks ago, i began trying to figure out if he had feelings for me as well. But, a week ago we lost touch once more and i became worried that the feelings were not mutual, until he got in touch with me once more," Rarity explained with a smile.

Fluttershy nodded and said, "It's all Rarity has been talking about in our meetings with all of the girls."

"Oh, well how do you even like him?" Rainbow asked a bit confused as to how Mrs. Primadonna fell for the country colt.

"Rainbow have you not seen his body?" Rarity asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, he's built!" Rainbow said, after she took a few moments to remember Bareburn's appearance.

"Exactly," Rarity said with a smile before continuing to munch on her cucumbers.

Rainbow laughed at Rarity response, and thought the whole situation over a bit more. But, the more she thought about it the madder she got at herself because she had to ask the other mares to fill her in, since she had locked herself away like a foal.

The timer then went off, and the spa ponies came in to remove the masks as Rainbow and Rarity munched on their fallen cucumbers. They were both a little hungry, since they only had breakfast and nothing more that day.

Fluttershy smiled as she watched the two munch almost at the same timing and then stood to her hooves. "Bye girls," she called as she turned to walk out the room so that she could get home and bathe all of her animals.

"Oh, Goodbye dear," Rarity called as she finished up her cucumbers and stood to walk to her next part of the treatment.

Rainbow said goodbye as well and then walked with Rarity to their next treatment.

A few hours later

The two mares left the salon, their things being lifted over their heads by blue aura.

"Wasn't that just so relaxing?" Rarity asked, glancing to the cyan mare beside her.

Rainbow nodded as she walked along, a lot more at ease then before, Even when she did get a few stares from colts as they walked she kept her same relaxed look. Any other time she would have taken off to her house where she could hide from them \or started some sort of argument because that is how she chose to hide her feelings.

Soon the two had parted ways and Rarity had generously offered Rainbow her saddle bags so that she could carry her things home. So, there Rainbow was walking alone in the dark without a care in the world because she was just too relaxed to care and she had to admit it felt good. A smile crept onto her face as well by the time she reached the spot underneath her cloud home and took flight to reach it.

She was just about to her front door, all ready to pull out her keys and unlock it when something rammed into her and pinned her beneath it on a cloud. She screamed as she was hit and then glanced up, taking in the dark outline of a colt's face above her, but not being able to make out who it was. He lowered his face towards hers and she squirmed, an attempt to free herself from his grip, but she couldn't, he was too strong.

So, there she laid, helplessly staring up at her captor who was still leaning in closer to her. She tried to shake her fearful thoughts from her head, but was failing at that as well. Her thoughts screamed for her to run, but she couldn't and so they told her it was over and that she had been captured once again by her kidnapper.

Surprises

The colt's figure leaned in closer to Rainbow's ear and she squirmed, trying to free her forelegs from beneath his hooves. She was unsuccessful at this, due to the stallion's strength which made her believe he was in good physical condition. "Come on Rainbow think!" Her thoughts shouted as the figure leaned in even closer and she turned her face away from him which is when she noticed her free back legs. "Ha! Gotcha now!" Her thoughts screamed triumphantly as she lifted her two back legs and bucked where the sun doesn't shine.

"Ah! Sweet Celestia! Ow!" The stallion whimpered as he fell over in pain from Rainbow's bucking.

"Ha! I gotcha! Hows that feel you bastard!" Rainbow taunted as she got to her hooves and glanced over at the stallion once more.

"That's the last time i try to scare you," the stallion groaned, turning over to face Rainbow's house.

Rainbow watched his movements and noticed his turn towards her home. "Now lets see who you really are," she mumbled as she jumped and let her wings take her to the other side of the cloud. She hovered by the stallion, pushed the goggles he was wearing off his face and got a good look at him. Suddenly, Rainbow's angry face softened into a more surprised expression for just a moment before the angry one took over once more. "What the buck Soarin!" She yelled frustratingly as she let herself land on the cloud before him.

By now the cyan mare figured she might as well let Soarin into her home, her version of saying, "I'm sorry i bucked the living day lights out of you."

"Can you hurry up! I still have to do those dam wing-ups Spitfire is making me do before it gets too late!" Rainbow complained as she stood holding the door open from with her forehooves.

"Well i'm sorry if i'm still recovering from your bucking!" He yelled back at her as he walked extra slowly through the front door and she closed it behind him.

"Well, you shouldn't have done that! I thought you were some stranger!" Rainbow said in her defense as she slipped the saddle bags off her back by the cupboards to start putting her things away.

"I was just trying to get a few laughs out of you," he mumbled as he sat on the couch.

Then why were you leaning in towards me?" She asked, popping her head out from behind one of the cupboard's doors.

"I was trying to let you see my face, so that you would realize it was me," he responded with a shrug, glancing to her.

"Did you not notice it is pitch black outside?!" She yelled to him as she finished up putting her things away.

"Well...i did, but well i forgot that you couldn't see in the dark without night goggles," he mumbled, sheepishly as he ran a hoof through his mane, embarrassed. On his neck hung a pair of night goggles that he had used to spot and tackle the cyan mare.

Rainbow chuckled, flying over to land beside him on the couch. "Your lucky your cute because you have absolutely no brains," she added through her chuckles, not thinking over what she had said before she did.

"Hey! You said i was cute!" Soarin announced, pointing his right hoof at her with a smirk on his face.

"No i didn't! I was just about to do some wing-ups!" Rainbow said, her cheeks tinted a slight shade of red as she noticed her mistake and jumped off the couch then into wing-up position.

"Yes you did!"

"One...two...three!"

"You can't yell over me! Or change the subject! You think i'm cute!"

"Four.....five....six!" Rainbow screamed on with each wing-up as Soarin continued to taunt her and make her cheeks grow even darker shades of red .

"Fifty-eight!" Rainbow yelled tiredly between her pants.

"A bet you really liked when i pinned you back there, huh?" Soarin yelled, over her exhausted groans and panting.

"Fifty...nine!" She yelled and then rolled onto her back, her wings laying fully out at her sides. They were too sore to be tucked back in.

"What happened to sixty?" He asked with a chuckle, looking down at her from the couch.

"Screw sixty! Spitfire....won't.....know...the difference...anyway!" She mumbled between her heavy breathing.

"Oh come on! Sixty wing-ups is easy!" Soarin said, with a smirk.

"Yeah? Then...you...you do...them!" She mumbled on, whiping the sweat from her forehead with her right forehoof.

"No. I don't have to," he taunted, the smirk still on his face.

"I hate you!" She groaned and pulled herself up into a sitting position.

"You don't hate me, you like me!" He taunted on.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and searched her mind desperately for a few words to shut him up. "I was just pointing out that....you had lots of muscles? Yeah! Muscle, you know because you and athlete and all. I admire that, i don't have any," She finally said, flexing her forelegs to show him the little arm muscle she did have.

He chuckled as he glanced at her forelegs and said, "You don't call someone cute if you are just admiring their muscles. Nice try though, almost didn't catch the spaces between your words when you were clearly trying to think of the next one." He then lept off the couch and grabbed her right foreleg. "Your doing it wrong anyway. If you really wanted to show your muscles off you would have to raise you shoulder up closer to your ear, it makes them stick out more," he explained as he fixed the foreleg's position that he was holding.

"Don't touch me!" Rainbow said as she pulled her right foreleg from his grip and rotated her shoulders a bit, but she put her foreleg right back where it was after.

"At least let me fix your other one!" He argued as he shifted his position slightly and began to fix her other foreleg.

Rainbow didn't complain as he fixed her other foreleg, but she did move her shoulders around a bit more once he was finished.

"See now you look like you have a lot more muscle then you did before," Soarin said as he flew in front of her and looked at her forelegs.

Rainbow nodded and mumbled softly as she lowered her forelegs and reached back to massage her wings.

Soarin smirked and then landed before her. "But, it still looks nothing like mine," he added as he balanced himself on his back legs and lifted his forearms from the ground. He then flexed his forearms as he had explained to her just before. "See?"

Rainbow groaned and stomped her hooves down on the ground. "I hate you!" She yelled once more as her wings stood straight up on her back. "You know they are sore and you just had to do that didn't you!" She continued as she tried to coax her wings down so that they wouldn't hurt as much from the exercise she had done earlier.

Soarin laughed as his hooves feel to the floor once more and he began to defend himself. "Well how was i supposed to know that your forearms were sensitive?"

"It's not my forearms!" She turned to yell back at him, her wings settle down thanks to her coaxing. "You know what it is!"

"Yeah, i do it's the muscles," he admitted between his laughs.

"Would you stop laughing? It's not funny," Rainbow complained as her wings finally fell and she tucked them in with a slight whimper. She then looked away from her wings and back at him, watching as he chuckled on angrily. She thought quietly as she glared at him and then finally a smirk wiped her angry expression away. "I guess your right i do need a sense of humor," she said as she walked towards him and wrapped her forearms around him. "I'm sorry," she mumbled as she hugged him tighter.

"Oh, yeah...um a-apology accepted," he stuttered, his shoulders fidgeting slightly behind him.

"You shouldn't accept my apology that easily," she said as she nuzzled into him slightly. She then moved to lay against her couch and laugh as his wings popped up from where he had tucked them away. "I knew that's why your wings were up that morning!" She yelled between her laughs.

"That isn't funny," he mumbled as he tended to his wings, angry.

"Oh, come on! Where's your sense of humor now?" Rainbow taunted as she glanced back at him.

"Leaving, as soon as these dam wings go down," he mumbled, his wings falling slowly as time passed.

"Just remember to lock the door on your way out," she said as she started towards her stairs. "Oh yeah! Goodnight!" She added as she started up them, glancing back at him with a smirk.

Soarin stuck his tongue out at her as she walked away and then tucked his fallen wings back in. "You know there is no use in locking your door when anypony could just trot up and kick it down!" He yelled up after her as he locked and then walked out the door. It closed as he took to the sky.

Next Day

"Rainbow Dash!!!" A voice screamed from below Rainbow's floating home.

Rainbow shifted slightly at the screaming and ended up laying on one of her outstretched wings. "Ow!" She complained and pulled herself up to a sit, so that the wing wouldn't be bothered and cause her more pain.

"Rainbow Dash, lets go! Ah don't hav all day!" The voice screamed on.

Rainbow sighed, already knowing who the voice belonged to as she got off her bed and poked her head through the clouds that made up her wall. When she built her home she found no need for a ton of windows, since she could just do this where ever a window was needed. "What do you want Apple Jack?" She yelled down, so that the farmer pony could hear her.

"For ya' to get your lazy flank down here!" Apple Jack screamed up to her.

"Okay!" Rainbow responded, not even bothering to argue back when she knew she was lazy. She pulled her head back into her home, looked back at her wings and sighed as she walked down stairs, opened them and set off towards Apple Jack.

"Whats that sugercube?" Apple Jack asked as she watched Rainbow fly down towards her, her mouth moving.

"Nothing," Rainbow said, speaking up so that her friend could hear her this time.

Apple jack tilted her head as she watched Rainbow land and slowly tuck her wings back into her sides. She didn't know why the mare was babying her wings and quite frankly she didn't care. All she was concerned about was getting her promised time in with Rainbow so that she could get back to all the work she needed to do on the farm before Granny Smith noticed and scolded her. She, as everypony else in her small social group has volunteered their time to try and get Rainbow back to her old self. They had even gone to such lengths as planning out who got to deal with the mare and when, today just so happened to be her day as well as the week before Winter Wrap-up. So, Apple Jack not only had to bake and sell as many apple treats as she could to pay off the Apple family's deb from the winter whether, but she also had to deal with stubborn Rainbow Dash.

Apple Jack had been far too busy this week to even plan something to do with the mare as the other ponies had been doing, so she had to think up something to do with the mare and fast! She thought as the two walked together, Rainbow interrogating the mare, attempting to figure out why Apple Jack needed her this morning.

"So, are you gonna tell me why you wanted me now?" Rainbow asked, as she trotted besides Apple Jack.

"No," Apple Jack said flatly as she walked on, doing her best to think up something through Rainbow's aggravation.

"Why not?" Rainbow asked. "I didn't even have a chance to eat breakfast this morning!" She complained as she glanced around the town and the small wagons that some ponies were selling things out of.

"Ya should of eaten that already, it's late," Apple Jack replied as she glanced to the wagons and ponies around them. At one wagon she spotted her siblings, attempting to sell some of their apple treats already. She sighed, knowing she should be at least helping them sell if she wasn't baking for them back at the farm, but she couldn't because she was on Rainbow Dash duty.

"Look, it's your brother and sister!" Rainbow pointed out as she noticed the Apple family's wagon. "Mind if i stop and buy something off them before we go to where ever your taking me?" She asked, glancing back at Apple Jack for a moment.

"Fine, go right on ahead. We have ta sell all those treats anyways," Apple Jack replied as she glanced to her cyan friend and then watched her trot off towards the cart. It was then, as she took off after Rainbow that the perfect plan for her time with Rainbow popped into her head.

She was going to let Rainbow buy and eat her treat then take her back to her farm so that she could help Granny Smith and her make the treats her siblings were selling. She figured she could have her haul the apples in from the barn while she and her grandmother baked, since Rainbow never really did any cooking which meant she probably was no good at it. While doing this Rainbow would be exercising, which she noticed she needed to do just by how easily she won that hoof wrestle against her a little while ago. Then, maybe Rainbow would get back to her flight training above Ponyville and she would have successfully helped her friend. Sure it was a stretch, but it was good enough for Apple Jack at the moment.

Rainbow had bought and eaten her treat in the time it took Apple Jack to think her whole plan over and was now waiting to be led to where ever it was they were going. "Um, you still with me Apple Jack?" She asked as she noticed her friend empty stare.

Apple Jack nodded, and glanced over at Rainbow. "Sine ya' all done with that there treat, we can keep going to ma farm," She said as she started trotting off once again.

"So that's where we're going!" Rainbow said happily, since she had figured out where they were headed. She then started following after her friend again, eager to find out why she was needed at the farm.

Apple Jack glanced back at Rainbow as they arrived in front of the barn. "Rainbow sit here while ah lug all these apples in to Granny Smith," she said as she opened the barn doors and began walking in.

"I can help!" Rainbow offered as she followed after Apple Jack even though she had just told her to sit.

"No, it's fine. Ah can get them all in faster by mahself," Apple Jack said as she started piling some apples into a wagon.

"No you can't! Apple Jack, i'm the fastest in Equestria! So, i can totally get these inside to be baked waaaay faster than you can!" Rainbow bragged as she started piling some apples into the cart as well.

"Ah can do it mahself!" Apple jack argued as she started piling apples into the wagon at a faster pace.

"Yeah, but if i do it those treats will be done much faster!" Rainbow argued, picking up her speed with the apples as well. "And while i'm doing this you can help your granny in the kitchen so that everything moves faster!" Rainbow added with a proud smile at how good her plan seemed to be.

"I guess that would work," Apple Jack began as she stopped piling the apples. "But, are ya sure ya want ta lug all these apples around?" She asked, glancing to Rainbow who was still piling apples.

"Of course! I'm a future Wonder Bolt, this is nothing!" Rainbow responded as she finished filling the wagon and started to pull it off behind her. She had the harness placed below where he wings rested so that they would be disturbed before her practice later toady.

"Fine, ah guess ya could do it," Apple Jack said as she took off to the kitchen, moving faster than Rainbow since she wasn't lugging apples behind her. A smile graced her muzzle as she walked along. "Rainbow's competitiveness is so easy ta take advantage of," she thought as she walked into the kitchen and started to help her granny.

"This....is...the last one!" Rainbow huffed as she slipped out of the harness, and dumped the wagon she had been pulling. "And thank Celestia! Now i know why Big Mac is so, um big!" Rainbow continued as she glanced over the treats that were cooling on the side.

Apple Jack chuckled at Rainbow's words, but stopped when Granny Smith nudged her for thinking so badly.

"Ya shouldn't complain missy, Big Mac does much harder worth than that everyday!" Granny Smith added, looking away from Apple Jack and back to her work.

"Hey! I didn't mean it like that!" Rainbow defended as she glanced to the orange colored pony and then back to the treats with a sigh as she said, "Yeah, i really shouldn't, since Big Mac doesn't and he works hard!"

"Yeah, ahm sorry Rainbow," Apple said, and glanced up from her work to look at what Rainbow. She followed her gaze to the treats and said, "Why dontcha just take a treat for all your hard work," with smile.

"Thanks!" Rainbow said and then grabbed an apple twist off the cookie sheet it was rested on. "Is...so..hot!" She complained as she chewed it carefully.

"That's why it's there sugercube," Granny Smith added as she glanced at Rainbow for a moment and chuckled a bit.

"Well it's all gone now," Rainbow said with a shrug and then looked back to Apple Jack. "Anyway, i gotta get going to practice, so i'll catch you around later Apple Jack," She continued and then headed out the door as Apple Jack said goodbye.

Rainbow sighed as she looked up at the sky then at her wings and opened them with a whimper. They were still really sore, but she decided not to complain, since Big Mac never did and he worked a lot harder than she had yesterday.

She flew silently to her home to collect her things for practice and then went to the academy where she was greeted by Spitfire who sat in front of the doors, glaring at her.

"Did you do those wing-ups cadet?" She asked, pushing the goggles she was wearing off her face so that they dangled from her neck.

"Yes i did!" Rainbow announced as she tucked her wings away carefully and then pranced up to the flame colored mare. "But, i'm guessing your not going to take my word for it. So, i'll just have to show you in practice, which should be starting now," she continued to say with a smirk.

"Yeah, it should be," Spitfire said as she opened the front doors and headed inside.

Rainbow smiled and went inside, trotting by Spitfire all the way to practice.

"That's the last time i ever try to jam three days of work into one," Rainbow mumbled to herself as she walked out of the training area at the academy. She was definitely sore from all her wing-ups last night and had a hard time getting through practice, but all that mattered is that Spitfire didn't know that. She kept her complaining inside and stallioned up for the whole practice, which seemed to satisfy Spitfire enough that she lifted her threat off of Rainbow's cyan shoulders and even admitted she did a good job today.

So, she was headed to the break room, where she figured that no pony would be, so she was safe to lounge on the couch and let her wings rest before she started the flight home. She was almost there when a light blue stallion planted himself in front of the break room's door and she let out a groan of frustration. "What do you want?" She asked, her voice still calm though she was annoyed with his presence.

"How was practice my favorite crash test dummy?" He asked with a goofy grin as he wrapped his forelegs around her and gave her a good squeeze. "I bet your wings loved it!"

Rainbow whimpered as he squeezed her and said, "I hate you!"

"Oh come on! Stop being so sour!" He smirked and squeezed her harder.

"OW!" Rainbow yelled as he squeezed her again.

Her scream quickly attracted most of the other pegasi that were roaming the hallways while they had a bit of free time. Rainbow noticed this quickly, since she was facing where the crowd had decided to gather and the looks they gave her made her embarrassed. "Um, S-soarin let g-go of me," she stuttered as she tried to escape his grip and the crowds looks.

"What's the matter a little sore?" He asked in a taunting matter which annoyed the cyan mare even more. So, she used her back hooves to twirl the two around, making Soarin face the crowd.

"O-oh, um yeah...s-sorry about that Ms. Dash," he stuttered and released her from his hold, flashing the crowd his usual big, goofy smile.

"N-no problem S-soarin," Rainbow stuttered on as she slipped through the break room's door and dragged Soarin who seemed to be frozen with that goofy smile on his face in behind her.

Outside the break room...

"Alright anypony who's been holding out on my payment because there wasn't enough proof cough it up!" Surprise yelled, hovering over the laughing crowd. Suddenly, about half the crowd looked up at Surprise and sighed, holding out twenty bits each. "Thank you suckers!" Surprise giggled as she grabbed all the bits and stuffed them into her saddle bags, triumphantly.

Back inside...

"Look what you did!"

"What i did?!"

"Yes you! You and your stupid hug!"

"My hug isn't what attracted all those ponies, your screaming did!"

"I was screaming in pain because of YOUR hug!"

"That's like blaming a pony for a fire when it is the match's fault!"

"No it's the pony's fault!"

"Match!"

"If the pony wasn't there then the match wouldn't have gone off and the fire wouldn't have started!"

"Well maybe if the pony had a sense of humor she wouldn't have screamed!"

"I thought we were talking about matches and fires!"

"No, that was just an example!" Soarin screamed back at Rainbow, annoyed at their pointless argument. "You are so lucky your cute because you have absolutely no brains!"

I have no brains?!? Oh, you shouldn't talk! If you weren't cute you'd be screwed because you have even less brains then i do!" Rainbow screamed back, a poor attempt at defending herself, but she couldn't help it. She was already angry that they were having a pointless argument and him using her words just added to it. So, she just said the first thing her brain could think up, not bothering to think it over.

"You just called yourself stupid!"

"But, i said YOU were dumber!"

Surprise then opened the door and poked her head inside the room, angrily. "Can you two stop fighting and kiss already! All these ponies are asking for their bits back!" She complained.

"Okay," Soarin said with a smile as he pulled Rainbow closer to him, despite her resistance and kissed her right on the muzzle.

"Look everypony!" Surprise shouted as she flung the door open so that everypony could see the two kiss. "Now leave my bits and i alone!" She yelled on as she attempted to fly away, but fell because of the weight from the bits in her saddle bags. So, she stood up and walked off slowly a grin on her face. Once she was behind the crowd that was around the break room's door she stopped, glanced off into space and mumbled, "Suckers! You'd think they'd know by now not to underestimate the pie family's ability to break the fourth wall!" She chuckled and then continued to pull her prize off to a safe place.

Rainbow watched the crowds smirks and smiles as Soarin was pressed against her lips, but she didn't pull away or try to hide the blush on her cheeks. She figured as long as he was there she might as well let him enjoy it before she slapped him silly.

A Hot Mare and A Hot Pie

"Ha! You did it!" Soarin's thoughts cheered as the sound of Rainbow's hooves clopping against the floor grew more and more distant. "I knew breaking out all the Wonder Bolt crap and throwing it around the house would hold her down," he continued to think, a smirk now present on his face. "She was like Surprise in a candy store! Oh, never mind that's a scary thought, remind yourself never to take Surprise to a candy store," he thought on, his smirk fading into a look of horror. He was currently digging through his cupboards in search of a pie that he knew he had put in one of them before going to his basement to dig out every little piece of Wonder Bolt material that he had ever owned.

After a couple more moments of digging through his cupboards he found the pie and let it rest on the top of his two front hooves, his wings carrying him to the living room. "Wait! You didn't cut it!" He suddenly remembered and forced his wings to halt. He then turned and let them carry him back to the kitchen where he pulled a knife out of a draw and used it to cut the pie in to questionably equal pieces. "Hm, good enough," he thought with a smile and let the pie balance once again on the top of his hooves. He then let his wings carry him to the living room and plopped himself down on the couch beside Rainbow, a smile shining on his face.

"Piece?" He asked, holding the pie up between his hooves as he glanced at to Rainbow with his emerald colored eyes. She smiled back at him and nodded so he scooped a piece out with his hoof and hoofed it over to her, ignoring the fact that he had ruined the other pieces in the process. He watched her grab it, his smile still perched on his face and then looked back to the pie and his smile grew even bigger. "A hot mare and a hot pie!" Soarin thought as he chomped down on some of the pie, not really caring to notice the magenta eyes that were staring at him.

"That was good pie, what flavor?" Rainbow asked, her magenta eyes still staring back at him.

Soarin barely heard her over his thoughts, but he heard her enough to fill in the words he didn't quite catch and guessed that she wanted to know what flavor the pie he had just finished up was. "Oh, cherry," he said glancing up to meet her eyes with his. "Cherry? Why does that make me think of something?" He thought once he had said those words, staring at Rainbow as he tried to pull out the memory he knew really had to do with the moment.

"Alright my little ponies, pair up. That means one advanced flier and a regular one," said an older pony, who was apparently so un-important to Soarin's memory that he didn't even bother to try and remember her appearance, he only heard her voice. Next thing he knew the younger version of himself was swarmed by a bunch of mares all of which were way to young for the older colt's taste, so he shook them off and walked on, looking for a regular flier who was either a colt or a mare that wasn't already chasing his tail.

His younger self looked behind him for a moment, noticing that the mares hadn't trailed after him, which was unusual for them. He saw that they had already forgotten about him and had paired off with other members who were clearly from the advanced flier group, the one that he was a part of. He rolled his eyes and then glanced forward, scanning the area for a pony that he wouldn't mind partnering up with, that's when he noticed her. She was a younger filly who sat alone and clearly un-partnered, though it didn't seem to bother her. But, he still needed a partner and so he put on his best charming smile and said, "Hey," as he approached the ruffedly maned filly.

She simply glared at him, glanced around, noticing that they were the only two without a partner and asked, "Partner?"

He nodded, intrigued by the fact that the filly wasn't all over him as the others were and perched himself beside her, apparently too close though because she scooted away with a disgusted face."Hey, what was that for?" He asked angry that the filly gave him such a terrible face.

"You smell like cherries!" The filly grumbled, as she glanced over and up at the older colt, making her magenta eye's lock angrily with his.

"So, what?" He asked, his facial expression confused, but his chest puffed out towards the little filly who's Rainbow colored mane caught his attention for a split second as it drifted in front of one of her eyes and then back out.

"I hate cherries, they're gross like colts!" The filly grumbled on, puffing her chest out just as he had, but it wasn't very intimidating, due to the fact that she was about half his size.

Apparently, the two's small argument had caught the attention of a few other foals, one of which sported an orange coat and a brown mane. "You only think colts are gross cause you like fillies!" He taunted, sticking his tongue out at the filly that was challenging Soarin.

"I don't like fillies!" The filly groaned, snapping her head around to glare at the colt that was taunting her.

"You like fillies?" Soarin asked, his chest going down and his head tilting slightly. "I never met a filly who liked fillies," he added still looking at the filly.

She shot around and glared angrily at Soarin once again. "I DON'T LIKE FILLIES!" She screamed, stomping her hooves on the clouds beneath them, and sticking her bottom lip out to form a pouty face.

"Rainbow Dash! Get over here right now little filly!" The voice without a body shouted and the filly sighed then glanced to where the voice had come from. Soarin swore for a moment there her eyes got big, like she was going to burst into tears, but she quickly sucked her bottom lip in and bit it, then walked over towards the voice with a sigh.

His younger self didn't really care for that face though, because he was still thinking about the pouty one, a goofy smile on his face. Soarin immediately recognized that smile and thought, "too bad that filly was a filly fooler, i like that she argued with me, fillies never argued with me, colts didn't even dare to do it!" He then watched the filly walk off for a couple more minutes and the memory shook, apparently he had shaken his head in the memory. "She's a little filly, that's wrong," his younger self thought, but his older one didn't care for that. He guessed that the filly had to be about two or three years younger than himself at the time, which wasn't too bad now that they were older, if only he bothered to learn her name.

"Stop moving," Rainbow said with a giggle as she wiped a hoof across his face, hers rather close to his, examining it. "I almost got the the pie bits off you head, which i have no idea how you got there."

Soarin jumped a little as her hoof touched his face, not really remembering what was happening because he was lost down memory lane, missing the transition from "What flavor was that pie?" to "Hold still, i'm extremely close to your face, but you can't kiss me because i'll slap you." But, he didn't question it and sat still as she wiped his face and he watched hers.

"Wait! Did that voice yell Rainbow Dash? Was that filly fooler Rainbow? Rainbow's a filly fooler!? Shit, shit, i need to stop falling for them! What's she, the fourth one?! Ugh, wait...wait she's leaning in closer towards me. Oh, what the buck, that slap wasn't so bad! And you've got to figure out if this one's a filly fooler anyway, you weren't even thinking of that possibility the first time you kissed that pretty face, but now you are!" He thought, a grin swiping across his face as he leaned his face in towards hers and met her muzzle.

The kiss last voluntarily for a few moments, after that Rainbow attempted to pull away from it, but Soarin kept her head in place with his front hooves.

"Come on a few more seconds, i don't wanna get slapped just yet!" His mind pleaded, but Rainbow was able to pull her face away and causing him to wince, his eyes still closed as he waited for a slap to come across his face. But, instead he heard a faint giggle.

He forced his eyes open, curious as to who was making the giggling sounds and noticed Rainbow's face staring back at his, a smile on her face that was projecting the faint giggles. "She's not a filly fooler, the three i dated always looked at me like, 'wait, that felt weird,' but she's looking at me like 'that was awesome, you kiss good,' which i do, so she's straight!" He was sporting his goofy smile once again, some things never change, but his face wasn't flustered like hers, it was happy and confident.

The room remained silent for a moment, save for the soft giggles Rainbow was still projecting nervously and Soarin came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to get slapped, so he was going in for more. He raised his forelegs slowly and then let his right hoof push a piece of long blonde mane, that hung in her face away. Rainbow just stared up at him, clearly confused as to why he was touching her mane.

"Okay, good now slow and steady to lean in," his mind instructed as he let his hooves fall to her shoulders and leaned in towards her once again, very slowly.

Rainbow stared on at him, not bothering to move in towards him because she didn't know to. All of her school days she was labeled as a filly fooler, so that killed any chance of her ever having anything to do with the type of colts she liked, the athletes. They ended up just treated her like one of the dudes, Soarin included, though she was pretty sure he'd been hitting on her since the first time they met, even if they didn't really see each other a lot due to the age difference between them. Still, she didn't dare try and hit on one of them because she was afraid that they would just laugh at her and make lesbian jokes, so she never dated in school.

Being bullied really hit her hard, though she never let anypony know how bad she felt. These feelings eventually made her begin to stand up for others who were bullied and thanks to that she met one of her best friends, Fluttershy. But, no one stood up for her because she kept her really feelings hidden behind an angry face.

She ended up becoming really rough, to protect her feelings. So, after she finished school she came off as mean and no stallion wanted to deal with a mean marefriend, so she remained single. Then, there was the kidnapping which turned her whole idea of colts around and made her fear them rather than be interested in them. But, there she was staring into Soarin's emerald green eyes, a silly smile on her face and nervous giggles emitting from her mouth as he leaned in towards her, her mind panicking.

By now Soarin was pretty much muzzle to muzzle with the cyan mare, but he took a moment to take a deep breath and then smashed his muzzle into hers. He remained there for a moment and then began to lift his front hooves off her shoulders and up to her head again, guiding it closer to his, so that he wouldn't have to lean over so far to reach her. But, the mare seemed to fight it, using her hooves to push off his chest and get away from him. "No you don't," he thought as he pushed her head harder into his, now trying to keep her face where it was, while she tried to get it farther away. Still, she tried to push away from him and even began pounding on his chest, another try to get him off of her."OW! That hurts! Get away from her stupid!" His mind screamed at him, but Soarin chose to ignore the pain as well as his mind's yelling because he was now too busy trying to keep the mare where she was.

A couple seconds later she seemed to give up, letting her forelegs fall to her lap as their breathing got heavy and strained. "Gotcha!" His mind cheered as her hooves stopped pounding against him and his hooves loosened the hold on her head, it was then that he felt a tear slide off her face and onto his. "Retreat! Retreat! She's crying, you have to take it slow, she's been taken advantage of! You know that stupid! Get out of there!" His mind panicked as he pulled his face off of hers, reclaiming his hooves and looking to see what shape her face was in.

Tears streamed pretty heavily down her cyan cheeks and her whole face was flustered a bright red color, her body convulsing as more tears were released from her eyes. "Oh, what do i do? Man, why can't you just be a filly fooler, they're so much easier to deal with, they just apologize a million times and then run off. But, your not going to do that. Your going to cry, ugh! I don't know what to do when they cry!" His mind panicked as he watched the mare before him cry harder and harder as the moments passed. He remained silent until she started to hid her face behind her hooves.

Suddenly, his body took over and raised his right hoof off the couch once again, moving it towards her face. "What am i doing with his?" His mind questioned as his hoof pushed hers away and wiped it's self underneath her right eye. His sudden movement scared her for a moment and caused her to pull even further away, but once she realized what his hoof was doing she pushed forward again and let him wipe her tears away. "Oh! Your wiping her tears, okay!" His mind thought as his hoof made it's way over to her other eye and wiped the tears from beneath it. "Sh, sh, sh," he mumbled over and over again in an attempt to calm her down.

Rainbow's mind was screaming all different things at her, but she wasn't able to concentrate on anything it was saying and instead she cried, hard. Her eyes were big, terrified as they stared at the stallion before her, seeing her kidnapper, leaning in to force her down once again. But, as Soarin wiped her tears away her body began to clam down, and his appearance took over the spot where the kidnapper's was.

"S-Soarin?" she mumbled and he nodded slowly. Her body then convulsed a few more times, sending more tears down her cheeks as it attempted to calm it's self down.

Soarin watched her, his face seeming as though it was pained, even if at the moment he felt no physical pain. What he did feel was emotional pain for the poor mare before him, the one that he'd come to love and pushed him away because of the horrible things another stallion had done to her. "Pull her into your chest, like mom did when we cried," his mind instructed and he did as told, lifting his forelegs to grab her head and pull it into his chest. "Sh, sh, sh," he began to mumble again, one foreleg holding her in place and the other slowly stroking her mane while she shook and cried into his chest.

"She's not stopping! Oh, your doing something wrong!" Soarin's mind yelled as he continued to mumble and stroke her mane, trying to think of something else to do.

"It's just Soarin. You know, big goofy Soarin, cherry flavored Soarin! Wait, cherries! Use the cherries then you won't look like such a cry foal!" Rainbow's mind yelled, focusing on one commanded rather than yelling multiple, confusing thoughts at her. She glanced up at him for a moment, just to make sure he was still who she thought he was and once she had confirmed that she decided to do as her mind commanded.

"S-Soarin?" She mumbled.

"Rainbow," he said, stopping his mumbling to listen to what she was going to say.

"R-remember w-hen we-we were i-in fl-flying school a-and i s-said i ha-ated cherries?" She asked, glancing up at him, he nodded. "I-i lied, i-i like ch-cherries," she said with a smile which he mimicked and continued to stroke her mane.

"I never would have guessed," he said sarcastically with a slight giggle, which she mimicked. "You only downed the pie piece in what, one minute?" He added, loosening his hold on her and letting his mind settle, knowing that she had cheered up a bit and that he no longer had to obsess about making her do so.

"D-don't talk m-mister! You ate l-like three times w-what i did and you did it faster t-than i did," she responded, chuckling on.

"That's cause i'm a colt and i can do that, but scarfing down your piece wasn't very mare like," he taunted, as he laid back, letting Rainbow shift her position anyway she wanted to.

She laid her head on his right foreleg and chuckled a bit more. "So y-your a colt now?" She asked, glancing over to him.

"Oh, you know what i meant," he chuckled, turning his head to look at her and waving his left had dismissingly in the air.

"I know," she chuckled and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey! That wasn't very mare like either!" He pointed out, between his laughs.

"I never said i was very mare like," she said with a chuckle and pointed her tongue out further at him.

Their meaningless conversation went on for hours until Rainbow finally fell asleep, a smile printed on her face as she clung to his chest.

He was smiling back at her and then let his head lay back so that he could begin falling asleep as he thought, "Your just too good for Equestria, Soarin. You handled that like a pro!" He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment and she shifted slightly in her sleep, clinging to him tighter after her movement. "But, next time don't do that, i hate seeing her like that. Plus, it's really difficult to get comfortable in this position, my wings feel like their suffocating!" He thought on as he tried to wiggle out of her grip to fix his position and failed. "This position wasn't so bad until she held me tighter a couple moments ago, move her," his mind suggested as he tried to push her away from him with his left hoof, since she was laying on his right foreleg and he couldn't move his other hoof without waking her.

He successfully moved her over a bit and wiggled his body to find a more comfortable position, but he stopped when he suddenly realized something. "Oh! That's why your wings felt weird," his mind pointed out as a slight blush came to his face. "I really hate those wings sometimes," he thought as he rolled his eyes and attempted to fall asleep again, despite his wings which were trying to push off of the couch they were slammed up against.

Rainbow shuffled slightly as her body protested against her mind which was attempting to wake the lazy mare up. Eventually, she gave up the fight and opened her magenta eyes, stretching her appendages out as she did so. She blinked a couple times to help her eyes adjust to the sudden light and then sat up. She glanced around at the couch she had been lounged on and noticed that Soarin was no longer there, "Why's he up so early?" She thought and took to her wings to go look for him.

She headed to the kitchen first and looked through it, but there was no sign of the light blue pegasus anywhere in it. "You'd think being as obsessed with pie as he is this would be his first stop," she thought with a sigh as she flew out of the kitchen and down a hallway. She found herself at the front door and sighed as once again there was not one sign of the stallion she was searching for.

"Great, now where do i look? I don't know where any other rooms in this place are!" She complained as she fell to her hooves with a sigh and headed down another hallway, one she hadn't been down before. This hallway was much different from the rest of the house, just because it had blank walls, whereas the rest of the house was covered with Wonder Bolt things. She just shrugged it off, figuring the hallway just wasn't important enough to decorate, but what she didn't know is that the rest of the house usually looked this way and that Soarin had just forgotten all about decorating this hallway when her threw the Wonder Bolt stuff up for her.

She noticed a door at the end of the hallway and pushed it open once she arrived at it. She glanced around it for a moment and assumed that it was his bedroom because of the large bed that was in the middle of it all. She walked over to it and jumped up onto it with a chuckle. "I totally forgot what other beds feel like," she thought as she laid back and glanced up at the ceiling. "Makes me remember why i got a cloud bed," she thought on, not liking how ruff the springs and cotton in the mattress was compared to the softest of her cloud bed.

She laid there, staring up at the ceiling for a couple moments before she decided to look around the rest of the room and got back on her hooves. She started on the left side of the room which had a standing mirror with a few pictures attached to it. She looked over a few of the pictures and sighed as she began to notice a pattern about all of them. Each picture had him and a few girls, fangirls each sporting a Soarin t-shirt that she knew were sold at each of the shows. Every member of the team had their own shirt, she knew that, but she still couldn't help but grumble, "Whores," as she looked overthe girls who were glued to his side. She looked away from the pictures and to the mirror where she spotted Soarin with a goofy smile on his face.

"I don't think you'll want to use that word once you look a little further down," he said with a chuckle as he approached her, his mane flattened from the water that it had previously been washed with and a towel hanging from his neck.

Rainbow watched him as he walked over to her and then looked a little further down as he had said. "I want to take that back," she said as she noticed a picture of him and her in his t-shirt, her cheeks lite up as she took the image in. "Oh," she said embarrassedly as she glanced over at him a forced smile on her face.

"Yeah, that's definitely you fangirling over me," he said with a smirk as he pulled the picture off the mirror and looked over it. "You remember that day?" He asked, glancing from it and over at her.

She nodded and said, "Of course i do, it was your first show."

Soarin nodded back at her and said, "Yeah i sent tickets back to the school for the ponies i hung out with and the mares i thought were cute." He chuckled as he put the picture back where it was before and then walked off towards his bed.

Rainbow turned to look over the pictures again once he had put the one of her down and scanned over the other pictures, hers was definitely the oldest there. "But, why am i up there and not that chick you were dating?" She asked, watching him through the mirror.

"It was, but then she turned end up leaving me for a mare and i took it down," he said as he ran his right hoof through his wet mane, embarrassingly.

"Well, what about the rest of the mares?" She asked, turning to face him now.

"The other mares ended up going after Wave Chill, so i didn't get a picture with them," he said with a sigh. "Those mares were definitely whores," he added.

Rainbow chuckled at his last comment and walked over to his bed, sitting down so she wouldn't have to stand while they chatted. "So, i wasn't all wrong," she said with a shrug.

"Yeah you were, those mares aren't up there," he said as he spread out his wings and looked them over. "See any bad feathers?" He asked, glancing to her.

She looked over his wings and said, "Yeah on the top of the right one."

"Oh, thanks," he said as he went to pull the bad feather out.

"We never really hanged out in school, huh?" She asked after a thought popped into her head.

"Nope," he mumbled as he tried to get to the feather.

"Then why'd i get a ticket?"

"Your cute," he said, still trying to get that feather.

"But, everypony thought i was a filly fooler back then," she said with a confused face.

"I know, but i didn't care about that," he said as he looked back to her. "Good thing too, cause you turned out to be straight," he added with a smile.

"I guess so," she said, looking to her hooves as she remembered the taunting from her school days.

"Don't look so sad, your dating me now and those stupid colts are off with ugly mares," he said with a chuckle, his wings still held out.

"Hey! Who said i was your marefriend?" She asked, looking back up to him.

"I did, now get over here and get this dam feather," he said, glancing back to his right wing.

"Don't tell me what to do," she complained as she got off the bed and walked over to him to pull out the bad feather.

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled, but yelled when she pulled the feather out.

"Sorry it was stuck," she said with a giggle.

"Sure it was," he said, tucking his wings away once again as he walking over to his closet. He dug out a Wonderbolt uniform and walked back over to the bed, holding it in his mouth.

"Why are you preening and putting that on, there's no show today," she said as he started to slipped into the uniform.

"Dress rehearsal for the show we're going to in a couple days," he explained as he got his wings into their placement and put the headpiece over his head.

"Why not have the dress rehearsal there?" She questioned.

He shrugged as he walked back over to the mirror and fixed his mane a bit. "I don't make the schedule, don't ask me," he said as he finished fixing it and looked over at the pictures that were on the mirror.

Rainbow was watching him and noticed him look over the pictures. "Who are those other mares?" She asked, walking over to where he stood.

"Oh, don't tell me your the jealous type," he said with a smirk, but only got a scowl from the cyan mare for an answer. So, he decided to answer the question she had asked in order to clam her down. "There all my family members," he said and turned, walking out of his bedroom.

"Oh, sorry i called them whores," she said, embarrassedly.

"Nah, it's fine. My other marefriends called them the same thing," he called behind him.

"I'm not your marefriend," she said flatly as they stopped at the front door.

"Just give up already, your not going to win. Your my marefriend, get over it," he said with a smile as he grabbed the goggles that were thrown on the floor by the door.

"I never agreed to that," she pointed out with a smirk.

"Just say i'm you coltfriend, come on say it," he said in a taunting voice as he slipped the goggles over his eyes, a smirk now on his face.

"No!"

"Whatever, gimme a kiss before i go," he said glancing back to her now that his goggles were on his eyes.

"No!" She repeated.

He sighed and walked over to her, stealing a kiss and then opening the door. "See ya later," he said with a wave and then took off to the rehearsal, leaving the door open behind him.

She sighed as he stole the kiss and then took off to the living room. She grabbed her keys off the couch and then walked out the open door. "Oh, wait i should probably lock it," she thought, stopping herself from taking off. So, she turned around to reopen and lock the door. She smiled as she reclosed it and then took off to her house.

It took a couple minutes for her to get back home and when she did she noticed Twilight sitting on her doorstep, angrily. "Ugh! Rarity was wrong, her door doesn't just fall down if you buck it hard enough," she complained, rubbing her back hooves with her front ones.

"Thank Soarin for that, he got it protected by a friend of his," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she approached the alicorn

"Oh! Rainbow you weren't inside. I've been yelling for you for awhile now," Twilight explained as she stood to her hooves.

"Nope, i wasn't in there," she said as she walked past Twilight and to the door, beginning to unlock it with her keys.

"Wait! I have the new Daring Doo book at the library, we should go read it together!" Twilight shouted, making Rainbow looked away from her door and at her.

"The newest one is already pretty old Twilight, I've read it already," she said with a shrug and went back to opening her door.

"Well then i have nothing to reteach you today," Twilight said with a sigh. "I guess i'll see you later," she added, walking to the end of Rainbow's home to manually open her wings, since she hadn't exactly mastered how to open them the other way yet. She then lept into the air and started flapping her wings really hard to keep herself afloat.

"Oh, okay, bye!" Rainbow said with a chuckle as she watched her friend fly off and then became confused as to why Twilight thought she needed to reteach her something today. But, she did dwell on it for very long because she walked right into her house once she opened it and didn't think about it again after that.

Winter Wrap Up

"Higher!" Rainbow shouted as she slipped her goggles over her eyes.

"I can't get my voice as high as yours, i'm not a mare!" Soarin shouted back, sitting on Rainbow's couch beside a Daring Doo book.

"I know that," Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes as she turned from the mirror she was looking into, making sure her goggles were on straight. "I'm just trying to not make you stick out during the whole song thing," she added with a shrug, turning away from the mirror and walking over to the door.

"Stallions don't sing that high, i won't stick out," he reassured himself softly, pulling his goggles over his head and onto his eyes.

Rainbow shrugged and said, "if the stallions in Ponyville can do it, so can you," obviously catching Soarin's words to himself as she threw Rarity's saddle bags over her back and waited impatiently by the door for Soarin.

"They aren't stallions if they sing that high, their geldings," Soarin explained with a smirk as he walked over to the mirror Dash had just been looking in to straighten his goggles and check his mane.

"They're not geldings," Rainbow said as she waved her hoof dismissingly and opened the door. "Now would you stop playing with your mane and leave, so that we make it to Rarity's before Winter Wrap-up starts," she added, holding the door open, irritated that he wasn't ready to leave already.

"I wasn't playing with my mane, i was fixing it," he corrected as he walked from the mirror and over to where Rainbow was holding the door open.

"Whatever, Ms. Skies," Rainbow taunted. ( Sounds like a classic Mlp name, right? Soarin Skies, no? Okay, lets just pretend then ;) )

He smirked as she taunted him and then walked out the door she was holding. "Thanks for holding the door Mr. Dash," he said once he had gotten outside.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and walked out, closing and locking the door behind her. She started to fly to the Carousal Boutique, not bothering to wait for Soarin who didn't know the way there. He caught up with her quickly though, chuckling at how upset she got at his joke.

Rainbow arrived at the boutique a couple seconds before Soarin did and trotted up to the door. "Rare i'm here," she called as she tapped a hoof against the door.

Soarin landed and spotted her by the door then walked over to her, waiting to be let in as well.

"Oh, coming Rainbow!" Rarity called as she left the mirror she was looking into and started walking over to the door. Suddenly, her hooves had slipped from beneath her and she looked over at Opal frustratingly. "Opal, dear please put your tail away, it tripped mommy," Rarity said, regaining her smile as she got to her hooves and opened the door. Opal did not do as told.

"Oh, you've brought a friend. I wasn't expecting this, i would have gotten up and dressed faster if i knew he was going to be tagging along," Rarity said embarrassed as she opened the door and noticed the presence of not one pony, like she has been expecting, but two. She began to fumble with her mane a bit more, attempting to fix it as it usually was, since it still looked like her bed mane.

"I would have, if i knew he was going to show up at my house last night and demand to spend the night so he could 'check out' Winter Wrap Up," Rainbow grumbled as she glared at Soarin and then looked back at Rarity. She didn't appreciate getting woken from her slumber last night to let the fool in and escort him to the couch, since Winter Wrap Up started early in the morning and she needed all the rest she could get. The fact that she had gotten caught up with a mental debate on whether or not she should go practice her moves in the sky before bed really didn't help the mare get all that much sleep either. "Oh, and i have your saddle bags too," Rainbow added turning to show Rarity the bags she was carrying.

Rarity chuckled at her friend's words and then let the two inside. She watched as Rainbow took off, walking faster than everypony else into the house, clearly upset about having lost some of her precious sleep time the night before. She then glanced over at Soarin who seemed to be confused in more ways than one and so she helped him out by guiding him through the boutique and informing him about how grumpy Rainbow got when she was running on little sleep before dropping her saddle bags off in their usual location.

"Hey, stupid your marefriend is right there! Wipe that stupid smile off your face." Soarin's mind commanded as he sat by the two mares. One of which was sitting in a purple chair and another who was cutting down the other's long Rainbow hair. "She is kinda hot though," his mind added, which didn't help wipe that stupid smile off his face. "No! Stop that you have a marefriend!" His mind command and he followed the orders by wiping the smile off his face and making a funny face at Rainbow.

Rainbow chuckled at his face and got in trouble for doing so by Rarity because she wasn't sitting still as she was instructed to do earlier. "Sorry," she apologized and still looking back at Soarin and making a funny face back at him, trying to keep her head as still as possible while she did so, but she still got in trouble.

Soarin chuckled back at her face and they continued their little pattern of making faces at each other and aggravating the poor marshmallow colored mare who was trying to cut Rainbow's mane.

"Soarin, what do you think of the new manecut?" Rarity asked as she examined her work, not quite sure if she liked how it had come out. She was now calmed down a bit, since she no longer needed Rainbow to sit still. She had learned very early in her relationship with Rainbow that the mare couldn't stay still even if you paid her, but still she got upset and just learned to get over it quickly.

Soarin looked over Rainbow's mane and shrugged. "Looks just like it used to, i like it. Not as much as before, but it's good," he said with a smile and then glanced over to Rarity.

"I told ya Rare, it looks great! Just like before, thanks," Rainbow said as she glanced other to Rarity as well, a smile spread across her face.

"I too favor the longer mane, but our stubborn friend here doesn't agree," Rarity huffed as she glanced to Soarin and then walked over to a closet door, which she began digging through it.

Rainbow chuckled at Rarity's words and then got off the chair to help her dig out two blue vests for Soarin and her to ware at the event. "Here put this on," she commanded as she walked over to Soarin and dropped a blue vest on his lap.

"Okay?" He said, slipping the vest on, though he clearly didn't know why he was wearing it. He hoped it would be explained to him, but it seemed he wasn't getting an answer out of Rainbow who slipped hers on and went over to check it out in a mirror. He glanced to the other mare, hoping to get an explanation from her, but she was also too busy to notice his confusion as she slipped a brown vest on and then started fumbling with her mane again. "Oh well," he thought, waiting for Dash to leave the mirror so that he could steal a glance at himself and then leave with her.

"So, why is everyone wearing different colored vests?" Soarin asked as he walked beside Rainbow on there way to where they were going to start their work.

"It's how we split up the groups," Rainbow responded, glancing over at him. "Blue is for the weather team, green for the plant team and brown for the animal team," she explained with a smile.

Soarin nodded once she had finished speaking and noticed that she seemed to cheer up now that she had been awake for longer. "Somepony isn't a morning person," his mind noted as they came to a stop in front of a large group of ponies, all sporting the same blue vest he was.

"Soarin! I didn't know you were going to be here! Rainbow never told me! Silly Rainbow Dash! You know why she's called Rainbow Dash? No, well because she's fast and she has a rainbow mane! I don't know how her parents knew she was going to be fast, but they did! Like how did my parents know i was going to like pie?!? You like pie too! Oh!!!! Let's have some pie! Apple Jack! Apple Jack! Oh, yeah she's with the planting group! HAHAHA, Silly me for forgetting..." Pinkie began to rant as she stood in front of Soarin, a smile plastered on her face and using her hooves to act out her words. All while Soarin stared back at her, clearly lost in all her rambling.

Rainbow was also lost, trying to keep up with Pinkie's words, but once she figured she was way to lost by now she shook her head and shoved her right hoof into Pinkie's mouth. "Yeah Pinkie, he's here," she said with a chuckle as she glanced to Soarin and then back at the pink pony before her. "And we need to get to work, so have fun ice skating!" She added with a smile as she reclaimed her hoof and Pinkie dashed off, a pair of skated hanging from her neck.

"Ugh, my head hurts," Soarin complained as he glanced over from Dash, being pulled out of his confused state. "I'll just smile and agree like i do with Surprise from now on," he added, rubbing his right hoof over his head.

Rainbow chuckled and pulled his hoof off his head with her own. "Come on we've got work to do," she said with a chuckle and walked off into the group with the rest of the ponies who were wearing blue vest, beginning to break them up and explain what they would be doing.

Soarin chuckled and followed her into the group, standing aside while she instructed the others, waiting to see what he was going to do. He waited a long time, actually he waited until everypony else was separated into smaller groups and there he stood, by Dash, still not sure where he belonged here.

"Alright cloud group, Soarin will be helping you out while i take the other group to bring the birds back, got it?" Rainbow announced and then listened as everypony agreed and took to the skies. "Good luck," she whispered with a smile, tapping Soarin with a hoof before taking off in the air, a group of pegasi following behind her.

Soarin looked over his group, over at where Rainbow had just been and then back at his group with a sigh. "Great, she leaves me in charge of a group and i have no bucking idea what i'm supposed to do with them. Oh, wait i do! She explained this to to everypony just a minute ago, duh," he thought chuckling softly to himself, which earned him a few confused stares from his group. He noticed this, smiled embarrassedly at them and then took to his wings, calling, "Alright everypony lets move these clouds," behind him.

"No not there Grey Thunder!" Soarin groaned, hitting himself in the face with his right hoof and letting it slide down slowly.

"My name is Thunderlane," the pony corrected and then looked over at the cloud with a shrug, he still wasn't sure about where Soarin wanted it. He also didn't want to get yelled at again so he shyed away from the cloud.

The two had been working on moving this one cloud for quite some time now, Soarin commanded and Thunderlane did the moving, but he hadn't seemed to move it to the right position yet, which aggravated Soarin. Somehow he managed to clam himself down, smile and apologize to Thunderlane. "Can you just buck the cloud? Give it a good, hard bucking," Soarin commanded and Thunderlane did as told very easily, which knocked the cloud out of existence. "Good, how about you just buck the clouds and leave the arranging of them to the other ponies?" Soarin suggested and Thunderlane smiled at him then dashed off to buck some more clouds.

"You handled him better than i thought you would," a more feminine voice called with a slight chuckle from behind Soarin.

Soarin turned to see who the voice belonged to and took in Rainbow's appearance. He smiled at her words and then said, "Yeah, he's a hoof full."

Rainbow nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, but he's really agile and strong," with a shrug.

"The way you say it makes you sound like you like him," Soarin commented with a chuckle, but soon noticed that Rainbow wasn't laughing back. "Wait, you like him?"

"Used to," she replied with a shrug.

"Aw, so that's why you keep him around how cute!" Soarin taunted, laughing at himself as he did so.

"Yeah, must be why i keep you around too because these clouds are all arranged wrong," she said pointing her right hoof up at the sky and laughing at her own words. "And just so you know, i keep him around because he knows how to stop unscheduled thunderstorms before they happen," she corrected with a smirk as she took off, starting to fix Soarin's horrible cloud arrangements that wouldn't allow enough sunlight in for the plants below to grow.

Soarin chuckled and shot off after her.

A Couple Hours Later...

Soarin had been hearing what sounded like mumbling in the distance for quite awhile, but it wasn't effecting him or his group and so he ignored it. Well, until the mumbling grew to a whisper then to talking and lastly to full blown singing, coming from the mouths of the ponies he was working with, even Rainbow Dash who was still working beside him. He sighed, cleared his throat and then started in, knowing the lyrics thanks to Dash's last minute coaching.

He was singing softly at first, so that if he had forgotten a few of the words he wouldn't look too stupid in front of everypony else. But, once the chorus of the song came and went he decided to give it his all and sing as loud as everypony else was.

Rainbow heard the beginning of his deep, out of tune singing and chuckled then shoved her right hoof into his mouth, shutting him up before anypony else heard the horrible singing and started laughing as well. Too bad the rest of the weather team had already heard him and were no longer working because they were all too busy laughing.

Rainbow kept her hoof in his mouth for a couple seconds, while the laughter around them picked up, but once it got too loud to ignore she shifted into protector mode. "Hey, put a hoof in it! He's doesn't even live in Ponyville, but he took time out of his busy schedule to come help us and your gonna thank him by making fun of him?! You know he was supposed to be doing a practice for a show tonight, but instead he came here and lent a hoof for us!" Rainbow called over their laughing and quickly shushed them all. "Yeah, now get back to work, the sun is already setting and we aren't done with all these clouds!" She commanded and the ponies continued their work, quietly. She sighed, satisfied by their actions and looked back to Soarin, projecting a comforting smile. "You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, i'm fine, thanks" Soarin said with a smile, glancing away from the ponies who were just laughing at him and back to the pony who shut them all up. "Wow, Fluttershy was lucky to have you around, your good at that," he said with a smile, which made her smile grow bugger and prouder as her right hoof waved dismissively in the air.

"It's no big deal, i'm most of these ponies' boss anyway, they're used to listening to my orders," she said, her smile still on her face.

Soarin laughed and said, "It's still cool how fast they shut up when you told them though."

Rainbow shrugged and said, "I guess so, but it's over, let's just get back to work so we can go home."

"Which home?"

"My home."

"Are you inviting me over?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get to work," Soarin responded with a smile as he grabbed ahold of a cloud with his forelegs. "So, where do you want it boss?" He asked with a smirk.

"To the left, cadet," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she looked at him and then how the sky was already arranged.

"Hey, Thunder can you stop that thundercloud up there before you leave?" Rainbow asked as she floated by where Thunderlane was standing on the ground.

"No problem, Dash, see ya tomorrow," he said with a smile and jumped off the ground, letting his wings carry him to the cloud that he zipped through and some how managed to stop from inside. In it's place sat a normal cloud that he quickly bucked away and then re landed to start his walk home.

"Bye, Thunder," she called after him and then glanced over at Soarin who was watching him walk off.

"How'd he even do that?" Soarin asked, having no idea how that pony could have turned the thundercloud into a normal one in just seconds.

Rainbow shrugged and said, "I have no idea, but it sure is handy."

"I noticed," he said with a smile. "Now are we going home?"

"You mean to my house?"

"Yeah, home."

"That's not your home."

"It might as well be,"

"That's true, let's go," she said with a chuckle and started flying off in her house's direction, Soarin flying happily beside her. She was too tired to argue another pointless argument with him, even if she did enjoy doing so.

"I'm going to take a shower, do what you want," Rainbow said with a yawn as she tossed her keys onto the couch, walking through the front door.

Soarin followed in after her and watched her take off up the stairs as he sat on the couch. "Wait, mind if i join you?" He asked, a question that had been trying to break out of his mouth since she announced what she was going to do, but he'd held back until she had walked through the living room and up to the last stair.

"Soarin," she said with a sigh, glancing back down the stairs and over to him and his sweet smile.

"Rainbow," he replied, the smile still sitting on his face.

"How about, i take a shower by myself, then you take one and you don't have to sleep on the couch tonight?" She offered, forcing a smile back at him.

"So, i can sleep in bed with you?" He asked, his smile still on his face.

Rainbow nodded and the asked, "Deal?"

"Deal."

"Alright, then i'm going to take my shower," she said, no longer able to keep the forced smile on her face. She sighed and turned, walking to the bathroom.

"Why do we always do that?" Rainbow's mind questioned as she turned the shower on. "Why can't we be like normal ponies who just smile, chuckle and play with their hair?" It questioned on as Rainbow's magenta eyes found her mirror image and stared into it. "Why do we have to be the weird pony? Why aren't we confident in ourself anymore? Why does it hurt us to think about this? Why can't we just act like a mare and love him back? Why are we crying?" Her mind continued as tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes still staring into her mirror image. "Why are we still afraid of him? Why does he want anything to do with us? Why don't we want anything to do with ourself? Why does our appearance never satisfy us anymore, even when we look at it a million times? Why do we want our mane cut short? Why do we pretend we are okay when we really aren't? Why can we answer all these questions with the same answer?" Now she was sobbing, the warm water from the shower only beginning to fog up her appearance in the mirror, letting her still stare at it and question herself. She sniffled and attempted to look away from herself, but she couldn't, her mind wouldn't let her, it was too busy interrogating her some more.

"Why did we trust him with those secrets? Why did we let our walls down around him? Why can't we just chase him away like everpony else? Why do we feel safe with him? Why do we love him? Why does he love us? Why can't we show him that we love him too?" Her mind questioned as she sobbed on, but this time she sobbed for a different reason. Just seconds before she was crying because of the kidnapper, but now she was crying because she couldn't repay Soarin for all that he did for her by loving him like he wanted her to. It made her sad that he did so much to make sure she felt okay and waited for her to finally be a real marefriend to him, to give him even the smallest bit of affection.

The more she thought, the deeper the questions got and the more she sobbed. She tried to stop it, but failed over and over again. She was finally breaking down after all the months of pretending she didn't think like this and that she was happy again. She hadn't done this since the first time the kidnapper assaulted her and left her sobbing on the uncomfortable bed he had provided. She remembered sobbing for what felt like hours and knew that this time wouldn't be any different, but Soarin had other plans.

"Hey, Rainbow you okay?" He called from the other side of the door. She knew he must have followed up after her, waiting to take his shower and get into bed, until he heard her sobbing.

She finally was able to glance away from her reflection and to the door, where she stared as she sobbed, giving the stallion no response.

"You okay Dash?" Soarin asked on, gripping the doorknob with a hoof, concerned about the sobbing mare on the other side of the door, but still there was no response. He sighed and opened the door to find Rainbow staring back at him, looking like a complete emotional mess. "Oh, Rainbow, he sighed wrapped his hooves around her, petting her back gently with his right hoof. She just continued to sob and cling to him, mumbling sorry over and over again. "No, shh, don't be sorry. Everypony cries," he said, attempting to calm her down.

"N-no. S-s-sorry i'm n-not a g-g-good maref-friend," she stuttered, pulling her head off of his shoulder where it had been rested to look at him.

"Rainbow, you are a good marefriend," he corrected. "Your the best marefriend I've had," he added, forcing a smile on his face.

"Y-your lying," she stuttered on, still staring back at him.

"No i'm not. Y-your the best marefriend I've had. All the other ones lied to me and cheated, a-and u-used me, b-but you don't do that. Y-your better than a-all of t-them," He corrected, breaking down in tears himself as he thought about his past relationships which had all ended badly and stared at the broken mare before him, who had been used as well.

"D-don't cry S-Soarin," she said, reaching a hoof up to wipe his face.

"D-dont c-cry Rainbow," he said back with a smile, which she mirrored before pushing her muzzle into his.

The kiss lasted for a couple seconds and then they sat, crying and staring back at each other quietly.

Soarin finally broke the silence by stuttering, "Y-you kissed me,"

Rainbow nodded and asked, "W-what about our s-showers?"

"Tomorrow," he said and pulled her into him again as his tears started to dry up, but hers kept coming. They dripped from her eyes, down her face and then down his back, but he didn't mind. Instead he tried to comfort her convulsing body and stop her tears.

Friends

Rainbow shuffled slightly, beginning to wake from her slumber. She resisted it at first, trying to fall back asleep, but she soon realized that her body wasn't cooperating and gave up, opening her sleepy eyes for the first time that day. She blinked them a few times as they adjusted to the new light and then sat up to stretch her stiff arms out a bit. It was then that she noticed where she had actually woken up.

She was sitting up on her bed, which would have been a normal place for her to wake up every other day, but not today. She knew she hadn't fallen asleep here because the last thing she remembered was her hooves around Soarin while she cried in the bathroom, not her bedroom. So, why was she here? And speaking of Soarin, where was he? Definitely, not beside her or in the bathroom because the door was open and there was no sign of him anywhere in there. She shrugged it off and got off the bed to stretch the rest of her body out before heading downstairs for breakfast.

She reached the kitchen and noticed an empty pie container sitting in the middle of her kitchen table. "Soarin," she mumbled as she approached it to throw it out, but before she did she noticed a note sitting in the middle of it. She looked at it for a moment and then picked it up in her mouth to put aside while she threw the pic container out. Once she had done that she brought her attention back to it and started to read it.

The note

Hey Rainbow, i see you remembered our little deal and got some pie, thanks! Oh, and sorry for the mess, but i had to be sure you found this note because by the time you wake i'll be long gone. I had to get up early for the show today, so i left way earlier than your reading this, lazy flank. Anyway, just thought i'd let you know so you didn't think i just dashed off, so um good morning and goodbye! Oh wait, i should probably say good afternoon because that's probably when you got up, so good afternoon and goodbye! Oh and your welcome for moving you to the bed because that bathroom floor sucks to wake up on!

Rainbow chuckled as she finished reading the note and glanced to the clock to see if Soarin's prediction was correct or not. "Eleven thirty, already?" She thought, surprised that she had slept that late without being disturbed by somepony as she usually was. But, she quickly got over that because it meant that Soarin wasn't right and that she wasn't as lazy as he predicted. She then got up to look for something to give herself for breakfast when a knock came from her front door. "Thought too soon," she mumbled as she turned and headed towards the door to let whoever it was in.

She opened the door and was greeted by Twilight, smiling over at her, books levitating beside her. "Hi Rainbow," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey Twi." Rainbow replied, flashing her a smile and then shifting her gaze back to the books levitating in a purple aura beside her. She recognized those books from her days at Flight School, they were the health class books. The ones that taught you everything you didn't want to learn about your wings with other ponies around, the ones everypony avoided as best they could. "Why do you have those?" She blurted out, glancing back to Twilight after fully examining the books.

"Why do i have what?" Twilight asked, before following Rainbow's gaze to the to books that her magic seemed to be levitating. Her face flushed red as she stuffed them into her saddle bags with her magic, and chuckled nervously. "Oh, those book? I was just um," she began, but stopped to regain her composure. "They're the only book i have left to read on wings and I've been pushing them off. So, i was going to read them, but then got myself out of it by coming to your house. I must have forgotten to put them down before i teleported here," she explained quickly, still looking pretty embarrassed about the whole situation.

The cyan mare chuckled and said, "Well i didn't see them, so their's nothing to worry about."

"But, you..." Twilight began, but Rainbow stopped her before she could continue anymore by placing a hoof over her muzzle.

"I didn't see them, Twilight," she said with a wink, which the alicorn caught onto and nodded in response to. "Alright, now come in," she added, returning her hoof to the clouds that were below her other ones and walking into the house. Twilight trailed behind her.

Rainbow walked right into the kitchen to continue her search for something to eat. Twilight followed her, noticed what she was doing and sat at the table quietly. "So, can i help you with anything?" Rainbow asked as she searched through the cupboards, but she didn't get an response from her friend. So, she looked away from the cupboards a tulip hanging from her mouth to see why she wasn't getting a response. What she saw was made her drop that tulip fast and dash over to try and pull a note that Twilight was using her magic to hold in place while she read, too bad magic was much stronger than the rattled pegasus was without even trying.

"Rainbow, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, pulling her eyes from the note and to her friend who was tugging said note with all her might. "You do realize that no pony can touch an object that is currently being controlled by magic, right?" She asked, not waiting to receive and answer to her first question because she had figured that one out on her own.

"No," Rainbow mumbled as she sat on the table, by the floating note in defeat.

Her friend nodded understandingly, not expecting Rainbow to know that having gone to a school made just for pegasi education, which taught nothing about unicorns and their magic. ( So, like how private school teaches you the religion way of how humans and the earth was created oppose to the science way public school teaches. If that helps any of you understand it. ) She then glanced back to the note she was scanning over when a certain cyan mare scooted her body into the way. "Rainbow, would you mind scooting back over? I am trying to analyze this letter," she said. Said mare just shook her head and remained where she was, so Twilight simply let go of her magical grasp on the note and said, "Fine, i will just analyze it off of memory," with an annoyed expression.

Rainbow tilted her head at her friend as her hooves scrambled to grab the note. "What do you need to analyze, Twi?" She asked, once she had the note safely crumbled between her two hooves.

"To figure out who wrote the letter because the only pony i know who would mention pie in a letter is Pinky, but that isn't her writing because hers is far more sloppy than that one is. So, i was analyzing the writing to try and match it with any that I've seen before. I know I've seen it somewhere, but i just can't put a face on it," she explained, glancing over to Rainbow as she spoke. "And it's really difficult going off memory here, but you seem to be really protective over the letter, hm definitely a colt," the alicorn noted out loud and then turned to analyzing the words instead of the writing. "The colt mentions a show of some sort and the only type of show you are ever interested in is a Wonderbolts show, so if he is performing in it then he has to be on the team, which adds up with the fact that he has writes very well becuase they have to sign things for their fans all the time.The team consists of many colts, but the first one that comes to mind is Soarin because you two seem to have a more friendly relationship than a professional one and that letter is definitely friendly, since he called you a lazy flank and in a professional relationship those words would never be mentioned or in this case written. So, I hypothesise that the author of this note is none other than Soarin Skies," She said, speaking her thoughts out loud, so that she wouldn't have to later explain to her friend how she came up with the answer she did. "Am i correct?" She asked.

Rainbow stared at Twilight for a moment after she asked the question, amazed that the mare was able to figure all that out from a very basic letter. But, she soon snapped out of it and got herself ready to lie, which is when she realized she better not because Twilight would figure it out quickly and pry for a real answer. So, she said, "Yes, you're right," dropping the letter from her hooves, no longer needing to hold it hostage.

Twilight nodded and smiled, proud of her how well she figured that one out. "Why did he stay the night this time?" She asked.

"We left Winter Wrap-Up late, so i let him stay," Rainbow replied with a shrug as she got up to retrieve the tulip she had dropped and a few more things to call her breakfast.

"You two are spending an awful lot of time together, even more time then you spend with us," Twilight said with a sigh as she followed the pegasus' figure.

Rainbow finished collecting her meal and sat with it next to Twilight. "Well i work with him," she replied as she bit into the start of her food.

"Yeah, but we're your friends."

"He's my friend too," Rainbow replied, glancing away from her food and over to Twilight, confused as to why she cared who she chose to spend her time with.

"Yeah, but...what i'm trying to say is, i miss hanging out with you," Twilight said, flashing her friend a smile.

At that moment Rainbow understood. She no longer pondered why Twilight decided to pay her two visits when she usually avoided visiting anything above the ground and also, why she was so concerned about how much time she spent with Soarin, she missed her. She and Twilight hadn't always been so close, but when they realized they both shared the same love for reading and Twilight received her wings they had become inseparable. If Rainbow wasn't at Twilight's library discussing the Daring Doo series or what funny thing happened with Twilight's new wings earlier they were out, practicing each of their flight skills, everypony knew that. But, Rainbow hadn't really hung out with or talked with Twilight in awhile, which hurt Twilight and now was hurting Dash. "I'm sorry, Twi," she said, ignoring her breakfast to just focus on their conversation now, figuring she had been a bad enough friend already and didn't want to worsen it by not fully concentrating on the first conversation they had in almost a year now.

"No, it's okay. You must be really busy with the weather team and the academy and your other friends," Twilight said with a sigh as she propped her head up on her hooves.

"Oh, come on Twi. I always have time for you, who else do i have to talk about Daring Doo with and share funny stories about my wings with?" Rainbow asked as she nudged Twilight with her right hoof. "We can hang out today, after i plan the weekly weather with the weather team," she offered with a smile.

"That's be nice," Twilight said with a smile.

"Alright, i'll go do the weather schedule and we can hang out again after that," she said with a smile.

"Okay," Twilight said, lifting her head and placing her hooves back down on the chair before hopping off it. "I'll meet you here at six, bye" Rainbow then waved and the Alicorn let herself out.

"Um, Rainbow. I don't think having a rainfall on this day is very smart," Thunderlane said as he looked over the schedule Rainbow had just finished putting together. " You have rain already three times before this and it's going to make the crops die from being over watered," he explained.

Rainbow glanced over the schedule once more and nodded in agreement. "Your right Thunder, i was just trying to make up for the lack of rain last week, but that isn't going to do anything, but flood the fields. I'll just make Wednesday a heavy rainfall and have the rest of the week be sunny and cloudy or whatever," she said, then fixed the schedule with a pencil.

"Yeah, but not too many cloudy days or the crops won't have enough sun to grow," Thunderlane reminded her as she made the adjustments.

"It's Spring Thunderlane, it's supposed to be rainy and cloudy, that's how it goes," she said, dropping her pencil to correct him. "That'll be on one of your test in school, so remember that or you'll fail the test, i did," she said with a shrug and then went back to fixing the schedule.

"Okay," Thunderlane said with a smile as he sat down, tired of standing the whole time. The rest of the team simply watched the two, not saying anything because they knew nothing about planning weather, they just kinda did what the schedule said. They would have to take a class in Cloudsdale to learn about this and none of them had done that except Rainbow who had already taken and passed it and Thunderlane who was currently taking it.

"Look good to you Thunder?" She asked, dropping her pencil and moving, so that he could glimpse over it.

"Looks good to me," he said with a smile.

Okay, good," she said, smiling back at him and holding her right wing up for him to hit with his own, the pegasi version of a high five. She then glanced at the rest of the team and said, "We're done, you can go home now."

They all quickly left, except for Thunderlane who stayed behind to help Rainbow pick up and put the schedule up.

"It's neat how you got Soarin to help us yesterday," Thunderlane said as he held the schedule up while Rainbow put magnets on it to hold it up.

"Yeah, i guess so. I mean i see him everyday, so it's nothing, but it's probably really neat to you," she said, flashing him a small smile and then refocusing on her work.

He nodded in agreement and then looked to his hooves for a minute. "So, um...i see you got your mane cut again," he said, trying to keep their conversation going.

She nodded and said, "Yup, your the only one on the team who noticed." She then went to slide a magnet over the paper and cut her hoof. "Ugh, papercut," she mumbled, pulling both her hooves back so that she wouldn't bleed on the schedule.

"I've got it," he said, letting go of the schedule to go grab a band-aid. He then returned a couple minutes later and wrapped her hoof for her. "Good?" he asked with a smile, the rest of the roll sitting on the floor by the fallen schedule.

"Yeah, thanks." Rainbow said as she turned her hoof a bit and then put it back on the ground.

"No problem," he said, which is when Rainbow noticed the piece of wrap stuck to his lip.

She reached a hoof out and took the wrap off his face with a giggle. "Don't think you'll be needing this," she said as she stuck it to the the roll.

"No, i won't," he said with a nervous blush as they went back to their work. "So, i was wondering if your, um busy tomorrow," he said, staring at the schedule instead of Rainbow.

"No, well i don't think i am, why? You want to go over your papers with me again?" She asked, glancing over to him once she had put another magnet down.

"Yeah, wait i mean no!" He said, biting down on his lip afterwards. "I was thinking more like a date or something," he said, glancing over at her for a second and then away again.

"Oh, uh," she began, still looking over at him and waiting for him to look back at her. He did so and this time kept his eyes there with a slight smile while Rainbow thought his offer over. "You can't!" Her mind yelled at her. "Don't forget Soarin! He's not here right now, but he's still your coltfriend, wait! We didn't even agree to that, maybe we can do this...wait...no we didn't agree to it, but we've kinda just accepted it by now, right? We can't say yes, shoot him down." She sighed as she finished thinking it over and then began to talk to him. "Look, Thunder, i'm sorry, but..." She began, but he interrupted her by lifting a hoof and putting it to her muzzle.

"No, i'm sorry. I got it, you don't have to say anything else," he said with a forced smile before looking back to his work and putting his hoof on it again.

She sighed and frowned as he took his hoof back and looked away. "No, Thunder, it's not that i don't like you, it's just i'm busy tomorrow, i just remembered something!" She said, still looking at him, not being able to shot down such a sweet colt. "What are we doing! No! Just pretend we're not talking to the colt version of Fluttershy and shoot him down!" Her mind shouted as he glanced back to her.

"Oh, okay, then when aren't you busy?" He asked, his expression cheered up a bit.

She sighed as he asked the question and knew now she couldn't dance around it, she really had to shoot him down.. "Thunder, i, we can't, i have a coltfriend," She said.

"Oh, sorry!" He apologized again. "I didn't know or i would have never asked you," he began to explain.

"It's fine, Thunder. Let's just get this up and pretend it never happened, okay?" She asked and he nodded. Then they both turned back to their work, finished, said goodbye and took off back home.

"We feel bad," her mind reminded her, which made her roll her eyes, as if she didn't already know that. "You know what we should do! Hook him up with Flutters, they're like the same!" Her mind plotted, which made her chuckle a bit. Could you imagine that relationship? It wouldn't even get past the first kiss because they'd be far too busy apologizing to each other. "Maybe later," she thought as she arrived at her home and found Twilight sitting outside, "Right now, we've got to apologize," she thought as she walked up to her.

Meanwhile...

The Wonderbolts were about halfway to their show and night had fallen. So, they all agreed on taking the night off and split up to get something to eat before heading to a hotel to rest. Spitfire and Surprise had taken off to eat with Fleetfoot, while Soarin had taken off with Wave Chill and Fire Streak. So, now he sat at the bar in some restaurant with his 'friends' at his sides.

"It feels weird having you around again Soar," Wave Chill said as he nudged Soarin with his hoof, knocking the pie in his hooves to the floor, "Oh, sorry about that," He said with a smirk.

"It's fine, i didn't really want it anyway," Soarin said with a sigh as he looked away from the fallen pie and over at Wave Chill. "Good," his mind said, satisfied with his response, even though his body disapproved of it. All of these stallions had been Wonderbolts during his foalhood, so they became the ponies he admired and he wouldn't dare do anything to upset them even if they did make him loose out on a perfectly good pie.

"You don't need it anyway, you've put on too many pounds from those things already," Fire Streak added with a chuckle as he nudged Soarin on the other side with his hoof.

Soarin glanced down at his stomach and frowned. He saw no difference in his body size, but if Fire Streak saw it then it had to be true, his idol would never lie to him right?

"Oh, don't feel too bad kid, it's probably just a result of spending all your time with whiny Rainbow instead of us," Wave Chill said with a chuckle. "I mean the mare's always complaining to you about something!"

"Yeah she is! She's always like, my wings hurt, i'm sore, Spitfire hates me..." Fire Streak added, both of them chuckling, forgetting the sticks of celery that sat before them on the table.

Soarin didn't like them talking about Rainbow like that, but he chose to say nothing and instead began munching on one of his own celery sticks, now that his precious pie was all over the floor. "Well, she is going through the academy and that's tough on the wings, plus Spitfire's a hard trainer," he said, taking a break from his food to try and get the ponies to lay off on Rainbow.

"Spitfire isn't tough! She's just hot!" Wave Chill said, waving a hoof dissmissingly in the air.

"Yeah she is!" Fire Streak chimed in.

Soarin soon found both their eyes on him, waiting for him to chime in with them as well. "Well, i trained with her and got accepted with her a-and i'm really good friends with her, but I've never though of her that way," he said with a slight smile before a couple hard apple ciders were placed in front of each of them. "Closest thing we're getting to an apple pie tonight, dig in," his mind instructed and he did as told, quietly.

"Soarin, really? You haven't ever.." Wave Chill began.

"Nope!" Soarin interrupted, putting his drink down for a moment.

"Well, how about Surprise? She's hot too," Fire Streak said, glancing from the cup of cider he was drinking and over to Soarin.

"No, she's just my friend too," Soarin said with a shrug.

"Fleetfoot?" Wave chill asked, but just got a head shake from Soarin as a response.

"Do you even like mares or just filly foolers?!" Fire Streak said with a chuckle that Wave Chill chimed into.

"Oh geez we better drink our brains out tonight," Soarin's mind commented as he finished his first drink and looked to the bartender for another.

"That was a good one Fire!" Wave Chill shouted as he bro hoofed Fire Streak.

Fire Streak continued to chuckle and glanced to Soarin, who didn't seem to get the joke. "Oh come on, you don't get it?!" He asked through his chuckles. "I said or just Filly Foolers because, well look at Rainbow! Sure she's pretty hot, but she's got Filly Fooler written all over her mane, tail and face!" He yelled and then he and Wave Chill started to laugh harder.

Soarin mumbled some things to himself and then chugged the mug of cider he had just received. He made a weird face as the last of it slid down his throat and then glared back at the two stallions he was seated with. They were still laughing and making jokes about Rainbow, so he rolled his eyes and looked to the bartender. "I'll have another," he said, flashing her a small smile before glancing back to his 'friends' and disappeared.

Spitfire glared at her teammates from the booth she, Surprise and Fleetfoot were seated in. "You know those two are real douche bags," she grumbled as she got ready to stand up and march right over there.

"Whoa nelly!" Surprise said with a chuckle as she grabbed ahold of her left hoof, pulling Spitfire back down to the booth. "Remember last time you wen't over there? I don't know what you said, but all three of them avoided you for a week!" She added.

"Yeah, and all three of them deserved every word of it!" She argued, ripping her hoof out of Surprise's grip.

"Soarin didn't deserve it," Fleetfoot said, glancing up fro her meal and over at Spitfire.

"Yes he did! Sure, he just sits there like a lump on a log and doesn't join in with them, but he could at least try and get them to stop," Spitfire said, glancing back over to Fleetfoot.

Fleetfoot shrugged and said, "Look i want to pound them as bad as you do, but all that's gonna happen is a headline with us beating the two of them up and we'll get a letter from headquarters about it. If you want to keep your job, sit." She then glanced away from Spitfire and back at her food.

Spitfire glanced at them once more and sighed. "Fine," she said, looking back to her food.

Surprise smiled as she looked over her two friends. Spitfire was playing lazily with her food, obviously trying to take her mind off the conversation going on a short distance away from them. Then there was Fleetfoot who was brutally eating her hay fries. "Oh cheer up you guys! They called us hot!" Surprise said with a chuckle as she nudged both of them on a forearm.

"Surprise, they called Rainbow a filly fooler! Our friend, Rainbow!" Spitfire said madly as she glanced at the laughing white pegasus beside her.

"Oh in that case, " she began with a chuckle with quickly turned into an evil laughter as she continued. "I hope they take a mare back to their room tonight and wake up with itchy parts!!!"

"Surprise!" Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot said on unison as they looked away from what they were doing and back at her.

Surprise just shrugged and said, "What? You two wanted to beat them up!"

"I bet she isn't even that great!" Wave Chill said, still chuckling.

"Yeah, but she's probably fast!" Fire Streak added, chuckling himself. "Get it? Get it? Because she's the fastest in Equestria!!" He added, nudging Soarin who seemed to be more interested in the mug of cider he was nursing than what they had to say.

"Okay we're drinking and we STILL CAN'T STAND IT!!!" Soarin's mind screamed as he took a sip from the mug. "OPEN OUR MOUTH!!!" It screamed on and he took one more sip then slammed his hooves on the bar.

"Whoa Soar, calm down," Fire Streak said, his chuckling now stopping.

"No i will not calm down!" He yelled, slamming his hooves down some more, angrily.

"Sh! Your gonna attract the paparazzi! Get down!" Wave Chill warned, glancing up at Soarin who glared right back at him.

"Good! Then they'll have a nice long story about how much of douchebags both of you are!" He huffed moving his glare to Fire Streak and then back at Wave Chill. "To think i used to look up to you two!" He added with a roll of his eyes. "Never again, never after you talked about Rainbow like that! She is my marefriend and you two need to respect! But, you won't, you know why?! Because you two think nothing of mares! And you ought a start because you two are hitting retirement age soon and when being a Wonderbolt is done and over with you can kiss mares goodbye! So, have fun dying alone while i hang out with my marefriend!" He shouted, taking turns glaring at both of the stallions seated at the table with him. It was then that he noticed the paparazzi snapping pictures at the whole scene and flashed a big ol' smile for them. "Can't wait to see that on the news, huh? Looks like this kid's making his first headline!" He added, then asked the bartender for his check, paid it and glanced over at the two stallions he was just sitting with. He huffed and started walking off only to be stopped by three hooves.

"Whoa nelly!" Surprise repeated as Soarin stopped, her hoof being one of three that grabbed him.

Soain glanced over at her, then the owners of the two other hooves holding his forearm, Spitfire and Fleetfoot. "What?" He asked as they reclaimed their hooves.

"First of all that little speech you did was perfect," Fleetfoot began with a smile.

"Oh, thanks," he said a smile creeping on his face again.

"And second of all you look really really hungry!" Surprise continued in her normal energetic voice.

"So, sit with us before you go to the hotel. There's a pie over there with your name on it," Spitfire added with a small smile, which looked like nothing compared to the smile that took over Soarin's face after she spoke.

"Okay, you've got me," he said with a chuckle and slid into the booth beside Fleetfoot.

"The best part was when she swooped down and grabbed the golden monkey before the temple fell!" Rainbow said with a chuckle. She was seated on her couch, Twilight to her left and they were in the middle of discussing one of the Daring Doo books.

"I'm going to have to disagree on that one Rainbow," Twilight began, glancing over at her friend, chuckling slightly at her enthusiasm. "I believe that the best part is when she used the clues in the temple to find the golden monkey, since the map got destroyed in a earlier booby trap," she finished with a smile.

"That was okay, but i think the part i was talking about was so much better," she argued, not an upset type of arguing, but a friendly type.

Twilight shrugged and said, "To each his own."

"I guess so, except we're mares," Rainbow said, still chuckling.

"Actually it's just a saying, but i guess we could say, to each her own," Twilight said, chuckling back at Rainbow. She then noticed the clock and said, "Wow, it got late quick, Spike probably thought i was coming home tonight and locked up the library without me already."

Rainbow glanced back at the clock and shrugged. "I guess it's late for you," she began. "It's definitely past an egghead's bedtime," she continued, turning back to Twilight with a taunting smirk on her face.

"Well, i can't argue with that one," Twilight replied with a chuckle as she got off the couch. "Bye Rainbow," she said and then walked out the door to go home.

Rainbow said goodbye as well and then stretched out on the couch to finish the Daring Doo book she'd been reading lately.

A Different Type of Stallion

A Couple Days Later...

Rainbow walked down the academy's hallway slowly, as if she was dreading what was at the end of it because she was. You see, today was the day of the first cuts and even though everypony knew she was the most skilled pegasi in her group it still worried her to know that today her dream could be crushed. So, she took her time down the hallway as her mind reminded her of all the things that could possibly go wrong today and get her cut. She tried to push the thoughts away, but they kept playing in her mind, making her more and more nervous with each step as well as causing her to slow her pace even more. She did manage not to get on the ground and shake nervously this time, though, which was a big improvement from her last nervous breakdown.

Surprise noticed Dash's nervousness as she hopped from one of her practices and slammed on her heels to stop and approach Rainbow. "Hi Dashie!" She chirped as she matched her hopping to the cyan pony's slow pace.

"Hi Surprise," Rainbow groaned as she took in Surprise's sweaty appearance with her magenta eyes. She looked at her for just a second, wondering how the pegasus could be so bouncy and cheery after what seemed to have been a hard practice, based on how much she was sweating.

"You look super, duper nervous!" Surprise blurted out with a chuckle. "Whatcha' so nervous about?" She asked then asked, a smile remaining on her face the whole time.

"Well, there's cuts today," Rainbow began, but couldn't finish because Surprise had apparently heard enough and chose to talk over her next words.

"Wow! Already? It feels like you just got here a couple days ago!" Surprise commented, still chuckling.

"Really," Rainbow replied, not appreciating Surprise's need to talk to her when she was trying to concentrate on how bad she was going to do today. But, she didn't say anything to the hopping pony and instead let out a sigh as she turned a corner and noticed the doors that lead to the training field at the end of the hallway.

"Well don't be nervous! You're gonna do great!" Surprise reassured her as she hopped along. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks and her giggling facial expression faded to reveal a new surprised expression, which only meant one thing, she'd just remembered something important. "I gotta go Dashie! I'm gonna be late!" She exclaimed, said good luck and then hopped off, at a surprisingly fast speed to be just hopping.

Thanks," Rainbow mumbled as she watched Surprise speed off. She then turned back around and hit her nose on the door. She groaned, then took a second to hide her nervous expression and pushed the door open to walk in. That way she wouldn't look like she particularly cared that cuts were today, because...well she's Rainbow Dash and she has an image to uphold, in her mind anyway.

She took a seat on the bleachers and glanced around at the other cadets, there certainly weren't as many as usual here today. She shrugged that information off, not really caring too much about the other cadets because she never really talked with them anyway.

Her eyes drifted from the cadets to Spitfire who held a scowl on her face and unlike her fellow teammate she was not all sweaty, which was strange, since all the starters had practice together. "Weird..." She thought, still watching Spitfire when all of a sudden her magenta eyes met Spit's orange ones and she glanced away, not really wanting to start today of all days off on a bad hoof with the pony that got to either crush her dreams or let them continue on.

Spitfire did a quick look over of the class and then cleared her throat as she approached the cadets and sat, ready to speak. They all knew this was their que to stop whatever pointless conversations they were having with each other and pay attention to their instructor.

"As you probably have noticed, all of you aren't here today and that is because those that are missing have been cut from the class. So, congratulations on keeping your spot and i want 10 laps, let's go!" Spit said, with no real emotion and then she took a seat on the last row of the bleachers, as the other ponies rushed up to run. Rainbow on the other hoof was approaching the mare, figuring she couldn't get mad and cut her now that cuts were over.

"Do you not know what, let's go means?" Spitfire asked, glancing over at Rainbow briefly before looking back to those that were already running.

"Guess not," Rainbow said, which earned her a dirty look from the yellow coated pony. She was not amused by Rainbow's little attempt to be funny, but Dash didn't particularly care and sat down right next to her.

The older mare huffed, figuring she was not going to get anywhere with Dash, so she decided to threaten her. "Start running or your gonna have to give me fifty wing-ups," Spitfire replied, looking back to Rainbow sternly.

"Fine," Rainbow huffed and got off the bleacher, she walked out a bit away from the mare and then got down into wing-up position. "Now, who put that stick up your flank?" She asked, as she completed her first wing-up.

Spitfire sighed, not expecting the cyan pony to actually do the wing-ups, because she knew how much she hated the,, but she had started them and now she had to deal with the questioning. "The boss," she replied with a shrug, bringing her attention back to the running ponies.

"Why? What'd he do?" She questioned, having done five wing-ups by now.

"Kicked me off the team for the season because i have to train the stupid cadets," she complained.

"Hey!" Rainbow said, stopping herself to glare at Spit.

"You chose wing-ups over running. That's pretty stupid if you ask me," she commented with a shrug.

Magenta eyes rolled in their sockets and then their owner got back to the wing-ups she was doing. After a moment she spoke up again and said, "Well it's just a season."

"Not just any season! It's Spring, Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire yelled, stomping her back hooves, which were hanging from the bleacher she was seated on against the ground.

"It is the season with the most performances, but it's also the one with the most practices, so you get to ditch them and everypony says they suck." Rainbow replied, trying to be as optimistic as she could being thirty push ups into her instructed amount.

"I guess that is a good thing," Spit began, calming down slightly. "But, i still think it's stupid," she added, which would have made the cyan mare chuckle, if she wasn't doing dreaded wing-ups.

"Yeah, well wing-ups are stupid," Rainbow added, letting herself fall to the ground with a groan.

"Yeah, well you better have done fifty of them," Spitfire said, glancing at Rainbow once more.

"I DID do fifty," Rainbow replied as the other cadets started walking towards the pair.

"Well warm-ups are over, come on," Spitfire said her mouth starting to curl up into a smile so that she could chuckle as Rainbow started to get off the ground angrily. But, she quickly wiped what was almost a smile off her face and offered her right hoof to Rainbow who gladly took it, using it to peel herself off the ground.

"Thanks," Rainbow said, forcing a smile onto her face to see if Spitfire would mimic it and let her know that she had improved her mood a little bit. Instead of a smile she got an almost smile out of the mare, right before she turned too meet up with the other cadets, but that was enough to let Rainbow know she had succeeded in improving her mood, which is what she had originally intended to do when she sat by her. Her smile was still forced though, and disappeared once she gave up on holding it there and walked over to stand with the other cadets

Those wing-ups were annoying, which is why Rainbow's smile was forced , but they weren't as bad today as they usually were when Spit instructed her to do them. That was because she knew she had gained something from doing them and that something was an easier practice. She had figured out that improving her instructor's mood would lead to an easier practice because she and Spit were similar in the way that they felt towards the team and so she understood why being removed from the team during the most exciting season of the year would make her instructor so angry, since she would have felt the same way. Then, she would have taken her anger out of the cadets that had caused her to be be removed in the first place by giving them the worst practice they had ever had, to calm herself down a bit, which was what she knew Spitfire was planning to do today. So, she didn't listen to her instructor and chose wing-ups over a run, so that she could calm Spit down before practice actually began, that way she wouldn't be completely exhausted once practice was over and she wouldn't wake up sore once again.

Practice really wasn't that bad, as Rainbow had predicted and she was quite proud of herself for doing so as well as making it past the first cuts. She pulled her wings in for the last time and headed for the front door, leaving the rest of the cadets to hang around and chat with each other where as she had better things to do with her time, which meant doing anything, but talking to them. Sure, it was kinda rude and mean of her to completely ignore each of them, but it hadn't always been her intention to do so. In fact she planned on making friends with a few of them because she would be spending a lot of time with them in practice, but being as brutally honest as she was, they didn't take to her 'friendliness' so well and ended up insulted by her. She then marked them as not awesome enough to even chat with her in her book and lost any interest in them all together. So, now she was headed home when she was stopped once again by a hopping pony.

"Dashieeeeeee!" The hopping pony began in a sing song voice.

"Hi, Surprise," Rainbow said with a chuckle. She was in a much better mood now and was actually willing to stop and talk with the happy pony.

"Congratulations on making the first cuts!" Surprise continued, confident in the fact that her friend had indeed gotten through the cuts.

"Thanks," Rainbow responded with a smile.

"Your welcome," Surprise chirped right before her face lite up, another memory surfacing to help her remember something important. "I gotta go! I', supposed to meet the photographer for my new shirt pictures soon, so i have to go clean up!" She announced before waving a hoof at the cyan mare and taking off down the hallway.

Rainbow chuckled at her friend and then started towards the door once again. She managed to take a few steps before she was stopped by none other than Soarin.

"Hi, Rainbow," he greeted with his usual smile, a towel draped around his neck that he had used a few minutes prior to wipe the sweat from practice off of his face.

"Hi," she responded with a smile, which seemed to confuse the colt before her.

"Your really happy, what happened?" He asked. Rainbow was acting rather friendly in his opinion because most of the time she just taunted him and even though he couldn't think of anything to taunt himself with at the moment, he knew she could. But, she had chosen not to and instead greeted him with a smile, which made him curious as to what got into the mare.

"I passed the first cuts," she said, happily. The whole event had already made her day, since it meant she was much closer to fulfilling her life long dream and the fact that she had talked herself into an easier practice only added to her joy.

"Congratulations," he said, flashing her his smile once more as a replacement for the suspicious face he had previously held.

"Thanks!" She said happily, really not handling her excitement about the whole thing too well anymore. He nodded to her as a 'your welcome' and then her eyes drifted to the sweaty towel hanging on his neck. "Heading to the showers?" She asked, glancing back up to meet his eyes.

"No, i was heading to grab one of my snacks before i went home to shower," he corrected her. He then watched as the same smirk she got before she began to taunt him once more and he smiled back, waiting for it to just spill out in the form of a raspy voice.

"What's the matter? The colt's too afraid to bathe with the stallions?" She taunted, chuckles coming from her smirk.

"Just like this filly's afraid to bathe with the mares," he replied back with his own smirk.

"Oh, please," she said with a dismissing hoof, "I'm not afraid to bathe with the other cadets, i just don't want to ," she continued.

"Sure...." he added with a chuckle as he continued on his way to grab his snack.

She rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help chuckling some more herself at his comment and then trailed off after him. After all, the two of them hadn't spent any time together since he'd gotten back because every time they attempted to hang out with each other he was busy with another practice, she was holding her usual practices with the newly single and cutie marked Scootaloo or she had been called to Twilight's house once again because Pinkie claimed to have spotted Chyrsalis, though no one else ever seemed to see her.

"Do, you have anymore practices toady?" She asked as they reached the door of the break room and walked in.

"No," he replied, walking over to the cupboards his snacks where held in. He tossed a snack towards her and she caught it in her muzzle, thanking him muffedly. He nodded to her and asked, "So, where are we hanging out tonight?" He had guessed this was where she was steering the conversation based on her previous question, but regardless if she was or not he was definitely steering it that way.

She shrugged as she munched on her snack and then swallowed what was already in her mouth before she said, "Your choice," she had obviously had the same intentions as Soarin for once.

"My house, i guess" he said, not really giving it much thought because it didn't matter to him either. He pulled out a snack for himself and started to munch on it, while Rainbow finished hers up. He finished his in no time and then the two of them were headed out the door and to his house, chatting and taunting each other as they went.

Soarin's house wasn't far away from the training area, and so they got there in practically no time. Something Rainbow was very happy about because of their conversation.

The two of them had started the flight home with pointless taunts and chatter, but it very quickly turned into bickering. This had all started with one comment from the cyan mare, "You stink." He then tried to blame the scent on her, which she was quick to denie and they fell into a back and fourth argument.

Once they reached the house Rainbow instructed the stallion to take a shower before her nostrils burned off and he snorted then did so, leaving her to roam the house. She'd been in about every room in the house when he went missing the last time she was over here, but she never really got the chance to look through them. So, as soon as she heard the shower go on she snuck off to try and find something to taunt him with this time.

She started in the living room, but there really wasn't anything in there besides the couch and a few pictures of the ponies she now knew were his family members. But, there was something that wasn't quite right about those pictures, in her mind anyway. She thought back to her family pictures, all of which contained herself as well as her mother and father, since she was an only foal and then looked over the photos of his family, trying to figure out what made them seem so strange to her. It took her a moment, but she eventually figured out that there was only one stallion in each of the pictures and that would be Soarin.

"What happened to his father?" She wondered, setting down the pictures in her hooves to look through the draw they had been in, attempting to find a picture with more than one stallion in it, but there were no more, that's all he had. "They probably just don't get along," she assured herself as she picked the pictures up and tucked them away as neatly as she found them. She came to this conclusion because she didn't want to believe that his father was dead and single parents were such a rare thing in Equestria that the idea didn't even cross her mind. It was so rare because the parent that left the foal was usually shunned and looked down upon by everypony, therefore no one wanted to have to deal with that and helped raise their foals no matter what. The few that did leave their foals usually just ran off, leaving their whole lives behind to start over elsewhere, where no pony knew them as well as a single parent and foal that would be gossiped about for practically the rest of their lives. Her thoughts were cut short as she heard the shower water go off and closed the draw quietly. She then took a seat on the couch and tried to make herself seem very interested in something in the room, which wasn't easy since he had taken down all the Wonderbolt stuff, so she looked to her hooves instead, pretending to be interested in them for just a couple minutes so that when he walked out of he would find her, sitting their innocently.

A couple minutes later he emerged in the room, a wet towel hanging from his neck once again and took in the mare's appearance as she pretended not to know he was there because she was so busy with her hooves. "What were you doing?" He asked, already knowing she was doing something while he bathed and it wasn't playing with her hooves.

She simply shrugged and said, "Nothing," as she glanced up to look at him.

"I don't believe that," he said flatly as he glanced around the room for even one thing to be out of place, but he didn't find anything and looked back to her for an answer.

"Then don't believe it," she said, confident that he'd never know what she was actually doing because of how well she had put back the pictures she touched.

He rolled his eyes, but didn't bother to do an in dept search of the room to find the truth out, since it hadn't seemed to be effecting him at the moment, whereas his hunger was. "What do you want to eat?" He asked, changing the subject to one of his favorites, food.

"I don't know, all i imagine you have is pie anyway," she said with a taunting smirk that he shook off quickly.

"I eat other things," he responded with a shrug, to show her that she failed at taunting him that time.

"Then i don't care," she replied, moving to lay her legs out on the couch.

"Then i'll make something while you shower," he said, moving for the kitchen's entrance.

"I don't need one now, i'll just take one when i get home," she said with a shrug.

"You do need one now, you stink," he taunted, turning to flash a smirk of his own at her.

"I didn't stink! You did!" She replied, putting empthesis on the words didn't and you.

"Well i washed up and it still stinks," he taunted on.

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes, it does!"

"Just take a shower, it's not gonna kill you."

"Fine," she huffed, and started to peel herself off of the couch and out of her comfortable position.

"Thank Celestia," he added with a chuckle as he continued on his way to the kitchen.

She just rolled her eyes at his comment and made her way to the bathroom connected to his bedroom. She turned the water on and looked to the mirror once again, but this time her attention was captured the red thunderbolt that hung from her neck, resting on her chest. "Opps," she said with a slight chuckle as she took the element off and placed it on the side as she had for the past couple of days. Once she had placed the element down she figured the water had warmed up by now and got into the shower, not making anymore contact with the mirror before she did so.

Soarin prepared a salad for the two once he had reached the kitchen and set it down on the table with a pair of plates, then he became board. He glanced around the room and shrugged, not finding anything to do and sighed, "why does she have to take so long in the shower?" His mind questioned as he put his right, forleg on the table to rest his head on. He did as plan, resting his head on his hoof and noticed that his mane was still wet, "Oh, we gotta brush that!" His mind realized and he got up from the table and started off to his bedroom, to grab his brush.

He reached his bedroom and walked over to his nightstand. He looked over it for a moment, not finding his brush and then went through it's draws, still not finding the brush. "Check your saddle bags," his mind suggested and he turned, glancing around the room for his bags. He hadn't bothered to put all the things inside them away yet, since he had another show coming up soon and had been just taking what he needed from them in the past few days, his brush included, but forgotten that until now.

He didn't see the bag anywhere in the room and sat, trying to remember where he had left them when he got back. He remembered it was late, so he probably wondered into the bathroom, forgot they were on until he almost walked into the shower with them, took them off and dropped them by the shower..."Oh, yeah that's where they are there," he said, chuckling at himself for forgetting so easily. He then stood up and made his way to the bathroom door. He knocked, explained why he was in there, though Rainbow really didn't care and went to grab his bags before something else caught his eye, the necklace with the red thunderbolt on it, he had it on Rainbow before, but never really got a chance to get a good look at it, so he threw his saddle bags over his back, and headed out, but not before grabbing the necklace on the side as well.

Rainbow finished her shower and glanced around the room for a towel. She eventually found on under the sink and used it to dry herself off, she then slung it around her neck and took flight, she was never really one to walk for very long. She flew to the side and reached d element that was no longer there. She looked down to help guide her hoof to the element, since she didn't feel it on her hoof and noticed it wasn't there. "Chrysalis!" She thought immediately as she flung the bathroom door off quickly so that she could dash off to tell Twilight about the whole thing and spotted Soarin, sitting on the bed, saddle bags to his left and the missing item in his hoofs. "Don't touch that!" She shouted, frustrated about the whole situation and snatched the item from his hooves.

"It's just a necklace, calm down," Soarin said, confused as to why she was so upset about him touching the stupid necklace.

"It's not just a necklace!" She yelled back, looking over the element quickly before putting it back on her neck.

"Then what is it?" Soarin asked with a chuckle, predicting he would hear her stutter a bit then admit it was just a necklace and the real reason she got so upset about him touching it.

Rainbow sighed, thinking for a moment of how to explain the whole elements thing to him. She then spoke up and asked, "Do you know what the elements of harmony are?"

"The guys that stopped Nightmare moon, Discord and saved the team's flanks when that Dragon attached Ponyville?"

"They're not guys, they're mares," Rainbow began flatly. "But, yes they did all that and more, trust me," she continued.

"So, what do they have to do with that necklace?" Soarin asked, not quite following what Rainbow was attempting to explain.

"Well, i'm...i'm a BIG fan of theirs! Especially that totally awesome one that represents the element of loyalty! So, i wear this necklace sometimes because it looks just like hers!" She lied, though she did hide this one quite cleverly, well maybe not so cleverly because she had to stop and think of it, a que that she was lying.

"So, it's just a necklace?" Soarin asked with a 'i told you so' facial expression. He had noticed her stop to think before she spoke, but he had figured that was just because she was trying to explain what was really a necklace as something else, that way he'd be wrong. But, she gave up and just admitted it was a necklace, just as he had said, therefore he was right and that is all that he cared about.

"Yes, it's just a necklace," she said with a sigh as she glanced away from Soarin who looked quite proud that he was right. She did this because she wanted him to believe that she really was telling him the truth, which meant he would have been right, so she had to fake that she was mad about it or he'd catch on to her lie. She was going to tell him all about the Elements of Harmony, but stopped to think up a lie instead, just because she didn't know if she really wanted him to know that secret. That was because she knew baring and element meant she had enemies, enemies that hated her and would do anything just to get to her. Sure, she was usually good at not letting stuff get to her or at least acted like she was good at it, but if any of them were to come after anypony she was close to, that hard shell would crack and she would be devistated. So, she kept it to herself, telling herself she only did it to protect the other elements from a swarm of media, but she knew deep down that the real reason was to protect him, the colt she cared for.

"Well, it's a cool necklace, that mare must be awesome like you said," Soarin commented with a smile as he admired his marefriend's jewelry.

"Yea, she's the most awesome pony i know," Rainbow responded, turning to flash him a smile. "She like at the top of the awesomness charts!" She continued, her smile growing as she complimented herself.

"Are you fangirling?" Soarin asked with a chuckle.

"No! I am NOT fangirling!" She said, stomping her right forehoof on the ground as he fell backwards onto the bed in a laughing fit. "Hey! Stop that!" She instructed him, but he laughed on, her cheeks glowing red from the embarrassment of being called a fangirl. That would was just embarrassing to her, even though she really was a true fangirl of the Wonderbolts before she got accepted into the academy and got used to being around them everyday and there Soarin was, laughing, making her even more red and embarrassed. "Can it!" She called, taking to the air to hover over him.

"Aw! Flustered?" He asked, still laughing as he stared up at her.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"You look cute like that,"

"...." Rainbow, opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out, so she instead she sunk to the bed beside him even, more embarrassed.

"Got'cha!" He announced, sitting up by her, his chuckling fading a bit.

"No you didn't!"

"Well, tell your cheeks that. They didn't get the memo," he commented, his chuckling picking up once again.

"You suck," she said with a roll of her eyes as she turned her face away from him. She wanted to explain the whole elements of harmony thing to him, but she chose not to for many reasons, one of which was the fact that he would just laugh it off and not believe her. She knew that the chances of anypony believing some pony else who told them they were pretty much a superhero were slim, especially somepony like Soarin, who took everything she had to say as a chance to taunt her or laugh.

Another reason had to do with the fact that she wasn't quite sure if she should trust anypony else with this secret of her because it could endanger she and her friends lives in the end. She was pretty confident they could get themselves out of any dangerous situation, but her mind reminded her that she had thought the same way about her ability to keep herself perfectly safe and that obviously didn't turn out too successful with the marenapping and all. She sighed as she thought about it, forgetting the fact that Soarin was still staring back at her.

"Oh, come one, don't get upset," he said with a chuckle a he hit her left foreleg with his hoof lightly.

"I'm not upset," she said, forcing a smile at him, which apparently worked well because he smile back at her. He then lifted his hoof again and pushed a piece of blonde mane away from her face, a gesture Rainbow knew all too well by now. Her fake smile turned real as she closed her eyes and waited for their muzzles to meet once again, something the cyan mare was very familiar and comfortable with by now.

The two hadn't seen very much of each other since he returned from his show, but that little time they did get together they took full advantage of, or in Rainbow's mind they did anyway. They'd kissed, hugged and talked when they did have time for each other, which pleased her, but didn't seem to do the same for him because he kept pushing her for more and this time was no different.

Their kiss grew into more than just that and was now a make-out session. He had his hooves holding her head into place and she had hers out and ready to push him back if anything, but for the most part she didn't mind that too much either. Her thoughts were clear, but Soarin's were the complete opposite. They were busy at work, laying out instructions and reminding him of things here and there, though he had been pretty much ignoring them so far.

"Hey easy there, remember what happened last time!" His mind reminded him, but he didn't let up on the mare in front of him, a habit that he usually regretted doing in the end. His mind didn't let up and barked more things at him that he heard and completely ignored over and over. That was until he had run out of air and pulled away from her. "Took you long enough," his mind added as he let air fill his lungs once more, a smile still printed on his face, mimicking the one that he saw on his marefriend's face before him.

Once he had caught his breath, he reached in for her face, but he found himself muzzle to muzzle with her once again way faster than he had anticipated. That was because she had lifted her own hooves from their cautious position and grabbed a hold of his head, pulling him in much closer. His smile grew wider when the first kiss let up and he lifted his own hooves to her shoulders, which sent his mind into alert again.

"Ay, hooves down! No, don't do..oh forget it let's go!" His mind said as he used his front hooves to push her back against the bed. He shuffled his shoulders a bit, hiding back his wings, which were trying to pop themselves out of where they were being kept until he knew exactly what her reaction was.

As they pulled away to catch their breath again Rainbow flashed him another smile, the signal he had been waiting for to finally let his wings loose. He then started to kiss her neck and she got a view of his wings, the smile fading from her face, her mind starting to play the visions it had seemed to save from what seemed like years ago. She had tried to erase them permanently once again and instead they played on, making her facial expression fall even more. One in particular had seemed to stand out from the others and it just so happened to be one of the worst ones.

She was fidgeting her legs in this vision, all four of them. Her face was panicked, she couldn't see it, but she could sure feel that it was. She was laying on her back, but most certainly not by choice she was forced to stay there, which is why her legs were fidgeting so much. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere, but she didn't dare stop them because then she would have given up and even though the pony keeping her here had taken so much for her already, she wasn't letting him take away the fighter she was.

Finally, the familiar sound of chains jingling entered her ears and relieved her a little bit. She then lifted her hooves and pushed her captor off of her enough to sit up. She went on to try and push him off of her face, but this task seemed even harder, still she didn't give up, pushing as hard as she could against the stallion's chest, yet he was pushing back on her and seemed to have no problem pushing her back to the ground. She groaned as she felt her back smack against the floor, her hooves slipping off his chest and onto his sides, which was stretched awfully far. She forced her eyes open once again, to examine the situation and saw a pair of all white wings standing fully up in the air and panicked once again. She shook all of her limbs and every part of her body in an attempt to get free before what she dreaded happened once again. She had been holding tears back all this time, but now they let go as she begged him to get off of her, another thing she had been holding back because of how degrading it was to her. But, he didn't listen and eventually her body's moving slowed, but she refused to stop and just give up, no matter how exhausted she was. She looked up at him desperately and only saw a smile before her eyes slammed closed and the vision ended.

She snapped back to reality and instead of lying there motionlessly staring up at Soarin, like she had previously been doing she started to fight him off. "Stop..." She mumbled as she tried to pry him off with her own hooves, but he didn't give up, adding pressure to his hooves to hold her down. "Please!" She mumbled on, louder than before, her eyes growing watery as they had in the vision. She held the water back, but not her protesting because he still hadn't let go of her. "Soarin!" She she said and finally he pushed himself off of her, falling to a sit as he groaned, an angry expression making his face it's home.

She pushed herself up into a sit as well and glanced over him again. She stared at his face, her eyes wandering from it quickly, not liking the feeling of sadness it's expression gave her. She settled her eyes on his wings next and sighed, he was even trying to tuck them away like he usually always did, which let her know he was so upset he didn't even care that they were sticking straight up. "Sorry," she mumbled, scooting over to wrap her hooves around him, giving him a hug, one thing she was very comfortable doing.

He ignored her, causing her to sigh once again as she glanced over him again. She noticed an imprint in the shape of a lightening bolt on his chest and then glanced to the element around her neck, making sure the shapes matched. As she predicted, they had. She knew that must not have been very comfortable, based on how deep the imprint was and stopped hugging him to place her hoof of the imprint. "Sorry," she mumbled again and he pushed her hoof off, jumping off the bed and leaving the room. "Wait!" She called after him, as she trailed behind.

"Get out of here!" He yelled, slamming his hoof against what sounded like a window. She flattened her ears even more than they already were, turning out of the bedroom, figuring he was yelling at her. But, once she laid eyes on him again she noticed he was talking to a window, his wings snapped to his sides again, which meant paparazzi were on the other side of the glass.

"Dam, ponies!" He grumbled, having scared whoever the blue mane that stuck out of from it's cover behind the tree, belonged to away. She approached the window, glancing out to try and see what he had. He noticed this and pulled the blind down then wrapped his hooves around her. "Don't worry about it, their gone," he said, his angry expression fading.

"Yeah, but what about.." she began, but stopped when he started to speak again.

"It's fine," he said, breaking the hug so that she could see the fake smile he flashed her. She opened her mouth again to speak, but he stopped her by saying, "i mean it, now let's eat." He then took off to the kitchen, leaving her to watch him walk off.

She sighed, and looked to her hooves with a sad expression. She knew it wasn't fine and that he was still mad, no matter how well he hid it behind a smile. She hated disappointing him like this and seemed to be doing so everytime they spent any time together, but what could she do to stop it? Nothing, as long as those visions haunted her. She started to walk after where he had, but stopped, noticing for the first time how tense her wings were. She turned, glancing back at them and sighed as she found them sticking straight up in the air. She coaxed them down and then glanced back to the window, that was now covered by a white blind. "He closed it, so they couldn't see," she thought a smile gracing her lips once again. She had originally thought he did so because he was mad at the pony on the other side, but she know realized he had done it to protect her. The smile grew bigger as she thought it over and she started following after where he had went, again.

She found him at the table, his head rested on his right hoof, a facial expression that told her he was deep in thought and an empty plate sitting before him. She then looked over the rest of the table, noticing a bowl of salad and an empty plate sitting by the other, before a chair. She glared her throat and his green eyes snapped to hers, his hoof falling back to the chair he was seated on. "Hi," he mumbled, the fake smile finding it's way to his face again.

"Hi," she said back, moving to sit on the chair beside him, not breaking the eye contact they had with each other. It was quiet for a moment as they sat, just staring at each other before she spoke up once again. "Thank you, for closing that blind like that, i didn't even realize my wings were up," she said, her smile still on her face as she grabbed a hold of one of his hooves with one of her own.

He glanced down at where their hooves were being held together for a second, his fake smile turning genuine. He then met her magenta eyes again, mumbling, "Your welcome."

Loyalty and Generosity Don't Always Go Hoof and Hoof

"Earlier this morning, i was up finishing a suit for a very important client," Rarity began, but stopped when a certain cyan mare yawned. "Rainbow, you could at least act a little interested in my story!" She complained, shooting the mentioned mare an aggravated glare.

"I'm listening, i'm just tired," the mare responded, glancing at Rarity with no real expression on her face, just tired features.

"It is eight in the morning. By now you should have plenty of rest," Rarity said flatly as she glared at the mare, but her attention was grabbed by one of the other mares in the room who let out a yawn themselves. This yawn was a lot more distracting than the first one because it had come from Pinkie Pie.

"I hear ya, Dashie! I'm exhausted myself and it's WAY to earlier for important meeting stuff!" The party pony said in a rather loud voice.

"But, Pinkie this is important and it is never too early for important things," Twilight corrected, Rarity nodding in agreement beside her.

"It's not even early, you two are just bein dramatic," Apple Jack added, looking over at Pinkie and then back to Rainbow to get her point across better.

Rainbow's expression grew angry and she was just about to get to her hooves when a butter colored hoof stopped her. "Can we please stop fighting? We never get anywhere when this happens and i have to get back to feed my animals, i-if you don't mind," Fluttershy said, her last words coaxed in attitude, simply because her animals took priority in her mind and they were in need of food while she was wasting time here, watching her friends fight.

Yeah, Fluttershy's right! Now will you guys keep it down, i'm trying to sleep!" Spike complained from the top of the stars, a claw running at one of his tired eyes. Their arguing had woken the sleeping dragon up and he was not happy about it.

"Sorry Spike," the mares apologized at the same time. He then nodded and went back to his bed.

"Alright, now where were you Rarity?" Twilight asked, glancing back to the fashionista. The rest of the mares followed her gaze and the mentioned mare smiled, happy to have all eyes on her once again.

"Well, like i said, i was up finishing a suit for an important client when i heard something fall from upstairs. I glanced from my work and up to where the sound had come from and yelled at Sweetie. She denied making the noise, but i didn't believe her because she was the only one upstairs and it had to be her or so i thought. I headed up stairs to see if she had broken anything of importance to me and found her laid in bed, the covers pulled over her face, she was clearly sleeping when i yelled and woke her up. I apologized for accusing her of making the noise and then headed into my room to see if the noise had come from there and indeed it had. On my floor was a broken open jewelry box, the one i kept my necklaces locked in. The lock was still intact, but the front of it had been pounded in, so immediately i thought it was a burglar and tried to make a list of the items that were missing, but strangely none of the expensive jewelry was missing, the only thing that was was my element. But, the pony hadn't been very careful and left some black fur on the jewelry box, which made me believe it was not a burglar, but Chrysalis. So, i left Sweetie a note and came here quickly to tell you the news," Rarity said, a sad expression on her face as she finished up her little explanation.

"You lost your element?" Twilight asked, with a shocked expression.

"No, Chrysalis took it," Rarity corrected.

"See you guys! I told you i saw Chrysalis! She's been watching us," Pinkie added.

"Rarity, are ya sure ya didn't just loose yer element?" Apple Jack asked. She didn't want to believe that one of the elements was stolen.

"I did not misplace it. It was taken, by Chrysalis!" Rarity responded, a bit aggravated with the questions she was getting. She didn't think that anypony actually believed her story, besides Pinkie of course and was not pleased at that.

"U-um h-how are we going to stop her without Rarity's element?" Fluttershy asked quietly, though she seemed to have been heard by at least one pony.

"I don't know, Fluttershy," Twilight said with a sigh.

"We don't have to stop her because she isn't after us!" Rainbow said, finally speaking up.

"Yes she is Dashie! Duh! Haven't you been paying attention, you silly filly!" Pinkie chuckled, wrapping a forearm around Dash's shoulders and messing with her mane.

"No she isn't! There are lots of ponies with black fur, one of them probably did it!" Rainbow responded, pulling Pinkie's arm off of her. "Like that stupid paparazzi pony that's been following me around," she huffed, not too happy about that either.

"No, Rainbow. If one of them had done it they would have taken everything while they could, not just the element!" Rarity corrected, but Rainbow only shook her head at her and continued to deny it all.

"The element looks more expensive than that jewelry, so they probably figured they'd get enough for it and didn't need the rest!" She argued.

"Have you seen my jewelry?! It is fit for the princesses themselves to wear, anypony would have snatched them up as well, unlike that ugly thunderbolt hanging from your neck. It merely looks like a toy, something a filly would play with!" She huffed, which angered Rainbow even more, just because of how much she liked her elements appearance and didn't appreciate it being compared to a filly's toy or that it was held at a lesser value than Rarity's element and necklaces. She was just about to open her mouth and argue on when a purple hoof found it's way into her mouth.

"Would you two stop it, i am trying to figure this whole thing out and your arguing is not helping me at all!" Twilight began, frustratedly. "Rainbow, I know your tired because you usually are up much later than this, so your irritable and Rarity, your just mad that the element you admired so much is now gone, but could you two please not fight with each other!" She pleaded, looking back and fourth from the arguing ponies, but unfortunately their angry expression did not change, meaning they were not going to stop.

"Well maybe if Rainbow wasn't up with Soarin all night she wouldn't be so tired and cranky!" Rarity hissed, making Rainbow grow even madder, where as the others, except for Pinkie, had shocked expressions, because unlike Rarity and Rainbow they didn't feel like that sort of thing was right before marriage. Pinkie on the other hoof really didn't have a side on the whole thing, since she really could careless about it.

"Well at least i have somepony to stay up with all night!" Rainbow hissed back, making Rarity's expression turn shocked.

"How dare you go there!" Rarity yelled.

"How dare YOU go there!" Rainbow yelled back and then the two were separated by Apple Jack and Twilight.

"I reckon you'll should go home, cause' your causin' nothin but trouble!" Apple Jack yelled over the two, blocking off Rainbow's view of Rarity.

"I agree. We aren't going to get anything figured out with you two arguing like this, so go home, we'll figure this out better without you!" Twilight yelled over them, while blocking Rarity's view of Rainbow.

"I don't want to stay here anyway!" Rainbow huffed and took to the air, flying out the window and away to sulk.

"Neither do i!" Rarity added, storming out of the house through the front door, slamming it behind her with her magic.

Once they were gone, Pinkie, Twilight and Apple Jack went back to trying to figure the whole thing out, not thinking much of why the two missing friends had been fighting, but Fluttershy was still thinking about it. It was usual for Rarity to get mad at Apple Jack and have an argument or Rainbow to get tired of Pinkie's antics and get mad, but it was very unusual for them to be mad at each other, which is why she was so stuck on the situation. There had to be a deeper reason to why the two were so angry at each other, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. She dwelled on it quietly while the others discussed the situation.

In the end, they decided to tell Celestia. The princess took the whole thing quite seriously, going to such extremes as flying them all down to the castle and assigning them a royal guard to protect them. She ordered them to stay there while the whole situation was investigated, which would have been fine if Twilight hadn't left out the whole Rarity and Rainbow are ready to rip each others mane's off thing. If she had told her Celestia wouldn't have given them neighboring rooms, worsening their relationship with each other as the days went on and making everypony's stay there horrible.

Two Weeks Later

Fluttershy had gotten the group together again and now five of them were sitting at a table in Sugarcube Conner, no pony, but Fluttershy knew the reason why they were there, so they were questioning it. Unfortunately, the shy pony was not revealing the reason why they were all here because anytime she went to talk some pony talked over her and she was going to talk over them and be impolite.

"I don't care why we're here, but i wish primadonna would just hurry up already! I'm supposed to be getting ready for practice!" Rainbow said madly, contributing to the conversation the others had been having. She and Rarity still held a grudge over each other about the whole situation and things had only been getting worse because of little things that had happened through-out the last few weeks.

The two of them had been getting into stupid verbal fights, which were usually broken up by the guards Celestia had assigned each of the girls for protection from Chrysalis. The fights were usually about the stupidest things, simply because they were mad at each other, but their had also been a few which were started because of the strange things that had been going on with Rarity.

Lately, her things had been going missing and showing up either in Rainbow's room or in her possession, which made her believe the cyan pony had been stealing things from her, when she really hadn't. So, since Rainbow denied ever doing so, Rarity thought she was lying to her and their argument had gotten even worse.

Last night, Rarity had taken off without a guard, since hers had probably fallen asleep earlier in the night shift. Rainbow had noticed this during one of her late night flights that she snuck away from her sleeping guard to take. Her first instinct was to stop or at least follow the mare, because even after all that had been going on they were still friends and friends didn't let their friends walk off into danger, especially when that danger came in the form of Chrysalis. But, she had changed her mind and went back to her room, no longer concerned about the mare and apparently that had been the last time anypony had seen her, according to the other's conversation.

"Rainbow, what if Chrysalis took her, would your practice be more important then?" Twilight asked with an angry face. She was not happy about the two of them acting as if they didn't care about each other anymore.

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but closed it just as quickly and looked away, not really sure what her answer would be anymore, instead Fluttershy decided to speak, taking advantage of the silence.

"That's exactly what i think happened. That's why i called you all here," the shy pony said, bring everypony's attention to her, which made her hide behind her mane a bit.

"Why?" Pinkie asked, jumping closer to the mare, tilting her head and batting her eyes while she waited for the answer.

Fluttershy hid even farther behind her mane and spoke softer once Pinkie had done this, but she still answered the question. "W-well s-she didn't show up for our spa day a-and i saw her guard later, who asked me if i'd seen her because he couldn't find her," she explained, which some how the others had managed to hear.

"Did ya tell Celestia?" Apple Jack asked, getting a shake of the butter colored mare's head as a response. "We should tell'er then," she continued, looking to Twilight who nodded in agreement.

"So, the meetings done?" Rainbow asked, angering Apple Jack this time with her insensitive question.

"No, Rainbow it ain't over, but it is fer you. If yer gonna be so ignorant ya might as well leave and go to yer stupid practice. So, go!" The farmer snapped, glaring at Rainbow.

"Fine, if you don't want me here i'll leave!" Rainbow snapped back, glaring at Apple Jack for a second before she stormed out of the room, her guard following behind her.

After practice Rainbow decided not to head back to the castle where she could practically feel the tension between herself and the others, but to stay at the academy. She found herself in the break room once again, laid out on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. She laid there quietly, listening to the pegasi flying around outside. She had been there for a few hours now, uninterrupted when Soarin decided to stop in for one of his snacks. He grabbed one for himself and her as well then sat on the end of the couch, tossing one to her. She caught the snack and sat up when he sat down so he'd have more room , then mumbled, "Thanks," as she placed it down, not interested in it.

"What's up?" He asked, as he opened the snack and glanced over at her once he began eating it..

"Stupid Rarity. She made everypony mad at me because she could show up on time for a stupid meeting," she replied, an angry expression coming over her face as she spoke.

"Well where was she?" He asked, motioning for her to scoot closer to him with his hoof. When she waved his request off he wrapped a wing around her and pulled her closer to him. She sighed, but didn't move, instead she answered his question.

" I don't know," she responded, glancing over at him. " I don't even know if she ever came back and i don't care," she added with attitude.

"Where could she have gone?" He asked, ignoring how angry she clearly was about the whole situation.

"I don't know!" she huffed.

This time, he decided not to push her anymore and instead planted a kiss on her mouth. "Well, if you don't know, what use are you at that stupid meeting anyway," he said with a chuckle, which made her scowl disappear and her mouth twitch like it wanted to smile along with him, but was stopped.

"Your right," she said, resting her head against his shoulder. It didn't stay there for long because he finished his snack and pulled away from her. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"Another rehearsal, but after that i'm done for the day, so we can meet up after at my place," he said, trying to look on the brought side, no matter how sick he was of all the practicing when he knew the routines by heart.

"Can't meeting with Celestia," she sighed, leaning back against the arm of the couch while looking at him.

He sighed and said,"Then, i guess i'll see you in a couple days."

She nodded and said, "In a couple days it is."

"Do i get a good luck kiss?" He asked with a smirk.

"You don'y need good luck," she replied with a smirk.

"So, i don't get a kiss?" He asked, his smirk falling.

"Of course," she chuckled, getting up to give him one. "I gotta get going anyway, i'm bet that guard's about ready to tell Celestia i'm missing too," she chuckled on and then followed him out of the door, splitting ways after that.

Once they arrived at the castle, Rainbow decided to storm off to her room, still wanting to be away from the rest of the girls. She started down the hall to her room, but was stopped by Pinkie who shouted, "We found Rarity, look!" She then pointed into the open doorway where the others were getting Rarity's story on where she had been all this time. Rainbow looked in quickly and was going to continue on her way to her room when Fluttershy happened to look up and spot her,

"Oh, Rainbow your back. We were all starting to get a little worried about you, even Rarity, since your practice ended a couple hours ago," she said with a smile.

Rarity then looked up and nodded, "Yes, i was worried and i want to say sorry for everything that has been going on lately," She began, but was interrupted when Rainbow huffed, apparently not accepting the apology at all.. "I figured you wouldn't except that, so i wanted to go on a walk and get a little more in dept with this apology. Hopefully, we will come back friends again. So, what do you say, want to take a walk with me?" She asked, smiling back at the cyan mare.

Rainbow huffed again and turned to storm off when she was met with Fluttershy's stare. She tried to look away, but couldn't and she knew the butter colored mare wouldn't let go of her until she got what she wanted, which was Rainbow to go on that walk. "Fine, i'll go," she mumbled, making Fluttershy smile and release her from the hold her stare had on her.

"Oh, good! I'll just grab my hat and we can get on our way!" Rarity said, a little too excited about the opportunity to make up with the cyan mare.

"You do that," Rainbow grumbled, flashing Fluttershy an aggravated expression before she took off down the hallway. "I'm going to grab dinner quickly," she called behind herself, figuring if she had to deal with Rarity now, she might as well do it on a full stomach. After all, she was a lot easier to deal with when she wasn't hungry.

"Girls, do you find it as weird as i do that the guard claims he looked for Rarity here earlier and didn't find her?" Twilight asked, once Rarity and Rainbow had left.

"Maybe she just slipped out for a snack and missed her," Pinkie suggested, which the others seemed to agree with.

"Your probably right, Pinkie" Twilight said, since the others believed it, she figured she aught to as well. "I feel bad for the poor stallion though, Celestia didn't seem to happy with him for having lost Rarity in a place as simple as her room," she added with a shrug.

"Well, i'm hungry! Lets go find a bakery and get some cupcakes!" Pinkie suggested, apparently Rainbow's mention of food had brought her to the conclusion that she too was hungry. The others laughed then nodded, feeling the same way as Pinkie after a long day. The party pony then bounced out the door, followed by AJ, Twilight and the guards.

Fluttershy on the other hoof stopped her phony laughter and walked after where Rarity had just taken off, her guard gone with the others, figuring she had gone as well, since she nodded and not really bothering to check for her. She had been waiting to get the fashionista alone since she was found and now she finally had her chance. She turned the corner, leading her from the doorway they had all been gathered in earlier and to where the bed was. She spotted Rarity immediately, using her magic to pull a hat from the closet, but there was something very different about the way she was doing this action than the many other times Fluttershy had seen her do it before. It took a moment for her to realize exactly what it was, but when she did her body tensed up, despite her mind's instruction and she let out a scared squeak. "Oh, Fluttershy, i thought you left dear," Rarity began, turning to face where the squeak had come from as the hat she had picked was placed perfectly on her head, with her magic. "Why do you look so scared, it's just me," she continued with a chuckle, approaching the pegasus to comfort her.

Fluttershy was shaking as Rarity came closer, but her body still refused to budge and now a white hoof was resting on her shoulder. "Fluttershy, it's just me, your friend, Rarity," the owner of said hoof said, hoping to relax the shy pony a bit, but she only angered her.

"Your not Rarity! Your Chrysalis!" She shouted, her words so close together that it sounded like one big word, but the other pony clearly understood, in fact she was laughing.

"So, your the one who figured it out, huh? You know, that surprises me i thought for sure that the purple one, Twilight is it? Or does she go by Princess now?" The other pony began. "And, i thought she'd figure it out before i impersonated this weak pony," she said, shaking her back legs with disgust. "I figured she would figure it out when the real Rarity was here, your know, back when i was snatching her stuff and hiding it on short-tempered on Rainbow, right?" Fluttershy nodded slowly at this sentance. "Oh, good, i never was very interested in that one, she's far too hard to get through to, well me being a mare and all," she began again. "That's why i had my son do it, about a year ago, too bad i didn't realize how big of a fan of hers he was," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "So, that plan failed because i wasn't going to sit and let him get involved with a filly fooler," she continued with a distasteful look on her face.

Fluttershy's expression softened at her last words and her fear was pushed aside as she stood strongly, ready to defend her friend, knowing how sensitive she was to those words. "She isn't a filly fooler!" She shouted, a stern look on her face.

"Sure, and i'm Rarity," Chrysalis chuckled, pushing the pegasus down with her right forehoof. "Now, be a good little prisoner and don't give my guard a hard time," she added with a smile as the guard who was supposed to be watching the real Rarity stepped forward, changing into his real form, that of a changeling. Fluttershy, opened her mouth to shout for help and a zipper appeared over it. "I said be good, but obviously you don't know what that means," Chyrsalis said with a roll of her eyes as she shut the zipper she had put there with her magic. Suddenly, a knock came from the door and Chrysalis' expression became mad, "Stupid pony," she mumbled, letting go of her magical grip on Fluttershy's mouth zipper. She then instructed the changeling to hide her in the closet, while she dealt with Rainbow. Once he had obeyed her instruction she went to the door and greeted Rainbow.

"Ready to go?" The cyan mare asked, not bothering to greet who she thought was Rarity back.

"Actually, it's quite late and i'm exhausted from working on my designs all day," she began, tying her excuse for being missing all day into her words. "I thought i was up to going for a walk, but i have realized i am far too tired for that now, but we can talk over breakfast tomorrow, in my room," she suggested.

"How about my room," Rainbow suggested, not wanting to leave Rarity's room and end up blamed for stealing something again tomorrow. Rarity opened her mouth to argue, but noticed Rainbow's annoyed expression and figured she wouldn't agree to meeting at all if she started another little argument, so she closed it, found new words and spoke.

"Fine, we'll meet there, goodnight," she said and went to close the door when another guard appeared at Rainbow's side. This guard wasn't hers, but Fluttershy's.

"Have any of you seen Mrs.Fluttershy?" He asked, Rainbow shook her head and Rarity went to shake hers as well, but stopped herself as an idea came to her mind.

"Actually i have, she's inside. She just wanted to make sure i was okay, but if you wait here, i'll grab her for you," Rarity said with a smile. Closing the door and walking back inside. Rainbow stayed outside with the guard waiting to see if Fluttershy was really there, but also trying to figure out why Rarity left them here when she usually would have invited them inside.

"Alright, for now your Fluttershy," she whispered to the changeling. "I'll grab the one trained to play her when i drop her off later tonight, but for now just be quiet, she's good at that anyway," she finished as he changed his form into that of Fluttershy's and started towards the door. She followed, leaving the real Fluttershy shaking and crying quietly in the closet.

"Here she is," Rarity began with a smile, standing in the doorway once again. Fluttershy smiled and then took off down the hallway without saying a word, her guard in tow. "Now, as i was saying, goodnight Rainbow," Rarity said.

Rainbow nodded to Rarity, not bothering to look at her. She was in stead watching Fluttershy walk off, finding her behavior strange. Usually, the shy pony would have at least said goodbye to her and Rarity before taking off, but this time she hadn't. She turned to ask Rarity about it, but found a closed door instead and then took off towards her room, figuring it it had struck Rarity as strange then she was just over examining things.

Meanwhile, Rarity's in poster was listening for everypony's hoof steps to disappear so that she could hide Fluttershy in a bag of some sort and take off to where she was keeping Rarity. There she would leave her locked away, retrieve the one who was supposed to play Fluttershy, switch that changeling out with the one currently playing her and go back to her room, to do some thinking. Tonight she was supposed to take Rainbow, not Fluttershy, but things had gone another way, and now she had to think of how to adjust her plan to that change, so that it still went through smoothly.

Pinkie Promise?

"Hungry?" A masculine voice asked. The voice was close, too close according to it's intended target and so she ignored his words. "Starving yourself isn't getting you anywhere," the voice taunted, following the pattern it had developed in the last few days and the listener ignored him some more, following her own pattern. "Fine, starve!" The voice hissed, letting go of the plate of food and letting it fall straight to the ground as he turned and stormed off. The listener simply smiled, lifting her magenta for the first time from her hooves to watch him storm off.

In this situation she had the upper hoof, she was the one in control and she loved that feeling, especially after being forced into submission by him for what seemed like so long. He was stronger than she was, meaning he was probably an athlete of some sort when he wasn't here and that made it difficult for her to even give him a good fight when he stroked her mane, tried to press his lips against hers or generally attempted to have any type of physical contact with her. But, there was one thing that she had over him and it was stubbornness.

The colt she was dealing with was obviously used to getting things his way because he seemed to think she would do anything he wanted her to just when he wanted her to do it. Things such as conversating with him, playing his stupid board games or just looking at him. She on the other hoof had refused and seemed to continue doing so no matter what he physically did to her. So, she messed with his head by not giving him the time of day, annoying him more and more each day, until he finally cracked today. He had dropped the food he brought for her all over the floor, a new thing for him as well as a stupid thing. Once the sound of his stomping hooves had been barley audinle to her ears she turned and started working on the chains that kept her stuck down here with him.

She tried banging the locks on the chains against the bed's headstand where she was sitting, shoving her hoof into the lock to turn it and even chewing herself free with no success. She groaned, becoming as annoyed as the stallion previously was, but forced herself not to give up as he had. She stuck to trying to escape, exhausted every possible way to break a lock with only her body and was still getting herself no where. She grew madder and madder with each failed attempt and in just a few minutes was so furious that she grabbed the lock in her right hoof and banged it as hard as she could against the bed's headstand, repeatedly. "STUPID, FREAKING, CELESTIA DAMMED THING!" She screamed as she bounded it again and again, tears forming in her eyes and readying to head down the tear stained paths on her face from the crying she had down in the last few days. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!!!!! OPEN UP YOU DAMMED THING! OPEN!!!!!!" She screamed on, her body convulsing to push more and more tears down her already soaking face.

The screaming had attracted the stallion back to the room, the same mad expression he left with still on his face. "What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled, trying to be heard over her screams and sobs.

"TRYING TO GET OUT OF THIS STUPID PLACE!!!" She screamed, letting the lock fall onto the pillow below it as she reached over the bed to grab the broken pieces of glass that had been shattered when her food was splattered on the floor. She held them tight in her hooves, carefully avoiding the edges so that she wouldn't harm her already throbbing hooves anymore than she had by now. The shared pieces where held at an angle that meant they were ready to be catapulted into the stallion any second now.

"Go ahead throw them and see what happened to you!" He screamed, showing no fear to her threat. In fact he was getting closer and closer to her. She let loose of the glass, flinging them for his face and he easily dodged piece after piece until she was left open and un-armed. He then made his move, pressing her back against the bed the best he could with one hoof while the other fished around for a syringe that he had tucked behind his wing earlier. He found it quickly despite her screams and struggle and jammed it into her thigh then hopped off her to sit and watch as the medication started to set in.

At first she was screaming and just as ballistic as ever, but slowly she calmed. Her muscles where becoming numb and she herself was very sleepy. She fought it for as long as she could, trying to prevent the fate she knew was ahead of her. The fight seemed to go on for hours to her, when in reality it had taken just a few short minutes and then she was out, laying sound asleep on her stomach.

Her hooves laid lifelessly, yet visually throbbed from the physical pain of pounding the lock on the headboard over and over until she had just about gone through the wooden thing completely. Her chest pushed her away and then towards the bed once more, trying to keep up with the sudden wave of blood her rage had forced to her heart and her eyes bright red, sore from all the times she had rubbed at them, trying to wipe away the embarrassing tears that fell from them. All of this had been going on and yet the mare looked so peaceful, to the stallion anyway because he decided to rub a hoof through her mane and sigh. "Your too unstable for your own good," he commented before pulling his hoof back and walking off once more, trying to clear his head of everything that had just gone on because after all he didn't want it to. He just wanted her to cooperate with him and do as he told her, that way he wouldn't have to chain her up and make her so miserable in his presence and yet she refused. She refused day after day for the past three weeks and he didn't like it, in fact he hated her behavior. As he thought about this he stormed out, leaving the mare lost in another nightmare, one not too far off from the one she was living.

Rainbow's eyes shot open, taking in a stallion's shape and making her even more afraid than she previously was. She pushed off of the stallion and yet he seemed to just pull her closer, trying to cease the trembling her body was doing and stop the tears that dripped down her face all because of a stupid memory. Another stupid memory of her kidnapping that haunted her in her sleep.

"It's okay, Rainbow," the stallion said, his voice much softer and kinder yet deeper than that of the stallion's in her memory. She recognized this voice automatically as that of somepony she could trust, that of the only pony who knew why she woke up hysterical like this every so often, Soarin.

Once she had realized this she calmed, realizing she was safe in this particular stallion's hooves and wrapped her own tightly around him, "S-soarin," she shuddered, attempting to relax herself some.

"I gotcha," he said, calmly. "But, i am still sore," he added, referring to the bruises that were scattered about his back from the accident he had been in during his last show. He had messed up his timing and ended up spiraling for the ground after colliding with one of his teammates. The teammate had seemed to avoid any real serious injuries, but he had taken a pretty hard blow to the back of his head as well as his back in general when he collided with the ground. So, now he had a concussion, bruises and scraps as well as a two week leave from work and yet none of it mattered to him at this moment, all that really did was that he calmed down the mare against his chest.

"S-sorry," she stuttered in, pulling her hooves off of him and sitting up to wipe at her sore eyes from the ruff awakening. "I-I'm being a big f-foal anyway," she continued, snorting to try and breath out of her nose better.

"I'm guessing you remembered something about a certain period of time and i don't blame you for waking up so hysterically," he said, giving her a small smile.

She smiled back at him and said, "Thanks." Her body still convulsed a bit, but she had managed to calm herself dowm and fix her stuttering speech. She then got off the bed and went to splash some water on her face from the bathroom, to cool it down.

Soarin sighed, his smile fading once she wasn't looking at it and he laid back down on his stomach, waiting for her to return. Once she had he asked, "Did you ever tell anypony else about this?" She shook her head and he sighed once more before saying, "You should. How about the therapist at the academy, he's supposed to help the performers, so why not give him a shot?"

"I'm not a performer."

"Cadets still count."

"Well, no."

"Why not?"

She shrugged and climbed back on the bed, sitting by him. "It's not easy to..."

"Talk about? I know, but you told me a-and I've got nothing better to do for a couple weeks, so i can come with you," he offered, interrupting her to speak himself and still she refused.

"I'm too busy today anyway. I've got to move my things from the castle back home, since Celestia called off the whole special watch thing off and i have to help you while your family is over," she said, falling backwards with a sigh.

"We can go tomorrow."

"I'm NOT going Soarin, drop it!" She hissed back, taking him somewhat off guard, but he had expected that to happen sometime or another, it always had when they got into these conversations.

"Fine, I'll drop it," he said sitting up and getting off the bed. "Now, come on, the faster we get your stuff packed the more time we can spend together before my family gets here," he added, heading out the doorway of his bedroom, headed for the kitchen.

She groaned, but pulled herself off the bed to followed him. "Your not helping me, remember the doctor said no physical stuff," she reminded him and he simply shrugged, as she caught up to him.

"Your stuff will be so light that it can't even be considered physical labor for me anymore," he said with a smirk. "And, since when do you follow doctor's orders, Mrs. I totally talked to the counselor like i was instructed to by my doctor," he added lifting an eyebrow at her.

"That's different," she said, reaching the kitchen table and slouching back in the chair she had decided to sit in today.

"Of course it is," his mind grumbled as he started looking through his kitchen, trying to decide what they'd have for breakfast and how he would go about making this stubborn mare get the help he knew she needed.

Breakfast was quick and quiet. Soarin wasn't willing to say even one word to Dash because he knew she would just snap at him and Rainbow didn't say anything to Soarin because she knew he would relate it back to the whole nightmares thing. So, they sat quietly, ate and then went their separate ways. Soarin returning to his bedroom to get ready for the day and Rainbow taking off to pack her things at the castle.

She reached the castle quickly, since Soarin's house was not only located in the same city as the castle, but wasn't too far away from it either. She flew right through the front door, the guards there recognized her by now and opened the door as quick as they could so that she wouldn't have to stop and could continue to the room she was staying in.

She flew on undisturbed until she came to the hallway where all her friends were staying, each of which where packing their own things. As usual, Twilight was levitating her things into her saddle bags while Spike checked off each item on a list, Apple Jack was throwing the little things she did have in her bags, really not caring how it got in there, but how quickly they did so and Pinkie was shoveling piles of things into small saddle bags without a problem, However, Fluttershy and Rarity seemed to be packing their things strangely.

Usually, Fluttershy would take her time, tucking her things away very neatly with the help of Angel and Rarity would be folding all of the fabrics for each design she was working on together, so that she wouldn't loose any of the work she had already started on them, as well as dissembling her ponyquin to put into her luggage. But, today Fluttershy had just thrown her things into her saddle bags, Angel included and Rarity had thrown her fabrics into her luggage messidly, leaving her to struggle with the ponyquin she usually got disassembled and tucked away in mere minutes.

Apple Jack finished packing her things quickly and decided to go help Rarity with her ponyquinn. The fashionista was quite glad to receive the help and the two of them got it away successfully in just a couple minutes. Overjoyed with the success and now with some extra time on her hooves before the train to Ponyville came, Rarity decided to treat AJ to something to eat. At first, AJ refused, not wanting a reward for doing what she thought any good friend would do, but Rarity told her not to think of it as a reward and instead look at it as something to do while they waited for their train. So, in the end Apple Jack agreed as long as she got to pay for her own meal and the two of them left to pick out a location to eat at, this agreement pleased Rarity and she was happy to go along with it until they ran into a certain, pink, party pony who refused to let them go any farther without her. Rarity refused her, but the pink one argued and argued until she eventually became confused and agreed to let Pinkie go as well, just to shut her up. All three of them then left, two of them looking quite happy, but the palest of them all looking quite unpleased.

Rainbow had glanced around while she was packing and noticed Fluttershy as well as Rarity's strange behavior, but she hadn't said anything. She instead focused on trying to remember everything that she had brought, that way she wouldn't leave any of her items behind. So far she had made great progress, in fact she was almost done, but then Fluttershy interrupted her. "Hello, Rainbow Dash," the shy pony said with a smile, bringing the cyan mare's attention back to her.

"Oh, hey, Flutters," Rainbow replied, glancing up from her saddle bags to look at the butter colored mare.

"Are you almost done?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, i was just wondering if you didn't mind accompanying me to look at the castle garden for the last time. I want to say goodbye to all the animals before i leave," she said, still smiling.

"I would, but that's probably going to take a long time and i have to meet up with Soarin before we get on the train," Dash said, picking up her flight goggles and tossing them into her saddle bags.

"I won't be long, i promise," Fluttershy said, forgetting the fact that she and her friends usually made a special type of promise.

"Pinkie Promise?" Rainbow asked, glancing at the mare once more.

"Yeah, sure! Now let's go," Fluttershy said, turning away from Rainbow.

To this Rainbow made a strange face. She knew Fluttershy knew very well how to exactly do a Pinkie Promise, yet she had completely skipped over doing so. "I thought you said you Pinkie Promised?" She asked, staying where she was as Fluttershy stopped to turn and face her once more.

"I did. Now let's go," Fluttershy responded, looking at Rainbow once more.

"Well, aren't you gonna do it?" Rainbow asked, still confused about the whole situation.

"I JUST did," Fluttershy said, her smile gone and an irritated look on her face.

"No, you didn't, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, putting on her own irritated expression.

"I did!" Fluttershy shouted, over annoyed with their argument by now, which was very out of Fluttershy's character.

"On second thought, why don't you go on your own? I really need to get to Soarin's place, like now," Rainbow said, forcing the best smile she could manage right now.

"No, you have time," Fluttershy said, reaching out to grab onto Rainbow's right forearm.

"No, Fluttershy i don't," Rainbow said, closing her saddle bags for the last time. "I'm going now, i'm gonna be late if i don't leave," she said, taking to her wings.

"But, Rainbow, i don't want to go by myself," Fluttershy said, making the best sad face that she could, but it didn't seem to effect Rainbow as much as it usually did because it just didn't look right this time.

"I'm sorry, Flutters. I gotta go, but i'll see you on the train," Rainbow said then flew off before Fluttershy could say another word. She was clearly acting strange and Rainbow did not like it, so she left, even though she really didn't have to be back at Soarin's place until a little later.

Meanwhile....

The real Rarity and Fluttershy were locked up in the same room, but not for long. This was because from then moment they had gotten there Rarity was whining and Fluttershy was bawling her eyes out. So, naturally the changelings that were supposed to be watching them were extremely annoyed at both of their actions.

"Shut up!" One of the changelings yelled for probably the hundredth time.

"That is no way to talk to a lady!" Rarity huffed, "As if it isn't bad enough that we're stuck in this nasty, filthy, horribly decorated dungeon type thing and now we have to be rudely spoken to?! How dare you!" She complained on, as she stroked Fluttershy's mane, still trying to calm her down. "I mean seriously! Look at poor Fluttershy! She's been crying ever since she got here and you two haven't even bothered to offer her even one tissue for her tears!" She complained on, Fluttershy bawling in her arms.

"Just shut your mouth for two seconds! Both of you!" The other changelings roared, glaring back at both Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Why don't your do us a favor and shut your rude mouths!" Rarity shouted back. The two guards then looked at eachother, huffed and pulled Rarity off of Fluttershy. "Get your filthy hooves off of me!" Rarity shouted, trying to fight the two of them off as well as she could, but with little success. The guards didn't say anything more and instead pulled the mare out of the room.

"Rarity!" Fluttershy cried, holding onto the mare's hoof for as long as she could before the guards had pulled her too far away. She then got up and trailed after them, trying to yank Rarity free only to be have the door to the room slammed in her face and locked. She then cried even harder as she listened to Rarity struggle and complain all the way down what seemed to be a hallway.

A few minutes later the guards returned and forced her out the door as well and down what she now conformed to be a hallway. They dragged her all the way to another room and pushed her inside, locking it behind her. As soon as the door had closed the pegasus took to her wings, that way her hooves would be free to wipe her tears away.

Once her tears were cleared from her vision she glanced around the room, noticing immediately that it was a lot smaller than the last one she and Rarity had shared. She also noticed that it contained a small, old bed and a bathroom. She sniffled, trying to stop her tears and started to fly over to the bed to get a closer look. The bed wasn't necessarily dirty, just dusty, but she could already imagine that if Rarity has a similar room of her own she was complaining about how filthy not only the bed, but the entire room was. She sighed and wiped a bit dust off the bed off with her hoof before landing on it, tears rolling down her cheeks once again. This was because she knew Rarity would be complaining as best as she could right now, trying to aggravate the changelings enough to let her go as the Diamond Dogs had done quite awhile ago and when Rarity complained everypony heard it, but Fluttershy didn't, not this time. It forced her mind to worry, worry about what they had done to silence her friend and her mind kept imagining the worst possible scenarios. In panic she let her head fall straight back and screamed, "RARITY!!!" At the top of her lungs, her tears running even faster down her face, yet still she got no reply. She took just a second to wipe her tears and then flew as fast as she could to the wall with the door on it. She then lifted her hooves and used them to pound repeatedly on the door as hard as she could. All while she screamed, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FRIEND?!?!" The pounding and screaming continued until Fluttershy's throat was too sore to continue and her hooves not faring any better, yet she still hadn't received even one reply. She sunk to the ground, and cried on in her hooves, not bothering to wipe her tears away anymore because she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with them all anyway.

Back at The Castle...

Twilight had finished packing her things and triple checking her list with Spike, so she confidently closed her saddled bags and buckled them with her magic. "Okay, all packed," she said, flashing Spike a smile, his que to put the list away. She then glanced around, noticing that everypony else had finished their packing and had taken off by now. "Guess we're the last ones," she said with a chuckle. Spike nodded and then the two of them started on their way down hallway.

They walked past Rainbow's, Apple Jack's, Rarity's, and Pinkie Pie's room on their way out, noticing that they had taken all of their things with them and they figured Fluttershy's would be the same, but they were wrong. The door to Fluttershy's room was closed and in front of it sat her saddle bags, stuffed with the things she had taken with her. They shrugged the situation off, figuring Fluttershy had just gotten caught up at the garden that she had taken off to after her argument with Rainbow and carried on there way. That was until Spike saw the bag move.

"Twilight, Fluttershy's saddle bags just moved," Spike said, stopping in his tracks to look back at the saddle bags.

Twilight glanced back at the bags once she had heard what Spike said, but she didn't spot any type of movement in the bad. "Spike, your just seeing things. The bags aren't moving," she said with a chuckle. "You're probably just tired from getting up early to do all our packing. Just hop on my back and take a nap," she offered.

Spike nodded and walked over to Twilight to get on her back. She wasn't wrong he was tired from all their packing and checking to make sure that everything was indeed packed, so she was probably also right about his tired eyes tricking him into seeing things. But, right as he went to look away from the bags for the last time and get on Twilight's back he saw the bags move once more.

"Twilight."

"Yes, Spike?"

"The bags, they just moved again," Spike said, this time not waiting for Twilight to go see if the bags had indeed moved. He walked right over to them and loosened the buckle on one of them only to be hit in the face by Angel, who had apparently been trying to charge his way out of the bags. He removed the bunny from his face and set him down beside him then glanced back at Twilight. "Why is Angel in Fluttershy's saddle bags?" He asked.

The purple pony shrugged, walking over to Spike's side to look at the bunny a little closer. She noticed he was not only very mad, but slim looking as well. "This isn't like Fluttershy," she began, lifting the bunny with her magic and setting him down on her back. "She never puts Angel away she usually lets him come along with her everywhere, the garden would be no exception," she continued. "And, Angel looks rather thin, almost like she hasn't been feeding him like she usually did," she finished, trying to figure the whole situation out.

"Fluttershy is acting weird, first she raises her voice at Rainbow, gets really annoyed and now this," Spike said, trying to figure the whole situation out himself. "It doesn't make sense," he added.

"I know it doesn't Spike, but let's get Angel some food before we have to go, we can think it over on the train," she said with a sigh, re-buckling Fluttershy's bags with her magic and continuing down the hallway, Angel still sitting on her back.

"Hey! I thought i was getting a ride," Spike said, trailing after her.

"Well, i can't carry both of you and i need to keep and eye on Angel, you'll be fine walking on your own," she said, not even bothering to look back at Spike who now had his arms crossed, mumbling something about Angel as he followed.

Back at Soarin's Place...

Rainbow had arrived at Soarin's place right after her argument with Fluttershy and so she was really early. She had planned to grab something to eat before coming here, that way she would be fine until she got home later that night, but she had skipped that step and came straight here. She then left with Soarin to grab some food as she complained about tonight earlier events.

"She didn't even remember how to do a Pinkie Promise," Rainbow complained, throwing her hooves in the air dramatically.

"That is weird," Soarin said, trying to act interested in the conversation when quite frankly he no longer was. She had been going on and on about the whole thing since she flew through his door and yeah everything she had said was in fact weird, since he even knew how to do a Pinkie Promise, but still he didn't want to continuously hear about it. He still pretended to be interested though, since she had agreed to hang out with him and his family later that day and felt he owed her at least that for doing so, besides he found the strange faces she made to be very funny.

For example, when she lost her train of though she would put on this one facial expression where her forehead scrunched up in thought, while her eyes went back and fourth at the top of her eye sockets. That was real funny one and it was cute besides that, which made it even better to look at. Oh, then there was the face she made when she finally remembered what she had been speaking about, that one was really interesting too. Her whole face lite up, her face smoothed out, her eyes appeared larger as they rolled once in their sockets, her very own big goofy smile on her face, emitting a small laugh at herself for being so forgetful. That one was really something, it even made him put his signature goofy smile on his face by just looking at it and currently he was doing just that, as she blabbed on and on about another part of her argument with Fluttershy that she's just remembered. He chose to block her words out, it made the facial expressions that much more enjoyable, but now she had stopped talking and was staring at him, clearly waiting for a response.....shit.

"Yeah, that was really weird," he said, the same response he had been giving her since she started talking. He figured it had worked all this time and so why bother changing it.

"I know right. It's not like Fluttershy at all," Rainbow said with a shrug as they reached their destination.

Soarin watched her open the door and fly through, following not shortly behind her. They stopped at the small stand in the front, she gave their name and party information as the pony behind the stand wrote it down on the list of names. He then landed and walked to her side, so that the ponies waiting to give their name didn't think they had another pony to wait for, he had also managed to grab the employee's orange eyes. "Oh, never mind that. You guys can sit down now," she said with a smile, crossing what she had written down already out and going to grab menus for them. Soarin smiled back at her and then huffed when she wasn't looking. He had officially been recognized and he already knew that didn't just lead to immediate seating....

They were seated at a booth in the back, with a few ponies at tables around them. He walked slow, trying not to draw anymore attention to himself, but the bandages around his head as well as the cuts and buises didn't help with that at all because it got everypony's attention quite quickly. "Here we go," his mind commented as he flashed all the ponys that flashed him a smile one as well, then looked away, though they continued to smile. He looked to him menu, propping it up to block their site of him and scanned it over as he used is hooves to take the bandages off his head. He glanced to Rainbow for a moment, found she was too busy looking over her menu to notice what he was doing and then put the bandages on the seat to the right of him, away from the other ponies. Once he had finished that he looked back to Rainbow for a second and then to his menu, to try and make his decision on what to order, quite happy Rainbow didn't see him remove the bandages so she could complain.

"I was going to tell you to take those useless bandages off earlier, but i figured you wanted them there, since you kept them on," Rainbow commented, closing her menu and flashing him a smile. "I would have done the same thing," she added.

"They really are useless," he said with a smile, glancing over his menu to look at her before looking over the food choices one last time, Rainbow fidgeted awkwardly in her seat and he noticed this as he closed his menu, having made his decision. "Just flash them a smile and then ignore them," he said, turning his head to look at the other ponies, flashing them each another smile as an example.

"I don't care about them," Rainbow said with a dismissing hoof. "I care about them," she said, taking the same hoof to point out the window to her left, where paparazzi had pointed there cameras in at them.

"Well, for them just do this," he said with a smirk as he lifted his right hoof and used it to close the blinds. "See, now they're gone," he added.

Rainbow laughed at herself for now thinking of that simple solution and then nodded at him. "Guess, that does take care of them," she commented, then decided to forget the paparazzi, so that she could instead focus on her time out with Soarin. "What are you getting?" She asked, putting her forearms on the table to support her head.

"A tulip sandwich with hay fries, you?"

"Tulip sandwich with hay fries."

"Good choice," he said with a slight chuckle.

"Likewise."

Sacrifice

Soarin was rested on the couch, looking over at Rainbow who was talking to him. He was trying to pay attention to their conversation and her in general, but his mind kept wondering off in thought, thought about his lovely family. He knew who was coming tonight, his oldest sister, Harmony and her family, which consisted of her stallionfriend and their two foals, his other sister, Starfire and whatever low life trash she was dating this week, and his mother, Glide. He never worried about Harmony and her family because he had always loved their company, it was Starfire, her plus one and his mother that he was worried about and they should all have been here a couple minutes ago.

He glanced at Rainbow, who was laughing currently and he laughed along, pretending he was paying attention, then there was a knock at the door. His ears perked up, his fake laughter stopped and he stood. "Come on," he said, glancing to Rainbow and then headed after the sound of the knocking. Rainbow following not far behind him. He had wanted her to come so that he could introduce her to whoever was waiting on the other side of the door, figuring they couldn't do that much damage that fast.

He arrived at the door and reached a hoof out to open it then smiled, seeing Harmony standing on the other side, though her stallionfriend and foals seemed to be no where in site. She flashed him a smile and then he opened his mouth to ask about the missing ponies, but before he could spotted two unicorn fillies charging from their father and towards him.

"Uncle Soarin!" They yelled in unison, big smiles printed on their faces as they ran towards him. They then latched onto him, giving him big hugs and giggling.

"Hey, guys," he greeted, peeling the two of them off him because after all his back was still sore from the crash and then turned to sit them down inside. Once they were sat down he moved out of the way, allowing their parents to enter. "Hey Harmony," he said, turning to face his sister.

"Hey Crash," she said with a smirk as she wrapped her purple hooves lightly around him, careful not to bump her large stomach against his. She was expecting her third child with Arctic Scale, her stallionfriend, a white coated unicorn. The two had met right after Harmony started college, and studying for the same profession caused them to spend a lot of time together. Soon Soarin was seeing him when Harmony came back from college to visit her family and before he knew it his first niece was born. That was years ago and Soarin still couldn't find anything wrong with Arctic, except for the fact that he got far too excited about math problems, but Harmony had still refused all of his marriage proposals. Actually, he couldn't think of reason why the two shouldn't get married at this point, but his sister had seemed to and after all it was her decision to make, so he decided he wasn't going to get in the middle of it.

"It wasn't really a crash," he said with a chuckle. "More like a fall...Yeah! I just fell out of the sky," he corrected with a smile.

"A fall that gave you a concussion and a bruised up back," Rainbow added with a chuckle, accidentally alerting Soarin's family to her presence in the room. She was trying to give the family their space, but had let one of her comments slip out accidentally.

"I haven't done that much damage yet and i'm not even a professional flier," his sister commented with a chuckle. She then brought her attention back to Rainbow and walked over to introduce herself. "It's Rainbow Dash, right?" She asked. "Either that or the newsponies have their news all wrong," she added with a chuckle.

"Well, they don't have my name wrong," Rainbow responded with a chuckle as she held her hoof out to Harmony.

Harmony bumped her hoof against Rainbow's and said, "Well then, let me introduce myself. I'm Harmony." She then felt a filly holding onto one of her back legs and chuckle. "Oh, and this little one's Mythic Spell," she added, glancing at the light purple, unicorn with her hooves wrapped around her back leg. "The other filly's Storybook and the stallion's Arctic Scale, my stallionfriend," she finished with a smile.

Storybook or Story as she was often called for short glanced up and smiled as her name was mentioned. She then caught sight of Rainbow's mane and stared at it, clearly deep in thought. She knew she'd seen one like it before, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it, though for some reason the name Daring Doo kept coming to her mind. She gave up on trying to figure it out on her own and asked. "Do you read Daring Doo?" Glancing away from Rainbow's mane for a second to look at her face. She was not as polite as her mother with others and ended up staring whenever she liked, like her father. She also had no problem questioning things, again another trait from her father and so she started with a storm of questions for Rainbow.

"Yes," Rainbow responded with a smile.

"Do you remember her book, Ring of Destiny?" She questioned. ( My name is in this sentence!!! :raritystarry: Oh, yeah...back to the story, let me just slip out of my fangasm here, i'm acting a lot like Rainbow :twilightblush: )

"Of course! I helped Daring in that book, don't you remember?" Rainbow asked with a chuckle.

Suddenly, the white coated unicorn's mouth stretched into the biggest smile she could manage and practically yelled, "You got to work with Daring Doo?! Awesome! That's where i know you from!" She was really excited to be talking to Rainbow all of a sudden, now that she knew she had gone on such a cool adventure with a well known literary hero."Nice to meet you in pony," she added. (You know like in person xD)

"You too," Rainbow said with a chuckle. She liked the way the had seemed to envy her, even after knowing her for only a few minutes. She then caught a glance of the smallest filly who simply waved at her and stood rather close to her mother.

"Oh, Spell, stop being so shy," Arctic said, scooping the mentioned filly up on her back and then holding a hoof out to Rainbow. "Nice to meet you, Mrs.Dash," he greeted with a smile as they bumped hooves.

"Well, now that we all know each other, lets go to the living room," Soarin suggested to which all the adult ponies and Story nodded to then they took off on the familiar path to the living room. Spell bounced up and down on her fathers back as he walked, not nodding because she knew she had no real say in it, after all she was being carried by her father, so wherever he went she did as well.

All of them had settled into the living room quite quickly. Story and Spell where off, playing with each other while the adults chatted and Soarin was seated on the far left of the couch as he chatted with Arctic, who was sitting right next to him.

Rainbow was having no trouble getting along with everyone, but had taken more of a liking to Harmony than anypony else. In fact, she was seated closer to Harmony then Soarin was. The two were facing each other, chatting as if they'd known each other forever, but that was simply because Harmony was easy to get along with. She had always been that way, but it had become more apparent when she took the job as a school teacher and now within seconds of being around her, one would know she worked with foals. Rainbow didn't like being talked to like a foal, but she let it go, figuring Harmony only talked that way because of her foals and had learned to ignore it once she figured out said mare was a school teacher as well, so she really couldn't blame her for talking like that.

Everything was going great, which put Soarin's nerves at ease, but they seemed to pop right back up when another knock came from the front door. He knew behind that door had to be either his mother who he hadn't really gotten along with ever since the night he had caused her love life to come to a sudden stop or his sister, Starfire. The one that he always got in arguments with because she always seemed to have bruises from whatever stallionfriend she had now hitting her and he was sure to voice his opinion on it, unlike his family members, which upset her. He wasn't looking for an argument tonight, so he'd bite his tongue now, but he would get his opinion out there eventually, you can bet on that.

He walked to the door and opened it to reveal his mother and an unfamiliar stallion, which was quick to get rid of his nerves because now he was just angry. His was mad because he thought he had stopped her from dating so long ago and yet here she was with another stallion he didn't know, bruises, cleverly hidden on her face, though he knew she had them. His mother never had the best taste when it came to stallions, like his sister and they often hit her, so he knew where to look for bruises and the her chest was one of those places. She had a chain with a large cloud charm hanging from her neck, which was supposed to cover them, but he could see half of one and was furious at this point. He lifted a hoof to swing at the stallion, but stopped it midway and settled the hoof back on the ground, controlling himself for Rainbow who had apparently followed after him to the door.

"Who's this?" She questioned, coming up beside him and hitting his shoulder lightly with her hoof.

"My mom....and her date," he said with no real emotion. He didn't even bother to glance over at his marefriend he instead stared straight at his mother with a look of disbelief.

"Well, aren't you gonna let her in?" Rainbow questioned on and this time received no answer from him. "Soarin," she said, tapping his shoulder again, but all he did was continue to stare straight at his mother, lost in his memories. He just couldn't believe she's tried dating again, not after what happened that night so long ago.

Soarin was on his way home, chatting with some friends from his track team that lived close to him. He walked and chatted with them until no more of them remained, all having turned in another direction at one point in time to reach their own houses. So, in only a few minutes he'd gone from chatting with three of his teammates to walking quietly on his own.

His house wasn't that much further away, but having never liked being alone he'd picked up his pace to get there quicker. Now he was almost there and had stopped to unbuckle his saddlebags and grab his house keys. They were dangling from his mouth as he walked up the path to his front door, but soon found themselves on the ground when he noticed said door flung wide open.

"Mom!" He yelled, taking to his wings. He flew as fast as he could through that door and searched for his mom, hoping she had just forgotten to shut the door and wasn't in any danger. But, that hope was soon shattered when he saw her unconscious on the kitchen floor. "Mom!" He repeated, landing next to her to check for a heartbeat. He felt one and smiled a bit, happy that she was at least alive. The smile was quickly replaced with a sad expression as he sat by her, now in tears, taking in her physical appearance.

She had obviously been beaten, he could tell that from the bruises that were all over her body, but what he couldn't figure out was if they were from this attack or not. You see, his mother had the worst possible taste in stallions and often chose one that wasn't against hitting her or him for that matter. As a foal he put up with it, unable to even protect himself, never mind his mother, but as he got older he learned to stick up for her, weather it meant he got his flank beat or not. As he got older, his schedule got busier and he didn't spend a whole lot of time at home, rather he was at track practice, leaving her open for abuse.

He wasn't stupid though, he noticed the marks on her body whenever he was home and got into fights with whoever was causing them this time. The track practice payed off as well in this case because it helped build him up, stopping the flank beatings he got because he could now dish them out. Unfortunately, he wasn't always home and now he had let this happen.

As he stared down at her he couldn't help, but blame himself for the whole thing and his eyes started to water, that's when Starfire finally made her appearance. "What are you sobbing about, you big foal! Your supposed to be cleaning the house up for Harmony's visit!" She yelled, walking through the front door, his keys dangling from her muzzle. "You left your keys out there by the way," she added, throwing the keys into the kitchen. She didn't bother to look in on her sobbing brother, instead she walked towards her room, not intent on even bothering to try and comfort him.

"Get down here you idiot!" He yelled after, getting on his hooves and walking to the door way, yet she still ignored him. "Dam it, Starfire! Look at me!" He yelled, standing outside the kitchen now and staring at the back of his sister, more angry then sad at this point.

"What?!" She yelled, snapping her head around to look at her brother, a mad expression on her face. But, that mad expression soon faded and was replaced with a worried one. "Did one of those stallions hit you again?" She asked, noticing the blood stains on his light blue fur.

"No, but they got mom. Stay with her while i go get help," he instructed, turning to dash off for help.

"You should have done that in the first place instead of sobbing on the floor," she said, flashing him an annoyed expression and that running in after her mother.

"I hate you," he snorted before dashing off. How dare she tell him he should have done something else, he did his best in the situation. He couldn't help that he had emotions. Emotions that caused him to break down, instead of getting the help he knew his mother needed. After all he did think the whole thing was his fault.

As he flew he kept coming up with what ifs. What if he had skipped practice that evening. What if he hadn't talked to his friends on the way home and gotten there faster. What if he'd told mom that he'd found Starfire and her boyfriend hooking up a few nights ago, maybe then she'd have been grounded and home to attempt to stop it. Ugh! Why are we so stupid!? His mind shouted at him, causing him to tear up even more as he charged through the hospital's doors. "I n-need h-help!" He yelled, causing three ponies to run out of a room and towards him.

"Lead the way kid," one of them had said and not a second to soon because he dashed off right at those words.

His mother ended up having two broken wings, a black eye, and swollen lip, yet he was the only one who stayed in the hospital room with her that night and that pissed him off. He knew Harmony wasn't due home for at least another hour, but now that Starfire knew her mother was going to be okay thought nothing of it. Actually, she was probably off letting her stallionfriend beat the crap out of her anyway and the pony who had done it was missing.

Soarin paced in front of her bed when the nurses weren't in the room to check on his mother, trying to stop the thoughts that told him to storm out and beat that stallions flank, since he didn't want her to be there alone. But, his mind was screaming at him now and he had tunnel vision from the pure rage boiling in his body. We're wasting time! He could be on the other side of Equestria by now, not a scratch on his stupid little head! Dam it Soarin grow a pair and go after him! Don't be the stupid colt that watched his mom get beat and took beatings himself, too afraid to stand up for anything! I thought we killed that little wimp! We clearly haven't though, since he's pacing like an idiot in this stupid hospital room! "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!" He yelled, letting his head bang against the bed's foot-board, horrible timing too since a nurse happened to walk in that exact moment.

"Mr. Skies, are you okay?" She asked in a soft voice, approaching him. She lifted a hoof to pull his head away from the bed, but he lifted one of his own and pushed it aside.

"I'm fine! Perfectly fine!" He yelled at her, before turning and starting for the door. "Keep an eye on her for me a-and if a purple mare comes in to visit her then asks where i am, tell her i'm beating some flank," he added before taking to his wings and dashing off.

"Sir! Sir! I can't let you do that!" She yelled after Soarin, but it was no use, he was out of the hospital by now. Little did any of them know his trip was going to be short lived and that he would be right back here very soon.

Soarin had found the stallion at his favorite place, the bar and despite the guard trying to keep him out because he wasn't old enough to be in there he charged in. He walked right in and swung a hoof at that stupid stallion, screaming and yelling as he attacked him. He still had tunnel vision and wasn't even thinking about how bad he was fighting he instead kept throwing punches blindly, the stallion throwing some of his own at him and throwing him around. Each time he was thrown he came right back and threw more punches. The fight happened in slow motion in his mind and seemed to go on forever, but in reality it took only a few minutes for him to be pulled off the guy, and thrown into a ambulance cart to go right back to the hospital. He screamed at the stallion as he was drove away, blood spitting out of his busted up mouth, not feeling anything thanks to the pure anger he was running on.

He ended up in the same room as his now conscious mother, who stared him down and yelled at him softly as to not attract any curious nurses all night, clearly mad that he had gone after her stallionfriend. His sister, Harmony was trying to stop his mother from being so vicious to Soarin, but had no success. She claimed he had ruined her love life now because no stallion would want to even go near a mare with a insane son, not even caring that he had done it all for her. But, in all honesty he didn't hear half of what she said, since there was constant ringing in his ears from all the punches his head had taken was much louder than her complaining. He simply rolled his eyes and fought his sleep as instructed by the nurses because he could possibly have a concussion. Artic sat beside him, trying to keep the stallion awake with some funny stories, well they were funny in his eyes anyway. Soarin's not so much, in fact they made sleeping come easier to him. He did appreciate the stallion he'd never met before being so kind though and didn't bother to stop him because he seemed to be having way to much fun laughing at his own jokes currently.

Thankfully, he'd avoided a concussion and was out of the hospital in two days. He then returned to school with a messed up face and banged up body, telling everypony who asked that he just went through a really bad crash and was fine now. This attracted a lot of mares he didn't even know existed, but he could care less about them for the time being and more about making sure nopony found out what really had happened.

Of course he was benched for a while on his track team, but that wasn't what hurt the most, neither was his injuries. No, it was the fact that every time he came home his mother would glare at him like he was a piece of trash and refused to even give him the time of day. Eventually, she'd gotten over it and tried to play mommy again. Coincidentally, it happened to be around the time he became a Wonderbolt and he knew it had to due with his money and fame, but he didn't care as long as he had a mom again even if she wasn't the nicest to him.

That was when he was barley in his twenties, now almost thirty the whole thing seemed so distant to him. His mother hadn't dated since then and he liked that because it meant his mother wasn't getting beat up when he didn't stop by to visit her. Which, is why he was so shocked to figure out it had started again and instead of letting his mother and date inside he stared at her, a disbelieving expression.

"Soarin. May we come in?" His mother asked, accompanied by more than just her date by now. His sister, Starfire and her date had also joined them and were all waiting for his okay to enter. "Oh, um sure," he said, putting on a fake smile and moving to the side with Rainbow so that they could walk in. "Everypony else is waiting in the living room," he added, still staring straight out the door as they entered. His sister was the last one in and the one that snapped him out of his shocked state with a hoof to the chest.

"Equestria to Soarin," she said, snapping his eyes to hers. "Thought we lost ya for a minute," she added with a chuckle, following the others to the living room.

"I know i'd liked to loose something and it's not myself," he grumbled to himself, closing the door.

"What?" Rainbow asked, having not quite caught what he grumbled.

"Oh, nothing. Come on," he said, tapping her shoulder reassuringly with a hoof before he started off to the living room.

Rainbow didn't say anything else, but she was still trying to figure out what he'd grumbled in her mind. She'd heard it, but not so well and didn't really understand what he'd said. That didn't stop her from trying to figure it out thought as she followed off after Soarin.

By the time Soarin got to the living room Harmony had already forced her family member's dates to introduce themselves to her and her family and she was smiling at them, introducing herself. Arctic was now sitting by his marefriend and so he took a seat by his own, draping an arm over Rainbow who sat beside him. He watched as Starfire rolled her eyes, not caring much for her brother's relationship or any relationship in general, since she thought nothing of them. He then turned his attention to his mother who was waving and flashing Rainbow a big smile, playing nice, probably because she knew Soarin had seen her marks and didn't want her injured son fighting a loosing battle.

He rolled his emerald eyes in his skull and then felt a tap on his chest. Apparently, Rainbow and his Starfire had been chatting and now she was tapping his chest and asking, "Right?"

He smiled and laughed at her eagerness for his reply, seeing she was trying hard to get along with this difficult pony, so he nodded, pulled her closer to him and said, "Right."

In response his sister asked, "Oh, so you enjoy this time off then?"

"No! Who said that?" He asked, his happy expression becoming confused.

"You did," Rainbow responded, chuckling some more. "Starfire and I knew you weren't paying attention, so we pulled one over on you," she explained. At least she and Starfire had pranking him in common, it seemed.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, chuckling slightly with her before glancing to his sister who was sporting a smirk. He rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head and laughing. He really couldn't stand her, simply because she let stallions run all over her like his mother had and he hated that. He wanted her to turn out better like any father would, since he seen himself as one to his sisters, even if they had a good amount of years on him.

None of them ever had a father, since they were just accidents and their abusive fathers had split just weeks after they were born or in Soarin's case when he found out about him. So, he felt like he had to be the stallion of the house and looked after his sisters until they left. Harmony had turned out fantastic in his eyes, having a loving stallion friend and a happy little family, but Starfire was way down the wrong path and there was no getting her back, trust me, he'd tried. As a result the two often butted heads and never really got along, justifying in his eyes how he acted towards her.

As quick as his family had come they left. Harmony and company having to head home early because she was exhausted from her foals and being pregnant at the time, Starfire had left because she simply didn't want to be there and his mother had left last, feeling awkward with the looks he kept giving her. While they were there they'd discussed Soarin's injuries, wished he got better, some more than others and everypony got a long for the most part all for Dash. He didn't want to scare her off with his crazy family and so he kept all comments to himself, until he'd shown them out the door. That's when he'd whispered little comments to them all.

"Good luck you," he'd said to Storybook, Spell, Harmony and Arctic as he gave them each a hug before they left.

"Oh, he's a keeper," he's whispered to Starfire as he hugged her quickly before she left. She's hit his chest hard and then stormed out the door, leaving him chuckling in her wake, knowing she wouldn't change like his mother hadn't so why bother trying anymore.

And he'd muttered, "I seen the marks," to his mother when he gave her a hug. She simply sighed and said nothing, walking out the door with her date silently. He too sighed as he closed the door behind her, sad that he hadn't gotten through to her as he thought he had all this time. He stayed there for a moment, trying to stop himself from worrying about her anymore, knowing there was nothing he could really do to stop her from having these abusive stallionfriends. He also pushed the rage aside and put on a smile as he returned to where Dash was waiting for him in the living room. "So, what did you think?" He asked, sitting down next to her again.

"I liked them," she replied. "But, i don't understand how your related to them. None of you look alike."

"Well, we have different fathers and i'm guessing we all look like them," he said with a shrug. Not having ever seen his or his sibling's fathers. "My sisters do say i look a lot like my father, anyway."

"You mean you never met your father?" She asked to which he shook his head. "I'm sorry," she said, looking to her hooves, clearly embarrassed she had even asked about such a touchy subject.

"No, it's fine Rainbow," he said, lifting her chin back up with one of his own hooves. He'd convinced himself long ago he hated his father, though he'd never met the stallion and really didn't care if anypony brought him up at this point.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I didn't want to know him anyway, since he treated my mom the way he did," he said with a dismissing hoof gesture.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, now feeling the topic was safe enough to explore.

He then went into the explanation of his mother's choice in stallions and how his sisters told him his father was no different, but he didn't just stop there, he really spilled his guts to her. He went into detail about the whole night he thought he stopped his mother from dating these men and how shocked he was to see her with another one today. He also told her of how hard he tried to be different his entire life and how difficult some mares had made it for him. He told her of his horrible temper, which was hard to keep at bay even with her. He told her how his temper made him think about swinging at her sometimes when she broke into tears or freaked out when he was obviously trying to get some from her. He apologized for even thinking that way, knowing what she had gone through beforehoof. He told her how he almost cheated on her with fans after every show, just wanting what she couldn't give him and stopped himself though it was so hard for him with Wave Chill and Fire Steak's influence. He told her how he'd almost done it when Surprise, Fleetfoot and/or Spitfire stopped him. He also told her how hard it was for him to play the good guy he strived to be when in the end he was just like his father, just cleverly hidden behind his self control. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he sobbed and asked for forgiveness though Dash seemed unfazed by it all.

"Soarin, it's fine," she said, her hooves wrapped around him, despite his protest. "After all you are you father's son, i mean it's like in your make-up to be feel like that, as Twilight would say. Just remember your not like your father, your better because you stop yourself, unlike he did. You don't lay a hoof on any mare, even if your mind screams at you to do so and you don't cheat even though you really want to. So, don't be sorry because you have nothing to be sorry for," she explained to him. She'd known he got mad every time she stopped him in bed, since he wasn't very good at hiding his anger in that area, so that wasn't much of a surprise to her, but what she didn't know about was all the times he almost cheated. That had taken her off guard, but she hid it, figuring it was her time to be there for him and after all he hadn't really done it. She'd lost a bit of trust in him after this, but she kept quiet about it, wanting to comfort him for all the times he'd done the same for her. She just kept stroking his mane and denying all his request for her to leave him as she tried to clam his tears when an idea finally came to her mind.

"Soarin, i think you should see the counselor about you anger, maybe he can help you get rid of it. You know, for good," she'd said it partly for his own good, knowing living with such anger was probably as hard as living with the fear she had to deal with and partly because she wanted to have a safety blanket of her own. One that guaranteed he wouldn't go off and cheat on her out of anger for her not complying with his wants. But, she knew she couldn't just expect him to do this when she had refused to see the counselor for her fear and nightmares, which is why she pushed away her pride and decided to make a deal. "I'll go with you and talk with him about the fear and nightmares i have, so please, go with me," she pleaded, pulling him off her chest to look him in the eye.

"R-really?" He asked between his sobs.

"Really," she said with a smile. She then ran through a Pinkie Promise, both verbally and physically to prove to him she was stay true to her words.

He smiled back at her and said, "Deal," then ran through his own Pinkie Promise. By then he was calming down, his tears stopping as he had forced them to do, trying not to look like such a foal in front of his marefriend, even though he couldn't help it, he had to let it all out after all these years and she was the perfect listener.

"We can go tomorrow after my practice," she offered, wiping his tears away for him.

"I'll meet you there," he replied with a smile, the was quickly wiped off his face as he noticed her leaning in for him, meeting her half-way for the kiss. Once they'd pulled away from each other he caught a glimpse of the clock and said, "Whoa, D-Dash you g-gotta go. Your g-gonna miss your train."

She turned to look at the clock and nodded. "Yeah, but i can't just leave you," she said with a smile.

"I'm fine, just go meet up with your friends. And hurry," he said, flashing her a smile of his own.

"You sure your okay?" She asked and he nodded. So, she gave him one more kiss and picked up her saddle bags. "See ya tomorrow," she said, turning to smile at him once more. He smiled back, nodded and then she took off out the front door.

Once he was sure she'd left, Soarin slumped himself back against his couch and sighed. He didn't like spilling his guts like that, but it just kinda happened and now he had to do it again, in order to make sure Dash got the help she needed. Something he thought was far more important then the help he needed, but if pushing his pride aside and spilling his guts to some counselor made her spill hers and get that help, it was all worth it in his eyes. His horrible puffy and sore eyes at the moment that he was rubbing at with his ruff hooves, clearly not helping the situation at all, but you couldn't tell him that.

Pegasi with Wings and Magic

Rainbow dropped out of the sky, landing right in front of the train's door and walked through. She'd arrived right on time because got on right before the door was locked by an employee and started off. She didn't have any time to congratulate herself though because she found herself face to face with Twilight as soon as she was fully through the door and she didn't look too happy.

"You almost missed the train," she said with a sigh.

"I know, I just lost track of time," Rainbow said, shrugging off the issue like it was nothing. "So, where's everypony else?"

"Apple Jack, Rarity and Fluttershy are in another cart, but Pinkie and I are in this one," she explained. "Now come on. Come sit with us," she added, tilting her head to the right, signaling Rainbow to follow.

"Okay, but why are we in different carts?" Rainbow questioned, walking beside Twilight.

"The others just left us," she said with a sigh. "I don't know why, but they've been quite distant with Pinkie and I all day, preferring to stay with each other. When we did attempt to join them they got real quiet, so we gave up. Well, I did, Pinkie's still at it," she explained, glancing over at Rainbow once more.

"That's weird," Rainbow mumbled as she walked along. The two stopped in front of Pinkie who was perched on a train seat. She smiled at Rainbow and greeted her.

"Hey Rainbow, I haven't seen you in like all day!" She said with a chuckle, patting the seat to her left with a hoof. She certainly looked cheery, but not the Pinkie Pie kind of cheery, a regular pony kind of cheery, meaning something was wrong. "Sit with us," she said.

Dash smiled back at her and sat where she had patted. "Are you okay, Pinkie?" She asked, glancing to the pink pony as Twilight took a seat beside her.

"I'm super duper!" Pinkie said, still smiling, though it seemed slightly smaller than it was before.

Rainbow scrunched up her face, still not believing the pink pony was okay, but she didn't get a chance to question it because Twilight spoke up instead. "Just tell her what happened Pinkie," Twilight said with a sigh, leaning forward in her seat so that she could see Pinkie past Rainbow.

Pinkie's smile faded for a moment, as if holding it there was hard work and then forced it back onto her face as she said, "Well, I saw Fluttershy yelling at you and noticed how upset she looked, so I went after her. I called her name and she turned around to say high. I said hi back and then tried to cheer her up, when I felt really tired all of a sudden. She chuckled with me and looked like she was cheering up, but I felt really super duper tired and it kept getting worse until Twilight and Spike walked in," she explained, glancing over for Twilight to continue the story.

"I had found Angel stuck in her saddle bags and really hungry. So, I fed him and brought him back to her. She seemed happy to see him, but he didn't want anything to do with her, running back to me and climbing onto my back, his arms folded. She tried to coax him over to her, but he refused to go, which was strange, but that wasn't the weirdest thing. For a minute there a green magical aura surrounded him, starting to tear him off my back, but as soon as I noticed it disappeared and Fluttershy took off," Twilight explained, looking away from Pinkie and at Rainbow.

"Was anypony else in the room, like a unicorn or something?" Rainbow questioned and just got a shake of Twilight's head for a response. "So, then who was using magic?" She questioned.

"It had to be Fluttershy."

"But, she's not a unicorn."

"Exactly, she's a changeling," Twilight said with a sigh. "We were looking for Chrysalis the whole time and she was Fluttershy."

"No, that's not right, Twilight. She was acting fine until today and Pinkie saw Chrysalis weeks ago, she wouldn't just get lazy now, maybe you just missed a guard or something," Rainbow said, trying to find an explanation for all of this. She didn't want to believe her best friend had been taken and replaced with Chrysalis.

"Well, maybe she got lazy today because she thought we were leaving the castle, so she'd be safe. Or maybe she just slipped up, using magic is kind of natural to me and I figure it would be no different for her," Twilight responded.

"No, you’re wrong."

"I'm not wrong, just look at poor Pinkie. Fluttershy drained the love from her," she said, pointing a hoof over at Pinkie. She was slumped back in her seat, gazing off in front of her. She looked tired, really tired as tired as she was when the baby cakes had been teething and keeping her up all night. Sure, she tried to ignore it, smiling and acting as happy as always, but it was obvious she was tired. Her smile would start as big as it usually was and then fall slowly, her voice would start loud and loose volume and her eyes would even start to droop, all obvious sighs that this mare was beat.

"Well, then why didn't you tell Celesta, huh? If you’re so convinced she's Chrysalis, why didn't you just turn her in?!" Rainbow questioned, getting loud with Twilight. She attempted to shush Rainbow, but failed, only seeming to make her madder and louder. "She's my best friend, Twilight! Don't you think I would have noticed if she was a changeling?! I'm not stupid!"

"I know you’re not Stupid, Rainbow. Just please, be quiet and listen to me," Twilight pleaded, glancing around nervously as the other ponies started to stare.

"No! I'm not going to listen to you," Rainbow said, folding her forelegs across her chest, angrily.

Twilight sighed and gave up, turning away from Rainbow. She wasn't going to continue having this conversation with everypony staring. It was supposed to be a quite, secretive situation, not a loud one.

Once, Rainbow had noticed this she sat back in her seat, looking away from Twilight and attempting to clam herself down. That's when Pinkie's head landed on her shoulder. She had fallen asleep and was leaning against Rainbow. She took this opportunity to look over her pink friend who really did look tired. She sighed and glanced back to Twilight, ready to start their conversation again, but more quietly.

"Fluttershy has been acting strange," she said and Twilight's purple eyes flickered to her once more.

She nodded and said, "Yeah she has and I would have turned her in for it, but I just didn't have enough proof that she was in fact Chrysalis. You know? Maybe I had missed a guard in the room, but then again why would he or she try and rip Angel off my back? So, I’m asking you to help me. Help me get some proof on this whole thing. Then, we can go to the princess if we're right and catch Chrysalis once and for all."

"Why me?" Rainbow questioned, confused as to why she would ask her out of all her friends to help her.

"Rainbow your her best friend, if anypony's going to notice anything going on with Fluttershy, it's you. So, it's only logical to have you get proof, proof that we can trust is correct," Twilight explained. "So, will you do it, for everypony's sake?"

Rainbow smiled and said, "Of course egghead," hitting Twilight's shoulder lightly with one of her hooves. "But, did you tell the others?"

Twilight shook her head and said, "I don't want to worry them if it's nothing. Pinkie only knows because she was being affected by it, besides the others haven't talked to me at all today anyway. So, can you keep it between us three, at least until we find out a little bit more about it?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Rainbow recited, going through the motions of a Pinkie Promise as best as she could without disturbing its creator who was sound asleep on her shoulder. Twilight just smiled back at her and nodded, clearly satisfied with her decision of choosing Rainbow to help her.

"Dam it you fool, I thought you knew how to play Fluttershy," Chrysalis, who looked just like Rarity currently said in a whisper. She was just outside the door of the cart Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie were sitting in, where the bathroom was, listening to their whole conversation."Your done. Done. Just go back to the hive and send a replacement tonight, until then keep your stupid mouth shut," she sneered, glaring over at the changeling who was currently disguised as Fluttershy.

The changeling nodded and said, "I am sorry my Queen. I just forgot I was playing a pegasus and that pink pony was so filled with love I figured she wouldn't notice the extra love I drained from her," he said in an attempt to defend himself.

"Yeah, well we're doing that slowly so that they don't notice it and you almost blew it. Do you want the hive to starve?" Chrysalis questioned.

"No, ma'am, I’ll just go get my replacement tonight," he added, glancing down at his hooves.

"Send the one for Twilight Sparkle too. That pony is just going to make this whole plan blow up in our face again if we don't take her now," Chrysalis said with a sigh. "I know we planned to take her last, but plans change when certain changelings mess up, so just do it and I’ll take care of the real Twilight. Hopefully, her impersonator is more prepared than you were," she added with a roll of her eyes. "Do you understand your instructions?" She asked, wanting to be sure he didn't screw this up as well. He nodded and she lifted a hoof to pat his head. "Good, now you go out there and don't say another word, then you will have no punishment for your mistake," she said affectionately with a smile.

He nodded once more and then walked out of the door, heading back to the cart where the others were seated. Chrysalis sighed and sat, waiting a few minutes so that by the time she left it didn't look like Rarity and Fluttershy had been standing in the same bathroom together. She had chosen to be nice tonight because she didn't like to be vile with her subjects, but she wasn't so sure she could be so nice if one of them screwed up again because this plan was just too important to her and them.

They needed to feast and she needed revenge on these ponies that caused them to starve in the first place. So, this plan had to go right, that or she would loose all her subjects to starvation and a queen would never want that to happen. Plus, revenge on them for all they did, was just too sweet to resist.

"Pinkie, we're here," Rainbow said, poking the mentioned pony with one of her forehooves gently. She was still sound asleep on her shoulder, not that Rainbow minded much, but they were arriving at their stop in a few minutes and she had to be up if the two planned on not missing their stop tonight.

The pink pony shuffled slightly and then lifted her head off of Rainbow's shoulder. She lifted her forehooves to her face and used them to rub at her eyes, letting a small yawn out. Once she'd finished that her big blue eyes spring open and over to Rainbow, a smile on her face. "I'm a big sleepy head," she said with a chuckle. She seemed to have literally jumped awake in just a few seconds, but what else could you expect from Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah. I know," Rainbow said with a chuckle, "But, we're almost home," she explained.

Pinkie nodded and went back to stretching herself out a bit more before she had to walk back home, Rainbow on the other hoof brought her attention back to the pony sitting on the other side of her, Twilight.

The two had been talking practically the whole train ride, not having really hung out together in awhile. Rainbow had asked Twilight about flying and gave her few more pointers on the whole process. Naturally, Twilight had taken a bunch of notes and was now scanning over them, making sure she understood all she had been told. By the time Rainbow looked back to her she had finished looking them over and came up with a few questions. "So keep my wing beats in rhythm with each other?" She questioned, her purple eyes flashing up from her notebook and back to Rainbow.

"Yeah, if you plan on going anywhere. Irregular wing beats won't get your far, but they will get you a ruff, sweaty landing," Rainbow responded with a chuckle. Twilight just nodded and went on to asking her next question.

"Oh and I have to preen my feathers regularly?"

"You cut your mane regularly, right?"

"Yes, I like to keep it in the same style."

"Then, preen your feathers regularly too. It's like a mane cut for your wings."

"So, I cut my feathers when I preen them? I imagine that would be rather painful."

"No! That would hurt," Rainbow explained, face hoofing herself. Really, this confusion was all her fault, after all she'd mentioned preening, but hadn't really taught Twilight how to do it herself. She and Fluttershy had instead done it for her and apparently the fact that they chatted the whole time didn't really help the alicorn learn anything.

"But, you just said to preen my feathers like I cut my mane," Twilight said, her face scrunching up in confusion.

"You know what, never mind. Just, stop by my place on the weekend and I’ll show you how to do it, alright?"

"Alright," Twilight said with a nod, scribbling a few things down and then levitated her notebook and pencil back into her saddlebags with her magic. "That's all the questions I can think of," she explained with a smile. Rainbow smiled back at her, glad she didn't have any more questions for her. She was just about to bring up the latest Daring Doo book, which was set to come out soon, but was interrupted by Pinkie.

"Are you two coming?" She asked with a smile, snapping both Rainbow and Twilight's eyes back to her. She looked a lot better now that she had napped some and had time to fully wake up. Her signature smile was still on her face and she was standing by the door holding it open.

"Yes, Pinkie. We're coming," Twilight said with a reassuring smile as she got off the seat. Rainbow followed her actions then the two walked to and out the door Pinkie was holding open.

Outside the door the rest of their friends were waiting for them. Rarity and Apple Jack seemed to be deep in a conversation and Fluttershy was just staring down at her hooves quietly. Dash sighed and approached the other pegasus, "Hey, Flutters," she said with a smile, trying to get the pegasus to say something back to her, but she just got a glance and a smile. She was convinced her friend was a changeling, thanks to Twilight, but just the sad expression Fluttershy or whoever this was wore was the one her best friend had so many times before, and she couldn't help, but feel sympathy for her, him, it?

"Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier, b.." Rainbow began again, but was cut off my Twilight who rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"Just give her some time, Rainbow," she said with a smile. Dash knew she was just trying to get her away from the suspected changeling, and didn't really mean what she said, but she figured it was good advice anyway. She nodded and turned walking over to where Rarity, Apple Jack and now Pinkie were standing.

Apple Jack and Rarity were talking, and Pinkie was trying to communicate with them, but she seemed confused by their conversation. They were talking about their earlier dinner, something no pony, but them had been to and so when Rainbow and Twilight joined the conversation they too were confused.

"Oh, hello Twilight, Rainbow," Rarity greeted with a smile. "Did you have a good train ride? I always love going on those things. The seats are uncomfortable at best and the train carts are decorated quite badly, but the landscape is always so gorgeous! Just looking at it makes me want to start on a few new designs back at the boutique," she said.

"Hiya guys," AJ greeted once Rarity had finished speaking.

"It was fine," Twilight said, nonchalantly and Rainbow agreed with a nod.

Pinkie shrugged and said, "I don't know how it was because I was out like a candle on a birthday cake after everypony sings Happy Birthday!" She finished off with a chuckle. "Speaking of birthday cakes, I've got to start baking one now! Pumpkin and Pound's birthdays are tomorrow and I have to make sure they have one! And! They can't just have any cake; they have to have a Pinkie Pie, extra special little cakes' cake!" She explained before waving and then taking off, leaving nothing, but kicked up dust behind her.

The others laughed. "For some pony who was exhausted literally an hour ago, she's moving pretty fast," Twilight noted.

"She's Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said with a shrug, as if that was a reasonable explanation, which it wasn't for Twilight. She opened her mouth to say just that and then remembered that the pony they were talking about was in fact Pinkie Pie, which meant just saying, she's Pinkie Pie was a very reasonable explanation. It was also one that she had learned not to question the hard way. So, she closed her mouth and just nodded.

"I should be goin too," Apple Jack said. "I've been away from mah farm for so long and I just feel terrible leavin Big Mac ta do all the work," she said with a sigh. "I'll catch ya'll later," she added, before turning to walk off.

"Well, it seems as though everypony else is leaving and I should be on my way as well. I have to package and send out a bunch of dresses and suits I finished while in Canterlot. But first, Twilight would you mind coming back to my boutique with me for a quick fitting. I know that Princess Celestia's birthday bash is coming up rather soon and I already drew out a design for the dress I would like you to wear to it. I find it very fitting not only for you, but for as big of an event as the Princess' birthday. All I have to do now is get some measurements on you and I should be good to go," Rarity said with a smile, looking a bit too eager to get Twilight's measurements, but then again this was going to be the princess' first ever birthday bash and she was very excited to have been invited.

"Wait, Rarity. You’re making dresses for everypony to wear?" Rainbow asked, having not heard of this before.

"Why of course! I can't have you all wearing anything, but what I have specifically designed for you to Princess Celestia's first birthday bash ever! And don't worry Rainbow, I don't need your measurements, I have them saved from last time, but I had to discard Twilight's when she got those wings of hers," Rarity began. "But, I will need everypony to come by the boutique so that you can try on your dresses before the event, just to make sure they fit correctly, of course," she added, smiling at Rainbow who she knew wouldn't be too thrilled about doing that. As predicted the cyan pony sighed, but nodded understandingly. "So, Twilight could you come back to my boutique with me?"

"Sure," Twilight responded with a smile and with that the two started on their way to Rarity's boutique. She turned before she left to say goodbye to Rainbow and Fluttershy, but noticed the shy pony had taken off while they were chatting. "Remember what I asked you to do Rainbow," she said, before turning to walk off with Rarity again.

Rainbow nodded, just having noticed Fluttershy or whoever it was' abstinence. She then called her goodbyes to Rarity and Twilight before heading back to her house.

"So, how are the other dresses coming along?" Twilight asked, sitting in a chair at the Carousel Boutique.

"Oh, they're not done yet. I just didn't have any inspiration for them yet, but yours looks magnificent and it'll look even better when it's all done," Rarity called from her back room. She had gone back there to get what she needed to take her measurements and of course a pen and notebook to write them down on, but she had been gone for quite some time now.

"Well, have you started your dress?" Twilight questioned, not really too keen on sitting there silently like she had been doing before.

"Well, no, but again you can't rush creativity," Rarity called. The call was followed by a crashing sound that alarmed Twilight.

"Oh, Rarity are you okay in there?" Twilight asked, her ears perked up on her head as she started for the backroom.

"Oh, yes dear I am fine. I just knocked over a ponyquinn that's all," Rarity said as she jumped out from the room and closed it, blocking Twilight's view inside. "Now, please be a dear and sit over there. I don't want you to see my room it's a very unpleasant mess," she said with a forced smile.

"Okay? I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Twilight said, tilting her head in confusion. She knew Rarity's backroom was a mess, in fact she'd seen it first hoof before and Rarity had no problem with it, so why would she now? "It probably just got worse and she's embarrassed of it now," Twilight assured herself as she turned and walked back to her chair.

Once Twilight had walked away Rarity walked back into her room and closed the door. "You idiot! Why is it so difficult to fly through a window without hitting anything?! She hissed, hitting a changeling who had just pulled himself out from under a ponyquinn with her right hoof. "Hopefully you’re better at playing the stupid bookworm than flying," she commented with a roll of her eyes. "Now come on, we don't have all night," she added, turning to walk towards the door again.

When Rarity walked through the door Twilight stood up, ready to be measured, but she soon noticed that she didn't have a measuring tape, pen or notebook. "Did you forget the stuff?" She asked, glancing back at Rarity, but her gaze soon shifted when she noticed a changeling behind her. "Rarity, run! There's a changeling behind you!" She instructed, but Rarity didn't comply she just smiled and laughed.

"Why of course Twilight, I’m there queen!" Rarity said with a chuckle, her voice shifting into that of Chrysalis'.

"No!"

"Yes! Ha! How does it feel to be stupid?! You were so concerned about Fluttershy when you really should have been focusing on me and now what? You’re trapped," Chrysalis, who was disguised as Rarity said.

"No, I’m not!" Twilight said, using her magic to fling the door open and then turning to run for it, but right before she could get outside the door slammed shut.

"Poor little Twilight. You really should have spent more time on athletics than reading then you might have gotten away, but then again I did get Apple Jack and she's in pretty good shape. So, yeah you stood no chance anyway, she did put up a pretty good fight though," Chrysalis said with a chuckle as her changeling came for Twilight with a needle. "Now, sit still because quite frankly she could care less where she stabs you with that needle and we wouldn't want it to be your eye or something like that," she added with a chuckle.

Twilight tried to run and continued to struggle, but it was in vain because the changeling had already stabbed her in the foreleg with the needle and squeezed the liquid into her. Her vision got hazy, but she continued to try and fight it until she was too tired to move anymore. The last thing she saw was her right forehoof going up to try and swat the brown bag the changeling was throwing over her away and after that she was asleep.

"Good, now get into disguise and go home to the library. Oh, and remember don't freak out when you see the dragon he's only a baby now and isn't dangerous as long as you look like bookworm over there," Chrysalis said in her own voice before fixing it to match Rarity's. "Now, carry on dear. I've got to take care of this trash," she said with a smile. She then grabbed a hold of the bag Twilight was in and started tugging it into her backroom then out the backdoor. She glanced around for a moment and then flew off with the bag to where she was keeping the rest of the elements.

Twilight woke up rather unpleasantly. She could feel too hooves on the side of her face, but couldn't see them or who they belonged to because her eyes were shaking around in their sockets as her head was shaken roughly. "Just let go of me Chrysalis!" She yelled, flinging her hooves out to try and hit the pony shaking her.

"I'll stop shakin' ya, but I ain't no Chrysalis!" A voice answered as the hooves were lowered from Twilight's face.

"Apple Jack?" Twilight asked as her eyes started refocusing.

"Eyup!" Apple Jack said, flashing Twilight a smile as her eyes got back into focus.

Twilight then flung her hooves around the farm pony and said, "Thank Celestia your okay! Chrysalis told me she went after you, but the way she said it made me think you...you weren't with us anymore. A-and I thought the same thing was going to happen to me," she explained, tears forming in her eyes. AJ could tell this just by the way her voice sounded and she smiled as she rubbed her hoof against the purple alicorn's back.

"Well, ahm not dead and you certainly aren't, but with the fight I gave Chrysalis I’m surprises she ain't," Apple Jack said with a chuckle as she let Twilight go.

The purple alicorn rubbed the tears from her eyes and said, "I didn't see any marks on her, but she was disguised as Rarity when I saw her.

"Me too, I beat er' up as Rarity, so she should still look hurt," AJ said with a confused expression. "How would she be healed already?"

"Love! She has to be well fed on love and have enough to use for healing," Twilight explained. "But, the thing is, we're fine so where is she getting it from?"

"Well, she's got us," Apple Jack said, glancing over herself and then Twilight. "We're a little bruised up, but I ain't feelin like she's feedin off me," she added with a shrug.

"Well, where's Rarity?" Twilight asked and AJ just shrugged and she sighed. "Then, she's feeding off of Rarity..."

"Poor Rarity, she don't deserve that," AJ said with a sigh as she thought about how tired and drained her friend must feel right now.

"I know," Twilight said with a sigh as she hung her head. "Hopefully Rainbow, Pinkie or Fluttershy figured this whole thing out before it gets to be too much for her. I just wish I would have overlooked Fluttershy's strange behavior and just focused on Rarity, then we might not be in this mess."

"Did ya notice I was gone?"

"No, Chrysalis has a changeling playing you," Twilight said with a shrug, "Why?"

"Well, if Fluttershy was acting weird maybe that's because they got her too! They just got someone covering for er!" AJ said. "So, we've just gotta hope Rainbow and Pinkie figure it out," she added.

"Your right! Twilight said with a smile. "I guess it's a good think I told Rainbow to watch Fluttershy then because maybe she'll figure it out," Twilight said happily.

"But, that's another problem."

"What is?"

"We don't know where Flutters is either," Aj said with a sigh.

Twilight sighed and said, "They must be feeding off Rarity and Fluttershy." AJ nodded and Twilight glanced away from her sadly. "Then, that means we're going to get fed off of too," she added with a sigh. AJ just nodded silently again.

"Can you," Rarity began, but was cut off as a fork full of food was magically shoved into her mouth. She chewed the food swallowed and began again, "Could you stop that!" She complained before another forkful was shoved into her mouth. "Oh, what a gentlecolt," she said sarcastically as soon as she had swallowed that bite. Right after she'd gotten those words out another bite was shoved into her mouth. "I'm trying to tell you something!" She said, swallowing the last forkful quite quickly. He then went to shove another forkful into her mouth and she used all of her strength to swat it away with her magic. "Stop it!" She shouted, wiggling her captured forehooves to try and get free. "I am tired and this stupid, tacky cocoon is making all the blood rush to my head. So, I have a horrible headache! Now, please be a gentlecolt and cut me down from here so that I can brush this filth off of me!" She yelled from the position she was hanging in. Around her was some sort of cocoon that previously been covering her entire body, but was brushed away when a guard came in to feed her. Of course she took this opportunity to complain about her condition, but the guard kept shoveling food down her throat and not listening to her. So, she grew aggravated with him and complained even more because a tired and in pain Rarity was not a happy Rarity.

The guard rolled his eyes, put the plate of food down on the floor and then recovered the cocoon over her head. Rarity screamed as he did it, but he ignored it and covered her anyway. Once it was covering her the screaming stopped and every muscle in her body did as well. He smiled, waved goodbye and left the room as fast as he could.

Rarity watched him leave and if she could move right now she would have let out a sigh, but she couldn't. She just looked down at the food he was feeding her and thought that she should have been nicer to him because she really was hungry. But, now all that she could do was hang here motionlessly and try to get some sleep, either that or sit there and get more tired. So, she forced her eye lids shut and tried to forget the headache she had and the hunger she felt so that she could get some sleep. Her face had developed some pretty large dark circles and was pretty puffy by now. Her mane was also a disaster, her make-up badly smudged from the tears she had shed and quite frankly she could really care less about it because she just wanted to get out of this situation alive and nothing more.

Fluttershy was in a much different situation than Rarity. She hadn't been put into a cocoon and was instead seated on the room's bed. Sure, being here was quite boring, but she wasn't being harmed and every so often one of the changelings would come in and chat with her. He had a crown on his head, though she didn't know why, but he was easy to talk to and just being able to talk to somepony after being locked up all alone in an empty room all day felt amazing. Actually, he was had just walked into the room with some food floating beside him for her. "Hello, Fluttershy," he greeted with a smile.

"Oh, hello," she greeted with a smile, sitting up straighter to talk with him.

"I brought you a rose sandwich," he stated, floating the plate over to her so that she could see.

"That's very sweet," she said with a smile, looking over the plate of food before reaching out to grab it. She took a bite, swallowed and then said, "It's very good. Did you make it yourself?"

"Of course, anything for you," he said with a smile, inviting himself to sit beside her as she ate. Usually, she would have not been comfortable with him sitting so close to her, but she'd grew used to him and actually considered him a friend, so she didn't mind.

He was quiet for a moment and his happy facial expression faded into a sad one as he let out a sigh. Fluttershy noticed this and asked, "What's the matter, Clyde?"

He sighed again and said, "They wanted to send somepony else in to cut your wings and I was trying so hard to stop them from doing it, but they just wouldn't reason with me," he shook his head and lifted his hooves to run at his face. "They want me to do it now and I don't want to do it, but I know if I don't somepony else will and they will hurt you more than they have to," he added.

"Oh," Fluttershy said, her green eyes falling from him to her own hooves. "I won't fly if they don't want me to," she offered, not wanting to have her wings cut anymore then he didn't want to cut them. She'd never had it done to her before, but Rainbow's were cut by the pony that kidnapped her and had told her about how painful it was. She'd compared it to having somepony cut your hoof off, something Fluttershy could understand because to pegasi wings were limbs just like hooves were.

"I told them that, but they still wanted me to do it," he said, letting his forehooves fall back to the bed. "I promise to try and do as gentle as possible and I’ll even get some ice for you," he said, glancing back to her.

"Oh, thank you," she said with a smile after she finished the last bite of her food. "So, do you have to do it now?" She asked.

Clyde nodded and asked her to stretch one of her wings out, she did so and he floated a pair of scissors in from outside the door. He sighed once more and separated her primary flight feathers from the others. "I'm starting now," he said and noticed her wing tense up a bit, but started to cut her feathers anyway.

Her wings tensed even more as he cut the feathers and she gripped the bed with her forehooves, tears streaming down her face. She was crying quite loudly actually and trying to keep her wing still for him, even though her instincts told her to pull it away now and get away. It started to get so painful that she let out screams and actually decided to listen to her instincts and yank her wing away, but he had it held their pretty good with his forehooves and now magic. He responded to her pain with a blank expression and said nothing to try and comfort her. Actually, all he did say was, "This one's done, give me the other one.

Fluttershy let her cut wing hang limply at her side and glanced back at her remaining one with a sigh and a sob as she stretched it out for him. "P-please b-be q-quic-cker," she stuttered as he grabbed a hold of it with his forearms and magic. He didn't say anything back; just continue on with his work.

Once Clyde had finished with her wings he left to get the ice he had promised her and she just sat there sobbing. She wanted to cradle her pained wings, but refused to move them because that made the pain worse. She was still sobbing and by now had given herself a headache because of it. She sighed and her body convulsed, causing a flood of tears to pour from her eyes all at once, she brought up a hoof to wipe them, but barley wanted to even move with the pain she was in. She wiped and wiped at her face, but the tears kept coming and so she gave up, letting herself lay on stomach, her head rested on the bed's pillow. As her tears continued to fall she stared up at the hoof marks on the bed's headboard to try and take her mind off the pain.

There was a bunch of hoof marks on the headboard and they were spread randomly about it. They were imprinted pretty deeply into the wood, which meant they must have hurt to make. This made Fluttershy wonder why somepony would make them in the first place, since Clyde said he had personally taken care of everypony in this room for years and made sure they were treated the best that the changelings allowed him to treat them. So, she couldn't imagine anypony under his care would become so mad to the point that they would pound their hooves into the headboard. Then again, some ponies get mad when they're in pain and if any other pegasi had their wings clipped here they would have been in excruciating pain like she was and gotten mad, so they took it out on the headboard. Yeah, that's what she was going with now, it made her feel better to think that she wasn't alone and that it had happened to other pegasi before her here, all of which had gotten out alive. Clyde had told her that and promised the same would be true for her, but she had to be patient and so she was.

She just hung out in the room quietly all day, playing around with her hooves or thinking, she'd eat when somepony came in to feed her and never complain about the meal, she'd even complement them on their appearance every once in awhile, that way they'd have no excuse to not let her go. She hoped they'd even let Rarity, the only pony she knew was being kept here with go when she was let free, but Clyde had said that was a matter of Rarity's behavior and if she knew Rarity she was whining and complaining about everything, which wasn't good. So, she was extra good, that way she might be able to bargain with them over Rarity and the two could be set free together, to continue on with their lives.

She thought about all of this as she waited for Clyde to return with her ice, too bad he never came and just left her to try and get some shut eye even though her wings were killing her. She ended up just staring at the hoof marks on the headboard and being lost in her thoughts all night long, not being able to do anything, never mind sleep with the pain her wings were causing her.

Kind Approach

Early in the morning

Rainbow was lounged out across a cloud couch in her house, looking over a Daring Doo book that she had been reading for the past few days. She flipped a page over with her hoof, when she heard a few gently knocks coming from her front door. She glanced from the words on the page to the door, watching as it vibrated softly from the knocking. "Fluttershy," she mumbled as she glanced back to her book.

This would be the mare's fourth visit this month and quite frankly she was tired of putting on the same fake smile and listening to the same thing, so she chose to ignore the soft knocking by burring herself back into her book. It wasn't that she was mad at Fluttershy, i mean who could be mad at such a sweet mare? No pony she knew, that's for sure! She was just mad that Fluttershy kept coming over and reciting the same words in an attempt to coax her out of her home and to the group meetings she had been missing.

This meetings between Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight, Apple Jack and her had been going on for quite some time now because the six of them had become too busy to hang out with each other. Twilight was always too busy with reading every book possible on her new wings. Apple Jack's family had added another field to their already large farm, so she had to spend more time working now.Pinkie was attempting to come up with her own kind of cupcake. Fluttershy was starting to get clients that kept coming back with more and more animals to treat. Rarity was trying to get everything in order to open a new boutique in Canterlot. All while Rainbow was trying to balance being the captain of Ponyville's weather team and a cadet at the Wonderbolts' academy. So, they held these meetings, usually in Apple Jack's barn and used them to stay a part of each other's lives through stories. But, ever since Rainbow's kidnapping she had been skipping them to lounge miserably around her home. Apparently, that hadn't sat too well with her friends and so they sent the pony who flew the best out of all of them to try and convince her to start showing up again. Too bad only two of them had wings and one chose to study instead of using her wings, leaving the least persuasive pony of them all to do the job, Fluttershy.

"Um, e-excuse me Rainbow Dash, b-but are you home? I-I really wanted to speak with you, b-but if your not here that's o-okay too," the shy pony stuttered from behind the cloud door.

Rainbow sighed after she had finished listening to Fluttershy's words and put her book down on the couch beside her. She really didn't want to open that door, but how could she leave such a sweet pony out there, alone? She couldn't, that's how. She used her wings to pull herself off the couch and flew to the door then sighed once more, forced a smile and opened the door.

"Sorry about that Flutters. I was upstairs and didn't hear you until now," Rainbow explained, landing to talk to the mare who was standing on the other side of the open doorway.

"I-i didn't hear you come downstairs," Fluttershy stuttered, taking in Rainbow's run down appearance.

"T-that's because i....flew down!" Rainbow added, her smile still printed on her face.

Fluttershy knew that was a lie, Rainbow was not a good liar, but she didn't question it and only nodded as she was lead in and to the couch. "Tank misses you," she blurted out. She had taken the tortoise when she first heard of Rainbow's disappearance, so that he could be taken care of while she was gone and be returned when Rainbow did. All that had come and gone now and still the tortoise was in her home because Rainbow refused to take him back, she said that she was just too busy for him now. That was a lie too, but she didn't question that either.

So, now she was left to care for a heartbroken tortoise, who very clearly missed his owner a lot and Fluttershy didn't like that, so she brought it up as she always did when she visited Rainbow..

"He really misses me?" Rainbow asked, her smile wiped right off her face. She had heard it before, but it never seemed to just go in one ear and out the other, it always saddened her because she loved that tortoise. Everypony knew that, even if she did do a pretty good job of hiding it in public.

"Oh yes, he misses you a lot. All he ever does is mop around at my house," she explained

"I miss him too," Rainbow Dash replied, glancing away from Fluttershy, ready to tell yet another lie. "My schedule is just far too busy for him now with my training and all. If it wasn't i would take him back in a heartbeat," she continued, reciting the same excuse she said every time, since she knew that was what Fluttershy was going to ask her to do next.

"I don't think it's just that," Fluttershy mumbled, not aware that she had said it at first because she usually just thought it. Even though no matter how much she though it over, she never could figure out why the mare who loved to be the center of attention before seemed to not even want a tortoise paying attention to her now.

"What was that Flutters?" Rainbow asked, glancing back to her friend, having heard a small mumble, but not catching exactly what was said.

"Nothing," Fluttershy said quickly, now aware that she had spoken her thought and not wanting to upset Rainbow because she was practically calling her a liar, even if she really was being one at the moment.

Rainbow was not taking this answer though, since she knew she had heard a mumble and pushed for a real answer out of her friend. "No really, what did you say?" She asked and the the mare sighed as she repeated herself, normally.

"I-I don't think it's just that," She said and watched as Rainbow's eyes got larger.

"No, that is the only reason why," Rainbow corrected, turning away from Fluttershy once again because she had realized Fluttershy knew she had been lying all this time and didn't want to face her.

Fluttershy sighed as she watched Rainbow, but knew that she had already upset her and figured she might as well test the one theory she did have to why Rainbow had been acting strange lately. "I think this has something to do with what happened earlier this year, and i want you to know i am all ears if you would like to talk about it," She said with a forced smile.

"I would but i have to get ready for training, sorry Flutters," Rainbow responded still looking away from her friend, even though she hadn't lied this time because she really had to get ready to leave now.

"O-oh okay, then i guess i should go," Fluttershy said as she stood up and got off the couch. "But, just so you know, i'm always here for you, just like you were for me when we were foals." She assured Rainbow, glancing back at her before she walked to and out the door.

Rainbow waited until she heard the door close to glance over at it and sigh. "I know you are Flutters," she mumbled, before heading upstairs to get ready for the day.

Rainbow never took long getting ready for her day. She usually just woke up, bathed and then headed out to let the wind do her mane for her, but the routine had been much different since the incident. Now it took quite long, not because she changed anything about the routine, but because now she had to force herself to do it.

She reached the top of her stairs and sat right on her bed, staring off into space. She hadn't noticed she was doing so for a couple minutes but when she did she quickly got off the bed to walk to the bathroom, for her bath. She started the water and turned around as she waited for it to fill and ran into something she had dreaded for awhile now, the mirror.

She lifted her magenta eyes from the bottom of the mirror up to her where it reflected the image of her face and stared at it for a moment. A lot of things about the mare were different such as the sudden development of puffy red fur covered skin underneath her eyes from the tears she shed and the lack of sleep she got each night. As well as the lack of fur underneath her nose from wiping it constantly when she cried and it leaked. Those little things were noticeable if you looked close enough, but it was not what those closest to her picked up on first.

RD had a magnificently colored mane and tail since birth, but recently it lacked that beautiful color and was dull, like a fading rainbow. She too had noticed this but couldn't understand what was causing the loss of color, nore did she care too much. As she thought about her appearance she felt the clouds underneath her hoofs become moister than they were before, "Oh man!" She groaned and turned to see the tub, overflowed as she had predicted. She rolled her eyes and stopped the facet from producing anymore water then started to ring the soaked clouds out, wetting clouds on the ground floor of her home which she hadn't noticed.

Rainbow was having a hard time cleaning up the clouds. She was even loosing a few of them once she had rang them out and forgot to fasten them into their usual spots. So now she was slipping around the bathroom trying to catch the stray clouds and fix the hole in the floor, when she heard knocks coming from her front door. "Coming!" She called, trying to move faster and fix the floor before the visitor became angered, too bad this particular visitor was hot-headed and started to knock harder on the door. "I SAID I WAS COMING!" She shouted, agervatedly and picked up her pace even more until she loss her hoofing and fell into her bathtub face first, soaking the remaining clouds and herself in the process. Still the visitor continued to knock. By now the knocking was beyond annoying to Rainbow and so she pulled herself out of the tub, caught her breath. flew over the missing pieces of floor, then walked down the stairs.

Once she reached the ground level she noticed that she had rang the wet clouds out on the ones beneath her and soaked them as well. "Stupid clouds!" She hissed and stamped on them, falling through and dissolving a few of the clouds.

Rainbow Dash was now soaking wet, angry and underneath her house but still the visitor knocked at her on her front door, impatiently. She huffed and flew herself up to her to the front door, yelling "What could you possibly want that was so urgent, you had to continuously knock!?!"

As she she reached the cloud and walked over to her front door. The visitor turned towards her and Rainbow's face fell as she noticed who it was. "O-oh Spitfire. S-sorry i kept you waiting." She said sheepishly and then opened her front door, stepping aside so that Spitfire could enter first. "Come right in." She smiled, then realized her face was covered by her soaking wet mane and pushed it aside to reveal that smile.

Funny Business

Spitfire had just finished her practice with the Cadets and surprisingly, it had gone well today. So, she let those upper corners of her mouth go up to create a very happy smile as she pranced out of the practice area.

"Wow, Soarin must have written a dam good letter if Rainbow was that ready to train in practice today," she thought as she pranced on, not noticing the lack of pegasi crowding the corridors. "I don't know what he did, but he better keep doing it," she thought on, still sporting a smile on her face.

As she neared the break room, which was close by the entrance of the building she suddenly realized the lack of ponies and was confused as to where they could have possibly gone. "Was there a fire drill that i didn't hear in practice?" She asked herself as she stopped to glance behind herself and down another hallway, still no other ponies in sight. "I must have," she assured herself and walked on peacefully until she heard a familiar scream, one that belonged to no other than Surprise.

"Look everypony!" Surprise shouted, standing in the doorway of the break room.

Spitfire's ears perked up immediately and she ran off after her friends scream. She figured it was something important the way it was screamed and if it was important, she just had to know about it.

As the area where she knew the break room's door was came into sights she noticed a huge crowd of ponies who were staring in at it and a very happy looking Surprise who was fleeing the scene with very large saddle bags. But, she chose to ignore her and try and figure out what was so fascinating.

The crowd was large and not only stationed on the ground, but in the air as well, so there was no way for Spitfire to get a good view, that was unless she played the boss card. "Alright everypony move it along," she said. The ponies glanced back to see who was commanding them to do so, ready to protest, but once they noticed it was Spitfire they dropped to the ground and began to walk off, leaving the sky open. Spitfire smiled as they landed and took to her own wings, flying straight for the door's entrance. She glanced in the door way and her face became shocked as she took in the sight before her, that of Rainbow Dash and Soarin locked muzzle to muzzle.

She hovered there for a moment, in a state of shock. She had known that Surprise had predicted this and as silly as the mare was, she always seemed to be right in the end. But, for some reason she ceased to believe that this prediction would ever become true, until she saw it with her own eyes. The two she was observing seemed oblivious to her stare and so they remained quiet, giving her time to get out of her shocked state and force the first words that came to her mind out.

"Rainbow Dash! Soarin!" She yelled, shocking the two, causing them to pull away from each other and light up like Christmas trees as they took in her appearance.

She only gave them an angry expression and fell to her hooves, the ponies below her now gone. She walked up to the two and just glared at them for a moment before saying, "You two can't just distract everypony in the building! They have training to do that they are probably all late for!"

"Sorry Spitz, we were just playing, spin the bottle with the others and i guess we lost track of time." He said calmly, his face no longer flustered.

"Well where's the bottle?" Spitfire questioned, glancing to him.

Rainbow watched the two quietly, her face still flushed red, but when Spitfire questioned Soarin on his explanation she decided to jump in by saying, "Oh, the other ponies took it with them. They must have realized how late it was when they saw you, panicked and took off with the bottle." She said it quite calmly though the blush her face sported refused to even lighten.

Spitfire hadn't caught onto their lie and so she nodded and turned to walk out. "Play you foal games on your own time in the future," she added as she took off down the hallway and out the door. She always went there after practice with the cadets to get a little more sleep in the clouds, today despite the slight interruption was no different.

"That was a close one, huh?" Soarin asked with a chuckle as he glanced over to Rainbow.

Rainbow looked to him for a second, listening to what he had to say before she lifted her right hoof and brought it right across his face. "What is wrong with you?!?" She asked madly as she let her hoof resettle on the ground.

"Ow!" He complained as he began to softly stroke his cheek. "Why'd you hit me?!?" He demanded as he let his hoof resettle on the ground, the light blue fur on his cheek a slight red color once again.

"Cause you kissed me!" She explained with a roll of her magenta eyes because she thought it was quite obvious as to why she had slapped him.

"Yeah, but you liked it! Your not supposed to hit me if you like it!" He argued, standing to his hooves as he rolled his own green eyes.

"I didn't like it!" Rainbow defended, standing to her own hooves before Soarin.

"Then you would have stopped it!" Soarin defended on, retaining he strong stance in front of the cyan mare.

Rainbow's features softened slightly as she tried to figure out exactly why she chose to be so lenient with him when he had slammed his muzzle into hers. She came up with an answer quickly, but it didn't please her, so she ignored it and continued to argue the point she knew she was lying about. "I was just letting you enjoy it before i smacked you!" She shouted back to him.

"And why'd you do that?"

"Because i was being a little nicer today!"

Soarin chuckled at her words, loosing his strong stance. "You know you suck at arguing," he added between his laughs.

"You think it's funny?!" She said, angry at his laughing. She then lifted her hoof again and brought it towards his cheek, this time the other one. "Think this is funny too?!" She asked.

He chuckled and caught her hoof with his own. He watched as she struggled to push her hoof closer to his face, but she wasn't as strong as him, so he knew her fighting was useless. Eventually she gave up and pulled her hoof back as he said, "Yeah, i did think that was funny too!"

She huffed and gave him a dirty look then took off out of the room and the front of the building, not really being able to think of anything else she could use to defend her lie.

Soarin continued to chuckle as she left madly and he made his way to the cupboards and his hidden snacks. He picked one out and settled on the couch to eat it thinking about how silly Rainbow looked trying to defend something that wasn't true.

Rainbow stopped once she was in Ponyville again and settled on a park bench to rest her wings, which were still sore. As she sat there she licked her lips and smiled slightly, "He tastes like pie," she thought, but quickly caught herself and wiped the smile off her face. "Stop! You don't fall for colts! Your not Rarity," she reminded herself as she rolled her eyes once again and tucked her wings into her sides. She found herself licking her lips once more and smiling softly, despite her mind's complaining.

Suddenly, Pinkie popped out of apparently no where, a big smile plastered on her light pink face. "There you are Rainbow Dash! I've been looking everywhere for you!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow and gave her a tight squeeze.

She gasped for air as Pinkie squeezed her and attempted to peel the pink mare off of her.

"Opps! I always forget you can't breath when i do that!" She chuckled as she released her friend and sat by her, a smile still on her face. "So whatcha doing? You were licking your lips, did you have one of my delicious cupcakes for breakfast? They're really good!" She began to ramble as Rainbow caught her breath and tried to keep up with her words.

She chuckled as Pinkie rambled on about Gummy, not really sure how she had even gotten to the point of bringing him up, but she was Pinkie, so there was no need to question it. "That's great Pink," Rainbow replied with a smile, it always seemed to be a right answer during one of her rambles.

"I know!" Pinkie exclaimed with a chuckle when she remembered something. She gasped as she remembered it and grabbed Rainbow's right hoof. "I have to show you something!" She shouted and took off, Rainbow still attached to her.

"O-okay Pinkie!" She stuttered as she was pulled down the street. She then stood to her hooves and followed after Pinkie the best that she could on three hooves.

"Ta da!" Pinkie shouted as they arrived at their destination, the local party store. "We're gonna find some really cool pranky thingys so that we can prank ponies!" She explained as she ran into the store's front door, leaving a confused Rainbow Dash standing in front of the door.

"We haven't done that in awhile Pinks," Rainbow pointed out as she walked through the door and after her pink friend. "But, why was it so important that we do it today?" She asked as she began to scan a few of the shelves.

"Well, because it's my day silly! Weren't you there when we scheduled it all silly?!" Pinkie said as she pulled a few things off of a shelf to look them over a bit more.

"Wait, what is the schedule for?" Rainbow asked, glancing to Pinkie. But, the only reply she got was a gasp and then a few motions which pretty much told her she wasn't getting the reason out of her because she had Pinkie promised on not telling her about it. "Fine, i won't ask," she said as she glanced back to the shelves.

Pinkie smiled and threw the items she had been holding into her saddle bags then hopped off down another aisle. Rainbow trailed after her, loosing interest in the items she had been looking at because her mind was busy trying to figure out what the mentioned schedule was all about.

Before Rainbow knew it they had finished their shopping and were off on their first prank, which would be done on Rarity for that picture she had made Pinkie take awhile ago, but Pinkie didn't know that. She smirked as Pinkie balanced a small flashlight in her mouth and she placed a cut-out of a gem over it. "Alright, get behind the bushes and i'll knock," she said as she walked towards the door and lifted her hoof.

PInkie dashed off to the bushes, the flashlight still balanced in her mouth. She hit the red button on it with her right hoof and then made sure that the gem was reflecting in the middle of the path, that way Rarity would easily see it when she opened her door.

Rainbow noticed the fake gem on the ground and knocked on the door, fighting back her giggles. She then flew up to the boutique's roof and sat there to watch the whole prank play out.

Rarity came to the door and looked around for a moment to find out who had knocked on the door. "Guess they left," she said with a shrug and began to turn around when something caught her eye. "Sweetie! What did i tell you about playing with my gems?!" She yelled back into her house and then trotted over to the gem. She was just about to reach down and pick it up with her mouth when it moved further down the path. "Sweetie this is not funny!" she pouted as she walked over to the gem once again. She reached down to pick it up again and let out a dramatic groan as once again, it moved. "Sweetie!" She shouted and went after the gem again. This time she took a moment to look at it to see if there was a string attached to it, but she couldn't spot one.

"What!" Sweetie screamed, coming to the doorway to look out at her sister who she had just heard scream her name.

Rarity looked back to her sister and then reached down for the gem once more and again it moved. "Never mind," she yelled back to her, now confident that she wasn't the one pulling her tail. She trotted after the gem for the last time and heard a slight giggle coming from the bushes that it was now rested nearby. She scanned the giggle over quietly in her mind for a moment and came to the conclusion that it belonged to none other than Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie!" She shouted as she looked to the bushes the sound had come from with an un-amused face.

"We gotcha!" Pinkie shouted as she leaped from the bushes, the flashlight still balanced in her mouth.

"We totally did," Rainbow added as she flew over to the too, giggling loudly. "See look, the flashlight just makes the light look like a gem," she then explained at her frustrated looking friend.

"Oh, you two are back to pranking," Rarity said with a sigh as she waved her hand over the gem and watched it disappear. It then reappeared as she reclaimed her hoof and she sighed. "Looks like you really did 'get' me," she said in defeat and then smiled at the two pranksters. They merely nodded and she took back off to her boutique to continue her work, chuckling at the thought of how silly she must have looked screaming at her sister and chasing a non existent gem.

As she walked off the two pranksters fell to the ground in a fit of laughing.

By sunset the pranking duo had successfully pranked their four closest friends. They had made Twilight freak out and start packing for another trip to retrieve Spike from the other dragons by hiding him in a few bushes and handing her a note which Spike had written earlier. They then announced that they had pranked her and she put her things back where they were then laughed with them and Spike. They had also tricked Fluttershy into believing that some of her ill animals had gotten loose from her yard and were wondering through Ponyville sickly, but that prank was over quickly when she dashed outside and noticed that none of her animals were missing. All three of them then laughed it off together. They had pranked Apple Jack as well, by placing a bucket of water on a few branches in one of her trees. She then went to buck the tree and was covered in the water as the duo chuckled from their hiding in the bushes. She found them and they announced that they had pranked her, so she shook the water off and laughed along with them.

So, now they sat on the farm, watching the sun set as they munched on a few apples that Apple Jack gave them, telling each other jokes.

"Pinkie, that's a good one!" Rainbow said between her laughs.

"I know!" Pinkie shouted as she fell backwards laughing once again.

Rainbow remained up right, but laughed on until they were interrupted by Apple Jack.

"Alright ya'll you should get goin', the farm is really hard to get through in the dark, if ya don't know it like ah do," Apple Jack said as she sat looking at the pair of laughing ponies.

"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie responded with a smile, as her laughing seized and she pulled herself upright once again. "I'll see ya later guys!" She chirped and then she took off through the farm.

Rainbow waved to Pinkie and waved goodbye to Apple Jack before taking to the skies once again, heading to her home.

It only took Rainbow a few minutes to reach her home from the farm, so before she knew it she was there. By now the sun had set and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. She smiled at it for a moment because it signaled the end of a long day and for once one with a happy ending. She then turned back to her home and walked up to the front door where she began to look for her keys. She had always hidden them underneath the mat, but this time they weren't here and in their place stood a piece of folded paper. She payed the paper no mind though as she turned and lifted her back legs, readying herself to buck the door open, but as her hooves came in contact with the door she soon noticed that breaking into her house was not going to be as easy as she thought it was.

"Ow!" She complained as her hooves hit the cloud which made up her door, too bad this cloud wasn't soft. She then slumped down against the door angrily, knowing that her house had been protected by a spell and there was no way to get into it without her keys. While she sat there she decided to search under the mat once more, just in case she missed her keys the first time, but again only found that stupid piece of folded paper. "Stupid paper! Turn into my keys!" She commanded, fustratedly as she picked up the paper with her hooves and noticed that there was a slight tint to it, which meant there was writing on it.

There clearly wasn't any writing on the part of it that she was looking at, so with nothing better to do at the moment she decided to investigate the paper a bit more by unfolding and flipping it over. "Writing," she mumbled as she examined that side and then began to read what was written.

"Dear, Rainbow Crash," she read and sighed, knowing that the letter must be from Soarin', since she hadn't spoken to her foalhood bullies in quite awhile, so they had no need to leave a letter on her door step. "This must be his doing," she mumbled and then continued to read the rest of the letter.

"I came over with a friend of mine to apologize for earlier by putting that protection spell on you home, but you weren't here. So, i had him put the spell anyway and took your keys, so that you would have to come to my house so that i can apologize to you. Well see ya then! ~Soarin" She sighed once again as she finished reading the letter and crunched it up in anger. She was tired, sore and really hoping for this day to end happily, but he had jumped right into it and ruined it for her once again, so of course she would be angry with him. She then stood to her hooves again with a huff and walked to the end of her cloudhome's walkway where she found herself licking her lips again, in search of the pie flavor he had left on her mouth from earlier. "Stop! Your mad at him!" She huffed and then took to the skies, forcing her tongue back into it's place.

She knew the way to Soarin's house like the back of her hoof from all the times she had traveled there to drop off the pies he ordered from Apple Jack when she was fan girling over the fact he was a Wonder Bolt. Those days were long gone now, but her memory of how to get there wasn't and so there she stood staring up at his front door. She looked at it for a moment just so that she could laugh at the fact that he was a pegasi who loved to fly and yet chose to live on the ground.

Apparently, she had been laughing too loud because before she even got the chance to lift a hoof he had already opened the door and was letting her inside. He talked, but she remained quiet as they walked through the house, she was too busy examining it. She had never actually seen more than the hallway of it and now that she was seeing the whole thing, she had to admit it was pretty awesome! There was tons of Wonder Bolt things lining the walls, furniture and just about everything else in the house and she loved it so much that she chose not to make fun of him for living on the ground instead of in the sky.

"Um, Rainbow, we're here," Soarin said as he stood in the doorway of his living room, glancing back at the cyan pegasus who was too busy looking around his home. He noticed this and smirked then asked, "Pretty sweet place, huh?"

"I would never leave it," Rainbow mumbled as she looked at it for one more moment and then dragged her attention off of it and onto the stallion in front of her.

"Eh, doesn't compare to some of the places I've stayed for shows," he said as he turned and walked back into the kitchen. "Oh, here's your keys," he said, noticing them laying on the side.

She nodded and walked in, picking them up and then looking around at his kitchen. Once again Soarin noticed her fascination with it and giggled a bit, "You know, you don't have to leave if you don't want to," he offered with smile.

Rainbow glanced back to him once he had spoken and thought her decision on the matter over a bit. She really liked this house and wanted to stay in it, but then again she knew Soarin would try to pull something and she didn't want that, but then again maybe she did. She shook her head to shake her thoughts away and then answered with a simple, "Okay."

Soarin smiled at her answer and then said, "I've got pie in the cupboards, lets have some."

"Okay!" Rainbow repeated, a little too fast than she would have liked to. She was excited to get to eat the taste that had lingered in her mouth practically all day even though she really didn't want to admit it.

"I'll grab it, you go sit on the couch," he instructed as he took to his wings and began looking through his cupboards for the pie he knew he had. Meanwhile, Rainbow took off in search for the couch which she figured was probably in the living room.

She found it quite quickly, because the house wasn't very large which she expected, since it only housed one pony and perched herself on the white couch. "Alright, your going to eat some pie, chat and then sleep here," she commanded herself in her head. "Oh, and none of that stupid romantic stuff either!" She added as Soarin plopped himself down beside her, a pie in his hooves. She smiled at him and then took the piece he offered her. As she ate it she continued to silently warn herself, but she her body seemed to ignore the warnings as her eyes stared at the Pegasus who was chomping down on his pie beside her.

Time to be a role model

Being in the public's eye is fun, right? No, it's only fun if your name is Surprise, which unfortunately wasn't Soarin's name. He had thought it was fun when he was first accepted onto the team and even for awhile after that, but he soon realized just how much it bothered him. He couldn't do anything without it being in the newspaper and last night was no different, even if he had planned it that time, a decision he regretted when he read the words he had said in an article.

"Arg! Rainbow's gonna kill me," Soarin groaned as he handed Fleetfoot her paper back.

Fleetfoot looked over the article one more time and nodded in agreement. "I know i would kill you for that," she said and the shrugged as he gave her an annoyed look.

"Dashie won't kill you! Being in the newspaper is fun! My fans always love when i'm in the newspaper, they think it's fun too!" Surprise chuckled as she flew over to the two.

"Rainbow will probably think different than you Surprise," Spitfire added as she came trailing after Surprise who she was helping fix her mane for the show, before she had flew off after the sound of her friends. "But, she probably won't hate you Soarin because you stood up for her. I know i wouldn't hate you for that, i'd be mad though with all the stalking from the paparazzi she's gonna get," she finished with a shrug as she got back to shoving Surprise's mane into the correct spot in her suit, now that it was almost completely straightened. She did this for every show because Surpise's usual puffy mane was just too puffy to fit into the suit and had to be straightened to do so, but she didn't mind until the energetic pony started moving around.

"Well lets hope i'm dating a pony like Spitfire not Fleetfoot," Soarin said with a chuckle, which earned him a glare from Fleetfoot.

"Hey! What about me?" Surprise asked as Spitfire finished putting her mane into it's correct spot. She was saddened a bit that she had come all the way over here to be in the conversation and was being left out.

"Rainbow isn't going to handle the paparazzi like you do, no pony else does," Soarin said with a chuckle as he nudged Surprise with his hoof to cheer her up. "I guess your just special," he added, which cheered the energetic pony up almost immediately and earned him a big hug.

"Oh, your so sweet Soain!" Surprise said, in an even higher pitched voice than she usually had, due to her excitement. She then noticed him struggling to breath in her hooves and let go of him, "Opps, sorry." She apologized with a chuckle as she turned and hopped off, announcing that she was going to eat before the show, behind her.

"She sure is something special," Fleetfoot said with a chuckle as she watched Surprise hop off. Spitfire and Soarin glared at her once she had finished speaking and she held her hooves out as she said, "Wait not in a bad way, i meant in a good way!"

"Get that, Fleetfoot," Soarin said with a chuckle that Spitfire joined into.

"Oh, shut it you two," Fleetfoot said with a roll of her eyes.

Meanwhile...

Rainbow was sitting in Twilight's library, tiredly. She had never done much with her mane, but anypony could tell that she was sporting her bed mane, as was everyother pony in the room. Around her sat all of the elements of harmony, appearing about as tired as Rainbow was, well all except Pinkie.

The pink pony seemed to be fully awake, but she had big dark eye circles underneath her blue eyes. She had broken right into Twilight's house in the middle of the night claiming that she saw Chrysalis going through her room and that the elements of harmony needed to get up and stop her now. So, Twilight jumped right out of bed and the two of them woke everypony up, slapped their elements on their necks and headed out to try and find Chrysalis, but they all came up empty hoofed.

Now, it was the early hours of the morning and everypony was exhausted from the lack of sleep they had gotten as well as all the searching they had done before Celestia's sun had even come up, which made everypony quite irritable.

"Do i really have to send Celestia a letter? " Twilight asked as she dipped a quill into a tub of ink. She was exhausted, having gotten only a few hours of sleep before Pinkie woke her because of how late she stayed at Rainbow's and how long it took her to get comfortable with her not so new wings, considering it had been quite awhile since she first received them.

"Don't worry about it, dear," Rarity began, stopping only to let a yawn out. "No pony knows if she was actually here, so we shouldn't bother her," she finished with a sigh.

"But, she was here Rarity! I saw her with my own two eyes!" Pinkie yelled as she jammed her head against Rarity's and made her eyes bulge out at her.

"M-maybe you were just seeing things because you were tired," Fluttershy suggested.

"You don't see things when your tired!" Pinkie exclaimed, taking her attention off of Rarity, who was glaring at the pink pony and looking to Fluttershy.

"Actually, Pinkie you can see things if you are really tired," Twilight corrected, letting the quill rest on the desk once again, so that she could take the strain of using magic off of her tired head.

"But, i'm not tired!" Pinkie exclaimed, annoyed that no pony believed her.

"I found her passed out on the ground while we were searching," Rainbow added, now laying on the her stomach, her right hoof rested against her cheek to hold her head up.

"I'm not tired!" Pinkie yelled, stomping her hooves angrily on the ground.

"Sugarcube, you've been tired all week," Apple Jack said, which only caused the pink pony to scream even louder.

"I'm not tired!!!" Pinkie repeated.

"Oh, Pinkie please! It is too early for that screeching of yours," Rarity complained as she rubbed a hoof around her horn, dramatically.

Pinkie opened her mouth to yell some more and Rainbow shoved her hoof into it, stopping her before even a little sound came out. "Pinkie enough!" She moaned, rolling her magenta eyes in her head. She too had had enough of Pinkie's yelling and had peeled herself off the ground to put an end to it all.

While, the room was quiet once again, Twilight decided to speak up. "Pinkie, you told me you hasn't slept in a few days because the baby Cakes sleep all day and then cry and keep you up all night," she said and some of the other mares nodded in agreement, having heard the same thing from the pink, party pony when they found her sleeping in a bazaar location earlier in the week.

Pinkie's body relaxed after Twilight spoke and she sat, obviously giving up on the argument because she knew she was right. At this time, Rainbow removed her hoof from her mouth and she said, "I have been tired, but i was eating lots and lots of cupcakes, so i wasn't just imagining things, Chrysalis was really there."

"Well, if anypony sees her again, i'll tell Celestia, but for now stay here and get some rest, Pinkie," Twilight said with a relieved sigh, now that the whole argument was over.

"Yes, and we should all do the same, i'm exhausted!" Rarity added as she went to take her element off, but was stopped by a buttery colored hoof.

"We should keep the elements on, in case she does show up, if that's okay with you," Fluttershy suggested.

"Good idea, Fluttershy," Twilight said with a smile. She then looked to no pony in particular and said, "Girls, keep your elements on, but do go home and get some rest. I think Rarity spoke for all of us when she said she was exhausted."

Everypony nodded and started filing out of the room except Pinkie and Twilight who were headed to the next level of the library. They reached the top of the stairs and started getting into their beds right as Rainbow closed the front door, starting on her way home.

Rainbow walked peacefully for a couple minutes and then she found herself just centimeters away from a strange unicorn, stallion's face. She opened her mouth to tell him off, but before she could even manage one word the flash of his camera blinded her.

"Ah! What is wrong with you?!? You know that hurts, right!?" She screamed, rubbing at her eyes with her hooves.

"Oh, um, yeah," the stallion replies with a chuckle as he looked at the picture he had just snapped of her. "You know, your really photogenic, ever think of being a model?" He asked as he let camera fall from his hooves and hang from his neck as it was before.

"You think i don't know that? And, who are you?!" She demanded, letting her hooves fall to the ground again, the sleepy expression she had returning once again. She gave him no time to answer and instead took to the air, knowing he would follow if he was this interested in her picture and talking to her.

"Well, the ponies that read my column call me Shot," he began, trailing after her from the ground, as expected. "Now, i have a few questions for you, before all the other ponies show up hoping to make some bits off your answers and pictures," he said, rather quickly as he floated a notepad and quill from his saddle bags with his magic. He was clearly not one to dance around the topic or be considerate of the pony he was stalking, which is why he usually always got what he had come for as well as why he had one of the most popular columns in Equestria.

"Shot, huh? Must be fun when your out," she commented, cutting his words off and flying up higher in an attempt to shake him.

"Yeah, it's great," he replied quickly and then floated a notepad and quill from his saddle bags. Now, i have a few questions for you, before all the other ponies show up hoping to make some bits off your answers and pictures," he said, rather quickly and loudly, so that the airborn pony could hear him. He was clearly not one to dance around the topic or be considerate of the pony he was stalking, which is why he usually always got what he had come for as well as why he had one of the most popular columns in Equestria.

"Shoot," Rainbow said, chuckling at her cleaver word play.

Shot, on the other hoof was not the least bit amused at her comment and just rolled his eyes then continued to quietion the pegasus. "So, Rainbow what's it like dating a world famous stallion?" He said, not even bothering to look up at her, instead he stared down at his notepad, ready to write.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow asked, lowering herself, so she could find out where he got that idea from.

"All of Equestria knows your dating Soarin, so what's it like?" He asked with an annoyed tone.

She gave him a strange face and then tilted her head. "Wait, what? Where did you hear this?" She asked.

He groaned and then floated a newspaper out, jamming it in her face. "Here!" He said in an even more annoyed voice than before. "All these athletes are dumber than a box of rocks," he mumbled under his breath as she scanned the article over.

Rainbow glared at him, hearing what he had mumbled and then brought her attention back to the article, to look over it for what had to be the tenth time by now. She sighed, looked back to the angry writer and then took off, leaving nothing but a furious unicorn and a rainbow trail in her wake.

"That's it! I'm done with athletes! First, Fleetfoot screams in my face and now this mare! I'll stuck to stupid princesses!" The unicorn grumbled as he tucked his things away in his saddle bags and stormed off.

Rainbow flew right to her house, hoping to lock herself away in there and avoid the swarm of paparazzi she knew where coming after her, but she soon realized that was no longer an option. Before her where a swarm of pegasi, cameras strapped to most of their chests, notepads and quills in their hooves. "Oh, buck," she grumbled and turned to fly off in the other direction, but she hadn't reacted fast enough because they had spotted her and were following.

She groaned as she turned to look back and saw that they were still following her. She was still exhausted from the lack of sleep she had gotten and all the physical work she was doing just to avoid the aggravating ponies behind her was making her even more tired. She passed by cloud after cloud, miserably because she could just imagine herself laying there, doing what she wished to do the most, sleeping.

Now, she was slowing down, a lot and the pegasi behind her were closing in. She sighed and then pulled her wings back in, so that she could land on a nearby cloud, when she was grabbed and pulled into the cloud she was just about to land on. She went to scream, but a hoof was slapped over her mouth as she listened to the paparazzi that was following her fly by, having no idea where she was.

After, whoever had grabbed her no longer heard the ponies who had been pressing the mare they pulled her out of the cloud and chuckled.

She grumbled and turned to fling a hoof at whoever had grabbed her, but was meat with a gray hoof, giving her a second to realize who she was about to hit really was. "What the buck Thunderlane?!" She yelled, pulling her hoof away from him. She was mad that he had scared her and was now laughing about it.

"You know, normal ponies would say thank you," he said between his chuckles as he too pulled his hoof back and let it rest on the cloud beneath him.

She cracked a smile and said, "Okay fine, thanks."

He nodded and said, "Your welcome," with a smug smile as he got up and signaled for her to do the same. "Okay, now get your lazy flank up, i got work to do, and my boss isn't very understanding," he added with a chuckle as he grabbed a hold of the cloud she was still seated on.

She shrugged and said, "I think she'll be different today, if you let me nap here," with a smile as she laid back and stretched herself across the cloud.

"Fine," he said, his chuckling gone and just a smile printed on his face as she looked up at him. "But, i'm not picking up your slack," he added.

Rainbow rolled onto her stomach and supported her head on her hooves, still looking up at him. "Oh, come on, please," she pleaded with big eyes.

He sighed and crossed his hooves across his chest as he said, "Okay, but just this once." He then took off to continue his work, the smile still printed on his face.

"Once? We've played that card at least thirty times by now," Rainbow's mind commented as she laid her head down on the cloud and adjusted her position to get a bit more comfortable. She smiled a bit at her mind's comment and then closed her eyes as she thought, "Yeah, and it's just too easy."

"Look, Scoots," a colt called as he poked at Rainbow's nose and caused her to stir.

"I wouldn't poke her," Scootaloo said as she glanced at her sleeping idol.

"Oh, come on. What's the worse she'd do to me," the colt chuckled as he poked at her nose once again.

Suddently, Rainbow's eyes flung open and angry expression took over her face. The colt went to pull his hoof back once he saw this, but he wasn't fast enough because before he knew it she had pulled him back by it and pinned him on the couch she was now rested on.

"Rainbow, stop!" Scootaloo called as she jumped to her hooves.

"Thunder, help!" The colt called, only to see the mentioned pony chuckling by where he was pinned.

By now, Rainbow had figured out who she had pinned and groaned as she let go of him. "Rumble!" she grumbled as she sat down and rubbed at her eyes, which were hurting a bit from the rude awakening.

"I told him not to poke you," Thunderlane said with a chuckle as Rainbow stopped rubbing at her eyes and looked over her surroundings.

"How'd i get here?" She asked, recognizing the house as his immediately from the times she had fallen asleep at work and woke up here.

"How do you always get here?" Thunderlane asked in a taunting manner.

"Oh, yeah," Rainbow said with a chuckle, realizing he had carried her here as he always did instead of leaving her out on the clouds when he left work. "So, clouds all managed?" She asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"No, i left it to the other ponies while i brought you here because those ponies with the cameras found you again," he said with a shrug. "Looks like Ponyville's gonna have to wait another day for that rain," he added with a chuckle.

"Looks like it," she said with a chuckle.

By now, Rumble was board with the older ponies and hit Scootaloo on the arm. "Let's go Scoots, i'm board," he said annoyedly and started off to the doorway of the room.

Scoots on the other hand was not board and listening intently to the conversation before Rumble had poked her. She sighed and turned the follow him when she heard Rainbow spoke.

"She can stay," Rainbow said, now noticing the younger ponies' conversation.

"Yeah, but he wants to go," Scootaloo said as she glanced back to Rumble who was waiting in the doorway.

"So?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm gonna go," the orange pony responded and took off after Rumble. The two disappeared in his room.

"What's up with those two?" Rainbow asked, glancing back to Thunderlane.

He shrugged and said, "I don't know, they've been hanging out in his room since they started going out. They only stopped to poke some fun at you today."

"Going out?" Rainbow asked, glancing at him with a expression that read, "Oh, come on stupid, what do you think is going on?"

"Yeah," Tunderlane said, confused as to what Rainbow was hinting at.

"His room," she continued, with the same expression.

"Shit."

"Exactly," Rainbow said with a sigh as she got off the couch and the two of them took off to the room.

"Scoots!" Rainbow yelled as she flung the door open and spotted the two teen ponies muzzle to muzzle.

"Dam it, Rumble! Mom's gonna kill me for this, i'm supposed to be watching you!" Thunderlane complained as he stood beside Rainbow in the doorway.

Rumble shrugged and stood up with a smile. "It's not me, so why do i care?" he asked with a smug expression.

"Because i'm gonna kill you for touching my sister," Rainbow grumbled as she grabbed a hold of the colt.

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo called, recovered from her embarrassed state and stepping into save her coltfriend's flank.

Rainbow sighed, glared at Rumble and let him go. "Scoots, we're leaving," Rainbow said and turned to leave the room. "Good luck with that one," she grumbled to Thunderlane as she left, the orange filly following after her silently.

"Scootaloo, what were you thinking!?!" Rainbow groaned as she stared at the mentioned filly who was now seated before her on a cloud, still silent. "I mean i get your all weird and stuff now, but come on Rumble?" The cyan mare continued, taking the silence as a cue for her to continue.

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo complained, her cheeks flashing red again.

"Well, it's true," Rainbow responded with a chuckle, though Scootaloo just glared at her, not finding it the least bit funny. "Oh, don't be so mad, you set yourself up for that one," she added.

"I know," Scootaloo sniffled.

"Rumble, really?" Rainbow added with a chuckle. "You know he's bad news."

"He's the only colt that would give me the time of day!" Scootaloo yelled, her eyes teary and her face mad. She was sick of the talk already and going through a lot currently, so she raised her voice at the pony she usually was very calm with.

"Oh, Scootaloo," Rainbow said with a sigh as she pulled the orange filly in for a hug, being able to relate to the subject.

"Don't touch me!" Scoots complained as she pushed Rainbow off of her and crossed her forelegs.

Rainbow was taken back for a moment by the filly's words and actions because she was her biggest fan. Just like if you were the Wonder Bolt's fan you would love a chance to hug Surprise, not push her away and tell her not to touch you, it was the same with Scootaloo and Rainbow. She looked over the filly before her with tears running down her cheeks and the angry face that was trying to hide the sadness she felt and saw herself in her. She sighed and then began to speak.

"Look i get," Rainbow began, but was cut off by the angry filly.

"You don't get it, Rainbow! You had your cutie mark before everypony else, so you weren't picked on a-and shunned a-and lonely!" The orange filly yelled, stopping to end the little, sad list she began, so that she wouldn't look like such a pathetic loser. "N-no, pony ever talks to me, since Apple Bloom and Sweetie got their c-cutie marks, because i'm the last one and their too busy with their talents and all! The last one in the entire school, Rainbow! The whole school!" She screamed, using her hooves for emphasis as tears rolled down her face.

"I get it Scoots," Rainbow began once more in a sympathetic voice, but again was interrupted by Scootaloo.

"No you don't!" She yelled back and then a cyan hoof was shoved into her mouth.

"Yes i do, and you'd know that if you'd just listen to what i'm trying to tell you!" Rainbow said, annoyed that she kept getting interrupted for the same stupid reason. "Now, are you gonna be quiet and listen?" She asked, her voice no longer even the listen bit sympathetic sounding.

Scootaloo nodded and the hoof was removed from her mouth, but the tears kept coming.

Rainbow sighed as she shook the spit from her hoof and began to speak once again. "So, your picked on because you don't have your cutie mark, well i was picked on because of my mane and tail," Rainbow began. "And you feel, like everyone's against you, i did too, so you look for somepony to be on your side, to you is Rumble. For me it was a teammate, just like Rumble. So, you do anything just to keep him on your side, because, well it just feels so good not to be alone again, right?"

"Yes," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she moved her eyes off of Rainbow, still embarrassed by it all.

"Well, i did it too, and you know what, it felt awesome to have somepony on my side again, so i kept doing whatever it took to keep him there, until i realized that he wasn't really on my side, he was just taking advantage of my situation. So, i left him and it sucked to feel alone again, but that all ended when i became friends with Fluttershy, who i knew was always on my side and not because she wanted to use me, but because she was a good friend and could relate to the situation, since she was picked on as well. Sure, they still picked on me, but it felt so much better to be able to go over to Fluttershy and feel not so alone about the whole situation, ya know?" Rainbow continued.

Scootaloo nodded and asked, "So, what your saying is i have you?" To which Rainbow nodded and she flung her hooves around her thankfully. "Thanks, Rainbow," she said as she squeezed the cyan mare.

"Your welcome," Rainbow responded as she hugged Scootaloo back. "Now, lets go kid, it's time to bring you back home," she added as Scootaloo broke off the hug.

"I guess so," the orange filly said with a slight smile as she opened her wings and jumped down, using them to make her landing easier on her hooves. She landed and then Rainbow followed her down a big smile on her face now. She tilted her head a bit as she took in Rainbow's expression, wondering why she looked so happy after what they had talked about.

"Hey, Scoots, we haven't had a lesson since your wings grew, huh?" Rainbow asked, her smile still as big a before.

Scootaloo shook her head and said, "No, but what does it matter if they grew?"

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak and noticed a piece of straight, blue hair sticking out from behind a bush, so she closed her mouth, thought for a moment and then said, "Just keep up, change of plans." She then took off on hoof, leaving a surprised Scootaloo who took a second to realize what was happening and follow.

Scootaloo ran behind Rainbow purposely, so that she would have time to stop the tears and the wind could clear off any evidence that they were there. Once she figured that was all down and over with she caught up with Rainbow and noticed the two of them were running the familiar route to the older mare's home, or at least the ground underneath it. "I thought we were going to my house," Scoots said, glancing over at the cyan mare running beside her.

"I said change of plans," Rainbow said as they reached the ground beneath her house and she grabbed a hold of the Scootaloo so that she could fly her up to the her door step.

"What are we doing here?" She asked as Rainbow walked up to her door and fumbled with her keys, she stood watching.

"A lesson," Rainbow replied as she flung the door open and pulled Scootaloo in before anymore paparazzi showed up. Scootaloo did as told and then stood waiting for some instruction from her teacher, but all she got was one word, "fly."

"I can't fly, you know that," Scootaloo said with a sigh, but instead of a real reply from her teacher she got the same word she had just heard, fly. "I'll try again," she said and let her wings stretch out so that she could begin flapping them.

Rainbow watched as the younger mare flapped her wings with a smug smile because she knew what was going to happen already, the filly was going to fly. Just as expected a couple minutes later the filly was flying and not that two inches off the ground for two seconds kind of flying that she usually did, real flying. "I thought you couldn't fly," she said smugly as the filly finally realized she was flying and her face light up.

"I did too! Rainbow look i'm flying!" The filly called as she flew up higher and higher.

"Yeah, just watch out for the c-," Rainbow began, but stopped when Scootaloo hit the ceiling and locked her wings up in shock so that she could catch her. "Ceiling...."

Once, Scootaloo realized she had just hit the ceiling she laughed along with her savior, who was already doing the same. "Stupid ceiling," she said between her chuckles.

Rainbow nodded in agreement and said, "Looks like we're gonna have to start those lessons again, huh?"

"Definitely! I'm gonna be the fastest flier in Equestria one day! Watch your flank Rainbow!" The over joyed filly shouted as she jumped out of Rainbow's hooves and posed.

"We'll have to see about that one, kid," the older mare said through her own chuckles.