Rebuilding a Rainbow

"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.