Rainbow Dash bolted to the lonesome apple farm on the outskirts of Ponyville, her rainbow mane and tail flapping in the rush of wind around her. The late morning air feeling relaxing on her sky blue coat as it sunk into her. A look of anxiousness across her face, he had to be there, he just had to be! He loved pie, did he not? She looked down onto the dark green grass of the hills below her... Wait, Hills? She swiftly whacked herself across the face, noticing she had gone a lot further than Sweet Apple Acres, she slowed down to a hover and leisurely flew down to the apple orchard. She gracefully landed on the moist ground, turning her head
urgently in all directions to look for any ponies in the apple family. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her forehead as she kept twisting and turning, she noticed through one of the trees in the orchard a light green coat, notably walking quite slowly. She trotted over to get a better look at the mysterious figure.

"Uh, hello?" Dash casually asked looking around for that green coat, she noticed it sticking out through another set of trees. "Oh screw it!" she said loudly, propelling herself back into the sky to get a birdseye view. She looked down to see the figure trotting around the orchard slowly. She landed next to the pony and greeted them eagerly, the first thing she noticed was that her coat was very saggy and she had a white mane and tail. "Uh, hi?"

"Ah, hello there youngster!" the pony said quietly, Dash instantly recognizing the wise and elderly voice of Granny Smith. "what brings you out to these parts?"

"I was looking for somepony, have you seen him?" Dash asked quickly, her hooves shaking and refusing to move.

"What's he look like?" Granny asked, looking to the sky in thought. "We've had a few here in the last day or so..." she trailed off.

"He has a blue-tinted white coat and a deep blue mane and tail, he's also a pegasus" Dash finished.

"So that was that stallion Applejack was flirting with the other day..." Granny thought out loud, looking back up to the sky.

"WAIT WHAT!?" Dash yelled out in surprised "HOLD THE PHONE! Applejack was flirting with Soarin!?"

"Now wait just a minute!" Dash heard the unmistakable thick southern accent of Applejack and looked over to see her orange coat, she too was wearing an expression of anger. "Granny we've been over this, I found that stallion in one of our trees, I knocked him out of the tree and out of his sleep, so I helped him up and sent him off. Simple as that."

"He such a cute one Applejack!" she said, happy for her grand daughter. Applejack just let out a gruff groan and facehoofed.

"Applebloom's about to have her first bottle of cider" she said flatly, lowering her eyes and staring at her granny with a growing smirk on her face.

"APPLEBLOOM!" the granny Screamed, trotting as fast as she could to the farmhouse.

"Gets her every time!" AJ said quietly, letting out a soft giggle. "Sorry if granny caused ya any problems!" she said apologetically, tipping her hat.

"You'd better be" Rainbow said with slight aggression in her voice, AJ picked up on this quickly.

"Why the sour attitude, sugar cube?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Were you really flirting with Soarin?" Dash asked, kicking up some dust with one of her front hooves and expelling a lot of air from her nose.

"Two things, One: No I wasn't flirting with him, I was just helping him. Two: Why do you care? I know he's staying at your house and all, but I thought your friends were closer to you than stallions. You even said it yourself!" Dash quickly blushed and saw AJ smiling mischievously.

"I care because... because..." Dash felt herself let out a long sigh and shut her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Applejack holding back a laugh.

"I knew it!" AJ said loudly. "You like him, don't you sugarcube?" Suddenly changing expression to one of care and placing a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"NO I DO NOT!" Rainbow yelled viciously at her friend, she looked over to see Applejack raise an eyebrow. "Ok, maybe just a tiny bit." she said, making motions with her hooves.

"Listen Rainbow. You either like a stallion or you don't, it's as simple as that" she said, annoyed at her friend.

"I like him OK!?" she blurted out, looking back at AJ. "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Dash asked her friend, raising an eyebrow.

"Sugarcube, liking a stallion is nothing to be ashamed about!" AJ placed a hoof around Dash's back. "It's one of the most magical feelings to have a stallion who will give you his undying affections to you! Don't be ashamed about it!"

"But AJ, I'm not Rarity! I don't like romantic dinners and walks on the clouds!" she said, frustrated.

"Rainbow, you've never even done that stuff before" Dash looked at her puzzled and gave AJ a 'your point?' look. "How can you be sure you don't like them?"

"Because I'm not mushy like Rarity!" she reiterated loudly. "Soarin is a wonderbolt, not a knight in shining armor! So can we please stop talking about this?"

"Fine, fine." Applejack said, rolling her eyes. "Why are you even here?" she finally asked.

"I was looking for Soarin" she said, looking down at the ground and letting out a heart retching sigh. Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Rainbow. "Don't start!"

"I wasn't going to..." Applejack replied, rolling her eyes again. "Isn't he at your house though?" AJ asked.

"It's a long story, bottom line is he's gone." Dash said, looking away from Applejack for a brief moment.

"I don't care if it's long or short, tell me all of it." AJ said flatly.

"Well he arrived at my house at about 8...

...Then I came here to search for him and that's when I found you and granny."

"Whoa, talk about a depressing morning." AJ said as Rainbow finished up her story.

"You wouldn't have any ideas where he might be?" Dash asked desperately, her paranoia suddenly returning.

"I heard Rarity stopped him from being swarmed by fans yesterday at sugar cube corner. Check her boutique."

"Thanks AJ!" Dash finished, spreading her wings. "By the way, how did you know Soarin was staying at my house?"

"Let's just say Scootaloo is one energetic filly!" AJ said laughing. "See ya later Rainbow!" she called as Dash soared into the sky. Rainbow wouldn't expect Rarity of all ponies to be help a wonderbolt, but AJ was the element of honesty after all, so she may as well be trusted. On top of that, why would Scootaloo know about Soarin? She was her biggest fan, but that didn't mean that she had permission to invade her personal life, she made a mental note to go over that with her. Another question on her mind was, had he met her other friends that weren't Rarity? She assumed he had met Pinkie, considering how AJ mentioned his trip to sugar cube
corner. She tried to push the questions out of her mind however as she exploded back into the sky.

Author's Note

Hello everyone! I'm finally getting back on track with the writing schedule!

I said a few days ago that there was going to be a 3000 word chapter, well actually there's a slight change. The chapters will be split and not just one big chapter.

This is the first chunk, the second chapter I missed is ready to go too! and the third I have yet to write.

On a side note... 915 STORY VIEWS!? This may not seem like a huge milestone to a lot of other writers, but for me since this is my first story, I'm amazed by how much support I've gotten and how so many people have read this. I looked at my follower count and I'm honestly surprised I got more than 5 followers!

So thank you to everyone who had supported me and I hope I can keep this story interesting for all!

-Lava Blaze Out