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           If You're The Rainbow,  I'm The Gold            
                      -by Lava Blaze-                      
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                     The Witching Hour                     
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The Witching Hour
Soarin' sat in his Wonderbolt apartment, staring out at a lonesome, rainy night. He knew he should have been sleeping hours ago, but he didn't care, Spitfire's screams about sleep could wait, all he cared about was his own life, specifically his love life.  
Times were tough for Soarin'. As he stared out into the night, tears formed in his eyes. Ever since the royal wedding, he hadn't had any proper time with any mare (except the obvious training with the mare Wonderbolts) and it had been bringing him down lately.
Everyone in his squad to his knowledge had a mare/coltfriend and he just didn't feel that special anymore. The last mare he had been with was a mare named Rainbow Dash. They did a lot that night, they danced, talked and even flew together. However because of that one night every Wonderbolt that came to mind was teasing him about being in love with the rainbow maned mare, it made more sense because Soarin' had never had a marefriend before, of course he denied this heavily, which only strengthened the problem and gave him less breathing space.
It eventually became so bad, embarrassing and depressing that he had started isolating himself from other Wonderbolts. Except his good friends Spitfire and Fleetfoot, who tried to make him feel happy and not useless. Soarin' though, still felt empty in his heart. One thing though (that the others didn't know) is that he actually had feelings for Rainbow Dash. That stunning rainbow mane and light blue coat, those beautiful magenta eyes that were easy to get lost in, all topped off with a very likeable personality. Soarin' sat there, thinking about her until he eventually snapped himself out of La-La Land and went back to the dark abyss that was reality.
He had been planning to ask Dash out since he met her but he had always felt that she was too good for him or he didn't have the guts. As he toyed with the idea of going to sleep for a "big day" tomorrow or just read a book or write a letter to his family, Soarin' finally decided he would sneak out for a midnight flight to heal his emotional wounds. the receptionist was renowned for letting Wonderbolts out at anytime, even at midnight, so down he went. The receptionist just happily waved him out the door as she always did, noting that he should be back by dawn. But then again what was she, his mother?
Soarin' stepped outside breathing in some cool and damp midnight air, the rain must've stopped while he was dreaming about Rainbow and he probably didn't hear it stop. He was already feeling refreshed, as not wearing a tight suit and goggles all day had relaxed him, though he could still felt it as if he still had them on. He decided to take an unusual high glide above ponyville, being quiet all the while as it was still about 1:30 AM.
Ponyville was always a peaceful place, day and night and everyone was friendly, unlike places like Phillydelphia where everyone had at least 1 arch-nemesis and a gang war started at the drop of a pebble. It was at this point that Soarin' noticed he was hungry, too deep in though to care, and passing cafes and restaurants wasn't helping him. Soarin' at this point was kicking himself because he didn't bring an emergency snack like he usually did and he felt like an idiot, However on the horizon he noticed, by pure coincidence, that there was an apple farm ahead of him. which made him feel more hopeful.
On his way in he read the sign out the front, it read "Sweet Apple Acres" he precariously perched himself on a branch to grab an apple, not afraid by the fall since, 1: he was a pegasus and 2: the drop was only a few feet, he was worried of making a racket though and disturbing the farmers. He grabbed an apple went to lay down on a nearby branch to eat it, it wasn't comfortable since it was a tree after all, but still let him rest his wings (though he barely needed it) and his body. Once the sweet taste of the apple hit his taste buds he knew he'd picked the right choice coming here as the apples were delicious and perfect for eating. As Soarin' laid back into the tree, he felt himself drifting off, Soarin' knew if he fell into the clutches of sleep he would get a verbal beating from Spitfire because of his show tomorrow. Even so, he couldn't stop himself from falling back down into his dream world as he finally gave in.
Soarin' awoke the next morning to a lot of loud banging noises as if somepony was bringing the trees down with silent chainsaws, he got that sinking feeling that the noises were getting louder which meant they were getting closer. He tried flying off but his wings were quite sore for some reason, "What a time to not be able to fly" he said under his breath. He wondered for a brief moment if "Sweet Apple Acres" was being taken down, his train of thought was cut short when the tree started shaking  
violently and he fell to the ground with a loud bang. "Ow celestia, that is going to leave such a bruise" he groaned, wearily picking himself up. It was then he noticed the orange mare standing opposite him, staring blankly at him.
"Whoa! Ya alright sugar cube?" the seemingly innocent mare asked, a look of caring sympathy in her eyes "Didn't notice ya there." she paused momentarily to inspect the stallion "wait, why do you seem familiar?" she asked, shooting him an odd look.
"Soarin' 2nd in command of the Wonderbolts?" Soarin' replied "I was at the-" Soarin' stopped. suddenly he remembered this mare, "hey, you're that mare that sold me that apple pie at the Grand Galloping Gala!".
"You're that colt that Rainbow Dash was with at the royal wedding!" they said at the same time. Soarin' suddenly found himself taking a subconscious flashback to when he met the mare. "uh, Soarin'?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry uh" he sat there for a moment to try remember the mare's name "what's your name?" .
"Name's Applejack, but you can call me AJ" she replied "what was that about?".
"What was what about?" Soarin' asked, confused. It was then Soarin' realized that he'd fallen into unnecessary thought again. He looked back blushing "Oh sorry, i was just thinking" he said embarrassed.
"Sorry i disturbed your train of thought Soarin" she apologized, although Soarin' was grateful "Oh gosh, silly me! I've been meaning to ask what brings you here?" she asked.
"I came here for a midnight flight" he said "but i accidentally fell asleep" Soarin' then realized he was supposed to be with the Wonderbolts right now "You wouldn't happen to know the time!?" he asked frantically "I need to be somewhere soon!".
"I'd say its about..." she did the math in her mind "around 8:30 AM".
"Damn it!" Soarin' suddenly yelled "Spitfire's going to kill me!" he moaned.
"I'm sorry Soarin" AJ said sympathetically "I've been in this type of debacle before" She then awkwardly placed a hoof around him, making the stallion jitter slightly.
"Don't be sorry for me" he replied "its my fault!" he said angrily.
"Maybe a nice walk will help you?" AJ suggested.
"It might" Soarin said, still frustrated with himself.
"I could show you around town?" she suggested, warmly smiling at him.
"Sorry Applejack, but I'd rather be alone" Soarin' said sulkily, as he started his walk, little did he know of an old friend waiting for him.
Author's Note
Second chapter may be a bit of a wait, because i'm writing another fic currently. I got the feeling while writing this that things did happen too fast though. But please do leave feedback!

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                   Making Acquaintances                    
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Making Acquaintances
Soarin mindlessly strolled the streets of ponyville, gently kicking up some of the dust of the street below him. "Wow, i'm legitimately surprised no pony noticed me!" he said under his breath, trying not to draw to much attention to himself.
He quickly spun his head around, hearing a quiet voice uttering something. He turned to notice a pale yellow mare standing behind him, looking up at him in fright. "Oh my goodness!" she squeaked, springing into the air and hiding behind a nearby bush. It was at this moment noticed that his face was stressed and full of anger.
"Are you alright?" he said softly, helping the mare out of the bush and onto her hooves. Being as careful this mare had been with him, he kept talking. "sorry, I'm just really stressed right now" he said, the mare seeming to realise what was going on.
"Oh, ok..." she said, her voice trailing off as she slowly began to turn away. "Well I should leave you to yourself, I guess" she whispered, breaking the silence. she sighed and her head gently fell as she trotted away along the dirt pathway.
"Wait!" Soarin softly called to the mare, her head perking upwards in surprise. "I wouldn't mind having some company, if you aren't busy?" he asked, gently blushing. She turned to look at him and began speaking, gently as always.
"Sure!, but I have to be back by 9:15 to feed my animals" she said trotting to his side "but we have plenty of time, considering it's almost 8:45 now, I'll show you around"
"Cool, before we start though, what's your name?"
"Oh, my name's Fluttershy" she said quietly "yours?"
"Soarin" he told her raising his head.
"What a nice name!" Fluttershy complimented, her face lighting up. "It sounds awfully familiar though" suddenly puzzled.
"Hopefully not in a bad way!" Soarin' said chuckling, Fluttershy just looked at him confused. "Never mind!" he said, groaning and breaking the awkward moment.
"Anyway come with me and I'll show you around ponyville" she said smiling joyfully.
"This should be interesting" he said quietly under his breath
Fluttershy delicately lead Soarin up the dusty paths of Ponyville. Attempting to break the awkward silence, Soarin' decided to try conversing with the shy pegasus.
"So, were you born in Ponyville?" he ask, trying to make the walk at least slightly interesting
"I was born and raised in Cloudsdale, but one day my friend Rainbow Da-"
"Wait, hold it! You're friends with Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy suddenly began quivering.
"Um... Yes?" she replied, ever gently. She suddenly sprung back as Soarin let out his exciting
"That's awesome!" he suddenly exclaimed. His eyes lit up at his thoughts, trying to force back a blush at the thought. "How long have you known each other?
"Since we were at flight school together, she was so brave for me" she said, thinking back. Suddenly her face went blank "Hold on! That's why you look familiar! You were that nice stallion from the Gala, the Wedding and the Rainbow Falls training grounds!"
"Spot on!" Soarin said lifting an eyebrow. A loud rumbling noise suddenly echoed from Soarin's stomach. "Sorry Fluttershy, but I think we may have to cut the tour short because I'm starving!
"Oh, ok" Fluttershy said, obviously unfazed by his situation. "Feel free to drop by my cottage anytime!" she told him before flying off to her house. He suddenly started feeling warmer inside. Even in a situation where he would usually be deathly afraid, he had found a way to be happy and it touched him that she gave him visiting privileges.  
"Sugar Cube Corner eh?" he asked himself "better see if it lives up to it's name!" He carefully walked into the cafe, noticing the hustle and bustle of other ponies chatting and eating various cakes and sweets.
He quickly trotted to the counter, thinking he would be spotted. If that happened, all hell would break loose and he would never get another moment to himself ever again, and that was the last thing he wanted on a calm spring morning.
He reached the counter and was greeted by a very energetic pink mare with a crazy, cotton candy mane.  
"Hi! Welcome to sugar cube corner!" she said bouncing on the spot "what would you like? Carrot cake? Brownie? Chocolate fudg-
"Uh, could i please get a slice of apple pie?" He said. the mare stopped bouncing for a few seconds to grab a small bag and a slice of pie, before sliding it across the counter to him
"That'll be 4 bits, thanks" she said giving him a huge, slightly edgy, smile.
Soarin' quickly reached around for some bits. Then he realized. He'd forgotten them. He began sweating and his expression became one of urgency. The mare quickly realized the situation however. "Hey!"she said, trying to lighten the situation. Soarin looked up at the mare, "Turn that frowny upside downy!". she finished, stupidly.
Soarin's face forcefully contorted into an anger-fueled death stare. He slowly let out a sigh and dispersed some of his rage. "Could we please discuss this somewhere else?" he said hitting his head on the counter.
"sure!" she said hyper actively as she had been for the past 5 minutes he had been there.
The pair walked quickly up the stairs opposite the counter and into what looked like the mare's bedroom. "I know about sweet dreams but this is ridiculous!" Soarin said, letting out a small chuckle, The pink mare responded in a similar way, laughing at the joke.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?" she asked, happily bouncing around and acting as though she had no idea why she brought him up here.
"Look, I need you to help me" he had suddenly changed from goofy joker to serious "In short,I don't have any bits because I was feeling depressed and I was really tired so I flew down to Ponyville to get some fresh air but I fell asleep in an apple orchard on the outskirts of to-"
"Was it Sweet Apple Acres? Was it!? Was it!?" she asked curiously, bouncing around in anticipation.
"I think it was but I wasn't paying a lot of attention." He thought back, thinking if he had seen the name of it. "So I woke up and met a farmer named Applejack who-"
"You know Applejack!?" She interrupted again.
"Ok 1. Yes, I do know Applejack and 2. Can you please stop interrupting me?"
"That's so amazing! I have another friend who is friends with one of my other friends and that makes me all tingly inside!" She prattled on, seeming to never stop.
"Ok, you know what? To make a long story short, I have no bits because I left them at my house and my house is locked for a month!" he frowned and looked at the mare, who at the moment was just staring blankly at him.
"Silly! Why would you lock yourself out of your house for a month?" she just laughed and paid no attention to his problem
"Can I please just have this one small thing on the house?" he pleaded, getting on his knees and literally praying
"That's all you wanted to ask? Of course! Anything for a good friend! She accepted, quickly made her way to the door
"Whoa! Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit there? I mean we've only just met!" he asked her, trying to talk sense into her.
"No way silly! Everypony is my friend and the same goes for you!" she replied confidently as she walked down the stairs.
Soarin quickly walked to the counter, awaiting his slice of apple pie from the crazy mare. She gleefully handed it too him and offered a hoof bump.
"Thank you so much!" Soarin said, returning her hoof bump
"Call me pinkie! Feel free to drop by anytime! I could obviously use some company when I'm not working!"
Once again, Soarin was touched that the mare had invited him into her life so suddenly. That new found happiness was then shattered as he noticed about half a dozen ponies started pointing at him and whispering various things.
"Oh celestia, please no..."
Author's Note
AAAAAAAAAnd another cliffhanger! the break between chapters 2 and 3 hopefully won't be as long as chapters 1 and 2, but we'll see. Lava Blaze, Out

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                      Hiding Tactics                       
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Hiding Tactics
Soarin's expression quickly changed from one of accomplishment to one of fear and annoyance. He wasn't one of the wonderbolts who wanted fans swarming him constantly, that was a job for Blaze and Wave Chill. He walked casually out of the cafe, trying to attract the least amount of attention to himself as possible.
He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible and not make any unnecessary eye contact, his heart was pounding in his chest as he slowly made his way to a vacant table. He quickly put his head down to avoid any recognition by face, at least he wasn't wearing some ridiculous outfit. If he had been wearing a thing even as subtle as his wonderbolts badge, this idea would have gone to hell hours ago. He began sweating again as some soft voices began to grow louder as they approached him from behind.
"Hey!" He heard a soft whisper as a white unicorn mare tapped him on his shoulder. "Come with me..." the mare beckoned, like an obedient puppy he followed. The mare lead him down a long, wide path. The path looked as though it might've been Ponyville main street, if there was one anyway. "It might help if you were concealed" she said, handing him what looked like a cloak of some description. It was fully black, surprisingly it managed to cover his whole body, not including his face luckily.
The mare suddenly stopped outside what looked like a wadded-down castle, from his view, it looked a lot like a giant tent. The mare swiftly hurried him inside and began interrogating. "You're Soarin of the wonderbolts, aren't you dear?" She asked, he noticed the sophistication in her voice, she sounded a lot like canterlot folk.
"Yes" He responded, thinking this was an overly obsessed fan and thus rolling his eyes. "How did you know who I was? Also who are you anyway?"
"I heard from my friends that you were here" she explained. "My name is Rarity. I have quite a lot of experience when it comes to helping celebrities" she finished. She sounded oddly creepy, she knew him because of her 'friends' and she had a lot of 'experience', she sounded, from the way she spoke, like an assassin or drug dealer. "Do please take your cloak off darling!" she said, suddenly disgusted.
Soarin gently took the garment off and sat down at a coffee table near a window. he stared out into the day blankly. He briefly thought about what his colleagues were doing at this time, probably still on a train to their first show. He stole a quick glance at the clock, 10:40am. He had been in ponyville, awake, for about 2 hours now. He groaned and hit his head hard on the table, hearing a loud clang of plates and silverware. He winced as he sent more pain to his head after the same thing happened at sugar cube corner.
"I'm sure a nice pot of tea and some scones will help you Soarin!" she said before rushing to the kitchen and getting to work on the scones and tea. He slowly lowered his head and rested it on his knee. He went back to his silent worrying, suddenly his thoughts turned to Dash. He hadn't seen her in months, even when he had seen her it was usually because it was a gala or special event.
what saddened him the most was she only cared about him because he was a wonderbolt and a male wonderbolt at that. To her, he was just an excuse to get out the most out of a sappy dance, just a way to earn bragging rights between peers. She didn't see their relationship like he did, he saw it as an affectionate bond and a cute couple. She didn't know how much he would give up for her compared to a pony like Spitfire.
A jolt of pain rushed throughout his body as he thought of this. A gentle tear formed in his eye as his throat began contracting, a few sniffs escape his muzzle as he felt a hoof on shoulder, he looked up to see Rarity delicately trotting over to the seat opposite him. "Whatever is the matter darling?" she asked, genuinely concerned about him. A few sniffs escaped Soarin's muzzle once again as he tried to speak to her.
"I-it's just m-m-my life is so t-terrible!" He said, hitting his hoof in the coffee table, further concerning the mare.
"Why ever so?" she asked curiously, trying to be as supportive as possible.
"I have this mare in my life" He began, holding back a stream of rage fueled tears. "We meet constantly, but whenever we do, she treats me like an object!"
"How so?" she asked, plainly.
"She uses my status as a wonderbolt to impress other ponies and yet not love me at all!" He told her as tame as possible.
"I've seen that before" she assured him, gently placing a hoof ever his. "You just have to show her that you mean business!" She encouraged him.
"How can I do that though? I'm just a shy, miserable stallion with a good job" He asked, shooting himself down.
"Rule one is to not talk yourself down darling!" Rarity simply put. "I can be of some help, if you can make a first move like a date. I can help you after that!".
"Thank you so much Rarity!" Soarin suddenly smiled.
"Out of curiosity, who is the special mare?" She asked out of curiosity.
"Her name's Rainbow Dash!" He said, brimming with confidence.  
.  
"Rainbow Dash!?" she asked "She's one of my best friends!" She clapped her hooves together in happiness.
"She is?" He asked, stupidly.
"Why of course she is darling!" she said, happily sipping on her tea.
"Well then, could you help me with her address?" he asked, hoping for the best
"But of course!" she said. "It's pretty hard to miss, it's a giant cloud house that usually floats above ponyville" she finished, letting out a squeal of anticipation
"Thanks Rarity, I'd best be off" he said while trotting over to the door, looking quickly at the clock. 12:30pm, so he had spent roughly another 2 hours in his 'therapy session'.
"Pleasure meeting you Soarin!" she called before he left "Feel free to come back anytime!"  
A loud clang sounded throughout ponyville as the clock reached it's next milestone for the day. Soarin looked up at the large clock tower, 8:00pm. Now was the time for him to make a move on Dash. He looked up into the dark sky to try and spot Dash's house, he had done it earlier that day when he noticed it moving around. It didn't take long to notice the large cloud structure hovering above the city, he quietly flew up to the large cloud house before it drifted away with the wind.
He quietly thought back over he would say, he didn't want to muck up his only chance with the beautiful mare. As he approached the large structure, something occurred to him. "What if she was asleep?" he thought out loud. He couldn't dismiss the thought as it was entirely possible, all he had to rely on now was luck and his preparation. He quickly and quietly landed on the cloud doorstep. He slowly knocked on the door, looking in the house through the window right of the door. He unfortunately couldn't see anything through the small gap, but a good sign was that he heard hoofsteps. Suddenly the door swung open slowly.
"Hello?..."
Author's Note
I'm so evil! I am aware that this chapter may feel a bit rushed, I wrote this chapter from about 10:50pm till about 3:00am compared to chapter 2 which took ages to tweak. Nevertheless, I'm not a super human and I need my sleep so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and the fast update!

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            Rainbows and Pizza and Pies, Oh My!            
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Rainbows and Pizza and Pies, Oh My!
The door was opened, by the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Time seemed to stop as the two locked eyes, Soarin's heart appeared to stop beating as he tried to begin speaking, but was stopped by Dash. "Soarin?" she looked up at him, her pupils seeming to grow larger by the second, Soarin's cheeks flushed a bright red as he tried speaking again.
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" he tried to say confidently, Dash's cheeks also looked as though they were going red. A deathly cold night breeze blew past him, making him shiver. The flustered stallion quickly pulled out a small cluster of flowers and gave her the bunch, he hoped she didn't ask where he got them (It was a long story involving a certain pink earth pony) She looked at the multicolored flowers as if they were some sort of foreign animal and then spoke.
"Smooth move, smart guy!" she said, slapping the flowers out of his hooves and sending them flying towards the ground. "Out of all the sappy stallions I've met, you take the cake!" She teased "or in this case the pie!" she finished, playfully jabbing him in the rib. "Either way, what do you want Soarin?" He gave her a confused look "It's not everyday a wonderbolt just turns up at my doorstep at 8:00pm!" she chuckled "Especially you!"
"I wouldn't mind coming in thanks" He said bluntly, still shivering from the breeze.
"Sure! But don't get any ideas slim!" she said, playfully joking around and wiggling her tail seductively.
The first room he walked into was clearly the main room of the house, cloud furniture was scattered throughout the room. She clearly wasn't a mare fond of cooking, pizza boxes and slices were lying around. Like the furniture, all of these pieces of food and their respective storage were everywhere, he quickly looked up at a piece of pizza stuck to the cloud ceiling. "Wow Rainbow, for a mare that usually looks so clean, you sure don't act that way with your house!"
"Well I don't usually have guests over, so I see no reason to keep it tidy!" she replied "Especially wonderbolts!" she finished, giving him a wink. Soarin's stomach suddenly made a loud rumbling noise and he went to sit down on a nearby chair.
"Hey Dash, could you grab me something to eat?" he asked as politely as possible, whilst not trying to sound demanding.
"What did your last slave die of?" she asking, cutely giggling at her own joke "Sure, I have some food lying around"
"Hopefully it is more sanitary than that!" he joked, gesturing to the pizza on the ceiling.
"Shut up!" she said playfully. "Does an apple sit well with you?" she asked, grabbing a red apple off her counter.
"Yeah sure!" he said, holding his front hooves out.
"On one condition!" she said, running upstairs and returning a few minutes later with a phone "Call Spitfire and tell her whats happening to you right now!"
"You are so evil!" he said, jabbing her in her ribs and punching a few numbers into the device. The dial tone sounded in his perked up ear as he called his captain.
"Bonus points for loudspeaker!" she said, chuckling.
"Out of all the mares I've met, you're certainly the most evil!" he retorted, pressing the loudspeaker button on the phone. A raspy voice picked up on the other end.  
"Hello?" the voice asked simply, it was definitely Spitfire, nopony's voice was that scratching and raspy.
"Hi cap!" Soarin said brightly, all he could hear that was the voice on the phone was Dash's soft and cute giggles through his other ear.
"Soarin?" she asked. Realizing the situation moments later she suddenly yelled "WHERE ARE YOU!?"
"Look, Spitfire it's a long story and at the moment I don't feel like explaining myself, I just thought I'd call up to tell you that currently I'm at Rainbow Dash's house.
"Trust you Soar!" she giggled, Soarin's face suddenly relighting a shade of red as well as eliciting a confused look from the Pegasus sitting opposite him.
"Yes I know!" he said, hoping Dash wouldn't be too suspicious.
"You're just so predictable" she responded, letting out a small laugh "What happened to you Soar?"
"Like I just said, I don't really want to explain myself right now" he replied, "I'll tell you later!".
"Look Soar, it was nice talking to you but I have to go now!" she said,
"See you too" he said, approaching the end of the relatively short call.
"Bye" she finished hanging up the call.  
He let out a long sigh as he fell into deep thought "Hey Dash, could I by any chance have that apple?"
"Sure Soar" she called, returning moments later.
"Here ya go!" She handed him a plate of what looked like apple pie and gave him a cute smile. Soarin cautiously picked up the plate, being careful not to knock the food off it. After gently examining the food he asked a simple question.
"Why?" He asked bluntly, he noticed her smile fade away as he asked.
"Soarin, You're a wonderbolt" she began. "I know well enough that when having a guest over I need to respect them, especially a celebrity"
"But Dash, something you don't know is I don't like being put on a pedestal" Soarin assured her "You don't have to treat me like some sort of god"
"Either way" she began "I won't let you say you aren't special. after all, you're still a guest"
"Ok" Soarin told her "Speaking of that phone call" he began, immediately shifting the mood and his tone. "You said something about 'bonus points for having loudspeaker on', I'm assuming that equated to nothing?"
"No, it equated to this!" she said, slowly moving towards him and kissing him on the cheek. He winced quietly as his pupils shrank and his cheeks burned a bright crimson. She gently pushed herself away from him and lowered her eyes "You're a lucky guy Soar" she said, batting her eyes. Soarin awkwardly returned to a sitting position on the couch next to her.
"I thought you said you weren't sappy?" he teased her.
"Shut up!" she said, playfully hitting him on the shoulder as she sat next to him. An awkward silence lasting for about 5 minutes was broken when Rainbow Dash asked him a question.
"Hey Soar! Up for a scare?..."
Author's Note
I just can't get away from my keyboard!
This most probably will be the shortest chapter I'll write for this story as I'm trying stick to a minimum of 1000 words per chapter :)
Also get ready for more long waits! School begins again for me on Tuesday of next week, so as a consequence I will write not as often. I will try and keep this updated though, as I feel this will be a very long story and I don't want to keep people waiting!
I will try and get a chapter done by Monday, but that isn't a guarantee. -Lava Blaze Out

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                       Midnight Fun                        
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Midnight Fun
"Explain to me why I'm doing this again?" Soarin asked, his eyes glued to the small screen. He eyed the main menu of a game that Dash was about to make him play, SCP - Containment Breach?
"Oh c'mon Soar!" she jabbed at him again. "You're doing this because I'm not smart enough to figure out what to do!" she finished, answering his lingering question.
"But I'm probably no better at horror games than you!" he pointed out, staring at her and raising his hooves into air. "And I barely know you!"
"But you're a-" she was cut off as Soarin put his hoof over her muzzle.
"I know what you're going to say Dash" he said flatly "What did I tell you, oh I don't know, 5 minutes ago about putting me on a pedestal?" he finished, slightly frustrated.
"Well sorry!" she said, also agitated. "I forget stuff easily!" she said, coming up with a quick excuse, Soarin just rolled his eyes.
"Also did you have to link the laptop to the TV?" he asked, gesturing to the TV sitting on a desk in front of the pair.
"I thought it was funny" Dash whined "You aren't chicken. Are you?" She finished, nudging him in the shoulder.
"Good point..." he said, sighing loudly in annoyance. "Fine, I'll play your stupid game!" He gave in, placing his right hoof over the mouse. He pressed 'new game' and was greeted with another box of information. For the name of the save, he set it to a simple 'Soarin', euclid or keter? He just wanted to play! He selected euclid mode as it meant infinite lives and began.  
After a brief and boring loading screen, he was immediately greeted by some bright lights and two weird bipedal creatures. He had spawned next to some sort of sign, it read: Secure, Contain, Protect. SCP-173. Object class: Euclid. Sentient and violent, next to the warnings was a picture of an odd looking two-legged monster. His speculation was cut short when a voice blared out over a loudspeaker.
"ALL CLASS D PERSONNEL, PLEASE ENTER THE CONTAINMENT CHAMBER" He saw the two creatures in a type of orange clothing walk into the room, he looked inside the chamber from the outside, but couldn't see too much.
"Dash, how is this scary?" he asked her, shooting her a confused look.
"You'll see!" she said, giggling slightly.
"SUBJECT D-9341 ENTER THE CONTAINMENT CHAMBER" he heard the voice again, more demanding this time.
"Alright alright!" he responded to the character in the game, he moved his character slowly into the chamber and noticed the monster he had seen on the picture on the sign, sitting in a corner, surrounded by a brownish-red liquid. His screen suddenly flashed black and returned to normal a few seconds later. "Uh, what was that?" he asked to himself.
"Blinking" Dash responded. "The monster doesn't move if you look at it, but when you blink or look away from it, it moves" she said, adding extra emphasis to the 'it moves'.
"PLEASE APPROACH SCP-173 FOR TESTING" she voice over the loudspeaker seemed to yell. He comrades almost robotically moved directly towards the monster as he stayed back and continued to eye it with curiosity, he heard some loud cranking noises as he looked back to see the door refuse to close.
"Oh, it's one of 'those' types of games" Soarin sighed, facehoofing. "One thing goes wrong and the whole place goes to hell." he pretty much summed up the entire story.
"Stop nitpicking at it!" Dash responded, slightly annoyed at Soarin's running commentary. He turned his attention back to the game.
"THERE SEEMS TO BE A PROBLEM WITH THE DOOR CONTROL SYSTEM, THE DOOR ISN'T RESPONDING TO ANY ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE IT SO PLEASE KEEP A DIRECT EYE CONTACT WITH SCP-173 AND WAIT FOR FURTHER-"
The voice was cut off by a loud noise of static and electrical outburst, he looked over to his comrades as the room darkened for a split second. He saw the monster teleport in front of one of his colleagues and a split second later the same thing happened to the other, all of a sudden the monster was standing there, merely meters away from him, staring at him blankly and refusing to move. He was suddenly trembling at the sight of this monster up close, it was just a game, but a very terrifying one at that! He slowly made his way to the blast doors, keeping a direct eye contact with the frightening creature.
His screen flickered again, signalling that he had just blinked. He tried to look back at the monster, but it was gone! If he was scared before, he didn't know how to describe the paralyzing fear that coursed through him at the moment. He tried to act as though he wasn't scared, but Dash had easily picked up on it as he heard her giggling.
He quickly stepped into a now open, yet dark, corridor and walked through the first door. He saw an odd symbol pop up on the bottom of his screen as he trotted to the shelf leaning against the back wall. The symbol looked like a hoof, but with weird cylindrical limbs pertruding out of it. He looked at Dash to see if she knew what to do, but she just shrugged. He trotted out of the small room quickly and made his way to another door, leading to a catwalk suspended by Celestia knows what.
He galloped down the corridor, which filled with a mysterious black smoke as he walked through it. Then, out of the blue. The monster appeared. Suddenly a cracking noise was heard and his character fell to the ground. He then slammed the laptop he was playing on shut and stared in shock at the now closed device.   
"I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU PAY ME, I'M NOT PLAYING THAT!" he shivered, pointing to the device.
"Well Soar" she began, an aggravated look on her face "You're certainly paying for any damage for my laptop if it's broken!" she said, adding extra emphasis to the last word. He groaned as she mentioned this.
"Fair enough" he said, kicking a small pizza box at his feet away from him in frustration. He yawned as he asked Dash "What's the time?"
"Uh" Dash looked up at the clock in the room. "About 10:45pm" she continued "You should probably get going Soar"
"Well, that's the thing" Soarin began, looking at the ground and kicking up some dust with his hoof. "I don't have a hotel as I never knew I'd miss the tour" He finished. Dash pieced together the situation pretty quickly, a look of realization on her face.
"Oh hell no!" she said, knowing what he was about to say "You may be a wonderbolt bu-" She was cut off by one of Soarin's death stares. she chuckled awkwardly, remembering what he had told her. "Even still, you aren't staying at my house" she said, folding her front hooves and looking away from him. Soarin fired back with a pair of puppy dog eyes.
"OH, COME ON!" she yelled, burying her face in her hooves. "Did you have to make 'that' face?" she asked, now slightly annoyed. "Fine you can stay, bu you sleep in here!" she now demanded, clearly very annoyed at Soarin's stunt.
"Why thank you, miss Dash!" he said, acting as posh as possible to tease her.
"Also, be quiet!" she warned him. "I have weather duty tomorrow so don't make me come down here !" she finished, giving him a sharp glare to nail her point in.
"Yes Ma'am!" he responded enthusiastically, putting his hoof over his forehead as well.
"AND DON'T TRY ME!" she yelled before marching to her room.
Soarin went to quietly make his way to the couch, he quickly brushed all the mess off the couch and laid down. He was thinking: Did that go well? They were now at least friends now, he didn't want to be 'just another 'friend of Dash's' though, he wanted her affection. He thought he was going about it quite well, at least for the time being. Before he could think any deeper about the two of them being 'together', he let sleep catch him up and fell into his long slumber.
Author's Note
I said I'd most likely get a chapter up by Monday and I stuck to my word!
As I said in the last chapter, on the day of posting, school starts tomorrow and so I'll be posting less.
What did you guys think of my pony gaming writing? I had been wanting to write a chapter for this story that involved something like this, but this chapter here is just to test the waters to see if I can write stuff like this well. If you think of any ways I could improve my writing, don't hesitate to leave constructive criticism!
Rough estimate that the next chapter will be out by Sunday. See y'all then!
Lave Blaze out

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                  One of 'Those' Mornings                  
//-------------------------------------------------------//
One of 'Those' Mornings
Soarin groggily opened his emerald eyes, he let out a slight yawn as he sat up from Dash's living room couch. He looked up at the clock in the room: 4:30pm?! He knew he slept late but he wasn't expecting to wake up this late! He slowly trotted over to the kitchen and went to look through Dash's fridge, he was out of luck. All he found was just a few small cupcakes and a a dozen or so eggs. "Same shit, different day huh?" he heard a voice behind him. He looked over to see Rainbow Dash at the end of the corridor. Her mane was a mess, she clearly hadn't taken a shower yet.
"Yep, pretty much' he responded, raising his head from the fridge to meet her gaze. "Especially when it's 4:30pm!" he finished, now talking in a slightly more annoyed tone.
"Uh, Soar" she said, giving him an 'are you serious?' look. "Its 6:20am" she looked at him, cracking up. Wait, 6:20? He looked back at the clock and saw that it was now 6:20am.
"Must've been so tired I misread the clock" he came up with a quick excuse to avoid humiliation. Dash just hit him in the arm playfully as she walked by, still holding in her laughter.
"You're such a goofball! she said, walking to her fridge and taking a cupcake out of it.
"Really?" Soarin raised an eyebrow at her breakfast choice. "If you want to be a wonderbolt Dash, you should at least eat well!" he said, taking a second glance at the options in the fridge.
"Well what are you having that's so much better?" she asked, stuffing her face with the small cake.
"Literally the only thing in your fridge a wonderbolt would eat!" he responded, gesturing to the eggs in the fridge. "Eggs" he finished simplistically, pulling a few eggs out of the box in the fridge. He check the expiration date, 3 days from now. These eggs were still good, but just barely. He took them out of the fridge and inspected them carefully, there was no noticeable problems, although looks isn't everything. He took a few out of the box and took them over to Rainbow's stove, he placed them down on the counter  
next to it and asked where the frying pans were.
"The cupboard directly below you" she directed him, he reached down to open the wooden door under the stove and pulled out a silver frying pan for it. He put the object down on the now lit stove and crack two of the three eggs into the pan. He left the eggs to fry as he went to secure a seat on the couch, next to Dash of course. When he did this, she looked over at him and slightly shifted in the opposite direction on the furniture. Soarin didn't really mind, or even notice for that matter. He fell once again, throughout his time in Ponyville, into thought about his consequences and his team. He knew already had established that Spitfire would come down on him hard, and  
everypony knew that when she said something like that, she meant it! At least he didn't have any other bolts breathing down his neck, if there was another wonderbolt here he would probably had just flown to Phillydelphia.
Something suddenly occurred to him, he was at risk of being fired! Wonderbolts don't just skip nation wide performances and don't just not explain why! And Spitfire was no slacker when it came to this! He began trembling as he tried to put an end to the terrible thoughts that ran rampant inside his head.He sat there for a while before letting out a long, sad sigh as he put his head down, stepped off the couch and went pack to the kitchen to check his eggs. Sure enough, they weren't even close to half done yet, seeing the inevitable he walked sulkily back to the living room to sit back down. Like with his fear, Dash had easily been able to read is emotions like a book. "Soarin?" she whispered, edging slightly closer to him while giving him a look of understanding. "What's up?" she asked, placing a wing around his back affectionately. Soarin stuttered for a moment as he tried to tell her, but in the end just buried his face into his hooves.
"Dash don't worry about me..." he murmured, averting his glance from her. "I don't want you to be in my shit life" he responded, slowly and quietly.
"What in Equestria are you talking about Soarin?" She asked him, confused. "You're living one of the best lives a pegasus can have, and you throw it aw-"
"May as well throw it away now..." he cut her off, letting out another heart retching sigh "Spitfire'll probably fire me anyway."
"What? Why?" Dash asked, looking confused.
"Dash, wonderbolts don't just simply skip nationwide events" Soarin began "The whole gang was supposed to do this tour, and I just missed it!" he said, yelling the last part, proceeding to hit his head very hard on the table in front him.
"Soarin!" she said loudly. "Physical harm won't help you!" she attempted to reason with the pegasus stallion, but it was no use.
"What will help me is being alone for a while" Soarin sighed, trotting over to get the cloak he had borrowed from Rarity and placed it over his body.
"Where are you going?" she asked, sounding very motherly as well as extending a hoof.
"To someone who can help me!" he replied, opening the door and being met by a cool morning breeze. "Goodbye Dash" he said, he turned back to give a very saddened look. Just after, he simply let himself fall backwards off the cloud in front of the door and within moments, was gone.  
The first thing Dash felt was a sense of fear. He had wings, but who was to say he wanted to use them? She looked down from the small cloud to try and spot him as he fell, but to no avail. She felt a sense of guilt give a her a slap in the face, though it was Soarin's problem, she felt as though it was her that truly drove him over the edge. Literally. She shut the door slowly and went back inside her house, she let a stray tear fall down her face, a barely audible sniffle came echoed through her house as she slowly trotted over to the couch and laid down.
She allowed more tears to fall from her eyes as she tried to process what just happened, Soarin had pretty much just gotten sentimental, stated his problem bluntly and then attempted suicide!? What now? She couldn't just let him kill himself! When she thought of it that way, she felt more ready to help than ever. she got to her now trembling hooves and walked back over to the door. She opened it back up and looked down once again to try and spot the stallion, but once again, she couldn't. Her fear had been replaced by her sudden need to help him. It was then that she jumped out the door, angled herself straight down and dropped at bullet speed towards the ground.
Too bad she didn't smell her kitchen burning...
Author's Note
Ok, now I think I can keep a good writing schedule... Expect a new chapter every Sunday!
This chapter, I felt, seemed to escalate rather quickly compared to my other ones, and I'm not really sure if that's a good or a bad thing.
Either way, I feel good to finally have this chapter done. I'll see Y'all on Sunday!
-Lava Blaze Out

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                  Adrenaline and Alicorns                  
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Adrenaline and Alicorns
Soarin felt the air rush through his mane as he fell ever faster towards the ground. His eyes were shut, he knew the exact two things he needed to do. He felt the ground looming towards him at an incredible rate. Just meters before he hit the ground, he swiftly opened his wings, turning his fall into a steep dive, and flew inches off the ground.
He zipped almost blindingly through the town ponies, skimming a granny's bag as he turned side on to squeeze between two of the citizens. He received a few grunts of annoyance from various ponies, but he casually ignored them as he continued his ground-skimming flight path. A few minutes later after completing about 3 laps of the town, he lifted a good few meters above the ground and slowed down considerably.
He looked around to try and spot the ginger bread house of a building that was sugar-cube corner, it was easy to see amongst the other structures. He raced towards it at breakneck speed and slowing down before the door, he peered inside, checking for familiar faces, particularly Pinkie Pie. He deemed the area to be free of fanfillies and slowly walked in, remembering to slip on the cloak, just in case. He walked up to the counter and was greeted by a mare with a pink, double shaded mane, unlike Pinkie's   
because hers was just one color. "Why hello dear" she said, giving him a warm smile. "What can I get you?"
"Uhh" Soarin began, he knew if he worded this wrong, it would be odd to say the least. "Is Pinkie Pie around?" he asked simplistically.
"Hmm" she thought to herself for a moment "I'll check" she said, walking up the flight of stairs he had gone up last time. "She might be in the fields" she added. Soarin heard a muffled banging noise of a door knock, followed by the mare's voice, also muffled. "Pinkie?" she asked, barely audible to Soarin since he was downstairs. He heard the door swing open and a light switch turn on, minutes later the mare returned and gave him an answer. "I think she's in the fields" she concluded. Soarin quickly left after, fear of discovery of course.
The first problem he had was he had no clue where the fields were, you'd think a pegasus who came from Cloudsdale would obviously see it, wouldn't they? Either way, Soarin knew he'd need some help, he was so engulfed in his thoughts that he didn't notice a purple alicorn bump into him. WAIT! ALICORN!? Soarin's eyes immediately widened as she let out a startled grunt. "Sorry!" she said, putting on a creepily large smile as she scrambled to pick up some books from the dusty ground. Once she had picked up her possessions, she looked back to Soarin, who just sat there, staring. "Whats wrong?" she asked him, tilting her head and giving him an inquisitive look. "Oh, these" she answered her own question, opening her wings slightly to look at them. "Don't worry, you don't need to address me as princess" she said, beaming at him. Soarin looked at her confused, he knew royalty had to be properly introduced, didn't they?
"Ok." Soarin said slowly, allowing his mind to process what had happened. "Well my name is-" he was cutoff as the princess finished his sentence.
"Soarin the wonderbolt?" she almost knew the answer before he even said it. "Second in command?"
"No need to call me second in command." he said, gaining more confidence around the royal figure. "The commander, admiral, second in command titles and so on were abolished decades ago" he informed her, trying to stay calm.
"Oh right, I'm just used to addressing wonderbolts that way" she said, Soarin just looked at her strangely.
"Wait, you've met part of our team?" Soarin asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who were they?"
"Hmm..." She put a hoof to her chin and looked slightly into the sky "I think it was Spitfire, Blaze and Silver Lining" she responded, trying to recall an event.
"Oh, ok." he said, pointing a hoof at her subtly. "You wouldn't happen to know a mare named 'Pinkie Pie' would you?" he asked, attempting to see if she knew, she was a princess was she not?
"Pinkie? I saw her in the fields a little earlier today with Fluttershy" she responded, Soarin gave her another confused look. "Oh, of course, you don't even know where the fields are." she figured. "Don't worry, I'll show you!"
"Thank you so much princess!" he responded quickly. "It's an honor"
"Uhh, just call me Twilight" she responded as they started walking. "And I don't really like being up on a pedestal if that's ok." she finished, putting on a more relaxed smile then before.
"Ok, Lets go!" Soarin said, eager to see Pinkie for some help.  
Rainbow Dash soared down towards the village, leaving a more opaque rainbow trail than before. She flew high above the town to see if she could spot him, obviously he was rather difficult to spot amongst the various other ponies, a navy blue mane doesn't really stick out like a sore hoof and neither does a blue tinted, white coat. She decided to fly closer to the ground to make him easier to spot, once again not seeing him.
Maybe he had actually killed himself, this thought scared Dash. To check if he had actually bitten the dust, she flew back to her cloud house to examine the ground for blood or his corpse. if he had killed himself, the corpse would be there wouldn't it? Wanting to check to be sure, she flew eagerly back to where her house had been about 20 minutes ago, she was scared immensely now. She didn't want to find one of her idols dead, and worse, having the blood on her hooves!
When she got to where her house had been, she breathed a long sigh of relief to discover no blood or corpse, looked as thought he was going to someone who could help him. She flew back to ponyville to keep searching, to no avail once more. She groaned in frustration as her hoof met her face, she then had an idea. What if he's at AJ's farm or the fields or hell, even the Everfree Forest? She then sped off to AJ's farm, as she figured he would go there considering his fixation on pie. She decided to kill to birds with one stone and also clean up the sky a bit. She never did weather duty, so she decided to do her shift because she had time. Quickly blasting some clouds and clearing the sky. She gently wiped a drip of sweat off her forehead as she continued on her quest to find the wonderbolt stallion.
As she left the area, the inferno grew bigger...
Author's Note
Oh the cliffhangers!
So, another chapter out. I've started to to think that this story is going to be quite long, considering I haven't even introduced the main conflict yet!
I don't really have a lot to say, so I'll see you awesome people next Sunday!
Lava Blaze Out

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                Happiness is a Slice of Pie                
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Happiness is a Slice of Pie
Soarin slowly walked along side his new alicorn companion, he attempted to be as courteous as possible around her, it was clearly noticeable that he was about to fangasm over her. He tried to restrain himself as much as he could, but a lot like Dash, she picked up on this instantly.
They were just about to wrap up a conversation about studying the wonderbolt flight patterns and the possible magic behind it. "...Yes! I would greatly appreciate a tour of the wonderbolts facility! she finished, Soarin wearing a grin on his face.
"Wait. Why did you even need to ask?" he questioned, giving her a strange look.
"Why would you say that?" Twilight asked, "It is private property, is it not?".
"That's just it." he pointed at her, "You're royalty, are you not? You could just show up and ask for a tour, couldn't you?"
"No, not that kind of tour." she replied, waving a hoof. "I tour conducted personally by the wonderbolts themselves!"
"Well, you are correct there, we couldn't just randomly give ponies a tour by the team ourselves." he stated "But if you want to, I could let the team know quite easily that you wanted a visit and they'd be happy to oblige." he offered, shrugging his shoulders casually.
"Oh, well that would be great! If you could do that, that would be fantastic!" she accepted his offer quickly and wore a large smile. "You remind me a lot of my friend Rai- Oh! We're here!" she noticed and exclaimed.
"Now for part two, where's Pinkie?" he wondered "This should be easy, it's like spotting light in the dark!" he thought out loud. He looked out across the sea of green and flowers that lay before him.
"Oh! There she is!" Twilight noticed, pointing a hoof at where she was looking. The duo trotted over to the mare who was playing around in a field of flowers, Twilight sighed and turned to him "Typical Pinkie..." she muttered. As the pair grew closer, they both began to hear saddened voice saying some, from this distance, various inaudible things.
"He loves me! He loves me not... He loves me! He loves me not..." she stopped talking for a moment and sighed "Not again" she said, letting a small tear fall off her pink face.
"Hey Pinkie Pie!" Twilight called to Pinkie, only making her turn away.
"Hey Pinks!" Soarin greeted, shortly after Twilight.
"HEY!" Pinkie pie said in her cheerful tone, turning to face them. "Watcha doin'?" she asked, becoming as bouncy and hyperactive as normal. Twilight and Soarin just wore confused looks on their faces, one moment she was doing that thing that all young fillies do when they try to find young love, then the next she's as bubbly as ever? The two looked at each other, and then back at Pinkie, who was now wearing a fake smile on her face. Soarin was the first to speak.
"Uh Pinkie?" Soarin asked slowly, still keeping his confused look. "What were you doing?"
"Nothing!" Pinkie said quickly, giggling nervously. "Nothing at all!"
"I swear you were saying something about 'he loves me, he loves me not'" Soarin said, narrowing his eyes and trying to avoid aggression in his look. He looked over to Twilight who was looking around the field at something in particular. "Twilight, what are you looking at?"
"I just noticed an odd coincidence" she said, her hoof extending to point at the fields. "All of the flowers don't have any petals!" she exclaimed, looking back at Pinkie in a caring way. "Pinkie, something's wrong. Just tell us!"
"Maybe the flowers decided not to bloom!" she said, sweating and once again giggling nervously.
"Pinkie!" Twilight said, obviously frustrated at her 'friend'. "Stop beating around the bush!" Twilight now looked genuinely aggressive. The pink mare now looked scared out of her mind, but it didn't, to Soarin at least, look like she was scared of Twilight.
"NO!" Pinkie screamed, seeming to make everything shake. Soarin also noticed a hint of sadness and fear in her voice, Twilight looked to be charging a spell of some sort.
"Twi!" Soarin said loudly, seeing Twilight's horn stop glowing allowing a wave of relief to wash over him, he got to his hooves and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let me." Soarin walked over to the mare and gently ran a hoof through her mane, making the mare look up at him.
"Pinkie, please tell me!" he said, his eyes wide open and awaiting a response. Pinkie's eyes filled with tears as he asked, turning into fully fledged crying in a matter of seconds. Soarin gently helped the mare up from the ground and to her hooves, he wrapped his arms around her as she did the same. A few seconds later, the two broke the hug and Soarin looked back at Pinkie, who was just sniffling at this point. "It's ok" he assured her. "You can trust me".
"You really care?" Pinkie looked up at him. "I've known you for about a day and yet you care so much about me?"
"Actually I have those feelings for Dash mostly." He thought, rolling his eyes. "What kind of a jerk would I be if I didn't?" he asked her, wanting an honest answer. Pinkie just simply answered with a sigh and started explaining the reason behind her sadness.
"There's a stallion who I care for so much..." she started, kicking up some dust with on of her hooves. "And he just tosses me aside like a trophy in a high school 'show off' cabinet!" she said, letting her head fall again and tears fall from her face. Soarin just ignored her 'quote' near the end.
"Sister, I've been there many times before." he assured her "Everypony thinks being a wonderbolt means that your love life is easy, and that you have an illusion of free choice of mares and/or stallions. It's more like society taking the liberty of choosing for us"
"Really?" she asked, looking up at him with teary eyes. "I thought being in the wonderbolts was just a walk in Ponyville park"
"No way" Soarin told her. "Almost every mare I've been with since joining the bolts has been trying to keep me as a trophy like you and this stallion." Twilight observed the situation, taking note of Soarin's methods of getting pinkie to 'burst her bubble'.
"Can you please help me then?" Pinkie asked, looking up at him with better puppy-dog eyes than he could ever do.
"I'd be happy to!" Soarin responded, reaching out for a hoof shake. Pinkie accepted it gladly as he could feel the usual, not hiding anything, bubbly Pinkie return. "May I just ask who he is?"
"His name is Wave Chill" she said, a grin slowly emerging on her face. With Soarin' it was the complete opposite, he face turned bright red with anger and and his facial expression looked incredibly aggressive. Why him?! He was part of Soarin's flying team, but he was such a jerk and this proves it even more.
"As in Wave Chill the wonderbolt?" he asked, containing his burning fireball of anger.
"He never told me he was a wonderbolt!" she said, giggling.
"Is he a pegasus with a dark blue coat and a navy blue mane that's lighter than mine?" he questioned quickly.
"Precisely!" she said, noticing his rising anger.
"When I next see him, I'll tear him a new one!" he growled under his breath.
"What's that?" Pinkie asked, giving him another confused look.
"Oh, nothing." he responded slowly. He couldn't believe what he just heard, Wave Chill was dating Pinkie and was treating her like garbage! He had said about a month ago that he was very interested in Dash and that Soarin was just a "Lowlife who should give up".
Out of all the bolts, Wave Chill was definitely the most annoying and frustrating, even beating High Winds who was the most uncooperative teammate ever. And before he'd go for Dash, he decided to pick up Pinkie to then get within reach of her. Wave Chill  
was now dead to Soarin, he was just a useless scumbag who didn't deserve any mare or filly. He didn't from the beginning anyway...
Author's Note
Hello once again everyone!
I hope at least one or two people caught the Half Life 2 or EQG references!
Unfortunately I'm now sick, thanks to my brother. So there may or may not be a new chapter out by this weekend depending on how sick I am, I can inform everyone on that this Thursday or Friday.
Other than that stuff, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!
Lava Blaze Out

//-------------------------------------------------------//
               How Do You Like Them Apples?                
//-------------------------------------------------------//
How Do You Like Them Apples?
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

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Rivalry Never Changes                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Rivalry Never Changes
"Hello?" A familiar voice called out on the payphone Soarin was using.
"Hey Spits!" Soarin greeted his captain "How's tour going?"
"Oh, Afternoon Soar. It's rather cold out here, how's Ponyville today?"
"It's nice and warm here, just using a few of the maybe 50 or so bits I have on me to ring up and check on you guys!"
"Well that's nice you would do that, but I have some bad news..." Spitfire said, letting out a soft sigh.
"What's up?" Soarin asked, eager to hear.
"Uh, how should I put this?" Spitfire said, thinking out loud. "Wave Chill was flying along side our train the other day, and he stopped suddenly and the train hit him managed to break about 20 bones in his right wing and also knocked him unconscious for a few hours. He woke up this morning on the train's hospital ward and he requested that he be sent to Ponyville to see his marefriend." She finished, subtly sniffling on the other end of the line.
"That's never good!" Soarin said, realizing the scale of the situation, but his reaction was more tame because he barely cared for Wave Chill.
"I hope you mean that as in it's never good when a wonderbolt gets injured and not as in it's never good when Wave Chill goes to Ponyville." Spitfire said
"Funny story actually, I met his marefriend the other day and she was completely heartbroken because he didn't care about her." Soarin said.
"That's nice Soarin, anyway he should've arrived at the station yesterday evening. I paid his accommodation at Ponyville Inn, he's in room number 6 if you want to see him.
"I'll be sure to!" Soarin said, faking his enthusiasm. teatime with Wave Chill was like having teatime with a way more egotistical and humble Rainbow Dash.
"Good, how's your 'vacation' going?" she asked, trying to keep her cool
"It's been very relaxing so far!" Soarin replied. "You guys should come here sometime!"
"Ha ha, very funny." Spitfire said flatly.
"I know, comedy genius..." he said jokingly. "Hey, any chance I could talk to any other teammates? Namely Fleet or Misty?
"Sorry Soar, they're getting ready for their next performance." she informed him, his heart sank as the words came through the phone.
"Oh, right..." he realized. "There must be one of the bolts I can talk to that isn't you? Isn't there?" he asked hopefully.
"Hmm." Spitfire thought for a moment before continuing. "Windy is available, so is Blaze. If you looking talk to somepony else those are really your only two options." Strike out. Windy was always being generally annoying and Blaze was just incredibly oblivious.
"Uh..." Soarin didn't know how to answer without sounding rude. "No thanks, I'm fine on second thought."
"I don't blame you." Spit whispered into the phone. "Those two are the last ponies I'd talk to at a time like this." she sounded somewhat aggravated on the additional statement. A loud voice sounded from Spitfire's end of the call. "Oh, Celestia. Show's about to start, I'm gonna have to hang up now." she said, surprised slightly.
"Oh, that's a real shame. I understand though, have a good one cap!" he wished her luck.
"You too!" Spitfire replied, faking enthusiasm "Bye Soar!" she finished and hung up. Soarin plugged the device back into its cradle and walked off. back into the outside world. Soarin looked around blankly, searching for something to do.
"Wish Dash was here." he said to himself quietly. "She'd know what to do." Soarin's ears flopped over the front of his face as he trudged along the street, bored out of his mind. His ears perked up moments later when he heard a soft whistling coming from an area around him that he couldn't quite pinpoint, he swore the tune sounded somewhat familiar. He began flapping his wings slowly and lifted himself off he ground to try to hear better, he eventually pinpointed that the noise was coming from above him, on a small cloud. He gently flew up and tried to get a look at whatever or whoever was making the mysterious noise. "Uh, Hello?" he asked, quietly as he noticed a slightly lighter navy blue tail appear from the edge of the cloud.
"Ugh, not now Soarin..." the voice said groggily, it was a gruff male voice that unfortunately recognized instantly. It was Wave...
"Oh, bloody hell!" Soarin said quietly. "Nice to see you too..." He rolled his eyes and went to sit down next to his colleague.
"I think I should at least deserve a proper welcome!" he said, letting out a loud "humph" and looking away from Soarin.
"What do you want me to do? Dress as a penguin and dance for you?" Soarin said sarcastically and flatly.
"That would be very entertaining, actually." he finished, challenging his comrade. "Hows your 'marefriend' by the way?" he asked, striking one of Soarin's nerves and smirking.
"Oh shut up Wave..." Soarin retorted, looking away from him. "I know what you're up to." Soarin told him, making him flinch slightly.
"Up to being a mare magnet?" Wave answered, striking a heroic pose, Soarin just rolled his eyes.
"I was going to say heart breaker." Soarin responded, staring at his teammate with a smirk on his face.
"Oh don't be ridiculous, I've never broken a heart in my life. " Wave responded, giggling mischievously. "On the contrary..." he trailed off, finishing with a glare at Soarin.
"Wave, you're about as transparent as a glass pane." Soarin shot back at his teammate, Wave suddenly pulled Soarin into a strong head butt, refusing to let up his force. Soarin was notably finding it difficult to push against Wave's head, finally knocking him to the floor of the cloud with great difficulty, he spoke up again. "You're also about as strong as a blade of grass."
"As a wise pony one said: The mind is more powerful than the punch." Wave said, adding a cocky tone to his voice.
"Sure Wave, I believe you..." Soarin rolled his eyes again.
"Finally you actually believe something I say" Wave commented, all of a sudden he kicked Soarin hard in the knees, making him fall to the ground. He gave Soarin a cold, hard stare. "Just remember, pretty boy. Rainbow is MINE! And there's nothing you can do to stop me." he said, overconfident as always. He then suddenly started beating his wings and took to the sky.
On top of the overwhelming pain, something seemed odd about the final part of their conversation, he just couldn't pinpoint it, not now when he was in tremendous pain from Wave's sudden anger outburst. He slowly shuffled his way to the edge of the cloud and slid off it, using his wings to pull himself up from a steep dive.
That's when he saw it, the cowering blaze towering over him...
Author's Note
So, Wave's persona is revealed! Pretty much Rainbow's persona but turned up to 11.
This is the second chunk I'm putting out today, I'm ever sorry to disappoint, but I think the final chapter I missed will be out tomorrow and not today.
-Lava Blaze Out

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     The Eleventh One                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Eleventh One
Rainbow twisted and turned on the cloud she was resting on, the sun was going down in Ponyville, so she decided to just have a rest in the "Cloud Wonderland" as she called it. The reason was because there was just clouds, stretching out for miles and miles with no end in sight. She had stopped searching for Soarin a few hours ago, it wasn't very friendly of her, but she was bored...
There was a gentle breeze flowing through her rainbow mane as she laid down on the fluffy, white object below her. Although she stopped searching for Soarin a few hours ago, she still felt something bothering her, but she just couldn't determine what it was. She poked her head through the layer of cloud below her to look at the small town below her, various lights were flickering in the streets. She gently slid her slender body through the gap she had made and rocketed down towards the ground, gaining an incredible amount of speed before pulling her body up slightly and opening her strong wings.
She turned slightly and straightened her body into a more aerodynamic position and began blasting through the streets of ponyville, curving and rolling to avoid ponies in her way. She felt a sharp pain in her left wing as it got caught on a dark blue pegasus, knocking her out of her flight and to the ground with a loud thud. "Ow, that's gonna leave a mark..." she murmured as she failed to rise to her hooves.
"Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry!" the dark pegasus she had clipped her wing on said nervously, she noticed he looked a lot like Soarin, but with the dark blue coat. She noticed a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead and he spoke in a strangely flustered manner. The stallion then stuck out his hoof and helped her to her hooves
She winced slightly before speaking again. "Don't worry, it's my fault for flying in the streets." she said, brushing herself off. "I do it all the time."
"Rather daring, isn't it?" he asked, looking worried. "Wouldn't you rather fly higher in the sky than barely skimming the ground?"
"Nope!" she replied simply. "I love the adrenaline rush of being close to the ground! Don't get me wrong though, I love height too!"
"If you say so..." the stallion replied. "Who are you by the way?" he asked, a smug look on his face as if he knew who she was.
"Name's Rainbow Dash!" she responded, reaching out her hoof for a hoof shake. "Pleasure meeting you, uh..."
"Wave Chill." he responded, accepting the hoof shake happily, looking back at Dash as the epiphany hit her.
"Wait a moment!" she said, quickly realizing who this pony was. "WAVE CHILL!? As in Wonderbolt Wave Chill!?"
"Yes, precisely." he responded. "Is there a problem?" he asked, surprising casually, even raising an eyebrow.
"No! You're just a wonderbolt that's all!" she said, feeling giddy and ecstatic.
"I get it a lot, trust me" he assured her. "Sometimes I just want to be normal though..." he trailed off, Dash raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, confused.
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" he asked smoothly, lowering his eyes and smiling. Dash blushed suddenly, Wave's smile turning extremely smug.
"Sorry, uhh." Dash fought for a way to get rid of the topic he was about to bring up. "I'm taken!" she said quickly, blushing and flatly laughing.
"Oh? By whom?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Dash was stumped now, how was she going to explain this? So she just decided to just to do the stupid answer.
"None of your business!" she suddenly yelled. Getting ready to leave, she started pumping her wings as subtly as she could. "I have to go now! Nice meeting you!" she finished, jetting off into the sky. The final thing she heard from wave was a barely audible "Seeya later!" Nice one Dash, you completely blew it with a wonderbolt around. In her defense though, he was being very creepy. Maybe taking advantage of his wonderbolt status to try and get another mare? She tried as hard as she could to forget the events that had just transpired and left for her house.
She noticed a slight orange glow in the distance, it couldn't be the sun, as she was sure she was flying away from the sun, but she was still worried about what it was.As she grew closer she became more curious and more fearful as to what it was, she was finally only about a hundred meters, when she came to a startling realization. The giant orange fire ball... WAS HER HOUSE!? after she had recognized the incredibly scary truth, she flew swiftly over to her house to survey the damage.
It truly was a cowering inferno, flames licked at the fluffy clouds, tearing apart mostly everything in her house. She managed to catch a glimpse at a few of her possessions caught in the blaze, a wonderbolt poster, her gala dress from last year's gala, her small, wooden desk a chair in her room and her most prized possession of all... Her photo with Spitfire from the academy, with that very pegasus' signature. Upon seeing these things, her anger began to boil, she felt a lonesome tear drop from her eye as the photo burned and was transformed into a small pile of ash. Suddenly her anger stopped, she just felt incredibly sad. She felt like she was trapped in a vortex of sadness, unable to escape.
It was then that she noticed a stallion pegasus, sitting there, gently flapping his wings to stay in the same place, as if he was just floating. Rainbow flew up to him to get a better look at him, she was amazed at what she saw... It was Soarin... She took a quick glance at his face, it was an expression of terror dominating his face. He briskly turned after hearing Dash's wings beating over the noise of the fire. He looked at her with that terror-filled expression and only managed to muster a few words.
"I am so, so sorry..."
Author's Note
BEST. TITLE. EVER! XD
My creative mind is lacking today, can't even think of decent title!
Dun Dun Duuuuun! The plot twist was so obvious, I'll make a mental note to not give away the twist before it happens. XD
Finally getting back into this, and since i have holidays now, I can put out a lot of chapters! Although I have added 2 things to my weekend schedules. One, I have started a CS:GO E-sports team and we will start having games on Sundays which means I won't be able to write as much, adding to that is 2. I am starting writing on Wattpad. For people who don't know what Wattpad is, it's a fanfiction writing platform that allows you to write whatever you want, not just MLP like I usually do.
Because of this, I'm starting a new fic that centers around the Pokemon anime, particularly Amourshipping. So if anyone reading this story is by any chance a Pokemon fan, follow this link to go check out my account and follow me there! First chapter will be out next Saturday!
http://www.wattpad.com/user/LavaBlaze