Soaring Hearts

Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched, smiling at the sound and feel of her spine popping. She then cracked her wings and legs before giving herself a good shake. Shooting down into her kitchen, she grabbed her bit-bag and took off through the door. Looking around, Rainbow smiled at the cloudless day. Tilting her wings, the blue mare shot down towards Ponyville, more specifically, Sugercube Corner. Rainbow blinked and  shook her head. Her rainbow mane was whipping around and stinging her eyes. Snapping open her wings, Rainbow landed in front of the bakery and walked in. She smiled as one of her best friends, a pink mare with an equally pink, poufy mane named Pinkie Pie, caught sight of her and bounced over.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash. How are you, today? Huh, huh, HUH!." Shaking her head, Rainbow let out a chuckle. As usual, Pinkie had managed to make her laugh right of the bat. Rainbow rolled her eyes and laughed again before answering.

"Heh, I'm fine. How are..." Rainbow was interrupted by Twilight bursting into the bakery, her wings buzzing. Rainbow and Pinkie grabbed each other and screamed as the lavender Alicorn hurtled towards them.

CRASH!

Rainbow groaned as she picked herself up. Shaking her head she looked down at Twilight and Pinkie tangled on the floor underneath her, both groaning. Suddenly, Twilight sprang up, knocking Rainbow over in her excitement.

"GIRLS! I just got tickets and backstage passes to see the Wonderbolts in three days!" Rainbow felt her chest clench as she gave a fake, and very convincing, cheer. No, not the Wonderbolts. And backstage passes. How could this get any worse?

"And I got reservations at the hotel their staying in for the week they'll be there." Yep, that would do it. This couldn't get any worse.

"This couldn't get any better!" Twilight smiled as her friend cheered. She knew that Rainbow would be excited about this. Twilight turned and started to talk with Pinkie as Rainbow shot out towards her house.

"Why did it have to be the WONDERBOLTS! And if it couldn't get harder, she just had to get us backstage passes and reservations with  the Wonderbolts." Rainbow still adored the team and they were still her heroes. But one stallion had become much more than a hero to her. And he didn't know it. Rainbow flew into her large, cloud home. Landing on the fluffy, white surface brought some comfort to the troubled mare. Ever since the incident with the Wonderbolts three months ago at the Equestria Games tryout, she and Soarin had become good friends. But lately, for Rainbow, that friendship was becoming something much bigger. She had recently fallen in love with Soarin when, at the Games, her wing had gotten hurt in midair, very high up. Soarin had caught her. Her eyes had been clenched shut when he caught her. But when she opened her eyes back up, she had found herself looking straight into his bright green ones. In that moment she had fallen head over hooves in love with the stallion. After returning her to her team, he'd asked if she was okay. And Rainbow still couldn't identify the cause for the intense worry for her safety his voice had held.

"Oh, why, why, WHY! Oh Soarin, why must I love you so much." Rainbow collapsed on her bed, sobbing. Little did she know, Soarin was in the same situation himself.

Soarin was pacing in his room, thinking. Spitfire had just told him that Princess Twilight Sparkle would be attending, as well as her five friends. And that meant SHE would be there. Soarin had been in love with Rainbow Dash ever since she saved him at the tryouts. It had hurt when the blue mare said they could be friends. Friends. I'm nothing but a friend to her. He had told Spitz about his love for the mare but she had said, "Love is a distraction from your duty. Get it out of your head and focus on training." He had told Fleetfoot, Misty Fly and Rapidfire but they had all said the same thing. Forget about Rainbow Dash and focus on training. But he couldn't. He loved her too much to let her go.

"SOARIN!" The ice blue stallion jumped and turned to face Spitfire. The mare's amber eyes were narrowed in annoyance. Soarin grinned sheepishly as Spitfire stared him down.

"Were thinking about Rainbow Dash again?" Soarin's grin died down as his cheeks lit up. He always blushed when he got caught thinking about Rainbow. Spitfire's right eye twitched a couple of times before she gave a ragged sigh.

"Soarin, I told you to stop thinking about her. It's interfering with your training. This is the first time Twilight will be watching us perform as a princess and so it needs to be the best. And if you keep this up, then you won't be prepared and you'll embarrass the whole team." Soarin waited as Spitfire talked. When she stopped, Soarin interrupted.

"Are you done yet, Spitz?" Spitfire nodded, her eyes narrowing even more at the use of his obnoxious nickname for her. Spitfire gestured to Soarin to talk.

"Spitz I know your worried but, even with my bad training lately, we'll do fine. I promise you I'll put 130% into this performance. Okay?" Spitfire nodded and left. Suddenly she stopped and faced Soarin again.

"Soarin, just, be careful, okay? Please? I don't want my best friend to get himself killed." Soarin nodded and lay down. Sighing, he turned to the small poster he had on his wall. It was a picture of Rainbow and her friends defeating multiple enemies. He sighed again and lay his head on his hooves. Tears formed in his eyes as he though of Rainbow and the romance that was not to be. Curling up, Soarin fell into a sleep filled with dreams of him and Rainbow.