It's (Not) a Date

by Killbles

Rating: teen
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Romance, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Soarin
Length: 22531

After inadvertently running into Soarin one night, Rainbow Dash invites him as her 'Plus one' to Twilight's Hearth Warming party. It's definitely not a date though.

After inadvertently running into Soarin one night when out flying, Rainbow Dash invites him as her 'Plus one' to Twilight's Hearth Warming party.

It's definitely not a date though.

Until suddenly it is.

Published 2015-08-24 16:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-01-04 16:53:26 UTC

Night Flight

Chapter One: Night Flight

Twilight’s Castle was full of laughter and light, a stark contrast to the cold,dark night which hung around the structure like a blanket. Lit up with a bright glow, the towering building was a welcoming, bright beacon that stood out from the winter locked environment around it. Clumps of snow had gathered in the upper towers and hung around on the rails of the balconies like unwanted guests at a dinner party, but through the frost crusted windows, a warm fire burnt, candles were lit and good company was a given.

It was quite uncommon for Twilight Sparkle to host parties in her home, on account of the noise and mess they usually created, but even the young alicorn had given in to the almost infectious cheer which seemed to hang in the air despite the cold and had invited her friends for dinner.

“It’s hard to believe it’s almost Hearth’s Warming.” Rarity sighed cheerfully, levitating a delicate slice of some vegetable into her mouth before chewing thoughtfully. “The year has simply flown past.”

“I can’t believe it either. It just felt like last week I was studying one of Starswirl the Bearded’s journals, and that was for the Midsummer Festival!” Twilight agreed.

“Well, the be fair Twilight, you did study that book for like a week straight.” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“Without sleep.” Spike piped up from the other end of the table they sat around, clearing the plates of the other guests efficiently.

“Without sleep. And you probably were reading it last week as well.” Rainbow finished, prompting a few quiet chuckles from the mares that shared the table.

Twilight smiled sheepishly and hid her muzzle behind a hoof. Her embarrassment lasted a moment longer before she cleared her throat quietly.

“Speaking of Hearth’s Warming, I was wondering if you girls had anything planned?”

The five other mares around the table looked at her intently.

“Why, you got something in mind?” Applejack asked.

“Well I was planning on hosting a party of sorts. I think it would be nice to spend Hearth's Warming together this year.”

“A party? You know I’m always down for a party, maybe I could help you plan it all, there ain’t another like Pinkie for parties!” Pinkie interrupted, bouncing off her chair like a coiled spring. Fluttershy let out a squeak of surprise as the pink earth pony bounded over her like an errant firework.

“Pinkie, settle down.” Twilight said firmly before softening her voice again as Pinkie flipped her rump back onto her chair. “Thank you for the offer though.” She added graciously.

Rarity made an overly dramatic gesture. “I was going to have one of my associates join me, but I assume this is a bit of a smaller gathering dear?”

“Oh, who is it?” Twilight asked, shifting aside slightly so Spike could clear her plate away.

“Coco Pommel, you all remember her I assume?”

The other ponies all nodded their heads. “Of course. She is most welcome to join us, i’d be nice to see her again.” Twilight offered.

Rarity smiled. “I’m sure she will be happy to be my plus one.”

Twilight seemed to consider Rarity’s words for a moment. “That’s actually a nice idea Rarity. You can all have a ‘plus one’, call it a way to diversify our social group a little.”

“Wait wait wait, are you talkin’ like a date?” Rainbow Dash asked quizzically.

Twilight shrugged. “Not exactly. Somepony special though would be nice I guess.” She explained. “Whoever you want really. Why, do you have special somepony in mind?” Twilight teased.

“What?! No!” Rainbow protested. “Come on Twilight, this is me you’re talking about.”

“Of course, what was I thinking?” Twilight said through a thin smile.

“Do we really have to bring somepony?” Rainbow objected.

Twilight laughed. “Rainbow, I‘m not forcing you to bring somepony, it’d be nice if you did though.”

“Alright, alright.” Rainbow muttered.

“You seem a bit worried about it Rainbow.” Rarity pointed out.

“I’m not worried, I got heaps of ponies I could invite.” Rainbow lied, feigning a yawn. “Now, this is all a very interesting conversation, but I gotta get up at the crack of dawn to seed a few snow clouds so I better head off. Thanks for dinner.”

“Don’t mention it!” Spike called out from the next room, a loud slurp following his voice out of the kitchen.

“Was that..?” Applejack started, a look of confusion on her face.

Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Spike has a very, uh, interesting… way of doing the dishes.” She explained, letting the mares around the table figure the rest out for themselves.

“Ew.” Rainbow grimaced, her wings shuddering.

“Don’t worry, it’s perfectly clean, I’ve tested it many times.” Twilight reassured the pegasus, oblivious to the queasy looks the rest of her friends were giving her. .

“Whatever you say Twi, and on that gross note, I’m out. Night girls!!” Rainbow Dash announced, open the door and zipping out into the night before anypony could stop her.

***

A week later, Rainbow Dash was still worrying over the issue. It had been fairly easy to ignore or simply skirt around for the first few days, but as the party dragged closer she had to consciously stop the nagging question from dominating her thoughts.

No matter how hard she tried though, Rainbow couldn’t quite get rid of the nagging, gnawing feeling at the back of her mind. Even as she busted clouds or shifted new ones out of their holding patterns, she subconsciously started to wondered who she would bring to the party.

‘Stupid Twilight making me bring a stupid plus one, stupid Rarity for bringing it up.’ she thought grouchily, kicking a loaded cloud so hard that it exploded in a flurry of freezing ice and snow. Rainbow was a bit more careful after that, but her foul mood remained until she finished her work around midday. With nothing much else to do, she flew out towards Sweet Apple Acres. While Applejack wouldn’t be out in the fields thanks to the banks of thick snow over the ground, she would probably be in the barn, packing or crushing apples. Maybe, just maybe, her friend would come up with some grand idea she could use or lend her some advice. At the least, a conversation would be a welcome distraction. She swooped in low over the farmhouse and landed in front of the barn, the frozen earth crunching as her hooves impacted the ground. She brushed a few flakes of snow out of her mane and trotted over to the half-open barn door.

“Howdy.” Aj welcomed her, looking up at the noise. The farmer was sorting apples out of a pile, either tossing them into a massive wooden bucket nearly higher than Rainbow Dash or into a few other smaller buckets which held the bad part of the crop. Rainbow knew from experience that the Apples would spend the next days crushing and preserving the apples to use for cider, baked into pies and to sell in spiced bottles.

“Hey AJ.” Rainbow replied, trotting over to the table her friend was behind and sat down across from her.

“You look peachy.” Applejack noted wryly.

Rainbow made an annoyed sound, resting her chin on the thick wooden table. “I’ve spent all morning getting the weather ready for Hearth's Warming, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about Twilight’s party.”

Applejack chuckled softly. “Oh yeah, it’s gonna be a good party. I’ve got a barrel of our best cider set aside and Granny’s been talking about doing some baking.”

“Have you got somepony you’re bringing to the party.” Rainbow asked, hoping Applejack would say ‘No.’

“Since you mention it, I did invite Caramel along.”

“You’re inviting Caramel?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously, stifling a laugh with a hoof. Caramel was something of a buttmonkey and a ditz, it wasn’t uncommon for Applejack or Big Mac to give their occasional farmhand a verbal lashing on account of something stupid he’d done. Rainbow had wondered many times why the Apples continued to hire him.

Applejack seemed to squirm uncomfortably. “He’s had a rough last few months and he wasn’t doin’ anything for Hearth's Warming. I took pity on the poor thing.”

“Not anything else to do with it is there?” Rainbow teased, wiggling an eyebrow at the farmer.

Applejack shook her head, an unimpressed look on her face. “That boy couldn’t tell a hayseed from an appleseed.”

“Well that explains a lot.” Rainbow remarked, looking around at the overstocked hay bales which packed the barn.

Somehow, Applejack managed to look even less impressed. She shot a look at Rainbow which would have made a flower wither. “What about you? You got somepony to bring along?” Applejack shot back, her irritation turning into a small smirk.

Rainbow shrunk back slightly. “Uh, still working on that one… actually.” She admitted sheepishly, looking away from Applejack ashamedly and running a hoof through her mane. “I mean,” She started with as much self assuredness that she could manage, “Not that I need the help, but I don’t suppose you could think of anypony I could bring?”

Applejack let out a quiet snort, picking a few bad apples out of the pile and tossing them into a large bucket. “Well, since you’re so on top of it, I’m sure you’ve considered taking any friends you have.” She drawled. “Ones that ain’t already going at least.” The earth pony added with a long drawl.

“What about Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked, perking up slightly at the idea. She liked the mostly flightless pegasus and had often chaperoned the filly at many events on her own accord.

“She already has an invitation, along with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Twilight certainly didn’t skimp on them invitations for what was supposed to be a ‘small’ party.” Applejack said, tossing a few good apples into the massive pulper..

“What about your brother?”

Applejack eyed her cautiously. “He’s already going.”

Rainbow Dash’s face hardened slightly before she resumed her former expression of stoicism. “Alright then, since you’re happily shooting everything of mine down, have you got any ideas?”

“You could always ask Discord.” Applejack suggested with a barely suppressed laugh. “I’m sure he’d really liven up the night.”

Rainbow buried her face in her hoof. “Applejack! Be serious for a moment! Please?”

“Alright, alright Ah was just messing with ya. What about Mr. Mohawk?” Applejack suggested vaguely.

“Thunderlane?” Rainbow grimaced slightly. “No way, he’d take it the wrong way. Besides, the only thing that we have in common is both work with the weather, if you can call what he does working.”

“That’s pretty rich coming from you.” Applejack chortled.

“You’re not helping.” Rainbow Dash fumed.

“That spikey maned mare on the weather team?”

“Just kill me now.” Rainbow groaned.

“Okay, what about Carrot Top?”

“She nearly knocked me out with a bag of avocados last time we talked.” Rainbow Dash remarked, rubbing her temple absently. “Can’t quite recall what I did to annoy her.”

Applejack snorted with amusement as she vaguely remembered the incident. “Hm, maybe her broken stall had something to do with it. Stargazer?”

“Who?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Nevermind. Ms Yearling?”

“As much as I’d to, she’s on the other side of the world.” Rainbow sighed wistfully. “Probably.”

“Alright, what about one of them Wonderbolts you love so much.” The farmer suggested.

Rainbow raised an annoyed eyebrow. “Yeah, good luck. I know, what, three of them personally and I doubt they’d jump to spend Hearth’s Warming with a fan.”

“Princess Celestia.” Applejack suggested, her composure slowly cracking.

Rainbow Dash scowled. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“No more than you, you could take a whole ton of ponies but apparently they just ain’t good enough.”

“Applejack, please?

“Well sorry, Ah’m out of ideas.” Applejack said apologetically, crushing another apple like a twig.

“That’s it?” The pegasus asked incredulously. “That’s all you can think of?”

“Rainbow, most of the ponies Ah know in town are doing things for Hearth’s Warming or have gone to see their family in the big city. Not a lot of pony-folk left around now if you’re gonna be picky.”

Rainbow sighed explosively, slamming her hoof down on the table and turning an errant apple into pulp.

“Mind warning me next time you do that?” Applejack remarked in a deadpan voice, wiping half an apple off her face.

“Sorry.” Rainbow muttered, placing her face against the surface of the table..

“You know Rainbow, if this whole ‘Plus one’ thing is buggin’ you so much why don’t you just not invite somepony. Twilight said you didn’t need to.”

“Which means I need to. Come on Applejack, everypony else will have somepony there but me, even you managed to get somepony to tag along!”

Applejack threw her another sour look.

“No offence.” Rainbow added quickly. “Point is, if I don’t, I’ll look like an idiot and Twilight will be disappointed with me, I know it.”

Applejack let out a frustrated whinney. “Ah just think you’re just blowing hot air about, but if you wanna make some big problem outta this, fine, suit yourself.” Applejack said adamantly, giving Rainbow Dash a stern, almost motherly look. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Ah actually have some work to do, this ain’t gonna do itself. So unless you’re gonna give me a hoof and stop complaining about some made-up problem, you should probably leave me to it.”

“Yeah I suppose…” Rainbow muttered, sliding off the bench and sulking over to the barn door. “Thanks anyway AJ.”

“Happy to help sugarcube, just don’t stress yourself over it. It ain’t the end of the world.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a half-smile before flapping out of the barn, not feeling any more at ease than when she’d entered.

***

As a chilly night swept in over Ponyville, driving many of its residents inside to escape the cold. Rainbow Dash though, flew away, abandoning the village and heading up towards the city of Cloudsdale. She needed some time alone, doing something she enjoyed. Flying Fast and flying hard. Though having to fight her way through a few cold, blustery snowstorms to reach her objective, she enjoyed the short flight up to the cloud-city. She’d arrived late enough that even the bustling city was starting to wind down. The weather factory was switching over to the graveyard shift and most of the city’s pegasi would be home, enjoying time with their families, friends and loved ones. Her thoughts momentarily drifted to her parents, did they even still live in Cloudsdale she wondered. She hadn’t seen either in well over a decade and she didn’t really want to, she had run away from home for a good reason. It had been the best decision for everypony... hadn't it?

She banished the uncomfortable thought and old regrets from the forefront of her mind, drifting down to one of the city’s lower levels to one of the many public racetracks which the city hosted. Unlike the massive cloudesium, which would have guards to keep strays away, many of the smaller tracks were unattended at night. She touched down behind one of the small stands near the tracks’ finish/start line so she could stealthily observe the track.

Of the smaller courses the city had, this one was by far her favorite. Running the track always seemed to clear her mind and help her focus. The course was several kilometres long, had over a dozen obstacles, was changed on a fortnightly basis and best of all, was almost always deserted at this time of night. While officially, the area was closed off during the night hours, nopony seemed to really care if somepony flew the course after hours. What it did achieve though, was get thin out the tryhards, curb the number of annoying colts and fillies that infested the place during the day and keep unwanted distractions to a minimum.

That all seemed to be holding true for tonight, aside for a few wisps of clouds, the course was still and silent.

Rainbow grinned slightly and spread her wings again, angling for the first hoop hovering about two hundred metres in the air. She rocketed towards the bronze ring, slowing down slightly so she could make the sharp turn she knew would come immediately after it. Rainbow stuck her tongue out slightly, tasting the fresh night air as she twisted her body down towards the ground again, her hind legs clearing the edge of the obstacle by mere centimetres.

Next came a nap of the earth sprint, a row of small circles aligned with their top edges barely a metre and a half off the ‘ground’, a floor of rough and uneven clouds.. While the course constantly changed, Rainbow had learned the hard way that the designers invariable included a ring a few metres above and to the left or right of the others to test the participants agility and perception. Many just skipped the ring and went for flat-out speed, but Rainbow always found the bonus score granted by passing through it paid off.

‘There’s nopony else here!’ She thought with a silent scoff of amusement, ‘Nopony to keep score..’

Nevertheless, she still made a conscious effort to slip through the off-centre ring when it flashed past her, pulling an impressively tight roll to get back into the middle of the course. She caught a quick flicker of movement in the corner of her eye as she passed through the last ring and pulled up to gain altitude, but another quick look revealed it as a stray cloud; she was alone up here.

Next came the Dizzy Twister, a particularly infamous part of the course which had virtually remained the same since Rainbow had started years ago. Two rings hovered in mid air, one perfectly aligned above the other. The participant was meant to rocket through the bottom ring, start spinning and then pass through the top ring almost five hundred metres above. Then, they had to navigate back down through the lower ring before continuing, all the while recovering from their corkscrew and dealing with a dizzy head. It was a particularly dangerous part of the course and Rainbow Dash had injured herself more times than she could count, occasionally clipping her wing on the lower ring on the way down or corkscrewing face-first into the top ring.

Tonight she had no such intentions though, passing through the bottom ring dead-centre and putting herself into a vicious corkscrew. She slowly counted off the seconds until she saw a flash of bronze whip past her and quickly reversed her course, ignoring the crazy headspin she was experiencing as best she could and rocketing back down through the lower ring.

“Yeah! Haha!” She cheered, doing a lazy flip before settling back into a stable flight pattern. She weaved between two more rings and set her sights on the next section of the course. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the wind rushing through her feathers and her mane. She took a deep breath, savouring the sharp, biting feeling of the icy cold air in her lungs and the fiery fingers of adrenalin which pumped through her body. For a while, all of her worries washed away and the troubles which had plagued her mind since Twilight had announced her ‘plus one’ plan was all but forgotten.

“Yeah, this is the life…” She thought aloud.

“Yeah its pretty good isn’t it?”

Rainbow Dash nearly fell out of the sky in surprise, her wings immediately locking up with shock. She tore her eyes open, horrified at the fact that somepony had managed to sneak up her so easily. She looked from side to side in alarm but found no trace of another pegasus, nor was their anypony below her. That only left…

“Yoohoo…” The voice said again.

Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes immediately locking on a bemused stallion. He was flying upside down with no an apparent care in the world. His bottle green eyes shimmered mischievously in the moonlight and a wide grin split his face. A pair of heavy bags hung under his eyes, giving him the appearance of a chronic insomniac.

“Soarin!?” Rainbow spluttered, managing to snap out of her surprised stupor long enough to avoid a ring which approached with alarming speed.

“Howdy.” The stallion replied cheerfully, his eyes locked on her and not paying attention to the course in the slightest. Without looking he pulled off a quick roll and passed through a ring Rainbow Dash hadn’t even noticed before smartly returning to his previous position.

“What the hay are you doing here?”

“Flying! What about you, eh? This area is supposed to be off-limits.” He said sternly, as if she had stolen a cookie.

“Then why are you here?” Rainbow asked, tearing her eyes off the stallion long enough to dodge a errant cloudbank.

“Eh, never much one to follow the rules I guess. Want a peanut?” He asked, yawning silently and pulling a small bag of the nuts from a pocket on the light flightsuit he wore . Rainbow noted that he hardly seemed to putting any effort in, simply cruising above her as she rocketed along the course.

“No, thanks.” She muttered as the stallion started munching cheerfully. “How long were you there for?”

He shrugged. “A minute or two maybe, couldn’t really follow you through the Dizzy Twister though. Did good there, by the way, even remembered to pull up.” He shook his head slightly. “You’d be amazed how many ponies forget to do that, pretty simple right? I mean, just pulling up…”

Rainbow sighed internally. Most of the times she’d talked with Soarin he’d been a little… weird. He reminded her of a incredibly mild version of Pinkie although laced with tantalisingly rare moments of wisdom and intelligence. He wasn’t dumb, but he certainly seemed to enjoy putting a goofball act most of the time.

“Hey, sport, pull up.” Soarin whistled.

Rainbow yelped with surprise as her hooves kissed the inner edge of a ring, she must have drifted a little.

“Soarin!” Rainbow complained.

“Hey, I just saved your bacon, you really gonna complain about that?” Soarin asked with faux trace of indignance.

“No…” Rainbow muttered, adjusting course for the next ring. “What are you doing here?” She demanded.

“I dunno, enjoying myself?” The Wonderbolt guessed.

Rainbow grunted with annoyance.

“Tell you what, you race me to the end and if you win, I’ll tell you all about it.” Soarin offered.

Rainbow eyed him suspiciously. “And if you win?”

“I’ll tell you anyway. Come on, do I really look like a guy who needs something right now? I got a bag of peanuts, I’m happy.” He said, munching on another nut contentedly.

Rainbow stared at the Wonderbolt curiously. Was this really happening?

“See something you like?” Soarin jeered, shaking the bag of peanuts at her again.

Rainbow looked away embarrassedly before regaining her composure. “Alright bucko, you’re on. See you at the finish line!” She yelled, putting on a sudden burst of speed and drawing ahead of him. Rainbow threw a quick look back at Soarin, there was probably only a kilometre to the finish and she’d already opened up a considerable lead. She grinned as she slalomed through a set of rings and turned onto the final straight. She was barely two hundred metres from the finish when a earsplitting boom rocketed past her.

“No way!” She yelled, her voice being lost in the echoing shock wave that washed over her. She could only watch as Soarin roared past and crossed the line. He maintained the insane speed for a moment longer before ploughing into a cloud with a wet smack.

“Aw, jeez.” Rainbow muttered half tempted to leave the Wonderbolt where he’d crashed. She let out a quiet sigh and flapped over, an irritated look on her face. She had expected a nice, quiet night of flying and now she had… this, to deal with. Whatever this was.

“Moron.” She fired off as she approached earshot. Soarin was still lying half buried in the reinforced cloud barrier, looking very unconcerned with his position. .

“You know me.” Soarin replied without concern, wiping a few drops of water out of his eyes and smacking his lips contently. He yawned again, pulling the bag of peanuts out again and munching away like he was relaxing on a beach somewhere.

“Hey, what happened to ‘Pull up’?” She remarked wryly.

“Again, you know me.” Soarin replied in the same tone, shaking his mane down and covering Rainbow in a fine spray of water.

“Hey!” She complained hotly.

“Whoops.” Soarin remarked dryly, giving her a disarmingly friendly smile.

“You cheated.” Rainbow accused, trying to ignore the heavy drop of water which now hung off the end of her muzzle stubbornly.

“What, because I won? Didn’t say I couldn’t break the sound barrier.” Soarin stated matter of factly, taking another peanut out and chomping in it. “Come on, I’m a Wonderbolt, I’ve gotta have some tricks up my sleeve so I can still beat raw rookies like you.”

“Thanks.” Rainbow muttered sarcastically, wondering if he’d follow her if she left.

A sympathetic look appeared over Soarin’s face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. You’re good, very good. Maybe better than me even.” He considered his words for a moment. “Okay, maybe not quite that good but you’ve got a lot of promise. Peanut?” He offered again.

“If I take a stupid peanut will you stop offering them to me?” Rainbow asked, covering up a smile with an irritated huff.

Soarin tilted his head to the side slightly. “Yeah, because you’ve have one then. Duh.”

Rainbow took one out of the bag, giving Soarin a dirty look as she munched. The stallion had good taste at least, the nuts were perfectly salted and had a delightful sort of crunch to them.

“They’re good, right?” Soarin inquired, stashing the bag away and pulling himself out of the cloud with a few sharp kicks. He dropped to the surface of the track and stretched his legs out, letting out a content sigh as he did so. He pulled out the bag of peanuts again, unzipping his fluitsuit part way down as he practically waltzed past Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow averted her eyes.

Soarin let out an amused snort, trotting around to one of the stands and pulling out a sports bag he had hidden there. He grabbed the bag in his mouth and motioned Rainbow Dash to follow him. She followed wordlessly, ascending up through the sky a few hundred metres before coming to a rest on a long, wispy cirrus cloud.

“Towel?” Soarin offered.

“Thanks.” Rainbow muttered. It was quite cold up high and the icy cold water Soarin had drenched her in certainly wasn’t helping.

“Cold?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Rainbow Dash replied, wrapping the towel around her.

“Good, cause I ain’t exactly in a snuggling mood tonight.” Soarin chuckled. “Peanut?” He added casually.

Rainbow Dash let out a confused squeak, her cheeks turning a faint red

Soarin let out a loud laugh, clearly enjoying how uncomfortable Rainbow suddenly looked. “Relax, Dash, I’m just messing with you.”

“Figures.” Rainbow muttered crossly, trying to cover her blush up with the towel Soarin had given her. “So, what are you doing up here anyway?”

“Nothing much. I like to come up here, fly around a bit. Get away from it all y’know?” The stallion sighed, looking up at the relatively clear night sky.

“I know the feeling. Guess you probably have it a bit worse than me though.” Rainbow admitted.

“Yeah, probably. Guess it comes with the lifestyle though.” Soarin shrugged, taking a peanut out of the bag, flipping it into the air and then catching it in his mouth.

Rainbow watched him silently for a few seconds. Despite the fact he had come here to be alone, Soarin seemed completely at ease with her. He could’ve easily avoided her on the course and she would’ve been none the wiser, but he had instead gone to the effort of saying ‘hi’.

She smiled slightly, swelling with pride. It seemed a slight honour that somepony as highly esteemed as Soarin would would want to spend time with her.

“There was an accident on the base today.” Soarin said, his voice cutting her thoughts off. “New cadet, fresh faced out of school with high hopes and big dreams. She had a lot of promise, a bit rough around the edges maybe, like you, but a solid flyer overall.”

He hesitated, the corners of his mouth twitching as his jaw worked up and down slightly. Rainbow could tell that whatever Soarin was trying to say wasn’t particularly easy.

“I had her out on a close order drill in a course like this. One minute she’s doing fine and the next, she pulls out a turn a little too sharp and hits the barrier. We’re going about about Mach point-6 so of course she bounces straight off like a rubber ball, misses me by about three centimetres and wraps herself around one of the rings.”

“Oh my gosh.” Rainbow breathed, her eyes going wide with horror. “Is she okay?”

Soarin shrugged noncommittally. “Dunno.”

Rainbow bit her lip. “Are you okay?”

Soarin grabbed another peanut, looking away and munching nervously. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He answered eventually. “It’s part of the job. Not a pleasant part, but it happens. Ponies make mistakes, ponies get hurt.”

Rainbow was tempted to give him a pat on the back but resisted, respecting the stallion’s personal space. He grabbed another peanut, his jaw working up and down furiously as if would relieve him of some burden.

“It’s not your fault, Soarin.” Rainbow Dash said in a comforting tone as she could manage.

“I know.” Soarin replied, his voice remarkably level. He regained a little of his former cheer, seemingly putting the ugly memory behind him. He flashed her a weak smile. “Wanna do another lap?”

“Sure thing!” Rainbow squeaked, slightly off-guard by how quickly the subject had changed. Soarin seemed happy enough to put the incident out of mind though, so she jumped to her hooves and gave Soarin a pointed look. “And this time, I’m going to win.”

The stallion shrugged. “If you say so.” He muttered. folding his wings into his side and dropping off the cloud like a rock. Rainbow followed half a second later, following Soarin as he rocketed towards the start. He didn’t wait up for her, sailing over the start line and immediately flipping around towards the first obstacle. Rainbow followed close behind, keeping up as best she could. Her wings started to burn, her heart pounded in her chest and her mane billowed out behind her as she furiously moved from one form to the next. Soarin was always one wingbeat ahead, his dark tail constantly flashing a few metres ahead. His technique was a little unorthodox but almost perfect in its own unique way. He flipped over onto his back, looking back at Rainbow with a cheeky grin.

‘You little son of a…’ She thought as he blew a raspberry at her before rocketing off into the Dizzy Twister. She had barely entered the first of the two rings when Soarin rocketed downwards past her, a flash of pale blue against the night sky. By the time she had pulled out of her dive, he was already halfway to the finish. It was incredibly humbling display of flight prowess that showed how much further she had to go before she could compete in the big kid’s league.

She skidded over the finished line, panting slightly from her efforts. For what it seemed, Soarin at least seemed to have actually put in a good deal of effort this time around. She loped over to Soarin, wordlessly accepting a bottle of water he offered her.

“That was crazy!” She gasped, gulping down the water thirstily. “You’re good!”

“Thank you, I’m the best for a reason.” Soarin replied graciously.

Rainbow usually wouldn’t have let such a statement stand, but her ego had been blunted twice already tonight, no need to take a piledriver to it as well. She contented herself by poking her tongue at him childishly.

Soarin returned the gesture, taking his now empty water bottle back and tossing it back into his bag. It occurred to Rainbow Dash that he didn’t have one for himself.

A moment of spontaneous foolishness swept over her and before she knew what had happened, her mouth was open, words drifting out. “Hey, I know this is gonna sound stupid, but you wouldn’t be doing for Hearth’s Warming would you?” Rainbow asked before realising what she had said and suddenly becoming incredibly interested in the small curls that floated off the cloud when she shuffled her hooves awkwardly.

“Well I was going to die.” Soarin remarked casually after a moment.

Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat. “What?!” She screeched.

“Spitfire invited some of the ‘Bolts for dinner. Her cooking is to die for.” Soarin added, starting to gag and choke before falling over onto his back, grabbing his throat and twitching a few times.

Rainbow Dash took a calming breath, Soarin was evidently just messing around again.

“I’ll take anything over that nightmare.” Soarin chuckled, sitting back up like nothing had happened at all. “So, what did you have in mind?”

Rainbow Dash stammered, her tongue suddenly tied up behind her teeth. Not even in the wildest verges of her imagination had she actually expected Soarin to be receptive to her invitation. “Well, uh, my friend Twilight is having this party and she was, uh, she was hoping my friends would all be able to uh… bring somepony along.”

“You mean like a date?” Soarin asked lamely.

“No! No!” Rainbow yelped quickly, hoping her embarrassment wasn’t showing. She cursed silently, she was acting like a complete foal. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, there was no need for her to go off into the deep end, asking one of her idols to be her plus one to a friend’s party should have been a cakewalk.

Right?

No, Soarin was different. Rainbow Dash would rather die than admit it, but she liked Soarin more than she had any right to. Despite his celebrity status and position in the Wonderbolts, he had always treated Rainbow as if she were a peer and on the few occasions that they had spent any amount of time together, she had almost always enjoyed herself. Sure, he was a bit of a goof sometimes but she didn’t mind it all that much. His laid back demeanor seemed to clash a little with her hot-headedness but more often than not, Rainbow found it helped reign her in a little.

Rainbow had never actively seeked a relationship, it was never something that had particularly appealed to her after all, but Soarin’s question had almost sounded… hopeful.

‘No’. She quickly decided, a relationship with the Wonderbolt was at best a fanciful dream and at worst, a hooffull of trouble. She was happy being friends with Soarin and she dared not risk what bond they shared on a stupid whim.

“Right, right. Just a friendly thing..” Soarin said slowly, his face adopting an almost suspicious look.

She felt a slow heat build behind her cheeks as Soarin nodded slowly, almost as if he could read her mind. “Yeah, just a friendly thing.” She affirmed. “I- I didn’t actually have anypony else to ask.” Rainbow admitted sheepishly.

“Well, you got me.” Soarin smiled, his face becoming friendly again. “I’d love to come along, I don’t believe I’ve had the chance to meet any of your friends properly. How exciting.” He added with a shiver that didn’t seem to be entirely from the cold.

“So that’s a yes then?”

“That’s a yes.” Soarin affirmed.

Rainbow resisted the urge to do a backflip, her tongue seemed intent to do one as her words came out as a sort of gibbering, excited mess that not even she properly understood. She quickly regained her composure. “What I meant to say is that It’ll be great to have you along.”

“Of course it will. What time should I meet you?”

“Uh, Seven would be great. Ponyville town square.”

“I thought you lived in Cloudsdale.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Oh, and you need to bring a present. Twilight’s organising this gift exchange thing Kringle something, I think. I’ll let her know you’re coming and she’ll get in contact with you. Somehow.”

“Fun.” Soarin chuckled, zipping up his bag and putting it over his back. “So, see you around seven then?”

Rainbow nodded.

Soarin smiled, giving her a wink. “I gotta dash.” He said cheekily, giving her a wave before taking off. “Nice flying with you!”

Rainbow watched him go, waiting until he’d vanished behind the next layer of the city before falling over onto her back, kicking her hooves in the air with a girlish squeal. Never in a thousand years did she honestly expect anything like this. A Wonderbolt, a real Wonderbolt being her own guest! She calmed herself down, trying to maintain a little decency. She couldn’t help herself though, laughing to herself in an almost giddy fashion. She took a few calming breaths, looking up at the spiralling curves of Cloudsdale and the few twinkling stars she could make out beyond. Things just couldn’t get any better!

***

Rainbow Dash patrolled Ponyville’s town square, a edge of nervousness and irritation seeping into her step. She kept turning her gaze upwards, scanning the skies for another pegasus. She let out a quiet huff, checking the time again.

Soarin was late.

As much as she wanted to blame simple tardiness, some part of her mind couldn’t help but think that the stallion was going to stand her up, leaving her to go to Twilight’s party all on her own. It had only been a few days, he couldn’t have forgotten, could he?

She scowled, shivering slightly from the cold. It was probably one of the coldest nights they’d had in a few years, snow and ice covered the village, only kept clear of the roads by the tireless work of a few unicorns and earth ponies armed with shovels and the occasional burst of magic. Rainbow paid them no mind, instead completely focused on her late companion. She had even gone to the effort of dressing up slightly, spending a few painful hours with Rarity that afternoon getting her mane washed, combed and done up into a ponytail.

She shuddered, that had been almost unbearable. Rarity had obviously heard from somepony that she was bringing Soarin and had been quite insistent that Rainbow had to look the part.

In short, if Soarin didn’t show up after the amount of mental pain and discomfort Rainbow had gone through, she would endeavour to make his life very uncomfortable. Or go cry into a bucket of ice cream, vengeance was a hard thing to do after all.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to resort to either as a small blue shape winging through the air towards the town square caught her eye. the shape quickly resolved itself into a pegasus and a few moments later Soarin touched down a metre away, sending up a small flurry of snow as he touched down on the cobblestone.

Like her, he carried a very badly wrapped gift in his mouth. A set of exquisitely made flight goggles sat over his eyes, thin layers of snow and frost built up around the edges of the golden lenses.

“Evening.” He said through a mouthful of wrapping paper and tape. He gave her a look over, noting that she’d done her mane up. “You look nice.”

“Uh, thanks.” Rainbow said back with a small smile, infinitely relieved he hadn’t said ‘cute’. She looked him over, noting the flakes of snow buried in his wings and lines of frost running up and down his mane. “You look cold.” She replied, too pleased to see him to also point out he was also late.

“Flew through a nice big snowstorm on the way in. I think my goggles are frozen to my face.” Soarin shivered, jumping up and down a little to get the blood flowing.

“Huh, should we get going then?”

“I think I’d rather just freeze here.” Soarin joked, looking around slightly stiffly. “Nice spot to kick the bucket at least.” He added, giving the town square an appreciative glance.

Rainbow gave the stallion a flat look and set off towards the library. Despite the weather, quite a few ponies were out on the streets and her companion got more than a few looks. Thankfully the onlookers were either too preoccupied or too polite to barge in on the Wonderbolt, most giving him a smile or a wave before returning to their own business.

“The ponies are so nice here.” Soarin remarked offhandedly as a scrawny colt bounded up alongside him, took a photo and then bounced away again just as quickly.

“We have our busybodies, trust me.” Rainbow replied, giving the retreating foal a scalding look. While she couldn’t recall his name, she knew he occasionally worked as a photographer for the town’s paper. No doubt the picture of her and Soarin would be a feature of the morning paper.

“Certainly not as bad as Cloudsdale though.” Soarin remarked, ruffling his wings and sending a small storm of snowflakes into the air.

“No.” Rainbow admitted quietly, coming to a stop outside Twilight’s castle. The lights in the windows were burning bright, gleaming off the crystal exterior in gaudy colours that Twilight had probably enchanted in. From inside she could already make out the overzealous sounds of Pinkie Pie.chatting the ear off some unfortunate.

“Wow, a real crystal castle.” Soarin asked, the light reflecting off his goggles. It occurred to Rainbow that the Wonderbolt may not have been lying when he said they were indeed frozen on.

“You probably live in a cloud, don’t judge.” Rainbow remarked wryly, staring at the shimmering surface of the castle’s turrets.

Soarin shrugged in a carefree manner. “Suppose so.” He said, conceding the point to her. “Look, not that I don’t like freezing my tail off out here but could we go in? I’m hungry.”

“Are you ever not?” Rainbow asked, knocking on the solid door.

The wonderbolt shrugged silently again.

A purple aura flashed around the frame, the heavy door swinging open a moment later, allowing a rush of warm air and light to spill outside. Silhouetted in the warm orange light was Twilight, an immensely pleased look plastered over the Alicorn’s face.

“Rainbow Dash! I’m so glad you made it.” Twilight practically sang. She gave her friend a quick hug before standing aside. Although the night was still young, it was evident from the warm glow on Twilight’s cheeks and her slightly off-centred look that she’d been tucking into some of Applejack’s cider a little early. Her gaze drifted behind Rainbow Dash and landed on Soarin, her eyes going slightly wide at the sight of the Wonderbolt.

“And Soarin! Such a pleasure!” She continued in a bubbly tone. “I must admit when Rainbow told me she’d roped you in as her guest I was a little unsure if she was joking or not.”

“Well I can assure you I am 100 percent A-grade me, ma’am.”

Twilight let out a quiet guffaw. “Of course you are, come on in you two.” She said, inviting the pair in and quickly closing the door behind them. She led them down one of the wide corridors, skipping past the map room and entering the massive west wing of her home.

The castle looked much the same as it did a few weeks ago, though a few more decorations had gone up in Rainbow Dash’s absence. Rows of coloured lights criss-crossed the high arching ceiling and small baubles hung from the walls on small pieces of golden string. A massive candy cane shaped cake which Pinkie had baked dominated the centre of the room.

Rainbow quickly took a headcount. Pinkie was midway through telling a joke to her sister, Maud next to her towering masterpiece. Applejack was, of all things, talking quite loudly with Rarity and Coco Pommel, the three mares had evidently found some common ground. Caramel and Big Macintosh sat by the food table, talking quietly with each other over their food. A few other ponies who she recognised from around town were also present. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were somewhere; Rainbow could hear them, but couldn’t quite make out their exact location. That question was quickly answered as the three fillies slid out from under a table, leaping out in front of Rainbow Dash and Soarin like a three headed jack in the box.

“Oh my gosh! A Wonderbolt, a real Wonderbolt!” Scootaloo bubbled, practically jumping up and down on Soarin’s back.

The other two fillies piled on the stallion with similar gusto, interrogating him without waiting for answers.

“How fast can you fly?” Scootaloo demanded.

“Are you Rainbow Dash’s special somepony?” Sweetie Belle swooned.

Applebloom poked a small scar on his hindleg. “Where did you get that scar? Did you fight a dragon?”

Scootaloo jumped on the bandwagon before Soarin could get a word in edgewise. “You fought a dragon? Did you die?”

“Girls!” Rainbow Dash growled, pulling them away from the terrified Wonderbolt before they could do any lasting mental harm. She flashed a stern look at the Crusaders, their excited yammering immediately stopping. “Give the poor stallion a break would ya?”

“Sorry.” The three fillies answered in unison, their eyes downcast.

“Good, now get going before you break Soarin. He’ll be around for a while so you can gush over him later. Nicely.” She added sternly as the three fillies trotted off, muttering quietly amongst themselves.

“Sorry about them.” Rainbow Dash said quickly.

“I think I’d rather risk frostbite than that again.” Soarin muttered fearfully.

“Oh they’re alright once the novelty wears off for them. The just have a tendency to get a bit too excited.” She chuckled, pulling Soarin over to where Twilight had put her Hearth's Warming tree up. The two pegasi dropped their presents off and looked around the fiercely decorated room.

“It’s a library.” soarin realised, looking past the decorations and seeing the shelves underneath. His eyes glimmered with approval under his goggles.

“Pretty cool, right?” Rainbow

“Definitely.” He said wistfully, running a hoof over the shelve behind them. “‘The Complete History of Equestria, Part I.’ Gee, I could be here for weeks.”

“I’ve read the whole series.” Twilight butted in, seemingly jumping out at the two pegasi out of thin air. She had three mugs drifting above her head which she quickly passed out to the two new arrivals. “Absolutely fascinating. They’re all first editions, by the way.” she said proudly.

“Must have taken a while to collect.” Soarin muttered.

“You have no idea.” Twilight giggled. “Do you read much, Soarin?”

“Not as much as I’d like.” He admitted. “I have a small holiday house over near Whitetail woods which is packed full of books though. I have the entire Tallguard Knight’s Saga, first edition and signed by M. Chaucer.”

Twilight seemed to swoon slightly, her eyes lighting up like a Hearth's Warming tree

Rainbow was tempted to tell her to calm down but her attention was immediately stolen away as Fluttershy arrived, sneaking in through the front door of the Library with her companion.

“Oh no…” Rainbow muttered, her eyes going wide.

“Hello, everypony!” Discord announced, sauntering in behind Fluttershy with none of the discretion that the pegasus was displaying. The already slightly off-centre Twilight looked like he eyes were about to explode.

“Uh…” Soarin began.

‘Twilight goes into crisis mode in three, two… one.’ Rainbow thought, accurately guessing the break in her friend’s composure down to the second. Twilight Immediately scampered off, her wings flared with concern.

“What is..?” Soarin stammered, watching wide eyed as the draconequus summoned up a miniature snowstorm which rained massive flakes of snow over his head.

“It’s a long story.” Rainbow assured him. “I’ll tell you some other time.”

“Please do.” The stallion muttered absently. He seemed to remember he had a mug of cider now and helped himself, finding some solace in the drink. Rainbow followed suite, downing the bubbly drink as modestly as she could. As usual, Applejack’s cider seemed to be better than it had been last year, an impressive feat as improving what Rainbow Dash considered almost perfection was rather incredible.

She placed her mug down, only to find it had refilled itself. She picked it up again, staring suspiciously at the cider inside.

‘Magic...’ She thought, shaking her head in amazement. What was next, a refilling buffet table?

A sudden thought struck her. “Hey, Soarin, I wanna show you something.”

The stallion was eyeing off the food table, particularly the end laden down in the baked creations of Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “But I’m hungry…” He complained.

“It can wait, gutso.” Rainbow jeered.

“Not even a piece of pie?” Soarin pleaded.

Rainbow Dash let out a quiet huff, speeding over to the table, grabbing a piece of apple pie and a napkin for the stallion before returning in the space of a few seconds.

“Happy?” She asked.

Soarin made a noise though his snack which could’ve been interpreted as ‘Thanks’, cheerfully chewing his way through the pie just as messily as Rainbow remembered. She led him back out into the hall and down towards the map room. She pushed the door open, letting Soarin go in first.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, pretty cool.” She said proudly, floating up to the top of the room. The map room was even higher than the hall they’d left, the thick arches of crystal casting a dizzying patterns of reflected light across the floor. She hovered over to her throne, dropping into it sideways, leaning her back up against one of the side rests and draping one of her hindlegs over the other side. “I have a throne.” She boasted, flicking a bit of her mane out of her eyes.

Soarin settled into Rarity’s throne directly across the map from her. He stared at her for a few seconds, seemingly unable to quite find the words to voice his feelings. Rainbow felt a low heat rise in her cheeks as his gaze didn’t shift away.

“What this?” Soarin asked, finally breaking eye contact and pointing to the shimmering map with a hoof.

Rainbow leapt upright, jumping up onto the shimmering image. The map shimmered like water under the hoofsteps and a faint electric buzz tingled her hooves. “It’s a map of Equestria and beyond. I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to do, but it’s pretty cool.”

“Very cool. I wish I had one of these.” Soarin said enviously, jumping up onto the map next to her and staring down at the ripples that spread across the image. “How’d you get all this stuff?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Magic, I guess.”

“Magic.” Soarin sighed, partly out of wonder, partly out of frustration. “I want one.” He added, his face turning mischievous. He leapt up, crushing Canterlot with a hoof as he crossed the map before jumping off and walking over a small side table Twilight had laden with quills and other writing supplies.

Rainbow’s eyes widened with disbelief, understanding his meaning as he started scribbling. “You wouldn’t!” She laughed.

“I would.” Soarin grinned though a quill, drawing a very crude image of his cutie mark on one of the pieces of paper before waltzing back and pinning it over Rarity’s cutiemark with a bit of tape he’d found. “Much better.” He proclaimed.

“What are the element of? Pies?” Rainbow laughed. If Rarity had been here she would’ve been quite cross.

“Element of Good Food, I think.” Soarin replied with a chuckle. “You know what, I think I need another one.”

“Soarin!” Rainbow laughed as the stallion rushed back to the table, drawing another picture of his cutie mark, this time with the words ‘Soarin, Purveyor of Pie.’ scrawled underneath. His writing was about as neat as a Rainbow’s, which was to say it was barely legible. He taped this over Pinkie’s throne, grinning triumphantly.

“Still not enough me.” He said, running back and drawing up another crude picture and taping it over Applejack’s throne. This one read ‘Soarin, Patron Saint of Apples.’

“What have I done?” Rainbow asked, dropping to her haunches and laughing into her forehooves.

“Given me a nasty case of Egoitis, I heard it’s very infectious.” Soarin grinned stupidly. “You know what, you haven’t lived until you’ve deposed a real princess.” He reckoned aloud, drawing up another cutie mark and taping it over Twilight’s throne, this one bearing a small and very badly drawn crown. He drew up one last cutie mark, covering up Fluttershy’s throne as well for good measure.

“My friends are going to kill you.” Rainbow chuckled.

“They’d have to catch me first.” He said, suddenly looking rather thoughtful, “Actually…” He stared at Rainbows throne evilly.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Rainbow protested.

“Why not? I beat you twice the other night, may as well just not have your throne if you can’t even beat a slob like me.” Soarin pointed out.

“No, don’t you even think about it.” Rainbow growled, pawing her throne defensively.

“I am and you can’t stop me.” Soarin replied cheekily, jumping off Fluttershy’s throne and stepping over the map again towards the drawing table. Rainbow was too fast though, tackling him across the map with a playful growl.

“No! That’s my throne!” She barked as they collided.

They tumbled across the map, crushing several cities to dust and flattening the Macintosh Range to the ground. Their laughter echoed around the chamber as each vied for control. Soarin was stronger but Rainbow was a bit faster. Neither seemed to be able gain the upperhand over each other as they rolled and tumbled all across Equestria in a destructive whirlwind of curses, feathers and hooves. Eventually, Rainbow Dash prevailed, pinning Soarin’s back down across the middle of the map. She sat on his chest, using a hoof to pin his head against the magical projection of Cloudsdale. The map had whited out in some places in protest of their rough and tumble grapple, the colour only starting to slowly fade back in.

“My throne.” Rainbow growled into his ear.

“Your throne.” Soarin agreed. He let out a groan, his wings lying limply against the map’s surface like a massive sheet. “But only because I said so.”

“You let me win.” Rainbow observed, her eyes narrowing. She resisted the urge to poke Soarin’s muzzle with a hoof.

“Maybe.” Soarin panted, his chest rising and falling quickly. His bottle green eyes were gleaming mischievously, the usual fatigue completely missing. They stayed there for nearly a minute, Rainbow sitting astride his warm fuzzy chest, her rose eyes locked with his.

“We should probably head back now, somepony will notice us missing soon.” Rainbow said.

“Yeah.” Soarin agreed, though his expression said otherwise. He seemed perfectly happy to stick around the map room and keep mucking around, a sentiment she shared. The events that had transpired over the last few minutes suddenly came crashing down around Rainbow. It was a little too much to take in, she and Soarin were messing about at complete ease with each other and now she was sitting down on him, pressing him against the map and he seemed to be having fun. She had never imagined anything like this, nothing so spontaneous, so intimate with the stallion. Her muzzle seems to subconsciously crawl forward, a few inches of air all that separated her nose from bumping Soarin’s. It would have been trivially easy to do something stupid now…

The thought was enough to get her moving and she slid off him, letting the Wonderbolt sit up. He threw her a disarmingly friendly smile. “Maybe we’ll have have another round sometime, maybe I’ll actually try next time.” He said, getting out a crick in his neck.with a loud pop. If he seemed at all fazed by their close contact, he didn’t show it.

“What’s that? It sounds like you’re saying that you’re better than me.” Rainbow jeered, nearly butting heads with him again.

“Better? Nah, more like infinitely superior.” Soarin replied, placing a hoof on his chest smugly.

“Oh, big words.” Rainbow scoffed. “Come on, let’s get back and join the others, flyboy.”

Soarin bounced cheerfully over to door, hauling at open and waving Rainbow through, tipping an imaginary hat. “M’are.” He said completely straight-faced.

“Dork.” Rainbow hissed back, swishing her tail at him as she passed.

Soarin didn’t reply, hauling the door closed behind him and bouncing along behind Rainbow Dash cheerfully. He was talking about something or other but Rainbow really wasn’t paying attention, instead she was berating herself mentally for chickening out. It had seemed so natural but she’d somehow screwed it up. Classic.

‘No’ It was a good thing she’d backed out, an overt show of affection probably just would’ve either freaked him out or annoyed him. Soarin was probably involved with somepony anyway. She pushed the nagging thought out of her mind, rejoining the party as discreetly as possible. Luckily, everypony was distracted by one of Discord’s tricks, a few flying and dancing books from the looks of things, to notice she and Soarin reenter. Or so she thought.

A Pink blob seemingly jumped out from behind a pot plant at Rainbow. “Hi guys! Where’ve you been, huh?”

“Pinkie…” Rainbow said by way of greeting, her head slumping a little. “Soarin, this is Pinkie Pie, my elastically enthusiastic friend. Pinkie, I’m sure you already know who this is.”

Pinkie nodded happily, jumping over Rainbow Dash and putting a hoof around Soarin’s neck before he could escape. “Tell me,” Pinkie asked, glaring at Sorin suspiciously. “How did you win that pie-throwing contest? I’m the best pie-thrower around these parts and don’t let anypony tell you different.”

Soarin seemed slightly taken aback. “I… threw the pies?”

“As I suspected.” Pinkie hissed before brightening up. “You’re cool.”

Evidently seeing the potential sanity slippage that might occur if he stuck around, Soarin made a small gesture over to the food table. “Uh, if you two would excuse me a moment, there’s some food I need to acquaint myself with.” He said before breaking away to the long table covered in food.

“Typical pegasus.” Pinkie sighed as he scampered away. “Can only think about one of two things, both of which start with ‘F’.”

Rainbow threw her a sidewards glance, unsure of what she implying.

“I meant flying, Dashie.” Pinkie said, lending a rare moment of clarity to her thoughts. “Jeez, Freud was right!”

“Who?” Rainbow asked.

Pinkie shook her head slightly, seemingly disappointed. “Not important.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes slightly. As much as she loved Pinkie, she confused her more often than not. At least she seemed to have forgotten about interrogating Rainbow on where she’d been, her short attention span was as much of a blessing as it was a curse sometimes.

“So where’d you two sneak off to before?” Pinkie asked as if she’d just read Rainbow’s thoughts.

Rainbow cursed Pinkie’s apparent omniscience. She made a faint bleating noise, caught slightly flat-footed. “I showed Soarin the map.” She eventually said.

This seemed to satisfy Pinkie. “Hm, fair enough. Did I hear sounds of animals fighting before?”

“I’m sure it was just your imagination.”

Pinkie shrugged, her gaze wandering over to Soarin as he helped himself to the food table. Rainbow couldn’t help but stare either, as if Pinkie were somehow directing her gaze.

“He’s cute.” Pinkie sighed wistfully “And just a little dorky.”

‘Definitely.’ Rainbow thought silently.

“You two would make cute kids.” Pinkie said aimlessly..

Rainbow’s jaw dropped with shock, her face instantly burning hot red in embarrassment. Words couldn’t describe how thankful she was that Soarin had left to get food and hadn’t heard her friend’s comment. “Pinkie-.”

“Duh, Of course! You guys have to get married first. Lots of parties for me to plan and put together. Maybe you could do something with clouds, clouds are nice and fluffy and you can make so many cute things with them.”

“Pinkie.”

“But what am I saying,” She continued oblivious to Rainbow’s embarrassment, “You have to go on a few dates first, maybe I should something for you together back at Sugarcube Corner, Soarin really likes pie doesn’t he, maybe I can make a special one for him, how exciting! What’s his favourite filling, apple? Pear? Apple and-.” Pinkie’s ramble was cut off as Rainbow forcible forced her mouth shut.

“Not another word.” She hissed, too embarrassed to be cross.

Soarin trotted back over, bringing a massive platter stacked high with food with him. He eyed Pinkie and Rainbow curiously. Rainbow could only hope that she wasn’t blushing as furiously as her cheeks were burning.

“Do I wanna know?” He asked slowly.

“No,” Rainbow asid simply, shaking Pinkie’s head in unison with hers. She released Pinkie’s motor mouth cautiously.

“Oh, we were just talking about you-.” Her rambling was thankfully cut off midway as Twilight, having dealt with her small book crisis, jumped up onto a table and called the room to order.

“Everypony!” She called slightly pissedly. “I think it’s time for the thing where we give stuff to each other.”

Rainbow stifled a chortle, she’d never seen Twilight drunk before. There were a few cheers and the guests starting drifting over to the large tree which dominated the room. The three cutie-mark crusaders were already there, sorting through the presents in their usual enthusiastic attitude. Everypony in attendance had been given somepony else to get a gift for, along with some gift ideas, giving the result that everypony got one present from somepony else. Rainbow had been given Pinkie Pie as her giftee and she’d gotten the pink party pony a new beanie, a two-toned blue thing with massive flaps on the sides, a small bobble on top and Pinkie’s cutie mark embroidered on the front.

Twilight went on, drawing names out of a hat and levitating the gifts towards their recipients. Rarity got a set of diamond encrusted fabric scissors from Fluttershy, Twilight, very thoughtfully, got a stack of pre-discordian history books from Discord himself and Scootaloo got a few fancy gadgets for her scooter from Pinkie, of all ponies.

“I half expected a rubber chicken.” Soarin chuckled in her ear. He himself had gotten another set of night-tinted flight goggles, something which seemed a little pointless to Rainbow, but Soarin seemed to enjoy them all the same. Maybe he was a collector or something.

“Knowing Pinkie…” Rainbow muttered, throwing a look at the pony. she was jumping up and down in place next to Rarity, talking with the fashionista in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. The long tabs on the side of her new beanie flapping up and down with her jumps like they were trying to fly away.

“Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow looked around at the sudden sound, her eyes widening a little as a present threw through the air and landed squarely across her muzzle. She went crosseyed looking at it, the purple and blue striped wrapping paper looked rather familiar. She pulled the gift off her face, it felt soft and was light, like a pair of socks or a scarf. She recognised the wrapping as Soarin's work, she’d noticed the messy lines of tape and rough folds when he’d first landed. A knot of apprehension rose up in her throat, everypony was looking at her now, even Discord had stopped showing off the pair of ‘chaosified’ reading glasses that Sweetie Belle had thoughtfully gotten for him. She gave Soarin a sidewards glance before tearing the wrapping paper off, revealing a long, flowing scarf.

“It’s a D-Team scarf, only issued to members of the Wonderbolts flight demonstration squadron ” Soarin explained. “There’s probably only a hundred of those at most out in the public. a real collector’s item.”

The scarf was a striking royal blue a few shades darker than the Wonderbolt’s signature flight suits, broken by several thick bands of pale yellow. The flight squadron’s motto, ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!’, was printed in delicate yellow script along one end of the scarf with their insignia, a winged lightningbolt, above it. At the other end, Soarin’s name was printed in small block letters.

“This is yours!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Yours now,” Soarin said cheerfully. “Don’t worry, they gave me another one with mt rank on it when I got promoted.”

Rainbow wrapped the scarf around her neck. It was very soft and comfortable, nothing like any scarf she’d worn before. It felt like something that’d be warm and wouldn’t slow her down. “Thanks, Soarin… I love it.”

She dared to give him a quick wing-hug, awkwardly draping her wing over his back in a motion somewhere between a hug and a slap on the back.

“No worries.” Soarin beamed, his eyes flickering to something overhead. A vague look of surprise crossed his features, his mouth sort of curling up into a half-smile. “Huh…”

“Wh-.” Rainbow started before looking up herself. A bundle of mistletoe was hovering above her, suspended in the air by the telltale glow of a unicorn’s levitation. She stared at it for a few seconds, a knot tying itself in her stomach. No way somepony was that immature.

She finally found her voice, turning on the unicorn in question. “Rarity!” Rainbow squealed indignantly. The icy blue shimmer around the mistletoe was more than enough for her to figure out who had shifted it above her and Soarin.

Rarity feigned ignorance, silently proclaiming her innocence in a rather over the top fashion. A few heckling calls and whistles from some of her other friends forced her onto the backhoof and she shrunk back in embarrassment. Soarin seemed remarkably unconcerned with the development, simply staring at the floating bundle of leaves like they were simply another piece of food. Besides the obnoxiously cute sort of smile he wore, his face betrayed how he felt.

While she was initially taken aback by his non-response, It swiftly occurred to Rainbow that this was probably fairly normal stuff for Soarin; fans going gaga over him was probably a regular occurrence. His apparent indifference stung her pride, while she wasn’t afraid to admit she was a ‘fan’, she had hoped that Soarin saw her as more than that; as a friend. The way he had acted around her and the way he seemed so at ease had obviously given her the wrong idea.

‘What are you stupid, the guy likes you.’ She thought, ‘Quit being such a scaredy-cat.’

After another brief moment of hesitation she moved in, giving the stallion a delicate kiss on the cheek before retreating, a furious blush building across her face. Her gut felt like it had just a backflip in excitement, despite the embarrassment, it had been totally worth it.

“Enjoying yourself?” Soarin asked wryly, finally saying something.

“I just did that so everypony else would be quiet, it’s not like I like you or anything.” She said, trying to sound unperturbed but instead managing an awkward mumble. Her words were thankfully being drowned out by several of her friends spontaneously cheering. She scowled at everypony, feeling slightly cheated out of what should’ve been an exciting moment. Thankfully their attention didn’t last, Twilight continued on passing out presents and one by one, the party continued on as before. Soarin didn’t move away, wearing a stupid little half-smile that made Rainbow want to give him a solid thump in the ribs.

Not wanting to draw further attention to herself she resisted the urge, settling for a soft scowl instead. She made a commitment to bring it up with Soarin’s, one way or another, sometime later if the opportunity presented itself when they were alone again. In the meantime, she had a party to enjoy.

***

The opportunity Rainbow Dash was looking for didn’t come up until the party had wound down. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were one of the last groups to the leave the party. Discord had vanished back into his chaotic realms, Applejack, Big Mac and the Crusaders had left for the farm and it was well past midnight before the two pegasi left Twilight’s castle, leaving the slightly drunk alicorn in the good care of Spike. It really hadn’t seemed like all long a time, Rainbow had spent the rest of the evening mostly talking with Twilight and Applejack, giving Pinkie and Rarity dirty looks whenever they passed by. While she didn’t directly talk to Soarin much, she listened on many of his conversations, listening on in wonder as he told some ridiculous story from his time serving with the Wonderbolts. They danced, Soarin displaying a complete lack of talent like he had when they’d danced at Shining Armour’s wedding. Rainbow Dash was a little tired and enjoying the buzz , an almost ticklish sensation in her hooves, wings and across her face, from one too many of Applejack’s ciders. As they stepped back outside, the cold air knocking the breath from Rainbow’s lungs like hammer, she couldn’t help but smile. She must of looked particularly stupid as Soarin couldn’t help but stare bemusedly.

“What?” Rainbow asked, trying to stifle a laugh at the innocent expression Soarin adopted.

“What?” Soarin replied, cracking a thin smile at her expense.

“I asked first.”

Soarin shrugged his head slightly. “Well you just looked so darn pleased with yourself…” He pulled what Rainbow felt was a poor imitation of her expression.

“I do not look like that!” Rainbow squealed with protest, trying not to break down laughing at Soarin’s scrunched up face. Soarin looked absolutely ridiculous, like a clown at a circus.

“Should I go back to Twilight and get a mirror?” Soarin asked , pausing for a moment and motioning back towards Twilight’s castle.

Rainbow let out a chortle, unable to keep her mirth bottled up.

“See, you’re doing it right now!” Soarin pointed out cheekily. He looked like he was more alive than normal, the normally tired, almost sleepy look he usually held nowhere to be seen.

Rainbow poked her tongue out at him, ungraciously bumping her flank against his. Rainbow felt so at ease with him that she had even forgotten to maintain her reserved attitude. It took her a moment to realise that her left wing was slightly unfolded, the tip trailing along the stallion’s cutiemark idly. She quickly withdrew it, thankful that Soarin didn’t comment on the rather overt and intimate show of affection. They reached the town square without further incident, Soarin trotting silently alongside alongside Rainbow Dash. He looked rather chipper despite the late hour and the few ciders he’d drunk, an almost mischievous look in his eye. Neither pegasi seemed to want to start, the silence stretched on for so long that Rainbow wondered if they’d still be in the square when the sun rose.

“This was…” Rainbow Dash finally started, rolling the sentence around uncertainly.

“...Fun.” Soarin finished, coming to a halt roughly in the centre of the town square. It was late enough that only the most stubborn or thick-skinned of ponies were out in the streets, enjoying the now surprisingly clear and crisp night. Outside of the warm glow of the magical lanterns, several centimeters of soft snow had fallen, giving the landscape a white and blue sheen. Overhead, thousands of stars turned slowly in the sky, the moon a faint sliver near the western horizon.

If it wasn’t so cold that Rainbow’s wings were shivering against her sides it might have been a bit more enjoyable. Even with Soarin’s scarf wrapped around her neck it was almost annoyingly cold.

Soarin seemed to take the cold with the same sort of phlegmatic attitude he seemed to adopt when he encountered something troublesome, brushing it off as easily as he would a few snowflakes off his snout. He, at least, seemed to be enjoying the view.

“You don’t get this in Cloudsdale that much. Too many lights.” He said, staring up at the sky absently.

“Huh.” Rainbow muttered, mindlessly following his gaze. The cold seemed quite forgotten as the pair stood in the middle of the square, staring up at the stars for several more minutes in silence.

“Thanks for inviting me Rainbow, I really enjoyed myself.” Soarin said suddenly, licking his lips nervously. “Just…”

Rainbow tensed up involuntarily, her fur pricking up from something that wasn’t the cold. “What?” She asked mockingly when it became obvious Soarin was a little stuck. She’d made the assumption he always had words for whatever situation he might be in, Rainbow found it a little amusing to see Soarin tripping over himself.

‘Just get on with it you goof.’ She thought, impatiently. The aura of uncertainty hanging around Soarin was almost palpable. Rainbow finally let out a quiet huff, saving Soarin the trouble of talking by leaning in and kissing him on the mouth. His wings reflexively shot out in surprise, his eyes dilating to small pricks. He recovered quickly though, pushing back against her slightly with a content sound. Rainbow broke the contact after a few moments, infinitely relieved that Soarin was smiling.

“Well... I guess that works as well.” He smirked. “You know, you could’ve saved yourself the embarrassment by kissing me earlier.”

“I knew it!” Rainbow yelled at him, flicking a bunch of snow at him with a sweep of her wing. “You jerk! Why didn’t you say something?” She growled “Or do something?”

“Why didn’t you do something. Jeez?” Soarin asked sarcastically, flicking snow back at Rainbow Dash with a wing.

“I was waiting for you, you goof!” Rainbow yelped, ducking under the sheet of snow and throwing more back at him.

The flinging escalated to a full on fight, Rainbow Dash and Soarin soon throwing snow at snow at each other with wide sweeps of their wings and loud laughter. Unable to force him into submission with mere snow, Rainbow pounced on Soarin mid-sweep, sending the two tumbling into a deep drift. A brief tussle ensured, loose snow flying in every direction as the two pegasi rolled and brawled, burying themselves deeper into the bank

“You even trying this time?” Soarin asked, quickly pinning Dash beneath his greater weight. Now it was his turn to proudly pin her to the ground.

“You’re fat.” Rainbow complained, struggling to free herself to no avail. Soarin had her trapped good and proper, his forelegs holding hers down while he straddled her waist. She squirmed again, prompting another laugh from the stallion.

“Do I win?” He asked.

“You win.” Rainbow hissed grudgingly. “Just get your fat rump off of me.”

Soarin didn’t move, instead booping her on the nose with a hoof..”So, you busy next Saturday night?” He asked nonchalantly.

“No.” Rainbow grumped, wishing Soarin would get off her. Surely he’d made his point by now.

“Good, it’s a date then. I’ll come by your place then and we’ll go somewhere nice. You don’t mind flying a bit do you?”

Rainbow gave him a flat look, wondering why she’d ever liked the dork sitting on top of her in the first place. Maybe if he was a few kilos lighter she’d have been able to unseat him, but Soarin was just a little too heavy to budge.

“Soarin!” She complained. “Please!”

“Oh, sure, you only had to say please.” He grinned, sliding off her and lying in the snow beside her. He hummed idly for a moment and then started making shapes in the snow, wiggling his legs and wings to shift the fine powder around.

Rainbow scowled at him, her pride stinging. “Next time, I’m going to win.” She growled. “And when I do, I’m going to truss you up, cover you in honey and let my turtle eat it off you.”

“I always loved sensual thrillers.” Soarin drawled, shaking a few clumps of snow out of his mane.He sat up, shaking his whole body like a dog and sending snow in every direction and eliciting another cry of protest from Rainbow. Soarin glanced down at her, his bottle-green eyes shimmering cheerfully. He looked the least tired Rainbow had ever seen him. “So, next Saturday then?”

“Yeah.” Rainbow agreed crossly. Truthfully, she couldn’t be more excited, but there was no use in letting the stallion think he was off the hook just yet.

He didn’t seem to care, seeing through her cranky mood easily enough. “Where do you live anyway?” Soarin asked.

“Around.” Rainbow answered vaguely.

“Well if your house is as subtle as you are, I’ll have no trouble finding it.” Soarin replied, poking his tongue out cheekily.

Rainbow couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Suppose not.”

“Hehe! You smiled, I’m off the hook!” Soarin giggled in a surprisingly girly fashion, darting a few metres into the air and out of easy reach.

“Since when?”

“Since then, that’s when.” Soarin answered cheekily. He gave her a faux salute and turned to leave, flipping his flight goggles back down over his eyes. “See you next Saturday!” He shouted down to her before zipping off like a bolt of lightning.

Rainbow watched him go for a moment before she collapsed back into the snowbank at the edge of the square tiredly, she was too excited too care about the cold slushy snow beneath her or the occasional gust of freezing wind which swept over the square. The whole evening seemed a little too surreal. An actual opportunity to spend time with Soarin was a bit beyond her initial expectations, never mind managing to steal some affection from the stallion. Quickly checking that nopony else was lurking about the edges of the square that could eavesdrop on on her, she let out a squeal of excitement, her wings flapping against the snow and her legs kicking the air joyfully.

Undoubtedly, this had been the best night ever.

Author's Note

I was writing stuff for my other stories and got distracted. This is what happened. Strange that.

I've got a few other chapters in a really really really early draft/planning stage but I'm not sure if they'll ever see the light of day. Depending on how I feel, that 'Complete' tag may turn into 'Incomplete' at a later date.

I've been wanting to write a new Soarindash thing since... Rainbow Falls aired, I think. That was only like a year and a half ago, great job me!

A Serious Conversation

A Serious Conversation

It's (Not) a Date
Chapter 2: A Serious Conversation

Rainbow Dash prowled around the edge of her cloud-home restlessly, occasionally turning her head skywards and searching the heavens.

Soarin was late. Again.

She cursed to herself quietly, wondering if punctuality was something the Wonderbolt even understood the concept of. They’d been on a few dates now, and each one Soarin had invariably been late to collect her. Not only late, but consistently late almost to the minute. She’d decided by now that he was either precisely uncoordinated or just taking the mickey out of her. When she had brought it up last time she’d seen him, Soarin had only laughed, so she suspected it was more the later.

Rainbow grumbled irritably to herself, burying her face deeper into the scarf Soarin had gotten her for Hearth’s Warming. What in Equestria could make Soarin so consistently late?

“Hey Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash squealed and jumped at the unexpected voice, spinning around to find Soarin hanging upside down from one of the eaves of her house. He was stuck fast to the cloud like he had been glued there, lying upside down without a worry in the world. She swiftly regained her composure, huffing and puffing indignantly at him.

“How long have you been there?!” She hissed.

“Long enough.” Soarin replied, yawning lazily and giving her a rather unfazed smile. He looked very tired, the bags under his eyes were certainly heavier than normal and Soarin’s mane was filled with many unkempt locks.

Rainbow Dash hopped from hoof to hoof irritably, blushing and puffing her chest out defensively. “You are the worst.” She growled.

Soarin smiled, sweeping his wings open and leisurely hovering in front of her. He bumped the tip of his snout against hers. “You’re the best.” Soarin giggled.

Rainbow let him have his fun, she’d get him back later. Somehow.

“So, where are we going this time?” She asked boredly. “Your idea of a romantic movie? Dinner at some idiotic fancy restaurant you know? An outrageously expensive ‘trendy’ bar owned by some friend?”

“Nope.” Soarin respondedly with a toothy grin. “We’re doing paintball. Might want this.” He added, throwing a bundled up white jacket at her.

Rainbow looked at the jacket suspiciously, it smelt a little used. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Wear it, look pretty and not ask questions.” Soarin replied snarkily.

Rainbow gave him an equally dry look in return, pulling one of the sleeves down her leg. “So where is this place?” She asked, blatantly defying his request for no questions.

“Little place about half an hour north of here.” Soarin explained. “There’s a big wooded area which we regularly use to play paintball.”

“We? Ha, what’s the losing streak like?” Rainbow asked.

“Funny.” Soarin jeered, taking flight and heading north, leaving Rainbow to follow him. He set a brisk but lazy pace, not wanting to turn the thing into a race.

“You look tired.” Rainbow commented idly as they cruised north.

“I am.” Soarin remarked in a remarkably unconversational manner. She decided to not press the issue and quickly changed the topic.

Rainbow smiled. “You know, I didn’t think you’d do all these sorts of things.”

Soarin’s appetite for conversation seemed to return. “What sort of things?”

“These things. Fun things.” Rainbow explained, her voice cracking slightly as she gestured enthusiastically. “I thought you’d be real busy with all your practice and stuff.”

“You’re right, I usually don’t. We’re in our off-season actually, we’re back on in a couple weeks or so.” Soarin said with an evident note of cheerfulness. “We only have one show for some festival in Canterlot next week and that’s it.”

“Suppose you won’t have much time next month then?” She asked.

“Not nearly as much as I’d like.” Soarin agreed, a grin forcing its way onto his face. “Next season ought to be good though.” He added in a tone which suggested he knew something she didn’t.

“What, what is it?” Rainbow demanded, taking the bait he’d so casually left for her, “Why are you grinning like that?”

Soarin didn’t bother trying to hide his smirk. “Well, I can’t really say…” He drawled. “Might have to kill you if I told you.”

“Tell me!” Rainbow snapped curiously, doing a flip and slapping the side of his face with her wing. “Come one Soarin, you can’t just leave me hanging after you say something like that!” She pouted.

Soarin made a show of giving in. “Fine, fine. But you didn’t hear it from me.” He winked. “So, you heard about what happened with High Winds right?”

Rainbow nodded, it had been all over the papers for the last few days. “Retiring, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, the old girl had a pretty bad crash the other day during rehearsal for our gig. She won’t be able to fly in the show and has decided to call it quits. Pity, she’s a damn good flier, I’ll miss her. We all will.” Soarin sighed sadly. “She’s been part of the Wonderbolts for nearly twenty years, that’s incredible to think about.”

“I’m sure there’s a point to this.” Rainbow said suspiciously, her heart already beating fast with excitement. Why else would Soarin bring up a vacancy in the Wonderbolts with her?

Soarin grinned stupidly. “Yeah, we’ll need somepony to replace her for the show.” He said. “You, if Spitfire’s talk and that letter that was sent out on Friday is anything to go by. ”

Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat. “And her spot on the team..?”

Soarin floated under her upside down, giving her a roundabout look. “Well...” He rolled the word around, savouring the exasperated look Rainbow adopted.

Rainbow knocked him out of the sky, sending them tumbling into a thick cloud bank. She pinned him down under her with an indignant scowl, her nose nearly brushing up against his. She glared at him silently, demanding an answer to her unspoken question.

“You are so cute when you’re angry.” Soarin said cheerfully, tapping her on the snout with a hoof. “Boop.”

Rainbow blushed furiously. “Shut up! Tell me! Or I will end you.” She spluttered.

Soarin smiled goofily, giving her muzzle another delicate tap. “Sure you will.” He said cheekily.

Rainbow collapsed on him, eliciting a gasp of surprise as her full weight slammed down on Soarin’s belly. “I hate you so much.” She growled into his chest, unable to think about anything else but the vacant position. Why would Soarin tell her something like that only to leave the answer up in the air?

Soarin laughed, slowly wrapping his hooves around her and pulling her into a tight hug. She enjoyed the warmth of his body, his soft fuzzy fur and calm, steady breathing for a few moments before remembering she was supposed to be cross with him and squirmed free with a huff.

“I’m sorry, did I..?” Soarin asked with a hint of concern.

“It’s fine, Soarin.” Rainbow interrupted. “Just won’t be able to stop thinking about it now, that’s all. It’s sort of a big deal for me.” She chuckled nervously, that was an understatement if ever she’d said one.

“I get it.” Soarin replied. “I’m sorry, I should’ve just let you find out yourself in the next few days.”

“And have me tear you apart for not telling me earlier?” Rainbow laughed.

Soarin grimaced. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. You’re a special one, Rainbow Dash.” He said with a faint smirk. “Now unless you want to be late, I suggest you refrain from tackling me into any more clouds. It’s best not to keep our team waiting.”

***

It took another twenty minutes to reach their destination, a heavily wooded area near a village near the foothills of Canterlot. The town was covered in a fresh layer of snow and a nearby river was still iced over.

“Down there.” Soarin indicated, suddenly diving towards a small collection of huts near the edge of the woods.

“Your idea of a weekend retreat?” Rainbow asked.

“Not quite.” Soarin laughed, smartly flaring his wings and touching down next to a group of ponies which seemed to simply jump out of the heavy snow cover. Rainbow landed beside him, a jolt of surprise shooting up her spine as she recognised the other six ponies

‘He didn’t say the other Wonderbolts would be here!’ She thought, sweeping her eyes across the group and suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She knew them all of course; the young and loud-mouthed Wave Chill, calm and quiet Blaze, Fleetfoot and her distinctive rasping voice, Misty Fly and her cold, vacant eyes, the flamboyant Lighting Streak and of course, Spitfire and her blazing mane.

“Ah, so this is your guest.” Spitfire remarked to Soarin. She didn’t seem all that surprised to see Rainbow Dash. She turned her cool gaze to Rainbow. “Hello.”

Rainbow waved back timidly. She hadn’t expected Soarin to drop this on her.

Spitfire smiled. “I’m sure we’re all familiar so we’ll skip the introductions.” She nodded at Blaze. “Kit for these two.”

“On it ma’am.” He replied, bouncing away to a nearby shed and returning with two harnesses.

“Ever played paintball, Rainbow?” Spitfire asked, eyes blazing hotly under a pair of snow goggles.

“Can’t say I have.” Rainbow replied uncertainly as Blaze dumped a harness, a short stubby paintball gun and an ammunition hopper at her hooves.

Spitfire shot Soarin a flat look. “Well, since you’ve been kind enough to dump a rookie on us Soarin, you can show her the ropes.” She looked back at Rainbow. “No offense. We’re used to playing against experienced teams. Come meet us at the staging area when you’re ready.”

“I won’t let you down then.” Rainbow replied, her pride stinging slightly as Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts trotted off towards the woods.

Soarin stepped over to her, flashing her an apologetic smile. “I’m sure you know Spitfire can be a bit competitive.” He whispered, picking up the harness in his mouth and slipping it over her head. He tightened the straps around her shoulders with a little too much enthusiasm before attaching the gun to the side and dropping a white helmet over her head. Fully rigged, the gun rested by her side, a small handle hanging in front of her mouth.

“Alright, easy enough really.” Soarin explained, tapping the handle. “Just give this thingymajig a tug with your mouth when you want to shoot. You can aim by moving your head, this thingy will automatically follow..”

“Thingy.” Rainbow echoed dubiously.

Soarin gave her a slap on the back of her helmet. “Just don’t shoot me in the back of the head and you’ll do fine. We have blue pellets, the other team has green ones so I’ll know if you tag me.”

“Who is the other team?” Rainbow asked,shifting her head and watching the aiming ‘thingy’ respond a moment later. Seemed easy enough, no doubt there was some magical trickery involved in its design.

“This week? A bunch of Royal Guards I think.” Soarin answered, dropping a pair of safety goggles over her eyes before assembling his own rig. His was much more complex, feature several additional straps and lots of webbing which hung to the front like lichen. Soarin probably could’ve carried a small banquet in his jacket if he had wanted. As if hearing her thoughts he pulled out a bag of roasted nuts.

‘If he offers me a damn peanut again I’ll shoot his stupid smug face.’ She thought.

He looked at her, as if he’d somehow heard her thoughts again. His bottle-green eyes shimmered mischievously. Soarin fiddled with the packet slightly..

“Don’t you even dare think about it.” She growled, softly putting a hoof over his mouth before he could speak.

“Oh, I was going to talk to you about that free spot on the team, but if you insist.” Soarin said without hesitation, putting the packet away and shrugging indifferently. He pulled a pair of glasses out of another pocket and swaggered off after the other Wonderbolts, humming cheerfully.

Rainbow stared after him in incredulously, wondering how somepony hadn’t beaten Soarin up yet. She gawped after him for another minute before hurrying to catch up.

***

After a short briefing from Spitfire at the edge of the woods, the eight pegasi moved past the treeline and split up into two teams, Spitfire leading Lightning Streak, Blaze and Fleetfoot while Soarin took Misty, Wave Chill and Rainbow. They spread out, about two hundred metres or so between the two groups and started to sweep through the woods. Wave Chill took the lead, constantly talking about how he was the best shot in the group to them all at large. He seemed to be trying to impress Rainbow with his stories, but she found his barrage of nasal boasting quite uninspiring.

‘Mediocre,’ Rainbow thought boredly, wondering how somepony like Wave Chill had become a Wonderbolt. Anything he was boasting about she could almost certainly do better, not to mention half of the things he was bragging about seemed like obvious, made up stories to impress some cheap half-witted hanger-oner.

Rainbow drifted away from him.and tried making idle talk with Misty Fly but the Wonderbolt was hardly a talker, only replying curtly to a few of Rainbow’s prompts before dropping the conversation. Even if she had been, Rainbow was starting to find the pegasus incredibly unsettling. Though the rest of her face was normal, her eyes were flat and dead, almost like those on a shark or a doll. Rainbow eventually dropped back towards Soarin, the complete lack of activity starting to drive her mad.

“Well this is… fun.” Rainbow muttered to him, jumping up onto a large log that had fallen across their path.

“Oh yeah, so fun.” Soarin smiled, deliberately ignoring her sarcastic tone. “Nothing like a midnight stroll in the woods. The paintball shootouts are just a bonus.”

Rainbow wrinkled up her muzzle. “As far as dates go, I guess it isn’t too bad. Better than your idea to go to an art gallery, even if I was featured in it.” She agreed hesitantly. “Could’ve told me you’d have half of the Wonderbolts joining in though.” She added, jumping down from the log as Misty and Wave Chill moved up. She still felt strange saying ‘date’. It hardly felt like anything like what she’d been made to expect by some of her friends, it was way too casual, too carefree. Soarin still treated her much the same as he had before they had started dating, though he was certainly teasing her more.

Soarin chuckled softly, “I wouldn’t say that too loud.”

Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “Eh?”

He smiled dangerously “Spitfire would probably geld me if she found out we were dating. I haven’t told any of them actually and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Really?” Rainbow scoffed, surprised that Soarin was hesitant about that of all things. She scanned the surrounding trees warily before moving up to where Wave Chill was covering for them.

“Oh yeah, you’re her ‘Wonderchild’. She loves you, but only because of what your talent can bring to the team, not cause she likes you in particular or anything ” Soarin explained diplomatically, whistling at Wave Chill and waving him forward again.

“Hmm. Didn’t you nearly have me kicked out once?” Rainbow ribbed lightheartedly.

“That was one time, jeez.” Soarin sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically. “I never really thought you would’ve sent Spitfire away on a goose chase. I don’t think any of us did.”

Rainbow wasn’t quite ready to let him live it down. “Sure didn’t seem that way at the time.”

“Well excuse me if somepony around here has something called appearances to keep.” Soarin said with the appropriate amount of sass. “Sorry, by the way.” He added in his normal tone.

“Hey, are you two just going to play hoofsies all night or are you actually going to pay attention?” Wave Chill whined from the front of the group, chewing furiously on a stick of gum.

“Jealous?” Soarin asked, giving Rainbow an overt wink.

“Yeah, sure. whatever.” Wave Chill grumbled back, clearly irritated that Soarin had seemingly hit it off with Rainbow while he hadn’t, “Could use your eyes for something else other than ogling Rainbow Dash’s arse though.”

“Would you rather me ogle yours?” Soarin asked back, always one to have the last word in.

Wave Chill clacked his teeth together irritably, shooting a look at Misty as if pleading the mare to back him up.

“How about you all just shut up and stop giving our position away.” Misty said boredly. “In any case, she’s certainly more attractive than you, Wave Chill.”

“Wow, Misty, could you be any funnier?” Wave Chill groaned sarcastically.

“I was being serious, there was no humour intended” Misty replied with a frown.

Soarin and Rainbow chuckled softly. “Thanks, Misty.” Rainbow said, giving the Wonderbolt small smile.

Misty returned it, her eyes staring back at her with that same lifeless look .

‘And now she’s creepy.’ Rainbow thought, quickly breaking eye contact with Misty. There was something very wrong about the way her eyes pierced her, it was far too vacant, like she was somewhere else completely.

“Oh, I see how it is…” Wave Chill muttered before letting out a squeal of surprise as a soft puff sounded and a green splat exploded against the tree next to him.

“Cover!” Soarin yelled as the forest seemed to come alive all at once. Small puffs and cracks of air sounded everywhere and paintballs started flying in every direction. Wave Chill was too slow or too unlucky to heed the warning, half a dozen green splotches breaking out over his chest.

“Good job being the fire magnet!” Soarin laughed, returning fire on a dark shape which rose up beside a tree. A flurry of curses answered his shots, Rainbow could only presume he’d hit home.

Wave Chill gave him a silent, indignant glare, still standing in the middle of the mini-warzone. He gave Soarin a crude gesture with one of his wings before stomping off the way they’d come, ignoring the splattering and whizzing of paint balls around him.

“Hoho, he’s not happy.” Soarin smirked, enjoying his teammate’s misfortune far more than Rainbow would’ve expected.

Rainbow didn’t know what to do, she could see shapes moving in the trees but she didn’t think she could hit any of them at this range. She decided to just keep her head down and avoid the ‘deadly’ puffs whizzing every which way overhead. She heard a stick break behind her and spun around, immediately spotting a unfamiliar brown unicorn emerging from behind a bush. He swore and fired a burst which flew over her head.

Rainbow didn’t hesitate, firing a stream of pellets back and stitching a line of coloured paint across his helmet and torso. She laughed as the unicorn looked down at the mess defeatedly, now this was fun!

She ducked behind a broad tree, peeked her head out to see if the area was clear and moved again. She didn’t notice the ash-grey unicorn hiding behind the tree, waiting for her, until she’d was well past him.

“Oh…” Rainbow squeaked, suddenly finding a slick black barrel half an inch from her muzzle. There was no time to do anything before the grinning unicorn hefting the weapon squeezed off a burst, a hard smack impacting her cheek a split second later. A second, third and fourth burst coated her goggles, the point-blank shots cracking the hard plastic and blinding her with dark green paint. She fell back with a squeal of pain, another two shots catching the other side of her face. Even though she was down the barrage continued, the unicorn evidently avenging his friend by taking his frustration out on her.

“Stop it!” Rainbow yelled, covering her face with her hooves, but the royal guard didn’t listen.

He only stopped when Soarin emerged like a ghost behind him and bashed his head against the side of the tree with a growl. Before the guard could react, Soarin ripped the guard’s gun free of its telekinetic field. In a single motion, the Wonderbolt twisted the gas cylinder off with an irritated huff, placing it in the droves of webbing which covered his torso.

“Hey! No contact!” The guard snapped, rubbing the side of his helmeted head.

“You’ve hurt her, you idiot.” Soarin growled, his glare obvious even through his goggles. “She was already down.”

The guard bristled. “And?”

Soarin shot the guard’s chestplate without breaking eye contact. “And you’re going to go back to the staging area, wait for your CO and tell him how much of a bad boy you’ve been.” He explained levelly, taking another step closer.

The guard glared back silently, staring down Soarin as if he was wondering if he could take him one on one.

“Sorry.” He eventually muttered, barely giving Rainbow so much as a glance before storming off.

“You’ve got damn feathers in your brainpan, ya Richard cranium.” Rainbow heard Soarin snarl after him before he plodded over. The firefight seemed to have ended as quickly as it started. Misty was off to their right, unmarked by paint and Wave Chill had reemerged from the darkness, already whining loudly about how it was somepony else’s fault,

Soarin dropped to his haunches by her side, giving her a concerned look. “You alright?” He asked, fishing around in his webbing for something.

“If you ask me that again, I’ll geld you myself.” Rainbow groaned, lifting her broken goggles off her face and blinking to clear a few splotches from her vision. Soarin laughed, pulling a cloth free and wiping away the worst of the smear. Her face hurt like it had been stung by a nest of bees but it was bearable.

“This idiot must have overpressurised his gas tank.” He frowned with concern, the cloth coming away with a few smears of blood and green paint where the pellets had broken skin. He poked her a little too hard, sending a sharp lance of pain through Rainbow’s skull. She kicked out reflexively, catching Soarin’s muzzle with the tip of her hoof.

He rubbed his jaw. “Ow.”

“Sorry…” Rainbow apologised meekly.

“Wow, she hits you more than Hurricane does.” Wave Chill jeered off to their right. He was rewarded with a kick to the gut from Misty, the mare giving him a decidedly furious gesture to stop talking. She slowly turned her cold gaze on Rainbow.her dead eyes never changing, even when her face bore a look of obvious concern.

“You’re injured.” She stated bluntly.

“Yeah, thanks for noticing.” Rainbow grumbled back as Soarin swabbed one of the cuts on her face with a disinfectant. She winced but refrained from kicking out again.

Misty nodded, dropping to her haunches and helping Soarin while Wave Chill cursed and spluttered, evidently Misty had kicked him quite hard in a somewhat sensitive spot.

A few moments later the rest of the Wonderbolts materialised out of the trees with Spitfire at the head of the loose formation. The mare’s fiery mane was partially hidden beneath a mottled white hoodie and a thick scarf which had been pulled down around her neck.

“We got them all. What happened here?” She demanded, her glare immediately snapping to the two pegasi tending to Rainbow.

“Dash got injured.” Soarin explained. “An idiot with a high-pressure gun at point-blank range.”

Spitfire muttered a curse much fouler than anything Rainbow had heard before, she ground her teeth together, her face forming a harsh scowl.

“I’m okay though.” Rainbow offered meekly, since nopony had bothered to ask.

This didn’t seem to cheer Spitfire up any. “Get her out of here, we’re done for tonight. I don’t want anypony else hurt by these featherheads.” She snapped. “I’m going to go find this moron and rip his ears off.” The Wonderbolt’s captain growled before vanishing back into the trees. The other Wonderbolts watched her go, concern etched on their faces. She was helped up by Lightning Streak and Soarin and the group made their way back towards the staging area.

“Poor foal.” Soarin whispered, shaking his head. “That guard won’t know what hit him.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Rainbow asked, pushing the two burly stallions away. She could walk without their help, it would only be embarrassing having them carry her.

“Well, depends if Spitfire is speaking literal or just figuratively…” Soarin pondered. “She’s certainly not known for idle talk.”

Rainbow paled and laughed nervously, unsure if Soarin was being serious or not. None of the other Wonderbolts were any more helpful, either smiling or looking away nervously at Soarin’s joke. They quickly arrived back at the assembly area, the other Wonderbolts shedding their gear and chatting indistinctly amongst themselves. Occasionally one would look at Rainbow curiously, making her feel incredibly self-conscious.

“So now what?” Rainbow asked Soarin, all of the Wonderbolts collecting their gear together and storing it back in the shed. She wanted nothing more than to get away from the looks she was attracting from the group.

“Well unless you had something else in mind...” Soarin yawned.

Before Soarin could finish, Wave Chill barged up to them, Fleetfoot and Lightning Streak close behind “We’re going to hit a few bars, wanna come with?” He asked, the question seemed posed more to Rainbow than Soarin.

“I’m.. good thanks.” Soarin replied, momentarily glancing at Rainbow to gauge her reaction. “I’m tired, I should go home and get some shut-eye.”

Rainbow shook her head politely, happy enough to not be around Wave Chill while he was drinking. She didn’t think he would do anything unbecoming, but she’d already started to form a rather low opinion of the braggart.

Wave Chill shrugged, “Suit yourself. Guess I’ll see you two around then.” He said, giving Rainbow a not so subtle wink before trotting off with some of the other Wonderbolts, talking and laughing loudly as they took flight.

In a surprisingly diplomatic move, Rainbow waited until they were well out of earshot before growling out a response. “Oh my gosh, could he be any more up his own arse?”

“Who, Wave Chill?” Soarin snorted. “I find that funny, coming from you.”

“Hey!” Rainbow squeaked indignantly.

Soarin bobbed his head to the side. “Weellll, You are a bit of a show off. Can’t say you don’t brag…” He said roll the words around like they were in a tumble dryer. .

“Yeah, well when I am bragging, I can actually do the things I’m talking about!” Rainbow asserted proudly, giving Soarin’s chest a sharp prod. “I bet you could lead him to water and he still wouldn’t be able to drink.”

Soarin shrugged, conceding she actually had a point. “The more you know.” He stated sarcastically

Rainbow gave him an admonishing look.

Soarin gave her a disarmingly friendly smile. “Well, what I learnt tonight is that you’re absolute shit at paintball, Miss Bragsalot. Can’t go more than a few minutes without somepony to hold you hoof for you.”

Rainbow held a hoof over her forehead dramatically “Who can blame me? I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Soarin snorted with amusement, raising an eyebrow slyly as he moved in to remove her harness. “Oh really?”

Rainbow’s look hardened slightly. “But really, I’m a fighter too, so don’t get any funny ideas, flyboy.”

Soarin gave her an innocent look, pulling her harness off with a few tugs and muffled curses. “You? Funny ideas? Ew. Wouldn’t even think of it, definitely not my type.” He muttered, removing his own harness once Rainbow’s was off her. He dropped the harness, giving it a hard look before whistling at Rainbow. “Hey, want to grab some dinner? Maybe we can make up for this otherwise lousy night?”

“What happened to getting some sleep?” Rainbow scoffed.

“Oh wow, I can tell a straight-faced lie. How terrible of me.” Soarin said flatly, looking up at nothing in particular. “So what do you say? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow smiled “And Soarin? I enjoyed it. Even if it only lasted about twenty seconds.” She laughed.

Soarin cracked a grin, looking down coyly and kicking the ground. “I hope that doesn't end up being a performance review in the future.”

Rainbow let out a harsh cackle. “You’re unbelievable.” She laughed, giving his mane soft ruffle.

“I try.” Soarin grinned foolishly, flipping up into the air upside down and hovering in place a few metres in the air. “So your place or mine?”

Rainbow leapt up next to him, playfully knocking the edge of her hooves against his. “I’m sure you can think of something suitable.” She grinned.

***

‘Something suitable’ ended up being a small take-away diner in Canterlot. Tucked away in the side-streets off the main drag, the place was a little more like a hole in the wall than a real shop, a small break in the terraced housing and a small crowd of ponies chatting and eating outside were the only signs that the place existed.

“Seems a bit out of the way, doesn’t it?” Rainbow remarked.

“Perfect, right?” Soarin agreed as they touched down out front of the small diner. A few of the patrons looked at him curiously but quickly returned to their meals without making a fuss. “The fact that the food is good is just a bonus. Okay, a great bonus.” He admitted with a laugh.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Of course it is. What were you again, Element of Good Food?”

“Something like that.” Soarin smiled, making his way inside the small shop. The interior was just as cramped as the outside, a small dining space off to the right and a small wooden counter from which a bubbly cashier served customers. She could smell cooking vegetables, sweet and savoury pies, burgers and coffee all mixing together into a beautiful aroma that made her mouth water.

“Hey Soarin!” The mare behind the counter said in a bubbly voice which reminded Rainbow disconcertingly of Pinkie. “Just the usual tonight?”

“You know me.” Soarin replied with a toothy gin.

“The usual? No, wait let me guess. It’s pie, isn’t it?” Rainbow groaned without a hint of surprise as Soarin have her an affirmative nod.

Soarin shrugged at the long look she gave him. “My doctor says pie is a ‘sometimes’ food. I disagree on the basis that he’s wrong.”

“He might actually be onto something.” Rainbow said flatly, poking his broad chest.

“I don’t understand the question.” Soarin said back, looking away with an air of blissful unawareness.

Rainbow gave Soarin a pointed look, unable to completely conceal a smile. She turned her attention back to the cashier, looking at the menu scrawled messily across the boards behind her. The mare’s face seemed to be locked into a wide grin, almost like the Equalist ponies that had followed Starlight Glimmer. Unlike those creepy, slasher smiles though, this one seemed quite genuine, the sparkly eyes and energetic attitude enough to tell Rainbow that the mare, whoever she was, was almost bombastically cheerful.

“I think I’ll just have a hayburger.” Rainbow said, trying to avoid keeping eye contact with the pony for too long.

“Sure thing!” She chimed cheerfully, leaning over the register towards Rainbow. “And I just have to say, I’m a huge fan. The way you just make those huge rainbooms...” She made a explosion sound , throwing her hooves out wide. “So awesome!”

“Uh, thanks.” Rainbow stammered, ignoring Soarin’s quiet snicker as he passed her, bit bag already out to pay for their meal.

“It’s alright, I got this.” Rainbow said, waving Soarin’s away with a wing.

“Wow, a mare buying me food? That’s a first.” Soarin whistled in amazement. “Is this what love feels like?”

“Well, they say the fastest way to a stallion’s heart is through his stomach.” Rainbow smiled, carefully counting out the bits for the meal and sliding them over the counter for the mare. She swept them away into the register, a satisfying ding ringing out as the tray slid shut. She vanished for a moment, returning with a large bag presumably stuffed with their food.

‘Now that’s what I call service.’ Rainbow thought happily as the cashier pushed the bag across the counter.

Soarin frowned. “Oh, I thought it was through his sternum.”

“Interesting theory. You wanna try it out?” Rainbow asked dryly.

“I’m good.” Soarin replied cheerfully, collecting the bag of food in his mouth and bouncing off aimlessly.

‘Thought so.’ Rainbow smiled, giving the mare behind the counter a friendly smile before following after Soarin. He was already outside, hovering upside down in place while spinning around in a slow circle.

“Hey, Dash! Look at me!” Soarin laughed, grinning widely as he rotated in place.

Rainbow was silently impressed. She’d have to ask Soarin how he’d figured that out and teach her. He completed the revolution, gave her a toothy grin then shot off the mark, winging away high into the sky like a bolt of lightning. Rainbow took off after him, wondering how far he’d go before settling down to eat. Canterlot shrank away beneath her, the streetlight shrinking to specks of light as she flew higher and higher. She was starting to notice the change in temperature when Soarin levelled out and touched down with a dramatic flair on a wide ledge carved into the mountainside. A few tough pines grew from the mountain and somewhere nearby Rainbow could hear the gurgling of a small stream.

“I love this place. Almost nopony ever comes up here.” Soarin said through the paper bag he was carrying.

“Can’t imagine why.” Rainbow grumbled, shivering slightly from the cold. Every time she breathed in she felt tiny daggers of ice in her lungs. She looked out over the edge, Canterlot was a kilometre or two below them, dazzling like a gem in the clear night air.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve ever found anything quite as nice.” Soarin asked, setting the bag down and gesturing to wide sweeping plains and hills which filled their view. Specks of lights marked small towns or villages and a long glistening band of water snaked its way from the base of the mountain towards the west. Rainbow imagined she could see all of Equestria from the perch, though in reality it was only a small part.

“It’s nice.” She agreed, dropping down next to him and fishing around for her burger. Soarin scooched closer until their flanks were almost touching. He gave her a stupid look and pulled his pie out of the bag with a hungry growl.

“You’re not going to eat all of that are you?” Rainbow asked.

“Why, you want some pie?” Soarin asked.

“Nah.” Rainbow answered. “I’ve got my burger. It was more out of concern for your stomach. I don’t think it can fit that much in it”

Soarin examined the pie carefully. “I’ve had bigger. How can you eat a burger anyway? Disgusting.” He tutted..

“How can you eat a whole pie?” Rainbow bantered.

“I eat it out. Messily.” Soarin replied, enthusiastically demonstrating his technique by shoving his muzzle into the pie with a distinctly happy sound.

“I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere.” Rainbow replied dryly, licking away a few splotches of dismembered pie that landed on her.

Soarin made a noise through his pie that could’ve been speech but it sounded much too like a dog throwing up to make much sense to Rainbow. She nodded as if she’d understood perfectly.

Soarin closed his eyes and grinned back, chewing away noisily.

They ate the rest of their meal in relative silence, Soarin’s often indescribable eating sounds providing enough entertainment for Rainbow Dash while she tried to eat her burger. Despite its size, Soarin powered through his pie much faster than Rainbow would’ve thought possible and was quickly finished, watching her eat thoughtfully. He seemed deep in thought, almost worryingly so, when Soarin was idle he was fairly prone to banter to some other sort of mindless activity. His silence was somehow unnerving.

“How long have you wanted to join the Wonderbolts?” Soarin suddenly asked, messily licking a few smears of pie off of his face.

Rainbow cocked her head to the side, curious as to why Soarin was asking. “As long as I can remember, why?”

Soarin noisily licked the last remnants of filling off his muzzle. “Have you ever considered that it might not be all it’s cracked up to be?”

Rainbow was momentarily taken aback by Soarin’s question. What was he trying to get at? Being a Wonderbolt was everything she had ever wanted. The fame, the prestige, the stage to show off her skills… what wasn’t to like?

“I…” She started. “I don’t know. Maybe?” She said uncertainly, her half-eaten burger suddenly quite forgotten.

Soarin gave her a small smile. “There’s a lot more to it than what you probably think. .The good and the bad.”

“What are you getting at?” Rainbow asked cautiously.

“There’s a lot of times I’ve just stopped and realised how much of a shit-show it all is. Enjoyable shit-show, sure, but there’s so much going behind the flying.” Soarin explained, evidently happy to have somepony to vent to. “See, we barely get enough funding to cover our main display team. every year the budget is stretched just a tighter and tighter and tighter, so we’ve had to look to private funders and other sources of income to keep many of our facilities, backup squads and community programs running. You’ll find rubbing hooves with the rich is almost as much a part of our routine as the stuff we have in our aerial shows.

Rainbow looked out over the panoramic view in silent disbelief. Why wouldn’t the government fund the Wonderbolts? They were awesome! She’d never imagined the team having financial trouble, it just seemed an impossibility. She couldn’t help but wonder if Soarin was just leading her on but the look on his face was remarkably serious.

“That’s not the worst part.” Soarin continued, noticing her dumbfounded look. “The worst part is the ‘favours’ that money seems to buy. These days, It's not so much what you know and what you can do as it is how influential or rich your parents are. A lot of our more stuck-up donors don’t like it when some nobody from wherewhatsit gets a place on the main squad in place of their finely combed masterpiece of a child who’s trained since they could fly. There’s a lot of pressure on our selectors to tighten our selection pool to the upper-class.” Soarin fumed quietly, “Look at somepony like Wave Chill, he’s competent enough I suppose if you squint hard enough, but the only reason he makes the cut is because he has wealthy parents who give us money. We either give them what they want or oh look, now we suddenly don’t have a reserve.”

“That’s stupid!” Rainbow protested. “Why would anypony want that? Surely you guys could get funding from somewhere else?”

Soarin shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. That’s what I’m told at least and I can’t really question it too far. Who knows, maybe somepony here and there are pocketing a bit of money of the side. It’s not an appealing thought cos’ that means it's happening fairly high up in the hierarchy.” He pondered before shaking his head. “Not my place to presume.”

Rainbow didn’t think he sounded quite so sure of himself though, almost like he was forcing himself to swallow a lie. She almost found it hard to believe that something like that would be rampant in the ranks of Equestria’s elite flying squadron. She scoffed at the thought, maybe some aristocratic idiot was seriously misinterpreting the meaning when somepony said the Wonderbolts were ‘elite’.

She frowned thoughtfully. If Soarin was right, it certainly put a slight dampener on things. “I can’t say I’ve ever noticed any of this before..I didn’t realise there was so much… shit,” Rainbow spat irritably, “Going on”

Soarin cracked a thin smirk. “Few do. Most ponies don’t bother looking too far into the politics behind the show-ponies.”

“Crazy. To think there’s still so many of those snob-snobbyheads. Ruining everything, as usual. Where I’m from, everyone just seems to get along.”

“Ah, well, the snobbyhead disease is probably a bit more common in Cloudsdale and Canterlot than somewhere like Ponyville.” Soarin chuckled. “There’s just more snobs with spoiled kids around I guess. I’d wager you’d be one of the few ponies that isn’t the son or daughter of some aristocrat or financial backer to actually get into the team in the last few years.” Soarin said, brightening slightly at the prospect. .

Rainbow cocked her head to the side curiously. “Even you? I didn't take you for an upper-crust pony.”

He laughed out loud at that. “Me? Ha, I’m as blueblooded as it gets. My family has a very high-class pedigree, you can probably trace a fairly straight line back to some descendant of royalty if you go back a few generations. I’m sure my parents would be less than pleased to find out I was dating some sort of smelly unfortunate.” Soarin snickered, carefully avoiding mentioning whether he’d gotten into the squadron on his own merits or not. She decided she didn’t really care, Soarin was a fantastic flier and the most down-to-earth celebrity she’d met. He well and truly passed muster in her eyes.

“Smell better than you bucko. Besides, I’m an Element of Harmony. That should be prestigious enough for ‘em” She boasted haughtily. “Not that I care of course.” She added quickly.

“Well you’re certainly not the Element of Modesty.” Soarin grinned.

“Pffft.” Rainbow snorted. “That’d be a stupid element. Where’s the fun if you can’t show off a bit?”

Soarin shrugged his wings slightly, having nothing to say on the matter. He was certainly a bit more reserved than she was when it came to show-boating, but he had to enjoy it a little. Why would he be a Wonderbolt otherwise?

Rainbow fell silent, the novelty of their banter slowly wearing off. She thought over all he had said, he certainly wasn’t selling the team very well. She gave him a serious look. “Soarin, are trying to tell me I shouldn’t join the Wonderbolts if I get the offer?” She asked, wondering what reason he would have for her to not join the team.

Soarin gave her a carely measured look. “I’m saying I would properly consider it before deciding, that’s all. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty good to be had, else I wouldn’t be there. Just think about it.” He said cautiously.

Rainbow wasn’t sure how to respond. Why wouldn’t Soarin want her to join the Wonderbolts? He wasn’t jealous of her, was he? She scowled deeply, unsure of what to make of his comments.

Soarin seemed to catch her look of confusion. “You being on the team has other more… personal issues.” He said slowly.

“Like?” She asked, anxious at the suddenly downcast look Soarin adopted.

He lay his forehoof over hers comfortingly and looked away for a few minutes. She gave him a prod,with her wingtip wondering if he’d forgotten what he was about to talk about.

Soarin looked back at her. “Let me preface this by saying I really like you. I do, I really do. Understand that. I don’t think I’ve met anypony I just ‘get’ as much as you.”

‘There’s a but coming somewhere.’ Rainbow thought,wondering what unpleasant thing Soarin was about to drop on her. She tensed, her mouth suddenly going dry.

“But…” Soarin added.

‘There it is.’ Rainbow thought sourly.

Soarin went quiet again, as if he knew what she was thinking. “You’re going to tick that box when you get the offer. I know it, you know it. If you do well as our backup next week, and you will, the selectors would be mad to choose anypony else, politics be damned.”

Rainbow ruffled her feathers irritably. “Yeah, and?”

Soarin looked away again. “Rainbow, this… what we have might not work anymore. There are rules, regulations… I’d be your immediate superior, that’s a dynamic I’m not supposed to entertain, let alone enjoy.”

Rainbow looked at him silently, her chest feeling like a piece of paper slowly being torn in half.

Soarin flinched slightly, as if her lack of reaction was scaring him. “I mean, with that in mind it might be better if we just.... stop, before we go too far.”

Rainbow shivered, but not from the cold. Her first instinct was to yell at him, but she resisted, she would show Soarin she was better than that. She refused to meet his gaze, wishing her eyes would stop stinging. “So you want to break it off?” She asked coldly, feeling like she’d had a pallet of bricks dropped on her.

Soarin took an uneasy breath. “No. Not really. I just want you to consider it before sticking your head in the lion’s mouth.” He said, looking away awkwardly.

Rainbow stewed silently. If Soarin had known she would join the Wonderbolts, why had he even considered a relationship with her in the first place? Obviously nopony could’ve seen High Winds dropping out so soon but it wouldn’t have been long coming before she had a suit of her own anyway. At least he hadn't suggested she just not join the squadron at all, else she probably would’ve already lost her cool.

Soarin took her hoof again, giving her a comforting squeeze. “Just understand, it would be difficult. Exposure is one thing of course, with the attention we get, the media would have an absolute field day. What little privacy and alone time you’d have would vanish. Most of what you do and say is already on display for the world to see, but this would be deeper, more intimate. They’d find a way.” He explained carefully.

“Of course it wouldn’t just be them, Spitfire and other officers would also watch us like a hawk if she even had the slightest suspicion. If she felt it was impacting our performance in the air or around the base she’d have one of us transferred in a heartbeat. Even a bit of media frenzy might prompt her to do it if she felt it would hurt the Wonderbolts too much. For her, if it’s a choice between somepony or the team, she’ll choose the team ten times out of ten. Keeping a relationship low key would be paramount.”

“I understand.” Rainbow said, avoiding Soarin’s eye.

“Do you really?” Soarin asked critically. “Being a Wonderbolt is already plenty stressful. Look at me, why do you think I look like a trainwreck most of the time? I barely get sleep, time off is a treasured rarity, you certainly don’t have time for a whole lot else. Having an intra-team relat-.”

“It’s extra baggage.” Rainbow interrupted glumly. “Undeeded emotional stress. I get it.”

Soarin winced slightly at how bluntly she’d put it. “Yeah.”

Rainbow considered his words carefully, mulling over them silently. “Are you talking from experience, Soarin?” She asked pointedly.

“No, thank Celestia.” Soarin sighed, “But a few of the Bolts have been, not naming any names, but most of them end up going particularly… south.”

“Hmm.” Rainbow grumped. She looked back at Soarin, he looked genuinely upset at the conversation. He’d been incredibly brave to bring it up, she realised.

She licked her lips nervously, pondering the situation. If they broke it off and she joined the team, no doubt she’d always look at Soarin fondly. ‘Wondering at what could've been’ She thought. But the opposite was also true. She wouldn’t just give up her dream for a stallion would she?

Rainbow frowned. She liked Soarin, more than she would publicly admit. They’d only gone on a few dates yet she felt incredibly comfortable with him, there was very little awkwardness like she’d imagined, very little of the usual reservation she had around others. Soarin had a downright infectious attitude which seemed to open her up a bit. She couldn’t speak for Soarin, but she genuinely found herself enjoying his company.

Would she rather that, or a career with the Wonderbolts?

It wasn’t all that hard, she’d wanted to be a Wonderbolt for her entire life. Soarin was a secondary, more recent concern. She couldn’t say that though, that was harsh, even by her standards. Of course, she’d rather have both, Option C had always been very appealing to her.

Soarin coughed quietly. “I really hate to drop all this on you now, but I didn’t feel right just waltzing in blindly and dragging you along behind. You need to know what you’d- we’d be getting into.”

She eventually looked back at him. “Soarin I understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s stupid.” Rainbow said softly, tapping him gently on the nose. “I think you’re being stupid.”

A slightly disbelieving smile broke over Soarin’s face. “Stupid. You think it’s stupid.” He stated with a bark-like laugh.

“Yes, I think it’s a stupid overreaction.” Rainbow repeated, wrapping her hoof around Soarin’s tightly as way of response to what Soarin had been saying. “There’s a reason I’m the smart one in this relationship.”

Soarin seemed to relax a little. “Oh, are you using the word ‘smart’ in some way I haven’t heard of before?” Soarin jeered. “I’m unfamiliar with this rather liberal version.”

Rainbow gave him a solid thump. “I hate you.” She said lovingly.

“I hate you too.” Soarin replied, blowing a raspberry at her.

“I’m the smart one.” Rainbow growled, resting her head on his shoulder.”You’re the goof. Appearances to keep yadda bullshit yadda yadda.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Soarin agreed grudgingly, tucking her head under his chin.

Rainbow laughed. “Whatever? That’s all the great and mighty Soarin has to say? Whatever?”

Soarin poked his tongue out and blew another raspberry at her, prompting her to give one in return.

“We seem to be a a bit of an impasse.” Soarin remarked casually. “I really wouldn’t want to have to step it up a level. Shutting you up is hard.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow grinned slyly. “And how would you plan on doing that?”

Soarin leaned in and kissed her, or more accurately, tried to kiss her. Instead, the end of muzzle bumped up awkwardly against Rainbow’s and sort of bounced off as he tried to readjust his head.

Rainbow tipped over onto her side, shaking with laughter. “Wow!” She managed. “You are such an idiot!”

“Soarin covered his face with his wings, flushing red with embarrassment. He muttered something about the wind under his breath.

“Oh look at me I’m Soarin, I’m so talented.!” Rainbow hooted in a bad impersonation of him, enjoying Soarin’s disgusted look.

“I’m just… just… so done.” Soarin uttered, flopping his head against the ground defeatedly.

Rainbow regained a measure of composure, ruffled his mane affectionately and gave him a delicate peck on the cheek. “What happened to being infinitely superior?” She teased.

“Your overbearing demeanour obviously scared my superiority away.” Soarin grumbled into the cold earth with an impassive roll of his eyes.

Rainbow looked away with an amused expression, they seemed to have gotten past the uncomfortable topic Soarin had brought up rather well. She shivered, wondering how much longer Soarin wanted to stay near the mountaintop. “I’m cold.” She said, almost subconsciously looking around to make sure nopony else could see her before snuggling up next to Soarin more tightly. “We should get off this stupid mountain and go back to my place, I’ve got a bit of AJ’s cider stashed away somewhere if you’re in the mood.”

Soarin rolled his eyes with an amused whinny. “Ok, I know what game you’re playing at here, Dash. You invite me to your place under the guise of a drink or something, you make some idle comments which could be or could not be taken in a slightly risque manner, we both have a laugh, then we jump to some hilariously innocent or mundane activity.” Soarin rambled, waggling a hoof at her scoldingly.. “Don’t think for a second I wouldn’t see right through it.”

Rainbow blinked, unable to help but smile at Soarin. He had a way of making up the most ridiculous things. “Well, actually, I was looking at taking you back to my place, ravaging you in ways you could only dream, chopping you up and then serving you in a soup.”She purred back dangerously.

Soarin looked at her uncertainly. “How about you keep the goofiness in my court, you just make it weird.” He said seriously.

“Well part of it may have been truthful.” Rainbow admitted, bumping her hoof against Soarin’s timidly.

Soarin looked at her for a long time, blinking silently as he processed her words. Rainbow wondered if he was trying to figure out which part she was talking about or he was simply too stunned at her forwardness to say anything.

“See? This is exactly what I’m talking about.” Soarin eventually said, prompting a laugh from Rainbow. He shook his head slightly. “No, I need to go home, I’m tired, I have things I need to do, I actually have responsibilities, something you might not be too familiar with.” Soarin ribbed her.

“Hey, watch it buddy.” Rainbow warned, giving him a friendly shove.

“Oh, excuse me sunshine.” Soarin apologised dryly. “Anyway, I need to get going if I want to get home at a reasonable hour. Thank you for dinner.” He said, lifting his head off the packed snow and resting it against the side of hers “And thanks for a nice night out.”

“Even if I did get shot.” Rainbow groaned.

“Especially cos you got shot.” Soarin chuckled.

Rainbow slapped his rump with the flat of her wing, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the stallion. He gave her a stern look. “The next time you do that, I will tickle you and no amount of pleading or begging will make me stop.”

“Ohhh wow, I’m so scared.” Rainbow said with a dismissive roll of her eyes.

Soarin stood up, puffing his chest out haughtily. “I’m sure one day you’ll come to appreciate the danger in that statement.”

Rainbow gave him a daring look and raised her wing again She met Soarin’s gaze, not detecting a trace of jest in his deep green eye. A slight smirk crossed his face, the small sign of ill intention enough to give her pause for thought. The standoff continued for another moment before Rainbow folded her wing back away, deciding it was wise to not test how good a tickler Soarin was.

He gave her a smug, victorious smile. “See you around, Dash.” Soarin said, shooting a gesture with his wing His gaze lingered on her caringly for a moment before he took off, vanishing into the darkness in a flurry of snowflakes and wing beats.

Rainbow let out a long sigh, contemplating everything Soarin had said. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, he did have a point… somewhere at least. She was surprised at how willing she was to risk her greatest dream over some mushy feelings she had for a lovable idiot.

“Ugh.” She growled with disgust, hitting herself on the side of the head. Just her luck the first time she tried something resembling a serious attempt at a relationship everything ended up tricky.

She pushed the thought aside with some difficulty, she’d take things as they came. If that meant breaking things off with Soarin of push came to shove, fine, surely she could live with herself for that. She’d always got what she wanted, mainly because she worked her butt off to be the best and she had the drive to figure out how to get there. For the first time though, she felt she was at something of a Morton’s fork, the two things she wanted seemed to cast a measure of doubt on the other.

“Bah.” She muttered, rising to her hooves and taking off back towards Ponyville. She’d talk with her friends, maybe she could figure some compromise out that wasn’t completely stupid. Besides, she had more important things to worry about, if Soarin wasn’t yanking her chain and was being serious about her being called up to perform in the Wonderbolts show, she had hours of gruelling practice and training to look forward to.

If she got through all that in one piece, then maybe, just maybe she could worry about Soarin.