Soarenity

With all that had been going on since my arrival, it felt weird to finally have a day where there was no routine, no work, no early rises. Sunday was a standard day off for the Wonderbolts, it made sense considering that like on Earth, Sundays were seen as a day of rest for Equestria. The thought only made me feel giddy inside as I kept my eyes closed, snuggling closer to my blanket on the couch knowing that I could get up whenever the hell I wanted to. My mind pondered over the list of things I’d like to do today, but if I was going to go anywhere I’d need Soarin to accompany me.

Opening my eyes, I rolled around and looked over to the kitchen and towards the stairs. There wasn’t any sign of the stallion down here at least. I sat up a little, checking for any form of sound coming from upstairs.

Still nothing.

I assumed he was probably still sleeping, an understandable thing given the time in which we’d both being having to get up tomorrow to start the new week. I got up and made my way over to the kitchen, passing a glance to the windows which provided a great view of the slightly overcast day ahead. Saying that, I’d recently come to learn that pegasi actually control their own weather system across the land, pushing around clouds, thunderstorms, wind directions and even proving the rainbows and snowflakes!

Soarin had told me the factory where it was all made was situated right here in Cloudsdale, which was expected due to the high population of pegasi that lived here.

I sat down in my usual seat at the kitchen table, having taken an apple from the fruitbowl on my way over. I wondered why Soarin only ever had apples for his fruit, it was something I’d definitely have to question him on sometime later. My gaze floated over the open planned kitchen and out to the windows on the far side of the building towards the back of the home. The garden was nicely kept with a few small accessories like a barbeque, which I could only guess was for roasting vegetables and whatnot outside. A few sunbeds were also laid out under a large parasol with some smaller tables. I then looked over to the living room where I’d just come from, the paper and ink bottle sitting on the coffee table from the previous night.

After coming back from work, Soarin had sat me down and taught me how Equestrian mail worked. It was a lot like our own, except for the difference that you could contact royality if you wanted to, provided you had the seal of approval of course.

Celestia had kindly sent some to Soarin during my stay, so the only other thing I had left to do was actually write the damn thing. It was harder to get my thoughts into words that sounded worthy of a royal’s time, especially when it revolved around something as confusing as this that in truth wasn’t exactly an emergency.

Despite this though, the words of Celestia ringing out through my head to contact her whenever seemed to be genuine and were really the things that were compelling me to write to her, If someone in this world knew about the barriers I faced, it was her.

Suddenly the front door opened behind me; I turned back to see Soarin trotting in with a brown bag held in his muzzle, the blue saddlebags on his side were also bulging with items. He smiled when his gaze fell on me, setting the bag down on the kitchen table as he threw his saddlebags onto the chair and I smiled towards him.

“Good Morning!” he sang. The stallion had a skip in his step, something that only piqued my curiosity.

“Morning to you too, Soar,” I replied with a giggle, taking another bite of my apple before gesturing towards the brown bag as I swallowed, “What’s in the bag?”

Soarin had already begun taking things out of the saddlebags and packing them away into the nearby cupboards and fridge, he smirked before sliding the bag over to me. “Why not check it out yourself!” he replied.

With a little hesitancy I grasped the fragile bag in both hands before opening the top and looking inside. My eyebrow raised as I gazed back from the bag to the stallion who was staring at me with a beaming smile.

“It’s a pie?”

“Not just any pie!” Soarin exclaimed, as I looked down into the contents of the bag again, this time taking a small whiff. I realised it could only be one thing.

“Is it an apple pie?” I asked, waving the half eaten fruit I had in my hand for emphasis as Soarin seemed to light up in glee.

“Why would it be anything but the most delicious, mouth watering extravaganza you can shove your muzzle into!”

I chuckled as Soarin took the bag from me, placing it near the oven as he giddily went around packing the rest of the items away. The adorableness of it all tugged at my heartstrings. I sat there waiting for him to finish putting the last few items away before speaking, “So, have you got any other plans today?”

Soarin put a hoof to his chin as he pondered before shaking his head, “Nope! I thought today would be up to ourselves to choose! I don’t really tend to do much besides my flying in the morning and picking up food for the rest of the week, I usually either sit outside in the garden or hang out with some of the other Bolts’.”

“I didn’t take you for the kind to ever relax, Soar,” I responded sarcastically, seeing the stallion roll his eyes playfully as he sat down across from me at the table. I took another bite of my apple as we conversed.

“Well, we all benefit from taking a break at some point,” he said as he grinned.

“Truer words have never been spoken!” I stated, mirroring his expression as we sat there for a little while to think on what might have been best to do for that day. In all honesty I would go along with anything on account of having not much knowledge of Cloudsdale; I could go shopping for odds and ends but they weren’t exactly a high priority on the list of things to do.

“Tell you what,” Soarin began, grabbing my attention as he stood up, “Why don’t you and I go out and explore some more! There’s still one more place I haven’t shown you yet,” He concluded with a wink, standing up and trotting around to me.

“And where would that be exactly?” I asked with a smirk, knowing I wasn’t going to get a straight up answer.

Soarin giggled as he spoke, “Well that’d spoil the surprise wouldn’t it?” he asked, offering me a hoof. “I’m sure you’ll love it though!”

I nodded and took his hoof in my hand, I hadn’t really touched him since the first time we ever shook hooves. This time with the nerves and embarrassment gone, I couldn’t help but take in the feeling of how soft his hoof was. Once I’d got up I made sure to bin the rest of the eaten apple before Soarin began fastening on his saddlebags again. Once we were ready, we made our way for the Cloudsdale.

I was thankful that my brain was starting to get the hang of piecing this sky city together. I was nearly at the stage where I could even start to walk around this whole place on my own without getting lost, but not that I would on the account of my cloud walking spell. I shuddered at the thought of what could happen, glad that I’d chugged another cloud walking potion on my way out the door.

Both me and Soarin had walked into the city centre from his home after our usual flight up to the cloud metropolis, we’d entertained one another with small talk about work and a few of the ponies that I’d recently come to meet. Despite myself knowing that Soarin had knowledge of Fleetfoot’s sudden ‘disappearance’ the other day at work, I decided to skip bringing that one up. We’d made our way as far as downtown Cloudsdale, a part that I’d only past by on the way to work. I hadn’t expected there to be as many ponies as there was, and for the first time not just pegasi.

A few unicorns passed us by as we walked along the streets, I guess it wasn’t much of a surprise since it was a day off nationwide. With the hustle and bustle the stares were kept to a minimum, but I was too busy talking to Soarin to really care about them.

“Still not going to spoil that surprise?” I jested, looking over the stallion as he shook his head dismissively in response.

“Just trust me, Bex,” Soarin assured, trotting a little ahead of me as I began to follow him.

We quickly made our way out of downtown and towards the eastern side near where the buildings and streets seemed to be more traditional. In the distance I could see what I could only describe as a large coliseum edging closer towards us with every step.

I took a moment there and then to see the direction in which we were travelling.

“Are we going where I think we are?” I asked, pointing to the large structure in the distance. Soarin followed my gaze, but didn’t say anything except for his grin slowly widening. I smirked back. Whatever it was that Soarin had cooked up this time it had to be interesting.

The large coliseum began to tower over me as we neared its grand structure. It was easy to tell from the outside that the whole stadium was alive with the sounds of cheering and the faint stomping of hooves. Whatever it was that Soarin was bringing me to, it was clearly in full swing.

We neared the entrance where there were a small group of ponies still entering through the gates with security holding the doors. I followed the stallion in front of me as I avoided the curious glances when we past the crowds and towards the entrance themselves. The stallion standing at the door that we were heading towards raised his eyebrow before quickly smiling and nodding to Soarin as he nodded back. Without a word we quickly passed through the doors and into the large oval stadium.

“Being a celebrity has its perks!” I quipped as we headed down one of the corridors, the thundering sound from the stands above us causing me to raise my voice.

“The Cloudsdale Coliseum is the home stadium for the Wonderbolts, we even run recruitment trials and young flyer competitions here!” Soarin replied back, “It’s just a courtesy that the mayor of Cloudsdale gave us our own seating area for the team, should we ever want to turn up for any event that they might have on!”

I nodded. That wasn’t an uncommon thing in my world either; actors, sports legends and singers alike had their own backstage passes to things, but I could have never expected them to be allowed to just bring anyone they wanted along with them!

“Are you sure I’m allowed to come with you?” I asked as we began ascending the stairway up through the stands. Soarin had chosen to slowly hover up them as I climbed.

“Like Spitfire said, you’re part of the Wonderbolt community,” Soarin retorted, looking down at me with a smile, “Besides, there’s plenty of seats!”

I simply nodded and took Soarin’s word for it as we continued ascending the flights of stairs, It didn’t take us long to finally emerge from the exit and out onto the vast scene below. I almost felt my gut clench at how high up we were.

Ponies all around were cheering and hollering towards the cloud field. At the centre of the stadium, two teams were in a heated battle; one pegasi and the other a unicorn group. Between the two stood a tall net where a volleyball was being punched just over the top and then back again. I quickly averted my gaze to make sure I was still keeping an eye on guide.

Soarin had trotted along a few of the rows towards a single set of bleachers that were coloured in yellow and blue. I felt a little nervous as I followed him along until we reached a few seats in particular, I could see that each seat was inscribed with a name on the top. I sat down next to him, praying that Fleetfoot wouldn’t suddenly decide she wanted to go watch a volleyball game. I also made sure to slouch a little in my seat as to not let my slightly taller stature annoy any of the ponies watching from behind us.

Soarin turned to me with a grin, “I thought this might be a fun pass-time, do you have sports like this in your world?”

I nodded, “Sure! It’s not as big as it is over here by the looks of things, though” I replied, noting just how large the coliseum was. Nearly every seat was filled by ponies enjoying having a good day out, it felt as if I was in the middle of an Olympic event.

“Me and Fleet usually come here with High Winds and Spitfire to watch a few games if we’re hanging out,” Soarin began, another cheer resounded from around us as the pegasi team got another point. “It’s a big game today, Cloudsdale Reapers versus Canterlot Royals.”

“Is it a final?” I asked, getting more interested in the game with each passing second. The points scoreboard was rising every moment as each team of six fought hard for domination over the other.

“It’s the beginning of the play-offs at this time of year,” Soarin explained, smiling my way as I began to cheer along with the rest of the crowd. “You’re really getting into it aren’t you?” he asked with a laugh.

I blushed a little but laughed with him all the same, there was always something unprecedented that I found about the euphoria surrounding a stadium’s atmosphere. The cheering and singing was almost infectious, you felt bounded and loyal to something you never even knew much about moments before you entered.

It was barely five minutes in and me and Soarin were already getting frustrated and at the same time very elated by the way the two teams were performing. I’d worked out early on that we were in the sea of pegasi chanting for Cloudsdale and with Soarin doing the same I felt it was only right to help support the team. But as the game got more intense, I couldn’t help but keep my eyes focused on the stallion as he almost rocketed out of the seat when one team scored a point and annoyingly gruffed when the other equalized.

It was something I was starting to pick up on, Soarin was a child trapped inside an adult body. He sure had a good profession to mirror this, but it was an attitude I couldn’t help but always smile at. Coming from a world in which there was so much stress and not many people looking for the good things in life, here stood this stallion who loved nothing more than to see the silver lining, who never cared about any of the bad things in life, never seemed to complain or challenge anything half heartedly. It was something to aspire to almost, but then again I was still just this outside person looking in, taking a brief glimpse at his life. However, even in that short space of time, I’d wanted to live right there with him.

As the game progressed, Soarin looked over at me with a smile, nudging my arm with a forehoof to get my attention, “So, is this a good enough surprise?” he asked.

I nodded happily, “I never even knew a place like this existed in this world!”

Soarin chuckled, “Well, just you wait until you watch one of our performances here!”

I turned to him with a smirk, “Oh yeah? Just so I can watch one of my props accidentally fall over and knock some poor pony out?” I asked sarcastically.

Soarin rolled his eyes playfully, “Don’t put yourself down! Besides, I’ve had my fair share of hitting props because I wasn’t looking where I was going!”

I giggled, “Seriously? I thought you were supposed to be an ace flyer!” I teased, Soarin’s cheeks going red as I continued to laugh, I couldn’t help but think how adorable he looked. “Maybe I should recheck the size of the hoops to account for your silliness!” I quipped.

“Yeah-yeah, laugh it up!” Soarin began, “But I still think you should really come along, besides you’ll love it when we go off to Fillydelphia in a couple of weeks.”

Shock ran through my brain as I turned to him, “Wait, you’re taking me to Fillydelphia?”

Soarin nodded, his smile wavering a bit in hesitancy at the time, “Why not? Y-You can stay here with the rest of the team if you wanted though.”

I shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t mind, if you want me to go then I’ll go.”

I smiled, Soarin nodded as we both went back to watching the game, it was still neck and neck at this point as well. The referee had momentarily halted the game for a foul due to the use of a unicorn using magic to stop the ball from hurtling towards her face. It had caused boos and cheers from both sides of the stadium.

The game went back and forth once again for a few moments until both teams had found their rhythm, it was as engrossing to watch as it was nail biting to experience. As the unicorns just began to edge ahead, I took a look back over to Soarin once again and was surprised to see him with a small colt who was almost jumping up and down in joy as the stallion signed a hat that he was wearing, I giggled a little at the scene. Remembering the conversation that I’d had with both Soarin and Spitfire the previous day, it was nice to see that Soarin was staying true to those words, as he ruffled the colt's mane before giving him the hat back. He looked back to the game before catching my eye, smiling sweetly at me as a large cheer erupted behind us as the whole stadium practically shook from Cloudsdale gaining an important point, the pegasus in question celebrating with their team mates.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts!” The announcer boomed over the cheering crowd, “That’s half time here at Cloudsdale Coliseum! With twenty-five to the Reapers and twenty-three to the Royals!”

A chorus of groans and supportive chants began as we all began to wait out in yet more anticipation for the game to be continued once the teams had a chance to regroup and get a breather. Soarin turned to me and patted my leg; I looked over to him as he grinned. “Hey, you wanna stay for the rest of it or do you wanna head out?”

I thought about the question for a moment; I was seriously getting into watching the game at this point, “Well, is there anything else you wanted to do?” I asked, curiously.

Soarin smirked a little, “We could always just head into town so you can get that shopping done, maybe we can even get you some new clothing made!”

I blushed slightly at that, the sudden realisation coming to me that while I may have stayed clean as usual, I’d still had to wear the same clothes for as long as I’d been here. With that urgent fact noted, I nodded towards Soarin with a satisfied smile. The stallion got up and gestured me to follow him as we walked out of the stadium. It was definitely a place where I’d have to visit again for a full game. As I thought about it, maybe it could be something to do with Soarin and the rest of the gang as he’d mentioned?

It had been a great day so far, I usually didn’t get out this much in my free time unless I had planned in advance with my friends, but to do this on a weekly basis? I was actually beginning to enjoy this kind of life. Soarin was trotting next to me though only slightly ahead, allowing me to follow him.

We’d already picked up a few items of mine; some makeup and more lady style shower soap. The mare who I’d procured them from had given me a lot of help finding what it was that I usually styled with every morning and feeling confident enough in that endeavor, we were now heading to a Cloudsdale store which specialised in tailor-made clothing.

It was quite a common thing to have tailored suits and dresses made up by someone in my world, but having them do it for a completely different species was something I struggled to comprehend. Soarin was still very confident despite this point that I had brought up with him on the way from the stadium, but if he had faith, I couldn’t help but feel a little better about the situation.

“So, do you go to this place often?” I asked ahead, looking around at the scenery as we went.

Soarin turned back to me with a nod, “This is where I get my Wonderbolt suits tailored, even Spitfire gets most of the Wonderbolt Academy outfits produced from here too! If anypony can fix you up something, it’s these guys.”

“I’ll trust your judgment,” I responded with a slight chuckle, crossing over to another avenue as Soarin made his way inside one of the stores lining the street. Then, I stopped for a moment and glanced a look up at the sign before I went in.

Flying Attire? This thing better not come with wings or a jet pack.

The place itself seemed fairly flashy, the floor was glossy with chromed racks hanging the clothes to the walls. The panels themselves were painted to give the illusion that you were in the middle of the sky; I had a the niggly feeling that whatever I got made wouldn’t come cheaply.

Soarin meanwhile had already trotted over to the counter and rang a bell on the desk. A few of the staff I could see were already busy with customers, but another staff member was already appearing from the back room to speak with the stallion. The two seemed to know each other by the way in which they conversed.

After a short while Soarin nodded his head before turning around and waving me over, which thankfully distracted me from feeling like I was just awkwardly standing about. I came over as the stallion across from the counter smiled at me, “So it is you who would like to try and have something fitted?”

I nodded and smiled. The stallion returned it with a wave of his hoof as he beckoned us to follow. Both me and Soarin were then lead over to a podium where a large mirror sat just a couple of metres away. I was then ushered up onto the circular platform as the employee began taking various measurements. Some areas I was more ticklish in, much to Soarin’s own delight as he stood there watching. I then shooed him away after a bit to go pursue some other area of the shop.

A little while later and after a lot of awkwardness, the stallion was finally scribbling the last of his notes down onto a pen and pad as he checked the measurements he’d made. I just hoped to god that I didn’t end up gaining or losing any weight if these were going to be tailored to my exact dimensions.

With a nod, the stallion clicked the pen back and looked to me with a smile, “We should be able to get something like this designed, though I will say something that comes as custom as this will cost a little, but I’m sure considering Soarin and the Wonderbolts themselves are good paying customers of ours, we could probably get the price down a touch.”

I smiled, “That sounds great, I’ll have to talk it over with Soarin though,” I replied, turning around to see if I could find the pale blue stallion. When my eyes finally caught him, I smirked to see him browsing the section of stallions clothing, eyeing a pair of dark blue shirts. He looked up to see me and trotted over with a hopeful look.

“Did it all go well?” He asked, smiling when the stallion nodded his head, “Well when do you think it can be done for? I know you guys are a little on the busier side this month.”

“Well,” the stallion began, tapping the pen against his cheek. “It’ll be a little longer given the fact that clothing like this has never even been designed before, at least to my knowledge.”

“Could I help?” I asked, cutting into to the conversation as they both looked back at me. I smiled sheepishly before adding on, “I worked at a theatre, we’ve had a lot of clothes designed for performances. I’m not an expert, but I could certainly give some ideas.”

They looked back between one another before the stallion nodded in agreement, “That could actually work out quite nicely!” he began, “Are you free now? We could probably grab some notes from you on how you’d like it to be designed.”

I nodded in return, making sure Soarin was alright with staying around a little longer before I went off to the desk to help with any additional information they might need. The notes themselves didn’t take that long to gather since they only wanted to know what was fashionable and what wasn’t. At least now I could be happy in the knowledge that I wouldn’t have to stay in these mangy old ones for too much longer. When we finally exited the store, the sky was already turning an orange hue from the sun setting in the distant horizon. Today had definitely been shorter than I had anticipated it being.

It didn’t take us too long to travel back down to Canterlot with the weather still keeping its calm and peaceful atmosphere. Soarin had almost galloped home after we reached ground level, I’d wondered what it was until we both entered through the threshold of Soarin’s Canterlot home once more. As I set the bags down from the recent shopping, I looked over to the stallion who was now in the kitchen; I almost had to hold back my laughter while he greedily shoved the pie into the oven.

“Are you not going to eat dinner before that?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.

Soarin swiveled around on his hooves, the light pink tinge on his cheeks was evidable. “Well, I have been waiting all day,” he began.

I waved my hand dismissively at him before grabbing my bags and started on heading up the stairs to find a place in the bathroom for my makeup. “Just make sure you have room for something else other than pie!” I smirked, shaking my head playfully as I saw him quickly turn back to the oven to check the time.

As I finally got the space around me to myself once again, my mind began playing over the day as I set out all my make-up and began putting it away neatly in the cupboards at either side of the sink.

Today had definitely been needed, not just for the chance to relax either. My world was a little more clearer than it had been a few days ago about the stallion I was now living with. Even though it had now been just over a week, I could tell that something was brewing within a deeper part of my body. I looked back towards the exit of the bathroom knowing that downstairs still awaited the untouched parchment and ink that contained my only chance at getting this whole mess in my head sorted, but after today I knew that I’d have to do it sooner rather than later.

I gathered the last of my things and closed the cupboards before making my way back downstairs again. It was now getting a lot darker outside and the lights in the house were brightening up the rooms within. I then descended the last few steps. For the second time today, I glanced over to the letter on the coffee table. I walked over and sat myself down on the couch, looking at the blank piece of paper staring back at me with an infinite number of ways in which I could mentally tackle it.

Suddenly the clanging of metal onto the coffee table made me gasp. I quickly darted my eyes upwards to see the empty tin base of where only a few crumbles of pastry had been left within its circular and hollow form.

“Oh yeah,” Soarin pleasantly hummed, rubbing his now slightly bloated stomach with a hoof. “That was awesome!”

I was stunned, “Did you seriously just eat that whole pie in less than five minutes?!”

Soarin chuckled and shrugged casually as if it was nothing. I never knew he liked pie so much. I shook my head from the thoughts before responding. “So, wait, you still have enough room for dinner?” I asked hesitantly.

Soarin nodded and grinned a winning smile at me, “You know it, Bex!” he beamed before sitting down on the opposite couch from me. “So are you gonna write that letter to Celestia then?” He asked.

I looked down at the parchment once more, at least Soarin had no clue what is was I’d be asking. I sighed a little and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll write it a little later on before bed," I said, brushing it off once more.

Soarin kept his smile and leaned back on the couch, “Well, we’ve got a full day of work ahead of us tomorrow, I’m sure Spitfire will have us all getting ready to go to Filly soon.”

I nodded, the thought of venturing out further than what I knew scared me as much as it excited me, but at least in a way it would distract me from my current situation if only for a little bit. Maybe I might even get to have more days like this with Soarin in the middle of it.

“Hey, Bex?”

My ears perked up slightly as I came out my thoughts, gazing at the stallion, “Yeah, Soarin?”

As I looked over it was clear that Soarin wore a more serious look than he had just a moment ago, “I was just wondering,” he began, “How are you feeling? With all this I mean.”

I smirked slightly, “You mean how do I still feel about being sucked into this place?” Soarin nodded and I continued, “Well… I guess in a way you could say there’s many a worse place to go than this, unless brightly coloured things annoy you.”

We both laughed as I opened up a little more, “I guess it’s tough, more than just homesickness too,” I continued, glossing over my current mindspin involving the pony in front of me, “I guess I’d just like let folks know back home where I am, they’d probably be weirded out at first, but I think they could get used to it; I certainly have.”

Soarin leaned forward again and tapped my leg with a hoof, it was a small gesture that didn’t go unnoticed. “Like I always say, Bex, if you ever need someone to chat to then I’m always here.”

I held back my blush for once, “Thank you, Soarin.”

As if by magic, the stallion quickly changed back to his childlike form. The attitude he had quickly brought a beaming smile to my face as he spoke, “So, you wanna help me make dinner this time?”

I chuckled, “Is it more pie?”

“Can be if you want it to be!”

“Of course it can,” I responded sarcastically.

As we both laughed my concerns out of the window for the night, I smiled looking back at the stallion across from me. It was in that moment alone that I discovered what Soarin was to me, he was like an island where there was no judgement, no cruelty and no depression. He brought peace, laughter and calmness...

… he brought serenity.