"These are clearly tickets for a train!"

Soarin was standing, arguing with the conductor about their burnt tickets. After the panic of first realising what had happened, he had tried to blow the black from the edges away to reveal the markings. Instead of the desired result, he ended up blowing a whole portion of the ticket away. How was he supposed to know that it was that burnt. They should have made it from a better material. Card may have been better.

"Yes Sir, I can see that. However the date is not written on them so I don't know which train it could've been."

"Surely you keep a record of these things!"

"If I did, I assure you Sir, that I would not hesitate to check. I am sorry but I cannot allow you on this train."

Grunting in frustration, he turned back to Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry Rainbow, looks like the plans I made have to change." He spoke through gritted teeth casting a glare over at the conductor.

"Hey, that's alright! There are a few cool places in Ponyville; it couldn't hurt to go somewhere... uh... less fancy."

Soarin noticed Rainbow's hesitation and watched as a slight sign of relief overtook her body.

Of course, he had forgotten... Rainbow was not used to high class posh situations. Normally, the Wonderbolts had to attend many a formal dinner but Rainbow Dash, who had only really been to the Grand Galloping Gala, had not had much experience in this area. Soarin bit his lip for not thinking of that earlier. He just wanted to treat Rainbow to a nice meal. But the pressure on the normally brash, cocky and scruffy mare had to be immense if she wanted to spend the evening in such a posh atmosphere.

A cyan hoof waved in front of his face, breaking his concentration on the topic."Uh,... hello? Soarin in there?"

"Huh...I mean... yeah! Sounds great."

"Awesome, I know the perfect place."

After a minute or two of walking, they arrived in front of the doors to a house strangely resembling a gingerbread one. The roof was highly decorated with cakes and a sign that had a pony dancing with a candy cane on it.

"Here we are!" Rainbow announced to the Wonderbolt, taking him by surprise. "Come on, let's go inside! Their cupcakes are the best! Probably not as fancy as what you had planned, but hey, it's better than nothing!"

She shot him her trademark smirk and wandered into the bakery causing Soarin to chuckle at her antics.

As Rainbow picked out a table for both her and Soarin to sit on, he looked around the room to see that there was just one other party there. A party of five to be exact; each of them covering up their faces by a menu.

"Soarin, you can sit down ya know."

Snapping his vision back to his marefriend, he saw her sat at a two seater table mentioning to the seat opposite her.

"Sorry Dash, just got a little distracted." Soarin answered gazing back at the five mares in the corner. This simple action caused all of the seated ponies to flinch and raise their menus higher, creating an auditable whispering sound in the air. This made the tension in the room rise dramatically. Dash tracked Soarin's gaze back to the strange party, lowering her head as her eyes met ones of purple.

"Oh no..."

Soarin looked at the rainbow maned pony and back across to the neighbouring table again.

"Soarin," Dash whispered, as if trying not to be heard. "don't look at them! Just slowly sit down and keep facing me."

Soarin obeyed.

"Why, do you know them?"

"Yes."

"A- are they d-dangerous?"

"No..."

"Oh, then why are you hiding from them?"

"They're spying on us... do you remember those mares who were almost destroyed at the Wonderbolts Academy?"

"Uh,... Yeah. You tell me about them all the time! There's Pinkie, Rarity, Applejay, Fluttershy and of course Princess Twilight Sparkle, right?"

"First, it's Applejack,... second, they have wanted to know everything about you before I committed to you. They want to know if your good enough." She said in a hushed voice, her eyes drifting back over to the table.

Before she committed to him? Didn't she already when she said yes? What if he wasn't the only one Rainbow was seeing? What if he had to put up a fight? How could he handle losing her if he came second?

Rainbow Dash's friends were her to look out for her. This however made the atmosphere uneasy.

"Its nothing personal!"

Soarin raised his eyes to see Rainbow Dash staring right back t him, a hint of panic present in her jolted reaction. She clearly hadn't meant that the way it had come out. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. She looked shocked to find that the words had made it past her brain before coming out like a swarm of bees to pierce Soarin's heart.

They looked at each other a while longer before Soarin finally found his words.

"Why do you need them to look after you? I thought you were the kind of mare that could handle herself."

Soarin mentally facehooved when he saw a flicker of pain emerge in the bright magenta pools. An emotion that really didn't suit the strong mare that stood before him. Her eyelids concealed the foreign emotion from the outside world. He watched to see that her whole body had tensed for a small shaking was coming from every ligament.

"I'll talk to you about it later, ok?"

At this moment, he felt like he had just been accused of murder. Though she had tried to hide it, Soarin had clearly brought up a sensitive topic.

The guilty silence that enclosed the two in their own little bubble was popped by a light cerulean mare composed with a swirl of a mane of crimson on her head, ranging in gradients.

"Hello my dears, how may I help you today?"

The fact that they were able to get off of the previous topic was a huge relief to Soarin and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rainbow's earlier demeanour had vanished.

"Hey there Mrs Cake! I'll have a carrot cake please!"

"Of course Rainbow Dash! And for you Sir?"

"Oh, no need for such formalities, just call me Soarin. I think I'll probably trust Dashie's judgement today and have the same."

Oops! It slipped out again. Casting a quick look in Rainbow's direction, he could see a dark crimson tinge to her cheeks. Oh man, was he pushing his boundaries right now! Keep this up and he would go home with a black eye.

"To take away or to eat in?"

"Take away!" Rainbow Dash snapped, though not looking at the baker, more the table behind her.

"O-ok! I'll be, um... right back with your order."

Soarin watched as the mare made her way to get the two cakes, stopping at the crowded table on the way.

Something was definitely up. Everypony seemed to be on the lookout for Rainbow tonight. First Scootaloo, then her friends and then the baker...

What happened to make them so overprotective like this?

The soft sound of coins jingling freely made its way to his ears. Tracing back to the sound, he watched as rainbow took out a few bits from a pouch that appeared to be tucked up into the second layer of the dress.

"Hey Dashie," Soarin laughed with a wink. "I've got this! I did ask you on a date after all and, though things aren't really going to plan, well... it's still my time to treat you. I am afraid I must insist." Giving a fake bow, he finished and flashed her a goofy grin.

A warm, heartfelt smile made its way to Rainbow's lips, evaporating any awkwardness that had come between the two. It warned his heart to see her happy.

"Thank you Soarin!"

Taking her hoof in his, he lead her to the front desk making her giggle a little.

"My pleasure, my Darling!"

If looks could kill.

Author's Note

Hi sorry it's been a while, I always plan my stories before I begin to write them and I tried to develop this chapter as best I could but after school I just felt like putting it off

Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next chapter. I am! It's da best!