You'll Dash and I'll Soar

Chapters

Apologies and Amends
Returning to Ponyville
Training Day
Synchro Flying
Falling for You a Little More
An Unexpected Sleepover
Invitations
The Hearth's Warming Ball
Is That a Dare?
I Guess What I'm Trying to Say Is...
A Real Hearth's Warming
Interrogations and Denial

Apologies and Amends

Rainbow Dash flew towards the castle after her performance with the Wonderbolts, feeling both exhilarated and exhausted from all the events that have happened. Just a few hours earlier she was accused of tricking Spitfire, went on an investigation with Rarity to prove her innocence, exposed the real culprit Wind Rider, and managed to get his spot in the Wonderbolt show. Although flying with the Wonderbolts was everything Rainbow Dash dreamed it would be and more, she still felt awful about how the Wonderbolts doubted her immediately, as if she couldn’t be trusted.

'C’mon Rainbow, it was just a little misunderstanding and they already made it up to you by apologizing and letting you fly in the show, so why do I still feel upset?'

Rainbow Dash wondered as she entered the East Tower of the castle and headed towards her room. Rainbow Dash was so deep in thought that she didn’t realize where she was going and bumped into somepony.

“Oof, sorry,” Rainbow Dash said,, as she looked to see whom she ran into.

“Soarin?!” the rainbow mare exclaimed in alarm, “I am so, so, so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and- ” Rainbow Dash was silenced by an iceberg blue wingtip pressed to her mouth by an amused Soarin.

“Hey, it’s all cool Dash, I wasn’t looking where I was going either,” Soarin replied with a goofy smile. “Actually, I was kinda hoping to run into you. I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you today.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I treated you terribly! I immediately jumped to conclusions and raised my voice on you when you were completely innocent! I should’ve been a better leader,” sighed Soarin, as he hung his head.

Rainbow couldn’t believe it. She knew she wanted an apology, but she never actually expected to get one from Soarin himself or see him admit his mistakes to her.

“It’s no biggie Soarin, heck, even I was starting to believe that I was guilty. And it wasn’t just you, everyone suspected it was me, except Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said comfortingly.

“I know, but I still feel awful about it. Here, let me make it up to you by treating you to dinner tonight at Donut Joe’s.”

“But you guys already let me fly in the show.”

“I know, but I just don’t feel like that’s enough. C’mon Dash, please?”

Rainbow looked at the stallion’s pleading face and couldn’t help but let out a giggle of amusement.

“Of course I’ll let you treat me to dinner you big goofball! I mean, who doesn’t love free food! Hanging out with a wonderbolt is a plus too,” Rainbow said, with a laugh as Soarin’s anxious face turned into one of delight.

“Ok then, let’s go!” Soarin said, as he flew out of the East Wing and into the night sky, dragging Rainbow with him by her hoof.

“Hey! I can fly by myself, ya know,” Rainbow protested, turning slightly red.

“Oh, right. Sorry...” Soarin said cheekily.

Not long after, the two pegasi touched down in front of Donut Joe’s place and went inside.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash! Haven’t seen you since the gala, whatcha doing in Canterlot?” asked Donut Joe, completely oblivious of the wonderbolt in his presence.

“Oh, the usual. Just hanging with wonderbolts and performing with them in shows. Speaking of which this is Soarin, second in command on the wonderbolt team.” Rainbow stated proudly.

Donut Joe’s eyes and mouth became the size of donuts as he realized who was with Dash.

“I’m mighty sorry Mr. Soarin, I didn’t recognize you without your uniform on!” Donut Joe said, as his face began to turn red from embarrassment.

Soarin chuckled, “It’s fine. Could we have a chocolate donut and an apple pie?”

“Why certainly!” Said Donut Joe as he hurried off to fulfill their orders.

Rainbow Dash and Soarin sat down at a table, staring awkwardly at each other.

“You know I could’ve ordered for myself Mr. Soarin,” Rainbow said with a wink.

Soarin’s face began to turn red.

“Well, I just wanted to be nice and order for you, Dashie.”

'Dashie? Did he just call me Dashie?'

“Uh, what did you just call me?”

“I don’t know, what do you think Dashie?” Soarin said with a smirk as she was the one turning red now.

Rainbow turned away from him, trying to hide her blush.

“That’s something only Pinkie calls me, and I only let her do it because I can’t make her stop.”

“Oh is that so? Well, now that will be something Pinkie and I both call you, cause you can’t make me stop either Dashie,” Soarin said with a playful grin, clearly enjoying every second of teasing Rainbow.

Before Rainbow could tell Soarin to be quiet, Donut Joe came over and laid a fresh chocolate donut in front of her and a warm apple pie in front of Soarin. Rainbow Dash ate her donut quietly as she observed Soarin gleefully eyeing his pie. Soarin quickly buried his face into it, savoring the rich apple flavors overflowing on his tastebuds. He heard somepony snickering, and lifted his head to see Rainbow Dash doubling over with laughter.

“Wha wo fummy?” asked Soarin with crumbs all over his muzzle.

You... look.... ridiculous!” Rainbow Dash snorted in between laughs.

Soarin quickly wiped his muzzle with a napkin, a slight blush of embarrassment forming on his cheeks.

“Hey, that’s no way to speak to the second in command of the wonderbolts! I should have you do 50 wingups right now,” Soarin said in a mockserious tone.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!” Rainbow said as she tried to contain her laughter.

After Soarin paid for their meal, the two pegasi walked out into the fresh air of the night.

“Hey, wanna go for a night fly?" asked Rainbow Dash.

“Sure. I gotta burn off all those calories from that pie anyway.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes before rocketing into the sky, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

“Catch me if you can!”

“Hey, I thought night flies were supposed to be relaxing!” Soarin commented as he flew after her.

Rainbow darted in and out of clouds, trying to shake Soarin off her tail, but he was a Wonderbolt after all, and quickly caught up to her. Soarin was just about to catch Rainbow Dash, when she doubled back, causing him to fly straight into a cloud. Soarin heard snickering above him for the second time that night, and hastily pulled himself out of the cloud and dusted himself off. Meanwhile, Rainbow was laughing herself to tears above him.

“Bwahahahaha, I can’t... believe... you fell for that, literally!” she said between laughs before being tackled onto a nearby cloud by Soarin.

The two tumbled all over the cloud, both trying to pin the other down in their fun. Finally, Soarin managed to pin down Rainbow Dash with his forelegs, their faces a breath apart.

“Ha! Gotcha...” Soarin trailed off.

His emerald eyes stared into Rainbow’s magenta orbs, lost in their beauty. Woah, her eyes are gorgeous!

Art by: me

“Uh, Soarin? Are you going to get off me or what?” said a confused Rainbow Dash, blushing furiously. Soarin immediately released her, his face growing hot.

“Er, sorry about that,” Soarin said sheepishly.

“It’s cool. You’re the first pony I’ve met that could pin me down for that long in a cloud wrestle," Rainbow Dash said as she lay down on her side on the cloud. Soarin lay next to her too, but made sure to leave a little space between them so they weren’t touching.

“Hey Dashie,” Soarin said hesitantly, “We’re cool about what happened earlier right?”

“Course we are Soarin. Everypony makes mistakes,” Rainbow Dash said with a yawn. “Wow, isn’t Luna’s moon so beautiful tonight?”

“It sure is.”

'But it’s not the only beautiful thing tonight', Soarin thought, as he observed the moonlight reflecting off the rainbow mare’s coat and mane. 'Stop it Soarin! You shouldn’t be thinking those things! Just focus on the moon, nothing else.'

Suddenly a gust of wind blew their way, causing Dash to shiver and huddle closer to Soarin by accident. She quickly retreated to her original position, her face growing hot.

“You cold?”

“N-no, why would I be?” stammered Dash, as she shivered in spite of herself. Soarin rolled his eyes and draped his wing over Rainbow Dash’s body, pulling her closer to him. Rainbow’s blush intensified as she avoided eye contact with Soarin.

[i,]Why is he doing this? And more importantly, why am I feeling this way?! C’mon Dash, it’s just a friendly gesture, no biggie.,

Soarin focused on the moon in order to stop thinking about Rainbow, when he felt a growing warmth on his side. He looked down to find an exhausted Rainbow Dash sleeping on him, an innocent smile playing on her lips. Soarin’s face lit up on fire, grateful that she was asleep so she wouldn’t see him so embarrassed. Guilt flooded over him.

'How could I have ever thought that you were responsible for Spitfire’s absence?'

Art by: me

It grew colder as the night went on, and Soarin knew he had to wake up Dash so she could go to sleep in a proper bed, but couldn’t bring himself to disturb her. With a sigh, he gently place her on his back and flew her back to her room in the East Wing. Soarin tucked Rainbow Dash into her bed, admiring how peaceful she looked.

“Good night Dashie,” he whispered, before gently closing the door.

As Soarin turned around to go back to his room, he came face to face with a smirking Spitfire.

So where’ve ya been Soar? You missed the after party in the castle gardens.”

“Uh, I just treated Rainbow Dash to dinner and went on a night fly with her as an apology for what happened earlier today,” said Soarin, with a stupid grin on his face.

Spitfire gave him a suspicious look. “You sure that’s not the only reason?”

Soarin felt his cheeks burn. “Yes I’m sure! She just got tired at the end, so I carried her back to her room. End of story. Catch ya later Spit,” Soarin said, as he bolted out of the East Tower.

chuckled to herself as she walked back to her room.

'Surprise will be dying to hear this one.'

Author's Note

This is my first fanfiction so sorry if there are any errors. I hope you'll enjoy! :pinkiehappy: Also, if you visit my deviantart you'll see lots of my soarindash drawings are from my fanfiction.

Returning to Ponyville

Rainbow Dash woke up to sunlight streaming through the window and birds chirping in the trees. She groaned, and turned over so she wasn’t facing the sun and buried her face into her pillow.

'Why does Celestia have to raise the sun so darn early? Wait a minute… how did I even get back here in the first place!'

Rainbow woke with a start, trying to remember the events of last night.

'All I remember was that Soarin treated me to dinner last night and afterwards we had a night flight and looked at the moon. Wait, did Soarin carry me all the way back here?!'

Rainbow Dash flew out of bed and quickly got ready, packed up her things, and trotted out the door. She had to find Soarin and ask him about what happened last night before she left for Ponyville.

Soarin kept walking through the West Tower, trying to ignore all the annoying questions that kept spilling out of Surprise’s mouth.

“Sooo... did you ask Rainbow Dash out?’

“Did she say yes?”

“Did ya kiss her?”

'Spitfire is sooo going to get it.'

“No Surprise! Rainbow and I aren’t involved in anything like that! I just wanted to apologize for accusing her of a crime that she didn’t commit ok! Now leave me alone!” yelled Soarin before streaking out of the West Wing.

Once he made sure that Surprise wasn’t following him anymore, he let himself relax as he trotted towards the East Tower to check on Spitfire’s packing, for the wonderbolts needed to leave for Cloudsdale in less than an hour. As he approached Spitfire’s room, he saw Rainbow Dash leave her room to return back to Ponyville. Soarin gulped and tried to act natural. Things were about to get awkward.

Rainbow Dash didn’t have to walk far to find Soarin. In fact, he was walking towards her. Rainbow trotted over to meet him, a relieved look on her face.

“Good morning Soarin!”

“Good morning Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, I was just wondering about last night. The last thing I remember was looking at the moon before I fell asleep, and this morning I woke up in my bed. Did you… carry me all the way back here?” Rainbow Dash asked sheepishly.

Soarin began to blush as he recalled the events of last night. “Oh yeah, I did. I didn’t want to wake you up, so I just decided to bring you back here myself.”

“Oh, thanks. Sorry I fell asleep on you like that.”

“It’s ok, yesterday really was an exhausting day.”

“Hey, if you ever tell anypony about what happened last night, I’ll kill you” Rainbow warned, looking him in the eye.

Soarin gulped. “Got it, Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

'He isn’t ever going to let me up on that nickname is he, although I don’t mind as much when he says it. Oh stop it Dash, focus!'

“Well, I have to head back over to Ponyville. Can’t leave the weather team without their captain forever can I.”

“Us wonderbolts have to head back to Cloudsdale too. Speaking of which, there will be a wonderbolt reserve training session tomorrow at our headquarters.”

“Really? How come I didn’t get any word from Spitfire about it?”

“He he, I may have told you the news a little early. Spitfire is sending out the notification letter today. Don’t tell her I told you!” Soarin said frantically.

“Course I won’t ya big goof! I guess that means I’ll see you tomorrow at headquarters!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow Dashie!” said Soarin as he left to go check on Spitfire. He reached her room and knocked on the door.

“Hey Spit it’s me, Soarin. Just checking on how your packing is going cause we have to leave for Cloudsdale soon.”

Spitfire opened the door with her two saddle bags on her back, a knowing look on her face.

“All set to go Soarin, and next time do try to not reveal wonderbolt plans early to reserves,” Spitfire said with a wink.

Soarin’s face grew red with embarrassment. “H-how did you know?”

“The door isn’t that thick ya know.”

“Oh. Well, she would’ve found out sooner or later today anyway, and did you really have to tell Surprise about last night! Now she’s trying to pair us together and she won’t stop bothering me about it!” Soarin said angrily.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Spitfire said innocently. “Come on, we have to get back to headquarters now.”
Soarin sighed, and followed Spitfire out of the wing to join the other wonderbolts so they could return to Cloudsdale.

“Now Sassy Saddles, I have to return to Ponyville with Rainbow Dash soon, but I want you to make sure that everypony knows about my new detective fashion line here at Canterlot Boutique,” said Rarity, as she fixed the position of a hat on a mannequin’s head using her magic.

“Why of course Rarity, you’re detective line will be all the rage in Canterlot!” Sassy Saddles reassured her.

Suddenly, the door banged open as Rainbow Dash rushed inside. “Hi Rarity, ready to go back to Ponyville? Oh hey Sassy Saddles,” said Rainbow Dash, not noticing the two desperately balancing the clothing displays with their magic from the impact of the door banging.

“Rainbow Dash! I thought I told you to open that door gently!” exclaimed Rarity in annoyance.

“Oops, sorry about that. Ready to go?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.

“Why yes, but I do need some help with my luggage,” said Rarity as she pointed to a towering pile of baggages.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she picked up one of the luggages.

“C’mon Rarity, we’re going to miss the train!”

“But what about the rest of my luggages?”

“Ugh, can’t you just use your magic to levitate them? We have to go now!” Rainbow said, as she flew out the door.

Rarity sighed as she levitated her tower of luggages.

“Good bye Rarity!” said Sassy Saddles.

“Till next time Sassy Saddles,” Rarity replied, as she waltzed out the door, her tower levitating behind her.

The two ponies barely made it onto the train before it pulled out of the station.

“Whew, that was a close one!” exclaimed Rarity, as she settled down into one of the seats.

“Well, we would’ve gotten here earlier if somepony didn’t bring so many luggages,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Well I never! What if you’re absolutely desperate to curl your lashes, and you realize that you didn’t bring your eyelash curler!” pointed out Rarity.

“Uh, what’s an eyelash curler?”

Rarity faced hoofed. “You really need to look into makeup more, darling.”

About an hour later, the train pulled into the Ponyville station. Rarity and Rainbow Dash got off the train to find the rest of their friends waiting there already. Before anypony could react, Pinkie Pie tackled Rainbow Dash and Rarity to the ground, a hysterical look on her face.

“You guys are back, I can’t believe it?! Do you still remember me? Oh please, oh please remember me! I wanted to go see you guys, but Twilight wouldn’t let me and oh, I’m just so glad to see you!” Pinkie squealed, as she hugged Rainbow Dash and Rarity tightly.

“Of course we remember you Pinkie! And we’ve only been gone for two days!” wheezed Rainbow Dash, as Pinkie squeezed the life out of them.

“Calm down Pinkie!” Twilight said, as she pulled her away from the two using her magic. “It’s great to see you girls again. How did the trip go?”

Oh, it went splendid! Sassy Saddles is managing the boutique wonderfully! It’s now become the top shop in Canterlot!” Rarity exclaimed, as the group began to walk away from the train station, Rainbow Dash hovering above them.

“Yeah it went pretty well, except for Wind Rider framing me for sending away Spitfire and the wonderbolts almost banishing me. Other than that, it was pretty awesome,” Rainbow said casually.

“WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed except Rarity.

“Why'd they almost banish you?” asked Applejack.

“who is Wind Rider?” Fluttershy said meekly.

“Oh, just you wait till I get my hooves on those wonderbolts!” yelled Pinkie Pie as she shook her hoof.

“Woah, woah, woah! Hold your horses everypony! The wonderbolts almost banished me because it’s their policy, Wind Rider is a living legend that actually turned out to be a backstabber, and the wonderbolts already made it up to me by letting me fly in Wind Rider’s place in the show last night!” Rainbow said defensively.

All her friends looked at one another and shrugged.

“If ya say so Rainbow, but if ya ever need us ya’ll be here for ya,” said Applejack.

“Speaking of last night, where were you Rainbow? I didn’t see you at the after party in the castle gardens. Now that I think about it, I didn’t see that wonderbolt stallion either. What was his name again? Soarin?” asked Rarity.

"You mean the stallion that Dashie saved his pie for at the gala?" recalled Pinkie Pie.

"Why yes! She also saved him at the Young Fliers Competition when she did her sonic rainboom," said Rarity.

"Didn't you also help him get back in the Equestria Games at Rainbow Falls?" squeaked Fluttershy.

"And I swear I saw you two dancing together at my brother and Cadence's wedding," reflected Twilight.

Rainbow Dash began to turn a slight shade of red.

“Um, yeah that's him. I forgot to tell you that Soarin treated me to dinner last night as a further apology for accusing me earlier,” she said quickly, leaving out the part that they had a night flight.

“Well, that’s real nice of him,” said Applejack.

“Are you sure that’s all that happened?” Rarity asked with a smirk, making the heat on Rainbow Dash’s face intensify.

“Yes, that’s all!” Rainbow said forcefully.

“Are you sure Dashie? Cause if I didn’t know better, I’d say you have a crush on him,” Pinkie Pie blurted.

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled as she gave her the look.

“Whaaat? I do know better though, so I’d say that he has a crush on you too!”

Rainbow raised her wings in alarm.

“What?! C’mon you guys, this is me we’re talking about. I’m the coolest, fastest, awesomest pony around, and falling in love just isn’t cool!” objected Rainbow. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a wonderbolt reserve training session tomorrow, so I need to go home and get some shuteye. See ya!”

Rainbow Dash streaked through the air and flew home as fast as she could, leaving her friends giggling down below.

“Ooo, she’s got it bad,” snorted Applejack.

Rainbow Dash landed smoothly on the front porch of her house, glad to be home. She went to get the mail from the mailbox, pushed open the door, and set the mail down on a table.

“Tank, I’m back!” Rainbow said gleefully, as she searched for her pet tortoise. Although he may not have been the pet she dreamed of at first, he was practically family to her now. Tank slowly emerged from behind the couch, giving Rainbow Dash a dopey smile.

“C’mere you, I’ve missed ya forever!” Rainbow Dash said, as she rubbed his head with her hoof.

“Tank, sometimes my friends can be soooo annoying! They were just trying to pair me and Soarin together! I mean, now that I think about it, we did have a lot of experiences with each other, but they don’t mean anything, right?”

Tank just gave her patient smile.

“Oh, who am I kidding! I’m probably just overthinking this, and I bet Soarin has a special somepony already.” Rainbow Dash reassured herself.

Rainbow fluttered over to where she set down the mail and began sorting through it.

“Taxes, advertisements, random letters, aha! Here it is!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she held Spitfire’s letter triumphantly in her hoof. She quickly tore open the letter and began to read.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

As you probably know already thanks to Soarin, tomorrow there will be a wonderbolt reserve training session at our headquarters. Please be there by 9:30 am sharp. Be prepared for a challenging training session, I know you can handle it. I also want to thank you personally for coming to get me from the Crystal Mountains. If it weren’t for you, I probably would still be stuck there looking the Ice Iris. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at practice.

Sincerely,

Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts

'Who told Spitfire? Eh, doesn’t matter. I can’t wait for practice tomorrow!' Rainbow squealed to herself as she climbed into bed with Tank by her side.

“Good night Tank,” Rainbow Dash whispered softly before drifting off to sleep, her dreams filled with visions of flying with the wonderbolts once more.

Author's Note

And the adventure continues. Also, the eyelash curler part was a reference to a past episode. Can you guess which one it was? (Hint: Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were all in it along with three companions and an unexpected mentor.)

Training Day

Rainbow Dash slowly woke up due to someone gently shaking her. She groaned as she opened her eyes to find Tank slowly rocking her. She smiled at him and glanced at the clock. It read 9:00 am.

"Waah! How did I sleep in so long! I gotta hurry if I want to make it to Cloudsdale on time!" exclaimed Rainbow as she flew out of bed to brush her teeth. A few seconds later she streaked down the stairs, grabbed a hay burger, and flew out the door towards Cloudsdale.

"Thanks for waking me up Tank, see you later!" shrieked Rainbow as she flew away.

Rainbow Dash ate her hay burger while she flew, thinking about what kind of training she and the other recruits would be going through today. Maybe they'll teach us one of their signature moves, or some new drills, or maybe we’ll even get to race them! Oh, I can't keep it in anymore, I’M GONNA BE TRAINING WITH THE WONDERBOLTS!!! Rainbow fangirl squealed.

A few moments later, Rainbow Dash touched down in front of the Wonderbolts Headquarters with minutes to spare. She checked in at the office, changed into her recruit outfit, and headed out onto the track to join the others. Rainbow Dash scanned the pegasi for familiar faces, and stopped at Thunderlane. How did he land this job? Rainbow fluttered over to stand next to him.

"Hey Thunderlane, I didn't know you were a recruit too. Are you excited for practice today?" asked Rainbow Dash enthusiastically.

"Oh hey Rainbow, yeah I guess so. I heard that today's practice is different than usual," informed Thunderlane.

"Really? Do you know how?”

“No, but I hope it isn’t challenging.”

“Are you kidding?! I live for challenges!”

“Yeah, well I don’t,” Thunderlane said flatly.

Lazy Thunderlane. Hope he doesn’t call in sick like last time.

“Attention!” said a voice that none other belonged to Spitfire.

All the recruits immediately stopped talking and stood up straight in a single file line.

“As you all probably have heard already, today’s practice is going to be different than usual. From now on, each of you will be trained individually by a randomly picked wonderbolt instead of in a class. They will help you improve your speed, agility, and strength. You and your trainer will meet up once a week for training wherever you like, so make sure not to miss it. Are there any questions?” said Spitfire as she walked down the line of recruits.

“No Ma'am,” replied all the reserves.

“Alright then, I will start picking your trainers right now.”

Oh man! This is gonna be sweet! I really hope I get Spitfire as my trainer, she is the Captain of the Wonderbolts after all, but I wouldn’t mind settling for Soarin or Fleetfoot either.

Spitfire trotted over to two hats, one labeled reserves and the other wonderbolts. She reached into the reserve hat first and pulled out a slip of paper, then did the same with the wonderbolt hat. All the recruits held their breath, waiting to hear their pairings.

“Raindrop, you’re with Surprise. Clear Skies, you’re with Misty Fly. Midnight Strike, you’re with Rapidfire. Star Hunter with Fleetfoot, Pizzelle with High Winds, Thunderlane with me, and Rainbow Dash with Soarin.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. Soarin is my trainer?! Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!!! Even if Thunderlane got Spitfire, I can’t believe I landed myself the second in command of the wonderbolts! Ah, poor Thunderlane. Looks like he is going to be in for a challenge after all, Rainbow chuckled to herself. All the cadets made their way towards their wonderbolt trainers, both eager and nervous to get started. Rainbow Dash did her best to swallow a fangirl scream as she stood proudly next to Soarin.

“You may begin training here or move to a different location,” Spitfire announced before leading an extremely nervous Thunderlane to a secluded area of the track to do their training.

All the other teams began moving to their own areas, some staying put while others flew away to train elsewhere.

Rainbow Dash looked at Soarin expectantly. “So uh, are we gonna train here or go somewhere else coach?”

“What do you think Dashie?” Soarin asked as he spread his wings and took off into the sky.

“Hey!” Rainbow yelled as she shot up after him, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Author's Note

This chapter is kinda short because I decided to split the chapter.

Synchro Flying

Rainbow Dash watched the Wonderbolts headquarters grow smaller and smaller in the sky, till it was nothing but a speck on the horizon.

“Hey Dashie, who was that stallion you were talking to earlier?” Soarin asked a little tensely.

“Oh, you mean Thunderlane? I just know him on the Ponyville weather team, that’s all. Why?” Rainbow asked.

“Uh, just wondering…” Soarin said, feeling a weight lift off of him knowing that he wasn’t someone close to Rainbow Dash.

A few minutes later, both pegasi touched down on a cloud, far away from the others.

Rainbow Dash gave Soarin a puzzled look. “Uh, Soarin? There’s nothing here but open skies”.

“That’s the point. This way we can focus on your training without any distractions. Now, I want you to show me your flying skills,” replied Soarin seriously.

“Like ya need to ask me twice!” said Rainbow before taking off into the sky.

Rainbow Dash started out with some intricate loops and corkscrews in the air to show her agility. Next, she busted a whole row of large clouds in ten seconds flat to show her strength. And now for the big finale, the Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash gained as much altitude as she could before letting gravity take over her body, pulling her towards earth. Rainbow strained her wings as much as she could as she freefalled, her eyes stinging from the wind. Rainbow Dash could see a cone of air start to form around her as she gained more momentum. I’m going to do it! Rainbow closed her eyes as she felt herself break the sound barrier, a spectrum of colors erupting from all sides of her as a blazing rainbow trail streaked behind her.

“Aw, yeah!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she landed smoothly in front of slack-jawed Soarin.

“That... was...AMAZING!!!” Soarin exclaimed as he did a flip. “Er, I mean, that was pretty good. You apparently have excellent skills as a solo flyer,” Soarin reddened as he tried to regain his composure. Professionalism Soarin. Even though we’re friends, I still got to treat her like any other recruit, at least until practice is over.

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof at him. “Psh, course I was! I’m awesome!”

Soarin sighed. This mare and her ego.

“We already know you are a great flyer Rainbow Dash, but how are you at synchro flying?” asked Soarin.

“Synchro what now?”

Soarin stared dumbfoundedly at the cyan pegasus. “You know, when pegasi fly together in a specific pattern or set of movements? As a wonderbolt, you have to do that a lot in aerial shows.”

“Oh, right. Well, I’ve never found anyone fast enough to keep up with me to try it out,” Rainbow Dash said embarrassingly.

“Well then I assume you don’t know what pegasus sense is then either. Pegasus sense is the natural instinct to close your wings when an object gets too close to you when you’re flying. In order to do synchro flying, one must resist that urge to close their wings through lots of practice and training."

Rainbow groaned inwardly. Ug, I never thought I would get lectured by a wonderbolt. It isn’t as bad as when Twilight does it though.

“Hey Dashie, do you trust me?” asked Soarin, regaining Rainbow Dash’s attention and causing her to turn a slight shade of pink at the unusual question.

“Um, yeah I do.”

“Okay, good. Now, I want you to gain some altitude and just cruise. I’ll come up next to you and I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

“Got it,” Rainbow said as she flew into the sky and began to glide.

Man, Equestria is so beautiful from here. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash began to feel her wings growing numb and felt an odd urge to close them. That’s weird, I haven’t been flying for too long. The urge to clamp her wings shut became stronger, but Rainbow Dash forced them open.

“What’s going on?!” Rainbow Dash said aloud.

“Woah Dashie, it’s just me.”

Rainbow Dash looked down to Soarin flying underneath her, belly-side up.

Art by: me

“Soarin! I thought you said you’ll be flying next to me, not under me?!”

“Heh heh, sorry about that. Are you feeling any strange sensations yet?”

“Yeah, I reaally want to close my wings right now,” Rainbow Dash said nervously.

“That’s your pegasus sense. You gotta fight the urge to. Now Rainbow, I’m going to fly in closer to you until we are a hoof apart.

“What?! But we’ll practically be touching!” Rainbow Dash said frantically as she tried to keep gliding.

“That’s the idea. In synchro flying, pegasi have to fly extremely close to each other. After I get close enough, we’ll both do a flip on the count of three, kay? I know you can do it Dashie,” Soarin gave her a reassuring smile.

Rainbow Dash sighed, “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Soarin began to gradually fly closer to Rainbow Dash, till there was only a little bit of space between them. Rainbow Dash couldn’t take it anymore, so she closed her eyes, her heart beating fast. C’mon Rainbow, it’s almost over.

“On the count of three, we both do a flip away from each other. Ready, one… two.. THREE!!!” Soarin commanded as the two pegasi immediately pulled away from each other into a flip. Rainbow Dash instantly felt her pegasus sense evaporate as she completed the move. The two pegasi landed on a cloud, breathless.

“Not bad for a pegasus who has never done synchro flying before,” Soarin said impressively.

“Thanks. I really dislike this pegasus sense thingy though,” Rainbow Dash said as she stretched her wings.

“Yeah it takes some getting used to, but with a little practice you’ll be flying in aerial patterns in no time. I think that’s all the training for today Dashie, where should we meet up next time?” Soarin asked, glad to finally drop his professional act.

“How about Ponyville? We have open skies too, and don’t forget about Sugar Cube Corner’s amazing pies,” suggested Rainbow.

“Pie? Did you say pie? Ponyville it is then!” Soarin said ecstatically.

Rainbow let a giggle of amusement slip. Just mention pie and Soarin will say yes to anything.

“Okay fly boy, I gotta get back to my friends now, but I’ll see you at the same time next week in Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash said before flying home.

“Ok, catch you later Dash!” Soarin said before returning to headquarters.

Back at the wonderbolts base, all the members were on break in the mess hall when Soarin returned. As Soarin made his way towards the mess hall, he ran into Fleetfoot and Spitfire.

“Oh, hey Soarin! How’d your training session go with the recruit? I heard she’s very dashing,” Fleetfoot asked with a smirk.

Ugg, not Fleetfoot too!

“Yeah Soar, you were out training for so long we thought you might’ve went home with her,” Spitfire teased.

“Ha, ha. Very funny you two,” Soarin said sarcastically as he quickly disappeared into the crowd in the mess hall so he wouldn’t have to be interrogated further.

Author's Note

First day of training! The next few chapters will be about their other training sessions, which will be interesting... :raritywink:

Falling for You a Little More

The next week Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville, scolding herself.

'Why didn’t I establish a meeting place with Soarin in Ponyville last week? Now I have no idea if he is here or not! Sigh, I just hope I can find him.'

Rainbow Dash lightly landed on a cloud to scan over Ponyville for Soarin. Suddenly, she felt someone tap her shoulder.

“Wah!” she yelled as she flew upward.

Rainbow looked down to see a chortling Soarin beneath her. Rainbow Dash quickly came back down, her face red from embarrassment.

“Soarin, you scared me! Er, I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to do that,” Rainbow recovered.

“Oh, did I? I thought nothing could get the toughest pony around,” Soarin said, as he nudged her gently.

“Well, I’m glad I found you. Sorry, I forgot to establish a meeting place last time.”

“Oh, it’s fine. All I had to was look for the rainbow,” Soarin explained, causing Rainbow Dash’s cheeks to flush a little.

“Alright, let’s see if your synchro flying improved shall we?” Soarin asked.

“Sure,” Rainbow Dash said, as she crouched down and spread her wings in preparation of flight.

The two burst into the open sky and Rainbow Dash began to cruise smoothly. Rainbow started to feel her pegasus sense kick in again as Soarin came closer to her, but she willed herself to keep flying.

“On the count of three, we do a flip. Ready, one...two..three!” Soarin said, as the two pegasi pulled away from each other and performed a backflip before landing on a cloud.

“Dang Rainbow, you improved a lot in just a week!” Soarin complimented.

“Thanks, always knew I was a fast learner,” Rainbow Dash bragged.

Soarin smirked. “Well if you’re such a fast learner, then I assume you’re ready for a real challenge then.”

“Bring it!” Rainbow said with a daring grin.

Soarin reached behind his ear and pulled out a blindfold.

“Where’d you get that?” asked Rainbow Dash, eyeing blindfold suspiciously.

“A Wonderbolt never reveals his secrets.” Soarin said, as he tied the blindfold over Rainbow Dash’s eyes.

“H-hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Rainbow protested.

“Woah, calm down Dashie! I thought you wanted a challenge, remember?” he reminded. “Ok, this time you are going to cruise along again, but I’m going to come up on any side of you, making it harder to control your pegasus sense and putting your skills to the test.”

“Easy as pie,” Rainbow said, as she tried to lift up her blindfold.

“Hey! You’re not allowed to take off your blindfold either,” Soarin said as he slid it over her magenta eyes again.

'Oh well, it was worth a shot.'

Rainbow Dash cautiously ascended into the sky and began to glide, relying only on her flying experience. Rainbow began to feel her right wing seize up a little, and knew Soarin was on her right side. She fought the sensation though, and continued to glide. Rainbow Dash kept feeling her pegasus sense turn on and off as Soarin flew around her, but she kept herself steady, beads of sweat rolling down her face. Suddenly, Rainbow felt her pegasus sense surge and she couldn’t feel her wings anymore. The next thing she knew, Rainbow Dash was plummeting towards Equestria, the world pitch black under the blindfold.

“Waaahh! Soarin, help!” Rainbow Dash screamed, as she tried to get her wings to work again.

“Don’t worry Rainbow, I’m coming!” Soarin called to her as he shot after her. Soarin watched as Rainbow Dash kept falling, fear written all over her face as she kept spiraling down.

'Almost... there... gotcha!'

Soarin thought as he caught Rainbow in the nick of time and carried her to a cloud in his hooves. He immediately tore off the blindfold from her eyes and began to inspect her wings for any injuries. Rainbow Dash’s eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the light, before they landed on Soarin massaging her wings gingerly. Her face lit up on fire and she tried to hide her blush with her hoof.

“Uh...what do you think you’re doing?” she asked meekly.

“Massaging your wings. They seized up because you were straining them so much in order to resist the pegasus sense,” Soarin said angrily.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad,” Rainbow said quietly.

Soarin lifted her chin with his hoof so their eyes met. “Hey, I’m not mad at you Dashie. I’m mad at myself. I was so foolish to introduce you to this exercise when you’re so new to synchro flying. If you had gotten hurt or… or worse, I would’ve never forgiven myself.”

“It’s ok, really. I’ve been through a lot worse falls than that. Ask the Ponyville hospital, I practically live there!” Rainbow Dash said, as she stood up and ruffled her feathers. “Thanks for massaging them, they feel as good as new.”

“No problem. I think that’s all the training for today,” Soarin said, still silently scolding himself as Rainbow’s fear stricken face kept appearing in his mind.

'How could I have been so stupid! I’ve never seen her so scared before, and the fact that she forgave me so easily still surprises me.'

“Hey, you wanna grab some grub at Sugar Cube Corner? I’m famished.” Rainbow said, pointing to her grumbling stomach.

“Uh, sure.”

Soarin began to fly towards Sugar Cube Corner, when Rainbow Dash grabbed the end of his tail and pulled him back onto the cloud.

“Ow, hey! What was that for?” Soarin asked annoyed.

“Don’t you know you first gotta race to determine who pays for the meal, fly boy? First one to that cloud over there doesn’t have to spend a single bit,” Rainbow explained, flaring her wings.

Soarin gave her a skeptical look. “Are you sure this is a good idea? You did just almost plummet to your death a few minutes ago.”

“Hello, this is Rainbow Dash you’re talking to. Of course this is a good idea! Plus, I won’t be dealing with pegasus sense this time.”

“Alright then,” Soarin said, crouching down into a starting position.

“Readysetgo!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she streaked towards the cloud, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

“Hey, no fair!” Soarin yelled as he rocketed after her.

The two pegasi were neck in neck, when Rainbow Dash gave an extra burst of speed and touched down on the cloud first.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she fist pumped the air. “You know what this means…” she smirked at Soarin, as he landed on the cloud out of breath. He sighed in defeat.

'I can’t believe I just got beaten by a recruit in a race.'

Ka-ching! went the cash register.

“Thanks Mrs. Cake,” Soarin said, as he and Rainbow Dash carried an apple pie and a mug of apple cider to a table.

Soarin was about to chow down his apple pie, when he remembered Rainbow Dash’s reaction last time, and decided to calmly nibbled at it instead. Rainbow gave a little sigh of disappointment.

'Aw, I was hoping he would gobble it up again! Oh well...' Rainbow Dash shrugged as she picked up her mug of cider and glugged it down, before letting out a satisfied “Aah”. Soarin tried to swallow his laughter, but he couldn’t help, but let out a snicker.
Rainbow Dash eyed him disapprovingly, “What’s so funny?”

“I don’t know, Star Swirled the Bearded,” snorted Soarin.

Rainbow immediately wiped her muzzle with her hoof, and found it covered with foam. She tried to look angry at Soarin, but failed at doing so, and ended up joining in his laughter too.

“I guess I love apple cider as much as you love apple pie, huh Soarin,” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“You bet!” Soarin said as he tore into his pie eagerly, not caring how ridiculous he looked anymore.

“Hey guys! Whatcha up to?” asked Pinkie Pie as she sprung up between them.

“Ahh! Pinkie, where’d you come from?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“What do you mean Dashie? I live here, silly! Hey, who's you’re friend? Oh, is he that wonderbolt stallion that you have a crush on?” blabbed Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie! This is Soarin, and I do not have a crush on him,” Rainbow Dash said through gritted teeth, her cheeks burning.

“Nice to meet you Pinkie Pie.” Soarin greeted, a slight tinge of red on his cheeks as well.

“Sooooo… are you guys on a date?” asked Pinkie Pie, batting her eyelashes innocently.

“What?! No! Soarin and I are just having lunch, that’s all,” Rainbow Dash explained, her cheeks growing redder.

“If you say so Dashie! It looks an awful lot like date though.”

“No, Dash is right. We’re just out for a friendly meal,” Soarin agreed, his face still red.

Just then the bell by the door rang as Rarity waltzed into Sugar Cube Corner.

“Oh, there you are Pinkie Pie! I was looking for you everywhere and- oh! Hello Rainbow
Dash, you didn’t mention that you were on a date with Soarin!” Rarity said delightedly.

Rainbow Dash face hoofed. “Why does everypony think that we’re on a date?”

“Why, it’s because you never eat alone with stallions! You do look a little underdressed for the occasion though. Do come to me first next time, darling, as I am an expert in these things.”

“Ug, why do I even bother. C’mon Soarin, let’s go,” Rainbow muttered before flying out the door.

“Nice meeting you ladies, but I should be going too,” Soarin said awkwardly before following Rainbow out the door.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity looked at each other and started a giggle fit.

“Oh, when will they open their eyes and see the truth?” sighed Rarity.

“What do you mean, Rarity? Their eyes are always open! Otherwise they would be crashing into things like that wall, or that table, or each
other!” reasoned Pinkie Pie.

Rarity rolled her eyes dramatically.

“Rainbow Dash, wait up!” called Soarin as he flew after her.

Rainbow slowed down, and waited for Soarin to catch up to her.

“Sorry about all that, my friends have been bugging me about that stuff forever,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“It’s fine. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Surprise are doing the exact same thing to me right now too,” Soarin chuckled.

Rainbow Dash laughed along. “I guess all friends are the same, huh.”

Soarin smiled. “They sure are.”

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” hollered a voice from below.

Rainbow looked down to see an orange filly on a scooter looking up at her with a big grin.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow said as she fluttered down to meet her.

“How are ya doin squirt?” Rainbow asked while giving Scootaloo a noogie.

“Awesome as always! Who’s the stallion that’s with you? Is he your coltfriend?” Scootaloo asked, turning her attention to the iceberg blue stallion.

“What?! No! That’s Soarin, the Wonderbolt!” Rainbow said flustered.

Scootaloo’s eyes grew twice the size and she zoomed over to where he was standing.

“You’re the Soarin from the Wonderbolts! Oh my gosh! That is sooooo cool! What are you doing here if you’re not on a date with the most
awesome mare in Equestria then?” Scootaloo asked while bouncing up and down.

Soarin chuckled. “Woah there kid, I’m just here to help train Rainbow Dash.”

“What?! Rainbow, why didn’t you tell me about this?! You know I’m a big fan of the Wonderbolts too!” Scootaloo whined.
“Sorry squirt, just have been busy with the weather patrol and training,” Rainbow explained.

“So what’s your name?” Soarin asked the filly who has gone into fan-girl mode.

“I’m Scootaloo! I’m such a big fan of you guys, especially you Soarin! Not as big as a fan of Rainbow Dash though, but close!”

“So you’re Rainbow’s number one fan, huh?” Soarin smirked.

“Oh yeah! I even started the Rainbow Dash fan club! I’m even her sister! Hey, do you wanna join?” Scootaloo asked with hopeful eyes.

“Sure? I mean, she is the most awesome mare in Equestria isn’t she?” Soarin agreed, causing Dash to blush slightly.

“Yeah she is! Woohoo! Now we have a Wonderbolt part of our club!” Scootaloo said as she spun around on her scooter. “When I grow up, I want to be just like you!”

“I’m sure you’ll make a great wonderbolt, kid,” Soarin assured her.

Scootaloo stopped spinning around and screeched to a halt.

“Actually, I can’t really fly…” she said quietly while staring at the ground.

Rainbow face hoofed. Great job Soarin!

Soarin looked confused at first, but something clicked in his mind as he looked at her wings, and he wrapped a comforting hoof around Scootaloo’s neck.

“Hey kid, just because you may not be able to fly yet, that doesn’t mean your dreams can’t take off,” Soarin told her. “I’ve seen your moves on that scooter. Heck, I bet you’re better than me on that thing! I’m not saying that you’ll never fly, I know you will someday, but for now focus on your own talents that make you who you are, not just some other random pegasus.”

“Th-thanks Soarin…” Scootaloo said before hugging him.

Soarin’s eyes widened in surprise, before hugging her back. Scootaloo released the hug, her face full of determination.

“I have some dreams that need to take flight!” Scootaloo said before scootering away.

“That was a close one. Scootaloo’s wings are a touchy subject…” Rainbow said coming up next to him.

“So she’s your sister, huh?” Soarin asked.

“Scoots? No, not in blood. I kinda adopted her as my sister because she was looking for companionship,” Rainbow explained.

That’s very nice of you, Dashie. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she really was your sister, as she’s an awful lot like somepony I know...” Soarin said cheekily.

Rainbow playfully shoved him. “Well she did learn from the best.”

Soarin chuckled. “I really enjoyed meeting Scootaloo today and hanging out with you, but I have to get back to headquarters now before Spitfire skins my hide!”

Rainbow laughed. “Alright fine. See ya next week, fly boy!”

“See ya!” Soarin called, before flying towards Cloudsdale.

Back at her cloud dominium, Rainbow Dash was sprawled on her bed with Tank by her side, providing consolation for her.

“Ugh, Tank, why do I feel this way around him? And why does he always go out of his way for me? And he so good with Scootaloo, encouraging her to never give up on her dreams. And he keeps complimenting me?! He’s just doing it as a friend, right? I mean, my friends can’t possibly be right about the whole crush thing, right? Right?!” Rainbow said as she shook Tank.

Tank just gave her a slow nod.

“So, are you saying yes my friends are right, or yes my friends or wrong? Ugh, why do tortoises have to give such ambiguous answers!” Rainbow Dash complained as she collapsed back down onto her bed.

Tank just smiled slowly.

Rainbow sighed. “Thanks for listening to me Tank, I am totally overreacting right now, aren’t I? Oh well, goodnight buddy.”

Rainbow Dash covered herself and Tank with her blanket and drifted off to sleep, the two snoring soundly in harmony.

Back at his house, Soarin threw his wonderbolt goggles onto his bed before flopping onto it as well.

'Ugh, why do I always feel this way around her?! We’re just friends, right? And why does she have to be so darn cute in everything she does!
Could Spitfire and Fleetfoot be right? Could I really have a crush on her? And could she, maybe, like me back too? I mean, she's different than all the other mares I met. Yes, sometimes she has those cute fangirling moments, but I feel like I can communicate with her as just Soarin, and not a famous wonderbolt. C’mon Soar, this is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about! She’s too cool for love, and would probably reject me immediately if I tried. '

Soarin sighed as he rolled over to one side.

'This is too much for me to think about. I just got to concentrate on her training right now.'

He closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep into pie-filled dreams.

An Unexpected Sleepover

Several weeks passed by since Soarin and Rainbow Dash’s last practice, and Dash’s synchro flying improved immensely. The two always went to Sugar Cube Corner after practice, and no more accidents occurred again. This week though was the last training session before the Wonderbolts’ Hearth's Warming break, and both pegasi wanted to make it count as much as possible.

'I can’t believe this is my last training session with Soarin before Hearth’s Warming break! Everything went by so fast!' Rainbow Dash thought as she flew to their usual meeting spot in the sky. 'Well, I might as well make the most of it.'

Rainbow saw Soarin already waiting for her, his back turned. A sly grin formed at the corners of Rainbow Dash’s muzzle, and she flew silently towards Soarin. Once she was close enough, Rainbow pounced on him.

“BOO!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Wah!” Soarin cried, as he flew straight up.
He immediately came back down as Rainbow laughed herself to tears, a smug look on her face.

“I guess you got me back, huh Dashie?”

“C’mon Soarin, you knew it was coming. No one scares Rainbow Dash and gets away with it, even a prestige Wonderbolt like you.” she replied, playfully swatting his chin with her tail.

Soarin rolled his eyes. “You ready to start our training?”

“You bet!” Rainbow said, but with a little less enthusiasm, remembering that it would be a while till their next training session.

“Okay Rainbow, you ready for something truly spectacular?”

“Like my sonic rainboom?”

“No, even more awesome than that.”

“What could possibly be more amazing than a sonic rainboom?!” Rainbow Dash said incredulously.

“Trust me, once we do this, it’ll put the sonic rainboom to shame. Now, both of us are going to gain altitude, then freefall next to each other as you do your sonic rainboom while I do my signature move, the electric blaze,” Soarin explained.

“Uh, are you sure this is safe?” asked Rainbow nervously.

“Positive. We do this a lot in practice actually. Are you ready to try it out?” asked Soarin.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash as she took off into the sky.

Soarin took off after her, and the two flew parallel to each other as they gained altitude. Once they were high enough, both pegasi began to free fall letting gravity take over. Rainbow Dash could feel the familiar sting of her eyes from the wind, as her momentum increased. Soarin flew right next to her, his mane flapping wildly in the wind. Rainbow Dash began to see a cone of air form around her and Soarin, Equestria growing closer by the second. Rainbow Dash gave a final push of her wings, and she and Soarin broke the sound barrier, rainbows and electricity erupting from all sides in an awestrucking display. A rainbow and lightning streak trailed behind Rainbow Dash and Soarin as they landed on a cloud, out of breath. Rainbow looked up to see both of their explosions expanding far over Equestria for everypony to see.

Art by: me

“Woah…” she said, her eyes filled with wonder.

Soarin chuckled. “Never thought I’d see you of all ponies speechless, Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head as her focus snapped back to Soarin. “Uh, I mean, that was pretty awesome.”

“More awesome than your sonic rainboom?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yes, just a little more awesome than that,” Rainbow Dash grumbled in defeat.

Soarin smiled smugly. “Ok, I’m ready for our race. I have a feeling that I might win this time.”

“Heh, we’ll see about that!” Rainbow Dash said as she took off.

“Hey!” Soarin said as he shot after her.

The two pegasi were neck and neck as usual, and Rainbow Dash was about to pull ahead when Soarin yanked on her tail, dragging her back,
and touched down on the cloud first.

“Yeah, I won! Oof-” Soarin said as Rainbow Dash collided into him.

“Ow,” he mumbled as opened his eyes to find Rainbow lying on top of his stomach, still dizzy from the impact.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and her vision cleared to see an upclose shot of Soarin’s face. She just stared at him, too captivated to move.

'He looks so goofy and cute up close.'

“Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Soarin said awkwardly, his cheeks burning.

Rainbow Dash realized what position they were in, and immediately got off him.

“S-sorry,” she said nervously, blushing.

“It’s okay, I won though! That means you have to pay for the meal!” Soarin said triumphantly, trying to change the subject.

“Hey, you cheated though!” Rainbow Dash said irritatingly, remembering what happened.

“Alright, alright. I’ll still pay because I’m a gentlecolt, and you’re right,” Soarin resigned as he playfully nudged Rainbow.

The two flew into Sugar Cube Corner, ordered their usual pie and cider, and sat down at a table in the corner.

“Hopefully Pinkie Pie won’t bother us again,” Rainbow Dash said as she took a swig of her cider.

“Yeah…” Soarin replied as he snickered into his hoof.

“What?” Rainbow Dash said as she gave him a perplexed look with froth on the tip of her nose and around her muzzle.

“You have some foam on your muzzle… again,” Soarin said as he pointed to the area on his mouth.

Rainbow Dash wiped her mouth with her hoof. “All gone?”

“Uh, you missed a little,” Soarin said as he pointed it out on her face.

Rainbow Dash tried again, but still missed the little bit of foam.

“Here, let me help,” Soarin said as he leaned over the table and wiped off the dab of foam on her nose with a napkin.

Rainbow Dash flushed slightly. “Uh, thanks.”

“No problem. You did look awfully cute with that bit of foam on the tip of your nose though.” Soarin confessed.

Did I just say that?!

Rainbow Dash immediately began to redden at the comment. “Hey! Don’t call me cu- uh, that!” she said annoyingly.

Art by: Rainbows-in-Reality

A smirk began to curl up on the corners of Soarin’s mouth. “But you do look cute!”

“Stop it!”

“Awww, wittle wainbow is so adowable when she’s upset!”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she shoved her hooves into her ears.

'And I thought him calling me Dashie was bad enough!'

“So cute!”

“Stop saying it!”

“Cute!”

“I mean it!” Rainbow said, trying to reach across the table and cover Soarin’s mouth.

“Oh, fine Cutie,” Soarin relented as he dug into his apple pie.

“What’s all this talk about cute?” asked Pinkie Pie from the ceiling.

Soarin choked on his pie and Rainbow Dash spat out her cider. “Nothing!” they both yelled in unision.

Pinkie raised a skeptical eyebrow as she landed on the ground next to them. “Hmm, if you say so. I know something is definitely going on between you two though, so I’ll be keeping my eye on you!” she said before sinking slowly into the floor.

Soarin and Rainbow watched her disappear, before staring at each other awkwardly as they continued to eat. The two finished their meal, and flew outside.

“Well, that was fun,” Soarin said, trying to break the silence.

“Yeah..” Rainbow trailed off as a raindrop plopped onto her nose.

She looked up as several thousand raindrops fell from the sky, drenching Ponyville and forcing them to stop flying. Rainbow Dash face hoofed as they landed on cloud.

“Pony feathers, I forgot it was going to rain later today! I’m so sorry, Soarin! Now you won’t be able to make it back to headquarters on time!” Rainbow Dash said guiltily.

“It’s okay, At least it will put off Spitfire and Fleetfoot’s teasing,” Soarin shrugged.

Rainbow sighed in relief. ‘Well, we should really get out of this rain. It’s getting worse by the minute! Hey, you wanna crash at my place?” she asked.

“Uh, sure!” Soarin said, surprised at the offer.

The two pegasi galloped across the clouds till they reached Rainbow Dash’s house. Rainbow water falls cascaded down into pools as cloud archways billowed out from the roof. Soarin’s jaw hit the floor.

'This is where she lives?!'

“Look who’s speechless now!” Rainbow Dash said as she casually walked inside, leaving Soarin gawking outside. “Uh, are you going to come inside, or what?” Rainbow Dash asked quizzically.

Soarin snapped back to reality. “Oh, right,” he said before following her inside.

Soarin thought that the outside of Dash’s house had surprised him, but the inside did even more. Posters of the Wonderbolts hung on every wall and gold trophies and medals lined the shelves.

'Horse apples, this place is a mansion!'

Rainbow Dash watched Soarin take in his surroundings, and couldn’t help, but fangirl squeal to herself. 'I… have a living… breathing... wonderbolt in my house?! This is so awesome! Ok, keep your cool Dash, he’s just another pony like anypony else.'

“Feel free to look around, Soarin. I’ll... just be over here.” Rainbow said as calmly as she could before flying over to her bookshelf and grabbing a copy of Daring Do as she settled down on the couch in a comfortable position.

“Whatcha reading?” Soarin asked curiously.

“Daring Do, and the Riddle of the Sphinx! It’s the latest book in the series!” Rainbow Dash said, her eyes still glued to the page.

“Hm, never heard of it. Maybe I’ll give the series a try,” Soarin said, as he grabbed the first book off the shelf and curled up on the cloud floor.

“Wha-what?! You’re telling me that you’ve never heard of Daring Do before?!” Rainbow yelled, looking up from her book in disbelief.

“Well, yeah. Sheesh, I never thought you of all ponies would be so obsessed with a book,” Soarin chuckled.

Rainbow Dash reddened slightly. “Hey, blame Twilight! She’s the one that turned me into an egghead by introducing me to the series!”
“I’m just teasing you, Dashie! Gosh, you really are cute when you get worked up.”

“I said not to call me that!” Rainbow huffed, as she covered her face with the book to hide her blush.

Soarin chuckled, and opened the book to the first page. As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat zapped her energy, and slowed her every step. As he was reading, he heard a strange whirring sound above him, and raised his head to see where it was coming from. He was immediately struck by a flying green thing, and the world went black. A few moments later, Soarin came back to his senses, his head throbbing like crazy.

“Argh, what happened?” he asked while rubbing his head.

“Uh, you kinda got hit in the head by my pet tortoise, Tank,” Rainbow explained, trying her best to suppress a laugh at the state he was in.

“You have a pet turtle?” Soarin asked, his ears ringing.

“Tortoise. His name is Tank, and he sorta has a tendency to run into things,” Rainbow Dash giggled in spite of herself as she helped him up.

Soarin looked at Rainbow, then to the books, then to Tank, then back to her. “You really are full of surprises, Dashie.”

“Psh, course I am! I’m not your average mare ya know. Now Tank, say hi to Soarin.”

Tank looked between Soarin and Rainbow, and a slow, knowing smirk creeped up his face.

“Uh, hi yourself,” Soarin said nervously before settling down again with his book.

“Now Tank, try not to crash into anymore things, okay?” Rainbow Dash said as she gave him a noogie.

Rainbow Dash fluttered over to the couch again, and continued to read. The sound of rain increased outside, and soon it was down pouring.

Rainbow Dash looked out the window, and her eyes widened.

“Looks like you may have to stay overnight, Soarin…” Rainbow said, flushing a little, for she never had anyone stay overnight at her house before.

Soarin looked up from his book, a slight tinge on his cheeks as well. “Oh, okay. Sorry for causing you all this inconvenience.”

Rainbow waved a hoof. “Oh, it’s fine, really. You’re gonna have to sleep on the couch though, cause I only have one bed, and uh, yeah...” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly.

Soarin smiled goofily. “Of course. It’s not like we were going to share the same bed, or something,” he said sarcastically, causing Rainbow’s eyes to widen and the heat in her cheeks to rise.

“Yeah, right...” she trailed off, before returning to her book.

As Rainbow Dash continued to read, she couldn’t help but steal a few furtive glances at Soarin.

“H-hey Soarin.” Rainbow said as she put down her book.

“Yeah?”

“Uh, I was just wondering. When you called me cute earlier, did you… ya know… really mean it?” she asked, not making eye contact as a slight tinge formed on her cheeks.

Soarin blushed a little. “Uh, yeah Dashie. You really are cute...”

“Oh, um, thanks. That doesn’t mean I enjoy you calling me that!” Rainbow Dash said quickly, trying to look angry.

Soarin smirked. “Sure ya don’t Dashie, sure ya don’t…”

As time passed, Rainbow Dash began to feel her eyelids grow heavy, but she kept forcing them open.

'Must… finish… this… chapter…'

Her eyes skimmed over the words, but didn't take in the information. Rainbow’s head started to nod and her vision blurred. Finally she surrendered, and the welcoming darkness of sleep enveloped her.

Soarin heard soft snoring, and raised his head to find Rainbow Dash sound asleep on the couch, the book still lying open in her lap.

'She looks so cute and innocent like that.'

Soarin fluttered over to her and gently scooped her up into his hoofs. Rainbow Dash yawned, turned over, and snuggled into Soarin’s chest. Soarin’s face lit up on fire as Dash snored softly into his fur, enjoying his warmth. He gingerly carried her up the stairs to her room, and laid her on her bed. Soarin tucked Rainbow Dash in, making sure to tuck the blanket around her neck so she would be nice and cozy.

“Goodnight my little Dashie…” Soarin whispered, before closing the door softly.

He flew back down and curled up on the cloud couch, drifting off to pie land to the persistent rhythm of drumming rain.

Author's Note

Take it! Take all the fluff! :rainbowkiss:

Invitations

Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly fluttered awake, her eyes focusing on her cloud room.

'How’d I get back here? I was almost done reading Daring Do and- Soarin!'

Rainbow threw off the covers and raced downstairs to the couch.

'Where is he?'

Rainbow Dash spotted a piece of paper lying on the couch, and snatched it. It was a letter from Soarin.

Dear Dashie,
Sorry I had to leave before saying goodbye, but duty calls. Probably gonna hear an earful from Spitfire when I get back. Thanks for letting me stay at your house again, you really are the best! I hope you have an awesome Hearth's warming break!

See ya around,
Soarin

P.S. Cute!

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, slightly blushing.

'The things I let him call me. I got to stop falling asleep like that in front of him!'

Rainbow trotted to the bathroom to get ready, ate a quick breakfast, and flew over to Twilight’s castle to meet her friends.

Rainbow Dash threw open the doors to the cute map room, where all her friends were sitting on their thrones waiting for her.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” asked Rainbow casually.

“Oh, nothing really…” Rarity chuckled, “but what’s going on with you? Pinkie Pie here told us that Soarin went home with you. Is that true?”

Rainbow immediately felt her heart drop and her cheeks grew red. “Uh, yeah. Soarin just stayed at my house cause it was raining and he had no place to go.”

“Where’d he sleep?” asked Applejack, cocking an eyebrow.

“On the couch, silly!” Rainbow said flustered.

"Darling, you're turning the most delightful shade of red!" Rarity observed.

"Am not!" Rainbow Dash denied, turning even more crimson.

All her friends just giggled.

“Oh come now, sugarcube, we're just teasin’ ya,” Applejack said as she nudged Rainbow. “We just ain’t used to ta you goin’ outta your way
for random folks like that.”

“Hey! Soarin’s not just some random guy, and I totally go out of my way for lots of people!” Rainbow Dash protested, crossing her arms. “Now, just why am I here again?”

“Oh, right! I was going to let everypony know that Princess Celestia has invited us to the annual Hearth’s Warming Eve Ball in Canterlot!” exclaimed Twilight.

Rarity’s eyes lit up and she jumped onto the map. “You mean the Hearth’s Warming Eve Ball?! Oh my stars, I’ve always wanted to go, but was never eligible enough for such a high social event! Oh, I just can’t help myself. Wahahaha!!!” Rarity squealed.

“Why, that’s very nice of the Princess…” Fluttershy said meekly.

“Weee! I’m gonna go to the biggest Hearth’s Warming party of the year!” yelled Pinkie, while twirling around.

Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes. “Why did the Princess invite us, anyway? I mean, I get why she invited you, Twilight, cause you’re a princess, but why us?”

Twilight gave them all a warm smile. “Cause you guys are the elements of harmony, and make me the princess that I am today.”

“Aww, group hug!” Pinkie squealed, as they all moved in together.

“Well, I’m very honored to be invited to this ball thingy, but do I have to go Twi? You know I don’t do fancy things, especially if this party will be full rich and elite ponies,” Rainbow Dash pouted.

“Ah, yes. I almost forgot, the Wonderbolts will also be attending as well, which includes Soarin...” Twilight said slyly.

Rainbow began to turn a little red. “Alright, fine. I’ll go, but only for the Wonderbolts and the Princess, not because of anypony in particular.”

“Riiiiight…” Applejack smirked.

“Ooh, I can hardly wait! We can wear our old gala dresses, and we can even give each other makeovers beforehand!” squealed Rarity in delight!

Rainbow groaned.

'What am I getting myself into…'

Soarin quietly slipped into the Wonderbolt headquarters, checked in, and headed to the training arena.
'Hopefully I’ll get there before Spitfire and Fleetfoot catch me.'

Soarin felt two figures come up beside him, and looked to see Spitfire and Fleetfoot following him, smirks on their faces.

'Dang it! Too late.'

“Oh, hi guys! Nice weather today, huh?” chuckled Soarin nervously.

Spitfire ignored him. “WHERE THE HAY WERE YOU YESTERDAY SOARIN!!! YOU MISSED PRACTICE!!!" she bellowed in his face.

Soarin cringed. "I uh... got caught up in Ponyville because it was raining really hard."

"Oh yeah?"

"I'm serious!"

"Then where did you stay overnight, then? I don't remember Ponyville having a hotel," Fleetfoot said suspiciously.

Soarin blushed a little. "I uh... stayed at Rainbow's house. But only because she offered to have me stay first!"

Spitfire and Fleetfoot's eyes widened.

"You know we were just joking about you coming home with her last time, right?" Spitfire said.

"Yeah, aren't you taking things along a little too quickly, Soar?" Fleetfoot agreed.

"Taking what along too quickly? Oh..." Soarin said, coming to realization. "I already told you guys, Rainbow Dash and I aren't in a relationship!"

"Yet..." Fleetfoot smirked, causing Soarin to redden even more.

"By the way Soar, the Princess has invited us to the annual Hearth's Warming Ball again, so dress fancy," sighed Spitfire.

"Now we have to face all those rich Canterlot ponies and fan mobs all over again," Soarin sighed.

"Yeah, none of us enjoy it Soar, but it's just part of beings a Wonderbolt," Fleetfoot agreed.

"Come on, we gotta get to the training arena!" Soarin said before galloping away, leaving the two in the dust.

Behind him, Fleetfoot resentfully handed a smug Spitfire a handful of bits.

"Okay, maybe you were right that he hung out with Dash last night, but he hasn't asked her out yet!" Fleetfoot hissed under her breath.

"Not yet, but he will soon," Spitfire said knowingly.

"How do you know?"

"I just have a feeling..."

The Hearth's Warming Ball

It was Hearth's Warming Eve, and the girls were at Carousel Boutique getting ready for the ball.

"Ouch! Rarity... Ow! Don't... Ouch! Tug so... Ow! Hard!" Rainbow Dash complained, as Rarity brushed out her mane.

"I'm sorry Rainbow my dear, but your mane is in such a tangled state and you must look presentable at the ball!" Rarity said as she untangled the knots in her mane.

"Ugh, fine."

After several minutes of complaining and pain, Rainbow Dash walked out of the dressing room with Rarity and joined the others.

"Wow Dashie! You look, well, dashing!" Pinkie Pie complimented.

"Thanks Pinkie, you look nice yourself!" Rainbow replied.

"Why, we all look simply divine! It seems our old gala dresses haven't lost their magic touch at all," Rarity approved.

"Well, we all have you to thank Rarity." Twilight smiled.

"Why, Twilight! You're too kind!" Rarity replied, blushing slightly from the compliment.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but how are we going to get to the ball?" Fluttershy asked.

"Uh, I may have used my charm again to get some lovely gentle colts to pull our carriage for us..." Rarity implied.

"Oh, right."

"We should be going now, don't want to be late for the biggest holiday bash of the year!" Rarity squealed.

"But the ball starts in two hours!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Better to be early than late!" Rarity said as she boarded the carriage, flashing the two stallions at the front a flirtatious smile.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, and followed suit with her friends behind her.

"Ow! Not so tight, Spitfire! You're choking me!" Soarin complained as Spitfire tightened his tie around his neck.

"Sorry." she chuckled.

Soarin yanked his tie away from her and adjusted it himself.

"Why are we going through all this trouble again?" Soarin grumbled.

"Because we are required there by the Princess! Now come on, we don't want to be late." Spitfire said.

"They also have great pie there!" Fleetfoot added.

Soarin's ears perked up. "Did you say pie? Then what are we waiting for! Let's go!"

He sped out of the room and flew towards Canterlot.

"Knew that would get his attention." Fleetfoot snickered to Spitfire as they flew after him.

The carriage pulled up in front of the Canterlot castle, its rooftops lightly dusted with glistening snow and colorful lights lined the walls.

"Woah..." Rainbow Dash breathed, causing the window to fog up.

The six friends piled off the carriage, and stared in awe at the scenery.

"I can't believe I'm really here?!" Rarity said before fainting dramatically on her fainting couch.

"I know, right! Now let's hurry inside before we catch a cold," Twilight said before galloping through the doors into the inviting warmth.

Inside, a pony was announcing the arrival of each pony using the royal Canterlot voice. Twilight whispered into his ear, and the stallion cleared his throat.

"Please welcome Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends Ms. Applejack, Ms. Rarity, Ms. Pinkie Pie, Ms. Fluttershy, and Ms. Rainbow Dash!" he announced, in a booming voice.

All the chatter in the room stopped as all heads turned to look upon the arrival of the princess. Twilight gulped, and waved to the crowd nervously.

"You guys have fun, I'll be with the princesses." Twilight whispered to her friends before making her way over to her throne next to Cadence's.

"Did he just call me Ms. Rainbow Dash?!" Rainbow said in surprise.

"Why yes, darling! It's tradition to announce everypony like that, not just you," Rarity said, "Now you go find your handsome hunk of a Wonderbolt."

"Rarity! He's not mine!" Rainbow Dash protested, her face growing red.

"Not yet of course, but he is handsome isn't he?" she said smirking.

"Uh, well, I guess he is pretty handsome and kinda cute-ah!" Rainbow Dash stuffed her hoof in her mouth as she realized what she just said.

“So you do find him attractive,” Rarity said smugly.

"Fine, maybe I do. That doesn't mean I like him or anything! I'm going to go get some food now," Rainbow said before making her way to the buffet table.

Soarin had a fake smile plastered onto his face as he tried to not doze off to the sound of the rich pony's voice droning on about his life to him.

'Why am I here again? Oh right, pie!'

Soarin's eyes lit up at the thought. Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the room, snapping him back to reality.

"Please welcome Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends Ms. Applejack, Ms. Rarity, Ms. Pinkie Pie, Ms. Fluttershy, and Ms. Rainbow Dash!"

'Did he just say Ms. Rainbow Dash?'

"Uh, I'm terribly sorry, but I have to find my captain." Soarin said to the rich pony, before trotting over to Spitfire.

"Hey Spit, did you know Rainbow Dash was going to be here?" Soarin asked.

"No actually. I didn't think she was the type for these things." Spitfire smirked, "Why, gonna make your move?"

"What? No!" Soarin stammered, blushing furiously. "I was just wondering, I'm going to check out the pies at the buffet table now."

Soarin made his way through the crowd, leaving Spitfire to deal with the fans and rich ponies.

"Don't stuff yourself!" she called.

'Thanks a lot Rarity, now I can't get Soarin off my mind!' Rainbow grumbled as she surveyed the assortments of deserts. 'Cake, cookies, macarons, apple pie?! Great, now I'm thinking about him even more! Sigh, might as well try a slice.'

Rainbow Dash reached for the pie just as somepony did too. She looked to see Soarin wearing a dark blue wonderbolt tuxedo with a tie around his neck. Rainbow immediately removed her hoof from the pie, blushing a little.

'Should've known he'd be where the pie is.'

"Uh, hey Soarin!" She said happily.

Soarin just stared at her, his mouth slightly ajar.

'Woah... everytime I see she looks even more stunning than the last. The dress matches perfectly with her mane and I love her loose side ponytail!'

"Equestria to Soarin!" Rainbow said as she waved a hoof in front of his face.

Soarin snapped back to reality, a pink tinge on his cheeks. "Oh hey, Dashie!"

"Uh, why were staring at me like that?" Rainbow Dash asked, flushing slightly.

"Because you look so amazing tonight..." he smirked, "and cute!"

"Am not!" she said turning crimson, "but thanks. You don't look bad yourself."

"Thanks. I'm surprised to find you here Ms. Rainbow Dash. I didn't think fancy parties were your thing!" Soarin said goofily.

"They’re not. I had to because Twilight insisted Mr. Soarin." she shot back, sticking out her tongue.

The song "All I want for Hearth's Warming is You" began to play throughout the castle, and ponies began to dance around the two.

"Um, would you like to dance?" Soarin asked nervously, blushing.

"Uh, sure," Rainbow Dash said as the two headed out to the dance floor.

Rainbow began to get down to the beat and Soarin bobbed to the rhythm, admiring how her dress swished around her as she danced. Soon, the music slowed to a calmer song, and ponies began to pair up. Rainbow Dash stood awkwardly in the center of the dance floor, not sure what to do.

“Ever slow danced before?” Soarin asked.

“No. I don't know how,” Rainbow Dash said, staring at the floor.

Soarin grabbed her hoof and pulled her close to him, their faces a breath apart.

"I'll teach you!" Soarin said slyly.

"Soarin I don't think this is a-woah!" Rainbow squeaked as he spun her around in circles and caught her. Rainbow blush deeply at their contact, but decided to go along with it and copied his movements.

"Aren't they just the perfect couple?" Rarity sighed to Pinkie Pie as they watched the two rock to the music from a distance.

"They sure are! I just wish they would kiss already!" Pinkie whined.

A sly grin crept up the corners of Rarity's mouth. "Actually, we may have a way to fix that..."

"Really? How?"

"You'll see. We need to get something first. Come, we have no time to lose!" Rarity said as she galloped away, Pinkie bouncing behind her.

"Aww, aren't they just perfect for each other!" Fleetfoot fawned over them.

"They sure are. I just wish we could give them a little push to speed things up a little." Spitfire frowned.

Suddenly, both of their eyes lit up.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Fleetfoot asked slyly.

"Yup. C'mon, we gotta hurry if this is gonna work," Spitfire said before the two galloped away.

Rainbow Dash legs soon began to grow tired from all the dancing, so she stopped to catch her breath. Soarin stopped as well, panting heavily.

"You've got some pretty good dance moves," Soarin complimented.

"Thanks. You're not bad yourself, pie boy," Rainbow smirked, making Soarin to flush a little.

All of a sudden, a dancing pony bumped into Rainbow Dash, causing her to run straight into Soarin's chest.

"Oof! S-sorry," Rainbow stammered as she pulled herself away from him, blushing deeply.

"It's okay," Soarin said, also blushing. "Hey, you wanna go somewhere less crowded?"

"Sure!" Rainbow Dash said happily, glad to get away from all the high society stuff.

"Follow me." Soarin said, as the two weaved their way through the crowd.

"Where is it? I'm sure I saw one here earlier." Fleetfoot said in frustration.

"Are you sure? Maybe somepony moved it." Spitfire suggested.

"Maybe somepony like her!" Fleetfoot exclaimed, pointing to a white unicorn levitating their prize with her magic as a pink earth pony bounced behind her.

"Quick! We have to get it!" Spitfire said as they rushed over to the unicorn.
"Um, excuse me miss, but we were wondering about what you are going to do with that, as we were planning to use it too." Fleetfoot said as politely as she could.

"Since when did you become so wordy!" Spitfire whispered to her, earning a glare.

"Oh were you? I'm so very sorry, but my friend and I were planning to use it to give our friend a little push in her relationship with one of your fellow wonderbolts," Rarity explained.

Spitfire eyed her suspiciously. "Would our fellow wonderbolt be Soarin by any chance?"

Rarity was overcome with shock. "Why, yes actually. However did you know?"

"We were kinda going to use that on him too, so he can get a move on with his relationship with-"

"RAINBOW DASH! She's always liked him, even though she keeps denying it, and I know Soarin likes her too cause he always blushes around her, but they're always too shy to tell each other how they feel!" Pinkie blurted, cutting Fleetfoot off.

"Yeah, that. Are you sure we haven't met before? I swear you are just like my Wonderbolt friend, Surprise!" Fleetfoot recalled.

"Let's just say that I used to be her, and she used to be me!" Pinkie said with a wide grin.

The three ponies just stared at her blankly, confusion written on their faces.

"Anyways, since it seems we're all on the same page here, you wanna team up?" Spitfire asked slyly.

Rarity smiled gleefully. "Most certainly."

Author's Note

Our matchmakers have teamed up! What could possibly go wrong? :derpyderp2:

Is That a Dare?

Soarin led Rainbow Dash to a balcony looking out over all of Canterlot, a light flurry of snowflakes cascading down on them.

"Woah..." Rainbow breathed, taking in her surroundings.

Soarin chuckled to himself, enjoying seeing the mare speechless for once. A tiny snowflake spiraled down and landed delicately on the tip of Rainbow's nose, causing her to become cross-eyed. Soarin smiled tenderly at her.

'Aww, she looks so cute like that!'

Rainbow’s eyes were filled with wonder as she observed all the intricate details etched into the snowflake. The snowflake gradually began to melt from the warmth of Dash’s nose much to her disappointment, till it was nothing more but a memory.

'How could something so small hold so much beauty?' Rainbow wondered.

“Never seen snow before?” Soarin asked.

“Huh? What?” Rainbow Dash said as she came back to her senses, “Oh. I have, just not that up close.”

“Wanna see what up close really looks like?” Soarin asked with a smirk, before flicking some snow from the balcony at Dash with his wing tips.

Art by: Soarindash889

“Hey! That’s cold!” Rainbow exclaimed as she was showered by snow. She shook herself off, and immediately swept snow back at Soarin using
her wings. Soon an all out snow battle was taking place as the two pegasi kept powdering each other.

"Surrender now!" Rainbow Dash said as she held up one of her wings to shield herself from the snow.

"Never!" Soarin said as he fired back.

Rainbow kept showering Soarin with snow, till his coat began to look more white than blue.

"Alright, alright, I surrender!" Soarin resigned as he spat out snowflakes.

Rainbow smiled triumphantly. The two pegasi were soaking wet and shivering in the cold, but they broke into laughter anyway.

"Rarity's going to kill me!" Rainbow Dash groaned as she observed her damp dress.

"Might as well stay out here and wait for her to find us, right?" Soarin said.

"Yeah, might as well." Rainbow agreed as she looked out over Canterlot again.

An awkward silence hung over them as they didn't know what to talk about, so they just watched the snow fall together.

"Uh, Rainbow Dash?" Soarin said, his head raised.

"Yeah?" Rainbow responded, and turned to look at him.

"Lookup."

Rainbow Dash followed his gaze upward and her eyes widened in surprise. Levitating above them was a clump of mistletoe with a light blue magic aurora surrounding it.

"Rarity!" Rainbow yelled at the white unicorn hiding behind the buffet table along with Pinkie Pie, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot, her horn obviously lit.

Art by: me

"Whaaat? You can't expect us to not give you a little push darling," Rarity said in defense.

"All of you are in on this?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, her face growing hot.

"Course we are! We're here for Soarin though." Fleetfoot explained.

Rainbow Dash glared at all four of them, before returning to Soarin who also looked quite flustered.

"So uh..." Soarin stammered.

"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash trailed off.

"C'mon Rarity, ya know she'll never kiss him!" Pinkie Pie provoked.

"Is that a dare?" Rainbow said with a bold grin.

'I never refuse a dare. Never. Especially when my heroes are watching.'

"Maaaybee..." Pinkie said innocently as she and Fleetfoot silently hoof bumped.

"Well then, challenge accepted." Rainbow said as she turned to face Soarin.

"Rainbow, you don't have to-mph!" Soarin was cut off by Rainbow's lips on his as four audible gasps erupted from their onlookers. Soarin opened his wings in surprise and his eyes widened in shock at the fact that she actually kissed him. As soon as it started though, Rainbow Dash broke the kiss, blushing furiously and not making eye contact with Soarin.

Art by: me

"There, ya happy!" she yelled at their audience who had their jaws on the floor.

Soarin just stared off into space as his mind tried to contemplate what just happened, his face turning redder by the second.

"I-I gotta go," Rainbow said, before flying off the balcony and into the night sky.

"Rainbow, wait!" Soarin said, as he came back to his senses and flew after her.

Pinkie was the first to come out of her trance.

"Dashie actually did it! Weeee!!!!! Now I can throw her a 'Congrats on Your First Kiss' party!" Pinkie Pie shrieked as she threw confetti into the
air.

"I'm surprised she made the move!" Rarity said, her eyes still wide.

"Me too! I thought Soarin would be the one to do it, not her!" Spitfire said incredulously.

"Nah, I totally knew Rainbow would do it," Fleetfoot lied.

The three ponies all gave her skeptical eyebrows.

"Okay, fine I didn't!" Fleetfoot relented, crossing her arms.

"Should we go after them?" asked Spitfire.

"I think it's best not to, darling. I'm sure Rainbow Dash is going through a lot of emotions right now and would rather not be bothered," Rarity said.

I Guess What I'm Trying to Say Is...

Rainbow Dash streaked through the night sky, trying to get as far away from the castle as she could.

'I can't believe I actually kissed him! And I actually kinda... enjoyed it. Ah! What is happening to me?! I'm not supposed to be feeling all sappy and stuff, I'm supposed to hate it! Then how come I feel like kissing him again?!'

"Rainbow, wait!" Soarin huffed as he flew to catch up with her.

Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise.

'He followed me!'

She flew faster, trying to shake him off her trail. Soarin caught up quickly though, and tackled her onto a cloud.

"Rainbow, are you okay?" Soarin asked worriedly.

He began to see tears form in the mare's eyes as she squirmed beneath him, and his eyes widened.

'Is the Rainbow Dash really crying in front of me right now'?'

"Get off of me!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she shoved Soarin off of her.

She fluttered over to a corner of the cloud to sulk, turning the section dark. Soarin was surprised, he’d never seen the vulnerable side of Rainbow Dash before. He cautiously fluttered over to her and sat down.

"Rainbow, are you okay?" he said softly.

Rainbow tried to blink back her tears, but failed to and buried her face into Soarin's furry chest instead. Soarin's face lit up on fire as she kept sobbing into his chest. He slowly wrapped his wings around Rainbow's small frame, enveloping her in his embrace. He didn’t exactly know what he was doing. It just felt... right. Soarin didn't care that his fur was soaking wet either, he would do anything for her, he knew that now. Rainbow's sobs turned into hiccups, which lessened to sniffles. She just felt so safe in Soarin's embrace, as if nothing could ever hurt her.

Art by: me

"Rainbow, are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" Soarin asked gently, still hugging her tightly.

"I-I think so." she sniffled. "I guess I'm just confused. Before you came along, I didn't care for any sappy stuff cause I thought it wasn't cool, so when I kissed you and actually... enjoyed it, I just didn't know what to do. I also am… maybe a little afraid of trying a relationship. I-I'm afraid that maybe you don't like me, or that you'll leave me like Tank does in the winter, or-mph!" Rainbow was silenced by Soarin kissing her passionately. Her wings shot up in surprise as she blushed beet red, before kissing him back just as fireworks erupted all around them. At long last, Soarin broke the kiss, both gasping for air. Soarin flicked away her remaining tears with his wing tips, and raised her chin so their eyes met, magenta staring into emerald.

"Rainbow Dash I will never, ever leave you. You mean the world to me, and I’m sorry for all the times that it seemed like I didn't care. Being in a relationship isn't uncool, it actually can be pretty awesome.” Soarin reassured her. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… Rainbow Dash, will you be my marefriend?” he asked with hopeful eyes.

Rainbow was quiet at first, but suddenly an ecstatic grin appeared on her face.

“Would I?! Woohooo!!!!!” she yelled happily as she flew straight into the air and began to do her victory dance.

Soarin watched her from below, admiring the beautiful and athletic mare who had just become his marefriend rejoice.

“Uh… Dashie?” Soarin called, bringing her back to Equestria.

Rainbow’s face turned into one of embarrassment as she blushes slightly.

“Heh heh, I mean, I would love to be your marefriend.” Rainbow said as she landed softly on the cloud again.

“We should probably head back. Your friends must be worried sick about you!” Soarin said.

“Yeah. Uh, Soarin? Are we going to tell everypony that we’re...ya know, a couple now?” Rainbow Dash asked, turning pink.

“Nah, we’ll just let them figure it out on their own,” Soarin said, as he casually draped a wing around Dash, pulling her closer to him. Rainbow reddened at his touch.

“Okay then, let’s go!” she said as the couple flew toward the castle.

The two pegasi landed on quietly on the balcony, the party still raging inside. Just as Rainbow Dash placed a hoof onto the floor, a pink blur tackled her to the ground.

“DASHIE! YOU’RE BACK!!! ARE YOU OKAY?!?!!! HOW COME YOU LEFT US!!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted, Rainbow wincing with every word.

“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded as she yanked the earth pony off of Rainbow with her magic.

“Thanks Twi,” Rainbow said, as Soarin helped her up.

“So why did you leave us?” Pinkie asked impatiently.

“I was dealing with some... emotions and needed to be alone. Soarin helped me out though, and everything’s fine now,” Rainbow Dash explained, blushing slightly.

“What kinda emotions?” asked Applejack skeptically.

“The special kind,” Soarin said as he pulled Rainbow closer to him with his wing.

Rainbow blushed furiously, but nodded in agreement.

Her friends gasped around her, and a high pitch squeal in delight was heard.

“So you two an item now? Why, this is simply marvelous! Ooh! Rainbow, darling, I am so very happy for you!” Rarity squealed. “And to think that Rainbow Dash here got a coltfriend before any of us. Who would’ve thought of that?”

“Hey! I’m pretty sure you gals will find your special someponies soon too.” Rainbow Dash reassured them.

“Weeee!!!!! This is sooooo awesome!!! Do you know how long I’ve been shipping you two?! Now I can finally throw that “Congrats you’re a Couple!” party I’ve been planning for you guys since the Young Fliers Competition!” Pinkie shrieked as she threw confetti into the air.

“You’ve been planning that since then!” Rainbow Dash said in disbelief.

‘Well, duh! It was sooo obvious you guys were going to get together!” Pinkie said.

Soarin smiled as he watched his new marefriend talk to her friends, when he spotted a reluctant Fleetfoot thrust a hooful of bits to a smug Spitfire in a corner. Soarin raised an eyebrow, and trotted over to them.

“What are you guys doing?” he asked.

“We bet on you asking Dash out. I thought you were too chicken to, but Spit thought you were going to, so she won the bet,” Fleetfoot said
sourly. “I’m happy for you though, Soar!”

“You guys bet on me asking out Dashie- er, I mean, Dash?!” Soarin said, flustered.

“Yeah, it was so obvious that you and Dashie were going to happen. Heck, I made 50 bits off of you guys!” Spitfire said triumphantly.

“Aww you gave each other pet names, that’s soooo cuuuuteee…” Fleetfoot teased.

'Way to go, Soarin. Just keep adding more fuel to the fire.'

“Hey, at least it sounds better that just Fleet or Spit. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go join my marefriend,” Soarin said before returning to Rainbow’s side again.

"Hey Soarin, do you wanna come over to my house and spend the rest of Hearth's Warming together?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously.

"I'd love to Dashie," Soarin said with a smile.

“Hey girls sorry, but Soarin and I need to get home.” Rainbow Dash said to her friends.

“Oh no problem at all, darling! I hope you two have fun!” Rarity said.

“See you guys tomorrow! Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Rainbow said goodbye as she and Soarin left Canterlot and flew towards Ponyville back to her house.

A Real Hearth's Warming

Back at Rainbow’s home, the two pegasi were snuggling on the couch together, reading the first Daring Do book.

“Hurry up and read faster, Dashie! I have to know if Daring Do is going to survive or not!” Soarin whined teasingly.

“I’m trying you goof! I told ya it's a good series!” Rainbow chuckled, shoving him playfully.

Rainbow continued to read to her new coltfriend and snuggled deeper into his side enjoying his warmth. Soarin draped a wing over Dash’s back, accidentally brushing her side with his wingtips.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash giggled as she dropped the book. “Don’t do that!”

“Awww, is wittle Dashie ticklish?” Soarin asked in a mocking voice.

“N-no! Who said anything about being ticklish?” Rainbow said averting her eyes from his gaze, blushing slightly.

Soarin grinned mischievously, and carefully plucked one of his loose feather from his wing holding it between his teeth. Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“You wouldn’t dare.” she gasped.

“Oh yes I would!” Soarin said as he pounced on her and began to tickle her sides with his feather as she giggled uncontrollably.

“St-stop... hahaha...i-it… haha… S-soarin!” Rainbow Dash wheezed in between laughs as he continued to tickle her neck and stomach.

“Only if you surrender!” Soarin paused with the feather between his teeth.

“Never.”

Rainbow immediately regretted her decision, as Soarin continued to tickle her to death on the couch.

“Okay okay, fine! I surrender!” Rainbow gasped, catching her breath.

Soarin spat out the feather, a smug look on his face, and lay down beside her.

“Ya know for the toughest mare in Equestria, you sure are sensitive,” Soarin chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Well, I bet you are too.” Rainbow said slyly as she plucked one of her own feathers and began to tickle Soarin with it.

“Gah! Hey!” Soarin laughed as Dash tickled him mercilessly.

“Not so tough are you now, fly boy.” Rainbow said as she continued to tickle him.

“Stop! Stop… hahaha… it!” Soarin snickered.

“Make me.” she replied, now tickling his neck.

“Okay.”

Soarin leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Dash’s lips, causing her to yelp in surprise and fall back.

“You did that on purpose!” Rainbow accused, blushing furiously.

“Maybe…” Soarin said innocently and climbed back onto the couch, patting the spot beside him. “C’mon, let’s get back to the story!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and joined him.

“Fine, but you’re reading this time.”

Rainbow snuggled into Soarin’s fur, as she listened to his soothing voice read her favorite book.

“Woah! I can’t believe Daring Do went through all that! I have to read the rest of the series!” Soarin said ecstatically.

Rainbow chuckled. “I guess that means you’ll be visiting more often.”

“You bet! And not just for the books…” Soarin winked, causing Dash to blush a little.

“Hey Soar, do you want to hit the hay? I’m exhausted.” Rainbow said with a yawn.

“Sure. Should I, uh, sleep on the couch again?” Soarin asked nervously, blushing slightly.

“Of course not, you goof! We can share the bed. I’m not letting my coltfriend sleep on just a couch!” Rainbow said with a smile.

“You sure you’re okay with this, Dashie? I don’t want to rush things if you aren’t comfortable with it.”

“Course I am Soarin. I trust you.” Rainbow Dash said, gently nuzzling him.

“Then what are we waiting for!” Soarin said as he scooped up Rainbow in his arms.

“Woah! Hey! I’m awake this time, you don’t have to carry me.” Rainbow protested as Soarin carried her up the stairs.

“But I want to carry you Dashie,” Soarin pouted.

“Alright fine…” Rainbow chuckled, gently bopping him on the nose.

Soarin laid her across her bed, and the two snuggled under the covers together. Rainbow Dash moved closer to Soarin, and rested the back
of her head against his chest.

“Does wittle Dashie need a hug?” Soarin teased.

“Shut up a cuddle me.” Rainbow ordered, nestling herself deeper into him.

“Yes Ma'am.”

The two snuggled closer to each other, enjoying each other’s warmth and the comfort they provided for one another.

“Hey Soarin?” Rainbow whispered softly.

“Yes Dashie?” he said looking down at her.

“Thanks for everything…” she said before kissing him softly.

“For- for what?” Soarin asked, reddening a little.

“For just being you.” Rainbow replied, as she rested her head on his shoulder, snoring softly.

Soarin smiled lovingly at her, and wrapped a wing around her frame, drawing her closer to him.

“I love you too Dashie…”

The two lovers slept peacefully together, their breathing patterns syncing, their hearts beating as one.

Author's Note

And done! Yay! I finished my first fanfic! :pinkiehappy: I hoped you enjoyed it and all the fluff that came with it! :rainbowkiss: And thank you so much JPegasus19 for editing my story! :twilightsmile: Oh yeah, if any of you were wondering how I could've possibly updated so fast was because I actually finished writing the story before I made an account, but couldn't post the whole thing at once cause of editing :twilightsheepish:

Interrogations and Denial

Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash threw open the door to the throne room in Twilight’s castle, where all her friends were already waiting for her.

“Hey guys, did I miss much?”

“Rainbow darling, you made it! No, no, you didn’t miss anything at all except our futile attempts to find the rest of Pinkie Pie’s hidden party cannons,” Rarity informed.

“Whaaat? Party cannons make everything more exciting!” Pinkie said, just as one of them went off.

“Whew, that’s good. Well then, let’s get this sleepover started!” Rainbow Dash whooped, as she flew around the room.

Pinkie Pie hit the music and everyone began to dance in their own unique way, especially Twilight. Once everyone was tired of that, Pinkie had a great idea.

“Hey, do you guys want to play ‘Guess Who I Am’?” she asked excitedly.

“Sure, I'll go first,” volunteered Applejack. “Oh darling! That outfit completely clashes with your mane and oh my, those boots are absolutely hideous!” Applejack said in a prissy voice.

Everypony began to roll on the floor laughing, except Rarity.

“Hmf! Alright, guess who I am! I love buckin’ apples with ma family and can tell ya everythin’ about them apples! Apple, apple, app- mph!” said Rarity, before Applejack stuffed an apple into her mouth.

“Ooh, ooh, me next!” squealed Pinkie Pie. Pinkie began to move her lips, but no sound came out.

“Uh, Pinkie? How are we supposed to guess who you are pretending to be if you aren’t speaking,” pointed out Twilight.

“What do you mean Twilight? I am speaking, but I’m speaking so quietly that you can’t even hear me!” Pinkie explained.

“I can hear you just fine,” murmured Fluttershy.

“Oh, now I know who you were playing,” Twilight said, embarrassed.

Pinkie Pie face hoofed. “Sheesh Twilight, you’re slow. Your turn Fluttershy!”

“Oh, ok. Hey, look at me! I like to throw parties and make ponies smile and tend to be unpredictable!” Fluttershy said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

“You and me both sister!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, from the top of the tree root chandelier.

“Do come down, darling. You could get hurt!” Rarity said nervously.

“Whatcha talking about Rarity?” Pinkie asked, as she was now standing right next to her.

“Gah! Pinkie, you scared me!” Rarity yelped.

“Alright everypony, it’s my turn!” declared Rainbow Dash. “Ahem. Dear Princess Celestia, I really, really, really like books because I’m an egghead! I also need an endless supply of writing quills because of my crazy checklists!”

Twilight gave Rainbow an unamused look as everypony laughed themselves to tears.

“Hmph! My turn. I love to fly and my dream is to become a wonderbolt and I have a crush on Soarin!” Twilight said while wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Rainbow Dash immediately snatched the sunglasses from Twilight and put them on. “You were pretty much spot on except that I don’t have a crush on Soarin,” Rainbow pointed out, a slight tinge on her cheeks.

“Oh, come on now, Rainbow darling. It’s quite obvious! Didn’t you see the way he was flirting with you in Canterlot?” Rarity objected.

“Rarity! It’s just too awkward, especially now that he is my personal trainer too.”

“WHAT!” everypony exclaimed, as another party cannon went off.

'Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that.'

“Uh, look everypony! Cake!” Rainbow Dash said quickly.

“Ooh! I want some!” Pinkie Pie said before she stuffed her face into the cake while the others just kept staring at Rainbow.

“What? If you want to talk about crushes, go ask Twilight about that crystal guard!”

Everypony then turned to Twilight.

“Oh, I remember him! Flash Sentry, I think. My, you can never stop blushing around him Twilight!” Rarity said slyly.

Twilight immediately began to turn a deep shade of purple. “I do not!”

“Ooh, ooh! My little sister Marble Pie also has a crush on Big Mac!” Pinkie Pie shrieked.

Rainbow Dash lowered her sunglasses slowly as everypony just gawked at her.

“WHAT! Big Mac never told me?! Ya know we could still be related? Argh, that just makes everythin’ more awkward!” Applejack freaked out.

“And I thought that Pinkie Pie liked Cheese Sandwich,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“What! No I don’t! That’s really cheesy thinking!” Pinkie clamped her mouth shut as her eyes shifted around nervously.

“Ug, all this sappy talk is making me sick! Can we pleaasse change the subject?” moaned Rainbow Dash, making a face.

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Alright Rainbow, but only for you. Now, who wants to hear about my latest ideas for next year’s fashion line?”

Everypony groaned as Rarity began her lecture.

Soarin was sure he lost Spitfire and Fleetfoot in the mess hall as he sat down to eat his apple pie, when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and came face to face with Fleetfoot and Spitfire, sly smiles on their faces.

“Wah!” Soarin yelled, as he flew up in surprise.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot bursted out laughing, as the two hoof bumped.

“You can’t run from your captain, Soarin!” Spitfire chuckled.

Soarin sighed in defeat, as he returned to his seat. “Okay, you found me. Now what questions do you want me to answer?”

“Actually, we wanted to play Truth or Dare with you,” Fleetfoot said.

'I don’t really have a choice do I.'

“Alright, I’ll go first,” Soarin said. “Spit, truth or dare.”

“Truth.”

“Hmm, have you ever had a special somepony?”

Spitfire face began to burn a little. “Yes, and I’m not saying who. Fleetfoot, truth or dare?”

“Dare, duh.”

Spitfire and Soarin rolled their eyes. “I dare you to do the chicken dance right now.”

“What?! You’re not gonna make her do something more embarrassing!” complained Soarin.

Spitfire just ignored him as Fleetfoot flew to the center of the mess hall and began to do the chicken dance complete with sound effects. All the wonderbolts bursted out in laughter, but Fleetfoot was unfazed by it as she landed smoothly in front of the two.

“Bam! Ok, Soarin truth or dare?” Fleetfoot asked.

'If I choose truth, she probably going to ask me about Rainbow Dash, but if I choose dare she still might ask me about her, but there’s a chance she won’t.'

“Uh, dare.”

“Hm, I dare you to choose truth right now,” Fleetfoot said with a sly grin.

Soarin looked baffled. “What?! Can you even do that?”

“Uh, yeah. So, are you going to do it?” Fleetfoot said expectantly.

“Ug, fine. I choose truth,” Soarin grumbled.

Fleetfoot gave Spitfire a knowing look. “Ok, do you like Rainbow Dash?”

'I knew she would do this!'

“I uh… I don’t...” Soarin muttered, averting his gaze from the two as his face grew hot.

“Mmhmm, riiiight…” Spitfire snickered.

“I dare you to ask her out!” Fleetfoot challenged.

“Hey! You can only ask me once!”

“Oh, fine. But I still dare you to ask her out!”

“Why do you guys keep thinking that something’s going on between us?”

“Oh, just because she saved your life three times if you count your pie, and you two danced together at the royal wedding,” Fleetfoot pointed out.

Soarin’s blush increased. “You saw that?”

“It’s not that hard to miss a rainbow mare dancing with a wonderbolt in the spotlight,” explained Spitfire.

“Oh, right. Gosh, I’m full. Guess I should head out to the practice arena, see you guys out there!” Soarin faked as he quickly flew out of the mess hall.

Fleetfoot and Spitfire looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.

“I’ll give you 50 bits if he asks her out someday,” Fleetfoot offered.

“Deal,” Spitfire said as the two shook hooves.