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!