Chapter 1: That's Quite a Way to Meet Again
It was another normal day in Cloudsdale. The sun was shining bright on the cloud city. Down below, Ponyville was more colorful than usual. The flowers filled the grass and the animals that returned from the hibernation not long ago ran through the fields. Any Pegasus who had the time would stop to appreciate the sight.
Well, the Wonderbolts usually didn't have the time to these things.
Usually.
Soarin, Spitfire and Fleetfoot trotted in the academy, with no destination set. They were covered in sweat from their just-finished last practice. Three friends enjoying the day together while they could. They were just walking around and talking.
It was more like Fleetfoot talked and the other two listened.
“Then we pushed the button and it was like BOOM! WATER ALL OVER HER FACE!” Fleetfoot finished her story and fell down on the floor, laughing like crazy.
Soarin simply looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as Spitfire shook her head in disapproval.
“I should ban you and Surprise from the academy in non-training days,” she said.
“It was worth it,” Fleetfoot snickered.
“But seriously, pranking Misty Fly? How are you still alive?” Soarin asked.
“Oh man, you should've seen her face. It was priceless!” she said, bursting out laughing again.
“You two are crazy,” he chuckled.
“I bet she wouldn't do that with Lightning Streak,” Spitfire smirked at Soarin, who snickered in response.
Fleetfoot's cheeks turned red instantly. “Uh...” She started darting her eyes in search of anything that could start a new subject. “Hey, look! The mailbox! Let's see if there's something interesting there!” she said, before zooming to the box.
Spitfire and Soarin chuckled behind her.
“Seems like somepony has a crush!” Spitfire mocked.
“Oh yeah? You wanna talk about crushes?” Fleetfoot said, still with her face inside the mailbox. “Then look at what I found here.” She took her face out of the box and held a letter in her mouth. She took it in her hoof and looked towards Soarin, with a smirk. “Looks like somepony got a love letter from his girlfriend!”
Soarin blinked as he tried to process the information.
“Oh...” he exclaimed when he realized what she meant. He trotted to Fleetfoot. “Hey, gimme that!” he ordered, trying to catch the letter, but Fleetfoot kept moving her hoof.
“Nu-uh! I wanna know what's written here first,” she said, taking flight.
Soarin took flight behind her, but it was hard to catch up. Fleetfoot was faster than him.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't smarter.
Soarin hid behind a near cloud and waited. Fleetfoot looked around and didn't find him. Thinking she was safe, she stopped to open the letter.
Soarin waited some seconds and flew at full speed in her direction, taking her by surprise and catching the letter before she could blink.
“Hey!” she shouted.
“Sorry, but this is mine!” he smirked at her.
As he looked at Fleetfoot behind him, he didn't notice the orange and gold blur that came right in his direction.
“Sorry, buddy,” Spitfire said, as she took the letter from his hoof and continued flying.
Soarin stopped and looked behind him. Even Spitfire was in this? “You've gotta be kidding me!” he said as he changed his direction to follow her.
Spitfire held her hoof forward so Fleetfoot could get the letter.
As soon as they touched hooves, Fleetfoot started flying away from Soarin, as Spitfire continued in the same direction.
After some seconds, Spitfire stopped to let Fleetfoot approach. When she was getting near, she mouthed something to Fleetfoot. The blue mare tilted her head in confusion, but soon understood the message and nodded.
Spitfire held her hoof forward and, soon, the two mares touched hooves again. Soarin started pursuing Spitfire as Fleetfoot flied back to the ground.
After a long time of no success, he was almost catching Spitfire, but stopped as he heard Fleetfoot's voice down below.
“Hey Soarin. I hope our plans are still up.”
“Oh no...” he muttered as he saw her reading the letter and dove back to the ground.
“I checked my schedule, and I think the best day for me to meet you is every Friday after I finish my weather duties,” Fleetfoot continued as Soarin approached, “which is usually around 4 p.m. Is it okay with you? Thanks again...”
Soarin landed in front of her and took the letter out of her hoof, glaring at her.
“...Rainbow Dash,” she finished, smirking at him.
“Hah, you two are already sending letters to each other?” Spitfire mocked as she landed back in the ground.
“Spitfire, did you see this? They're planning weekly dates!” Fleetfoot said, before turning to Soarin. “Soarin, why didn't you tell me you two were already dating? I'm feeling offended!” she said dramatically.
“We're not–”
“Fleet, let them keep it a secret if they want,” Spitfire told Fleetfoot, interrupting Soarin.
“But we–”
“Okay, I understand. But I was the major supporter here. I had the right to know,” Fleetfoot complained.
“Fleetfoot–”
“And they have the right to tell who they want. And we won't tell anypony if they don't want us to, okay?” Spitfire ordered.
“GUYS!” Soarin raised his voice. His friends, finally, turned to him. “Me and Rainbow Dash are not dating,” he explained.
Spitfire and Fleetfoot's expressions flattened.
“Really? How long is this going to take?” Spitfire shook her head in disappointment.
“But... what about the letter?” Fleetfoot asked.
Soarin sighed, before explaining, “After the Royal Garden opening was over, we talked and I asked if she wanted me to help her with some endurance training.”
“Oh, when we saw you two hugging each other?” Fleetfoot bounced her eyebrows.
Soarin blushed slightly. “Yeah, yeah. Let me finish. Then she said she would send me a letter telling me when she could meet me here at the academy. That's all,” he said.
Spitfire and Fleetfoot glanced at each other.
“Well, at least it's a good start,” Spitfire shrugged.
“Better than nothing,” Fleetfoot nodded.
Soarin rolled his eyes. “Can you two stop?Don't you think this mocking about me and Dash has gone far enough?”
The mares looked at each other again.
“Soarin, we weren't mocking you now,” Spitfire said.
Soarin blinked. “Huh?”
“Sure sometimes we do it, especially Fleetfoot does it,” – Spitfire glared at Fleetfoot, who avoided her gaze – “but it doesn't mean we're never serious about it,” she told him.
“Yeah,” Fleetfoot nodded. “We really want you and Rainbow Dash to be together.”
Soarin raised an eyebrow as he looked at them. Spitfire and Fleetfoot wore assuring smiles. They weren't kidding.
He sighed. “Look guys, I appreciate the support and all, but... Dash is my friend, nothing more than that.”
“Of course she's still just your friend! You're too stubborn to admit you like her and do a move!” she yelled at him impatiently.
“I have to agree with Fleetfoot, Soarin,” Spitfire nodded in confirmation. “Everypony who sees you two together notices you like each other. Why can't you see it?”
“We're just friends! It's not like that!” he said with annoyance.
“Oh yeah? What about the time we saw you two after the display. She hugged you, and even kissed your cheek!” Fleetfoot pointed out.
“It was a friendly gesture,” Soarin defended.
“You were blushing!” she accused.
“No, I wasn't,” he denied.
“Of course you were. And when you saw each other at the dinner? She blushed as soon as she saw you,” she recalled.
“So what? She was blushing when she was meeting Wind Rider too. Does it mean she liked him just because of it?” he said.
“Because she was meeting a living legend of the Wonderbolts for the first time! It's different!” Fleetfoot said.
“Whatever...” Soarin mumbled.
“What about the Young Flyers Competition? I saw you going to talk to her when the rest of us were already leaving.”
“I just went to say thanks!”
“What about your dance at the royal wedding? What about the Equestria Games tryouts? ‘You're the best, Rainbow Dash!’” she imitated him exaggeratedly.
“Oh, shut up...” he rolled his eyes.
“No, shut up you. Shut up you!” she pointed her hoof to his face. “You like her. Stop denying and accept the truth. Or you're so stubborn that you see it but doesn't admit it, or you're really dumb, 'cause it's more than obvious!”
“SHUT UP, FLEETFOOT!” he raised his voice.
Fleetfoot was taken aback and her eyes widened as she quieted down.
Soarin gave her an angry glare and flew off to nowhere in particular.
Fleetfoot blinked as she registered what just happened.
It was hard to see Soarin like this. He was the calm guy of the team almost everytime. He hardly ever raised his voice with anypony, even Fleetfoot, despite all of her tries to annoy him.
Fleetfoot's thoughts were interrupted by Spitfire giving a rough shove on the back of her head.
“Great! Now you made him mad!” Spitfire said in disapproval.
“Maybe I exaggerated a bit this time...” Fleetfoot said sheepishly.
“You'll apologize to him later,” Spitfire said.
Fleetfoot sighed. “Okay, okay. I will.” She looked at the direction Soarin flew to. “So, what do we do now?”
“We'd better leave him alone by now. He needs to calm down. We'll talk to him when he comes back,” Spitfire suggested and started trotting towards the inside of the academy.
Fleetfoot nodded and followed her.
Rainbow Dash was flying in her usual fast pace. Anypony who didn't know her would wonder why she was in such a hurry. But everypony who knew Rainbow Dash knew she flew fast for fun. It was how she liked it.
Rainbow Dash landed in the front of a cottage near the Everfree Forest and knocked on the door.
After a moment of waiting, the door opened slightly and a turquoise eye peeked through the small opening. Upon seeing who it was, the pony from inside the cottage opened the door completely to greet her friend.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. Come in,” the yellow mare smiled and gave some space for Rainbow Dash to cross the doorway.
“Hey Fluttershy. Is Tank ready?” Rainbow Dash asked as she entered.
“Oh, yes. I was feeding him while you didn't come. Wait just a minute,” she said as she hovered to another room and brought the tortoise in her hooves when she came back. “Here. Good as new,” Fluttershy said as she handled the tortoise back to Rainbow Dash. A big smile started forming in Tank's face as he saw the rainbow maned mare.
“Heh, thanks,” Rainbow smiled as she took the tortoise in her hooves and started adjusting his flying equipment around him. Every once in a month, she took Tank to Fluttershy's cottage so the yellow Pegasus could take care of him.
“Would you like some tea?” Fluttershy asked politely.
“Uh...” Rainbow mumbled uncertainly as she continued to adjust Tank's equipment. She wasn't much one for tea, but she didn't want to seem like she wouldn't like to talk to her friend.
Fluttershy chuckled softly. “I think I might still have some apple cider,” she offered.
Rainbow Dash smiled. “That's better.”
Fluttershy nodded. “You can make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in a minute,” Fluttershy said as she started trotting to the kitchen.
“Okay,” Rainbow Dash replied as she sat on the couch on Fluttershy's living room, with Tank in her forelegs.
A moment later, her friend returned holding a tray with two cups: one of tea and other of apple cider. She placed the tray on her coffee table, took the cup of tea and took a sit on the couch.
“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash said as she took the cup of cider from the tray.
“Oh, it's no problem at all,” she said before taking a sip of her tea. She then paused for a moment and a look of concern came to her face. “I was really hoping we could talk. Rarity told me something about the Wonderbolts accusing you and almost banning you when you two were in Canterlot.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, it's true. A living legend of the Wonderbolts, who turned out to be a complete jerk, sent Spitfire away and tried to frame me for it so I couldn't break his record,” Rainbow Dash said ?
“Oh my! That's not very nice of him,” Fluttershy said with a mixed look of shock and concern.
Rainbow Dash snorted. “No, it's not. But then Rarity helped me to prove my innocence, he was banned and I even took his place in the performance,” she said proudly, patting her chest.
Fluttershy's expression lightened up. “Oh Rainbow Dash, I'm so happy for you,” she smiled.
Rainbow nodded. “It's all thanks to Rarity. I'd be banned if she didn't help me. All of the Wonderbolts were suspecting that I was the culprit,” she said, before continuing to drink her cider.
“Even Soarin?” Fluttershy asked suddenly.
Rainbow Dash stopped sipping her cider and raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Uh... Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. It's just that you two seem to be close,” Fluttershy pointed out.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, we're friends. But he apologized to me after everything was over,” she explained.
“He seems nice,” Fluttershy smiled.
Rainbow Dash nodded while smiling. “Yeah. He's a nice guy...” she said as she remembered their short encounter when he apologized to her and offered to help her to train. She couldn't wait to spend more time with him... Uh, and practice her endurance, of course.
“Um... Rainbow, why are you blushing?” Fluttershy interrupted her thoughts.
“Huh?” Rainbow snapped back to reality to feel her cheeks burning. “Uh... I'm not blushing. Why would I?” she said nervously.
Fluttershy looked at her friend uncertainly, before she remembered something.
Rainbow Dash muttered something under her breath while turning her face away from Fluttershy. What was this? Didn't she already recover from Rarity's weird insinuations?
“Rarity told us you like him.”
Rainbow froze. She slowly turned her head to Fluttershy to see her wearing a smile that probably was supposed to be a smirk, but Fluttershy was too cute to know how to smirk.
“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Rarity said you like Soarin,” Fluttershy repeated.
Rainbow's blush intensified and she opened and closed her mouth several times before stuttering, “I-I don't.”
Fluttershy chuckled softly. “Then why are you blushing?”
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Because it's cold?” she said uncertainly.
“It's a spring sunny day. It must be around 25 degrees,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Because it's warm then,” Rainbow shrugged as she turned her head again.
Fluttershy giggled. “Rainbow Dash, we know each other since flight school. You don't have to hide things from me,” she said, in a friendly tone.
“There's nothing to hide!” Rainbow Dash raised her voice, before remembering who she was talking to.
Fluttershy's eyes widened and she backed away slightly.
Rainbow sighed. “Sorry. I just... I don't wanna talk about it. Me and Soarin are friends, nothing more than that. Rarity got it wrong because she's a romance addicted.”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad,” Fluttershy apologized.
Rainbow shook her head. “It's fine.”
There was a moment of silence afterwards. Fluttershy was still a little affected by her friend's outburst, and Rainbow wasn't sure about what to say.
“Uh... I guess I'll be going,” Rainbow Dash said finally bringing her friend's attention back to her. “Thanks for taking care of Tank for me.”
“It was a pleasure,” Fluttershy replied sweetly. “And I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't,” she said apologetically.
“It wasn't your fault. It was Rarity who shouldn't have said anything about me and Soarin,” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes.
Fluttershy's eyes widened slightly. “Um... Could you just... don't tell her it was me who told you she said it? I mean, if you don't mind...” she asked.
“Don't worry. I won't tell her. I'm gonna have a little talk with her about it though,” Rainbow Dash said, in a serious tone.
Fluttershy bit her bottom lip and flopped her ears down. She should have known she shouldn't have touched the subject. She only hoped that her slip wouldn't cause any disagreement between Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
“Well, I'm going then,” Rainbow said, placing her empty cup on the table and getting up. “Thanks again, Fluttershy.”
“Um... You're welcome,” Fluttershy replied uncertainly. “Let me accompany you to the door,” she said, also placing her cup of tea on the table and leading her pegasus friend to her front door.
Rainbow Dash took Tank in her hooves and followed her.
Fluttershy opened the door and stepped aside so Rainbow could walk out.
“Um... Rainbow,” Fluttershy started, making Rainbow Dash turn to her. “Please, don't be mad at Rarity because of me.”
Rainbow sighed. “Fluttershy, it's not your fault. If you didn't tell me, probably the others would. I'd find out anyway,” she assured, as Fluttershy looked down shamefully. “And I'm glad you told me,” she continued. “Now I can talk to Rarity and stop her from spreading more rumors.”
Fluttershy flashed with a weak smile.
“Everything alright then?” Rainbow asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy replied with a nod.
“Great. See you later then,” Rainbow smiled, trotting through the doorway.
“Goodbye,” Fluttershy smiled back and waved as her friend took off towards the Ponyville skies.
Rainbow Dash waved back, before fastening her pace and flying towards her cloud home, carrying Tank with her.
Soon, she arrived to her destination. She landed in front of the door, opened it, and flew inside. She placed Tank on the ground and started to adjust the pillows on her couch. She then took her tortoise in her hooves again and placed him on the couch, patting his head gently. Tank made tortoise noises in response.
“Rest a little, Tank. I know how these days you spend at Fluttershy's being taken care of tire you out,” Rainbow Dash said caringly, before trotting towards her front door.
Soarin was flying, without any destination. Simply flying to get his mind out of things that were bothering him. One thing in particular...
Why did Fleetfoot and Spitfire insist so much on the subject of Rainbow Dash? Couldn't they simply let him decide when he wanted to have a relationship or not? It was getting really annoying. How many times he had to tell them he and Rainbow were just friends?
Soarin sighed. There was nothing he could do to convince them. Much less now, that he would meet Rainbow Dash weekly. Hopefully, they would stop eventually.
Lost in his thoughts, Soarin didn't take notice of the direction he was taking...
Rainbow Dash closed the door of her cloud home behind her. She looked at the clear spring skies. This looked like the perfect time for a relaxing afternoon flight...
Or a wild one.
Rainbow Dash positioned herself on the cloud to take flight. She bent her legs, opened her wings straight up and put her usual assertive expression on her face. Soon, she took off at high speeds, spinning around and performing any trick that came to her mind.
After a lot of random tricks, the pegasus stopped. An idea for an awesome trick popped in her head. She smiled confidently and started flying up as high as she could.
A moment later, she stopped and focused on the ground. She let out a long exhale, before closing her eyes and diving towards the ground, at the maximum speed she could muster.
Soon, an air cone started to form around her. All she had to do was pass through it, and she would perform her famous Sonic Rainboom...
If there wasn't another pony on her way.
The sound of approaching flapping wings snapped Soarin back to reality. It sounded like it was coming from above him.
He stopped and looked up just in time to see another pegasus flying right in his direction, at crazy speeds. He let out a short gasp, before putting his forelegs in front of him, in an attempt to protect himself, and closed his eyes.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes as she heard the voice another pony gasping. Her eyes widened when she saw there was another pony there, and they were about to crash. She tried, with all of her efforts, to slow down. It seemed a lost cause, but as soon as her speed decreased, the air cone that was forming around her made her stop, overcoming the force she was applying into it.
As the crash he was expecting to experience didn't happen, Soarin opened his eyes and looked up again, just in time to recognize the pony above him, who somehow, had stopped mid-flight.
“Rainbow Dash?” he exclaimed, with a raised eyebrow.
Soon, the force of the air cone worked as a catapult, launching the blue mare to the opposite direction at high speeds.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Rainbow Dash's voice faded on the distance, as she was abruptly thrown across the sky.
“Uh oh...” Soarin mumbled, before flying as fast as he could to the direction she was being launched at.
On the other side of the sky, Rainbow Dash desperately tried to flap her wings and regain control of her flight as she continued to fly uncontrollably towards Sweet Apple Acres.
“C'mon, Dash! You can do this!” she told herself confidently.
Soarin was slowing catching up with her. He flapped his wings as fast as he could to try to save her from a probably very painful crash.
However, when he was about to reach her, Rainbow Dash finally regained control and stopped midair.
Soarin's eyes widened when he saw he was, again, about to crash into her.
Rainbow turned her head to the side, and her eyes, too, widened when she saw Soarin flying at high speeds towards her. She quickly flew out of his way before they could crash.
Soarin, however, crashed anyway... into one of the many trees of Sweet Apple Acres, making a loud bang.
“Oops...” Rainbow Dash said nervously, before hovering to the Wonderbolt, that slipped slowly down the tree trunk, falling sprawled on the ground.
Rainbow Dash landed on the ground beside him, worriedly examining her friend. He seemed unconscious. That must have been a quite painful crash.
She bit her bottom lip, before mumbling, “Guess performing a Sonic Rainboom with my eyes closed wasn't a very good idea...”
