Love In The Clouds

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Five
Chapter Four

Chapter One

Soarin rested lazily on the clouds high above ponyville. It was a lovely night, but he was extremely troubled as he glanced down at the lovely Pegasus mare lying beside him. It was Rainbow Dash and she was sound asleep as she nestled against him, her multi-colored mane blowing gently in the night breeze. He wasn’t sure how things had gone so far between them, but they’d shared a wonderful night together and he’d made love to her. He had enjoyed it at the time, but now all he felt was guilt. He’d been romantically involved with his Wonderbolt companion Spitfire on and off for a long time, but something about Rainbow Dash had always caught his attention. She was an amazing flyer and incredibly fast being the only Pegasus to ever accomplish the legendary rainboom! Yet he wasn’t sure that he was in love with her and he knew that if Spitfire ever discovered what he’d done with Rainbow Dash that she would never forgive him. It would be the end of any possible relationship they could ever hope of having in the future.

Easing himself up gently as to not wake Rainbow Dash, Soarin quietly took his leave of her flying toward his home in Canterlot. The morning sun rose brightly over ponyville and Rainbow Dash yawned. She stretched and pushed herself up onto her hooves. She flapped her wings and looked at the now empty spot beside her where Soarin had been the night before. A smile formed on her muzzle as she remembered the night they’d shared together and then she leapt off of her cloud bed and zipped through town eagerly searching for her friends so she could tell them all about it. She was flying so fast that she didn’t realize she was so close to Rarity’s fashion boutique and crashed right through the door and into a wall messing up several of Rarity’s outfits.
“Ah Rainbow Dash! You’ve gone and ruined my latest creations! You really need to watch where you’re going!”
“Heh heh I’m sorry Rarity! I couldn’t help it; I have the best news ever!” Dash replied excitedly and the white unicorn fixed her lovely blue eyes onto her Pegasus friend.
“What could be so important that you had to tear into my home and destroy my beautiful outfits?” Rarity questioned placing a hoof to her forehead. Her beautiful purple mane drooping in front of her face. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and then smiled widely at her uppity friend.
“I slept with Soarin!” She announced happily. Rarity’s eyes widened and she frowned in disgust.
“Ah Rainbow Dash! How incredibly…improper of you!”
“What do you mean Rarity? It was the most awesome night EVER!”
“I’m sure it was, but really darling.” Rarity said fixing her mane. “You and Soarin are not married nor are you even a couple, everypony knows that Soarin is with Spitfire, they’ve been dating for years.”
“No their not! Soarin assured me that things between him and Spitfire ended a few months ago and he’s totally into me!” Rainbow Dash said standing up. She began attempting to fix the mess she made while Rarity kept her disapproving gaze on her.
“But do you not care about your reputation, why if word about this gets out, you’ll never ever be allowed to join the Wonderbolts.”
“Why can’t you just be happy for me Rarity? This is a huge deal and I couldn’t be happier about it! Soarin is totally in love with me!” Dash snapped and zipped out of Rarity’s house as quick as she’d come. Rarity rolled her eyes and simply went about re-organizing her work area.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family was hard at work minus Big Macintosh who’d been dragged off to get measured for his wedding tux. He was due to marry Fluttershy in a few short weeks and everypony was scrambling around to get it all set up, especially Pinkie Pie who was the wedding planner. Apple Jack was busy bucking apples from the many trees across their land while Apple Bloom was catching them in buckets and Granny Smith was inside the house making pies.
“Apple Jaaaaack!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she zoomed toward the orange mare whose green eyes suddenly grew wide when she noticed her Pegasus friend was going too fast to stop and tumbled right into her. They rolled for several feet into a nearby mud puddle.
“Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation are you doing?” Apple Jack questioned and spit mud and debris from her mouth.
“Ha-ha sorry AJ! I just have the best news ever to tell you!”
“Well out with it already, I’m very busy today if you haven’t noticed! With Big Mac’s wedding coming up, we’ve got a lot o’ harvesting to do!”
“I slept with Soarin!” Dash exclaimed with a goofy grin on her face. To her dismay, a frown appeared on AJ’s face.
“What in the world do you mean you slept with Soarin?”
“Yeah what does that mean?” Apple Bloom questioned with large curious eyes.
“You know what that means Apple Jack! Isn’t it just the best! Soarin and I are together finally!”
“I don’t know sugarcube, what about that pony Spitfire? Isn’t Soarin with her?”
“No no no, he told me they aren’t together and they’re not because he’s with me.”
“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, but Apple Bloom and I have some more apples to harvest so…”
“So I’d best be on my way, yeah whatever Apple Jack, I thought you’d be supportive!” Rainbow Dash retorted and flew away disappearing into the clouds in an instant.
“What does it mean that she slept with Soarin big sis? Did they have a sleep over?”
“Never you mind Apple Bloom, come now, let’s finish our apple buckin okay!” Apple Jack replied dismissing her little sister’s question and went back to work bucking the trees causing the apples to fall.

Rainbow Dash was sure that Fluttershy would be happy for her as she made her way over to her house on the edge of town. Big Mac was there with her and the two were cuddled up together on a lounge chair.
“Hey Fluttershy, Big Mac!” Dash said and landed slowly for once not wanting to startle her shy friends. “Want to hear my most awesome news?”
“Um sure Rainbow…”
“E-eeup.” Big Mac agreed in his usual way.
“I slept with Soarin! Isn’t that fantastic!” Rainbow announced proudly and at once Fluttershy’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red. Big Mac’s mouth dropped open, but he didn’t say anything and just stared at the cyan Pegasus standing before them grinning. “Well isn’t it?”
“Oh um yes that’s…great.” Fluttershy said in a barely audible voice.
“Finally somepony thinks the way I do.”
“Oh well I mean, should you have done that with Soarin? He has a girlfriend and…”
“No he doesn’t! Gosh does everypony have to point out that Soarin and Spitfire were once romantic?”
“E-eeup.” Big Mac replied and Dash glared at him for a long moment.
“Okay so maybe they were together and have dated before, but they aren’t anymore! Soarin loves me now and we had the most wonderful night ever! Just be happy for me okay!” Dash exclaimed and once again was gone in an instant.
“Okay…” Fluttershy replied even though Dash was no longer present. She looked at her Stallion and blushed thinking of what it would be like on their wedding night. He looked down at her and smiled as if he knew what she was thinking. She looked away shyly and he nuzzled her affectionately making her giggle.

Rainbow Dash went over to Twilight Sparkle’s house, but of course she only got the same response that she’d gotten from everypony else. The level headed unicorn wasn’t happy about the news in the least and tried to reason with Dash who not wanting to hear it took off before she could find the book on pony propriety that she had in her library.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Spike asked curiously. He didn’t understand completely what Rainbow Dash had meant about sleeping with Soarin, but he was old enough to have an idea.
“I don’t know Spike, but I have a bad feeling that nothing good will come of what she’s done.” Twilight replied with a shake of her head.

Rainbow Dash landed outside of Sugarcube corner where the Cakes were busy with their foals, Pound Cake who was a Pegasus and could already fly despite his young age and Pumpkin Cake who already knew how to use her unicorn magic to her advantage. Dash watched the stressed parents scrambling around after the rambunctious foals with a smirk. She’d never given much thought into having foals of her own, but now that she and Soarin were together, the possibility of parenthood became a reality for her. What would being a mother be like? She thought. Surely it wouldn’t be as bad as it was for the Cakes. She headed up to Pinkie Pie’s loft above the store and found the pink mare bouncing around all over the place checking over all sorts of wedding decorations. Gummy, Pinkie’s pet alligator was busy trying to chew on a balloon, but since he didn’t have any teeth, it was a lost cause.
“Hey Pinkie guess what!”
“What! Oh this is perfect! Just super-duper wuper perfect!” Pinkie exclaimed squeezing a bundle of pink roses tightly. “This is going to be the best wedding in ponyville! Big Mac and Fluttershy will be so amazing in their outfits that Rarity is making for them! They are so cutesy wutesey together don’t you think!”
“Pinkie…”
“Oh yes did you need something Rainbow Dash?” She questioned continuing to zip and bounce around the room in a pink blur.
“Uh never mind.” Dash groaned and left without Pinkie even noticing. She flew up to a cloud and plopped down. “Nopony even cares that this is the most important thing to ever happen to me, some friends they are…” She muttered to herself and heaved a heavy sigh.

Chapter Two

Ponies cheered wildly as the Wonderbolts performed various high flying and daring stunts. Soarin wasn’t feeling very competitive, however, and let the others have the spotlight. He was nervous about approaching Spitfire as he had something he wanted to talk to her about. During their final race that afternoon, he hung back letting Spitfire take first place followed closely by the others while he came in dead last.
“Whoa Soarin, are you feeling okay? You’ve never come in last before?” Spitfire asked him as she landed gracefully before him. He looked her slender golden body over and admired the way her tight flight suit hugged her flank.
“Uh yeah I’m fine…” He replied and smiled goofily. Spitfire looked him over suspiciously. She knew him better than most ponies and knew when he was hiding something.
“I’ll be in the showers if you want to talk.” She told him and trotted off, her orange and yellow tail swishing from side to side tauntingly. With a gulp, Soarin followed after her. He entered the Wonderbolts locker room and saw Spitfire wiggle out of her flight suit. She used her gorgeous wings to fan herself and he couldn’t help thinking how beautiful the Pegasus mare before him was. Though it was normal for ponies to not wear clothes except on special occasions, seeing Spitfire’s nude body caused Soarin to become aroused. He’d been with her before over the years they’d been dating on and off, but she never failed to get his attention. He quickly stripped out of his own flight suit not caring who saw him in his excited condition and rushed over to the mare that was now letting the shower trickle down her back over her wings. Her eyes were closed while she enjoyed the refreshing liquid rinsing away the sweat of the competition. Soarin couldn’t stand it any longer and jumped up onto his hind legs locking his fore hooves tightly around her waist. She whinnied in surprise, but then smiled at him with a back of her long eyelashes letting him know that his advances were very much welcomed. He entered her quickly from behind and she welcomed him gleefully with a loud knicker. Soarin mated her for a good long hour before they both fell over in exhaustion not caring that the shower water was still raining down on them.
“I’m so…sor…sorry about that Spitfire, I don’t know what came over me.” Soarin said and looked away from her shamefully.
“Don’t be sorry, you’re amazing Soarin!”
“But we’re still broken up, aren’t we?”
“Only if you want us to be.” Spitfire replied and stood up on wobbly legs. After getting her bearings, she grabbed a towel that was hanging off a nearby hook and threw it over her back. “But I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be together.” She said and began to head out of the locker room.
“Spitfire wait!” Soarin called and rushed over to her. She turned to face him, her big hazel colored eyes staring at him in a questioning gaze.
“Yes Soarin? What is it?”
“Oh um well I wanted to ask you…that is…I…”
“You what?” She questioned and gasped when he kneeled before her bringing out a small box. He flipped the box open revealing a beautiful diamond ring nestled inside.
“Will you be my mare?” He ask gazing up at her with his jungle green eyes.
“Oh Soarin! Of course I will!” Spitfire exclaimed and Soarin slipped the ring onto her left fore hoof while others around them clapped and congratulated the couple. As Spitfire admired the engagement ring, Soarin couldn’t help but think of Rainbow Dash. He knew that she would be heart broken when she found out that he was intending to marry Spitfire, but the one night stand they’d had didn’t mean that he loved her. He’d been in love with Spitfire for many years and he knew that she loved him back.
“Are you alright?” She asked and nuzzled him affectionately.
“Oh yes I’m fine, just thinking about you becoming my mare.” He replied and nuzzled her back. The two stood there cuddling when Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared from what seemed like out of nowhere.
“Hey Soarin! I was gonna go and practice some of my new stunts and thought maybe you’d like to come with…me?” Her voice trailed off when she noticed him and Spitfire touching muzzles and nuzzling. She let herself drift down until she was standing directly before the happy couple looking at them with her head tilted in confusion.
“Hello Rainbow Dash, so nice to see you again.” Spitfire greeted her. “Have you heard the news? Soarin just proposed, we’re engaged to me married.” She announced to Rainbow Dash’s horror. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she quickly noticed the diamond ring on the mare’s left hoof. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but refused to cry in front of everybody.
“That’s great…” She said and looked at Soarin who avoided eye contact with her. “So uh I’m just gonna go practice my stunts, I’ll catch ya later okay…” She told them and zipped out of sight. Soarin sighed heavily knowing that he’d hurt her. He hadn’t planned for her to find out about his engagement to Spitfire that way, but at least she knew about it now.

Rainbow Dash flew wildly through the clouds over Ponyville. Tear stinging her eyes as she flapped her wings rapidly. How could Soarin do that to her? She thought. They’d had a beautiful night together and she thought he loved her, but now he was engaged to Spitfire. It was true what all of her friends had told her about him and Spitfire still being together and she felt like such a fool for doubting them. She knew they would never lie to her, but she didn’t want to believe that Soarin still wanted to be with Spitfire after he’d so passionately made love to her. She wasn’t watching where she was going when she suddenly crashed through some trees and came to a skidding stop at the edge of the Ever Free Forest. She just laid there covering her face with her fore hooves and cried hoping that none of her friends would see her like that, though she really didn’t care at that point.

Chapter Three

Pinkie Pie bounced happily through ponyville saying hello to everypony she knew which was just about everypony in town when all of a sudden her tail began to twitch wildly. Her light blue eyes grew wide suddenly with fear for she knew that this reaction could only mean one thing; that something bad was about to happen! She raced wildly through town letting her famous Pinkie sense guide her when she realized she was headed toward the Ever Free Forest. It wasn’t long before she noticed Rainbow Dash still lying on the ground covered in dirt and debris with her fore hooves covering her face.

“Rainbow Dash! Moooooovveeee!” She yelled loudly and quickly pushed her friend out of the way of a large tree branch as it came crashing down.

Rainbow Dash looked over at the broken tree limb and then back at the pink pony sitting before her breathing hard.

“Um thanks Pinkie…” She said and turned away from her.

“You’re very welcome! That was a close one! I mean I knew something bad was going to happen because my tail was a twitchin the way it always does, but I didn’t know what it was trying to tell me was going to happen and then I saw you and that branch so I hurried over to save you!” Pinkie explained rapidly never stopping to catch her breath until she saw RD’s eyes were puffy. “Hey have you been crying?”

“Huh! Uh no! Why would you ask something like that? Crying is for wimps and is completely uncool!” Dash denied rubbing her eyes with her hooves. “I just had something in my eye from that crash landing…I guess I’m losing my game or something…”

“Oh Rainbow Dash! You’re not losing your game! You’re the best flyer in all of Equestria! So you made a little boo boo! It’s okay I won’t tell anybody!” Pinkie replied squeezing Rainbow tightly.

“Heh thanks Pinkie.” Dash said and stared at the ground not wanting Pinkie to see the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

“Did you want to tell me something before? I’ve just been so busy planning Fluttershy and Big Macintosh’s wedding!”

“It’s really nothing Pinkie, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Pinkie sat there staring at Rainbow Dash and could tell that she was sad about something. Sadness was something that Pinkie never liked to see anypony experience, especially when that pony was one of her best friends. She placed a hoof on RD’s shoulder and asked, “What’s the matter? You’re usually super-duper happy doing stunts and playing pranks on everypony.”

“If you must know…” Dash said in a quiet voice. “Soarin and I made love and I thought that it meant something special to him, that I was special to him, but he’s engaged to Spitfire now…he doesn’t care about me at all.”

Hearing the news, Pinkie remained quiet for a long moment. She was trying to understand what RD was saying and she realized that her friend had fallen in love for the first time and had just gotten her heart broken.

“Oh I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash! Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Wait is this like the time we told everypony I was pregnant, but I really wasn’t? Because that wasn’t a fun a joke, I felt really bad about it and…”

“No Pinkie, this isn’t a joke.” Dash replied with a sigh. “It really happened.”

“You mean that you really for real did THAT with Soarin!” Pinkie exclaimed covering her mouth with her hooves.

“Yes we really for real did that Pinkie, is it so hard to believe that something like that could happen for me?”

“Oh um no its not, I’m just surprised is all.”

“Haven’t you ever been with a stallion?” Rainbow Dash questioned and Pinkie frowned as if trying to think really hard about that question.

“No!” She replied in her usual high pitched voice. “Nopity nope nope! I have not been with anypony like that!”

“You mean to say that you’re still a virgin?” Dash asked, surprise evident in her tone

“Yeah! I mean I’ve had crushes before, but I’ve never really dated or anything like that!”

“Well here’s a word of advice to you Pinkie, don’t bother, you’ll only get your heart broken.” Dash said and then took to the skies and darted off toward her cloud house.

Pinkie wasn’t sure how she could make RD feel better, but she was determined to put a smile back on her face. It was her duty as the element of laughter to spread laughter throughout all of Equestria and she would not fail. With that a huge grin spread across her face and she bounced off back toward Sugar Cube Corner where she could plan a huge party to cheer RD up. Inside her cloud house, Rainbow Dash fell down onto her bed and just cried into her pillow. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so stupid. Falling for Soarin was the most ridiculous thing she could have done and now he had her virtue on top of it all. How could she have ever thought she stood a chance with him? He was a celebrity after all. His and Spitfire’s wedding would be the biggest thing to happen since the Canterlot wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Candace. Turning over on her back, RD stared up at her ceiling. She knew she would have to get over Soarin, that dwelling over him wasn’t going to make her feel better.

“He’s not worth all this pain!” She told herself, but a frown formed on her face as more tears welled up in her eyes. “Come on! Get it together Rainbow Dash! You don’t need him, you were fine without him before all of this and you’ll be fine without him now!” She said brushing the tears away wildly. With that she grabbed one of her favorite Daring-Do books and buried herself in the adventures of her favorite pony.

Chapter Five

Rainbow Dash paced around Twilight Sparkle’s home. She couldn’t believe that Soarin would marry somepony that he didn’t actually love just because she was with foal.

“There just has to be a way to stop him from going through with it!” She exclaimed. Twilight frowned at her.

“I don’t think you can stop him Dash, if he feels that he needs to marry Spitfire because she’s pregnant with his foal, well…it is the right thing to do according to pony propriety…”

“Who cares about pony propriety? It’s not right! He doesn’t love her! No I can’t let him marry her!” Rainbow Dash shouted in determination. She darted out of Twilight’s tree house and headed toward Canterlot. If she couldn’t get Soarin to change his mind, then perhaps she could talk some sense into Spitfire. The Wonderbolts were performing there as they did most days and she was always amazed at their speed and finesse, but today she could care less about all that as there was only one thing on her mind. When the performance was over, all of the Wonderbolts headed for the locker rooms, but Dash quickly blocked Spitfire’s path.

“Oh hi Rainbow Dash, good to see you again.” She said in greeting, but Dash just grabbed her hoof and yanked her to the side. “What are you doing?”

“I need to talk to you, it’s important!”

“Alright, let’s go somewhere a little more private then.” Spitfire suggested and headed away from the locker room where all too many ponies would hear their conversation. “Now what is so important that you had to ambush me?”

“You have to call off your wedding to Soarin.”

Hearing that, Spitfire rolled her eyes. She knew that RD liked Soarin and secretly hoped that he would want to be with her in return, but that was never going to happen. Not as long as she was around.

“That’s not going to happen Dash, Soarin and I are in love and we’re very happy together.”

“No you’re not! He’s only marrying you because you’re pregnant with his foal.”

“He told you about that? About my being pregnant?” Spitfire gasped as if it were some big secret. It was Rainbow Dash’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Yes he did and that he was only marrying you because it was the right thing to do, but it’s not the right thing to do, it’s all wrong!”

“Look Dash, I know how you feel about Soarin, but you have to let that go and face the facts that he’s in love with me, trying to sabotage wedding won’t bring him to you.” Spitfire explained and turned to leave.

“I’m not trying to sabotage anything Spitfire!” RD exclaimed and covered her face with her hooves. She wanted to so badly to tell her of the night she and Soarin shared together, but knew that would get her nowhere with Soarin. In fact it would forever make him hate her and then they really never would be together. Spitfire placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder and she looked up at her.

“I’m sorry, but there is a special somepony out there for you.” She said in a comforting voice. “It’s just not Soarin.” She said matter-of-factly and with that flew back toward the locker rooms.

Rainbow Dash stood to her feet, but hung her head in defeat.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?” Soarin asked when he seen her.

“I came to talk to Spitfire.”

Soarin looked around with large fear filled eyes, but quickly relaxed when he noticed that Spitfire was nowhere in sight.

“What did you talk to her about?”

“I wanted her to call of the wedding.”

“You did? Why would you interfere with our wedding, it’s none of your concern.”

“You made it my concern the night you…ugh Soarin! You can’t marry somepony just because she’s pregnant! It’s wrong! You don’t love her and you know it!”

“That may be true, but it is the right thing to do, I can’t leave her to be a single mother when it’s my fault that she’s in this predicament to begin with.” Soarin explained and Rainbow Dash let out a loud irritable sigh.

“She’s as much to blame as you are and have you ever thought of the possibility that I just might be carrying your foal? What are you going to do if I am? You’re just gonna marry Spitfire and leave me to raise your foal alone? Yeah that makes a whole lot of sense Soarin!”

“Are you…” Soarin began and hesitated, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

“I don’t know, I’m just saying what if I am?”

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, truly I am, but please don’t interfere with mine and Spitfire’s wedding anymore.” He trotted off to a nearby food stand leaving Dash to contemplate what he had just said.

She knew she couldn’t give up. If she did turn up pregnant, there was no way that she was going to just sit idly by and let him marry Spitfire. If they were both with foals sired by him then he was going to have to face up to it and take equal responsibility for his actions. She would see to it that he did. She decided that she would go and seek advice from the one pony she knew would be able to help, Princess Celestia. She came to the front doors of the palace when Shining Armor and another guard stopped her.

“Uh hi Armor, I need to see Princess Celestia right away.”

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but the princess isn’t seeing anyone at this time.” He informed her. “You’ll have to come back another time.”

“But this is really important! It’s urgent!”

“As I said, you’ll have to come back another time.”

“Ugh fine Shining Armor! But I doubt that Princess Celestia will be too happy when she finds out that you turned me away in a time of need!” Dash replied and zipped away.

Chapter Four

Soarin flew over ponyville hoping to spot Rainbow Dash somewhere in town. She hadn’t answered the door at her cloud house and he desperately wanted to talk to her and apologize for what he’d done. Before long he found her helping Fluttershy pick out flowers for her upcoming wedding. He hovered silently above just watching as she showed her good friend all sorts of flowers only to have the pale yellow Pegasus shake her head in disapproval. Rainbow Dash seemed happy enough he thought while he watched. She didn’t look like a pony that recently had her heart broken by his carelessness and it brought a smile to his face knowing that she was at least doing better than he was. Finally he glided down and landed next to the flower cart where RD and Fluttershy were now looking at a set of white lilies.
“Um excuse me Rainbow Dash.” He said clearing his throat. She looked at him and the smile on her face suddenly turned to a frown. Her bright magenta eyes darkened as she glared at him angrily.

“What do you want?”

“Uh well I um…I was hoping we could talk and…”

“And what? Make sweet passionate love only to have you go home and marry Spitfire? I don’t think so Soarin, I’m so done with all of that and I’m done with you!” She said and disappeared from sight as if she were never even there. Soarin shook his in pain and looked up only to meet Fluttershy’s eyes.

“You hurt her really bad.” She said quietly. “You shouldn’t have done that you know.”

“Yes I know and I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I hurt her, I wanted to apologize, but I can see that she’s still upset with me.”

“Um yeah well I should be going.” Fluttershy replied backing away not knowing what else to say. She wasn’t as good of a flyer as Rainbow Dash was and she really hated heights, but she had to catch up with RD so she took to the sky flapping her wings wildly. Soarin watched her disappear into the clouds and let out a heavy sigh. What was he to do? How was he going to convince Rainbow Dash that he never meant to hurt her the way he had? With those thoughts in mind, he took the sky once more and found a nice puffy cloud to perch on.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy questioned looking around for her good friend. She soon spotted RD’s multi-colored tail sticking out from behind a large cloud and yanked on it with her mouth.

“Go away Soar…oh it’s you Fluttershy, sorry.” She said plopping down on the cloud folding her hooves across her chest.

“You really should hear what he has to say.”

“No, I don’t care about it anymore, I just want to forget the whole thing ever happened and the only way to do that is to not see or think about him in anyway whatsoever.”

“Oh um okay…” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off. “But um…how…how was it? I mean…” She asked and Rainbow Dash looked at her questioningly. Fluttershy’s cheeks had turned a bright red and she tried to hide her embarrassment of the question she’d asked.

“Ha-ha Fluttershy, you’re so cute.” RD laughed and Fluttershy just covered her face with one hoof. “Are you worried about your wedding night with Big Mac?”

“A little I guess…”

“You have nothing to worry about, Big Mac is a great stallion and he’ll treat you right, he’s Applejack’s brother and they are the most honest trustworthy family in all of ponyville, if you can’t trust them then you can’t trust anypony.”

“Oh I know that, it’s not that I don’t trust him, I’m just…I mean…does it hurt?”

Rainbow Dash held back her laughter this time and eventually let out the breath she was holding in loud sigh.

“I’ll be completely honest with you, yes it does.” She replied and she saw the fear suddenly fill Fluttershy’s eyes. “But it only last for a minute or two and then it’s…” Her voice trailed off as she thought back to the night she’d shared with Soarin.

“Then it’s what?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“Then it’s really nice.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” RD admitted. It had been everything she’d always imagined it would be and she couldn’t have asked to have given up her virtue to anypony other than Soarin, but that didn’t excuse his thoughtlessness.

“Oh I’m so excited for my wedding!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a giggle in her voice. Her cheeks were still very red, but she was feeling better about her wedding night to come. With that Fluttershy flew back down to the market to continue looking at all the various flowers there were to choose from. Once he noticed that Rainbow Dash was alone, Soarin went to her.

“Will you just go away already?”

“Rainbow Dash please hear me out.” He pleaded and she looked at him over her shoulder. Her wings were extended and she was ready to take off once more. She noticed how sad he looked and with an annoyed sigh she turned to face him.

“Okay.” She said folding her wings and sitting down.

“I’m very sorry for what I did; I never should have let things get that far between us.” He told her and she frowned. “I was confused about my feelings for Spitfire, you know how we’ve been dating for a few years on and off and everything, I love her, but we’ve never been able to make our relationship work…”

“Then why did you propose to her?”

“Because…”

“Because why?”

“She’s pregnant.” He answered and RD’s mouth dropped open.

“Pre…pre…pregnant? As in having your foal?” She said in disbelief.

“Yes, she told me a couple of weeks ago and I was in shock, I’m not ready to be a father, but I knew that I had to do the right thing, I was thinking of how I was going to ask her to marry me that night that we…well you know…”

“So you’re only marrying her because she’s pregnant?” Rainbow Dash asked trying to confirm and Soarin nodded. “But you don’t really love her, do you?”

“I honestly don’t know right now, all I do know is that I’m going to marry Spitfire no matter what and I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for any trouble I’ve caused you.” He replied matter-of-factly and then took off flying back toward Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash watched him go and couldn’t decide if it was better that he was marrying Spitfire only because she was pregnant and that he’d be out of her life for good or not. She let out a frustrated sigh and then rejoined Fluttershy in the market.