The Best Night Ever?
Soarin looked in the mirror one last time. Was he ready? He looked at his blue tuxedo and his wild mane. He sighed. He hoped it was good enough.
He made his way down the stairs to his friends who were also dressed for the Gala. Their names were Orange Breeze, Cloud Blaze, and Dust Storm. They loved to tease Soarin, but they were by his side until the very end.
"Dude!" exclaimed an excited Orange Breeze. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," said Soarin, nervously.
"Oh, don't sweat it," Cloud Blaze said. "You'll have tons of fun!"
Soarin took a deep breath. Cloud Blaze was right. He probably would have fun tonight.
He had asked a beautiful mare with a blue coat and a rainbow mane to be his date. She had accepted it, but she was subtle. He didn't know if she was doing it to be friendly or doing it because she liked him back. Her name was Rainbow Dash. She was on the Wonderbolts aerial team with him and she was one of the best flyers on the team. She immediately earned fame all around Equestria and even beyond.
"Hey, it's time for the Gala to start!" Dust Storm announced, pointing towards the clock on the wall.
"Oh, it is!" Soarin realized. "We better get going."
Without further hesitation, Soarin and his friends set off towards the Gala.
When he arrived, the Gala was already getting crowded with ponies of all types.
"Yeesh, we better get to the entrance before it gets to its peak," said Orange Breeze.
They made their way to the entrance and squeezed their way in, as they gave the ticket collector their tickets.
As soon as Soarin entered, a certain blue pegasus ran up to him and gave him a hug. "You're here!! I'm so excited for tonight!"
"Aw, me too," Soarin said, blushing.
Rainbow Dash turned to her friends who smiled and waved at Soarin.
"Thanks for giving Rainbow Dash someone to attend with," Twilight said.
"That's so sweet of you," Rarity claimed. "Although, I wish it had been me who got a date," she muttered.
Twilight nudged her a bit and Rarity rubbed her side with a small whine.
"We'll be on the dancefloor with Discord tonight," Fluttershy said. "You two have fun."
"Bye, girls!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Her friends walked away, chattering and giggling excitedly.
"So, wanna hit the outdoor dancefloor?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Of course," Soarin said.
Rainbow Dash and Soarin made their way to the dancefloor.
After they reached the dancefloor, it was empty. All the ponies were sitting on the chairs on the sides of the dancefloor, chatting and drinking cider. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it.
"Are they playing classical music?" Rainbow Dash asked, in disbelief.
"What a shame," Soarin said. "Let's---"
"Let's go kick things up a notch," Rainbow Dash said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Wait, Dash!" Soarin exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash walked over to the DJ table and turned on a different song. It was upbeat and had a lot of bass.
The ponies immediately got into the beat and went out onto the dancefloor to dance.
"That's more like it," Rainbow Dash said. "Come on, you and me."
Soarin couldn't resist the urge to smile. He grinned and followed Rainbow onto the dancefloor.
They began to dance to the beat. Soarin felt a little sheepish at first, but got more into it with time.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash giggled and laughed, as many upbeats song played.
Then, finally the moment came. A slow song started playing.
Soarin went to position himself when Rainbow Dash sat down, sadly to his surprise.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Soarin asked.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Rainbow Dash lied, quickly.
"Do you not want to slow dance?" Soarin asked, in surprise.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I do want to slow dance, but... I don't know how. I've never slow danced before."
Soarin was taken by surprise. Rainbow Dash was a beautiful mare! "Why have you never been asked to dance?"
"Isn't it obvious?" asked a slightly irritated Rainbow Dash. "They all ask my friends. It's because they're beautiful and have great personalities... I'm neither of those things."
Soarin was shocked. "What have you done with Dash?! Weren't you the one who always said you were awesome and amazing and no one could beat you at anything related to flying?!"
"That's when it came to my friends and acquaintances," Rainbow Dash argued, without raising her voice. "When it comes to stallions, it's the exact opposite."
Soarin held one of Rainbow's hooves. "Rainbow Dash," he assured. "Would I have asked you here tonight if I didn't think you were both of those things?"
A smile spread across Rainbow Dash's face. "I guess you can teach me to slow dance."
Soarin took Rainbow Dash's hoof and led her to the dancefloor. He taught Rainbow Dash how to position herself.
The music began to play and they slow danced in flight. They kept a strong eye contact throughout the whole song. Soarin looked into Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes. He thought they were a beautiful color. At the end of the song, they gradually landed, both of their hooves touching the other's hoof.
Rainbow Dash threw her arms around him at the end, grateful and very happy. Soarin's heart pounded as a smile spread across his face.
"Let's go to the indoor dancefloor," Rainbow Dash said. "I Pinkie Promised my friends I would save them a dance."
Soarin agreed. They walked arm in arm to the indoor dancefloor.
As they arrived, Rainbow Dash opened the doors.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash gasped, shocked at what they saw.
Discord was causing trouble again! Every single Gala, he had a new outburst to cause. This time the whole room was panicking as he sent decorations turned into scary monster-y forms chasing after ponies in the ballroom.
Rainbow Dash closed the door to the ballroom. "Scratch that. We'll come back later."
"What about the dance with your friends?" Soarin asked.
"It can wait," Rainbow Dash said.
Soarin nodded. "I agree."
"Let's go do some other activities," Rainbow Dash said. "They're selling things at a few tents set up near the entrance and beyond."
"Okay, we can look around the shops," Soarin agreed. "See if there's anything nice."
Rainbow Dash looked at Soarin with a look he'd never seen her do before. Could it have been love? Soarin didn't know for sure, but he could hope.
"Welcome to the shopping area!" exclaimed Soarin, subtly putting a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and using his other to pan across the row of tents.
"Wow, this is Rarity's paradise," Rainbow Dash said.
"Welcome to Rarity's paradise," Soarin joked.
Rainbow Dash giggled a little.
They walked across the row of shops.
"Hi there!" said a stallion with a green coat and a red mane. "I'm Rascal! Want to see my shop?"
"Sure!" Soarin said. "We'd love to!"
"Nice to meet you," Rascal said, holding his hoof out to Soarin.
Soarin shook the stallion's hoof only to get an electric shock. Rascal cracked up. "Welcome to my prank shop!" he said. "I'm a natural."
Soarin rolled his eyes and poked Rainbow Dash, zapping her with the remaining static.
"Ow," said Rainbow Dash, transferring the static back.
They went back and forth for a while.
"Stop it," Soarin said.
"You stop it."
"I don't want to stop!"
"True. You started it."
Soarin went for his chance at Rainbow Dash, but his static was gone. "Oh, man!"
Rainbow Dash giggled, triumphantly.
"Want a whiff of these flowers?" Rascal asked.
He held them up to Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash smelled. Big mistake! A jet of water from the flowers drenched Rainbow Dash's mane and dress. She growled, angrily.
"Hey!" Soarin scolded.
"She fell for it," Rascal said. "Have a seat. We'll talk about all the different kind of pranks."
Soarin sat on a whoopee cushion and narrowed his eyes at Rascal, as Rainbow Dash stifled hysterical laughter.
"Just kidding!" Rascal exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash burst out in a laughing fit.
"Let's go check out another stand," Soarin said. "Stat."
Rainbow Dash followed Soarin to another stand.
"Have a good night!" Rascal called after them.
"We will!" Rainbow Dash called back.
"Ooh, look here," Soarin said, showing Rainbow Dash a Daring Do stand.
Rainbow Dash's face lit up and she did a fan girl squeal. She ran up to the Daring Do shop.
"Hello there," said the unicorn at the shop. "I'm Hazy Forest."
"Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash! This stand is amazing!"
"Thank you so much! Is this the stallion you are here with tonight?"
"Sure is!" Rainbow Dash said. "This is Soarin, my date."
"Wait, you two are Wonderbolts, aren't you?!" Hazy Forest exclaimed. "Oh, I almost didn't recognize you out of uniform!"
Rainbow Dash laughed. "We get that a lot."
"Dates get the 2 for 1 special! 2 items for 1 bit!" Hazy Forest said.
"Seriously?!" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well---" Soarin began.
"Are you kidding me?! Let's buy! It's only one bit!"
"Okay," Soarin said, with a smile.
Soarin reached into his saddlebag only to find no bits in it.
"Used all my bits on tickets," Soarin said, his face falling.
Rainbow Dash's spirits died. "Oh."
Soarin felt terrible. He wanted to buy Rainbow Dash some merchandise from her favorite book series, but he had wasted his bits on entrance tickets.
Soarin felt like bursting into tears, but he held them back in front of Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry," he said to her, voice cracking.
"Oh no, it's fine," Rainbow Dash said, comfortingly. "It's not your fault the tickets to the Gala are so expensive," she muttered.
Soarin felt a bit better. "Let's go get your friends a dance."
The best night ever had been turning for the worse.
As soon as they opened the ballroom doors, a huge ocean of water spurted from the doors due to Discord. Soarin flew up just in time, but Rainbow Dash was hit by extreme force by the high speed of the water.
Rainbow Dash tried to reach the top of the water, but too much pressure pounded above her. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears.
She managed to swim up to the top to take a short gasp of air. "Soarin, help!"
Before he could think, Soarin flew at his top speed after Rainbow Dash. He dove under the pounding water and strained as hard as he could. He saved Rainbow Dash and got both of them to safety.
Rainbow Dash coughed, violently. Soarin held her close to make sure she was okay.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Rainbow Dash said. "Thank you."
Soarin hung his head. "So much for the best night ever. This turned into the worst night ever."
Rainbow Dash put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "Soarin, it hasn't been the worst night ever."
"I got shocked, you got drenched, I sat on a whoopee cushion, and you almost drowned!" He calmed down. "How could it possibly be the best night ever?"
"It's been the best night ever," Rainbow Dash said. "Because being here with you makes everything fun."
Soarin smiled. "You're right. Let's go back in the ballroom."
They opened the door to find many ponies were soaked and upset. They were leaving the ballroom, disgusted and disappointed. Fluttershy seemed to be scolding Discord as if he had been a burglar to a bank. Discord apologized to everypony and left the Gala, in shame. Fluttershy sighed, sadly.
Rainbow Dash went up to Fluttershy. "Did Discord cause trouble?"
"It's all sorted out," Fluttershy said, sadly. She sounded as if she was about to burst into tears.
"You sure?" Soarin asked. "Cause you don't sound sorted out yourself."
Fluttershy swallowed and held back tears. "Now, it's all sorted out."
Rainbow Dash and Soarin looked at each other.
"I believe the Gala is ending," Twilight said. "We ready to get going?"
"Of course," Fluttershy said.
"Aw, is it over already?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The night went by so fast."
Everyone giggled in agreement and walked to the exit, together.
All of the Mane 6 got in the carriage Twilight had made, except for Rainbow Dash. She stayed to talk to Soarin.
"Well, this is me," Rainbow Dash said.
"I guess so," Soarin said.
"Hey, despite all the prank incidents and drowning and Daring Do stuff, I really had a great time tonight," Rainbow Dash said.
Soarin smiled.
Before he could say anything else, Rainbow Dash kissed him on the cheek.
Soarin was surprised.
Rainbow Dash climbed into her carriage and waved. "Goodbye!"
The carriage went off. Just when he was sure it was out of sight, he leaped into the air. "Yes!!"
"Ready to go home for game night?" Cloud Blaze asked, all three of his friends approaching Soarin.
"Yes," Soarin said, landing sheepishly.
"We have some awesome stories to tell you when we got home!" exclaimed Dust Storm.
"Can't wait to hear them," Soarin said, laughing a bit.
He turned to look after the road where the carriage had gone. It really had been the best night ever.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading! A lot of the readers really wanted this sequel, so I decided to be nice and write it!
I decided to make it a one-shot, so I didn't have to stress over chapter separations and so you didn't have to wait to see what happens. 