Soarin' to new heights

Chapters

Prologue
Below the clouds
Before Seven
Adoption
Stalliongrad

Prologue

Soarin' to New Heights

Prologue

Soarin' unlocked the door to his mansion. His large cloud house stood magnificently, high above Cloudsdale and the rest of Equestria. Soarin' pushed the large door open, and threw his Wonderbolts uniform into a hamper by the door. He smiled as he made his way from the entry way to his luxurious bathroom. He turned the hot water on for his whirlpool tub.

He gave a relaxed sigh as he slowly dipped himself into the hot water. Soarin' played through the last show through his head: the cheering crowds, the speed, the adrenaline rush, air tearing through his hair, and let's not forget, the fine mares that had gathered themselves outside his dressing room in hopes to touch the fantastic stallion. Soarin' could think of more than a few things he would have liked to do with those fine ladies.

He had two weeks off. No training, no workouts, and no reason to get up early. The warm water soothed his aching muscles. He could spend the rest of the day in the tub, but he was planning to go clubbing with Rapidfire, maybe pick up some ladies, bring them home, and have a bit of 'fun.'

After he was thoroughly bored with sitting in his whirlpool tub, he dried himself off, and walked to his media room. The sheer grandeur of the room still amazed. The room had cost him a pretty penny- a huge four hundred thousand bits, to be precise- but it was worth every bit. It impressed even his fellow Wonderbolts, which was hard to do.

He looked through his large collection of movies. After a show, comedy was always a good choice. He looked at his section of comedy. He selected a movie by the name of 'Shaolin Soccer.' The movie wasn't supposed to be a comedy, but it was so bad that he put it under that category.

He slipped the DVD into the player and sat back in his special chair. The chair was specially built just for him; it had massage function, and it was made from an ultra-soft material that caressed the body. The movie played out, being very cheesy and in moments very funny, and he returned the DVD to its case, then the case back to the correct category. He looked at a clock mounted on the wall: he still had an hour to kill before he had to meet Rapidfire.

Soarin' walked back to the bathroom. He spritzed his mouth full of mouth spray. He combed his blue, windswept mane back just enough that he looked good, but it still looked rugged enough to keep up his fast lifestyle look. He applied oil to his muscles to make them show in clearer definition.

Soarin' gave himself a once over and agreed that he looked great. He trotted to his parlor area to go through his fan mail. He sat in his recliner chair next to a large bag of mail. He undid the knot at the top of the sack and pulled a letter out.

Oh Celestia... It's her again. He thought to himself as he opened yet another letter from the 'Wonderbolts-number-one-fan-and-official-best-young-flier-Rainbow Dash.' Soarin' folded out the sheet of paper. It was another request to join the Wonderbolts, and for the hundredth time he wrote out that they weren't looking for any new recruits at the moment, but they would let her know the next time they were.

He looked at quite a bit more fan mail before he got up to leave. He gave himself a look in a mirror that hung on the cloud wall by the door, and then he pushed the door open and flew up. He planned to meet Rapidfire by the fountain that stood in the center of Cloudsdale's night life.

Rapidfire was already there when Soarin' arrived.

"Hey dude." Rapidfire greeted when Soarin' came to a landing. Rapidfire was a great wingman, metaphorically and in reality: he flew right next to Soarin' in formation and he could always talk Soarin' up, yet he could get him out of a jam when things got awkward.

"What's up?" Soarin' responded. He looked around quickly: no pony had noticed them yet and he wanted to keep it that way, otherwise they would be swarmed by fans.

"Not much. Where should we start?" He asked, looking around at all the clubs that surrounded them.

"I heard that this new place, Cantering Clouds, has a great VIP section." Soarin' recalled. Rapidfire shrugged and they took to the air for the short distance to the club. The club was a modern looking cloud building that looked like it was sewn together from storm clouds and regular clouds.

There was a line wrapped around the building, but Soarin' and Rapidfire went to the front of the line. A few ponies behind them complained, but then the complaints stopped when they realized it was two of the stallions from the Wonderbolts, and then the fans started to yell their love at them.

"Soarin' and Rapidfire." Soarin' said to the bouncer before the fans swarmed them. The large stallion that served as the bouncer opened up the rope gate to let them in.

"The VIP section is to your right, sirs." The bouncer said as he blocked the fans from getting into the club. Soarin' and Rapidfire walked into the club to be blasted by live music. The music was good, had good beat, and was fast paced. A few attractive mares came to be by Soarin' to rub up against his flank.

"What's up, ladies?" He asked in his most smooth voice. It was no secret that Soarin' was great with the ladies. They opened their mouths to respond but the music drowned out their voices. Rapidfire left to get them some drinks, and came back with some fruity martinis. Soarin' disliked beer and he detested hard drinks like whisky or vodka: he supposed that hatred came from when he turned legal age and went binge drinking, then ended up in a gutter in the rain with a hangover that felt like his head was being torn in two.

Soarin' and Rapidfire gathered a crowd around them as they started to talk about life as a Wonderbolt.

"And he came into a landing so fast his hooves were on fire." Rapidfire finished his story about Soarin'.

"Yeah, Rapidfire brought a storm cloud over to put me out, but it turned out to be a thundercloud." Soarin' continued the story. "Bam, I got struck by lighting and my uniform was still on fire. Spitfire came along and finally put me out."

They crowd laughed, but a few gave him funny looks: it was probably because he mentioned Spitfire. That was one of the few things about being a Wonderbolt that Soarin' didn't like. Being co-captain with Spitfire led to a lot of ponies thinking that they were romantically involved for whatever reason. Sure, Soarin' liked Spitfire and she was an attractive mare, but they had never done anything. Yet he couldn't mention her without everypony thinking they were secretly in love or some other crap like that.

After a few more stories and an equal amount of drinks, Soarin' ended up in the booth with a few fine mares. Two of them were leaning on his shoulders. Soarin' took another sip of his martini.

"Tell us again how you joined the Wonderbolts, please!" One of the mares pleaded: Soarin' didn't know her name, but she had a scarlet coat with a peach mane.

"Oh alright. Well, it was about seven years ago..." He thought back to the day he joined the Wonderbolts. "I had just graduated from advanced flight school, and I already had a job as a supervisor at the weather control center. On my first day on the job I saw a poster that said the Wonderbolts were recruiting. So I thought to myself 'why the buck not?' I went to sign up, but before I could a stallion approached me."

"He was none other than the current captain of the stallion squad, the great Red Baron." Soarin' was lost in his memory. "He said to me, 'So you think you're good enough to be a Wonderbolt? Well, how about a race, you beat me, and you're in.' I responded with a resounding yes. So he personally took me to the Cloudasium, and said we would race around the stadium once. We started the race, he took an early lead, but you all know who ended up winning. After the race he said to me 'Kid, you're going to be captain one day.' I guess he was right."

"Would you mind accompanying me home, ladies?" He asked as his lips took the form of a smooth smile.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Soarin' forced his eyes open. A mare laid on each side of him, their legs wrapped around him. The knocks came again. It was times like these he wished that he had a butler so he didn't would have to get up, but when he was on tour he didn't want some pony freeloading off him.

He pulled himself free from the grasp of the two very attractive mares. The night before flashed into his mind. He smiled as he shook himself to full wakefulness.

"Where ya going, sugar lips?" One of the mares awoke as he got up.

"I got to go get the door. Breakfast is in the fridge, and please lock the door on your way out." He said. The mare looked disappointed, although it happened a lot. The mares that didn't have a very good grasp on what a one night stand was would always think he was going to be their coltfriend or something.

Soarin' brushed out his mane, then proceeded to go to the door. The knocking was getting louder and more frequent. He opened the large front door to see his manager, a chubby yellow pegasus with a cutie mark of a clock and bit.

"What are you doing here? I was sleeping." Soarin' said angrily to his manager. Soarin' didn't like his manager; he was always bothering him about what he should be doing and how to get the media to focus on him more. He had even tried to convince Soarin' and Spitfire to date so they could boost interest in the Wonderbolts.

"We got a problem, Soarin'." He sounded nervous.

"I told you to leave me alone when I have time off." Soarin' retorted.

"I know, but this is important. The Mayor of Ponyville is threatening to release some sensitive information to the public if we don't go down there immediately!" His manager sounded nervous.

"What information could she have on me?" Soarin' asked: he couldn't think of anything that the public didn't already know.

"That's just it, I don't know… but if it's bad our PR will crash!" He was starting to hyperventilate.

"Alright, I'll go down there and settle this." Soarin' didn't want his manager to come along, for fear that he might make the whole situation worse. "You just be prepared to issue some counter statements in case anything comes up."

The chubby pony nodded and looked at Soarin' expectantly. He hadn't been planning to go right at that moment, he would have liked to take a shower and eat breakfast, then laze around a bit, but instead he lifted himself off the cloud floor and started to trip to Ponyville.

Ponyville a relatively, small community that Soarin' had only visited once, but still had fond memories of his visit. He had come to the town to promote the next Wonderbolt's tour. The town was very warm and welcoming, and didn't swarm him with fans and reporters. The buildings were unique colors and designs: not a place he wanted to live, of course, since his home was in Cloudsdale.

As he flew, his mind started to wonder to what information the mayor could possibly have that would be important enough to threaten him with. He was sure he hadn't committed a crime, and that he wasn't addicted to any sort of drug. And his nights with the ladies weren't a secret to anypony. Then he started to get angry: the mayor had probably just threated his manager to get him down there to do a photo-shoot for an upcoming election… and if so she was going to get more than just a piece of his mind.

Soarin' was a fast flier, needless to say, and he was on the doorstep of Ponyville town hall in less than a half hour. He opened the wooden door to an entranceway that had a secretary at a desk, near another door that had a sign that said 'Mayor Mare' on it.

"You wanted to see me?" He said more than asked. His voice had a sharp tone to it.

"Yes, the Mayor will be just a minute." The secretary smiled politely.

"Just a minute? You threaten my reputation then have the gall to have me wait!" He shouted at the mare, who sank back in her chair.

"I'm sorry, sir. You go right in." She said in a very small voice.

Mayor Mare sat behind her large desk. Her face didn't betray any emotion she might have been feeling. She had her hooves in a pyramid, while she looked at him impatiently. A basket laid on her desk; it looked like a blanket was folded up inside. Dear Celestia, she wants me to go on a picnic. He thought to himself.

"You threatened me to come down here for this?" Soarin' put an edge of aggression in his voice.

"I'm sorry I had to take such drastic measures, but it was the only way I could be sure you'd come." The mayor dodged his aggression with the skills of a politician. She put a hoof on the basket and opened her mouth to say something.

"No, I will not go on a picnic with you." The Wonderbolt interrupted. The mayor looked at him, confused.

"Wha- no." The political pony stuttered. She drew the blanket back to reveal little foal that was inside: by the looks of it, he was maybe only eight or nine months. "Soarin', meet your son, Little Wings."

Thank you for reading. Please leave some feedback, suggestions, or fixes. Thank you.

Below the clouds

Chapter Two: Below the Clouds

To add more depth I decided to change the perspective. I hope that is okay.

"Meet your son, Little Wings." The mayor's words rang loudly in my head. A son? How the hell did that happen? I mean, sure, he had a chin the resembled mine, and his mane was very similar to mine, but that could just be a coincidence. I'm sure there had to be somepony out there that looked like me.

"It can't be mine." I said disbelievingly. I pounded my hoof down on the desk, hitting it a little too hard, but I didn't let my face betray the pain. Her face didn't change or betray any emotion. Even her eyes just stared at me with a very businesslike professionalism. She rummaged around in a drawer for a while. I was starting to get angry: her movements were slow, like she didn't care how long I had to sit there and squirm.

"He is yours. It's on the birth certificate." She said plainly as she slid a piece of paper across the large wooden desk. I turned it around and indeed it did have my name listed as the father… not that it proved anything. It wouldn't be the first time some mare came up to me and claimed I was their child's father. Every time unicorn magic had proven that I was not the dad. I gazed over at the mother's name. Oh shit. I knew that name. Rosemary. She had been very nice when I went to visit her small authentic Stalliongrad quinine café. One thing led to another and I had slept with her on my visit to Ponyville, and as I recalled she told me to 'unleash the beast' (In other words, I didn't wear a condom).

"That doesn't prove anything!" I shouted at her. She just stared at me with those cold, political eyes. Somehow I knew this child was mine, but I wouldn't be admitting that… I hoped all the same that this foal wasn't mine. I didn't want anything to do with him.

"I have a unicorn on call. She can be down here in five minutes to prove that this innocent little foal is yours." Mayor Mare glared at me. I sunk back in my chair, defeated.

"Fine." I grunted. I ran my hoof through my blue mane. "Bring the unicorn down."

"Get Twilight down here, please." Mayor Mare pressed the intercom button.

"I'll get right on it." The secretary's voice came back. We sat in a staring battle for the next few minutes… she won.

I turned to see a purple unicorn with a bright smile on her face. I groaned: I recognized her as the Element of Magic. I was hoping I would have gotten a two bit unicorn that had very little knowledge of magic, not the freaking student of Celestia herself.

"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. What did you need Mayor?" The purple mare asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Ah yes, Ms. Sparkle. Do you know the spell to identify the parents of an individual?" The mayor asked. She nodded. "Good. Now can you tell me if Soarin' here is this foal's father?"

Twilight took a good look at what was supposed to be my son. "You sure you need a spell for this? It kinda already-"

"Just do it." I hissed. She looked offended, but performed the spell anyway.

"Yep. This is your son." Twilight said, less friendly this time.

"Thank you Twilight. You may go now." The mayor nodded her thanks, before the purple magic mare backed out of the room.

"That kid has to be at least eight months old. Why tell me now?" I asked.

"Ah yes, his mother passed away due to an unfortunate sickness." She said. "So he is placed under your care now."

I didn't want a damned foal mucking up my life. So what if his mother died? I wasn't really his dad, a real dad would care for his son, and, well… I didn't! I had better things to do than take care of this ankle biter. "Put the stupid kid up for adoption! I don't want him… I don't care that his mother is dead!"

"Listen up, you son of a bitch, that mare was a loving, caring mother that just wanted what's best for her son! I am proud to have called her my friend. For whatever reason she thought it was best to leave her motherless child in your incompetent care, but I promised her on her deathbed that I would see it done. Now you're going to take him or else." The mayor's voice got very low.

"Are you threatening me?" I shouted. Blood started to pump to my head: I could feel it, like a pulse in my body quickly growing to an explosion. My bastard son started to cry in his basket. "You do not threaten me!"

Those eyes! They drove me to do it. Those cold, uncaring eyes, as she looked at me like I was the ridiculous one, not wanting to take my bastard in. I dove across the desk in an instant, then grabbed her by the collar of her suit and smacked Mayor Mare across her face, sending her to the ground. Her nose was bleeding as she got up, the crimson fluid running down her face.

"That will just add to your crash if you don't take your homeless son in." She had an edge to her voice. A commanding tone that told me she wasn't kidding.

"What are you blabbering on about?" I demanded. My hoof still had a speckle of her blood on it.

"If you refuse my offer, I will release to the press that you struck a government official, and left your poor infant son to rot in an orphanage." She hissed. She had me in a corner: if I didn't take my son my reputation would be destroyed. I would be forced to leave the Wonderbolts. Why, you might ask? Well, other than the constant mockery of me that would follow, show sales would start going down because everypony would know I had done something bad.

I had no other choice, but to accept. "I agree."

"Good. I will have ponies watching you, if you so much as lose that kid for a second, you're finished!" She said, and then hit me with a hoof. For a desk pony, she had quite a punch: I was dazed for almost thirty seconds. "Don't ever touch me again!"

I was started to get real angry again. Deep breaths... Think about your whirlpool tub... Your time in the tropics... I soon calmed myself down. My anger could... get out of hoof sometimes. Although I think I had every right to be angry.

"Thank you for your time Mr. Soarin'. All the foal supplies you'll have to purchase yourself, but I'm sure you can handle it." She spat at me. I glared furiously at her, hoping to get a reaction, but she just sat indifferently.

The basket sat in my hoof with a little less weight than I expected. My son was smaller than what an eight month old should have been. Leaving town hall was awkward: the lobby had filled up with ponies, who were all gazing at me in surprise. Some of them tried to look and see what I had in the basket.

A rainbow flash blocked me as I attempted to leave the government building.

"Hey Soarin'!" The best young flyer in Equestria shouted at me. "I just wasn't sure if you got my letter; I know you're busy and all with being one of the super awesome Wonderbolts, so I was wondering if you could get me an audition."

"Look kid, I'm busy." I explained. My wings gave a good flap and lifted me into the air. Rainbow Dash caught up to me in a few seconds.

"What you got there?" She asked. I gave her the eye in hopes she would go away. She didn't... She never does.

"None of your business." I snapped back harshly. She tried to get a look into the basket: I pushed her away, but the rainbow maned mare came back with more force. Then the basket slipped from my hoof.

It plummeted through the clouds. I went into a nose dive in a vain attempt to catch up to the basket that held the fate of my career in it. The ground became closer, but the distance between me and the basket grew further apart. Five hundred feet...three hundred...one hundred...the basket shattered as it struck the ground. I turned away as I tried to hold the bile building up in my stomach from escaping.

Sure, I didn't want the kid, but I didn't want him to die... He had just been foal and, now he was splattered on the ground. I vomited up the contents of my stomach. If there had been a pony under me they would have been covered in bile. Celestia why do you curse me today? First I have a bastard son, and now he was nothing but a red mush on the face of the world. The more I thought about the gore, the worse it got in my mind's eye. I retched as another wave of vomit splattered to the ground.

"Soarin', why'd you take off like that?" Rainbow Dash hovered right in front of me.

"Look." I shuddered as I pointed to where the basket had shattered in a gory mess.

"Uhhh...you mean a broken basket and vomit?" Her voice was full of confusion.

"But...but..." I stammered. I turned slowly to face what I thought was a murder. No blood, no body...I felt a large sense of relief... I wasn't a murderer. That left one question… where was Little Wings? As soon as the thought came to my attention it was answered.

"Hey look, wonder what a foal's doing out here?" Rainbow asked as she pointed out a little colt floating a few feet above the ground. Rainbow swooped down and grabbed him out of the air. "Hey there little guy, what are you doing out here?"

Rainbow took a good look at my son. "You know, Soarin'. He looks a lot like you...Ohmygosh! You have a son! Who's the mother? Is it Spitfire? I bet it's her. Is it-"

I had to stuff my hoof into her mouth to stop her from rambling. "No! Yes, this is my son, and no, Spitfire is not his mother. You don't mention this to anypony, got it?"

"Okay..." Rainbow Dash looked down for a moment and I felt a moment of victory: finally, something that didn't go wrong. "So about my letter?"

"Look, kid, we're not looking for recruits right now." I explained. Little Wings squirmed out of Rainbow's grip, but before he could fly away, I grabbed him up...couldn't have the same thing happen again. "But if you promise to keep this quiet, I can get you a private audition."

"That would be so awesome! Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye." She literally stuck her hoof into her eye, it looked painful, but I supposed that she must mean it.

"Alright. I'll contact you when I get your audition time, but remember-" My hoof dragged cross my lips to mock zipping it shut. She looked like she was about to explode in excitement. Before things got out of hoof, I took off into the sky and towards my home.

I banged on the door to a rather large house, made from light fluffy clouds. It wasn't near the majesty that mine was... but I digress. Little Wings was still getting used to me because he kept squirming, biting, spitting up, and doing other repulsive things foals do.

The large door opened to reveal my co-captain, Spitfire.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" She asked rubbing her eyes; she must have been taking a nap.

"This." I held up Little Wings to the flame maned mare and she reared back in surprise.

"Is that…" She didn't need to ask the whole thing, before I nodded. She started to laugh... at me! "I so told you! Looks like Fleet Foot owes me a few bits now, but anyway I told you that your 'nights' were going to lead to this. Poor little guy, his dad's a bum."

"Yeah... Ha ha... his name is Little Wings. Now, I need your help..." I pleaded and she after she finished laughing at her own joke, she let me in.

"Yeah? What do you need help with?" Spitfire led me to her kitchen. It was a lot less messy than mine and looked like it was used to cook more than frozen pizza.

"This kid's a little demon; he keeps biting or pulling my mane, or some other disgusting thing!" I explained. Little Wings was buzzing around in the air.

"This little guy?" Spitfire asked. My son flew right in to Spitfire. "He doesn't seem like he could cause any trouble."

"Well, he does, but due to... circumstances I can't put him up for adoption-" I was cut off.

"Wait, why can't you put him up for adoption?" She raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's a long story."

"Well, just give him back to his mother." Spitfire suggested. She opened her fridge and rummaged around for a little bit, and eventually came up with a cup of applesauce that she tossed it on the counter.

"Thanks." I was awfully hungry so the applesauce looked good, but she slapped my hoof away when I reached for it.

"Not for you." She gave me a look like I was incompetent. She opened a drawer and pulled out a spoon.

"Fine, but I can't give him back, she's dead." I explained. Spitfire put on a look of concern towards Little Wings.

"Geeze, poor kid." She slid the spoon over to me. "Since you obviously know nothing about taking care of a foal, and are way too dumb to learn on your own-"

"Hey!" I protested. She was throwing insults my way like I was an idiot. "I'm not stupid, you know."

"I'm just kidding. Anyway, why don't you try feeding him?" She suggested. I shrugged. How hard could it be? I grabbed the applesauce cup and the spoon, and then got Little Wings close to me. I scooped up a healthy glob of applesauce, and proceeded to draw the spoon close to his mouth.

His mouth was closed tight. The spoon poked him in the face leaving a little residue of applesauce on his muzzle. Then I tried again...and again...and again. "Come on kid, just eat it."

Spitfire laughed. "Give it here."

The applesauce slid across the cloud counter towards her. She took the spoon from my hoof and proceeded to give him spoonful after spoonful of the applesauce, as my jaw dropped.

"Ho- How did you do that?" I managed to get out.

"You got to be gentle with kids, Soarin', not be angry at 'em." She finished feeding him the rest of the cup. She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a bunch of words on it. "Here's a list of things you're going to need to properly take care of a foal."

I took the list and gave it a look over. "All of this?"

"Yep, I'll watch him while you go and get that stuff." She started to push me towards the door. The list was at least a hundred items long, and some of it seemed weird, like talcum powder. What is that for?

She pushed me outside the house and the door slammed shut behind me. I took another long look at the list and flew off to a long day of shopping.

Thanks for all the favs and thanks to my beta reader BlackRoseRaven.

Before Seven

Soarin' to new Heights

Before Seven

"Ravish me." The mare whispered seductively into my ear. She laid on the bed in a suggestive position. She was a fine mare. Her toned body, styled mane and tail, and her eyes – such a beautiful shade of ice blue! - combined to make her a lady worth my time. Her burgundy coat grew a bit redder over her face area as I soothed her into a position that would be used to make love... If you could call it that, there would be no love involved.

"With pleasure." I gave her a deep, meaningless kiss. Her moan was full of pleasure; I could tell this was going to be easy, and very pleasurable. With one hoof she traced circles onto my chest; the soft touch of her hoof caused me to shiver with excitement. With all my experience with ladies I knew all the places that could make a mare convulse with pleasure.

I ran my hooves up her sides and caressed some of her more sensitive areas, like on the base of the wings. I loved the way she squirmed with my touch. I laid myself into position on top of her and prepared to start, but before I stole one more kiss.

"Come on big boy." She nibbled on my ear. I smiled deviously and... Waaaa! Damn it! Little Wings started to cry in the other room. "What's that?"

"Hold on a sec, babe." I pushed myself off the attractive mare. The annoyance on her face was obvious. I strode out, and headed two doors down the hall, and bashed through the door.

A few days before I had bought all the things that Spitfire had put on the list. It took some maneuvering to buy the items without anypony getting suspicious, and yet with all this stuff my son was screaming his head off.

"Geeze, kid, what's wrong?" I wasn't expecting a response, but I did get one of sorts. The smell made contact with my nose. I gagged… damn kid pooped himself again. I picked him out of his crib and brought him over to the changing table. Even in the little time I had this child I had learned how to change a diaper. I undid the straps and removed his dirty diaper, and before I threw up my guts I tossed it into a nearby trash, put talcum powder on his rear (I knew what it is for), and put a fresh diaper on him. "Go to bed."

He looked up at me like I was supposed to do something; I didn't know what, so I returned him to his crib, before tucking him into his blanket. I grudgingly added: "Please."

The door closed softly behind me as I returned to my room.

"Now, where were we?" I said in a deep smooth voice, but she was gone. A far off slamming of my front door told me that she had already left. Damn kid, ruined the night. Usually, I would have gone to get her back, but it had been a long day so I decided to just lay down, cover myself up in the warm blankets, and fall asleep...and that's exactly what I did.

Six o'clock, like clockwork, Little Wings would wake me from my slumber. I grunted. Why couldn't he just let me sleep? The next week would be my only time to sleep in for months. His cries were worse than my alarm clock... and more effective, too. I rolled out of my bed's warm embrace, and made the short distance to my bastard son's room.

I don't know how his mother could have done this every day, wake up at six then spend the whole day taking care of this little brat. I picked him up out of his crib to hear his tiny tummy rumble. He stopped crying and gave me an ador - err- I mean, a bubbly smile that definitely had no effect on me. I found that putting him on my back was the easiest way to carry him. I trotted to my kitchen. Wrappers and trash littered the room, but it wasn't bad enough to compel me to clean it yet.

I retrieved a jar of baby food and began to feed him. After Spitfire had taught me how to feed him properly, it was getting easier to get Little Wings to eat without much of a fight, but sometimes I still had to coax him into eating. After he finished up the jar, I took him back to his room to let him play with one of the many, many toys I had bought him in hopes I wouldn't have to play with him.

I heard a knock on the door. I looked at the clock: 6:30. Who could be bothering me at this hour...besides Little Wings? I left Little Wings to play with his toys for a while, before I went to go answer the door.

Flash! There were countless as I opened the door. The paparazzi were standing outside my door taking pictures of me and shouting questions at me. Luckily, I had been trained for this and put on my most dazzling smile as I waited for my manager, who was most likely following the media.

I didn't have to wait long for my manager to show up, with Rapidfire in close behind. They landed next to me on the doorstep.

"Ponies...ponies...I need to discuss something with Soarin'. We'll be back to answer your questions in just a second." My chubby manager said. Rapidfire stayed behind to appease the crowd.

I had managed to keep the whole 'I have a son thing' just between me and Spitfire: I had been meaning to tell the rest of the Wonderbolts, but I thought that could wait until my time off was over.

"Soarin', what is this?" He slapped down a newspaper on a nearby table. The headline read, 'Soarin' has a foal, insider says.' My manager looked at me with a crooked eyebrow. I thought back to how the paparazzi could have found out... Damn mares. It hit me: the mare I had over last night had heard the cry, and then left quickly.

"Uhhhh..." I tried to think of a good excuse. "I have a son."

"Well, duh. Where is he?" The chubby pony asked. I could already see it in his eyes, he was going to try and squeeze as much money out of my little son as he could. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. He gestured for me to go to get him and I obeyed.

Little Wings shied away from the chubby pony… I didn't blame him. If I was nine months old he would creep me out too. My manager was looking him over, eyeing every inch of my boy.

"This is great. We can get you the family audience, if you play the role of family stallion...who's the mother?" He asked. I could see bits in his eyes; all he saw in my bastard was money. I didn't like the kid, but it's more than a bit offensive to think of a foal as a bag of money... not that I cared any.

"She passed away." I responded. Little Wings fluttered onto my back.

"Oh, that's just too perfect. We can pose you as the caring dad that took in his infant son in the time of need-" He started to ramble.

"Hey, show a bit of compassion, his mother just died." I interrupted, but my manager just kept on talking about how to appeal to the public with this situation as much as possible. The crowd cheered as Rapidfire entered my home.

"Hey, so what's going on?" He asked in his usual casual voice. He was sweating a little so I figured that he must have performed a few tricks to keep the crowd entertained. He trotted over to us. "Who's this cute little guy?"

"It's Soarin's son." My manager said between his ramblings. Rapidfire stepped around the chubby pony to get closer to me.

"So... You're a dad?" He asked. Rapidfire, I knew, would be the Wonderbolt who would take this information the best and the calmest.

"Yeah... His name is Little Wings, and before you ask his mother is dea-... passed away." I said. Rapidfire put on a kind smile and ruffled Little Wings' mane. Rapidfire eyed our manager to make sure he wasn't listening.

"I love ya, like a brother, but I don't think you're ready to take care of a foal, and you know our manager will push the little tyke too far." Rapidfire said in a whisper. "I think you should put him up for adoption."

"I wish I could, but I was threatened that my reputation would be ruined if I did." I explained. I thought back to the very tense argument that I had with the mayor of Ponyville. I realized I now had a loophole: ponies already knew about my son, and all she had on me was that I hit her, but the Wonderbolt's PR department could work that down to nothing… but then again...

"Alright, let's go out there." My manager interrupted my thoughts: almost as soon as he said those words I found myself on my door step once again, but this time Little Wings was sitting on my back. The crowd gasped, and for a rare moment, the flashing of the hungry cameras halted so they could get a look at him. Almost as suddenly as they stopped, they began to flash their cameras again. I put on my most dazzling smile again. I glanced back at my bastard son; he looked dazed and more than a little upset. He hid himself behind his hooves. I felt for the little guy: I remembered my first time in the limelight, it was a scary time... and I was a lot older than Little Wings.

"Soarin'! Soarin'!" A reporter called out, and I turned my attention to him. He had a quill ready to write down my every word. "How long have you been hiding your foal from the public?"

"About a week." I answered. Another reporter got my attention.

"Soarin' where is the mother?" The voice was feminine.

"Little Wings' mother has passed away." I put slightly somber tone in my voice. All the reporters scribbled on their notepads.

"How will this effect your time with the Wonderbolts?" Another questioned.

"In light of recent events, this will not be effecting my performing with the Wonderbolts; this includes our next show at Stalliongrad." I flashed my smile again and there was another wave of flashes. I thought I could feel Little Wings shiver on my back; it wouldn't be long until he started to cry.

"Have you considered putting him up for adoption?" A deeper masculine voice asked. I thought about it… I could get away with it now. Nothing could stop me from giving him away, and getting my life back to the way it was supposed to be. I was too young to be weighed down by the little guy, and as much as I hated to admit that I wasn't good at something, I wasn't a good dad. "Mr. Soarin'?"

"Yes, I will be holding private interviews for his adoption over the next week." I could almost feel my manager glaring at me for ruining his plans to squeeze money out of Little Wings, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rapidfire gave a nod and a look that told me I did the right thing. "I feel that it is better for the both of us if he finds a more stable household."

Another wave of flashes, and that put him over the edge. Little Wings started to cry.

"Just a moment folks, I'll be right back." I said, to get a few moments of reprieve from the crowd. As soon as we were inside he calmed down. Rapidfire had followed me in, and put a hoof on my shoulder.

"I know it's hard, but you're doing the right thing." Rapidfire assured me. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was something I hadn't felt in quite a while: doubt.

"Yeah..." I gave him Little Wings. His tiny wings buzzed happily now that he realized that he wasn't going to have any more cameras flashing at him. "I could use my old life back."

Those words sounded more foreign than what I thought they should have been, but I shook myself from it. I was a Wonderbolt, a master of speed and agility, not taking care of a little foal.

"Alright, I'm going back out there." I said before I started to think too deep on the situation. I took the few steps back out to my doorstep to go out into the storm of reporters, and all of this before seven o'clock.

Thanks to my beta reader.

Adoption

Soarin' to new heights

Adoption

I pounded my head on the desk, sending applications for adoption scattering everywhere. I looked up at the clock: 11:30. I had been looking at forms for almost twelve hours and managed to set up fifty interviews for tomorrow alone. Rapidfire sat across from me, head down in the papers, a little drool dripping from his mouth; he had volunteered to help me sort through the applications. He had fallen asleep about an hour ago, but I didn't feel like waking him… besides, we would be staying up long enough tomorrow anyway.

Little Wings was also sleeping but on the floor, I wrapped him up in a blanket a few hours ago when he started to show signs of wanting to sleep. For once he was sleeping peacefully, and not waking up in the middle of the night screaming his head off. I put an application in the rejected pile, and then grabbed another page. I had seen enough of these papers that day to know what I should reject right away, such as if they have six kids already or if their income is below the acceptable level to provide care for my son.

I also had to make sure that they didn't want to just adopt Little Wings to extort money from me. Sometimes it was obvious, like the application I was looking at the time. It was acceptable up to the point of where it asked 'How do you feel about visits?' I wasn't planning on visiting Little Wings very much, but it was good for weeding out the ponies who would use my foal to get money, like my manager would have. These particular ponies had put 'visits are to be called in advance and we are to have a sum of money paid to our account.' I would have rather them put that they would not accept visits from me; at least then I'd know they weren't thinking of extorting a nine month old foal.

I put another page in the constantly growing pile of failed applications; soon I would be able to heat my house with them. My stomach rumbled. I knew I shouldn't eat in the middle of the night, but I was so hungry and still had almost two hundred applications left. I pushed out from the desk, stepped carefully Little Wings, whose wings were fluttering from some sort of dream, and walked out into the corridor.

The internal light of the fridge flickered on as I gazed into the cool box. The midnight munchies got me as I took out a jar of pickles. I twisted the jar open and pulled out a nice juicy pickle, and with a satisfying crunch I bit into it. After finishing the whole jar, I went back to the room to look at more applications.

To my displeasure I saw that I had made too much noise and woken up Little Wings. He hadn't rolled out of his blanket yet, so I picked him up, blanket and all, and took a seat.

"Hey, kiddo, it's late… you shouldn't be awake." I said. I could have said the same thing to myself. He held out his little legs for me to hold him a bit closer. I stared for a moment, then reluctantly held him closer to my chest. Boy, this chair was comfortable, and Little Wings felt so warm, and I was so tired... I almost dozed off, but he gave a yawn, and even I had to admit it was adorable.

"How do these ponies sound? Mr. and Mrs. Nimbus, supervisors at the cloud factory, very involved with the community, unable to have children of their own..." I put the application in the accepted pile. My son dug his head deeper into my chest, and then I was pretty sure he fell asleep. I looked through more applications, most of them going in the refuse pile.

When the clock hit one o'clock I finished my pile: and Rapidfire's pile, I was too tired to get up, and also the weight of my son on my chest made me feel so comfortable. I leaned back in the chair and was out like a light.

"Soarin', hey, Soarin'. Wake up." Rapidfire shook me from my slumber. I was surprised; for once Little Wings hadn't woken me up. My boy was still curled up in my lap, sleeping.

"Ugh... I'm up." I grunted. The papers were all gone… Rapidfire must've filled them away. "When's the first interview?"

"In about ten minutes. Mr. And Mrs. Rumble." He looked at the sheet. I set Little Wings on the table for just a moment and stood up. I placed him onto my back and balanced him so he didn't fall off.

We moved to where the interviews would be taking place, the living room. I had a fold out table set up with bottles of water to hydrate for the very long day that would be ahead of us. Little Wings started to stir from his slumber, and I knew he would be hungry, so I had a bowl of applesauce nearby to keep him fed, toys were placed in a neat pile nearby for when my son would get bored, and special security was waiting outside the door to make sure any... 'overzealous' ponies didn't get in.

The front door opened slowly, letting in a couple of ponies, a stallion and a mare. The stallion had a sleek black coat and a yellow mane and tail. He was a tiny bit taller than me. The mare had the opposite coloring: a yellow coat with black mane and tail. They both wore very genuine smiles and looked very close.

"Please take a seat..." Rapidfire instructed, and they did as told. "Thank you."

"So Mr. Rumble, you work at the rainbow factory, right? Does the stress of that job ever get to you?" I asked.

"Well, what job doesn't?" He laughed at his own joke and so did his wife. "But, jokes aside, very rarely does my job become very stressful… I mean, I make bright streams of happy colors."

"And Mrs. Rumble, you're a stay at home mom?" Rapidfire questioned.

"Oh yes, but I do foalsit for some of the neighbors, and I just love the little ones. They are so sweet and we really want our own foal." She beamed. They seemed like a happy, stable couple, but first impressions can often be wrong.

"Why don't you have one of your own?" I asked, curious, because they hadn't put that they were unable to have children on the application.

"Well, we thought about it, but I'm not sure I want to go through the pain of childbirth so we thought we could just adopt." Mrs. Rumble explained.

"Hmmm..." I was deep in thought. This was only the first round of the adoption process I set up, so mostly I was looking for stability at this stage, then I would move on to character, then for the final round compatibility. I slid the application into the round two piles. "Well, you seem like a very stable household, we will contact you when we would like to see you again."

"Thank you." They responded, and left. Another couple of ponies entered, two males. I looked down at their sheet: Mr. Flash and Mr. Rocket. A gay couple: I had nothing against homosexuals, so having them try their luck at becoming Little Wings father... fathers was fine by me.

"Please take a seat." I said, giving their paper one last look over.

"So, you own… a haberdashery in intercity Cloudsdale." Rapidfire read word for word what was written on the application.

"Yes." Mr. Rocket responded. So they weren't the most talkative of ponies, but that was fine with me.

"So, how would you describe your relationship with each other?" I questioned.

"Well, we've been together for almost a year now, and we thought it was about time to raise a little one together." One of the stallions replied.

Interview after interview, hour after hour, I placed more sheets in the rejected pile and far fewer went into the accepted pile. So many parents, all in varying degrees of desperation to get the job of taking care of my son. Pegasi filed in, and then out. So many that their faces started to blend together. Little Wings was, to my surprise, behaving himself quite nicely: he would entertain himself when bored and when the wanting parents wanted to see him he would be playful, but at that moment he was sleeping rather peacefully.

The door closed behind another pair of rejected applicants. I ran my hooves through my mane in frustration as Rapidfire pounded his head into the table.

"You're being too harsh, that was the sixth applicant in a row that you rejected." He groaned.

"I just want to make sure he'll be in a good home, alright?" I shot back. "Hey, look… why don't you take a break? I can handle the next few myself."

"Thanks." He pushed himself away from the table, and trotted down the hall to where my media room was. I looked at the next applicant, a Miss Cloud. I looked up expectantly when the door opened slowly again. I expected to see a 'cheerful young mare' as her description implied, but I was surprised...no, shocked would be a better word, to see Spitfire standing before me.

"Spitfire? You're Miss Cloud?" I stuttered.

"Of course not." Spitfire said… there was something strange about the way she said it. "I want to become your son's mother."

"Uhhhh... Alright. Why didn't you say anything before?" I was very confused at this new development. The whole application process was pretty much pointless, because I already knew about her stable household, personality, and compatibility with Little Wings.

"I just decided today." She walked up to the table and leaned across it. "So I was thinking, I could just take him today, and you could just skip all this."

"I have a lot more interviews set up, 'Fire." It was the truth: I had at least thirty more interviews.

"How about I do something for you, and you just give him to me?" She suggested. I cocked an eyebrow. She dove across the table, tackling me to the floor and engaging me in a fiery kiss. "Close your eyes."

I had a feeling that I knew where this was going. Admittedly, I didn't really have an eye on Spitfire, I guess I had more respect for her than all of the mares I had been with, and we seemed to have a silent agreement to stay away from each other's relationships. I still felt something was strange about the whole thing, but at the same time I wasn't going to turn her down, so I closed my eyes.

I wasn't sure why she would go to all this trouble… I mean, if she really wanted the kid, she was a pretty good match for Little Wings. Little Wings! He was sitting right next to us; it would be weird, immoral, and just downright gross to let him see this. I opened my eyes quickly to see Spitfire fang's flaring...wait... Fangs? Then her eyes turned green: not just the irises, the whole eye was green with a tiny black pupil.

I watched in horror as the skin seemed to melt off her to reveal a black skinned, pony-like creature: changeling. I was momentarily disgusted; I had been about to...mate with it. It had me pinned: I could have fought it off, but its eyes had me paralyzed with fear. The changling bared its shape fangs in preparation for a bite. Sharp pain shot through my nerves as it bit into my flesh. The changeling's body convulsed, and a moment later I was looking into a mirror image of myself, minus the bite mark.

"Security!" I finally managed to choke out. The door swung open and the two bulky security guards stepped inside. I should have looked more into that security company because they melted into the black devils. They shouted at each other in their own changeling language.

Little Wings was just waking up when they grabbed him. The changeling that stood on top of me took another deep bite; I saw crimson liquid dripping from its lips as it pulled away. The two other changelings put a cloth over my son's mouth to keep his cries from being heard. I tried to cry out, but my doppelgänger put a hoof... or whatever those things have over my mouth. The muscles around its neck coiled as it prepared to make the kill.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" I heard a yell. The changeling was thrown off me, and its disguise melted away. Rapidfire was on top of the monster, pounding it with his hooves. I rolled to my hooves: I was bleeding, I had lost enough blood to make me lightheaded, and that was not good for what I was about to do.

"They took Little Wings!" I shouted. Rapidfire looked like he had the situation handled, so I galloped out into the broad daylight, looking frantically for where they had taken my son. The only way I knew they could have gone was down. My wings unfurled instinctively as I dove from the clouds.

It took mere seconds to spot the black spots in the sky, their insect wings bringing them on a slow decent. My training from advanced flight school kicked in. Even though Equestria was an incredibly peaceful country, we still had learned how to maneuver in dogfights. I did a corkscrew spin down to the changeling's level. The changeling that wasn't holding Little Wings decreased in speed and fell back to where I was.

I was still bleeding from my wounds when the Changeling hit me. Sweet Celestia, those things are ugly. My wings angled downward and I shot into a 90 degree climb, followed by the monster. I snapped my wings to my sides and started to fall: as I expected, the changeling didn't see this coming, and I smacked it right in the face. A surge of satisfaction hit me when I sent the thing into a spiraling crash.

In the time it took me to do that, the changeling holding Little Wings had made it almost out of sight. I had to push myself to my limits to catch up.

"Give him back!" I yelled, I don't think it understood, it just went into a dive into the forest below. I followed suit. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as we zipped past trees, tore through the brush, and weaved though branches. I grasped at Little Wings in an attempt to take him back from his foalnapper; the little foal went back and forth between me and the changeling. We were nearing a clearing, and that was where I'd have an advantage.

As soon as we hit the clearing, I closed my wings and pulled us three down close to the ground, maybe twenty feet above the field. I punched the monster and we crashed into the ground, I rolled and Little Wings landed between me and the changling. I glared at it and I think it glared back, and then it changed in to an exact copy of me.

My son looked at the changeling and then back at me.

"Come here." I said gently, and Little Wings started to crawl my way.

"Come to daddy." The changeling copied my voice exactly: in response my son turned to crawl towards my copy. I had to think fast, or this could go on forever, but the changeling had the same idea. It acted first: it dove towards my son to take him up in its appendages. I thought it was over… I couldn't keep up the chase for much longer and soon the changling would have friends… I knew how it worked, first a few come, and then the swarm arrives.

I sat down on my haunches, defeated. Then the changeling screeched Little Wings bit into the monster's leg. With lightning speed, I tackled the changeling, snatched up a rock, and smashed it into the changeling's head. I grabbed Little Wings and laid down on the ground to rest for a moment in the aftermath."

"You know what? I think I might keep you."

Thank you for reading and thanks for the comments and favs I really appreciate them.

Stalliongrad

The magazine depicted me as some sort of hero. It had a nice Photoshopped picture of me fighting off a swarm of changelings: I had told them that there were only three, but my ever-present manager had convinced them to... stretch the truth to where I had fought off a horde of them to save my son. He had even given them an interview that he had just made up, but the magazine company didn't complain because it would sell more copies.

It wasn't the magazine I was worried about: it was why the changelings had come for me... I mean, I thought they fed on love, and I didn't exactly have an abundance of that. I had hired a security company that was tested every day to make sure that they weren't changelings, but I was still a bit paranoid... I mean, they could disguise themselves as anypony, so I had to keep a sharp eye out.

I had given a full report to the Cloudsdale police and the Royal Guard. The police weren't really equipped to deal with changelings, but the Royal Guard assured me that they were trying their best to combat the swarm, but they hadn't found the hive yet so the best they could do was fight on a situational basis. I had asked why the swarm had targeted me or Little Wings. They had told me they didn't know.

Even though I was worried about it, I wasn't going to let it stop me, not that I could stop even if I wanted to. My time off was up, and I had to get ready for the Wonderbolt's next show in Stalliongrad. I thought about leaving Little Wings with a nanny, but I didn't have time to screen potential caretakers, so I decided I'd just take him with me.

I stood waiting for the train at the train station just below Cloudsdale. It was the only building on the ground that, and was still technically part of the city. Stalliongrad was really far away, so the other Wonderbolts would be taking our personal train to the city in the north: normally we would fly, but it was more than a one day flying trip, so it ended up being faster if we just took a train.

I could see it in the distance, the metal machine that would be taking us to our destination. The cars of the train were decorated with Wonderbolt advertisements. I could hear metal screeching as the train came to a slow stop in front of the station. The metal beast hissed a cloud of steam as we started to get on. I had Little Wings wrapped up so nopony could see him; I would be doing a reveal once we were on the train.

"Hey Soarin', where's that kid of yours?" Fleet Foot snickered. Thank Celestia the mares and stallions had separated cars, otherwise I would never have heard the end of it from the mares. The stallions would take it easier and not bother me about it; at least I hoped they wouldn't. The servant ponies on the train threw our luggage into the cubbies.

I climbed into the stallion car. The car itself cost about as much as the engine it took to pull it. Only the finest marble counter tops, plush carpets, comfortable silk seating, six large plasma screen T.V's- one for each of us- and a fully stocked fridge with a personal bartender.

I found my usual comfortable spot in the midsection of the car. Little Wings was set next to me: luckily he was still sleeping, so I could make my reveal of him on my own time. Wave Chill got on next, then Rapidfire, followed by Fire Streak, then Lightning Streak, and last Silver Lining. They didn't pay me any more attention than they usually do, so I felt that this ride would be an easy one.

The train lurched forward, and soon picked up speed. The sudden movement shook Little Wings awake with a jolt, and his tiny wings buzzed and shot him straight into the air. The rest of the stallions gasped.

"So that is your boy?" Silver Lining was staring at my son, who was still floating above our heads. I nodded my head nervously: I wasn't exactly sure how they would react. Little Wings seemed to sence them staring at him and gave a little wave of his hoof. "Meh, he's cute."

"It might be nice having him around, somepony to talk to. Who won't judge you and say 'why haven't you met a nice mare yet,' and then I say 'I'm too busy, mom.' And then she makes me lift heavy things..." Fire Streak was an odd one alright. The rest of the stallion Wonderbolts and I stared at him. "But anyway, it might be nice having a foal around."

"Yeah, like a little mascot." Lightning Streak added. This was going much better than I had thought it was going to. I expected them to ridicule me or at the very least be annoyed, but they seemed to be taking it better than I could have hoped.

"As long as he stays quiet." Wave Chill mumbled. Okay, I guess he was taking it as well as expected, but that was a good sign.

"Bah, don't be like that Chill; you're just jealous that you don't have one." Rapidfire butted in.

"Why would I want one?" Wave Chill shot back. Little Wings fluttered down to the floor. The plush carpet must have been a new feeling because he still as a statue as he stared down at the floor, and pawed at it nervously.

"Well, first you'd have to get a mare in bed." Silver Lining laughed, and Lightning Streak bumped hooves with him. Well, at that point I knew this was going to be a long trip, but at least it wasn't me who was being bothered. They kept on arguing and I lost interest.

I slumped down on one of the silk couches, letting the rocking motion of the train slowly lull me into dull daze. I lifted Little Wings off the floor and set him next to me: somehow the little guy's body felt nice next to me. I would have preferred a fine mare, but... he'll do. The gentle back and forth of the train made my eyes slowly close as I tuned out Wave Chill and Silver Lining arguing, and drifted into a surprisingly restful sleep.

It was several hours later when I woke up. I could tell, because it was dark outside the window. Everypony was sleeping except for Wave Chill, who was sitting at a table, reading glasses on his muzzle, and looking down at a book. Little Wings wasn't at my side: I looked around for a bit, but i didn't see him anywhere.

"Hey, Chill." I tried to get his attention. He must have been engrossed in his book because he didn't even look up. I rolled off the couch and onto my hooves. I trotted up behind the distracted stallion and put a hoof on to his shoulder. He jolted out of concentration.

"Wha- oh, I thought everypony was asleep." He set his glasses aside, and offered me a seat across from him, and I took his offer. Wave Chill was the oldest Wonderbolt that was on the team. He was a little under forty, which was very old to still be an active member. Sometimes I wondered if he was angry with me for becoming captain instead of him, but he never said anything so I never brought it up.

"I was, but I don't think I'll be getting back to sleep." I said. I knew that since I woke in the middle of the night after sleeping the day away, I wouldn't be falling to asleep anytime soon. "Did you happen to see where Little Wings went?"

"Who?" He raised an eyebrow, then I saw realization came to him. "Oh yeah, your son. After you fell asleep, Spitfire wanted to tease you about somethin'. When she saw you were sleeping, she said she was going to take the kid for a while, and she did. Come to think of it, that was hours ago... wonder what they're doing."

I wasn't worried about what they were doing with my son; with his happy disposition I'm sure that whatever was going on, he probably was enjoying himself. Plus, he was in good hooves with Spitfire there.

"Soooo... What ya reading?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation from grinding to a stop.

"Oh, just an old story by Edgar Allen Pony: Pit and the Pendulum." He read the title aloud. I didn't read too often, so I wouldn't have much knowledge in the way of literature. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yeah?" I answered. He looked pretty serious about whatever it was he was going to say.

"After this tour, my contract is up, and I'm gonna retire." He said casually. This took me off guard: leaving the team was no small thing: first, there was a lot of paperwork to go through, and as the Co-Captain I would be responsible for finding a replacement. I already had a list in my mind of suitable replacements, full of up and coming athletes, stunt performers, and aces. Oh, yes, I also had to find time to fit Rainbow Dash's audition in, and then with that there was a retirement ceremony to plan, and then a speech to write and rehearse: it was a lot of work leaving. I would say even more than it takes to get in.

"Why?" I asked. I guess I should have been expecting it, but I wasn't expecting him to dump this on me in the middle of the night. The train car shook a little as we hit a bump.

"Well, it's about time, don't you think? My time here is up, and it's time to let some young stallion's dream come true. Sides, I'd like to meet a mare, settle down, and raise a family." Wave Chill chuckled to himself. "I guess Rapidfire was right, I am kinda jealous that you have a kid."

"It's not as good as it looks." I chuckled a little. This was the Wave Chill I liked: he was actually pretty open if you caught him in the right mood, and it seems I did.

"Yeah, but at least you have something to go home to. I just go home and watch T.V. waiting for our next tour to start." He leaned back in his chair to look at me more directly. "It's too bad that Little Wings' mother died."

"Yeah. It's gonna suck when he grows up and asks about his mom. I didn't know much about her, other than that she was an earth pony, owned a restaurant that served authentic Stalliongrad food, and had a slight accent to accompany her food. I mean, he's gonna ask what he mother was like and all I'm going to have to go on is her in bed." I rambled; I hadn't realized how much it was actually bothering me until that point. It was true though... I could barely remember her at all.

"I suppose you could find her parents." Wave Chill suggested. "I mean if she had the accent and served the food, I'm sure she's from somewhere in Stalliongrad."

"I guess I could, but I'm not sure walking up to them and saying 'Hey, I'm the guy, that slept with your daughter, then left her alone with a child' will inspire them to talk to me." I murmured. Wave Chill nodded like he understood. "Anyway, I wouldn't know where to find them."

"True, but you could still look." He responded. I nodded; I probably wouldn't go looking anyway.

I decided to change the conversation before it could grind to a halt. "What are you planning to do after you're retired?"

"Well, other than starting a family, I don't really have to work anymore, so I will probably help at the flight school." He said. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon in the distance; I could make out the outlines of mountains and a forest.

"I should probably go get Little Wings before he wakes everypony else up." I explained as I left the table. I trotted as quietly as I could to the end of the car. I slowly slid the sliding door that separated the two cars open. It was almost pitch black, so I stepped very carefully lest I wake them up. I looked around the dark car; it was identical to the stallions' car. I stepped carefully over Blaze, who for some reason was sleeping on the floor. I walked past Misty, High Winds, Surprise, and the youngest member of our team, Fleet Foot. I finally reached the other end of the car, where Spitfire was asleep and Little Wings was wrapped in her hooves. It was kind of odd, when I thought about it, for her to be sleeping holding my son.

I grasped Little Wings and attempted to pull him from Spitfire's grip. The slight tug caused her to swing a hoof over and send a bone-crushing punch punch into my cheek.

I hissed in pain, I would have usually shouted a swear, but that wasn't an option. Spitfire's eyes opened in a flash.

"Soarin'?" Her groggy voice broke the silence. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"No!" I tried to do my best yell in a whisper. "I was just trying to get Little Wings out of here before he wakes up, and starts screaming his head off... now I realized I should have just let that happen."

The yellow pegasus handed me the little guy. "Well, thanks for waking me up, now I'll never get back to sleep... I was having a good dream too." An odd blush came to her face when she said that.

"Hey, I tried, but you punched me." I could feel Little Wings already stirring from his sleep. "It's almost dawn anyway, now I got to get him some food."

I trotted as quietly as I came in back to the Stallion car. Wave Chill was already engrossed in his book again, so I passed him without speaking and went into the fridge. I didn't pack baby mush specifically, but I thought applesauce was good enough. I got it all ready just as Little Wings awoke and opened his mouth to cry, and I shoved a spoonful of mush in his mouth. After after a satisfied swallow, he giggled.

"Hey, Soarin' look." Wave Chill Pointed out the window. I turned my head to take a look: in the distance I saw the mass that was the city of Stalliongrad.

_______

The city of Stalliongrad was the heart of manufacturing in Equestria. The city was populated mostly by the earth ponies that worked in the factories. It was a city with an odd way of doing things; they had a strange scene of unity that caused them to become extremely prideful in their city.

The train pulled into Stalliongrad central station, with the hiss of steam escaping the engine, the doors opened. Large earth ponies with a solemn expressions on their faces were taking luggage from the caboose. Another earth pony stood waiting for us. He was a dark, murky green color, and had a brown mane. His face was full of unshaven scruff, and his cutie mark was a shield with a sword across it.

"Hello, my friends." He had a genuine smile. "I am Buck Cossack, and I will be the head of your security team."

My manager, who I hadn't seen until this point, stepped in front of me. "Alright, let's get going."

I put Little Wings onto my back. He sat down and looked around, taking in the new sights. Buck raised an eyebrow, as he observed my foal. He shrugged and led us through the station and out onto the streets. He nodded to a group of ponies that looked very similar to him, and all with the very similar cutie marks. These large earth ponies formed a circle around us. I didn't see why, we weren't being swarmed by fans, in fact, and I didn't think we would be swarmed at all: the crowd in Stalliongrad was always a bit cold towards us.

It was a short walk towards the hotel that we would be staying at. It was the nicest place in all of Stalliongrad... then again only the best for the best. I got set up with my room, and the luggage was already waiting for me when I arrived. I looked for the bag that held Little Wings' toys; he was already looking really bored. I set him on the floor to explore as I got everything set up.

The hotel room was a suite. It had a living area, two bedrooms, a whirlpool tub, and full bathroom. Now all I needed was a few mares, and I would be set, but it was the middle of the day so it could wait a while. At the moment I was hungry, so I decided to go out and get something to eat.

I picked up Little Wings, much to his annoyance, and walked to the door. Buck at the door, guarding my room.

"Hey, do you know any good spots to eat?"

__________

The place was a little hole in the wall, very cozy and home like. The food was good and all, but the employees kept giving me weird looks, and glancing at Little Wings and then whispering to each other. I paid and stood up to leave, but I stopped when a large pony that looked like he'd seen a lot in his life came out of back of the restaurant.

"You." He croaked in a thick accent. He took a few steps towards me. Buck Cossack anchored himself into a defensive. The old stallion stopped in front of me. "You deflowered my daughter."

Buck glanced at me at the question, but didn't move from his defensive stance. I had absolutely no idea who this stallion was, but apparently he knew me, and knew I took the virginity of his daughter. Out of all the mares I had been with there was only one who I knew I deflowered... Oh no. Please Celestia no.

"You left my little Rosemary with child!" I could barely understand him with both the heavy accent and how he was stammering the words out. "You took her innocence...and now she's gone."

He looked at me with anger, and then past me at Little Wings, and his face slumped into a deep sadness. I wondered if he had ever seen his grandson before.

"My grandson..." He almost whispered. I was frozen in place, I was standing in front of the grandfather of my boy, and the father of a mare that I had left with a child, not that I had even known she had one before she was dead. "You disgust me, no honor, no thought of your actions."

He spat at me. I finally formulated a response: "I'm sorry."

The old stallion's eyes went wide. "You're sorry? That's not going to take back you deflow- no, rape would be a better word."

"I did not rape your daughter, she liked it very much." Open mouth, insert hoof. Buck took action: he restrained the older stallion as he attempted to break my jaw.

"You don't deserve that colt! Rosemary wasn't thinking right when she left him to you!" He shouted at me, and that left a deeper wound then I would have thought it would.

"What could I do to make it better?" I shouted back. The old stallion stopped fighting.

"Let me go." The grandfather pony said, and Buck obliged, but was still ready in case things got bad. "You prove that she made the right choice in choosing you."

"How?" I asked.

"That's for you to figure out." He said, as he walked back into the kitchen.

________

I groaned as my digital clock rang out at five am. I had gone to bed almost immediately after getting back from the ordeal, but I didn't have time to think about that now: I had a show to get to. I rolled out of bed, took a quick shower, slid on my uniform, and carefully put my little colt on my back.

The rest of the Wonderbolts were already waiting down in the lobby. We had a big day ahead of us. An opening ceremony at eight. races at nine, a show from ten to one, lunch break, another race at two, then a long show from three to seven, and finally closing at eight, I ran the list through my head.

"Alright, settle down." Out manager called over the murmurs of early morning talk. "We've got a big day ahead of us. We'll be training at the stadium before we start, so let's get out there and show these earth ponies a show they've never seen."

And with that we left. The day went as planned: opening ceremonies, a little less grand with the cold personalities of Stalliongrad citizens, the races went as usual, all stallion race: I won; all mare race: Spitfire won; a mare vs. stallion race excluding Spitfire and I: Fleet Foot won. The show was spectacular as always and it even got some of the crowd into the event, lunch, and then came the race that is always the most popular: Spitfire versus me.

I sat in the locker room; I slid the goggles over my eyes, and prepared mentally for this race. You see, Spitfire and I had a bit of a rivalry over this race... it was a friendly competition, but we both burned with the desire to win, be better than the other. Currently, I held the lead in wins by two, but Spitfire assured me that that would be over soon enough.

Spitfire was the only other pony in the locker room, the rest of the Wonderbolts were out doing autographs and photo-shoots. Little Wings, Buck assured me, was just playing with some foals his own age, which I thought was a good thing... he needed more socialization.

"Hey, Soarin', how 'bout when I win, you buy me a drink." She asked. My head jolted back in surprise.

"You? Win? How about when I win, again, you buy me one?" I suggested with a playful push.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, that big flank of yours is gonna slow you down." She retorted, with a snort.

"You've been looking at my flank?" I gave it a bit of a shake to make my point.

"Err...no." She stuttered and looked away. That was a new reaction, and I was unsure of how to react.

"Alright, let's get out there so I can get to the victory circle faster." I laughed it off. I walked towards the tunnel that led out into the stadium. A roar of cheering greeted me as I walked out into the sunlight: they may have been a cold crowd, but even they were excited about this race. I trotted to the starting line and started my stretches.

A second roar told me that Spitfire had come out. I could feel my heart start beating faster and the adrenaline started to course through my veins. I flashed my signature smile towards the audience.

"So, do you want to give up now, or lose later?" Spitfire snickered. Good, she was back to normal; otherwise I might have not given my all.

"All I'll be giving you is a good look of my behind." I bantered. She lined up next to me, and started to loosen up her muscles. After about a minute of stretching the countdown started: 3...2...1...Go!

With a quick pump of my wings, and I was a few feet above the ground, shooting ahead and gaining speed until I could reach my stride. I wasn't looking anywhere but forward: with my heart beating so fast, I had to focus on where I was going and not where my companion was. All I knew was that she wasn't in front of me as we rounded the first turn. My bank was a little too steep and that caused a slight slowdown, and Spitfire shot ahead of me.

As we reached the straightaway I finally reached my stride and my speed immediately picked up, reaching just behind Spitfire. The crowd cheered as we reached the other curve: we passed the grandstand as a loud roar from the crowd rolled on us, and I shot ahead before we reached the end of lap one of three.

The second lap was the rest lap, not to go all out otherwise you'd be sure to lose. It was more to work the crowd and catch breath. We ended up side by side as we rounded the turn to start the final lap. As soon as we rounded that corner I zipped ahead. The sound started to drown out and all I heard was blood rushing through my ears. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Spitfire keeping pace with me.

We rounded the turn, her wing made contact with mine; this was going to be a close one. On the straightaway she soared ahead of me, I got my second wind and flew ahead of her. I made myself get an aerodynamic as possible, the wind ripped through my hair, but Spitfire was keeping on pace. It was me head by a neck, then her by a nose, and even once again.

The final turn before the finish, I put as much power I could in each flap, I ground my teeth together, and I pushed myself as hard as I could. I passed the finish line...behind Spitfire.

We both skidded to a halt, panting for a moment. The crowd exploded into cheering and applause, I gazed at the grandstand. I had never seen the crowd so excited. I looked towards the victor. She stood before me a friendly, not arrogant smile on her face. "Good race, but get your wallet ready, I have expensive tastes."

Sorry that took so long, but things came up. Don't fret, the changelings will be back but i decided to put some space between things. Thanks for reading