Rainbow Dash has always felt like a standout, in just about every way. The way she talks, walks, her mane, and some of her secrets. Like that sometimes she becomes a bad girl and does crime-without anyone knowing.
"Rainbow Dash, you must stop rejecting every boy who comes to marry you!" scolded Bow Hothoof, Rainbow's dad.
"It's wrong- I'm only 22!" complained Rainbow Dash.
"Every girl in Cloudsdale is married, except for you!" said Windy Whistles, her mother.
"Forget it it! I'm not marrying!" yelled Rainbow Dash, flying out the door.
Why am I so different? thought Rainbow Dash, as she sat in the secluded alley. A gleam of pink and black caught her eye. "Unique Love?" she said, picking up the book. For the next hour, she stayed there, not moving an inch and thoroughly engrossed in the book.
"It's like this book totally gets me!" realised Rainbow. The mare described in the book was exactly like her, acting like a tomboy by day, and thief by night. She flipped the book to see who the author was. "Strange, no author! Well, I call the printing press to find out who the author is..." said Rainbow Dash, "S and S printing..."
5 years ago...
This year was the start of S and S printing. It was Soarin Skies' family business, which he ran alongside his wonderbolt career. Unfortunately, his ex marefriends' parents had forced her into to marriage, so she had to leave him. So, in pain, he wrote about the adventure's of him and his ex. "I'll call it... Unique Love" decided Soarin.
But, you see, Cloudsdale is a very conservative town. They believed that when your age was right, all girls were meant to do is get married. So writing about an adventurous thief would get him in trouble with the mayor.
"Hey, Thunderlane, can you do me a favour?" asked Soarin.
"Sure, what do you need me to do?" said Thunderlane.
So the next day, the camera crew arrived, snapping photos of Thunderlane, and that afternoon, Soarin's book was published- With Thunderlane as the fake author.
"Are you sure about this, Soarin?" asked Thunderlane, worried.
"Relax- No pony will care" reassured Soarin, "The only reason I asked you to be a fake author, is 'cause... I can't handle publicity!"
"YOU'RE A WONDERBOLT!" said Thunderlane.
"I'm not, uh, THAT popular!" defended Soarin.
So when the books were released, the were used- as napkins, tissues, and floor wipes!
Thunderlane was still scared of getting into trouble, so he moved to Canterlot the first chance he got.
But luckily, only one copy was ever sold. And it was bought by a cyan, rainbow maned pegasus.
Present...
"Hello? Is this S and S printing company?" said Rainbow Dash, when she called.
"Yes, and you are?" said Soarin.
"Soarin, is that you? It's me, Dash!" said Rainbow.
"Hey Dash, what can I do for you?" said Soarin.
"Well, can you tell me where the author of 'Unique Love' is?" said Rainbow Dash.
Oh, no! What do I do? thought Soarin. "Uh, that's private..." replied Soarin, sweating nervously.
Rainbow Dash's voice cracked a bit. "Oh, uh, ok!" she said.
"Actually Dash, I might be able to do something for you, meet me tomorrow" Soarin said.
"See ya" said Rainbow.
The next day, at Wonderbolt Headquarters, Soarin met up with Rainbow. "Hey Dash, I might be able to get you to meet the author next month. So wanna hang out, I can tell you about him" explained Soarin.
"Sound good!" replied Rainbow Dash smiling. Every day, Rainbow Dahs and Soarin met up. They talked and laughed together happily for the time they had together. Eventually, they grew closer and became best friends.
Later, Soarin asked Rainbow Dash to meet up at Trottington Cafe. "Hey Dash, you look really pretty!" said Soarin.
Rainbow Dash was wearing an orange and green velvet dress with purple hemming and golden accessories. Obviously one of Rarity's creations!
"Thanks, let's order some food.I'm starving!" exclaimed Rainbow. As they enjoyed their meal, Soarin kept thinking about how beautiful she was looking. No, Soarin, she's just your friend, nothing more, nothing less he thought to himself. He ignored the feeling, going back to his meal.
After Wonderbolt practice...
"Hey Clipper, pick up the pace tomorrow!" Spitfire said.
"Sure..." said Soarin absentmindedly.
"Hey Soarin, same place, same time this afternoon?" asked Rainbow, walking over.
"Ok, anything for you Dash!" exclaimed Soarin, blushing.
"See ya!" said Rainbow, walking off.
At that moment, Surprise trotted towards them.
"So, Soarin, what's going on with you and Dashie?" asked Surprise, mischievously.
"Surprise!" growled Soarin.
"So, you like her, huh?" Surprise said.
"No, no..." muttered Soarin, blushing furiously, "Ok, fine, I may have a crush on her!"
Spitfire and Surprise walked off giggling. Soarin flew straight to Caramel's place . Caramel and Soarin were like brothers, and they were friends since they were colts.
"Caramel, I need help!" said Soarin bursting into Caramel's house.
"With what?" asked Caramel.
"Ok, so Dash wants to meet up with Thunderlane, 'cause remember how I posed him as the author for 'Unique Love' because I didn't want to get in trouble, cause I was the one who actually wrote it. Now Dash is obsessed with meeting Thunderlane, but I'm in love with her, and she thinks the author totally gets her, but I don't want to be in her bad books when she thinks of me a person with horrible mind!" shouted Soarin.
"Slow down! Good you came to me. I know from experience with AJ!" Caramel said, "So you don't want Rainbow to like Thunderlane, because you like her, but you don't want her to know that you wrote it because it makes you seem like a bad pony, in simpler words"
"What I'd do is tell her the truth! Relationships don't work with lying!" said Caramel.
"You got that from Applejack, didn't you!" Soarin said, smirking. Caramel smiled sheepishly. "Ok, I'll go to her parents place, cause she's crashing there tonight" decided Soarin.
As Soarin entered Rainbow's parents' house, he heard yelling. He put his ear against the wall.
"I've had enough, Dashie! This book is horrific" yelled Bow Hothoof.
"But Dad, I deserve more rights, and 'Unique Love' proves it!" Rainbow yelled back. Soarin gasped. They were arguing about his book.
"That book, encourages bad behaviour! If I could meet the author, I'd give him a piece of my mind" Windy Whistles screeched. Soarin gulped nervously. He was interested in their daughter, and he was the author, and what would they do?
"Maybe I'll come back later, they seem to hate the author, and I'm the author. I can't tell the truth now!" whispered Soarin.
"Hey, Soarin" called Rainbow, seeing him leave, "Seemed like he wanted to tell me something!"
Little did they know this was the beginning of a long lasting misunderstanding.
Author's Note
You've probably figured, but I ship:
Flashlight- 
RariLane- 
CaraJack- 
SoarinDash- 
CheesePie- 
FlutterCord- 
Ring Ring Putting down his book, Thunderlane got up from his velvet armchair to pick up the phone. "Hello?"
"Thunder, bro, you've got to come to Cloudsdale ASAP!" screeched Soarin.
"What! But the book..." Thunderlane started.
"It's used as napkins, tissues,and floorwipes throughout the city. The only copy sold and read was Rainbow Dash, and she loves the book!" Soarin said.
"But-"
"Just come- Please" Thunderlane heard the desperation in his friend's voice. "Fine" he sighed.
"Great, see you then!"
[Later.../i]
"Thunderlane! It's been a while!" said Soarin, embracing his friend.
"Yeah, so why am I here?" Thunderlane asked, gulping and looking around anxiously.
"Chill bro, no one knows about the book! How 'bout you come with me over to Caramel's place?" suggested Soarin.
Caramel's house...
"Ok, so here's the plan" said Soarin, "I've realised Rainbow Dash is like my ex marefriend I wrote about, and I'm in love with her now. But she is obsessed with meeting the author. She thinks he is the perfect match for her"
"But what she doesn't know is that I am the author, her perfect match. I cannot tell her, because Rainbow's parents destest the author, and I need their approval"
"So this is where Thunderlane comes in. You're going to go meet Dash, break her heart, and I'll come through to save her broken heart!"
"I don't know... Dash is my friend, I don't want to hurt her" said Thunderlane.
"Relax, you can make up to her when I telk her the truth, wheb we're married and have children" Soarin said.
"WHAT!" shrieked Caramel and Thunderlane in unison.
"Too far?"
The next day...
"Listen Thunderlane, to break Rainbow's heart, you need to be cool" instructed Caramel.
"Co-ol?" Thunderlane stuttered. Shaking from nerves, he looked far from cool.
"First, your clothes!" Carmel said, dragging Thunderlane to Carousel Boutique.
"Hello gentlecolts, what can I do for you?" asked Rarity, smiling strangely towards Thunderlane.
"We need a cool black outfit Thunderlane here" explained Caramel.
"O-of course" stuttered Rarity, blushing as she pulled out the mesuring tape.
"Thanks Rarity" said Thunderlane, blushing in return as Rarity handed him a jet black leather jacket, with white t-shirt underneath, with th message 'too cool for mule' To complete it were black sunglasses with golden rim.
As Thunderlane put on his outfit, Caramel took Thunderlane the master of cool.
Fluttershy's cottage...
"Hello Fluttershy, is Discord here?" asked Caramel.
"Yes, for our Tuesday Tea- Discord!" called Fluttershy.
"Hello, fine stallions, here to learn how to be cool?" asked Discord smirking.
"How did you know?" asked Thunderlane.
"Magic!" said Discord, snapping his fingers. Caramel and Thunderlane saw that they were in Discord's house.
"Rule number one- Leaning. To look cool, you've got to lean, and people think you haven't got any worries" explained Discord.
After a few turns of falling on his back, Thunderlane perfectly leaned.
"Very cool! Rule number 2- Attitude and tone. You've got to lower your voice, and have a cool low voice" Discord imitated at cool low voice.
After a few of Discord's magic voice lowering pills, Thunderlane's voice became cool low.
"Attitude. Act like you're too cool, and try to wreck people" Discord said
"Wreck?" asked Thunderlane.
"Like this: If someone says ' You're ugly' you catch them off guard by saying 'Was that meant to offend me because the only thing offending me is your face" Discord said.
"Wow!" Thunderlane said.
"Finally, rule number 3- How to break her heart. Say: I know you probably have a crush on me because I am amazing, but I'm too good for anyone, so no can do" explained Discord "But she'll probably hate you anyway so you don't really need to break her heart, that is for an emergency"
So for the next 6 hours, Thunderlane practiced every little thing about coolness. "I've forgotten why I'm doing this" Thunderlane said.
"Because if you don't, Soarin will tell your parents you've been faking you're a Wonderbolt" Caramel threatened.
Thunderlane gulped and went back to leaning attitude.
As they returned to Ponyville, Thunderlane practiced his newfound coolness. He walked without care of who was in the way. He sat down at a table of girls. "What's up ladies?" he asked. The girls giggled as Thunderlane flirted with them.
As then flew up to Cloudsdale in the hot air ballon, because Caramel was there as well, there was a lot of air traffic.
Midair, Thunderlane stopped the ballon. The cars in traffic honked and beeped angrily as Thunderlane flew towards the paan stall to get another. (Paan is an Indian food you can chew on like gum, very popular in Mumbai)
As he chewed he carelessly got back into the ballon and continued, without worry of the infinite honks he was still getting.
"Now that was cool!" said Caramel, proud of his friend's progress. Thunderlane had gone from the most insecure pony to the definition of coolness overnight!
When Rainbow and Thunderlane met up that afternoon, also with Soarin, Thunderlane had taken it to a whole new level. "Bro, tell Twinkle to come to my place 1 hour" On the other end of the phone was Caramel.
"Good job dude, keep up the good work!" he said.
"Tell her to come I don't have all day!" yelled Thunderlane. Rainbow and Soarin jumped a little at the outburst.
"A bit to much!" said Caramel.
"You're gonna talk back to me? Well you better hold it because when I return!" threatened Thunderlane.
"Okay bro, see ya!" said Caramel shivering on the other end.
"So Thunderlane- Didn't know you were the author- and like this" Rainbow Dash said, scanning Thunderlane.
Soarin gave him hand signal meaning good job from behind Rainbow.
"I know how much my story is a success. Good to know I have such dedicated fans!" said Thunderlane, shining his black sunglasses.
"Right" Rainbow said with gritted teeth.
"How 'bout you come to my folks place and we can meet each other better. I have Wonderbolt practice now, so see ya!" Rainbow said, dragging Soarin. Soarin was over the moon.
"Would you hold it Dash, need to talk to Mr Lane here" Soarin said.
After Rainbow Dash left, Soarin basically showered Thunderlane with compliments.
"Wow, that was some acting dude! She really seems to think you're annoying!" Soarin said.
"Really? Have to hand it to Discord and Rarity, for the lessons and clothing!" Thunderlane said.
"Okay so now you got to insult Rainbow's parents and we are set!" Soarin explained, high hoofing Thunderlane.
But he was wrong. Because what would happen if Thunderlane impressed Rainbow's parents?
Author's Note
Quick lesson there on coolness and wrecking and burning people! I got how Discord thinks leaning is cool from the leaked Season 8 episode, Break-up and breakdown. It reveals that Spike ships Fluttercord as well!!!
I included the paan because I went to India with my friends recently, and paan is considered a thing of coolness.
