Love Conquers All

(Alright, I need to preface this chapter with something. I had a dream that my story was getting terrible reviews, so I took that as a hint and decided against a purely Soarin/Spitfire chapter, at least for now. I'll start off with the continuation of the last chapter, also....this WILL be a SoarinxDash fic. I'm sorry if I disappointed any you for suggesting otherwise.)

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"Hey!" Pinkie heard the yell from downstairs, where she was sitting at the booth with two cream sodas. Her head shot up immediately. The dress was still in her room! Which was opened! She rushed up the stairs in a pink blur. She was prepared to beg and cry for her friend's forgiveness, she wanted anything but to lose their friendship.

However when she reached the room, she didn't see a vengeful and furious Rainbow Dash staring down at the torn, dirty dress with bloodshot eyes. Instead, she saw Rainbow Dash smiling and petting Gummy, who was on the bed, that didn't surprise her as much as the lack of torn green dress. It was nowhere to be seen, and that scared her greatly. She looked to Gummy, who just rolled over onto his back in order to obtain tummy rubs from the pegasus.

"Oh, hey Pinks." Dash looked up at the gaping earth pony. "I saw Gummy in here and I had to say hi, hope you don't mind." She smiled and lifted her hoof away, causing Gummy to bite at her hoof. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry." She patted the reptile's head gently and went back to petting him.

"Yeah...I understand Dashie. It's..no problem." Pinkie trotted over to the bed cautiously. "You..didn't happen to see anything strange when you came in here, right?"

"No, and considering this is your room, that surprised me." She smiled and picked up the baby gator, which was attempting to latch onto her mane.

"Check my nest." The pony's eyes went wide as she heard that voice. She looked around, but eventually her eyes locked with her pet's bright purple ones. Pinkie glanced at the closet where she kept Gummy's nest, she only went in there to feed the tiny gator. She looked at Dash, who was preoccupied with trying to get Gummy off of her mane, so Pinkie trotted over to the closet and poked her head in. Laying there, right in the nest, was Rainbow Dash's dress. Safe from the pegasus' eyes.

"Ugh, Pinkie! Help me here! Gummy....won't....let...go!" On the last word the gator was sent flying into a pile of stuffed animals by the frustrated mare.

--

Soarin was, for lack of a better word, blitzed out of his mind. He picked up a couple of cases of Sweet Apple Hard Cider after his failed date, and hadn't stopped drinking since since he got home. He wasn't even bothering to pour it in a glass anymore, he was just picking up the jugs and chugging. He was on his fourth...or was it fifth? He had lost count 2 jugs ago.

"Shtupid...Rainbow dash.." His words were slurred, his thoughts were muddled, and frankly, Spitfire was mad at him. Said mare was sitting on the other side of the couch, glaring at her teammate. She had dealt with the drunken and disorderly colt for hours, she didn't even get any sleep overnight because of his incessant yelling and cursing.

"Just snap out of it, Soarin! Forget about her. She's not worth it, okay?" She leaned over and jabbed her hoof into his side. she just wanted her Soarin to be back to normal and forget about that Rainbow Dash.

"Shnap out of it..?" He turned his head lazily and glared at her, his green eyes hard and unforgiving. "I really liked her! I wanted to date her..!" He smacked her hoof away and jabbed his own into her chest. "And you....You screwed it up! You just had to come along."

"Soarin, I-" Spitfire started to apologize, but was cut off by the drunk.

"No, you nothing! You....You just don't want me to be happy. That's why you always turn down mares who apply to get into the Wonderbolts..." The Wonderbolts had a strict vetting system. If you got past all of the background checks and physical exams, then the team got to decide whether or not you join. The decision has to be unanimous though in order to ensure the team would be able to work together, and Spitfire always denied the female applicants, this included Rainbow Dash.

"Soarin, I'm do that for the team. You know that. We don't need any distractions.." She was lying to herself and she knew it, she didn't want to admit it to herself though.

"No, you do it for you! You don't do it for us!" Soarin stood up from the couch, barely keeping his hoofing. "You...you.." His alcohol addled mind couldn't come up with an adequate insult, so he simply growled at his teammate.

"You're right...but I'm doing this for us." She closed the gap between herself and Soarin, quickly capturing his mouth in a long awaited kiss, one filled with passion and desire. It felt so right.

--

Pinkie had gotten Gummy out of Dash's mane, put him in his nest and ushered the pegasus downstairs and into the booth. They were both now sipping their drinks, Dash with a straw, and Pinkie with a multi-colored crazy straw. Pinkie had been feeling much happier ever since she realized that she could actually get away with this, perhaps she might even convince Dash to go on a date with her,but for now she turned her attention back to her crush's story.

"So Thunderlane smashed straight into the windmill. He was stuck in there for hours, just going around and around until a unicorn finally got there to get him out!" Dash and Pinkie erupted in a myriad of giggles and snorts at the always funny mishaps of Thunderlane.

"So, wanna talk about your date?" Pinkie took a long sip out of her drink. She wanted to get on the topics of dates, just to break the ice.

Dash just sighed. "It was a disaster, can we leave it at that? First date was probably my worst...ugh.." The mare took out the straw and just picked up her mug and chugged.

"Well, why not just...forget about that date?" Pinkie pushed her drink aside. Her own bright blue eyes focused on Dash's solid magenta ones.

"Forget about a catastrophe like that? Are you crazy?" The rainbow maned mare pushed the now empty mug away from herself. "I'll be as likely to forget about something like that as my own name."

"Well..then just don't consider it a date. Just think of it as you and Soarin hung out for a couple of hours and his teammate joined you. Nothing special." She had been trying to regain her perky personality, and while it had been coming back gradually, she still couldn't act normal..well, normal for her. But she was getting there.

"Yeah...Yeah. We were just hanging out. Just..two flight enthusiasts hanging out." Dash nodded along with her own words, her words growing more and more confident. "Nothing special. Nothing special as all." Dash smiled wide, then it dropped all of a sudden. "But that means I still haven't had a date..."

"Well, a first date might happen sooner than you expect." The Party Pony lowered her head, trying to conceal her light blush.

"Yeah, maybe. Y'know, Diver has been acting nervous around me lately...maybe.." Pinkie's mood started to sink again.

"No, Dashie, I meant-" Pinkie's mind started to scramble, she needed to save this.

"But should I let him work up the courage, or should I ask?"

"Dashie, I-"

"What do you think, Pinkie?" That question held so much meaning in the earth pony's mind. It came with so much weight that Pinkie felt as though her mind would snap.

"I-I...I think.." She was going to try and beat around the bush again, maybe lure Dash into a situation about her own dating life. "I..." But being subtle hadn't worked before, what if it failed again? Just tell her, buck subtlety. You see what you want. Take it. Don't wait.

"I think I'm in love with you, Rainbow Dash."