Hearts and Hooves Day

ZOOM, A flash of rainbow went through the Wonderbolt stadium, Rainbow Dash flew all over practicing for her routine for the festival of Hearts, something the mayor came up with, not that Rainbow Dash minded, she had her own routine that the Wonderbolts gave her, she loved being in the Wonderbolts, ever since she heard she was in, she couldn’t resist waking up to practice, and she became even more friends with the others than she ever had before, and she was known to be the best rookie the Wonderbolts had ever seen, but while she loved being in the Wonderbolts, it was still stressful, Rainbow Dash was finally done with her practice when she saw Soarin waiting by the entrance of the hallway.

“Nice reflexes, I didn’t know you practiced even before rehearsal,” he said as she flew to the hallway.

“Hey, it’s important I get this routine just right, or do you want to be the second-best next to me because, after today, I will be the main attraction,” she said bragging.

“Always with the retaliations Crash,” Soarin said looking directly at her, they both stared at a glance for some time.

“Well, if you are done looking at my awesomeness, I should get back to practicing,” Rainbow Dash said, she didn’t want to admit it, but she almost felt something weird, something she had only felt when she was near Soarin, but she had no time to think about that, she needed to focus, soon Rainbow Dash was back to doing the routine, making her flips and falls perfect for the show

After much practice, Rainbow Dash was a bit tired of the rehearsal with the others, but she had to get rid of that, she had a big show for her audience.

The Wonderbolts were doing some flips and glides, while Rainbow Dash was doing her routine, then she caught up to the others and they fell into the air while Dash went higher, she then flew down so fast but stopped mid-air saving that moment for later, then they all hovered as Spitfire shouted, “Alright, take a 10-minute break then back to the air!”

They all separated to get a drink or rest for 5 minutes, but Rainbow Dash almost fell asleep before Soarin woke her up.

“Getting some rest before continuing practice,” he said, shaking her awake.

“I might be getting a little tired, but I know when to rest, now if you’ll excuse me I have to wait for us to practice again,” Rainbow said, pushing Soarin aside, they then went back to practicing before another break.

A little while later, after some more practice, Spitfire looked at Dash.

“Nice form Crash, now I want all of you to go home and get some rest, make sure you don’t come late, and don’t oversleep,” she looked over to Fleetfoot who began to blush embarrassingly.

Rainbow Dash went to her home. her eyes felt a bit heavy but she could fix that soon, her mind, however, was going to other places.

“Maybe I should go and practice some more, I am the “central eye” whatever that meant, something Spitfire came up with,” Rainbow thought as she was flying home,

“I need to get this routine perfect, though, I am tired, and Spitfire did say to rest a little bit, and she said I had, quote “nice form”, but I really want to prove to them that I’m capable, and I don’t want to ruin my spot, groan, all of this choice is so stressful,”

Rainbow Dash went inside her house, she looked at her living room, then her backyard, she didn’t know what to choose, but she knew she needed to get all of the stress out of her, so she decided to rest a little bit, but her mind was still on her routine.

“What if I mess it up, what if I’m not able to make the rainboom, what if I mess up so bad that Spitfire doesn’t want me to be in the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash flew up and went to her door to the outside, she couldn’t help it but practice. But before she went out, she heard a knock on her door, Rainbow went to her door and saw Soarin, she wondered why he was here instead of resting himself.

“What are you doing here, Soarin?” she asked, he looked at her face, noticing her tired eyes and feeling sympathetic for what was brought upon her, it wasn’t her fault she was given this task, Spitfire saw something in her and thought she was ready for it. He clearly saw she wasn’t and knew his plan was perfect for tonight.

“Well, after you almost fell asleep, I saw how stressed this was for you. So when I was flying home, I had an idea. Then I came over and saw…” Soarin was interrupted by Rainbow Dash putting her hoof up saying, “Get to the point Soarin.” very annoyingly.

Ever since she had known Soarin, he always dragged on with his stories saying every possible detail to make sure everypony got it, and Rainbow Dash grew annoyed every time, but also was interested in the fact he was so detailed.

“Anyway, I thought you might like to fly.”

Rainbow Dash was surprised, she sometimes goes on flies with Fluttershy, usually, if she needs advice or to get away from something. She had also gone on a fly with Twilight, but that was just to help her with the test, this was different though, she wasn’t used to flying with anypony other than her friends, but when she turned to her backyard, she remembered all the stress today was bringing. Rainbow looked to Soarin agreeably, “Oh alright, but can we make it fast, I really need to practice some more.” she said as they both took off flying slowly.

The fresh afternoon air was nice on Rainbow Dash, they flew over to the Festival of Hearts, seeing the lively ponies with their special some ponies. The silence made Dash feel uncomfortable, she broke the silence by saying, “So is this Suppose to be a silent fly or are we going to have a conversation?”

“Well I just wanted to know how this whole routine thing is going for you,” Soarin said flying up a cloud and back to where he was.

Rainbow Dash hesitated about telling Soarin about tonight, she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t capable of doing something this big, but she also didn’t like bottling up the feelings, it was a long thought that made Soarin realize what she was thinking.

“You’re worried about it aren’t you,” he said looking at her with a calming look Dash could swear she’d seen in Fluttershy, she was impressed, she didn’t think he would understand what she was going through, “how could you tell?” she said questionably.

“It’s not that hard to see, you show signs.” He finished, Rainbow Dash took another 10 seconds or so to say what was in her mind, “I guess I want to prove that I can be the best for the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow said, admitting her truth.

“You know you don’t have to be the best to be a Wonderbolt, you just have to have faith that you can do anything,” Soarin said with enthusiasm as they flew to the end of the festival, seeing only the land of hills with grass and flowers.

“I know, but back at the academy, I tried the best to be the lead wing, and I failed from another pony who was better, now I am in the Wonderbolt and I don’t want to lose that chance, I know I… WOAH!” Rainbow Dash said as she was just about to hit a tree as high as her house, they both quickly flew up and stared there not uttering a word before they calmed down knowing it was safe to fly again.

“Well that happened,” Soarin said chuckling a bit while the moment was still processing through both of their minds, relieved nopony was hurt, “Anyway, you may continue,” Soarin said, holding a hoof out to represent what he was saying.

After what happened, Rainbow Dash realized that she was opening her feelings to somepony other than her friends. And yet, she didn’t think it was that embarrassing, but she didn’t think it was comfortable. “I think I’m getting tired, maybe I should go back home and rest,” she said, turning her back at the sun setting around the field.

“Then we should rest on a cloud,” Soarin said, bringing one of the clouds in the air closer to her, she hesitated about sitting on a cloud with Soarin, but the texture of the cloud made it hard to resist. She could feel her wings grow more and more tired with every flap, but she also thought it was a bit dissatisfying for her, it is different from Twilight or Fluttershy.

Then Dash realized what was she was thinking and was irritated to why, “Am I seriously getting embarrassed by sitting next to a colt!” she thought, looking at a lonely Soarin who was waiting for her to answer, Rainbow Dash went on the cloud, head hung high, and sat there for a while, once again in full silence.

“I know it’s hard for you to open your feelings, especially to me, but it’s okay, to tell me, I understand,” Soarin said looking at the setting sun and how gorgeous it was, no doubt about it, this was probably the best one they had seen in a long while, not that they always watched the sunset.

Rainbow Dash was surprised, she’d never seen this side of him, it was strange, and yet, so comforting, Rainbow Dash inhaled and continued from where she left off. “I know I have much more potential than that pony, but the potential is only half of me, and I really want to show the best me, the real me.” This was the deepest conversation that Rainbow Dash had ever been in, she could feel tears going down her cheek, but she didn’t care.

While she hid it well, Soarin could see the tear and feel what she was going through. Then he had the greatest idea.

“Have I ever told you about the time that I got in the Wonderbolts?” He asked smiling, knowing she didn’t.

Rainbow Dash looked at Soarin with wonder in her eyes, she had heard of so many Wonderbolt stories from her parents and legends from their history of awesomeness, but never the stories of how they got into the Wonderbolts.

“Just like you, I had to go to the Wonderbolt Academy, I was pretty great for my age, and I graduated very early, newly leader Spitfire saw something in me that she didn’t see in the others. Yet, it still wasn’t enough to get in. I thought I was never going to get in after the few months I graduated until…”

Rainbow Dash always had her thing with dramatic pauses, but she was very annoyed at his, she glared at him with her glowing fiery magenta eyes, making him get lost until he continued on, “It was a very cloudy day, and I was just trying to clear some clouds when Spitfire came to me to say she was watching me and was proud of how well I was doing, then she said how well I’ve always been doing and thought I needed more than just kicking clouds then she gave me this metal and that was when I knew I was in. Well, after many days of exciting flying, I thought I wasn’t doing so great, on account, she was staring at me madly, I thought I was doing something wrong, so I practiced and practiced hoping she would stop glaring, and I did that until… snap!”

Rainbow Dash gasped at the thought of such a related situation, she can still remember the hospital in which she stayed at, the first Daring Do book she read, the great friends she had taking care of her. The friends she is going to thank tonight while at the festival.

Back at the calming way she was before he started. He made sure she was ok before continuing on, “As you may have guessed, my wing broke and I had to sit out of the Wonderbolts for 3 weeks, and while I was at bed rest, Spitfire came to say how disappointed she was, I was so confused, turns out Spitfire, from what she told me, looks at ponies like that to hide that she’s proud, I was completely shocked, now with all of the bandages on me, it was hard to laugh, but I couldn’t help it, all this time I thought she was mad at me, but then I realized she was proud. And I never pushed myself again.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were so wide, all you could see was her pupil, she was so surprised to hear what happened, “Is all of that true?” she had to ask, it was impossible to see that somepony as important as he was had gone through what she was going through, but all of the words he said seemed almost not true to her.

“If it wasn’t true, why would I tell it,” he said smiling, looking once again at those beautiful magenta eyes, they both stared at each other, but in a different, more gentle way.

Now, they looked at each other with a glow in each eye, Rainbow Dash had never smiled like this, it was the kind of smile she told her friends was so mushy and yet, it felt so right, but that moment didn’t last for much longer for her. Soarin leaned in closer and instantly she knew what he was doing, it wasn’t that kissing Soarin was bad, it was just because she wasn’t ready, Rainbow Dash leaned back and now looked worried, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she also thought she would hurt him if they did kiss after Soarin got the message, he frowned, but in an understandable way.

“We should go, I think we rested for a while now, you should be getting ready, big night for you.” He said, forcing a smile, he flew away and she tried calling back for him but he never turned. Slipping back into reality, she looked to the moon and realized he was right, it was almost time for her performance, she dashed away leaving a rainbow behind.

After putting on her costume, Rainbow walked out of the dressing room, it was embarrassing to see Soarin, who looked really down, every time she looked at him, he just looked away, obviously, he’d never forgotten what happened, so she decided to talk to him after the performance (but before she saw her friends).

Soon Spitfire was giving a speech to motivate the rest of the team, “Alright, this is a performance that we’re used to, but now with our new “central eye”, I believe that with her we will do the best performance ever, but keep in mind that we all have an important part to this as well, so let's not let Crash be the lead. We all know our own part, and I know we can do that, but it will take all of us to do it. Are we Wonderbolts, or are we Wonderbolts.” She said holding her hoof out and everypony joining in and got into position.

Getting nervous, Rainbow Dash inhaled, leading to exhaling, she saw the bright huge moon, almost not needing light for the show because of the amazing brightness from the holding of princess Luna. They began their routine just like they practiced earlier the day, with the same movements, same flips, same falls, and finally, the sonic rainboom Dash had been holding onto until tonight, she flew fast, just like the last time and blew a huge boom of sparkling rainbow tracks making all the manes in the audience fall backward. After much cheering and clapping, the curtains draped.

“Great Job Crash!”

“Nice work,” some of the teammates said, Rainbow ignored the compliments and tried to find Soarin, she looked everywhere until she finally saw him, Rainbow Dash once again tried to call for him, only to have Soarin fly away quickly, she caught up to him, trying once again to say his name until a familiar pink pony with cotton candy hair and wild hyperactivity came up to her face.

“THAT WAS AMAZING!” she shouted while the others were coming up to the pinkalicious pony,

“Thanks everypony, but I think I need to…” she started saying, but Rainbow Dash soon lost sight of Soarin, knowing she could never reach up to him by now.

“Need to, what darling?” Rarity said, looking very worried.

Actually, everypony looked ‘not fully into it’ tonight to her, but she didn’t think about that much.

“Never mind, I can do it later,” she said forcing a smile and walking with her friends to the fun that awaited her

Soarin looked at the still bright huge moon after he thought of a great night out, he still is lonely as ever.

“Still can’t get your mind off of her can you,” said a familiar voice that made him feel a little bit better,

“How can I not, would you try to lean in closer to the one you liked for a long time and try to kiss them and forget about it!” Soarin said, angry. the pegasus fluttered over on the cloud he was sitting on, holding his hoof, making Soarin blush a little.

“No, but I did make a big gesture, but think about it, how long have you actually been friends with her? And I mean real friends with her?” the mare asked.

“Well, I guess if we were going on real friends, then…” Soarin said, putting his hoof on his chin to think, “I guess ever since she became a Wonderbolt.” He finally said with pondering in his voice.

“Then do you really think she was ready to have a Wonderbolt, who she only became real friends with for a short time mind you, kiss her? Do you think she really is ready for that?”

They both sat there for a long while before Soarin finally stated: “So I went too fast?”

“Very fast, sometimes it’s hard to catch up to how fast you move things along. Believe me, I should know,” the pegasus said jokingly.

“Hey! I’ll let you know that I took our relationship very well, then you got into Wonderbolts and left me,” Soarin said, getting annoyed at her so much he turns his head the other way.

“Yes, but how did I repay you?” the mare asked.

“You got me in the Wonderbolts,” Soarin said, mumbling a bit.

“And why?” she said playing an ‘I ask you answer’ bit.

“Because you wanted to be together again,” he said smiling again and blushing the slightest.

“And what did you do?”

“I tried to rush things and it ended up making you break up with me,” Soarin said admittingly.

“So don’t you think that Rainbow Dash feels like that, too, like your rushing things.”

As the pegasus finished her lecture, Soarin realized what she meant, he looked at her in the most thankful and happy way.

“What would I do without you,” he asked as he hugged her, “You probably would still have to be kicking clouds and hoping to get in the Wonderbolts,” she said hugging him back, they laughed for a while and she flew away, leaving Soarin alone again, he flew his head up as he conceived a plan, and then went on and flew to where he could fix everything.

Tonight was very unusual for Rainbow Dash, it seemed like nopony was focused on what they were doing rather than something else, she even was surprised at a fight with Rarity (more like the usual, she falls “in love” and fights with him later), but she also couldn’t help but think about her own problems. As she was flying home, she saw a certain grey pegasus mare walking around alone, making her feel even more lonely than ever, she remembered the relaxing fly she had with Soarin and felt happier at the thought of being with him. “Maybe I should try to find him again,” she said while flying home, the darkness made it hard for her to see, but this being Ponyville, she knew every place to be, it also helped that the moon was so bright.

“He probably wants nothing to do with me, from the way he avoided me, I could be right in front of him and he wouldn’t even notice me,” she thought brought her to see the tree they had almost hit, remembering the smiles and chuckles of relief they had. This brought her to the fun of teasing them before this all happened, remembering his words and her comebacks made Rainbow Dash close her eyes and smile, she even blushed now at the thought of Soarin being her colt friend. Dash then opened her eyes and stopped dead in the air, realizing what she was thinking after all this time.

“Oh…my…gosh,” she said realizing she did really have feelings for Soarin, she rushed home so no pony could see how she was acting. She reached her house but couldn’t get her mind off Soarin.

“Maybe I could just go over to his house and apologize, then we can forget this whole thing.” She said opening the door and first only heard the slight creak of the door. She saw a shadowy figure and panicked.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house!” she said, hoping she wouldn’t have to fight this pony, or worse be captured by whoever he or she was.

“Hey, it’s ok, it’s only me,” the figure said, stopping Rainbow Dash who was frantically moving her hooves everywhere panicking that he was going to get hurt.

Instantly Rainbow Dash knew who it was and asked in a surprisingly and weirded out way, “…Soarin?”

She turned on her light and saw none other than the pony she predicted.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at your own house? Or is this something that you usually do,” she said calming down and acting teasing as she used to.

“Well, I was thinking we could talk for a little bit,” he said turning towards the couch and patting it to imply her to sit, Rainbow was a bit confused but relieved that he was talking to her again she sat on the couch and looked over to Soarin who was hesitant, but as Rainbow Dash looked at his face, she knew what this was all about.

“You want to talk about earlier, about what happened on the cloud,” she said smiling wondering if she was correct,

“How did you know?” he asked, not that surprised she found out.

“You show signs,” she said, copying the words he said to her on the cloud, he looked at her with a face that meant he didn’t want to play games, she now understood that he meant really talk, and she was so happy he did, she looked at his hung face and started up the conversation.

“It’s okay, I really wanted to talk about it anyway.” They both looked at each other making Soarin finally find the words he needed to say.

“I’m so sorry, it was just part of the mood, and the setting from the outside just made you look more beautiful,” Rainbow Dash had never heard him say beautiful and her before. she liked it.

“You know, ever since that happened I couldn’t stop thinking about you... and I actually realized-&” she stopped speaking what she was about to say, Dash thought of the words that she could say instead of what she meant.

“Realized what?” Soarin asked.

“Oh pony feathers, think Rainbow, think!” she thought, she couldn’t find any words that could compare to what she had meant to say. What she wanted to say.

Rainbow Dash looked at Soarin who looked worried, she breathed in and finished her sentence. “I realized…I think I might like you more than a friend,” she smiled and blushed hard looking away at the stallion from her, waiting for her response, and just getting full silence, she looked at a wide-eyed Soarin, making her get worried as he stayed stone frozen, she started breathing heavily.

“Soarin? Oh, I knew it! This is why I don’t express my feelings!” Rainbow Dash put her forehooves on her head, she couldn’t believe how stupid she acted, she now was completely embarrassed and so red.

“ I should’ve known he would act like this, all stallions do!” she looked once more to see if he was ok, only seeing his face with tiny dots on his eyes, he was so in shock it looked like he wasn’t even breathing.

“Oh, what am I going to do!” she said, she looked at his face another time and finally got an idea. but soon denied it.

“NO, NONONO! That is too far, I can’t do that after he almost did it to me!” she thought, then she looked at him once more and couldn’t get over how broken he looked and she finally decided. She must do this.

Rainbow Dash leaned in close enough to take her plan to action, she could feel the warmth of her body rising up as she felt the breath of his face of hers.

“Good, at least he’s breathing,” she said with a bit of the relief leaving her, she leaned in closer and closer but still couldn’t do it.

Rainbow slowly moved away until she then felt a pair of lips on hers, with no pony else being around, she knew who it was. It took a while but soon Rainbow Dash was kissing him back. They broke the kiss and stared at each other, blushing harder than they ever had before.

“Well, that’s one way to answer me.” Rainbow Dash said as they smiled and she tugged him for another kiss. They both felt happy embracing each other, but they both had many things in their minds as they continued their passionate kiss, Soarin kept thinking about what the Wonderbolts would think, he knows that some would understand, but maybe not all, he thought about how his friends might overreact or be disappointed, but he also thought about what possibilities they might share, dates, possible marriage, maybe they could even create a family, all of these thoughts that usually mares thought about, but he didn’t mind that much. However, surprisingly, Dash was thinking of anything but the usual thoughts. Instead, she thought of the most random thought in her mind

“I wonder how my friend's Hearts and Hooves Day went?”