Soarin stirred slightly in his bed, not yet awake. He had just had the most peculiar dream. The details were lost to him, but he remembered something about a pie with wings. His eyes slowly fluttered open, leaving him starring at the ceiling of the bedroom. It was still pretty dark, which left him wondering what time it was. He swiveled his head to the side, looking at the night stand next to him.
The small clock displayed the time 0137. Way too early for anyone to be waking up.
Soarin took a deep breath, letting it out through his nostrils. It wasn't often that he woke up in the middle of the night, but when he did, it usually took him a while to get back to sleep. For a moment he considered maybe turning on the tv or even getting up to get a late night snack. But he decided against it. Namely for the reason that a certain someone was cuddled right next to him.
Rainbow Dash had her head on his chest with one of her hooves wrapped around him, languidly resting there.
His eyes drifted down to her sleeping form, watching the slow steady pattern of her breathing. He smiled to himself as he looked at her, his thoughts starting to drift to the memories he had about her. To this day he still couldn't believe how lucky he was to to have someone like her in his life.
In fact, thinking back, he never really intended for things to turn out like this. He never had been one to think very far ahead in his life. And he never once thought that he would end up where he was at that moment. But because of it, he was probably the most happy he had ever been in his life.
To think that it all started when she won that fliers competition. It was the first time that he met her. The first time that he was able to get a good long look at her.
Starting out, he didn't think much of it. He just thought that she was great flier, and that one day she would probably make it into the bolts with him. Yet as that day with her wore on, and he was able to get to know her better, he started to think differently about her.
At first it wasn't romance, just a feeling that they could be easy friends. They shared a lot of the same interests, and she was definitely someone that he could stand to be around. Which was more than he could say about some of his other team mates.
He then thought to the second time they met. If you could even call it that. She did save his pie. But beyond that, there really wasn't much interaction, much to his disappointment. Even when he could hear her or notice her over the crowd, he was always being dragged away for some other reason. He mentally kicked himself that night for not trying harder.
It wasn't until their third meeting that things started to change. It was the night of the royal wedding, and he was sent to go there as the Wonderbolts representative. He had no idea why Spitfire chose him, but he wasn't going to complain. A chance to get away from the mundane and monotonous atmosphere of his work environment was not something he was going to pass up. Not to say his job was boring, it just had times when you really weren't doing anything and it just got boring and repetitive. But that could be said about any job.
But it was that night that really changed things for him. He was half expecting to have almost nothing to do when he got there. But after he saw that signature spectra explosion in the sky, he knew that the night was going to be anything but boring. A good portion of the time after the party actually started, he spent looking for her. And when he actually did meet up with her, it was a little more awkward then he thought it would be.
At first he had no idea what to say. They were friends... kinda. He knew the reason she wanted to talk to him (as if it wasn't obvious from the first two times that they met), but he wasn't sure what to say. So he just tried to play it cool. He didn't talk about anything major, just the standard small talk. How the weather was, how the wedding was going, and how their bosses could be total you-know-what's. They shared a few laughs from that last one.
As the night wore on, Soarin decided to talk a little more serious. He told her that there was an up coming tryout session for the bolts, and those who qualified would be accepted in. She was absolutely overjoyed to hear that, especially after he told her that he would put in a good word for her. But it was what happened after that really changed things for him.
A slower song came on again, and she asked him if he wanted to dance.
At first he didn't know what to say. He had never been one for these kind of things (even if some of the other mares he had been with had called him sappy). The funny thing was, after he didn't answer her, she told him the same thing (minus the part about other mares). So, figuring that there was nothing wrong with it, he took her up on the offer.
There were already a few couples on the floor by the time they got there, but the song barely started. As he took his position with her, he found himself unable to take his eyes off of her. True, she hadn't done too much in the way of dressing up for the wedding, but it did show. The way her dress looked on her was utterly stunning, and the way her hair was done up only seemed to emphasize her vibrant rainbow mane. It was almost as if he was hypnotized by her subtle beauty.
Now that he was looking back on it, the blissful smile that she had was what did it for him.
After the music had died, she politely thanked him. He did as well, although his thanks was slower and more awkward. As she went to go off with her friends for the rest of the night, Soarin found himself confused. He hadn't felt anything like this before. Sure, he'd been with other mares before... but this was something all together different for him. They weren't even dating.
It was only until he went home that night, that he finally came to grips with just what was going on. He had fallen for that mare, and he fell hard.
Where as it didn't take him long to realize it, it took him a lot longer to actually act on his feelings. It wasn't until a few months later, after she was accepted in, that he even tried to do anything. And it really wasn't much to start out with either. Just the casual talking in the locker room or the idle chatting at lunch.
Eventually, he worked up enough courage to actually ask her out. But the odd thing at the time was, she acted so casual about it. Almost as if she didn't know he was asking her out on a date. And really, she didn't. It was only after they got to where they were going, and when she noticed how he was acting to her, that she really figured out that it was a date.
Oh boy, did that make her squirm.
Soarin laughed inwardly, thinking about how fidgety and awkward she got after she realized it. But in the end, it did turn out pretty well. But the real treat came when they reached about their seventh date. Man, that was a night he would remember for the rest of his life.
Soarin had to take a minute to calm himself down, already feeling his body getting worked up from the thoughts alone. The last thing he wanted was Dash waking up to that. Because he knew all to well, that you do not interrupt her sleeping. He found that out the hard way a few times. And the couch was never a comfortable option.
His mind continued it's stroll on memory lane, arriving at the time of his proposal. Man that was a big one. He got the entire team to help him with that. Having them write it out in the sky, it left Dash at loss of words. He had actually been quite proud of himself for being able to do that.
As he laid there looking up at the ceiling, he smiled at all the wonderful memories he was able to enjoy. But his train of thought was interrupted when he heard a small cooing sound come from the other side of the room. Soarin slowly turned his head to the side, and smiled at what was causing the noise.
Lying there in that crib, was their first foal. A little baby filly.
The moon was full tonight, so it gave Soarin easy view into the baby's crib. She was lying there on her stomach, resting just as easily as her mother. This was the first time that she had slept through the night. Which was pretty impressive, considering that she was only a few months old. Where as she may have been a filly, she did have quite a few of his traits. But the hair was almost exactly like her mothers. Albeit a slight bit darker.
Soarin's mind began to drift again. This time to his thoughts on the foal in the room.
He remembered that when he and Dash got married, he confided to her that he did want a fairly good sized family. Having come from one himself. Where as she wasn't mad at him for saying that, she did tell him that she wasn't quite ready for kids yet. He understood, he didn't want to rush her too fast. Even if she was the fastest in Equestria.
But life had different plans.
A couple years after they got married, Dash started having problems with her health, as well as her behavior. She didn't tell anyone, and usually when Soarin tried to ask, it resulted in her yelling at him and throwing him out of the bedroom. One night he couldn't take it anymore, and just straight up demanded that she tell him what was wrong.
Boy did he feel stupid after he found out. Thinking about that again, he now saw why everyone called him “clueless”.
Even though it wasn't intended, it was definitely not unwanted. It took him a while to convince her that everything was going to be okay, even though he himself wasn't quite sure how to tackle it. And even with the reassuring words from her friends and team mates, this was the most scared that Soarin had ever seen her. It wasn't until after a talk with her friend Fluttershy (who already had a foal of her own) that Dash was finally able to calm down.
Soarin's mind then drifted to the day of the delivery. That was a day that his nerves were tested. He knew that he wanted to be a dad, but he was just so unsure about everything that was happening. He knew there could be problems, and he knew it wouldn't be easy to raise a kid. He was just hoping and praying that he could do it right. And it was something that he was still doing to this day.
But when he first saw that filly... when he first held her... he knew right then and there, that she owned him. It wouldn't matter what he thought of himself or what kind of doubts he had, he was going to do right by this kid. The memory stayed with him, until he got to the point when Dash kissed him after he gave the baby back to her.
At that thought, Soarin's head turned back to the sleeping form of his wife. And he couldn't help but smile.
They had been through quite a bit in these few short years. Be it arguments, happy moments, depression, or any other hard times, they still managed to stick with each other through thick and thin. Even if it was still early on in their life, he knew this was meant to be. Sure, it wasn't quite how he intended things to go. But through it all, it led him here. Could he ask for anything else? If there was, he couldn't think of it.
Dash wasn't just some filly that he met. She was a quick witted, funny, and determined mare that knew exactly what she wanted. And in a funny way, it reminded him a little bit of his mom. Maybe that's what his dad meant when he told him that he should find someone that he could easily agree with. Because when he was young, he feared his mother.
But looking at it again, Dash was far more than his wife. She was his team mate, she was the mother of his child, but most importantly of all... she was his best friend.
She was the one that he could go to whenever he had a problem. She was the the one that he could trust with everything in his life. She was the one that could rely on him for strength when she needed to.
Yeah, she was definitely the one.
Soarin maintained his smile. Even though he knew it before, it was the first time he thought about how perfect she was for him. He bent forward slightly, and kissed the top of her head.
“Thank you, for everything that you've given me.”
Dash didn't stir, but she smiled and tightened her grip on him. He didn't mind in the slightest. If anything, it was serving to help him drift off again. Hopefully this time back into sleep.
Where as Soarin didn't like loosing sleep in the middle of the night, he was actually happy that he was able to have this small moment of realization. And it was definitely something that would help him rest easy tonight.
Hopefully in the morning he would be able to solve the mystery of the dream he had, and how a hairless ape played a role in it.
