A Diamond in the Rough

Scootaloo ran a bit ahead of Solar and Rainbow Dash as they trotted along the road. It wasn't a long walk to Solar's parents' house. They reached it within a few minutes. His mother was already outside waiting for their return; she was a beautiful Pegasus mare for her age. Her daughter looked a lot like her, save for her eyes that is; Solar had inherited those from his mother. Her cutie mark was that of a scroll, due to her special talent being writing. "Solar! Scootaloo!" their mother called out as they came closer to the house.

"Hi mom!" Solar and Scootaloo said at the same time. "And hello to you as well, Rainbow Dash!" their mother greeted the rainbow mane mare. "Hey there, Sunny." Dashie replied with a smile.

Scootaloo used this time to sneak past her mother to go and hide in the house, but it seems that even pony mothers carry the dreaded 'eyes on back of head' trick. "Where do you think you're going, little one?" Sunny asked, turning around to look at her. Scootaloo walked back over to her mother with a not so happy look. "Another cutie mark crusade, dear?" Sunny asked, taking notice of the dirt on her daughter. "Yeah. We thought gardening was our special talent." Scootaloo pouted.

"Don't worry, squirt. You'll find it soon enough…most likely on accident." Rainbow Dash encouraged. Scootaloo smiled at this and went up next to her mother. "Well… it was nice seeing you again, mom. And Scoot, you behave for yourself." Solar said, hugging both his sister and his mother.

"Good bye, big brother!" Scootaloo said as Solar and Rainbow Dash took off in the air. They flew for a while; they were over Sweet Apple Acres before one of the ponies said something.

"That's a beautiful name." Rainbow Dash said in a semi-mocking voice. Solar turned his head and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?" he asked with slight confusion.

Dashie held up a hoof to her mouth and giggled. "That's what you said after Rarity told you her name!" Solar could feel himself blush as he replied. "It was nothing! I've just never heard of a name like that before!" he looked ahead of him as Dashie giggled again. "Whatever you say, Coltablanca." She replied and giggled once more.

"I've got a thing to do… I'll meet up with you at Pinkie's." Solar retorted and took off to the right.

"A thing with Rarity?" Dashie yelled, letting out a gut-busting laugh. He blushed even harder and yelled back "Shut up!" as he flew towards the lake that Sweet Apple Acres had.

Solar landed next to the lake and looked out at the water and sighed. He watched the movement of the waves as the wind blew across the water. Solar's blue eyes wandered about as he slowly slipped back into his mind and thought about the day's events.

His mind swirled back to the moment when he first laid eyes on the unicorn named Rarity. He sighed as he thought about her purple mane, how it curled and her gorgeous tail.

He flipped over on his back and lost himself in the waves. His mind fell back on Rarity once more and he sighed a third time as he thought of her gentle azure eyes. "Well, look what we got here." Some pony with a rather familiar accent said.

"Huh?" Solar said, flipping around and finding himself face-to-face with a green eyed and light orange hide colored pony.

"Hey there, Applejack!" Solar said.

"Well howdy there, Solar." Applejack replied as the black Pegasus flipped over and got back on his hooves. "Ah didn't know y'all was back here in Ponyville." Applejack said as she watched Solar get up.

"I actually just got back the other day. I think Pinkie Pie is throwing some party today for me." Solar replied, shaking the grass out of his mane.

"Oh yeah. She came by earlier and invited me. Ah wasn't gonna go on account of all these apples needin' ta be bucked. But, if it's for y'all… y'all can expect me there, cow pony!" Applejack said, winking at him. Solar laughed and nudged the light orange mare.

"I guess I'll see ya at the party then." Solar said, hugging his old friend.

"Ah'll definitely be there, sugar cube." Applejack replied, returning his hug.

"Good! Cause I've missed ya!" Solar said, before he took off into the air. Applejack watched as he flew off and she sighed. She still found it difficult to believe that they had shared a romantic night once. She shook her head and turned around to trot back towards the farmhouse.

Solar grinned as he flew through the air. He breathed in the air and exhaled it out. He felt alive up here, he was free. He felt like nothing could bring him back down to the grass of the earth. He looked down at the ground and he saw something that almost made him drop straight out of the sky. He managed to catch himself and flew to the safety of a nearby cloud.

He peeked over the cloud and down at the ground. It was Rarity; she was trotting along happily on the road back to her home. Solar watched her and as he did, his heart started to beat faster. He even thought her trotting was beautiful.

He sighed and as he did, Rarity must've heard him as she had looked up at the sky. Solar quickly lowered his head, hoping to Celestia that she had not seen him. A few moments passed and Solar dared to peek his head up to look. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found that she had not seen him.

He watched her flank as she trotted along and an idea crept into his mind; he decided to follow her. He took off from the cloud he was perched upon and followed her by cloud hopping.

Rarity never stopped to look back up at the clouds as she continued on her way home and Solar eventually stopped at the cloud that was right over her house as she went inside.

"Oh, hay stack!" he cursed and was about to take back off when a pair of voices made him freeze in his tracks. He quickly lowered his head and watched from the hole in the cloud that he had made. What he saw was a purple unicorn and a purple and green dragon riding upon her back, he scanned his mind for all of the ponies that he knew about that lived in Ponyville. These two never came up in his mind.

"Huh…they must've moved here sometime after I left." Solar muttered to himself and he watched them knock on the beautiful mare's door.