I was a night like any other in Equestria. The star shimmered and a full moon glowed beautifully over the land. It was silent and peacefull, as if nopony was even thinking of disturbing such exquisite beauty as that night was. The only sound came from the silent chirping of crickets, and of a very stubborn mare who paced back and forth in concern.
Rainbow Dash wasn't one to sit and think. She was burdened with something, a feeling, for a friend. Well, he wasn't really a friend, atleast not yet. If she made it to the wonderbolts, then it would just be a mess. Soarin would be subject of a scandal! Not that she actually had a shot with him.
She groaned, not wanting to face her little "crush". Maybe if she just did what Fluttershy did and buried her head into a hole, actually that wasn't such a bad idea right now. He was just so perfect. Soarin had evereything, a nice personality, those mad flying skills, the looks, the brains...
She could spend all night banging her head against the wall trying not to fall for her future fellow team mate, or she could try and do what her daddy always told her.
"Just fly for a while Dashie, it always clears the mind." He used to say. Maybe after she became a wonderbolt she would visit him in Cloudsdale. If she became a wonderbolt that is...
Great, now she sounded just like Pinkie Pie! Yep, she was going to go insane. Dash walked outside of the barracks where her training friends where silently sleeping. She sat on the floor, feeling defeated. Maybe she just wasn't made to be a wonderbolt. Maybe just the Universe, or Celestia or whoever decided to pay a nasty trick on her and made her fall in love with her mentor. Yay.
She looked up into the dark night sky and looked for an answer. "Please? Somepony help me." She pleaded quietly. The moon didn't stir. Dash sighed, this was pathetic. Maybe a flight would clear her mind. A simple, stuntless flight through a clear sky.
She fluttered her wings, landing on the roof of the small cabin. Dash found herself suddenly looking at the stars, thinking about how nice this feeling felt and completely disregarding how bad the results may be. She heard a pair of hooves hit the roof. Thinking it was probably Cloudy Day trying to make her go back into the cabin, she just shrugged it off.
"Listen Cloudy, I know that I-" she turned around, it wasn't Cloudy Day.
Soarin smiled at her, she felt shocked. "Its a beautiful night." He said.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and nodded looking back up to the sky. Her throat was dry and she felt her wings begin to quiver, a usual sign of when pegasus are nervous. Soarin walked up and sat next to her, admiring the sky. None of them spoke a word for a minute, they focused on the stars.
"I didn't see you in the mess hall today Dash," Soarin said.
She nodded,"Wasn't feeling to well, I stayed in bed." That was a lie, the soul reason she didn't have dinner with evereyone else was to avoid being near him and doing something silly, but she wasn't about to tell him that story.
"Hope you can still fly tomorrow." He said. Dash's heart skipped a beat, thinking that maybe he had admired her flying and wanted her to be on the course tomorrow. Common sense took over and made her shake the feeling away.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to fly. " she said in a voice that competed with Fluttershy's.
"Dash, did you know that ancient Equestrian Pegasus believed that flying was the closest thing we had to dreaming in the real world? " he asked. The question seemed out of the blue.
Rainbow Dash smiled "No, but it makes sense. I mean, flying is just-"
"Freedom." They both said in unison. She blushed slightly and they smiled awkwardly at each other.
"Soarin, in all your years as a wonderbolt, haven't you taken a moment to just, you know, fly?" She asked. Why had she just asked that? "Like taking a moment to just soar with nothing but the sky and your thoughts"
Soarin blinked. He thought about it and looked back into the sky. "You know what? No, I haven't"
Dash nodded, she felt stupid doing it. The silence once again reigned for a few seconds before it was broken by Soarin.
"Rainbow Dash, do you want to just, fly?" He asked. She was not expecting that. What would she do? Her brain was screaming to say no, but her heart and wings said yes.
Soarin stood up, taking a deep breath and extending his wings. "If you don't want to then-"
Dash bolted up, "actually that sounds like an awesome idea." 'Screw the press and the scandal.' She tought to herself 'I want to fly with the stallion I like.'
She mimicked him and unfolded her wings, letting the night air stream through the feathers. Soarin took a step back and gave a final deep breath before shooting upwards. Dash smiled at the moon and followed.
The air was diferent. It was funny how in the day the air was almost unoticeable, but night and day where completely diferent. The night air definitely had some kind of soul. Almost like a presence that lingered, like a ghost. She hadn't really ever flied so freely in the night air before. It had always been spooky to do it. Now that Soarin was by her side, Dash had never felt so...protected.
"So, why really weren't you in the mess hall?" Soarin asked.
Dash took a deep breath, "I couldn't face someone."
Soarin smiled "was it SpitFire? Honestly, she isn't as tough as she seems. You should have seen her when she read the Daring Doo chronicles and Daring Doo fell into the pit of doom, never seen a pony cry so loud in my life."
Dash laughed, then a sudden thought crossed her mind. "You read Daring Doo with Spit Fire?"
Soarin nodded, "we have similar tastes in books."
Dash bit her lip and nodded. Soarin frowned, "no its not like that. SpitFire is almost like a sister to me. A bossy, demanding and hard headed sister,"
Dash giggled again, how was he doing that? It was just spontaneous to feel happy around Soarin, his personality made her smile. And his eyes where so...
She snapped into rality when they flew inside a cloud. It was poofy and comfy, like a pillow made of gas. She twirled inside so she could feel the cloud with her wings. As they headed back out Soarin was staring at her.
"You're diferent Dash," he said. "You are just so.."
"Loud, bratty, bold..." She listed the things that friends, family and complete strangers had said to her in the street.
"I was going to say unique." He said. Dash blushed and looked down. "I mean, any other pegasus would just fly over a cloud but you go right through it to feel it. You decide to fly for fun rather than to just prove you're better than anyone else. I think that you have to have more passion for flying than any pegasus I've ever met."
Dash was flattered. Hearing a wonderbolt, specially Soarin, say something like that was just a dream come true. "Wow, Soarin, thanks."
"I've also never met a pegasus with such pretty eyes. " he stated. Dash, went from a slight blush to a profuse crimson. Soarin was also reddening. "I mean, they are very um.. Nice."
Rainbow smiled at him, "you also have nice eyes. Not that I noticed or anything its just that uh-" she wanted to face hoove and then let herself fall towards the ground. Dash turned away, hoping to Celestia he wasn't feeling awkward.
"Hey, lets rest. On that cloud." Dash said, gesturing towards a fluffy cumulus cloud. Soarin shrugged and nodded. As the pair sat in the cloud they realized how much they had flown.
"Wow, I can see Cloudsdale from here..." Dash said. Sure enough, towards the distance she saw the small cloud city formation.
"Over there you can make the outline of Fillydelphia " Soarin gestured towards a more eastern location. "And up there in the mountains is Canterlot Castle."
Dash smiled, "yeah, but where's ponyville?" Soarin furrowed his brow and looked around.
"I can't really see it.. Wait over there! In the mountain base. Such a small town." He said.
"Its a cool town, " she said. Soarin nodded and then faced Rainbow Dash. She knew that if she turned her head, and if she managed to make it as a wonderbolt. She would have both her dreams come true.
Rainbow Dash smiled and looked at Soarin. The sun began to rise, but they didn't notice.
"Rainbow, thank you for the flight. I really should have taken a moment like this some time ago." He said.
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Its always nice to take a moment and admire the things around you."
"To figure out why they gave you joy when you first saw them. " his wings folded neatly in his back as he pressed forward. His lips joining with Rainbow Dash's. she felt a bolt of electricity through her body. Her eyes open in surprise. Finnaly he parted his lips from hers and they smiled in perfect harmony with the other.
"And to know what to love." Dash said as the sun rose from the earth completely, and began a new day.
Author's Note
Yay! A new story!
I loved writing about Soarin and Dash. If this story does well I'll write a sequel.
Anyway, hoped you liked it.