"So, uhm...remind me why we're doing this again?"
Standing before a regal, yet functional in size, Cloudsdale home were two blue Pegasi. One, the smaller of the two, was standing with a smile as she observed the delightful architecture of the house, its pillars reminding her of those found in her own residence.
The other, however, bit his lip and quivered as he looked at the front door of it. His pale blue coat reflected the fear he had inside him well, matching the color one would associate to someone who had just encountered a ghost. His dress shirt adorned with medals of valor did little to ease his fears as the mare beside him replied.
"Because I haven't seen my family in like, foreverl Come on Soarin, I didn't think you were such a scaredy-pony."
The stallion swallowed his breath and looked to the cloud beneath him, unable to look the mare in the eye, "But why do I even need to be here? Couldn't you...well, visit them by yourself, Dashie?"
Rainbow Dash's response was fakely sweet as she rubbed a hoof against his back, "Because I asked you to?"
Soarin continued to look down, feeling his face begin to blush, "But this...the whole meeting the parents thing...I don't really feel comfortable-"
A loud laugh cut the stallion off, Rainbow withdrawing her hoof to her chest so she could chortle, "What, is the big, bad Soarin of the Wonderbolts afraid of two old ponies?"
"And if I say yes..."
"Then I'll laugh, like this," sure enough the Rainbow haired mare gave another laugh and pointed a hoof at Soarin, causing the blush on her partner's face to shift from one of endearment to one of embarrassment.
Soarin grunted and frowned, his stomach doing backflips as he spoke, "Very mature, Dash. I'm freaking out here already!"
Rainbow stopped her laughing and leant on Soarin, wrapping a hoof around one of his as she gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'm sure my dad will like you a lot," she paused and looked up at the sky, "Apart from the whole thing about you being my coltfriend. He'll hate that. I would watch out for my wings if I were you."
The Wonderbolt of the duo rolled his eyes, "Gee, thanks. That helps my nerves a lot."
In an attempt to make it up to her beleaguered coltfriend, Dash gave him a peck on the cheek, "I'm just messing with ya. Now, are you ready or are you going to need a change of pants?"
"I'm not wearing pants?" Soarin questioned, not understanding her reference to the uncommon item.
Rainbow was the one to roll her eyes this time, "It's a figure of speech."
Soarin did not recall said figure of speech, but decided to go with it anyways, "Oh, yeah, right. My bad."
Rainbow nudged the stallion in the ribs and nodded towards the door before them, "Come on, I'm sure they'll love you. I mean, there has to be something good about you for me to bring you home to my parents."
Soarin took in a deep breath and shook his head, almost sure that he was going to die in the coming hours, "Alright then...I'm only doing this for you, Dash."
"Thanks, Soarin," Dash gave him a light punch to the gut and jumped forward with her wings, "Now come on, no use standing around out here!"
Soarin chuckled at her antics before following behind her, nervously approaching the door that Rainbow was at the moment knocking on with one hoof.
A mare's voice that Soarin did not recognize rang out from the house, sounding distant as if it was across the building, "Who is it?"
As Soarin caught up to his marefriend and stood beside her, said marefriend chuckled and called back to the mare inside, "I don't know, maybe you should come see?"
Soarin could almost hear something crash and something else fall over before the door swung open and nearly clocked him in the face. A pink pony with a blue mane dashed right into the rainbow maned one, wrapping their front hooves around them tightly, "Rainbow! It'a been such a long time! How have you been?"
Rainbow Dash returned the gesture, blushing slightly out of embarrassment, "Pretty good, mom. Not only am I on my way to become a Wonderbolt," Rainbow turned to Soarin and gave him a coy smile, "I've got somepony to show you."
Soarin brought a hoof behind his head and rubbed his mane nervously, "Hello, ma'am, my name is-"
The pink coated middle-age mare cut the stallion off just like her daughter was prone to, "Soarin. I'm Firefly. I recognize the stallion who my little Dashie has had posters of for years."
Dash's face blushed as red as her the red parts of her mane, "Moooom!"
Her mother shrugged as she let go of her daughter and faced Soarin, "You can't deny it's true, Dashie," glancing at the dress shirt Soarin was wearing, Firefly nodded briefly, "So, I take it you're one of her instructors? Did Dash screw up and get herself kicked out of the academy?"
Rainbow shot her mother daggers as Soarin shook his head no frantically, "No, it's nothing like that at all actually. Captain Spitfire is taking care of Dash and the other recruits, while I'm in charge of the air shows for now."
Rainbow recovered from her death glare towards her mother and smirked, nudging Soarin's side, "It's pretty good that Soarin here isn't one of my bosses though. It would make dating him a lot weirder."
Firefly blinked, her eyes facing Soarin but not focusing on him as she responded flatly, "Come again."
"I said-"
Firefly stuffed a hood in Rainbow's mouth, "I heard what you said," letting out a small giggle, Firefly turned to her daughter and wrapped her in another hug to the younger mare's discomfort, "Oh Dashie, I'm so happy for you! Wait until your father hears that his little girl finally has gotten a young colt!"
Rainbow grunted and rolled her eyes, "Moooom, please."
Firefly released her daughter and took a step towards the house's open door, leaning her head towards it, "Come on in you two! We've got so much to talk about!"
The pink mare led the way inside, with Rainbow following right in behind her. Soarin took in a breath and forced his hooves to move forward one at a time, one in front of the other.
Soarin followed the two mares down a hallway in silence while the oldest among them prattled on about something to Rainbow, "You know, your father was really beginning to think that you were never going to get a coltfriend, not to mention your wicked aunt, who thinks disgustedly that because of your hair, tomboyish ways and tendency to hang around girls that you prefer an alternative lifestyle. Boo on her though for being so shallow. You're just like me, and no-one ever seemed to go around and think those things about me for some reason."
The hallway ended in a large room, with lavish furniture strewn throughout it. Soarin noticed that just like in the hallway before it, pictures hung off the walls with noticeable rainbow manes in them, but he hadn't had enough time to study any of them in any more depth.
Rainbow's mother stopped once the three had all entered the room, not noticing Soarin trip over a lifting weight that lay carelessly on the floor, "So, make yourselves at home. I'll go grab my husband."
The pink mare left in a spirited manner, a large smile apparant on her face as she did so. Soarin rubbed his head from his collision with the ground and stood up awkwardly while she left. He could see more exercise equipment inside the otherwise clean room, most noticeably tucked away under furniture.
Soarin glanced around the room and noticed a couch, but wasn't sure if he should sit since he would have to greet Rainbow's father. He shifted nervously in place as Rainbow looked around the room with a nostalgic look on her face, "Your mom seems...nice."
Rainbow nodded to him and grinned, "You bet! She's where I got my awesome personality from, so of course she's one hundred percent awesome," she ended with a hoof pointing to her own chest, making her coltfriend chuckle.
"Ever the humble pony. So, what do you get from your dad then?"
Rainbow rose the hoof from her chest to her chin, thinking momentarily, "My colors and not much else. He's nice, but he's a pretty serious guy. Comes with working as one of the bosses at the weather factory."
Soarin's mouth formed an O, "He must be a hard worker to have a job like that!" the Wonderbolt snickered as he thought about Rainbow again, "You sure didn't get that from him."
Rainbow jabbed a hoof at her coltfriend and scowled, "Hey, I work hard when I want to!"
Soarin lowered her hoof and gave her a warm smile to calm her down, "I know, Dash. You're the greatest and definitely the best pony I know."
While accustomed and fond of praise, Rainbow still felt giddy when it came from her idol and coltfriend. The result of this was a lack of eye contact and a small blush, "You sound like Scootaloo."
Soarin ruffled his brow, not getting the reference, "Who?"
"Only the best filly in the world, and my number one fan! You should get to kno-"
A level but seemingly pleased voice cut her off, "Rainbow, it's good to see you."
Rainbow glanced towards the hallway to see that her father was standing in the doorway, his azure coat and rainbow hair not all that different from her own. The young flier dashed over to him and embraced him in a strong hug, "Hey dad!"
Her father wrapped one hoof around her as well before looking past her at the other visitor, "Soarin the Wonderbolt. Welcome."
Soarin gave as large a smile as he could, his nervousness increasing every second, "Thank you, um, sir."
Rainbow released her father from her glomp and moved back towards Soarin a bit, "Awesome, you already know Soarin then. He's my coltfriend now, so I thought it would be cool to bring him to meet you guys!"
Her father didn't even blink as he stares at Soarin, the stern face having made Soarin wonder why he didn't bolt out the door, "I see."
Firefly, sneaking in the room from behind her husband, tried to diffuse the situation before it starts, "How about we all sit down and have some crackers?"
Rainbow gave a nervous chuckle as she looked at her father's unflinching gaze towards Soarin, the older Stallion studying the younger one intensely, "That would be nice, mom. Thanks!"
Firefly turns to leave again, giving a scoff, "I'll be right back. If you didn't have a guest I would make you get them, Dashie."
"Hehe," Rainbow laughed nervously, noticing that no matter how much Soarin smiled at her father the older stallion did not stop staring at him silently, "So, Dad, what's up?"
The stare that had frozen Soarin in his place ended as the azure pony turned to face his daughter, "Not very much. Everything has been going well at the weather factory. I'm glad to see you. I wasn't expecting you to visit anytime soon."
The younger rainbow haired pony scrunched her face up in confusion, "Wait, you didn't get my mail?"
Her father shook his head no, his voice remaining even toned as he did so, "No. However, I did receive a lunchbox in the mail the other day with a muffin in it. A mix up perhaps?"
Rainbow sighed and shook her head, a certain grey mailmare with eye problems coming to mind, "I do know what went wrong. Ugh, nevermind."
With a look back at Soarin, Rainbow's father gave the Wonderbolt a very minute smile, "Relax son, I'm not going to kill you."
Soarin let out a large breath, feeling much more relaxed with that guarantee, "That's a relief-"
The follow up from Rainbow's father took the wind out of the stallion, "Yet."
Soarin's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he began to cringe in the spot he stood. Rainbow took it as a fun joke though and laughed, wrapping a hoof around Soarin while giggling, "Aww he's just kidding Soarin. Right dad?"
Silence was the only answer she received, her father looking at Soarin without any expression visible on his own face.
Soarin promptly felt his stomach drop.
For his sake, the re-rentry of a pink mare in the room holding a tray of crackers broke the tension. Firefly placed them down on a nearby table and turned to face the group, "There we go. So, first thing's first, I want to hear how you two kids met!"
Once again embarrassed by her mother, Rainbow decided to look at the petrified Soarin instead of the loving mother before her, "Well, Soarin and I met awhile ago at the flying competition I won. He was one of the Wonderbolts attending it."
Her mother nodded to her, "I remember that. Still mad you didn't invite us, Dashie. That's when you did your second Sonic Rainboom, am I right?"
"Yup!" Dash laughed for a moment before saying to herself, "Hehe, that was awesome."
Soarin decided to break his own silence and try to speak, "I wasn't awake for it sadly, but she also saved my life during the competition. One of the contestants was falling to their death, and when I tried to help them along with some other Wonderbolts...well, the pony knocked me out by accident and I fell too. Rainbow here caught us all."
Firefly looked over to her husband and nudged him a little, who was still looking at Soarin as seriously as a gargoyle's watch, "I wish we had a meeting as climactic as that, dear."
His response was a slight shrug and a glance towards Rainbow, "Things worked out in the end."
Firefly looked to Rainbow as well, the big smile on her face demonstrating her positive mood, "That they did," now focusing on the last one to tell the story, Firefly asked, "So, what happened when you woke up?"
"I wasn't out for long, so when I woke up I hung out with Dash and got to know her," Soarin grinned at Rainbow, "She seemed pretty cool, even if she had a bit of an ego for such a young flier."
Her father nodded to this last statement, "We've noticed."
"Hey, I earn every last bit of my ego!" came Rainbow's indignant voice in response.
Wanting to avert any arguments, Firefly took it upon herself to get things back on track, "So that was awhile ago. I take it you didn't get together back then."
Rainbow gave a shake of her head, "Nope, that's pretty recent. The next time I got to see Soarin was at the Grand Galloping Gala, where I proceeded to save a pie he wanted to eat from falling on the ground."
Soarin blushed at the memory, remembering it fondly because it contained his two favorite things: pie and Rainbow Dash, "At that point she had saved my life and my favorite food, so she started to kind of be interesting in my eye. Sadly I was so busy with the press that I didn't get to hang out with her more that night."
"We got to do plenty of that at the Royal Wedding though!" Rainbow chimed in.
Her father rose a brow, perplexed by her statement, "You two attended the Royal Wedding? When Canterlot was attacked?"
"Yup! My friend Twilight is the sister of the groom, so I got to come be a bridesmaid. Surprisingly not as girly as it sounds, since I got to do a Sonic Rainboom to celebrate the event."
Firefly patted her daughter on the shoulder, "That's my girl. Again, I'm mad you didn't tell us about it, but oh well."
Soarin thought that as long as they kept talking, the less he would be glared at, so he went on doing just that, "After the wedding, Rainbow and I got to hang out again and dance at the party. I didn't know how to dance, and neither did she, but we managed to have fun," He lifted a hoof behind his head nervously, "It's kind of when I started to have a crush on her."
Rainbow smirked at Soarin, a small blush rising on her cheeks, "I had been your fangirl for years, so all it did for me was confirm that the amazing Wonderbolt named Soarin was indeed one awesome pony."
Now it was Soarin who blushed, "We finally got together when she joined the Wonderbolt Academy. Basically I was doing some practice, she was doing some practice, we saw eachother, and hit it off again. I..."
Soarin's voice trailed off as he tried to find a way to say just what happened. Luckily for him, Rainbow did so for him in an amused tone, "This goof asked me out on a date when he accidently said his thoughts out loud. I said yes, and it went well, so here we are!"
Firefly flitted over inbetween the new couple and wrapped a hoof around each of them, "That's so sweet, Dashie. I'm so happy for you two!"
Her father simply shrugged, "One does not simply do better than dating a Wonderbolt, so I suppose I should be happy for you as well."
"Gee, thanks dad," Rainbow sardonically replied along with a roll of the eyes, taking note of his lack of enthusiasm.
Rainbow's father looked back to Soarin again, making the Wonderbolt bite his lip in fear once more. Firefly picked up on the vibe that nothing she could do could stop the two boys from having a talk, so she decided to at least get it over with. She let go of Soarin and started to nudge Rainbow towards the door.
"Rainbow, how about we go get our family picture albums to show your special somepony?"
Rainbow initially didn't budge, confused why she should go too, "Why-?" the pieces soon clicked in her head though, and she followed her mother to the exit, "Oh, okay. Be back in a minute Soarin!" then, she added in a whisper to him, "Good luck."
Rainbow's father did not react to the departure at all, still focused on Soarin. Now alone with the elder stallion, and the silence feeling uncomfortable, Soarin decided to make small talk, "So, sir, what should I call you?"
"Sir is fine," came the deadpan reply.
More staring.
"Well okay then."
More silence. It was beginning to make Soarin crawl out of his skin. Did the stallion like him? Dislike him? He couldn't tell, because he wasn't talking. Just looking.
This time it was the father who broke the silence, "So, Soarin. I'm curious about what a stallion older than Dash is thinking when he dates her. Care to elaborate on why you like my daughter?"
Soarin's mouth hung open for a moment as he tried to gather what he should say. Luckily for him, he had prepared for this kind of question and gave a half-rehearsed response, "Well, sir, Dash is one of the most kind, loyal, friendly, fun-loving, and dedicated ponies I know, and I respect her and her dreams because only a couple years ago I was in her hooves."
Giving an affirmitive and approving nod, Rainbow's father added his own two bits, "Your forgot to mention her ego in all of that. I applaud you for being able to stand it. It's half the reason I...suggested she go have her own place to live. It takes enough energy to deal with her mother."
Soarin got the feeling that he was on the approval side of things, so he gave a confident grin as he chuckled, "Is she that bad?"
Rainbow's father nodded stolidly, "She is a carbon copy of my daughter, only a bit older and thus wiser. Rainbow is still young and brash."
"Sounds like we've both got a couple of diificult mares," Soarin noted with a chuckle.
The immediate response was the elder stallion narrowing his eyes seriously at the Wonderbolt, as if he had taken offense, "Hey, that's my wife and daughter you're talking about."
Soarin instantly resumed cringing position 597 and bit his lip, "I mean no disrespect, sir!"
The eyes of Rainbow's father went back to normal, and a small grin grew on his face, "I never said you were wrong."
Realizing that he had been had, Soarin chuckled, "You know, you're a pretty funny guy, sir."
"Back to Rainbow, she is a sweet girl and means everything to me," the eyes resumed their serious look, "Do not hurt her. She may be tough on the outside, but she really is sensitive on the inside even if she won't admit it. If I hear at any point that you-"
Soarin, in an act of bravery, cut the stallion off with a similarly serious tone, "Sir, I would never hurt Rainbow, and I will always return the loyalty and love she shows me."
Partially caught off guard, the elder pony just gave a gruff nod, "Good. I had a feeling you wouldn't be some deadbeat. Now, how about we go see what the girls are up to, Son?"
Soarin nodded back to him, a smile growing upon his face, "Sounds like a good idea, sir."
Upon entering the room where the two mares had gone to, Soarin was instantly hugged by his marefriend as her mother gave a laugh.
"Ah, good, he's breathing," Firefly noted with a grin.
Soarin wrapped a hoof around Rainbow and looked around the room, seeing that it was a study of sorts, "What are you guys up to?"
Firefly lifted up a book off the table she and Dash had been using moments before and showed it to the visitor, "Looking through Dashie's embarassing baby pictures, of course."
Rainbow dashed off of Soarin and tried grabbing the book from her mother, but the pink mare managed to sidestep her. Rainbow crashed into the wall and groaned as her mother brought the book over to Soarin, "Mooom!"
"What? You were a cute baby."
Soarin ignored the book and flew over to Dash, putting a hoof on her back and rubbing it, "She's still cute, in my opinion."
Dash crossed her front hooves and scowled, her head hurting from her collision, "Thanks a lot, Soarin."
Her father then decided to chip in, "She is still a bit of a baby it seems."
Dash took to the air, floating in the room and pointing a hoof at her father, "Hey! What is this? Everypony's turning against me!"
Taking something off of the table she had been using, Firefly walked over to Soarin and wrapped a hoof around the Wonderbolt, "Calm down Dashie. You're our little girl. It'll be hard to kick our parental instincts that cause us to embarrass you."
Dash's father followed suit, grabbing something off the table and wrapping a hoof around Soarin, to the latter's confusion and slight discomfort, "At least we aren't blowing you kisses or anything else along those lines, Dashie."
Rainbow groaned and placed a hoof on her head. This was going to be a long visit.
On the way out after a delightful visit, Soarin gave Rainbow a big smile, "That went better than I expected," he lfited his wings up and laughed, "I still even have all my feathers."
Closing the front door behind them, Rainbow began to respond, "Yeah, I'm pretty surprised-" her eyes caught something on Soarin's back and she smirked, "Wait just a sec."
Soarin tilted his head, "What's-?" a quick kick to the gut caught him off guard and knocked the wind out of him, knocking him off of his feet. After a moment he caught his breath and yelled, "Hey, what was that for?!"
Rainbow shrugged, pointing to his back, "You were asking for it."
Soarin looked towards where she was pointing and poked a hoof there, coming back with a pair of sticky notes on his hoof, "Asking for it h-?"
Rainbow, having read both of them, leant in to her coltfriend and kissed him on the lips, "You were asking for that too. Thanks for coming with me to visit my family."
Soarin looked down at his hoof and read the 'Kick me' and 'Kiss me' notes that had been left on his back, "It...it was my pleasure. Please don't make me do it again."
"It wasn't that bad, was it? I thought my parents were pretty cool!"
"They're just fine, but I thought I was going to have a heart attack every moment! I didn't want to say something wrong or stupid, and every moment felt like it was in slow motion."
Rainbow helped Soarin up and gave him a brief hug, "Well, thanks again. I promise that we can wait a week or two before visiting again."
Soarin's eyes became the size of plates and Rainbow laughed, patting the poor stallion on the back, "Just pulling your leg. You're great, Soarin."
"You're pretty great yourself, Dashie," Soarin gave a sigh before leaning forward and nuzzling his face against Rainbow's, "I love you."
Rainbow looked around for a moment and, when she was sure no-one was looking, returned the gesture, "I love you too, goof."
Unknown to Rainbow, her parents were looking out of one of their second story windows down at the couple and the clouds beneath them all. Seeing the couple's antics made Firefly grin before leaning on her own special somepony.
"So, do you like him?"
"He's okay," came the succinct reply.
"You were the one that put the 'Kiss me' note on him for Dash to find. So you going to stick with only 'okay'?"
"Yup. Maybe okay-er than most, but only okay."
"I'm going to take that as you can't stand to see your baby girl all grown up and dating boys, but are also so happy and proud at the same time."
"No comment."
