Chapter One
Soarin rested lazily on the clouds high above ponyville. It was a lovely night, but he was extremely troubled as he glanced down at the lovely Pegasus mare lying beside him. It was Rainbow Dash and she was sound asleep as she nestled against him, her multi-colored mane blowing gently in the night breeze. He wasn’t sure how things had gone so far between them, but they’d shared a wonderful night together and he’d made love to her. He had enjoyed it at the time, but now all he felt was guilt. He’d been romantically involved with his Wonderbolt companion Spitfire on and off for a long time, but something about Rainbow Dash had always caught his attention. She was an amazing flyer and incredibly fast being the only Pegasus to ever accomplish the legendary rainboom! Yet he wasn’t sure that he was in love with her and he knew that if Spitfire ever discovered what he’d done with Rainbow Dash that she would never forgive him. It would be the end of any possible relationship they could ever hope of having in the future.
Easing himself up gently as to not wake Rainbow Dash, Soarin quietly took his leave of her flying toward his home in Canterlot. The morning sun rose brightly over ponyville and Rainbow Dash yawned. She stretched and pushed herself up onto her hooves. She flapped her wings and looked at the now empty spot beside her where Soarin had been the night before. A smile formed on her muzzle as she remembered the night they’d shared together and then she leapt off of her cloud bed and zipped through town eagerly searching for her friends so she could tell them all about it. She was flying so fast that she didn’t realize she was so close to Rarity’s fashion boutique and crashed right through the door and into a wall messing up several of Rarity’s outfits.
“Ah Rainbow Dash! You’ve gone and ruined my latest creations! You really need to watch where you’re going!”
“Heh heh I’m sorry Rarity! I couldn’t help it; I have the best news ever!” Dash replied excitedly and the white unicorn fixed her lovely blue eyes onto her Pegasus friend.
“What could be so important that you had to tear into my home and destroy my beautiful outfits?” Rarity questioned placing a hoof to her forehead. Her beautiful purple mane drooping in front of her face. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and then smiled widely at her uppity friend.
“I slept with Soarin!” She announced happily. Rarity’s eyes widened and she frowned in disgust.
“Ah Rainbow Dash! How incredibly…improper of you!”
“What do you mean Rarity? It was the most awesome night EVER!”
“I’m sure it was, but really darling.” Rarity said fixing her mane. “You and Soarin are not married nor are you even a couple, everypony knows that Soarin is with Spitfire, they’ve been dating for years.”
“No their not! Soarin assured me that things between him and Spitfire ended a few months ago and he’s totally into me!” Rainbow Dash said standing up. She began attempting to fix the mess she made while Rarity kept her disapproving gaze on her.
“But do you not care about your reputation, why if word about this gets out, you’ll never ever be allowed to join the Wonderbolts.”
“Why can’t you just be happy for me Rarity? This is a huge deal and I couldn’t be happier about it! Soarin is totally in love with me!” Dash snapped and zipped out of Rarity’s house as quick as she’d come. Rarity rolled her eyes and simply went about re-organizing her work area.
Over at Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family was hard at work minus Big Macintosh who’d been dragged off to get measured for his wedding tux. He was due to marry Fluttershy in a few short weeks and everypony was scrambling around to get it all set up, especially Pinkie Pie who was the wedding planner. Apple Jack was busy bucking apples from the many trees across their land while Apple Bloom was catching them in buckets and Granny Smith was inside the house making pies.
“Apple Jaaaaack!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she zoomed toward the orange mare whose green eyes suddenly grew wide when she noticed her Pegasus friend was going too fast to stop and tumbled right into her. They rolled for several feet into a nearby mud puddle.
“Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation are you doing?” Apple Jack questioned and spit mud and debris from her mouth.
“Ha-ha sorry AJ! I just have the best news ever to tell you!”
“Well out with it already, I’m very busy today if you haven’t noticed! With Big Mac’s wedding coming up, we’ve got a lot o’ harvesting to do!”
“I slept with Soarin!” Dash exclaimed with a goofy grin on her face. To her dismay, a frown appeared on AJ’s face.
“What in the world do you mean you slept with Soarin?”
“Yeah what does that mean?” Apple Bloom questioned with large curious eyes.
“You know what that means Apple Jack! Isn’t it just the best! Soarin and I are together finally!”
“I don’t know sugarcube, what about that pony Spitfire? Isn’t Soarin with her?”
“No no no, he told me they aren’t together and they’re not because he’s with me.”
“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, but Apple Bloom and I have some more apples to harvest so…”
“So I’d best be on my way, yeah whatever Apple Jack, I thought you’d be supportive!” Rainbow Dash retorted and flew away disappearing into the clouds in an instant.
“What does it mean that she slept with Soarin big sis? Did they have a sleep over?”
“Never you mind Apple Bloom, come now, let’s finish our apple buckin okay!” Apple Jack replied dismissing her little sister’s question and went back to work bucking the trees causing the apples to fall.
Rainbow Dash was sure that Fluttershy would be happy for her as she made her way over to her house on the edge of town. Big Mac was there with her and the two were cuddled up together on a lounge chair.
“Hey Fluttershy, Big Mac!” Dash said and landed slowly for once not wanting to startle her shy friends. “Want to hear my most awesome news?”
“Um sure Rainbow…”
“E-eeup.” Big Mac agreed in his usual way.
“I slept with Soarin! Isn’t that fantastic!” Rainbow announced proudly and at once Fluttershy’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red. Big Mac’s mouth dropped open, but he didn’t say anything and just stared at the cyan Pegasus standing before them grinning. “Well isn’t it?”
“Oh um yes that’s…great.” Fluttershy said in a barely audible voice.
“Finally somepony thinks the way I do.”
“Oh well I mean, should you have done that with Soarin? He has a girlfriend and…”
“No he doesn’t! Gosh does everypony have to point out that Soarin and Spitfire were once romantic?”
“E-eeup.” Big Mac replied and Dash glared at him for a long moment.
“Okay so maybe they were together and have dated before, but they aren’t anymore! Soarin loves me now and we had the most wonderful night ever! Just be happy for me okay!” Dash exclaimed and once again was gone in an instant.
“Okay…” Fluttershy replied even though Dash was no longer present. She looked at her Stallion and blushed thinking of what it would be like on their wedding night. He looked down at her and smiled as if he knew what she was thinking. She looked away shyly and he nuzzled her affectionately making her giggle.
Rainbow Dash went over to Twilight Sparkle’s house, but of course she only got the same response that she’d gotten from everypony else. The level headed unicorn wasn’t happy about the news in the least and tried to reason with Dash who not wanting to hear it took off before she could find the book on pony propriety that she had in her library.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Spike asked curiously. He didn’t understand completely what Rainbow Dash had meant about sleeping with Soarin, but he was old enough to have an idea.
“I don’t know Spike, but I have a bad feeling that nothing good will come of what she’s done.” Twilight replied with a shake of her head.
Rainbow Dash landed outside of Sugarcube corner where the Cakes were busy with their foals, Pound Cake who was a Pegasus and could already fly despite his young age and Pumpkin Cake who already knew how to use her unicorn magic to her advantage. Dash watched the stressed parents scrambling around after the rambunctious foals with a smirk. She’d never given much thought into having foals of her own, but now that she and Soarin were together, the possibility of parenthood became a reality for her. What would being a mother be like? She thought. Surely it wouldn’t be as bad as it was for the Cakes. She headed up to Pinkie Pie’s loft above the store and found the pink mare bouncing around all over the place checking over all sorts of wedding decorations. Gummy, Pinkie’s pet alligator was busy trying to chew on a balloon, but since he didn’t have any teeth, it was a lost cause.
“Hey Pinkie guess what!”
“What! Oh this is perfect! Just super-duper wuper perfect!” Pinkie exclaimed squeezing a bundle of pink roses tightly. “This is going to be the best wedding in ponyville! Big Mac and Fluttershy will be so amazing in their outfits that Rarity is making for them! They are so cutesy wutesey together don’t you think!”
“Pinkie…”
“Oh yes did you need something Rainbow Dash?” She questioned continuing to zip and bounce around the room in a pink blur.
“Uh never mind.” Dash groaned and left without Pinkie even noticing. She flew up to a cloud and plopped down. “Nopony even cares that this is the most important thing to ever happen to me, some friends they are…” She muttered to herself and heaved a heavy sigh.