//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Golden Crests and Apple pie. // by Swagg //------------------------------// “Um... Rainbow Dash, Are you sure this is a good idea? It doesnt sound very...safe?" "Ehh, safety's overrated." The cyan pegasus replied, waving a dismissive hoof in the air. Fluttershy struggled to keep up with her friend, her yellow wings beating as hard as they could in a simple effort to not fall behind. "Oh... Well, I mean, if you don't mind me saying... don't you think it's a little... extreme?" She cringed at her own choice of words. "... I'm sure Soarin' will like the tricks you can already do." Rainbow braked in mid flight, and Fluttershy yelped when she almost slammed into her. "...Like? LIKE?! Fluttershy, he has to LOVE them!" She turned on her friend with the most panic-stricken, serious face that Fluttershy had ever seen on her. "If he doesn't love them, how could he ever consider me a good candidate for the Wonderbolts?! Or..Or worse! What if he doesn't want to hang out with me because he thinks I'm too lame?!! What if the other Wonderbolts find out and not want me to join because of my lameness?! What if he decides to tell Spitfire that I'm lame!?" She gasped suddenly, her eyes went widening as she felt a metaphorical icy dagger stab into her chest, her ears folding backwards against her head. "What if she BELIEVES him?!" Fluttershy stiffened as she was grabbed by the shoulders and shaken frantically. "I'm not lame Fluttershy do you think I'm lame I'm totally lame aren’t I I've gotta go practice this move c'mon!!" Dash rambled, her voice shaking, before she shot off in a fury across the sky, leaving behind a dizzy yellow pegasus who could never hope to keep up. "Oh dear..." --- Soarin’ exited the shopping mall as fast as his wings would carry him. He ended up paying the register pony twenty bits extra just so he could get out of there. The register broke down before it could calculate the tax, and he didn’t feel like waiting another two minutes for the cashier to calculate everything with a paper & pencil, so he just forked up some extra cash to be safe. Now, he flew above the light rain clouds as if they were shields, keeping him out of sight and--hopefully--out of mind. "Am I really that recognizable, even when I’m not in my ‘Bolts suit?” He pondered out loud, his heart still in overdrive from what had just happened. "I didn’t even know I HAD that many fans!” Shuddering at the thought of the creepy old mare who’d approached him and announced his presence to everypony in possible earshot, he flapped his wings faster; trying desperately to drive his mind elsewhere. He wasn’t sure anypony had heard the old mare.... in Manehatten. He needed something to distract him. Like...like flying, for example! That was distracting. When it came to flying, Soarin’ was more like Rainbow Dash than either of them had ever thought. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in his mane- it all felt incredible! It was Soarin’s life. Like most pegasus ponies, he didn’t know what he would do if he was suddenly grounded, unable to use his wings... He shuddered again, pushing his wings just a tad harder. Something bad could always happen; he could fly too close to a tree and shatter the bones in one of his wings. He’d be grounded... That was why he was determined to make the most of them before something DID happen. Soarin’ blasted through a puffy white cloud in a spiral of electric sparks, whooping out in pure joy and relishing in the free open sky. Two hours later, Soarin’ had long since passed the last of the rain clouds. He was hovering above a different, smaller town than the last. It was one he’d never been to before; hopefully no one would recognize him and react like the last three crazy towns he visited (he can dream, right?). The young Wonderbolt landed on a small cloud and pulled his saddlebags over his head. He was exhausted, but he’d never admit that to just anypony. He spread out a crumbled scroll at his hooves and pressed down on a creased corner that just wouldn’t cooperate. His emerald eyes scanned the map intently, following the path Stuffy suggested he take when he left Cloudsdale the previous morning. His face twisted into a confused scowl. "...Where, the heck, am I?” he asked slowly, taking several glances at the town below. Eventually, he crumpled the ‘useless’ map into a ball between his hooves and tossed it over his shoulder. An apple was taken from his bag and eaten thoughtfully (nopony he knew could think on an empty stomach, and he couldn’t either), but as he rummaged through the little clutter he'd brought along, he again came across the golden crest Rainbow had dropped the night of the Gala. He sighed. The unique markings, carefully etched into the metal, had caught Soarin’s eye for so long that the design was practically stamped all over his brain. It represented the rainbow pegasus so... perfectly. He really wanted to return it to her, but at the same time, it meant he wouldn’t have anything else to remember her by when he went back to work. The best part was, he didn’t even know why he felt this way about her. They’d only ever met twice. Granted, she saved his life and a delicious apple pie, but he’d never had such a strong attraction to anypony in his life. Maybe that was why...? "Hi!” Soarin’ was jerked out of his thoughts by the sudden voice, and spun around in surprise. A grinning pink head parted the bottom of the cloud for a moment, then disappeared again. "What the-?!” The pink pony was unfazed by his reaction to her trampoline; set up at an impossibly high distance above the ground via steel poles in order to reach his elevated cloud. "Are you... The Wonderbolt... Soarin’?!” she chirped between jumps. "Uhh... yeessss?” He changed his mind; he wanted to go back to the supermarket now. "Oh my gosh!...That’s...Great!... Dashie will be so... happy... You’re here!” Soarin’ rolled his eyes a little. Fans are usually annoying and generally over the top, but this? This went straight to his top five, right next to that towel merchant who proposed to him at a VIP concert. Poor filly. AN//: Ok, so.... Sent this to my editor a few days ago, got back form the wedding today and found it all ready for me... Did a bit of editing myself and posted it again ^^ Well, I can get back to writing bigger chapters now! And just to make up for this one being so short, I'm aiming for a 2000 word cound next time, so that will be about double the regular size. ^.^ Happy Christmas everyone! (Feels a bit early to say that, but whatever xD)