> For the love of a Rainbow > by Sunglaze > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1). Chasing a Rainbow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soarin knocked on the familiar hardwood door of the Wonderbolts Captains Office, like he had done many times before.”Come in” said a female voice from inside. He reaches up and hears the creaking as he opens the door and steps into the office. The Wonderbolts Captain looks up from a pile of paper work on her desk. “Ahh Soarin good to see ya, what can I do for ya?” “I’m going after her” He says quickly, trying to sound confident. The Wonderbolts Captain looks at him with an unsurprised slightly annoyed look on her face “Really...again?” Soarin looks at her a little surprised. “What do you mean by that Spitfire?” Spitfire sighs “Soarin I’ve known you for going on ten years and you’ve tried to go after it several times since you met her” “So what about it” He says with a hint of irritation to his voice. “Everytime you try to go after her you end up getting drunk and then turning back and crying about it to me for a few days and you or I don't get any work done in practice and then we get behind and end up having to make it up doing over time...and I’d like to avoid that...ok?” Soarin just looks away blushing and grumbling to himself, then turns to her. “I did not cry…” Spitfire looks at him with a smirk. “We had to get a towel for my shoulder cause it was soaked.” “Shut up!” He yells at her. “I will ask her to be mine!” He says, trying his hardest not to show any hint of how nervous he actually is. “Calm down...I will be here just in case but I really want you to go out there and finally do it,” She says with a smile that makes Soarin smile back confidently. “go get ‘em tiger!” “I will, and thanks...for believing in me.” With that he turns around and heads out the door. Spitfire smiles and shakes her head then returns to the paper on her desk. ~~~ “Where do you think you are going mister big shot?” Fleetfoot asked as she saw Soarin trotting out the door of the Wonderbolts Training Facility, with a large smirk on his face. “Oh nowhere in particular...I’m just off to Ponyville to win the heart of a certain mare” He says holding his head high in confidence. “You sure you don't want some in line speed lessons, you're more of a trick flier than speed. Rainbow Dash prefers speed to style...to a certain extent” She flares out her wings showing the muscles “speed is where I’m best and you're not that fast.” “With my moves I’ll be just fine. After all I am the best style flier in the Wonderbolts” The pale blue stallion flares out his wings showing his muscles that are admittedly smaller than Fleetfoot's but still rather impressive. The pale mare shrugs her shoulders. “Whatever you say, hey...go get her tiger!” Funny...that's what spitfire said. He thinks to himself but decides not to mention it. “Thanks I could use all the support I can get” And with that he takes off into the air, leaving Fleetfoot on the ground shaking her head with a smile spread across her muzzle. ~~ Back in Ponyville Rainbow Dash is just finishing up her cloudbusting duties for the day. "Good work Cloud Kicker" She says to the blonde maned Pegasus before turning and looking at the sky, now clear of all clouds as the sun began setting on the horizon, giving way to Luna’s beautiful night. Then she turns to her weather team. "Great work everypony." She smiles and signals with a nod that their job was done and they could go home for the day which they all did without hesitation, leaving the Cyan colored mare floating there for a second before flying off in the direction of her own house. As she flew she reflected on how the day had gone. First she woke up and nearly caught her kitchen on fire trying to make breakfast before putting it out and settling on a bowl of cereal. Then she went to Fluttershy's cottage to help out with the animals which also went badly, as she got all the food on her while carrying a massive bag of feed that slipped from her grip and spilled all over herself. Then it was off to Twilight's to get the latest 'Daring Do' book and read it till she had to go out with the rest of the weather team and clear the sky and check up on everything around town. So she had had a very eventful day. But now it was time to go home and relax with a nice bath and then off to bed to rest up for tomorrow. She soon spotted the cloud home on the outskirts of town and quickly swooped down to land on the soft plush cloud surface. The rainbow maned mare wiped her hooves on the door mat she had placed in front of the door. She quickly walked into the living room and plopped her rear onto one of the cloud sofas placed around the room. She sat there not wanting to move off of the soft plush sofa but knew that if she fell asleep she wouldn't wake up till the next morning so she reluctantly pulled herself from the sofa and walked up the stairs to the bathroom. Walking in she looks into the mirror and sees that her mane was more unkempt and tattered than usual. She usually made it a point to keep it looking good but right now she was at home and didn't care. Turning away from the mirror she looked at the shower and smiled at the thought of the warm water trickling down her back and rolling off her shoulders. So she quickly steps into the shower and turns on the water and flinches as the water is cold at first but soon warms up as she relaxes. She stands there for a few moments just letting the water warm her and sooth her tired body. After a while the rainbow maned mare reaches over and grabs the bottle of shampoo that she uses and puts it into her mouth then squirts a little into her hoof, then puts the bottle down and begins lathering and rubbing the shampoo into her mane. After her shower she quickly climbs into her large cloud bed and quickly melts away into dream land. ~~ Soarin lands softly in front of the inn near the edge the small town. The pale blue stallion walks in the front door and looks around and sees the clerk at the front desk. "Uh is there a room for rent?" He asks. The clerk looks up from her magazine "Is it just you?" The clerk asks looking at him with a bored look. Soarin answers promptly with a nod. Reaching behind her, she grabs a key off of a hook and tosses it to him."Room 5" She says turning back to her magazine. Soarin takes the key and walks down the hall where a bunch of doors a lined up with numbers on them, he quickly finds room 5 and unlocks it using the key and walks in. The room is very bland and plain looking. It had one window that gave a view of the town, and a bed with bland covers on them. Next to the door was a single tiny bathroom with a toilet, shower, and a sink, but nothing else. The dark maned stallion sighs and walks over and set his saddle bag down next to the bed and sits on the end of the bed. He was here...in Ponyville. He had done it, now all he needed to do is ask rainbow dash out on a date. Deciding to go to bed, thinking he could deal with it all tomorrow, he climbs into the bed and gets under the covers and slowly drifts to sleep. > 2). Asking a Rainbow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I love you” Soarin said, staring into those perfect magenta eyes. “I love you too Soarin” Rainbow gently replied through half lidded eyes, leaning in to kiss him as he leaned closer to her for the very same reason. There lips were about to connect as the sun set on that perfect day. Then suddenly he was in his room at the hotel leaning up in his bed with his lips puckered awkwardly in his room kissing the air and with no balance from his position he falls onto the ground landing with a thud. He rubs his now sore rear end, looking around he realises that it was all just a dream. Getting up Soarin looks outside at the sun and realises that its almost noon! I must have been really tired, he thinks to himself. Turning towards the bathroom beside the door he grabs his saddle bag and walks in to take a shower. Setting his bag down he begins to rummage through it and eventually finds what he was looking for. A bottle of shampoo that sponsored the Wonderbolt and a bar of soap. He along with a few others had to use a bottle till it ran out then go and tell the ponies who made it what they thought of it and whether or not they think it should be released. So basically they were guinea pigs. Helping them figure out what they thought, and so far, Soarin didn't like this new one at all. But he had to finish it or else they didn't consider it a valid trial. So he decides to suck it up and go ahead and use it. Grabbing the bottle he stepped into the shower and turned on the water. Feeling the cold water made him shiver at first but the water quickly heated up sending a warm sensation through his body. The dark maned stallion sets the bar of soap down on the rim of the tub and squirts some of the light green shampoo onto his hoof and begins rubbing it into his mane and lathering it in. He didnt like it because it had little beads that were supposed to dissolve once they hit the water and clean better but they didn't. The beads actually got hard as a rock and started feeling like the shampoo had sharp little sand bits in it. It even caused one shallow cut when he was washing the front of his mane. “Why the buck do i even have to use this stuff!?” He said, cursing at the shampoo for irritating his scalp. After a while Soarin rinsed the shampoo out of his mane and then grabbed the bar of soap off the rim of the tub and quickly begins rubbing it on his chest and all over his sides and flanks. As the soap suds up he feels the oils and sweat from the previous day wash away, leaving his body clean and fresh. After the shower he gets all his stuff packed up and gets ready for the day. ~~ Feeling the warm morning sunlight hit her eyelids Rainbow rolls over trying to escape the bright glare and try to go back to sleep. She was not a morning pony and didn’t enjoy getting up this early. Soarin looks at the Rainbow maned mare and smiles. “I love you” he says, staring into her perfect magenta eyes. “I love you too Soarin” She says looking back at him with a moony smile on her face. He leans in ready to kiss her as the sun sets. All she wanted to do was just lay there and sleep for a bit longer. Enjoying the warmth of her comfortable cloud bed, and enjoying her dream! Hearing a knocking at her front door, Rainbow's eyes shoot open. She grunts in annoyance hoping it will go away but she again heard the knocking again, and with another annoyed grunt, she slides out of bed. Rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes she trots out of her bedroom and down the stairs, past her kitchen and up to her front door. Opening it she sees the familiar figure of Cloudchaser standing at her front porch. “What is it Cloudchaser?” she asked, grumpily. . Cloudchaser looks to the cyan pegasus with a look of confusion. "You’re still not up?” Rainbow Dash simply looked at her. “Well anyways. Its about time to start clearing the sky again.” “We can do that in an hour or two” Cloudchaser nods her head in agreement. “Is that all?” Questioned Rainbow. “Actually there is someone looking for you” Cloudchaser says. “Who?” “Soarin” Rainbows eyes widen in surprise. “Really!? What for” Cloudchaser shrugs her shoulders. “dont know, didnt say. Just said he wanted to talk to you” The cyan colored pegasus looks to Cloudchaser with a thoughtful look on her face.”Ok, i’ll go check it out” “Ok im gonna get going. Bye Rainbow Dash” And with that she takes off into the air towards the town, leaving Rainbow on her porch thinking. ~~ Back in town Soarin was walking around the market looking for the familiar rainbow maned pegasus. Stopping to sit on a bench he takes in his surroundings. There were lots of vendors out selling their products. He saw a cherries, pineapples, and many others. But the one that caught his eye was the apple stand with a single apple pies on it. He licked his lips at the thought of enjoying a sweet, home-baked apple pie. But just as he got up to go get it, another pony walked up and gave the pony five bits for the pie and walked away. Soarins looks down in disappointment and plops back on the bench. Ponies were hustling and bustling through the market buying this and that and just chatting with friends. He saw a group of ponies sitting at a table each with a sandwich and glass of water. One was white with a two colored electric blue mane and eyes that were covered up by sunglasses. Another was grey with a dark grey mane. The third was an aqua green color with a mane to match. While the final one was a cream color with a two colored pink and blue mane. Sitting there he began to doze off and feel tired. He normally wasn’t like that but he just felt so calm. Deciding to close his eyes for a bit he drifts off to sleep. Suddenly he woke up by a tapping on his shoulder. Turning towards the source he sees Rainbow Dash sitting next to him. HSoarin's tired brain doesn't realise who it is at first so he simply turns away and closes his eyes again. After a moment it finally catches up to him that Rainbow Dash is sitting next to him. He jumps in surprise and looks at her. “When did you get there!?” He asks trying to seem cool about it even though mentally he was freaking out a bit. “About ten minutes ago” She says trying to stifle her giggle of amusement at Soarins reaction. “You were sleeping there and i didn’t want to wake you but i eventually got tired of waiting for you to wake up” Finally stopping the giggle entirely she takes a deep breath. “Well what are you doing here?” Soarin asks completely forgetting he had told Cloudchaser to tell her he wanted to talk to her. “You wanted to talk to me didnt you?” Rainbow says looking a little confused. Soarin suddenly remembers. “Oh yeah i did” After a moment of pause Rainbow speaks up. “What did you want to talk to me about?” “Huh? Oh yeah” He looks to her with a nervous look and sweat beginning to collect on his brow. “Well i was wondering if you….uh” “If i what?” Rainbow looks to him with a confused look. Getting really nervous he blurts out. “If you needed some help with training!?” Rainbows expression doesnt change much. “oooookay, sure why?” Soarin smiles nervously “I just thought you might want some help thats all” “Not that i dont appreciate the offer but it just seems like a waste to come this far just to ask to train….are you sure there isnt something else?” Rainbow says with her eyebrow raised. Soarin stares at her nervously trying to hide his shaking. “Nope thats it, just trying to be nice” Rainbow quickly straightens up and looks to him with a smile. “ok just wandering, and yeah it would be awesome if you could help me train” Rainbow says trying to act cool even though shes internally squeeing like a schoolgirl at the thought of getting train with one of her heroes. The dark maned stallion lets out a sigh of relief and straightens up. “ok so when do you want to start?” He asks now, realising what a good idea it actually is to train with her first to get to know her a little better. “Actually im heading home for a bit till its time to clear all the clouds out, you want to come with me and hang out for a bit before then?” Soarin blushes at the thought of going to the rainbow maned mares house and answers her with a simple nod. “Great, come on” Rainbow says as she takes off into the air towards her cloud home on the edge of town with Soarin close behind her. As they reach the cloud home floating gently in the sky they land on the front porch. “Here we are” Soarin looks at it with an impressed look on his face. “not bad” He says with a sly smile. Rainbow looks up at it. “yeah it took me forever to afford but i eventually did” She smiles at him with a confident smirk. “i know, just like me, it's awesome” Soarin blushes. “yeah it is” As Rainbow turns to look at the house again Soarin takes a moment to admire the cyan mare. Her perfect magenta eyes, the beautiful cyan color of her coat, her majestic rainbow colored mane and tail, her firm and powerful wing and shoulder muscles rippling beneath her glistening fur. As he got lost in her looks Rainbow looked at him chuckling at his actions. Waving her hoof infront of his face. “hey earth to Soarin, anypony in there, hello?” Snapping out of it Soarin shakes his head and snapping out of the trance like state he had entered. “You ok there Soarin?” Said Rainbow, trying to contain her laughter. “Huh?” Rainbow looks at him with a snicker in the back of her throat. “You ok Soarin!? you kinda left the world for a minute” Soarin rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry, just got distracted for a minute there” Rainbow gets a smirk on her face. “distracted by what huh?” Soarin flinches at the sudden question. “Uh what do you mean?” “You dont just get distracted by nothing, so what were you distracted by?” Soarin looks away trying to hide his blush. “It was nothing...” Looking towards the house again. “come on lets get inside” he said quickly, trying to change the conversation. Rainbow chuckles to herself and opens the door and walks inside with Soarin behind her. > 3). A Day with a Rainbow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walking in, Soarin looked around. It's just as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside. A large house with a big kitchen that's so clean you could swear it has that it hadn't been used. A large banister surrounded the kitchen with two openings and a bar that connects to the living room. There was a large empty space that had a closet and a glass sliding door that lead out to a balcony. Next to the front door was a hallway that led to the left and had two doors on each side, one led to a closet beneath the stairs and the other to a small bathroom. The living room had a large cloud couch set in the corner that curved with it and formed an ‘L’ shape, three stools set at the bar and two cloud chairs sat across from the couch. “Very cool” Soarin said in awe, wondering how Dash could possibly afford the place. Looking around Rainbow takes in the sight of her own home. Taking a deep breathe she inhales the familiar scent and walks into the living room. Practically flopping into the curve of the couch she gestures with a broad wave of her hoof for Soarin to take a seat anywhere. Choosing the chair across from her he sits down and looks at the impressive construction of the cloud home. “So whats new with the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow asks breaking the silence. “Well we’re on a break right now so nothing much really, Blaze is still injured.” He says referring to the fiery coated Wonderbolt. “Really? When did that happen?” Rainbow asks a bit astonished. “About a week ago. We were in the middle of practice and she was taking a speed run through the rings when she clipped her wing on one of the rings and sent her spirraling into the bleachers. Shes at home resting up. Messed up her wing a bit but she should be back to flying within two to three months, and within five or six she should be performing again” Soarin finishes his story with a quick nod. Looking at him Rainbow is surprised that she hadn’t found out yet. She usually knows everything thats going on in the Wonderbolts, but then she remembers her past week. She had been really busy and hadn't hardly had time to do anything let alone look at a newspaper to see what’s going on with the Wonderbolts. “Anything broken?” She asks trying to get more info on the matter. Soarin replies after a moment. “Cracked on of the bones in her right wing” Shakes his head gently. “She tries to act like it doesn’t hurt,but everypony that has felt something like that knows it's almost unbearable.” ~~ As they continued to talk, they almost lost complete track of time, until Rainbow looks at the clock realising how long they'd been talking for. “Shoot it's time to get to work.” She gets up quickly. “It's actually past time by about ten minutes so I got to get going” Soarin gets up and looks at her as she trots towards the door. “Want some help?” Rainbow Dash stops and turns back at him. “Sure, I could use the help.” Soarin trots after her with a happy expression on his face. “I got the north side and you can get the south, the rest of the team can deal with the east and west. Meet me back here when you’re done, okay?” Soarin nods and looks out and waits for the count down. “Okay, in three...two...one...GO!” They both take off into the sky at break neck speed heading towards their respective sides of town. Soarin heads towards the south and begins bursting through clouds and taking them out. More and more clouds disappear and the sky slowly begins to clear up revealing a bright shade of blue. Doing three barrel rolls Soarin turns in the direction of Rainbow Dash's cloud home he begins flying back. Waiting for him on the front porch is a rather smug looking Rainbow Dash. “Ha, I won” She says with a confident smile. “Was there ever any doubt?” While landing next to her, Soarin simply rolls his eyes with a smile. “Yeah, you won.” Chuckling to himself he pats her on the back. “Good job.” Rainbow Dash smiles contently. “Thanks Soarin.” She was calm on the outside but on the inside Dash was jumping up and down in excitement of having actually beat a Wonderbolt in a race. Soarin looks out to the sky. “It's still light outside, you wanna...you know... fly around for a bit?” A light blush forming on his cheeks as he looks out and thinks about the prospect of being with Rainbow Dash alone in the sky, and maybe seeing the sunset. That would be so romantic and the perfect time to ask her out on a date. “Sure ,sounds good. We can head out towards the lake at the edge of town. It's really peaceful this time of day so it's perfect for getting a workout.” She shakes out her wings and gets ready to take off. Soarin unfolds his wings and readies himself to take off. “Ready?” “Ready.” Rainbow answers back before they both take off into the air heading towards the edge of town. Flapping her wings hard she feels the strain, but fights through it to get ahead. Pushing himself he flaps his wings hard and fast. Regretting not taking Fleetfoot up on her offer for some speed training he begins to lose ground. Realising that she is taking the lead Rainbow Dash smiles and pushes even harder. Quickly approaching the edge of town, they both push as hard as they can to the finish. They fly past the lake but neither is willing to give in. They keep going all the way out of town and towards Canterlot. Flapping her wing furiously Rainbow Dash keeps a steady lead but soon begins to realise something. Rainbow begins to realises that even though she is fast on the initial start. After a while her endurance does run out and thats what was happening now. She may have speed at the start but Soarin has the endurance factor and he's proving it. Still flapping at full strength Soarin begins to gain ground, or rather sky, on the cyan pegasus. Even though he knows he can win, he doesn’t want to upset the Rainbow maned mare, so he decides to call it quits. Throwing his wings open they catch the wind and Soarin begins to stop. Looking back Rainbow does the same and after slowing down enough she makes a loop back to Soarin. “What's *pant* wrong Soarin?” Panting, Soarin looks at her. “Wasn’t that the lake back there?” He looks back and sees the lake in the distance. “Yeah it is, guess we got carried away.” She rubs the back of her neck with her hoof. “Come on, lets head back.” Soarin nods as they head back towards the lake that they past a while back. Taking their time, they fly lower and closer to the ground. Soarin looks at Rainbow Dash and admires her quietly, her bold muscles beneath her cyan coat and the way she looks with sweat rolling down her flank. She was magnifi-- *smack* Soarin halts suddenly and smack into a tree only to fall down on the ground on his rump. Rainbow looks at him, trying to suppress a laugh rising in her voice. “You ok there Soarin?” Having to come down to earth to help him up and take a few deep breathes she manages to tucks the laugh away entirely. “What happened?” She asks with a snicker returning to her voice. Soarin brushes himself off and shakes the leaves from his mane. “I got distracted.” He says, trying to hide his blush. “Again?” She says with a chuckle. “Yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck with a hoof and smiles. “I guess I'm just easily distracted today” “I guess so. But never mind that, we’re here!” She runs past him and looks out onto the lake before her. A calm lake turned blue by the skies reflection. Walking over to stand beside her, Soarin looks out on the water with a smile. “I wonder what it looks like during the sunset, probably awesome.” Soarin says trying to wait it out till the perfect moment. “Don’t know, never seen it. But you're probably right. It must look awesome.” Rainbow Dash turns to Soarin. “Let's wait here till sunset, I want to see what it looks like. Come on, it’ll be fun.” Soarin smiles. “Sure. we can just sit here and wait till then.” Soarin sits down but quickly realises he's the only one sitting. “Uh.. Dash? Aren’t you gonna sit down?” Rainbow looks up at two nearby passing clouds. “Might as well get comfortable right?” She quickly flies up and grabs one of the clouds and lays on it. “Come on you can have the other, unless you like sitting on the ground opposed to a cloud.” Soarin didn’t need to be told twice. Jumping up he flaps his still sore wings up to the second cloud and flops face first onto it. “Awww, I love clouds.” Rainbow Dash chuckles at his cuteness and lays her head down on the soft clouds as well. Deciding to take a nap, she closes her eyes. “Wake up. Hey, Wake up Dash!” Soarin shakes Dash while not taking his eyes off the lake. While Rainbow Dash slept Soarin decided to take the time to think about how he was going to ask her on a date. “Huh, What!?” Rainbow Dash wakes up and looks around. “What’s wrong Soa--” Her gaze fall upon the lake now a light with the beauty of the setting sun. Rainbow simply stares as she comes down from her cloud and onto the ground. They both just sit there at the edge of the water looking out. The sunset had caught on the lakes surface just right and illuminated it a brilliant yellow orange color. Looking on in awe, Rainbow simply stares. Taking a deep breathe Soarin breaks the gaze of the lake and looks to Rainbow Dash. The sunset beginning to end the beauty show, slowly fades till it's gone entirely but Rainbow Dash is still locked in a trance like state. Shaking his hoof in front of her face Soarin breaks her out of it. “Huh, what?” Dash looks around then her eyes look to Soarin in front of her with a smile on his face. Taking a deep breathe Soarin moves in front of her and onto the muddy bank. Looking into her eyes. “I have a question that i need to ask you.” His nerve rising, he blushes and shakes very lightly but Rainbow Dash doesn’t notice either of these things. Rainbow Dash looks to him with a slightly confused look on her face. “Uh... Sure. What is it?” “Will you... go out on a date--” Suddenly Soarin slips and falls face first into mud before slipping more and into the water. This is just too much for the rainbow maned mare to take as she bursts into a fit of laughter and falls onto the bank holding her stomach in pain and laughter. Soarin is internally screaming at himself but simply sighs. After a while of this he stands in the water and looks at her with a slightly annoyed expression. “I'm sorry Soar.” She says wiping a tear from her eye. “But that was hilarious.” Soarin sits there for a moment as Rainbow Dash continues laugh but soon he gets an evil grin. Reaching out, he grabs hold of her and pulls her into the water with him. Gasping and flailing in the water at first she quickly looks at Soarin who is now laughing but he manages to remain standing, that is until Rainbow pushes him over. Now both sitting neck deep in water they both start laughing. “Come on Soarin, you can crash at my place for the night, let just get home though.” Rainbow says trying stop laughing. Soarin nods to busy taking in what all just happened to realise that he had just been invited to stay the night at Rainbow Dash’s house. On the fly home it finally hits home and he is internally screaming for joy but manages to keep a calm demeanor. Once they are inside they dry off and he turns to her hopeful. “So, what do you say Dash?” “To what?” Rainbow looks at him confused. “About my question?” “I dont even remember what it was to be honest but hey, you can ask me in the morning cause I’m beat. You can crash on the couch.” Rainbow goes to a closet and brings out a blanket and pillow. Feeling rather struck down by this, he takes the blanket and pillow and sets them on the couch then turns back to Rainbow. “You really don’t remember what I asked?” “No, why...was it important?” Soarin sighs. “No... it was nothing important.” Putting on a fake smile. “Good night.” Rainbow Dash nods. Turning she heads up stairs then Soarin's smile and his head drop. He turns off the lights then lays down on the couch and whispers to himself “It was nothing at all.”