A little step forward
Soarin tugged hopelessly at the large pole imbedded deep in the earth, kicking up dirt as he scrambled. Moaning, he flopped to the earth and waved a hoof in surrender. "I give up."
"Give up? I didn't think you were a quitter."
Soarin jumped into the air, and wheeled around to see a short teal pegasus in front of him. Her hooves were wrapped tightly around a bundle of flag staffs. The gloomy expression on his face vanished in an instant. "Hey, Rainbow Dash. What are you doing here?"
Rainbow grimaced, "Working." A metallic clatter rang out as the flag poles were unceremoniously deposited on the ground. In an instant she was standing next to him, "Twilight volunteered me for clean up." She made a gagging motion with her tongue, and pointed at the tall pole, "What are you doing with that?"
"Trying to move it." Somehow, he felt terribly stupid for letting a pole beat him. He decided to save what little face he had, "I wasn't really going to give up."
A bright smile stretched across her face, "I know. You're a Wonderbolt, and Wonderbolt's don't quit."
"Yeah." A squirming sense of guilt made his stomach churn. "But, I was going to give up with the qualifiers if you hadn't come along."
"Yeah, well-" Rainbow chuckled unconvincingly, shuffling up some grass with her hoof. "-it was kinda my fault in the first place."
"Right." It was her fault, but he didn't want to rub salt in the wound. Looking for something more productive, Soarin mentally calculated the weight of Rainbow's load. She was fast, but he was not so sure she was all that strong. Way too much for a mare to carry. "Why don't you get Bulk Biceps or somepony else to carry these?"
"They left already. Said I'd have to catch the next train." She shuffled the staffs with her hoof, carefully stacking them. "Supposed to be my punishment for earlier. Where are the Wonderbolts?"
"Gone. I volunteered to stay and help." He nudged her aside with a hoof, scooping up most of the staffs. "I'll carry these."
Rainbow gaped at him. What, am I an invalid? Shaking it off as less work for herself, she gathered the last of the staffs and took to the sky. They flew for a time in silence, concentrating on the work at hand. In no time at all, they arrived at the storage shed where the supplies were kept. After a bit of tricky stacking, they managed to shove them in. Rainbow slammed the shed door closed with decided finality. "Whew, glad that's over."
Soarin stared at the mare, a smirk stretching across his face. "Say, Rainbow, I'm curious. Which of us is fastest?"
"Duh. I am!" Rainbow spun in the air, "You may be a Wonderbolt, but I'm the best flyer in Equestria. Got that?"
Soarin raised an eyebrow, "You sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure."
"Meh, I've seen ponies just as fast as you." Soaring wanted to laugh out loud at the sour expression on the mare's face. Teasing her was just too fun. He leaned in close, "Prove it."
"I will!" Rainbow looked around for a target, then found it. "I'll race you to the top of the falls."
"You are so on." He crouched down into a race starting position. Rainbow fell in beside him, eyes flashing with determination. "One, two, three!"
The pair took off at breakneck speed. From the onset, he knew this race would be a tough one. As he continued darting through the clouds behind her, he started to wonder if he could win. Geeze, her pace is insane! She'll burn herself out. "Say, Rainbow, aren't you going a little fast?"
"Awwwe, is slowpoke tired already?"
Soarin leaned forward, increasing his own speed until he was neck to neck with her. "Nope. But you are." Winking, he zoomed past her, wings beating furiously. A familiar thrill took over as he soared ever higher. He laughed and grinned from ear to ear. "This is amazing!"
Time was all too short, and soon he touched ground at the top of the falls. The spray from the falls cast a damp cloud of mist over the ground, making visibility nearly impossible. Still, he managed to make out Rainbow Dash's form skidding to a halt. All that Soarin could do was listen to the rushing water and her panting. "How…did you…?"
His laugh bounced off of the cliff, "You're a sprinter Rainbow Dash."
"So what?" Try as she may, Rainbow could not locate the stallion. Geeze I can't even see myself in all this.
"So, you can out fly just about any pony in short races like the areal relay, but you're lousy at pacing yourself." The mist flying off of the falls was starting to drench his sweat streaked coat. "Hey, let's get away from the water."
Rainbow didn't need telling twice. In a flash, she took to the air, hovering above the vapor cloud. Soarin joined her a few seconds later, pointing at a rocky outcropping a short way off. They flew over and landed smoothly, allowing their front hooves to dangle. Soarin turned to her, and started at Rainbow's glare. "What?"
The sour expression on Rainbow's face grew more pronounced, "So I'm no good?"
"I never said that." Great, now I made her mad. Truth be told, he did not know a lot about Rainbow Dash. But, from what he saw of her today and heard about in the academy, she had her heart in the right place. "Rainbow, you're good. Probably one of the best fliers in Equestria."
Her eyes began to burn, and she pressed a hoof to them. Stupid, what are you getting so upset for? The soft, meek quality of her voice startled even herself, "I thought I could beat you."
Soarin wanted to slap himself. "And you can, in a short race. But-" He socked her gently on the shoulder, "-You're the one who picked the top of the falls. That's a long race."
"Oh." It made sense, but it still was embarrassing. "It was fun though."
"Yeah, it was. The most I've had in ages."
Rainbow's mouth fell open, "What? You're a Wonderbolt. You probably have more epic races in one week than I do in a whole year!"
Soarin simply shrugged, "Yeah, but that's work. Sure I'm a Wonderbolt, and they're Wonderbolts, but that doesn't make them my friends." An uncomfortable warmth filled his cheeks, and he turned away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that."
"What? That you're my friend?" Friendship was always a big deal amongst her fellow Elements of Harmony. But, she had never really considered anypony else as a "friend". Acquaintance perhaps, but never a friend. She coughed, "Well, I'm not like Pinkie Pie, making everypony my friend. But you're a pretty cool dude. I guess we can be friends."
"You mean it?" Soarin's eyes glistened like a foal in a candy store.
His reaction took her aback, "Yeah."
"Great." Clapping his hooves together, he turned around them for some other topic of conversation. He looked down and gasped. "Would you look at that."
"What?" For the first time since they arrived, Rainbow Dash looked down into the valley below. What she saw took her breath away. The setting sun cast beams of light shooting down in all directions, bathing the valley in a warm glow. Everything from the houses to the falls to the surrounding cliffs sparkled and glistened like a thousand jewels. Before she could stop herself, she jumped up and down like a filly, grinning from ear to ear. "Amazing! Awesome! Cool! Do you see that Soarin? It's like a picture book down there!"
Soarin was no longer looking at the valley. Instead, he found himself transfixed at the mare in front of him. Her eyes shone with childlike wonder, unconcerned with the strands of hair tickling her face. The very sight of it was taking his breath away.
"Soarin?" Rainbow had turned back to him, cocking her head in confusion. "What's wrong?"
He raised a hoof casually to his head. "Nothing."
"Guess we should be getting back." Rainbow turned to fly off, but Soarin stopped her with a hoof. "What?"
"Just-" The heat returned to his face full force, "-can we do this again sometime?"
"Duh." Rainbow gave a cheesy grin, "But next time I'll win."
"We'll just see about that."