It was after breakfast at the palace and the boys were sitting around Spike's room going over their plan, Timber was there as well to help.
Flash said, "Okay, we agreed that we're going to take turns to see the girls since the rest of us need to stay here to cover the missing person. Now the question is… who gets to go first?" he eyed each of them.
Discord motioned, "Well obviously it should be me since I am the oldest, first born, first place I always say."
Spike complained, "That's not fair!"
Cheese agreed, "It isn't."
Soarin suggested, "How about a contest then? Whoever wins gets to go."
Capper shook his head, "There's no time. Our lessons will be starting soon so one of us has to go now."
Timber gestured, "I got it!" he took out six pieces of straw he got from the stables and held them out to the boys, "You draw straws, whoever gets the shortest straw will go."
Discord declared, "Perfect!" and took his straw.
The others did the same and checked their straw.
"Yes! I win!" Soarin held up the shortest and ran to the window and began to climb down the vines surrounding it, he saluted to his brothers with a wink, "See ya later." and went down.
Spike muttered bitterly, "Ugh, he's always so competitive."
His brothers went, "Mm-hmm."
Rainbow was in the kitchen with Pinkie as the maids were making a list of ingredients Pinkie needed.
"Now remember, Dashie, get only these ingredients and no extra goodies."
"I know, Pinkie, Cinch made us work extra hard all because I overdid it with the bits." she tied a handkerchief on her head and grabbed an empty basket. "I'll be back before dinner." she headed out.
As she walked down the road, a certain prince was riding on a horse before stopping in front of her. He gave her a smirk, "I was just coming to see you."
She frowned, "This really isn't a good time. I have to get to the marketplace to run some errands."
"Well then, can I offer the lady a ride?" he held out his hand.
She put her hands on her hips, demanding, "What, you don't think I can handle walking a few miles?"
"I never said that, if anything I think you could handle it, but don't you think it would be better and faster to do your errands by horseback?"
She pondered on his words till finally she gave in and he helped her up. She sat behind him and took hold of his waist. He signaled for his horse to get going and they traveled down the path.
As they were traveling she asked him, "So is it true that you're a champion swordfighter?"
"I wish. That title actually belongs to Flash, but I try my hardest to beat him. What about you? I'm curious to know what you do all day and what you like to do."
"Me? Well, I work in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie as a scullery maid."
"Harsh."
"Eh, it's not so bad, Pinkie actually makes the job kind of fun. It's our housekeeper, Madam Cinch that makes our work a drag."
"I know that feeling. Lord Fancy Pants, he's our tutor and we love him and all but he tends to give out the most boring lectures ever. My brothers and I have to entertain ourselves while he does them." he snorted, "One time we had a pea shooting contest while he was reciting trigonometry problems."
She snickered at that.
He asked, "So how exactly are you and the other girls, "sisters"? How did you all meet?"
She replied, "It all started when we were very young, I was actually friends with Fluttershy first because she and I were neighbors and our parents were great friends. She also has a younger brother who had this big crush on me and he still does to this day, it's so annoying. So one day, Fluttershy and I were avoiding him until we came upon this willow tree where it turn out Twilight was using it as a hiding spot to read books since you know it's frown upon that girls learn to read and write."
"Well I think it's stupid."
"You do?"
"Yes, because I've met many young girls in the court and they're able to read and write, I don't see why it can't be the same for all girls."
Rainbow smiled at his words, "Twilight would be happy to hear you say that."
"Well all of my brothers think the same way, we feel there's nothing wrong with a girl getting an education if it's going to help her in life. Can you read?"
"A little, Twilight taught us but I'm not much of a reader, though there was this one story I read that got me hooked for days."
"What was it?"
"The Odyssey."
"I remember reading that, that was a good story."
"I know, right?!"
They kept talking about the epic until they reached the borders of the village. Soarin noticed and stopped the horse as he gazed upon the town for the first time.
Rainbow questioned, "Why did you stop?"
"I've never seen the village before." he explained.
Her eyes widen at this, "Never?"
He shook his head.
"Well… what do you think?"
"It's not at all I imagine it would be."
"What did you think it would be like?"
"I don't know, people being happy I guess, and thriving. But this… everything's so rundown and depressing and the people don't look so good…"
She furrowed her brow, "What made you think they would be thriving?"
"My father told me and my brothers that the kingdom was flourishing well but this is anything but."
Dash frowned, thinking, Why would the king lie to his own sons like that? All this time I thought the princes were too caught up in their own lives to care about their kingdom but if what Soarin says is true then something rotten is going on here.
Feeling uneasy now, he asked, "So where is the marketplace?"
She pointed to the left, "Go down this street, it'll be easy to spot."
He moved the horse in that direction, and as they went down the street, Soarin saw how bad things were in the small village. Houses and wagons were in need of serious repairs, and on top of that there were people coughing severely and sleeping in alleyways. He couldn't believe it.
Rainbow commented, "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?"
He slowly nodded, unable to comment back.
They soon found themselves in the marketplace with people going about their day looking emotionless.
He stopped his horse and they got off, Soarin tied the reins to a pole and patted the horse's back, "We'll be back soon, Wonderbolt."
"Wonderbolt? That's his name?"
"It was the best I could come up with when I was younger."
She smiled, "I like it."
That made him smile in return before she started looking around.
"Pinkie always insists that I get the freshest fruit and vegetables there are."
Soarin examined the food products that were on display but they didn't look fresh in his eyes. "Are you sure you should be getting any of these? They don't look so good."
"Not everyone can have high quality meals like you, my prince."
He cocked his brow with a smirk, "I'm your prince now?"
"Well I'm supposed to address you like that, aren't I?"
"Not in this case, I want you to call me by my name."
"Soarin?"
"Right."
She turned her head away and blushed at the thought till suddenly her eye caught on two women standing nearby at a tavern. One of them had orange and amber hair with yellow skin and strong orange eyes. The other one had a mix of black and gray streaks in her hair, and she had light brown skin and rose colored eyes. They caught her in their sights and Rainbow quickly turned back to Soarin.
"Um, Soarin? Think you can go ahead and look for these things on this list?" handing him the basket and parchment.
"Why? What are you going to do?"
"It's nothing, I just need to…" she looked around for a good excuse but nothing was coming to her.
Soarin frowned, "What is going on, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow bit her lip before she deeply sighed, "Okay… do you see those girls over there?" she gestured toward the tavern.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I have a history with them and it's important that I talk to them."
"Is that all? Well then I'll just start getting the things you need while you catch up."
Her eyes lit up with a wide smile on her face and before she knew it she embraced him!
Soarin was taken aback by this but he gave in and embraced her back.
Once she realized what she was doing, she quickly backed away from him and blushed, "Uh, okay then, you do that while I… yeah…" she zipped away making him chuckle.
Rainbow was panicking in her head, Oh my gosh! I can't believe I did that! And why did it feel so good?! She recalled how strong his arms were when he wrapped himself around her and he just felt so warm, not to mention he smelled pretty good. Ack! Get a grip on yourself! You're not supposed to get close to him! He's engaged for cryin' out loud! Remember that!
She kept walking toward the tavern where she was greeted by the women.
"Rainbow Dash." the orange hair one stated.
"Spitfire." Dash replied and said to the other, "Daring…"
Daring Do nodded and said, "It's been awhile, Dash."
"I know."
Spitfire questioned, "Still working for those slave drivers?"
"I am."
Daring mentioned, "And it looks like you got yourself a beau."
"He's not my beau. He's getting married in a week."
Daring pointed, "Yet that hug you just gave him says otherwise."
Rainbow blushed again as she admitted, "Its complicated." she shook her head and got to business, "Is she here?"
Spitfire nodded, "She's in the cellar." she led them into the pub where people were already getting drunk in the middle of the day and a few drunks were messing around and throwing objects around and the barkeep had to keep them under control.
Once they were in the back of the saloon, Spitfire went down some stairs with Rainbow and Daring close behind her. They entered into a room where a tall woman with a peg-leg wearing pirate attire along with a captain's hat was going over a map with another tall woman but she was shorter than the other woman and she had a grumpy expression on her face, but when she looked up to see the newcomers, a smile grew on her face.
"Dash." she said.
Rainbow smiled herself, "Gilda." and went over to shake hands with her before turning to the other woman and saluted, "Captain Celaeno."
"At ease, Rainbow Dash." she said while still looking at her map.
Rainbow inquired, "I hear about a pirate attack a couple of days ago, was that you?"
"Who else would it be?" Gilda answered instead, "The king refuses to lower his tax laws and the fact that his guards steal in his name, she has to be a pirate to steal back what is rightfully the people's."
Celaeno looked up and said, "Yes, thank you Gilda, for summing that up but Rainbow is fully aware of my actions."
Gilda scoffed, "Well, a lot has happened since she turned us down."
Rainbow countered, "I told you, I couldn't leave my friends."
Celaeno stated, "And because of that kind of loyalty, I greatly respected your decision. Anyone in my crew who questions that will have to answer to me."
Gilda made a humph sound.
Suddenly there was a commotion coming upstairs and Spitfire and Daring went to check it out but when they came back they had Soarin in their grasps, making Rainbow gasp.
Spitfire stated, "We caught this guy snooping around."
Soarin defended himself, "I wasn't snooping I was just making sure that Rainbow Dash was okay! When she disappeared into the tavern, I got worried!"
Celaeno asked Dash, "Do you know this man?"
Rainbow sighed, "Yes…" she went to him as Spitfire and Daring let go. She took him to the side and whispered to him, "How much did you hear?"
He whispered back, "Enough to know that my father is stealing from the people too…"
"You can't stay, if they know you're the king's son who knows what'll happen?"
"Or maybe they should know and I can tell them I can help."
"No, they won't trust you. Frankly, I'm not sure I can trust you either since you followed me here instead of doing what you'd promised you'd do."
"Okay, you got me there, but I really do want to help, Rainbow Dash." He scowled, "I was upset to see how everything was in the village that it makes me mad that our people are suffering like this."
Her eyes widen and softly inquired, "You feel that strongly about all of this?"
He nodded.
She bit her lip and thought it over until she turned to the group, "Girls, I like you to meet Prince Soarin."
Their eyes widen in shock.
Glida frowned and questioned, "You're Prince Soarin? As in one of the sons of King Tirek?"
Soarin firmly replied, "I am, but I am not my father in the slightest."
Celaeno glowered as she stated, "I find that hard to believe. Since when have you and the other princes ever shown you've cared about your kingdom? Your people?"
Soarin looked down in shame, "May you're right. If we cared about the kingdom we would have questioned our father of how he was handling things and that we should have put more effort to find out the truth. But I'm willing to help right these wrongs if you give me a chance."
The group exchanged looks before Spitfire pointed to the couple, "How exactly did you two meet? There's no way a prince and a scullery maid could meet on their own."
Dash said, "It's a funny story actually…"
After a moment of recapping recent events (Though Dash didn't say anything about her and the girls' fairy godmothers since no one would believe it anyway), Rainbow finished by taking Soarin's hand, "So now we're spending time together before the princes have to get marry."
Spitfire let out a low whistle, "That's quite the debacle you put yourself in."
Celaeno proclaimed, "Perhaps I was wrong about you and the princes after all, because if His Majesty would be so cruel as to have his own sons marry for advantage rather for love then it seems we have use for you after all."
Soarin smiled, "Name it."
"I need a list of ships and the cargo they're carrying that Admiral Storm will be taking this week, usually I'm able to pillage a few of his ships before the crew and I have to retreat, but if we know where some of the cargo is ahead of time, we can get more and return it to the people."
"That sounds like a great plan, I'll do that. In fact I can get my brothers to help."
Daring suspiciously asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea? There's only so much trust you can give out."
He was quick to reply, "I can trust my brothers. We've been through a lot together and I won't hide this from them. They need to know about what is going on here."
Rainbow felt her heart swelling from his words.
Gilda scoffed, "No wonder you two hit it off, you're just as devoted to sentimental relations as she is."
Spitfire smirked, "You're right, these two are committed to those closest to them, how romantic."
Rainbow blushed uncontrollably but when she felt the squeeze from Soarin's hand and she saw him smiling right her, she smiled back.
Celaeno mentioned, "Since you two don't have much time together, I'll help you with whatever errands you have to do."
Dash exclaimed, "Thanks!" and Soarin handed the captain the list.
Daring said, "In the meantime, we'll go back up to the tavern so you two can enjoy each other's company."
Rainbow grinned mischievously, "Wow, I never thought of you as the romantic type, Daring."
"There's a lot you don't know about me, Dash."
Glida stated in a guff tone, "If you had joined us in the first place, you would know more about her."
As they started going up, Soarin asked, "So are all of you like female renegades?"
Glida challenged while giving a deadly stare, "Is that a problem?"
He sweated a little and stammered, "Uh, no, no not at all!"
Rainbow told him, "Good answer, because it's always best to keep on Glida's good side."
He nervously replied, "I'll remember." then he slowly smirked and whispered to her, "I just hope I can keep on your good side too…"
She smirked back, "You better or no romance for you before you get married."
They got into the bar where the two of them sat at a table together while Daring and Spitfire sat at a different table observing from afar.
Some time had passed as the couple talked and Soarin questioned in shock, "So let me get this straight, you don't like pie at all?"
She stated, "Yup."
"Wow. It's the opposite with me, I like pie, any kind of pie really."
"So? Just because we don't agree on the same thing doesn't mean we have to hate each other. If anything, I was finding it eerie that we had so much in common; about time there was something different between us."
He chuckled, "You're right, there's just so many interests we have together. We both like sports especially horse racing, we crave for excitement and thrills, we're loyal to our families, and we wish things could be better for everyone."
"Well now we can make things better, with you on our side, we can make a difference and help everyone."
"Still… the way things got like this in the first place disturbs me… I wasn't born a prince, I got chosen into it. My parents wanted what was best for me so they prepared me and hoped that Tirek would take me as an heir. Luckily, he did, but I remember how much work it took to prove I was capable for the task at hand."
Her eyes widen at this information, "Really?"
He nodded, "Some days I feel like a fraud because I am not good enough to be a prince when it comes to making right decisions and my studies. And it's not just me, Flash, Spike, and Cheese feel the same way. Discord and Capper enjoys it and are able to handle the lessons better than the rest of us but even they admit it gets overwhelming and pressure becomes too much."
"Yikes. I had no idea being a prince was that hard."
"It is." he sadly said.
There was a pause between them as they stared at the other. Then slowly Rainbow reached for his hand on the table and touched it. He grasped it and rubbed her fingers, enjoying her touch so much.
He said, "From the first moment we met and touched hands, I knew… I knew you were supposed be my wife…"
Rainbow hung her head, "Except I won't be…" she felt her chin being raised so she can look at him in the eye.
He firmly said, "Whether or not you were Chrysalis's daughter, Rainbow Dash. I fell in love with you and only you and that will never change."
His words overwhelmed her and she could feel tears rising in her eyes.
No! I won't cry over this! It's just how it is! He has to marry Aria, there's no way around it!
He continued, "I have to know, do you feel the same about me?"
His question took her by surprise and stammered, "W-What do you mean?"
His brow furrowed in suspicion, "Come on, Rainbow Dash, you know." he squeezed her hand again.
Her face sagged, "That's not fair, Soarin, if I tell you that then I lose myself to you forever."
"Then don't tell me. Show me." he slowly cupped her cheeks and moved her head closer to his.
She caught on and closed her eyes. Slowly but surely her lips made contact with his and they kissed in passionate bliss.