Soarin' to New Heights
Prologue
Soarin' unlocked the door to his mansion. His large cloud house stood magnificently, high above Cloudsdale and the rest of Equestria. Soarin' pushed the large door open, and threw his Wonderbolts uniform into a hamper by the door. He smiled as he made his way from the entry way to his luxurious bathroom. He turned the hot water on for his whirlpool tub.
He gave a relaxed sigh as he slowly dipped himself into the hot water. Soarin' played through the last show through his head: the cheering crowds, the speed, the adrenaline rush, air tearing through his hair, and let's not forget, the fine mares that had gathered themselves outside his dressing room in hopes to touch the fantastic stallion. Soarin' could think of more than a few things he would have liked to do with those fine ladies.
He had two weeks off. No training, no workouts, and no reason to get up early. The warm water soothed his aching muscles. He could spend the rest of the day in the tub, but he was planning to go clubbing with Rapidfire, maybe pick up some ladies, bring them home, and have a bit of 'fun.'
After he was thoroughly bored with sitting in his whirlpool tub, he dried himself off, and walked to his media room. The sheer grandeur of the room still amazed. The room had cost him a pretty penny- a huge four hundred thousand bits, to be precise- but it was worth every bit. It impressed even his fellow Wonderbolts, which was hard to do.
He looked through his large collection of movies. After a show, comedy was always a good choice. He looked at his section of comedy. He selected a movie by the name of 'Shaolin Soccer.' The movie wasn't supposed to be a comedy, but it was so bad that he put it under that category.
He slipped the DVD into the player and sat back in his special chair. The chair was specially built just for him; it had massage function, and it was made from an ultra-soft material that caressed the body. The movie played out, being very cheesy and in moments very funny, and he returned the DVD to its case, then the case back to the correct category. He looked at a clock mounted on the wall: he still had an hour to kill before he had to meet Rapidfire.
Soarin' walked back to the bathroom. He spritzed his mouth full of mouth spray. He combed his blue, windswept mane back just enough that he looked good, but it still looked rugged enough to keep up his fast lifestyle look. He applied oil to his muscles to make them show in clearer definition.
Soarin' gave himself a once over and agreed that he looked great. He trotted to his parlor area to go through his fan mail. He sat in his recliner chair next to a large bag of mail. He undid the knot at the top of the sack and pulled a letter out.
Oh Celestia... It's her again. He thought to himself as he opened yet another letter from the 'Wonderbolts-number-one-fan-and-official-best-young-flier-Rainbow Dash.' Soarin' folded out the sheet of paper. It was another request to join the Wonderbolts, and for the hundredth time he wrote out that they weren't looking for any new recruits at the moment, but they would let her know the next time they were.
He looked at quite a bit more fan mail before he got up to leave. He gave himself a look in a mirror that hung on the cloud wall by the door, and then he pushed the door open and flew up. He planned to meet Rapidfire by the fountain that stood in the center of Cloudsdale's night life.
Rapidfire was already there when Soarin' arrived.
"Hey dude." Rapidfire greeted when Soarin' came to a landing. Rapidfire was a great wingman, metaphorically and in reality: he flew right next to Soarin' in formation and he could always talk Soarin' up, yet he could get him out of a jam when things got awkward.
"What's up?" Soarin' responded. He looked around quickly: no pony had noticed them yet and he wanted to keep it that way, otherwise they would be swarmed by fans.
"Not much. Where should we start?" He asked, looking around at all the clubs that surrounded them.
"I heard that this new place, Cantering Clouds, has a great VIP section." Soarin' recalled. Rapidfire shrugged and they took to the air for the short distance to the club. The club was a modern looking cloud building that looked like it was sewn together from storm clouds and regular clouds.
There was a line wrapped around the building, but Soarin' and Rapidfire went to the front of the line. A few ponies behind them complained, but then the complaints stopped when they realized it was two of the stallions from the Wonderbolts, and then the fans started to yell their love at them.
"Soarin' and Rapidfire." Soarin' said to the bouncer before the fans swarmed them. The large stallion that served as the bouncer opened up the rope gate to let them in.
"The VIP section is to your right, sirs." The bouncer said as he blocked the fans from getting into the club. Soarin' and Rapidfire walked into the club to be blasted by live music. The music was good, had good beat, and was fast paced. A few attractive mares came to be by Soarin' to rub up against his flank.
"What's up, ladies?" He asked in his most smooth voice. It was no secret that Soarin' was great with the ladies. They opened their mouths to respond but the music drowned out their voices. Rapidfire left to get them some drinks, and came back with some fruity martinis. Soarin' disliked beer and he detested hard drinks like whisky or vodka: he supposed that hatred came from when he turned legal age and went binge drinking, then ended up in a gutter in the rain with a hangover that felt like his head was being torn in two.
Soarin' and Rapidfire gathered a crowd around them as they started to talk about life as a Wonderbolt.
"And he came into a landing so fast his hooves were on fire." Rapidfire finished his story about Soarin'.
"Yeah, Rapidfire brought a storm cloud over to put me out, but it turned out to be a thundercloud." Soarin' continued the story. "Bam, I got struck by lighting and my uniform was still on fire. Spitfire came along and finally put me out."
They crowd laughed, but a few gave him funny looks: it was probably because he mentioned Spitfire. That was one of the few things about being a Wonderbolt that Soarin' didn't like. Being co-captain with Spitfire led to a lot of ponies thinking that they were romantically involved for whatever reason. Sure, Soarin' liked Spitfire and she was an attractive mare, but they had never done anything. Yet he couldn't mention her without everypony thinking they were secretly in love or some other crap like that.
After a few more stories and an equal amount of drinks, Soarin' ended up in the booth with a few fine mares. Two of them were leaning on his shoulders. Soarin' took another sip of his martini.
"Tell us again how you joined the Wonderbolts, please!" One of the mares pleaded: Soarin' didn't know her name, but she had a scarlet coat with a peach mane.
"Oh alright. Well, it was about seven years ago..." He thought back to the day he joined the Wonderbolts. "I had just graduated from advanced flight school, and I already had a job as a supervisor at the weather control center. On my first day on the job I saw a poster that said the Wonderbolts were recruiting. So I thought to myself 'why the buck not?' I went to sign up, but before I could a stallion approached me."
"He was none other than the current captain of the stallion squad, the great Red Baron." Soarin' was lost in his memory. "He said to me, 'So you think you're good enough to be a Wonderbolt? Well, how about a race, you beat me, and you're in.' I responded with a resounding yes. So he personally took me to the Cloudasium, and said we would race around the stadium once. We started the race, he took an early lead, but you all know who ended up winning. After the race he said to me 'Kid, you're going to be captain one day.' I guess he was right."
"Would you mind accompanying me home, ladies?" He asked as his lips took the form of a smooth smile.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Soarin' forced his eyes open. A mare laid on each side of him, their legs wrapped around him. The knocks came again. It was times like these he wished that he had a butler so he didn't would have to get up, but when he was on tour he didn't want some pony freeloading off him.
He pulled himself free from the grasp of the two very attractive mares. The night before flashed into his mind. He smiled as he shook himself to full wakefulness.
"Where ya going, sugar lips?" One of the mares awoke as he got up.
"I got to go get the door. Breakfast is in the fridge, and please lock the door on your way out." He said. The mare looked disappointed, although it happened a lot. The mares that didn't have a very good grasp on what a one night stand was would always think he was going to be their coltfriend or something.
Soarin' brushed out his mane, then proceeded to go to the door. The knocking was getting louder and more frequent. He opened the large front door to see his manager, a chubby yellow pegasus with a cutie mark of a clock and bit.
"What are you doing here? I was sleeping." Soarin' said angrily to his manager. Soarin' didn't like his manager; he was always bothering him about what he should be doing and how to get the media to focus on him more. He had even tried to convince Soarin' and Spitfire to date so they could boost interest in the Wonderbolts.
"We got a problem, Soarin'." He sounded nervous.
"I told you to leave me alone when I have time off." Soarin' retorted.
"I know, but this is important. The Mayor of Ponyville is threatening to release some sensitive information to the public if we don't go down there immediately!" His manager sounded nervous.
"What information could she have on me?" Soarin' asked: he couldn't think of anything that the public didn't already know.
"That's just it, I don't know… but if it's bad our PR will crash!" He was starting to hyperventilate.
"Alright, I'll go down there and settle this." Soarin' didn't want his manager to come along, for fear that he might make the whole situation worse. "You just be prepared to issue some counter statements in case anything comes up."
The chubby pony nodded and looked at Soarin' expectantly. He hadn't been planning to go right at that moment, he would have liked to take a shower and eat breakfast, then laze around a bit, but instead he lifted himself off the cloud floor and started to trip to Ponyville.
Ponyville a relatively, small community that Soarin' had only visited once, but still had fond memories of his visit. He had come to the town to promote the next Wonderbolt's tour. The town was very warm and welcoming, and didn't swarm him with fans and reporters. The buildings were unique colors and designs: not a place he wanted to live, of course, since his home was in Cloudsdale.
As he flew, his mind started to wonder to what information the mayor could possibly have that would be important enough to threaten him with. He was sure he hadn't committed a crime, and that he wasn't addicted to any sort of drug. And his nights with the ladies weren't a secret to anypony. Then he started to get angry: the mayor had probably just threated his manager to get him down there to do a photo-shoot for an upcoming election… and if so she was going to get more than just a piece of his mind.
Soarin' was a fast flier, needless to say, and he was on the doorstep of Ponyville town hall in less than a half hour. He opened the wooden door to an entranceway that had a secretary at a desk, near another door that had a sign that said 'Mayor Mare' on it.
"You wanted to see me?" He said more than asked. His voice had a sharp tone to it.
"Yes, the Mayor will be just a minute." The secretary smiled politely.
"Just a minute? You threaten my reputation then have the gall to have me wait!" He shouted at the mare, who sank back in her chair.
"I'm sorry, sir. You go right in." She said in a very small voice.
Mayor Mare sat behind her large desk. Her face didn't betray any emotion she might have been feeling. She had her hooves in a pyramid, while she looked at him impatiently. A basket laid on her desk; it looked like a blanket was folded up inside. Dear Celestia, she wants me to go on a picnic. He thought to himself.
"You threatened me to come down here for this?" Soarin' put an edge of aggression in his voice.
"I'm sorry I had to take such drastic measures, but it was the only way I could be sure you'd come." The mayor dodged his aggression with the skills of a politician. She put a hoof on the basket and opened her mouth to say something.
"No, I will not go on a picnic with you." The Wonderbolt interrupted. The mayor looked at him, confused.
"Wha- no." The political pony stuttered. She drew the blanket back to reveal little foal that was inside: by the looks of it, he was maybe only eight or nine months. "Soarin', meet your son, Little Wings."
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