//------------------------------// // Afternoon Bonding // Story: Dancing Through Life // by MiraculousDragonMaster //------------------------------// Dancing Through Life Chapter 11 Afternoon Bonding Thankfully, Soarin' didn't have to wait much longer. Before he realized it, the school day ended for the weekend. He rushed out of the building, jumped into his car and headed towards the city mall. When he arrived, he had first noticed that it had gotten much bigger since the last time he was in Canterlot City. The mall was almost twice as big as it was when he lived here in middle school. Soarin' grabbed a pair of dark sunglasses and a sports cap that had the Canterlot Wondercolt team mascot on it. He put them on before he left his car and headed inside the mall. Luckily for him, no one seemed to notice him as he searched for where the store Rainbow Dash was working at. Soon, he came to the store that had his band's logo on the front. He walked inside and saw a couple of customers inside and a few employees. Then, he saw her. Rainbow was in one of the aisles where it had soccer ball, basketballs, and footballs. She was wearing the store uniform; a red and white shirt with a black collar and her nametag, black shorts with dark purple leggings, and red and yellow shoes. Her prismatic hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and her work cap had her signature rainbow lightning bolt on the front. She was practicing bouncing a soccer ball on her knee. But then, she bounced it too hard, and it was flying towards Soarin'. But he quickly caught it by bouncing it on his own knee before catching it in his hands. "Soarin'!" Rainbow whisper-yelled, remembering that the store and mall would go crazy if they discover him. "Sorry about that." She said, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "No worries." Soarin' assured her. "I was a soccer superstar back in middle school, as I'm sure you remember." Rainbow shook her head while rolling her eyes, but it was with a playful smile. "Yeah, I remember." Soarin' returned the smile and put the soccer ball away. "Now, how about you and I head out and explore town?" He asked. Rainbow thought about that for a second. "Well, my shift ends in a couple of minutes." She said. "We can leave right when I'm done. You mind exploring the store until then? I'll come find you." Soarin' smiled. "I'll be waiting." True to her word, Rainbow was finished within two minutes, got out of her work uniform and back into her normal clothes, and found Soarin' by the pyramid of shoe boxes in the front of the store. She smirked as she went up to him. "That pyramid took me forever to assemble." She said, taking him by surprise. "There's about a hundred shoe boxes in that." Soarin' whistled lowly. "That must have been a lot of work." He said. Dash nodded. "I almost had to build it twice, thanks to the CMC." Seeing Soarin's confusion, she began to explain. "They're the Canterlot Movie Club. They know pretty much everything about the newest movies and the classics. But they can be a bit of a handful." Soarin' chuckled. "I take it you can't be mad at them for long." He said. Rainbow smiled. "Yep." She said. "Now, you said you want to explore town?" She said with a smirk. Soarin' returned it. "Yep." He said. "Come on." Once they left the mall and went to the parking lot, Soarin' got inside his car with Rainbow in the passenger seat. Soarin' started it and he drove it out of the parking lot and onto the main street. "So, where do you wanna go?" Dash asked him. "I have to get back to my house by six, or else my family of witches are gonna kill me." Soarin' smiled. "Well, I was hoping for the long way around town." He said. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you not hear what I said?" She asked. Soarin' only smirked. "I promise I'll get you home in time." He said cheekily, making Rainbow roll her eyes playfully. The Wonderbolt superstar then turned on the radio, which had a really catchy song on there. Rainbow laughed as she and Soarin' began singing along. It definitely was an afternoon to remember. Rainbow showed Soarin' the best place to get ice cream, some popular tourist spots that have changed in the time he was away, and the arena where the dance competition was to be held. They had to make a stop at the grocery store when Rainbow got a text from Adagio giving her a list of things for lamb chops. But Soarin' didn't mind, and that made Dash feel like the most special girl in the world. Soon, the dark blue car arrived a couple of blocks away from the Dazzlings' house. Soarin and Rainbow were laughing as the rainbow-haired girl got out of the car and opened the back seat to get her two brown paper bags filled with groceries. "I've had a fun time today, Soarin'." She said, as she closed the door. "The most fun I've had in awhile." Soarin' smiled warmly. "Me too, Dash." He agreed. "So, about the dance competition." "What about it?" Rainbow asked, getting a feeling that she knows where he's going with this. "I've seen your moves, Rainbow." Soarin' said. "You should enter, and I have a feeling you're gonna win." Rainbow shook her head. "No way, the Dazzlings are gonna bury me alive under the garage if they find out that I want to enter the competition." She said. "They already make my life miserable enough." Soarin' reached over and grabbed her hand, but didn't pull it away from its grip on the brown paper bag. "Come on, Dash." He said. "I know you're gonna win that, and this might be your ticket to get the freedom you want." Dash thought about that instead of the cute boy that was holding her hand so that she could hide the blush that was starting to form on her cheeks. If she did have the courage to enter the competition, then she might finally be free of the Dazzlings for good. "If you want, I can come over when the Dazzlings are gone, and we could practice." Soarin' suggested. Rainbow smiled. "I'd like that." She said. "So, tomorrow morning, then?" Soarin' asked. Dash nodded. "I'll meet you at the park before the Dazzlings leave to get ready for Sonata's birthday party tomorrow night. Then, we'll have the whole house to ourselves for the whole afternoon." "Great." Soarin' said, letting go of her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Rainbow waved goodbye to him as she walked the couple of blocks to her house with her arms full of groceries. Soarin' watched her leave his line of sight before he drove away. He had a strong feeling that he was going to get an earful from Spitfire when he got back to the house he was staying at, but honestly, he could care less. It had been pretty much a perfect day.