//------------------------------//
// Volt-Faced Cons 
// Story: Obligatory Post-Wedding SoarinDash Ship 
// by Cygnus 
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	Yet again, Dash’s pony eyes cracked open before Soarin’s. She shivered; it was chilly in the suite. She began to sit up, but a blistering pain shot through her head and she lightly fell back to the bed. She saw a bottle of water on the nightstand, and she gulped down half of it then and there. She sat up for a minute, regaining her composure. She took another sip of water and lightly fell back to the bed. She turned to see Soarin lying on his belly, his front hooves curled around the section of cloud that he’d bunched up into a pillow. His head was turned to the side, and he tossed a little with each of Dash’s movements. Dash crawled next to him and laid down under his wing, but her hooves were still exposed. She bunched up her own cloud pillow and tucked her front hooves between her chest and the cloud and snuggled herself as close to Soarin as possible. She drifted back to sleep soon after, refreshed from the water and no longer cold.
Soarin awoke to an odd sensation an hour or so later. He noticed half his body was chilly when it dawned on him that Dash had snuggled up next to him. He pulled her a little closer and tightened his wing’s hug around Dash. He placed one hoof around Rainbow Dash’s back and laid his head down next to hers. Dash stirred a little, but remained asleep.
Soarin just laid there for a little, keeping warm. It was vacation for him, and it surprised him that he wanted to spend it with Dash. He hadn’t exactly planned this. He hadn’t even known Dash was in Canterlot until the Sonic Rainboom, and it’s not like he’d been lusting for her; he hadn’t really thought about her like that. Then again, had the gala not ended in such disaster, he might’ve brought her home with him that night.
Eventually, Soarin got up and had a glass of water himself. Returning from the kitchen, he sat back down on the cloudbed and opened his nightstand drawer. Rustled by Soarin’s movements and the noise of the nightstand opening and closing, Dash began to wake. It wasn’t quite as cold in the room and more, and after lying there for a few moments, Dash sat up and brushed her mane out of her eyes. Soarin was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from her. He was fiddling with something on the nightstand and hadn’t noticed that Dash was awake, until Dash yawned and greeted him.
“‘Mornin.”
Soarin’s head spun around and saw Dash sitting up, now rubbing her eyes. He turned back to the nighstand.
“Hey. You need some water or something?”
“No, I’m alright, I got some in the middle of the night.”
“Good. What’re your plans for today?”
“Not a whole lot; this afternoon I’m fillysitting a few of my friend’s siblings, but I figure I’ll just take ‘em to Canterlot Mall. You can join us if you’d like. I’m sure they’d be pretty starstruck to meet you.”
“Yeah, maybe. Do you wanna grab breakfast?”
“Eh... I’d rather just order in... but... yeah I’ll go to breakfast. Right here in the castle?”
“No, if you’d rather order in then we’ll order in.”
“But you said you wanted to go to breakfast so-”
“It doesn’t matter what I said, we’ll order in.”
“No, actually, I decided I wanna go out to breakfast. Come on, lets go.”
“Noooooo now you’re lying.” Soarin said with a chuckle.The little game went on for a few minutes, but eventually Soarin tackled Dash onto the bed and pinned her there beneath him. She laughed and pushed against him in a meager effort to escape, but he held her tightly.
“Haha, let go!”
“We’ll order in.”
“If I say ‘okay’, will you get off me?”
“No, not until the food gets here.”
“Seriously?”
“No.”
Soarin eased off Dash and rolled to the side, finding a comfortable position on his back. The comfort was short lived however, as Dash quickly pounced on him, pinning his hooves down with her own. However, she wasn’t as strong as Soarin was, and he freed his arms without that much effort. Rather than pushing Dash off, he wrapped his hooves around her back and held her. Dash in turn wrapped her own hooves around Soarin’s neck and rested her head on his chest.
She closed her eyes and laid there for a moment. The two snuggled together as Soarin ran his hoof down Dash’s mane over and over again. She might’ve drifted back to sleep had Soarin not whispered into her ear.
“Can I... uh...”
Dash laughed and shook her head.
“Not now. Later. I’m hungry.” 
She rose from the bed and walked towards the door, leaving Soarin on his back. He gave her his best sad-puppy eyes and flopped his ears back, but Dash just laughed and shook her head.
“I need some time to recover. Later, I promise.”
Soarin crossed his arms and made a pouty face, but bits of laughter escaped him. He wasn’t a very good actor.
“Fine.”
He smiled and walked out of the apartment with Dash.

________________________________________________________

By sheer coincidence, the couple found Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy having breakfast in the hotel lobby. The three beckoned them to their table and they each took a seat beside one another. The waitress brought them a menu as they exchanged tired greetings with their companions. No one had food on the table yet, and both Fluttershy and Twilight still had menus of their own. Dash began to search for a dish to order while Applejack began to speak.
“Howdy you two. What’re you doin together so early?”
Twilight get a nervous chuckle while Fluttershy listened, oblivious to the connotation. Dash opened her mouth to respond, but Soarin must’ve noticed Dash’s embarrassment because he spoke first.
“Rainbow Dash and I are hanging out today. We’re getting breakfast... what are you three doing here so early?”
Applejack chuckled and pointed towards the colt with her fork.
“Well shucks, that’s a good excuse as anything. Still, doesn’t explain why you came down the staircase with Rainbow here.”
Dash wasn’t necessarily embarrassed with Applejack’s incessant prodding as she was frustrated with it. She wasn’t in the mood to play this game, but Applejack had made a good point. She began to dread Applejack rubbing her lie back in her face over the next weak, but her fears were assuaged when Soarin spoke yet again.
“I’m staying here too. As a matter of fact, my room is right across the hall from Dash’s.”
Before Applejack could come up with a response, Twilight’s voice cut into the middle of the conversation.
“I think I’ll have dry cereal. Fluttershy, what are you having?”
“Pancakes, with sugar and lemon of course, they’re my favorites. They won’t taste as good without Applejack’s lemons or Sugar Cube Corner’s sugar though.”
Applejack gave a warm smile; Dash sighed in relief. Applejack was an easy pony to flatter, and Dash would rather hear her boast than have her pry into her private life.
“Aww shucks Fluttershy, that’s awful kind-a you to say, but even I admit this fancy Canterlot grub is finger-lickin good.”
With the sights temporarily off of her, Dash eased her way into the conversation.
“Well Fluttershy, I think you’re just used to Fluttershy’s lemons. It’s like, these beds here in the castle are plenty comfortable, but there’s nothing compares to your own bed.”
“That’s called “Ma’s Cookin’” syndrome.” Twilight added.
In the corner of her vision, Dash saw Soarin close his menu and he folded his hooves on the table. When no one immediately responded to Twilight, he jumped in.
“That’s the only downside to the Wonderbolts; lots of traveling. I seldom sleep in my own bed. Maybe five weeks a year, total.”
Fluttershy’s menu also lay closed and she turned her attention to Soarin.
“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that. Still, it must be nice to travel.”
“It is... but it gets tiresome. Right now I have two weeks off, and then I’m traveling for another six months before my next break. Even then I’ll end up spend the whole time here in my hotel room, to be closer to Swiftwing. I’m not always working when I’m traveling, but...”
Soarin trailed off and Applejack interjected.
“...but there’s no place like home.”
“Exactly...”
“Where do ya live anyway? I mean, where’s your home.” Applejack continued.
“Cloudsdale.”
Twilight jumped in.
“Who’s Swiftwing?”
Dash looked horrified, fearful that Soarin had mistakenly revealed his secret, but if Soarin minded, he didn’t show it at all.
“My foal.”
Twilight and Applejack nodded in understanding, while Fluttershy spoke up again.
“So what are your plans for the next two weeks. Are you spending them here with your colt?”
Rainbow Dash’s stomach tightened. Since she woke up this morning, she started to wonder what would happen when the wedding was over and everyone went home. She had quickly fallen for Soarin, and the thought of sleeping alone again filled her with dread. Her ears flicked up and she turned to Soarin to hear his response.
“No... I mean yes, I saw him yesterday, but I won’t be able to see him again for a few weeks. “
Dash didn’t even realize it when she spoke.
“So what are you doing?”
Soarin gave her a puzzling look and shrugged.
“I don’t know. I don’t have anything planned. I only booked the hotel through the wedding.”
“Well, why don’t you come back to Ponyville with us. Have you ever been?”
“No... I haven’t. I would’ve gone with Spit to the Hurrican Duty you guys did a last month, but I had to cover a press appearance for her.”
Soarin continued to stare at Rainbow Dash, forgetting the first part of her question. Dash stared back impatiently for a few seconds before putting her hoof on his shoulder.
“Well?”
“Oh! Come back to Ponyville with you? Sure, that sounds great. I can stay at your place?”
Dash leaped into his arms, knocking over a spoon, not caring that the showing of affection was in full view of her friends. She was so excited, she didn’t notice that Soarin’s expression had changed to one of slight unease. No one at the table knew it, but there was only one thing going through his mind at that moment.
Fancypants...

[[I know it's a quickie, I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still working on it. Just me now.]]