Feather waited in anticipation while standing by the large lake near Ponyville. He couldn't hold in his excitement as he was going on a date with the Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty and newest Wonderbolt.
'I can't believe my luck when I won that contest!' Feather thought as he recollected from how it all started. He read a flyer about a charity that involved the Wonderbolts. It mentioned that when somepony donates to the No Foal Gets Left Behind Foundation, he or she will enter a raffle to see who will get to spend an entire day with Rainbow Dash. Feather first thought that he wouldn't have a chance as he guessed that a lot of ponies will donate to enter. But still, Feather wanted to help out for charity. After a few days since Feather made his donation, he received a letter that says he had won the raffle. Feather was completely shocked to be the winner. Now Feather gets to be with a celebrity.
"Hey there!" A mare's voice said from the distance. Feather turned to feel excitement as a familiar rainbow-maned, cyan pegasus mare flew towards where he was standing. Feather was completely awe-struck that such a famous mare was at a close distant from him.
Rainbow used one of her wings to pull out a piece of paper and read what it said. "You're...Feather Bangs, is that correct?" Rainbow asked.
"That would be me," Feather said with a smile. "I got to say that it's such an honor to meet an amazing mare such as yourself." Feather then flipped his mane to show off his swagger.
'Oh great, another Zephyr,' Rainbow said in her mind. She took a deep breath before she continued reading her paper. "As promised when you won the raffle, you will get to spend the whole day with me. But I also must to let you know that you have to follow the raffle's regulations when planning our activities."
"I know, I already read the rules about the raffle." Feather said while waving a hoof. "That's why I chose to spend our time together here." Feather said while pointing at the lake. "It's near your town and we're just gonna spend the day at this lake. I even brought lunch whenever we're hungry." Feather said while pulling out a picnic basket.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Rainbow admitted.
"What can I say, I do my best when it comes to pleasing pretty mares." Feather said in a flirty tone.
Rainbow gagged internally without Feather noticing. "Let's just get this over with." Rainbow said as she followed Feather. They started with just swimming around in the lake. Feather was the first to jump in and felt the cool sensation of the lake's waters. Rainbow stepped back for a bit before she made a big jump. While in midair, Rainbow began to do some awesome poses before diving into the water.
"Ah!" Rainbow said as she floated along the water. "That feels refreshing." Feather felt like he didn't want to be lame in front of Rainbow, so he climbed out of the water and backed away like Rainbow did. When Feather was at a far enough distant, he began trotting towards the lake and made a big jump. Feather tempted to make a pose but he ended up doing a belly flop into the water. As Feather emerged from the water, he saw that Rainbow was laughing hysterically from his attempt of a cool dive. "That was so hilarious!" Rainbow said while wiping a tear with a hoof. Feather blushed as he humiliated himself in front of a mare. Feather and Rainbow swam around for a bit.
"How often do you go out for a swim, Rainbow?" Feather asked.
"It's been a while." Rainbow answered. "Ever since I've become a Wonderbolt, I've been more busy with training and air shows. Whenever I do have some time off, I usual just head back to Ponyville and do stuff with my friends."
"Wow, it sounds like you barely have time to do more fun things." Feather then thought of something. "How about on your next time off, you and I can go on a pony-drawn carriage ride? I may have connections on how a carriage ride can be possible." Feather said while grinning. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and continued to swim. Feather didn't want to be left behind, so he put some extra effort in paddling after Rainbow.
'Is he seriously trying to catch up to me?' Rainbow thought and decided to swim faster. The distant between Rainbow and Feather increased since the pegasus mare was more athletic. Feather did his best to swim faster, but his stamina was weakening. He ended up stopping but he was so tired that he sank into the water. Rainbow realized this and dived in to get Feather. They splashed out from the water and Rainbow pulled Feather to the shore. Feather was busy coughing out water that he accidentally swallowed.
"Are you okay?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah, I was just tuckered out. That's all." Feather said but he coughed up more water.
"How about we do something else that doesn't put us at risk of drowning?" Rainbow suggested. Feather nodded in agreed. They decided to start their next activity, volleyball. Feather was preparing the volleyball net while Rainbow worked on inflating the volleyball. Rainbow then noticed that Feather was having a hard time setting up the net judging how he had some of the strings tangled. "Do you need a hoof, Feather?" Rainbow asked.
"No no, I got this." Feather said before he tripped from the tangled strings on his hoof. Feather let out a small chuckle to let Rainbow know he was fine.
"Forget it, I'm helping." Rainbow claimed as she flew over to get the whole net set up. Feather felt sort of impressed to see how fast Rainbow was even though she was doing it on her own. Rainbow pulled one last string until the net was finally up. "Whew, that takes care of that." Rainbow said while patting her hooves to get the dirt off.
"Yeah, well...it's a good thing I helped loosen it up for you." Feather lied.
"Sure," Rainbow said with sarcasm. "Shall we play, Mr. Strong Stallion?" Rainbow stood on one side of the volleyball net while Feather was on the other side. Feather insisted that Rainbow serves first so she held the volleyball with one hoof. "I'll offer you this handicap of taking it easy on you, Feather. I don't want you to get hurt." Feather felt a bit offended by Rainbow's offer.
"It's alright, Rainbow! You can go all out! I can take it!" Feather claimed.
Rainbow sighed. "Alright, have it your way!" Rainbow threw the ball up and she hit it the moment it fell towards her. The ball bounced upwards and it was falling to Feather. Feather responded by hitting the ball back upwards. Unfortunately, Feather's lack of strength only made the ball bounce up a few inches before it hit the ground and rolled. Both Rainbow and Feather were silent as they didn't know what to respond from such a lame return. "Um...you can redo that hit, Feather." Rainbow offered. Feather nodded and picked up the ball. He threw it up and he was able to land a hit on the ball. The ball bounced to Rainbow and she did her best to hit it enough that it didn't go very far. The ball flew back to Feather's side but it was falling at a further distant. Feather had to trot further out in attempt to hit it back, but he accidentally tripped and fell to the ground. The ball ended up hitting the ground.
'Oh boy, this is going to be a long game.' Rainbow thought. The game went on with Rainbow doing her best not to hit the ball too hard while Feather messed up when hitting the ball. Even when Rainbow was holding back, she was still winning during most of the game. Rainbow would feel excited that she was getting the most scores at certain sports, but this time was different as she was making little effort. What's worse, Rainbow could tell that Feather was also not having a good time as he kept messing up and not get a single point. It wasn't until the next round when Rainbow hit the volleyball and it flew up farther than she wanted. Feather ran to try hitting it back, but he ended up tripping again and skidded on the ground. The volleyball landed on Feather's head and it bounced slowly on the floor. Rainbow cringed as she thought it must've hurt for Feather.
Rainbow quickly flew over to Feather to see if he was alright. "Need a hoof?" Rainbow asked as she offered a hoof. Feather didn't say anything but he lifted his hoof to grab Rainbow's. As Feather got up, he showed a face of defeat as he made himself more ridiculous than he already was. "How about we stop for lunch?" Rainbow suggested.
"Sure," Feather said in a gloomy tone. He dragged his hooves towards the picnic basket he brought. Rainbow felt sort of bad for Feather as he was just trying to impress her. Feather just pulled out a picnic blanket to lay it out on the floor. He then opened the basket and gave a sandwich to Rainbow. Feather too took out a sandwich and just took a bite out of it. Rainbow looked at her sandwich before she took her bite. She couldn't help but be amazed from how tasty her sandwich tasted.
"This is really good, Feather." Rainbow commented. Feather just nodded and continued to eat his sandwich. Rainbow didn't know what else to say and continued eating. Rainbow tried to figure out what to say to cheer Feather up, but she couldn't think of anything. She decided to take a deep breath and say the first thing that popped into her head. "This was an interesting date," Feather ended up turning as Rainbow's words caught his attention. "It's true, I barely have time to date since I'm a Wonderbolt and I spend most of my time with all of my friends. I also guess that most stallions would be too scared to ask me out on a date since I might one up them in anything. Your case was a bit different, Feather. Not only you won your chance to hang out with me, but you also kept trying to keep up with me in most of the things I'm good at." Rainbow then lifted up her bitten sandwich. "I have to admit, you made some tasty food. I'm such a novice when it comes to cooking." Feather couldn't help but blush from Rainbow's praise. "What I'm trying to say is that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. It's what we do to balance them out. You may lack athletic strengths, but you still put effort in impressing mares, even me." Rainbow admitted. Feather felt better hearing what Rainbow said.
"Wow, thanks Rainbow." Feather said while rubbing his neck. He then notice that Rainbow got up to spread her wings.
"To show my appreciation of you putting your best into this date, I'm gonna show you what makes me a genuine Wonderbolt!" Rainbow flew into the air and began performing some midair stunts she has been practicing. Feather watched in awe from how cool Rainbow looked in the air. He had his fair share of watching Wonderbolt perform in their air shows, but seeing a Wonderbolt perform up close felt so amazing. When Rainbow was ready for her grand finale, she flew up higher in the air to drop down with high speed. Before Rainbow was about to hit the ground, she flew back up and her Sonic Rainboom appeared. Feather was shocked to actually see Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom so up close. Rainbow flew in an arch direction to create a beautiful rainbow from her trail. When the rainboom was gone, Feather began to cheer and clapped his hooves for Rainbow's amazing performance.
"That was so incredible!" Feather claimed. "It's no wonder you're a Wonderbolt!"
"Thank you, thank you." Rainbow said as she flew back down to Feather. "I take only compliments as payment."
The sun was setting and it was time for the date to be over. Feather and Rainbow packed up Feather's stuff before they said their goodbyes.
"Thanks for such an amazing day, Rainbow." Feather said. "I just wished that it could've been longer."
"We can still hang out." Rainbow replied. "But you know, as friends." A part of Feather felt happy that a cool mare like Rainbow was willing to see him more than once. "Just make sure you bring me more of those sandwiches you have made. I might come with a big appetite the next time we meet."
"Sure thing, Rainbow." Feather agreed. With that, Feather and Rainbow shook hooves before they went their separate ways. Although Feather wasn't able to make Rainbow swoon like most of the mares he had met, he was still glad that he made an awesome friend.