Soarin and Dash had talked for hours after she woke up. They had sat there in uninterrupted bliss for what felt like only a few minutes.
Suddenly the door to Dashs' room opened and all of Dashs' friends walked in. Pinkie Pie rushed over with a box and set it on the table next to the bed.
"Dashie! imsohappyyourawakeandweneedtothrowyouan "I'm so glad your awake and ok party" andittlebethetalkofthetowncuzoneofequestriasgreatestherosissafeandaliveand-" Pinkie was cut off by Applejack shoving an apple into her mouth, which she happily took and ate.
"Pinkie, I'm sure Dash is plum tuckered after everything that's happened. A party is gonna have to wait, heh." Applejack said chuckling a bit at her. Rarity stepped forward, pushing the two aside and looking to Dash and Soarin's locked hands and gave them an apologetic look.
"Darlings, we can come back at another time. It seems Soarin and Rainbow Dash are a bit busy at the moment." She said, turning to pull them all away, but Dash chuckled and stopped her.
"Rarity, it's fine. We were just talking about stuff. I've actually been waiting to see you guys for a while." She said. Twilight was the first to approach Dash and gave her an awkwardly placed hug, doing her best to avoid her friend's injuries. Dash continued, "With the Wonderbolts and all, I feel like I haven't gotten much of any time to spend with you guys. I miss all of you so much." She said, smiling at all of them.
Twilight smiled and the rest of Dashs' friends gathered around. Soarin sat up and offered his seat to Rarity, who was now 7 months pregnant with her first child. Dash snickered as she saw Rarity.
"Geez Rars', looks like your gonna pop with that belly you've got. Last time I saw you, you were what, 3 months?" Dash said snickering. Rarity rolled her eyes but smiled.
"Yes, darling, I was three in a half months the last time we saw each other. Oh but I'm so excited. Fancy has been an absolute gem of a man while helping me prepare the nursery." Rarity smiled and clapped her hands. Dash smiled at her. Rarity was the oldest out of all of them, being 26 years old now. When they had all met Dash was in her teens at age 17 with Fluttershy being 17 as well. Applejack was 19, almost 20, at that point, Pinkie had just turned 19, and Twilight was 18. Rarity was 21 at the time. Dash smiled remembering all the good times. It had been 5 years since they had all met, and Dash herself was now 22 years old.
All these good memories made Dash look at Soarin. When she had first seen him back at the best young flyers competition he was 19 and about to turn 20. He had just become a full-fledged Wonderbolt in the top tiers a few weeks before that and was a part of the lead squad. And... She would admit that her crush on him at the time was more of a fangirl crush, him being the only male Wonderbolt lead squad member at the time until Soft Cloud retired and Rapidfire took her place.
Dash smiled warmly at him as he stood off to the side. She giggled and held her good hand out, "Soar, you don't have to stand off to the side like that. Come over here with my friends. You're just as much a part of my life now as they are." She smiled warmly and Soarin chuckled and nervously walked in the circle of girls where Applejack and Fluttershy had parted for him to join them.
Soarin looked down at Fluttershy, who was giving him a warm smile and a reassuring look. He smiled back and looked to the others who were all doing the same. Twilight chuckled when his eyes landed on her.
"Dash is right, Soarin. Your her boyfriend, and any boyfriend has to be a friend before that. And any friend of Dash is a friend of ours." She said, giving him a friendly and warm smile. Soarin smiled back and looked back at Dash.
"So Dash, I never really have heard a whole lot of your stories about your friends. Usually Fleet gets all of those, so I want to know more about all these nice friends of yours." He said, glancing about them all again. But, as if her name itself was enough to summon her in seconds, the door busted open and a crying Fleetfoot rushed in with a very annoyed-looking Spitfire right behind her.
"Fleet, calm down and slow down, you pushed two doctors out of the way while trying to-" Spitfire was cut off by Fleetfoots wail.
"RAINBOW DAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!" Fleetfoot ran to Dashs bedside where Pinkie and Twilight had just moved out of the way from the wailing Wonderbolt. Fleetfoot didn't bother trying to avoid Dashs' injuries and just hugged her, and cried... a lot. Dash chuckled and winced a bit, but hugged Fleetfoot back as tightly as she could with her good arm.
"Heh, miss me, Fleet?" Dash asked.
Fleetfoot just kept crying and sniffling while hugging dash. It took Soarin stepping over and pulling her off when she let go of Dash. "Fleet, I know you care about Dash a lot, but please be careful with her. Her body is broken enough already. Heh, I don't think the doctors would be too pleased if you messed up their work on her." Soarin said, gently patting the top of her head. Fleetfoot pouted and puffed her cheeks out while rubbing the tears away from her eyes, but still said nothing. Soarin looked to Spitfire who was smiling at both Fleet and Dash. When she noticed Soarin's gaze at her she smiled and chuckled.
"Good to see you Soarin, we miss you and Dash at practice, but I don't think anybody misses Dash more than Fleet." She said pointing to Fleetfoot. Soarin smiled and chuckled and nudged Fleet.
"Glad to know you've completely forgotten about me." He said chuckling. Fleetfoot glared at him and pouted even more, but still said nothing. "Fleet?"
Spitfire cleared her throat and chuckled again, this time more restrained and as if she was holding back the laughs. "Fleet here lost her voice after screaming at Rapidfire for a poorly timed joke. He had just gotten back from vacation and made a joke about getting into a car accident because of how bad of a driver his wife was. And fleet exploded on him like a hurricane." Spitfire said, chuckling more. Fleetfoot glared and pouted at her. Spitfire chuckled more and walked over to her side and punched her arm gently. "That's the first thing and the loudest thing I've heard her say in two days."
Soarin rolled his eyes and growled under his breath. "Leave it to Rapidfire to make a poorly timed joke without even knowing the shit that's going on." Spitfire glared at him and rolled her eyes.
"Come on Soarin, you're not still mad at him, are you? You can't stay mad at him forever or it will start affecting your teamwork." She said, glaring at him. Soarin scoffed.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just don't think it's the time to talk about this right now." She said, grumbling under his breath. All of Dashs friends looked at each other in confusion and then back towards Dash who instantly burst out laughing when they all looked at her. Soarin grumbled and glared at Dash, "Dash, don't you dare tell them." He said, giving her a stern look, but it was ineffective against her.
Dash giggled and laughed more as her friends just kept staring at her in bewilderment. The girls all looked to Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were chuckling and holding back laughter themselves. They all looked back to Dash who was calming down and gave Soarin a devious look.
"If you want we can make a deal Soarin. In return for me not telling them, you have to do me a favor," she said, catching his interest. Dash motioned him forward, and she whispered something in his ear. He flattened his brow and grumbled again.
"Fine, just tell them then and get it over with." He said unenthusiastically while blushing like crazy and covering his face with both his wings. Dash snickered and laughed a little again.
"Before Soarin and I were together, Rapidfire went into Soarin's room at the compound one day while looking for him. He didn't find Soarin, but he found all his magazines that had me on the cover of them from when I went to a photoshoot with Fleet and Spitfire. And he had kept every magazine that published the photos they took." She giggled as the girls all gave her confused looks.
"Uh, Darling that doesn't sound like anything strange." Rarity said to Soarin who was still covering his face with his wings. He sunk to the floor and covered his face harder. His blush might as well have been coming straight through his wings. Dash laughed and tried to explain it more.
"Oh but Rarity, the Photos were of a Swimsute modeling shoot. Where I was in a bikini that left very little to the imagination." She said causing them all to blush.
"Oh yes, I uh, ehem, do remember when that issue came out from Cosmare magazine." Rarity said, blushing a bit more in embarrassment. Dashs' friends were still not used to the idea of seeing her pose all sexy for the cameras, especially when it was definitely not her style at all.
"Heh, Once Rapidfire found them just kinda laying his bed he took them out to the mess hall and called Soarin out in front of everyone for having a huge crush on me. Heh, which caused Soarin and him to get into a fight which suspended both of them for a week." She chuckled, looking at Soarin who was curled up on the floor still hovering his face and groaning. She smiled warmly at his display. "When I found out about it that day, I caught him in the mess hall for dinner and I made sure I was directly in Rapidfires and everyone else's line of sight. He was so embarrassed and shocked to see me approach him like that, he was so cute. He started fumbling all over the place with his words and was trying to apologize to me, but before he could, I pulled the collar of his shirt to my level and I kissed him. I kissed him so quickly that he had lost all his breath and was too surprised to get away from me to breathe. So once I let go of him he... passed out. HAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAH." Dash burst out laughing along with Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were now rolling on the ground and clutching their sides.
Soarin was still covering his face but Twilight could see his whole face was red underneath his wing feathers. She giggled and tapped Soarin on his wing gently. He poked his eyes out from his wing and looked up at Twilight.
"So, hahe, why are you mad at Rapidfire again? It seems like what he did brought you and Dash together." She said giggling a bit more and covering her mouth to stifle the laughs. Soarin looked back down and his eyes widened. He groaned and put his head back down.
"Well, when you put it that waaaayy, I guess I can't really be mad at him," Soarin said still blushing but a lot less now. He looked up to Dash who was smiling very warmly at him. She held her hand out to him and made a grabbing motion for him. He smiled and chuckled, getting up from his spot, he took his place back next to dash and grabbed her hand and held it tight in his, planting another kiss on her forehead. This made Rarity 'daw' and got Dash to blush a little. But she didn't really care at the moment. She was happy and laughing again... Especially after the awful news the police officers had told her, she needed this.
***
All of the girls in the room were talking and laughing, mostly at Soarins' expense. Dash had told them all several funny stories about Soarin and how much of a goofball he was, and Spitfire was telling tales of their recruit training and immediate jump into the elite ranks. But there was a question on everybody's mind, and Soarin was the first to ask.
"Dash... what exactly happened? We kind of got an idea from the police report, but I feel like we all kind of deserve to know what truly caused all of this." He said, looking her square in the eyes. Dash shied away avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible.
"I overslept and forgot to plug in my phone the night before and-"
"Dash, You never forget to plug in your phone. That thing is your alarm clock, you'd have to have been extremely distracted if you had forgotten to plug-in you're phone." Soarin said, cutting her off.
Dash sighed, she knew what Soarin wanted to know, and there was no way around it. He was serious when he said he wanted the truth. "The night before I had been drinking... A lot. I got very drunk and eventually passed out from getting blackout." She said looking away from all of them in shame. Soarin reached up to her face and pulled her chin back forward to look at him.
"Dashie, I know you like to drink, but you don't usually drink alone unless something is bothering you. What happened?" He asked giving her a concerned look. She sighed again and grabbed his hand tight and squeezed it. She turned her right arm over to reveal the large scar on her arm.
"I got a letter in the mail from my father, my biological father. In the letter, he said he wanted to see me and talk to me and so did my mother, but I'm not sure I even want to talk to them. It's bad enough that I work in the same city that they live in, now. I doubt I would ever be able to face him or her without crying and cowering away with fear... So I drank myself silly so I could try and forget the letter after I ripped it up and threw it in the trash. But of course, that didn't work." She hesitated to look at Soarin or the rest of them for that matter. Only Fluttershy knew about what had happened with her parents and she wanted it to stay that way for as long as she could. Suddenly she felt a hand on her upper left arm, gently resting on it. She turned her head to see Fleetfoots pleading eyes. Seeing as she couldn't talk because of her voice, Dash could only assume this was her way of asking her to tell them what she was talking about.
Soarin cleared his throat and gave Fleetfoot a stern look. But it didn't work, she puffed out her cheeks and pouted at him and then looked to all of Dashs' friends who all looked bewildered except for Fluttershy. She locked on target and rushed at Fluttershy and jumped and squeaked in surprise. Fleet gave her a serious look and pouted very aggressively at her. Fluttershy quickly caved and nodded, making Fleetfoot let go of her.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked to Dash, who was still avoiding all eye contact with everybody. She sighed and looked up to all of them again. "Dashie grew up with me and my brother Zepher Breeze. But before she was fostered into our family, For the short periods of time that Dash was with her parents, they abused her. Hence that large scar on her arm. She made me promise not to tell anybody, but that went out the window the other night when Soarin and I had a heart to heart about Dashs' past." She said, hiding behind her hair once she finished.
Spitfire looked shocked and looked at Dash with concern. "Dash, why didn't you tell us any of this? We could have given you protection at the compound among other things so you could feel more comfortable and safe and-"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE A HELPLESS LITTLE GIRL!" Dash suddenly shouted, causing all of them to jump in surprise. She quickly covered her mouth realizing she had just yelled at her captain. "Er, Captin, I-I'm sorry I didn't-"
"Dash, it's ok, I'm here visiting you as a friend, not your Captin. But what do you mean? 'a helpless little girl', none of us would think any different of you if you need extra protection, especially for something as serious as that. And I doubt that I would even need to anymore, with your prince in shining armor probably there to protect you 24/7 now." She said motioning to Soarin and chuckling. Soarin rolled his eyes and chuckled but Dash squeezed his hand tightly, making him wince.
"Dash? That kinda hurts." He said in-between breaths.
"Could you guys give me and Soarin a moment to talk in private please?" She asked calmly, still crushing Soarin's hand. They all looked at each other and shrugged hesitantly and one by one they left the room.
"Dash?" Soarin gave her a concerned look as she loosened her grip on his hand. Dash looked up at him and gave him a pleading look.
"Please... don't treat me any differently than you used to because of all of this... I don't want to be treated like I'm broken... I meant what I said, you mean way too much to me for that." Dash clasped her hand tightly on Soarin's, gripping it like a vice. He squeezed her hand in return and smiled at her.
"Dashie, like you would ever let me treat you differently. I would probably get one of your famous punches to the arm and told to stop being so pussy whipped. And then promptly thrown out the door somehow and force to spend the night outside." He smirked at her and gave her a playful but gentle nudge to her ribs. She glared at him, sneering.
Dash giggled and ran her hand up to his arm and to he chest, the to his neck. She pulled the collar of his shirt towards her. She got to his face, the same glare and sneer still stuck to her face. Suddenly she gave him a peck on the lips. "Damn right that's what would happen. And don't think I would care that it's the middle of fall." She said, chuckling.
Soarin smiled at her and kissed her cheek. He loved this woman so much, he would do anything and everything for her. Taking care of her was the least he could do for her in return for her giving him her heart.