//------------------------------// // The people in our lives... // Story: Racing Hearts // by Lazzari //------------------------------// Eventually, Spitfire and Fleetfoot had to leave so they could get back to the compound. This left Soarin and all of Dash's friends there, but one by one they too all had to leave. Soarin and Dash were now alone again, enjoying each other's presence in the silence. Soarin had taken his spot back in the chair next to Dashs bed but had moved it closer to the head of the bed. He was laying his head gently on Dashs' good shoulder while rubbing her arm gently. Dash had her head resting against his, enjoying the warmth he provided to her cold cheek. Occasionally Soarin would turn his head to kiss her, an affection she gladly returned when nobody was in the room. Can't have people thinking she was sappy now. The door to the room opened once again and a new person walked in that wasn't a doctor. This Pegasus woman was dressed in a feminine black suit and wore a pair of short black heels. Her dark red hair was dun up in a ponytail and had glasses on. She smiled at Dash and walked over to the couple, Soarin picked his head up off of Dashs shoulders and gave Dash a confused look. She smiled and gave him a reassuring look. "Soarin, this is an old friend from flight school, her name is Crimson Justice, she's a world-renowned famous lawyer for celebrities. She is here to help me with this case because of a possible... wrongful death case..." Dash said, hesitating with the last few words. Soarin stared at her shocked. "Wait, wrongful death? What do you mean?" He asked, a bit of panic in his voice. Dash grabbed his hand and squeezed it but sniffled a bit, Soarin could see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sure you saw the police officers who walked out of my room before you came in. They came to ask me what happened and to get my side of the story. I told them what happened and they told me my story lined up with the passenger of the second vehicle, but that I would still be ticketed for speeding since I had admitted to it. After he told me where to find the information on to pay the ticket or go to a court hearing, I asked him about the others. He told me that the driver who had hit me suffered very minor injuries, a broken arm was what he escaped with. They said he was texting when he hit me and that he is cooperating fully with the investigation. But..." Dash trailed off, more tears welling up and threatening to escape her eyes. Crimson Justice put her hand on Dashes left shoulder gently and gave her a reassuring look. "Rainbow Dash, none of what happened is your fault. I read through all of the files and reports. nothing you could have done would have stopped what happened." Crimson said, trying to reassure Dash. But Dash wasn't having any of it. "BUT IT IS MY FAULT! If I hadn't drank myself silly the night before then maybe I wouldn't have overslept, and if I hadn't overslept I wouldn't have been rushing to get to work and started speeding, and if I hadn't been speeding then that poor man would STILL BE ALIVE!" Dash shouted, tears now rolling down her cheeks like a waterfall and wailing loudly. Soarin looked at Dash with a concerned expression. He knew what Dash was doing. She was comparing 'what ifs' and that was never healthy. But he could guess from what he just heard, that the man who was driving the car that Dash ended up colliding with either died on impact or succumbed to his injuries. He grabbed her right hand and held it tight and gave her a sad look. "Dash, you can't blame yourself for this. It's not like you had control of anything at that moment. I'm sure the other victims don't blame you either." He gently draped his wing over her back, careful to avoid her hurt wing. Crimson then cleared her throat and looked away. "Actually, that's why I'm here, the wife of the victim is placing blame on both parties. Trying to make a wrongful death case against the two other drivers involved in the accident. My job is to pull Dash away from the wrongful death case because of the circumstances the accident was under. But this woman is very determined, but I can't say I can blame her, she is grief-stricken and anybody would be in this situation." She said, grabbing a bag from her side and pulling out papers, and taking a seat in one of the other chairs in the room. Soarin felt a tight squeeze on his hand and looked to Dash, who was shaking and clutching his hand. He squeezed her hand back and got as close to her as he could, his wing still draped over her back. "Soarin... this whole thing took away a child's father... I took away a woman's husband... If I hadn't been speeding, none of this would have happened..." Dash quietly sobbed into Soarin's chest, still clutching his hand. Soarin sighed and kissed the top of her head. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to convince Dash of anything otherwise at the moment. All he could do was offer his comfort and presence to her so that she could feel safe. Crimson stood up, a few papers in her hands. She leafed through a few of them and put them in order. "Ok Dash, I can assure you that I can get you out of the case no problem. Because of the circumstances, seeing that your vehicle was literally PUSHED into oncoming traffic against your will or any possible reaction time, I'm 100 percent sure that the judge will pull you from the case and leave the teen at fault. But now we need to go over what we want to do about our case against him. No charges have been filed yet since you have to consent to that." Dash stared at her bedsheets, in deep thought. "I don't know if I want to press charges or not yet and-" Dash was cut off by a loud scoff from Soarin. she looked up to see his angered glair directed at her. "Dash, He was texting and driving AND he was speeding. He could have killed you, and it's a miracle you even have the chance at walking again! Let alone the fact that you might not have the flight capabilities you once had because your wing was practically smashed." His angered words rang straight into her head and stuck. She looked to her wing and cringed. She remembered all of that pain, she was still conches after the crash and only became unconscious a few minutes after the fact. The pain... She remembers laying there in agony, crying hysterically from the pain. she could feel the seat crushing her twisted leg, she could feel her hip out of place and screaming at her, she could feel the weight of her own body and the door pinning her wing down underneath it. She could feel all of the blood coming from her nose and mouth. All the shards of glass that were dug deep into her skin. She remembered all of it. But specifically, she remembered, before she blacked out from the pain, she saw what looked to be a young pegasus boy. His view was blurry but she could see his outline through the shattered windshield. He was on the ground on his butt, she remembered hearing muffled wails and cries of terror, and after that, she blacked out. Dash shook her head gently, using her mouth to blow away a strand of red hair in her face. "Soarin, I don't care that I could have died, he's just a kid, and I won't be responsible for ruining a kid's life if I can help it." Dash turned to Crimson and gave her a determined look. "Crimson, once I'm out of the hospital, I want to meet him." She paused, waiting for her lawyers' reaction to dim. "I want to look him in the eye and see his reaction to what he has done to me and that poor family. I want to know what was going through his head before I make any decisions." Crimson gave her a skeptical look but nodded. "Very well. I will set up a meeting with his lawyer and we can discuss with the boy and his parents." She said, earning a nod of acknowledgment from Dash. "Good, is there anything else we need to discuss?" She asked. Crimson shook her head. "No, not at the moment. Those will come up once, and if, we get a case." "Alright, then I suppose we will be seeing each other soon," Dash said. Crimson nodded, "Yes, I will give you a call in four days with the arrangements." She said, beginning to gather her papers. Dash nodded in reply and Crimson made her way out of the room. Dash looked to Soarin, who was giving her a disapproving look. She glared at him and grumbled. "Soarin, you're not changing my mind. And-" "I know, I just wish you weren't so stubborn sometimes." *** Soarin eventually had to leave to go eat, it was now 5 pm and he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. So after a quick kiss and a promise to come to see her again tomorrow he headed back to his own home to prepare dinner for himself and pack for a long stay at Dashs' house. When he got home he checked his mail, it was full of letters and bills, of course, being a Wonderbolt had its disadvantages. He opted to just set the mail on the table and go through them after he had eaten. Entering the house, he set his keys on the small table next to the door and hung his backpack up on the hook rack along with his jacket. After flying into the kitchen and set the mail on the table and headed over to the fridge to see what he had in terms of food. He had some leftover vegetable and steak stirfry from a few days ago so he opted to just pop that in the microwave and eat that. Once he closed the fridge door he came face to face with another picture of him and Dash, a magnet being the only thing holding it up. He smiled while looking at it. The picture was from when he had taken Dash to meet his parents a short time ago. A nice passerby had taken the photo at Soarins' request. It also included his younger sister and his younger brother. He was the oldest of the three, his sister being 3 years younger than him, and his brother being 8 years younger than him. Soarin himself was now almost 25 years old, making his little sister 21 and his brother 16. In the picture were also his parents, his mom hugging Dash and his father had his hand on Soarin's shoulder. His parents... He thought back to Dash's past experiences with her own parents and what she had told him about the night before the crash. They had sent a letter wanting to see her again. From what he heard, there was no way he wanted them anywhere near her. They had abused her to the point of not liking to be touched. Which explained why she was so hesitant to let him touch her at the beginning of their relationship. DING Soarin's thoughts were cut off by the microwave going off in the back of his kitchen. He got up, quickly pushing the thoughts from his head and replacing them with how hungry he was. Once he got back to the table with his food, he began eating and sifting through his mail. He separated fan mail from the bills so he could read the letters at some point. It wasn't that Soarin didn't like to read his fan mail, it was actually a good highlight to his day when he got to. But most of the time he was too busy, having to spend most of his time at the compound, there was little room for him to be home. He didn't know how Dash made it work living an hour away from the compound and still managing to make it into work every day. He had a hard enough time getting out of bed when he was actually at the compound. He sighed as he looked at the stack to his left, more bills. Each one he opened to read its contents and set it aside to pay later on his computer since he was just too tired to do them right now. As he sifted through the pile of unchecked mail his eyes caught an unmarked envelope. He picked it up and inspected it closely. The letter had his name on the front but there was nothing else attached to it. Usually, fan mail had a return address or at least his full address on it. So this had clearly been dropped in his mailbox. Curiosity overtook him and he decided to open it. As he read his eyes grew a bit wide with horror and confusion. Dear Soarin Skies, I know we have never met and we don't expect Dash to have mentioned us before this. Our names are Raining Ice and Sun Rise, we are Rainbow Dash's parents. We found out about your and Dash's relationship through mutual family friends and connections, I promise you we didn't go snooping around and trying to find it, it was merely a coincidence that we found out. We have been trying to reach out to Rainbow for a while now and don't seem to be getting any luck on the matter. I can't say I blame her though, I wouldn't want to see us either after all we had done to her. But we were hoping you would give us a chance and meet us in person, we truly want to explain everything and try to make a patch in the broken relationship we have with our daughter. We want to see the beautiful woman we are sure she has become. And as a sign of good intentions and good faith we want to meet with the man who seems to have her heart and her trust to ensure our intentions. We will give you some time to think about it. If you do decide to meet with us, meet us at the Cloudsdale library in the directory and family history section on November 3rd, Saturday. Sincerely, Raining Ice and Sun Rise. Soarin stared at the letter for a while. He wasn't sure how he felt about all of this. Two people who had proven to be violent in the past asking to meet him. Well, with how short his Dashie was, he was sure these people couldn't possibly be much taller, so he wasn't so worried about not being able to take them. He was more worried about how Dash would react. He sighed, glancing at his calendar he had on his door. It was October 23rd, He had a little over a week to make this decision and he wasn't sure how to feel. His emotions were conflicting and telling him that these people had hurt his lover and done horrible things to her that caused her to have trauma. But at the same time the letter, while rather short, seemed sincere and well-intentioned. He blinked as he remembered something. He quickly grabbed the letter again and read over it once again. The letter mentioned that Dashs' parents had close ties to somebody that was close to his own family. Who in Equestria was close to such awful people? But... If they really were awful then how did their families seem to know each other? He had to figure this out and as fast as possible. Could his mom know? Maybe his sister or his brother knew. He had to find out. He quickly finished his food and grabbed his keys again, a destination in mind. *** Soarin smiled as he pulled into a very familiar driveway. , upon exiting his car he heard the sounds of his little brothers' dog barking. He smiled as he walked up to the door, letter in his jacket pocket. His home, where he lived for 19 years of his life before becoming a Wonderbolt. All the fights, all the playtime, all the arguments with his siblings and parents. He smiled as he walked up to the door, staring at the wreath on the door decorated with nightmare night decorations. He slowly pulled his hand up to the door to knock, but before he could the door flung open, and a very excited teenage boy stood before him. "SOARIN!," the boy screamed, giving Soarin a big hug. Soarin smiled wide, as he returned the hug, embracing the younger boy. "Hey, Stratus, how's my little bro doing?" he asked, ruffling Stratus's hair gently. Stratus pulled away and gave Soarin a jab in the shoulder and chuckled. "Would be better if you would come to visit more often. We hardly ever see you anymore dude!" Stratus said, rolling his eyes. Soarin chuckled, smiling. "Well, you might be seeing a whole lot more of me now, I'm on leave from the Wonderbolts until my girlfriend is recovered from her injuries." He said. He looked over to Stratus to see he had a very confused and concerned look on his face. That's when Soarin remembered, "Oh right, I haven't told any of you about it yet." He walked past Stratus and into the living room where he greeted his brothers' dog and saw his little sister sitting on the couch and texting on her phone. He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Geez Sunflower, good to see you too," Soarin remarked slyly. Sunflower looked up from her phone and smiled. "Oh hey Soarin, what are you doing here?" She asked, putting her phone down. She got up and walked over to Soarin and gave him a hug. Soarin returned the hug and smiled. "I actually wanted to talk to all of you. Something has been happening this past month and I think it's time I talk to you guys about it. Are mom and dad home?" Soarin said, letting go of Sunflower. Sunflower nodded and pointed to the staircase. "They're upstairs in their office. let me call them down." Sunflower walked over to the stairs, placing one foot on the first step and holding onto the railing she shouted, "MOM, DAD, SOARIN IS HERE AND HE WANTS TO TALK TO US ABOUT SOMETHING!" Within seconds of his name leaving his sister's mouth, Soarin heard rushing feet from the top floor. He chuckled as he braced himself. Within a few seconds, Soarin's mother came flying down the stairs and hugging him as tightly as she could. His father joined them at the bottom of the stairs opting to pat his son's shoulder instead of hugging. With a smile, his mother happily bounced around with joy. "Oh Soarin, it's been so long since we have seen you, what's the occasion?" She asked, still smiling. Soarin chuckled, but his smile quickly faded. "Actually, it's about something pretty serious, and I kinda need your advice on it." He said, rubbing the back of his head. His parents gave each other glances and gave him worried looks. "Sure honey, let's go into the kitchen and talk there. It'll be more comfortable there." His mother said, walking towards the kitchen. Soarin motioned for his siblings to follow. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this to them. After all, this was never something he thought he would have to deal with. He never thought he would have to be caring for his girlfriend like this, and he definitely never thought he would have to choose to sit or not to sit in the same room with people who caused the woman he loved so much pain. He sighed as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the letter. Taking a seat at the table with his family he began to explain. "For the next few months, I'm going to be Rainbows caretaker. About a month ago, Dash was in a horrible car accident that almost cost her life. As of the moment, her hip is still healing, It had been broken in a few places and required surgery and artificial materials to correct. I will have to help her around her house until she gains full mobility again on her own with her legs. Her wing was also broken and it is still unsure how it will affect her flight capability yet, only time will tell us that. Her arm was broken and one of the bones was shattered completely and was replaced with a metal rod. But our biggest concern for her is her walking ability. She will be attending physical therapy sessions with a doctor twice a week for the next month while her hip heals. After that, it will be 3 visits every other day and I will have to help her with stretches and exercises every morning and night, along with other exercises in her home to help her gain mobility outside of physical therapy." Soarin paused, looking to his family. They all wore looks of worry and concern, along with some fear. Stratus was the first to speak up. "Soarin, what about the Wonderbolts? Arnt, you supposed to be training with them like, all the time?" He asked giving him a more concerned look. Sunflower spoke up next. "What are you going to do about money? Recovery and caregiving like that is expensive and-" "I took a personal paid vacation. I have almost a year saved up so I have it currently set to go for 4 months, but I can end it whenever I want to." Soarin said, cutting his sister off. They all stopped, staring at him wide-eyed. Soarin looked at them all confused as to why they were all looking at him like that. "What?" His mother was the first to speak. Sitting next to him, she grabbed his hand and held it tight, and gave him a very concerned look. "Honey, You haven't used any of your vacation time... at all?" She asked, squeezing his hand gently. Soarin looked at her confused. "Uh... no? Should I have?" He asked, looking around the table and to his father. He sighed and looked down at the table. "Soarin, you shouldn't burn yourself out like that. Even if you seem like your fine, your mind and body need rest too. Don't let your job feel like something that is the only thing that matters to your life." He said. Soarin looked down but then hardened his gaze and grumbled, "We're getting off-topic here. I came here because I learned something about Dash that I didn't know before a day ago. I learned that her parents abused her as a child, and now..." He opened the letter in his hands and placed it on the table. "They know about mine and Dashs' relationship and want to meet up with me, alone. And they apparently found out because of common family friends we have." He said, glancing at all of them. His father was the first to pick up the letter and read it. He shook his head and gave it to his wife, who also shook her head. "Sorry Soarie, not anybody we know." They said, passing the letter to Sunflower. Upon reading the names Sunflower looked to be in deep thought. She stared at the names harder and harder, looking like she was trying to remember something. Soarin waited patiently, not wanting to break his sister's concentration. She then looked shocked and gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "No way! They didn't seem like..." Sunflower trailed off. Soarin grumbled again and growled. "Sunflower, do you know them?" He asked, slightly losing his patients. Sunflower looked over to Soarin, who was leaning into his chair and staring at her. "Uh, not personally, A few months ago I went to Zinnia's house to help her pack for college. Her parents didn't tell us that they had coworkers of theirs coming over to talk about some work-related stuff, so when Zia and I walked downstairs we were pretty surprised to see two people we didn't know at all." She paused looking at Soarin in the eyes. "The man had four shades of blue and green in his hair and his wings were an ice blue color, a little darker than yours. The woman had red, orange, and yellow In her hair, and her wings were a really light yellowish-green." She paused looking at Soarin. He looked to be thinking about something, but then he puffed his cheeks out and tried to hold in a laugh. He had to ask, there was no way around him not asking. If he didn't know it would save him the trouble of laughing at them or being intimidated. "How tall were they?" He asked, snickering. Sunflower puffed her cheeks out and put a hand over her mouth to contain the laughter. She shook gently in her seat as she put her head on the table and laughed silently. After composing herself she pulled her head off the table and smiled. "The woman from what I've seen was the same height as Dash, And the man was A little under Dads' height." She said motioning to their father. He was in fact, shorter than Soarin, coming in at 5'10. Soarin chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know where Dashie got her height from." He paused looking down at the letter in Sunflowers hands again. It was strange how she connected those dots, no way his sister was THAT smart. She would have paid them no mind and ignored them unless asked something. "So did you find out who they were from Zia, or did you just completely ignore the fact that they had the same color scheme to make a rainbow?" He asked, staring at her with a smirk. Sunflower rolled her eyes and kicked his leg under the table smirking back at him. "No, Zia's parents introduced them to her as Raining Ice and Sun Rise. Her parents introduced Zia to them and told them I was her best friend helping her pack for college." Sunflower suddenly looked away a bit imbraced. "Ok, you have to promise not to get mad when I tell you what happened next." She said shying away a bit. Soarin glared at her and raised an eyebrow. "Sunny... What did you do?" He asked harshly. Sunflower cringed and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "Well, Zia and I were talking about you and she told me how she thought you were really hot. I had to tell her that you had a girlfriend already. She cornered me and demanded to know who it was. I didn't want her trying to figure it out on her own cuz knowing her she would try to say it was Fleet or Spitty. So I told her that it was Rainbow Dash and Raining Ice and Sun Rise overheard our conversation." She said, nervously giving him the letter back. Soarin sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sunny... I told you not to tell anybody about my relationship with Dash. We didn't want it public yet, and if this somehow went viral at some point then we are both screwed!" Soarin groaned as he let his head hit the table. Sunflower sighed and looked away. "I know, I'm sorry Soarin... I just didn't want her to hit on you when you're already taken. I was thinking in a panic and just told her." She said, nervously twidling with her yellow hair. Soarin sighed and pulled his head off the table. "It's whatever, what happens, happens, there's no changing it now. But now, I want to know how Raining Ice and Sun Rise reacted to hearing about Dash." He said giving Sunflower a stern look. Sunflower gulped and shifted in her seat. "Well... At first, they asked me how I knew Rainbow Dash and I told them she was my brother's girlfriend. They asked if my brother was another Wonderbolt and I told them it was you." She paused, coughing a bit as she saw Soarin glaring at her again for telling more people about his relationship. "But then they asked if they could have your phone number and I told them no since your personal phone number isn't to be released to the public, like ever. And that was the end of it. They didn't ask me any more questions about you or Dash. So I'm not sure how they found your personal address to even send this letter." She said, pointing to the letter in his hands. Soarin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Probably the same way the other fans tend to find out where I live and send me fan mail. But this letter stuck out to me cuz all it had was my name on it and no return address, and my address wasn't on it either, so I can only assume that they placed it directly into my mailbox." He said, shivering a bit at the thought. "Kinda creepy..." "Do they know about Dash's accident?" His mother asked, giving him a concerned look. Soarin shook his head, "No, we have kept this completely out of the media, you are all the first people to know outside of the Wonderbolts and Dashs' friends. The last thing Dash needs is people starting rumors about her and the incident... especially since the accident had a fatality..." He trailed off, looking down at the table again. All of his family gave him a concerned look with shocked expressions. Stratus was the first to speak up, "Soarin... How bad was this car accident? What caused it?" He asked, cringing a bit as he saw Soarin's face scrunch a bit at the question. He sighed crossing his arms. "Dash was rushing to get to the compound since she overslept. She was speeding and another speeding driver T-boned her at a highway intersection, pushing her into opposite traffic. Dash ended up colliding head-on with another driver, who had his wife and kid in the car with him. The impact either killed the other driver on impact or he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital." Soarin explained sadly. He slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Dash is... pretty stricken by all of this, I don't blame her either, I'd be mortified too..." Soarin felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked over to see his mother gently rubbing it and giving him a knowing look. "Soarin, all you can do for her is be there for her. She will understand that with time, that none of this was her fault. She couldn't have known what would happen, and over time she will learn that." She said giving him a warm smile. Soarin smiled back, he knew all of this, but hearing it from his mother really seemed to calm him. She had always had that effect on him. So his next question was now easier to ask. Grasping the letter, he pulled it out and stared at it. "What should I do? I'm not sure if I should even attempt to meet these people. I already have a bias against them because of how they treated Dash in the past, but at the same time, I've never met them. I don't know who these people are over 10 years after Dash was taken away from them." He said, looking a little frustrated. His mother gently rubbed her hand on his back and smiled. "Soarin, I think this is a decision only you can make. None of us have the right to tell you what you should do at this moment. But if you were to ask me what I would do in this situation Since they don't seem to be quite as... built or skilled as you are, I doubt you would have any problems handling yourself if things got out of hand. Also like you said, You don't know these people, they could be totally different people now than they were 10 years ago. It's all up to you what you should decide. And if you ask me, if they want a relationship with their daughter and are going as far as this to reach her, then I think it says a little to their character now." She said smiling at him warmly again. Soarin smiled back at her and looked to see all the agreeing eyes around him. He looked down at the letter and thought for a bit. He really wouldn't have any problems with handling things if it got out of hand. He was heavily trained in combat due to the Wonderbolts also being one of the most advanced emergency military organizations in the country. These people were and still are Weather factory workers, he doubted they had any military training like he did. And if things didn't go according to plan for them and he didn't like what they had to say, it's not like Dash ever had to know... right? His own thoughts cut him off abruptly, should he tell Dash about this? What would her reaction be? He was positive she wouldn't be too keen on the idea of him meeting them and he definitely knew she wouldn't like him being alone with them. Let alone the fact that they found his address as well. She would probably freak out, seeing as they sent her a letter at her own personal address as well. Was this why she was making the hour-long commute every day to work? So she wouldn't accidentally run into them? She could always move in with him, they have been together long enough. But that would have to wait for her body to heal, and there is also the question of what would he do with all her stuff. And she might be too afraid to live in Cloudsdail again after everything that's happened. Maybe it would be a better idea to try and establish a functional relationship first before anything else. But even then, Dash is using a lot of money to make the commute every day. and if things don't work out she would still be hesitant to move in with him. Dash herself had lots of military training and over the year she has been with them, has mastered fighting techniques to protect herself, but even then would she be able to in the face of people who had traumatized her? What would happen if he wasn't there to protect her if things got hairy? What would happen if she got injured and couldn't defend herself? What if- "SOARIN!!!!!" A loud shout cut off his thoughts. He looked up to see his sister angrily pouting at him with her arms crossed. "Dear Celestia, Soarin, I've been trying to get your attention for like three minutes now. You go off into ' la la land' or something??!" She asked, pouting even more. Soarin shook his head out and ran his fingers through his hair. "Uh, sorry, I was just thinking about a lot of things on my mind right now." "Clearly" "Hey, don't act like you wouldn't be too. Oh wait on second thought, you probably wouldn't since you often don't think at all." He said smirking at her snidely. Sunflower kicked him under the table again and growled. "Hey! I know I can be an airhead sometimes but at least I'm not the person who chases rainbows and hits his head on almost every doorway ever made, trying to get to said rainbow! I'm surprised you don't have brain damage from how many times you've hit your head on things." Sunflower shot back and gave him a devilish sneer. Soarin smirked and glared at Sunflower, "Oh it's on, 'airhead,'" He said sneering right back. But before he could say anything else- "Ok you two, that's enough sibling banter for us. Your adults, act like it." his mother said, smiling at the two of them. His father snickered a bit and nudge Soarin. "Sunnys right though. We were all trying to get your attention for a while. We were trying to ask you how long Dashs' recovery would take?" He asked, all eyes going back to Soarin again. He took a moment to think, "If I recall a nurse told me she should have full mobility, if everything goes according to plan, in about 4 months. Since she's young they aren't too worried about it not healing fast enough or properly. Usually, they start physical therapy at the hospital, but as I said, since Dash is young and will have full movement with her arms soon and will be able to get around on her own with a wheelchair, they are leaving her in my care to help her around the house with mostly basic stuff and like I said earlier, helping her do stretches every morning and every night." he finished. They smiled and said nothing, but Stratus was snickering. "So are you sleep on the couch at her house or something? Or are you gonna sleep in the same bed with a chick that's practically broken?" He asked snickering more. His father sighed and gently smacked him over the head. Stratus started laughing more and Soarin rolled his eyes. "No, Strat, I'll be sleeping in her guest bed until she doesn't need the wheelchair anymore. After that, it's up to her if she wants me in her room or not." He said snickering to himself and shaking his head. *** After spending some time with his family, talking and laughing about life in general, and having a little bit more food with them all, Soarin decided to get home. Once home he immediately went up to his room to start packing for dashs' house. He was going to be staying there for a while so he decided to pack two suitcases with his clothes and a small duffle bag of shoes to wear. After grabbing his large Wonderbolts issued backpack and emptying its contents, he went to his bathroom to start packing his toiletries. After grabbing his comb and brush he knelt down on the floor under the cabinet to grab some other items. Reaching for his Aftershave he grabbed it firmly out of habit, knowing that he tended to drop it while reaching down for it in the morning. Being on his knees though, his eyes caught the sight of something in the back of the cabinet. He couldn't quite make it out, being all the way in the back. He reached his hand out and grabbed it. His eyes opened wide when he saw what it was. He had totally forgotten he had bought this and hid it down there from Dash. After the accident it had completely left his mind, being more concerned that she was even alive. He smiled as he dusted off the small, long, black leather box. Opening it revealed the silver necklace within it. It was a simple one-strand necklace that didn't hang off your chest and didn't have any intricate placement. What made this necklace unique was that on each side of the chain, bezzles held many different, small, real, gemstones. Each of them a color of the rainbow. and meeting in the middle was three diamonds. He had been saving it as a gift to her for their one-year anniversary, But that day had come and gone with Dash asleep in the hospital during it. He closed the box gently, staring at it for a few seconds. Afterwords, he placed it in his bag with his other things. He was going to give it to her when the time was right, something romantic, as corny as it is, he knew she secretly loved that kinda stuff. He smiled as he finishes packing everything up that he needed. Setting all his stuff on the floor in his room, he looked out the window, seeing it was a beautiful night. He decided to go for a fly to clear his head. *** At top speeds, Soarin flew right past a large farm, letting the blades of wheat pull in his wake. He pulled up hard flying high up into the sky, landing on a cloud he sighed in contentment. It had been a while since he had flown like that. He loved his job but he had forgotten with everything going on, just how much he loved flying. Smiling, he looked up at the stars shimmering like diamonds in Luna's beautiful night sky. He had time and time was all he wanted right now. The past few days have been so draining to him. Suddenly, he felt very, very tired. to combat how heavy his eyes felt he rubbed them vigorously. Why was he so tired all of the sudden? He grumbled under his breath, feeling the effects of sleepiness catching up to him. Spreading his large powerful wings, he took off again in an effort to stay awake. He decided to think about something else while he flew to try and keep himself awake. Rainbow Dash. He was going to be responsible for her health and well-being for the next few months. He knew he would be able to he had no doubts, but he was more concerned with her mental state. Dash had received a letter from people she never wanted to see again and she knew exactly how she felt about them. But he didn't. Sure what they did was horrible and awful and it is going to take a lot of convincing to get him to even consider letting them even look at her, let alone talk to her. And he wasn't about to forget that the very large scar on her arm was caused by them, So letting them near her would be a hard thing to even accomplish. Thinking more of Dash made him think about how she would react to this whole thing. Would she get angry at him for going behind her back? Would she be terrified and scared to be near him, thinking that maybe they had compromised him? Could this all be a huge mistake waiting to happen? On the chance he liked what they had to say and agreed to try and get her to meet up with them, would she even agree to it? Would she be willing to put aside her past trauma to even talk to them? He didn't want to think about how hard it was going to be to even try to get her in the same room as them, let alone the same building. Would they try to meet in public? He could always easily protect her in case the need for it arrived, but having witnesses would make it easier. Soarin groaned, tugging on his hair. And this was all assuming that he even liked what they wanted to say. He sighed as his house came into view. His bed sheets were calling him, big time.