//------------------------------// // Dinner and...A show? // Story: Racing Hearts // by Lazzari //------------------------------// Soarin scrambled to put the pot back down on the stove as he heard the doorbell ring. He had been in the middle of cooking when it rang and he had to answer it as soon or he would never hear the end of the sexual jokes from Fleet. He turned the fire down and set the pot back down and went to answer the door. Cherished was there sitting on the side table next to the door, looking our the panes of glass on the sides. He chuckled as he opened the door and saw two figures scrambling to stand up straight. "HEYYYYYY" Fleetfoot said nervously. Soarin moved his gaze from Fleet to look at Spitfire, glaring at nothing in particular and blushing. He rolled his eyes and opened the door wider, "I don't even wanna know," he said calmly with a smile. Spitfire walked in quickly passing Cherished on her way in without even noticing him and taking a seat on the couch. Fleetfoot followed soon after but followed Soarin into the kitchen. Soarin smiled at her as they walked in the kitchen together and Cherished came running in and rubbed himself on Fleetfoots leg. She looked down and smiled bright and wide and sat on the ground and started to pet him. "When did Dash get a cat?" She asked, surprised. "I guess about 2 months ago, Something about him saving her from a nasty guy." He said, opening the fridge and grabbing butter. "That's cool, never thought she would be a cat person when she literally has a flying turtle." She said, scratching behind the cat's ears. "TORTIOUS!" A muffled voice shouted from the top floor and Fleetfoot burst out laughing. Soarin quickly turned off the stove and rushed up the stairs, towel still over his shoulder. Fleetfoot stood up and patiently waited for Soarin and Dash to come back down the stairs. Soarin had come down the stairs for a moment with two crutches the looked like they went around your arm and had set them down against the banister. After that, he had rushed back up the stairs. She knew it would take a while for them to get downstairs since Dash's house was three stories tall and she was on the top floor. So she took a moment to look around. She could see several railings drilled into the sides of the walls and even more chairs around the house the last time she visited. the house also had a view straight into the living room, where she could see in the corner what looked like a very soft mat and some cloth slings and weight equipment, and a treadmill. She had a pretty good guess that Soarin had set all this up for her so they could do physical therapy at home instead of at an office. About two days ago Soarin had called her to tell her what happened on the first day of physical therapy. And that they had quickly realized that Dash was not going to be able to go to any center to recover and they would have to have a doctor come to her house. Soarin had told her when they got to the physical therapy doctor for the first meeting that all seemed normal until halfway through the session when a security guard and run in to tell them that media and reporters were outside the building waiting for Dash and Soarin to leave. There was no other way out of the building without setting off fire alarms so they had to leave right then and there before even more reporters showed up. During the attempt to escape one of the reporters accidentally tripped Dash and she fell and Soarin couldn't catch her. Luckily though a nice reporter who wasn't too focused on getting her picture or answers to questions helped her up while Soarin tried to get the media away from her. But by then she didn't have any time to thank him because she could tell Soarin was getting angry and she didn't want him blowing a fuse in front of hundreds of cameras and journalists. So instead she made do with what she could and just started to cry. Fake tears, of course, because, to quote him, "Dash isn't a delicate flower". But the crying was enough to get his attention and he just pushed his way through the media as gently as he could with Dash cradled in his arms. And as soon as they got in the car and speed away Dash and stopped crying. Fleetfoot giggle at the recap of what Soarin had told her. Dash was one sly bitch when it came to keeping people focused and on track. She knows what gets under their skin and knows how to get them to do what they need to without them even realizing it, and Soarin was no exception to it. She continued to look around at all the ramps and railings set up around the house and it made her wonder how the physical therapy was going. But before the thought could even finish in her head, Soarin's form appeared from the stairs. He was walking backward very slowly and he was grasping a set of forearms. He had two very small hands on each arm holding onto him as they walked. Within 30 seconds Rainbow Dash was fully in view, making small methodical movements as she walked. Walked. Rainbow Dash is walking. Fleetfoots smile grew to its limits and she started to clap silently as she watched Dash hold onto Soarin. Fleetfoot was so proud of Dash. Soarin had told her the doctors were wrong and the damage wasn't as bad as they thought it was. At least in her hip, it wasn't. Her wing was still heavily bandaged and in a full wing cast now, so she wouldn't move it on instinct. Fleetfoot was joined by Spitfire as they watched Dash reach the bottom of the steeps with Soarins help and when she finally did both Fleetfoot and Spitfire clapped for her, excited that their friend had finally regained a bit of her strength. Soarin smiled and held her up with an arm as he grabbed her crutches and put them around her upper arms. He gave her a small peck on the cheek before going back into the kitchen. "Hey, guy's I've missed you so much, being cooped up here with Mr. freaks-out-a lot has been so boring. I'm so ready to hear about the outside world. How's the force? How is my squad doing? Spitfire, how are you and Wave? Fleet how-" "Who their Dash," Spitfire chuckled. "Slow down girl, I know you like things fast but let's sit down and talk. I'm sure you're not supposed to be standing anyway." She smiled as she reached her arm to Dash. Dash rolled her eyes and pushed her arm away and used her crutches to hobble her way into the kitchen with Soarin. Fleetfoot burst out laughing again and followed her quickly as Spitfire rolled her eyes. Fleetfoot quickly pulled a chair out for Dash to sit in which she didn't protest to since she knew it was actually a harder thing for her to do with crutches. When they were all sat down Fleet smiled at dash and asked, "Why were you all the way up there anyway, isn't your bedroom down here?" Dash nodded and tapped her leg cast. "Doctors orders, I gotta practice going up and down the stairs once a day to get enough movement in-between physical therapy dates." Fleetfoot nodded in understanding and looked to her wing cast. Her wing was being held in place in a folded position as to not cause discomfort while sleeping. How did all of this feel to Dash? Fleetfoot herself had noticed something was different about Dash from the moment she saw her again in the hospital after she woke up. Her eyes just didn't seem to have the same light or happiness they once had. Had Soarin noticed it too? "Soooo..." Fleet tapped her fingers on the table, "Have they given you any news about your wing?" She cringed when she saw a visible flinch come from both her and Soarin who was moving pots around. "I'll take that as no good news yet?" she asked questioningly. Dash stared for a moment, her eyes darting between Spitfire and Fleet. She sighed and half extended her good wing, methodically examining each feather. "Well... they haven't told me any good news yet. All they have told me is that there is a high chance I won't fly in the same way I once did... If I even can anymore." Dash's face deflated and saddened very quickly and Fleet could see small tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "It's ok Dash, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Spitfire quickly chimed in, "Let's talk about your team. They are all still a bunch of idiots and Jade is doing her best to keep Eclips and Thunderlane in line without you." She paused and giggled to herself. "Just the other day I had Thunderlain vacuuming the rugs in the mess hall after dining hours were over. I was doing my personal inspections of the other's work when out of the corner of my eye I saw Eclips come in and walk up behind underlain. And out of nowhere Thunderlain just gets this mortified look on his face and Eclips is bursting out laughing and flys off. I asked him what he said and he told me- "Does it give the good suck Lane? Eh, it's a real quiet suck too it gets the job done quick and fast and it helps you finish faster too." -And I was doing my hardest not to lose it laughing and keep a composed demeanor but I lost it then and there and just laughed my ass off." Spitfire started to chuckle and looked towards Fleetfoot. "I was telling this to Fleet in the lounge the same day and she added to it by saying- "Hey everyone has preferences to how they like their suck. some of those don't give good enough suck so it's not sucking enough out. Some people like the good suck to be quiet and some prefer it loud so you can feel like you really get it all cleaned out" -oh god I was taking a drink of water when she said all that and I fucking lost it then and there." all three of them laughed and Fleetfoot pounded the table with a fist as she laughed. Soarin came up behind with a confused look. Spitfire covered her mouth and chuckled. "Do you not get it Soarin?" "No... I don't. You're talking about a vacuum right?" He asked obliviously. They all started to laugh again, louder this time. Dash looked up and looked both women in the eye and made a wooshing motion over her head with her hand and arm and they all laughed harder. Soarin just rolled his eyes and went back to cooking. "Oh man, haaaaaa, that really does sound like my squad." Dash smiled in content and chuckled, "got any more stories?" Fleetfoot perked up immediately and started giggling. "So you know how Lightning sometimes stayed after hours to clean the practice building with the newbies? Well they were staying so late one-night cuz we had held an event in there and they were taking a long ass time to clean up. Lightning had had enough of that day already so decided to calm his temper with humor. So because he is really close with one of the recruits he started fake singing "We're not gonna take it" By uh... Twisty Mare. So he and 4 other people are in this building with him screaming WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, NO WE AINT GONNA TAKE IT and the other two recruits are just done with the day already and are screaming at him to shut the fuck up from across the building. And the other one is just laughing her ass off and singing with him in a really bad off-key on purpose. I walked in just at the right time behind recruit Lazzari and Gusty Days to hear them both say- Man I can only imagine what Fleetfoot would think if she was walking by right now. Like I don't know what's going on but I should consider talking lightning into counseling. -oh man I lost it right then and there and just laughed so hard. The two of them were so mortified but I told them it was ok cuz I knew how Lightning was." All three of them laughed again and this time Soarin was able to get the joke and laughed with them. Dash smiled and whipped a tear from her eye while silently chuckling. "Man I have missed being at the compound. I'm missing out on all the funny shit!" "Haha, man you missed probably the most epic Silver Lining fail of all time the other day. It was the first time I've ever seen him so flustered since I became a Wonderbolt." Spitfire said covering her mouth and chuckling. This immediately got Soarins and Dash's attention and they both looked up intrigued. Spitfire chuckled "The other day we were at practice and Silver was trying to get the new recruits to listen to him, which obviously wasn't working. So he went for a tactic he had never done before, show and tell tactics." Spitfire paused to let it sink in and she saw both Soarin and Dash look intrigued. "So basically he was going to show them how to do all the different elemental techniques but he messed up when he decided to do lightning after water. So he is still drenched in water once he got to lightning and he burned himself to a crisp. He was fine after but man I don't think I have ever seen him mess up that badly. Spitfire finished looking both Dash and Soarin. Dash looked surprised and Soarin looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. "Wow never knew Silver could mess up like that, he is usually so careful," Dash said putting her hand under her chin in thought. "Neither have I, Silver was always so careful and knew all the moves by heart. I was wonder if he was distracted by something." Soarin chimed in, setting a snack on the table. Spitfire grabbed one of the muffins and shrugged. " I'm not sure, well find out when Dash gets the chance to talk to him." Dash flinched and looked at Spitfire. "Why me?" Spitfire shook her head and laughed. "You are Silvers student, and he is your mentor. It's inevitable that you talk to him." Spitfire chuckled and took another bite of her muffin. Dash rolled her eyes and smiled. "well whatever, I wanna hear more stories." The four of them spent a lot of time talking until the doorbell rang. Soarin went to answer it but before he could even reach it the door swung open and Thunderlane, Eclips, and Jade let themselves in. Dash had always told them that they could feel free to just walk in whenever. Soarin chuckled and rolled his eyes as Eclips and Thunderlane immediately started roughhousing. "HEY! You two can rough house all you want in the compound but my house isn't a place for your secret lover's rough play." Dash quipped with a smirk. Both men stopped and gave her embarrassed stairs. "Dash we aren't lovers!" Thunderlane crossed his arm and gave her an angry pout. "HA" Fleetfoot laughed, "You two are less inconspicuous than a rainbow after a thunderstorm. It's kinda obvious" Both men grumbled loudly and sat down on the couch away from each other. Fleetfoot giggled quietly to herself as Spitfire kicked her shin and gave her a "you shouldn't have said that" look but smiled all the while. Soarin smiled and looked towards dash who was smiling to herself. "She looks so happy. This was a great idea, all her friends in one place, she definitely needed this", he thought to himself. He looked back at the stove and stored its contents, Spaghetti, and stirred its counterpart, homemade tomato and cheese vodka sauce with homemade meatballs thrown in it. He looked to the table again and saw at some point while he was distracted that Rapidfire had shown up. He thought to himself... Yeah... Dash needs this right now.... I'll be sure this is the best dinner for her