//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Hearts of the Sky 
// by drakathownz 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 5:

"Feel free to take a seat Mr. Soarin." said Fluttershy.
Soarin looked around the sanctuary-feeling cottage interior to find some sofas by the stairs. He sat on the one closest to the stairs and placed his saddlebags on the floor in front of the very comfortable sofa. Soarin felt as if he was resting on the softest cloud when he was sat on Fluttershy's sofa.
As Soarin got comfortable, Fluttershy glided in with two mugs of hot drinks.
"Did you want any tea Mr. Soarin?" asked Fluttershy.
"Umm, not really. I don't drink tea, but thanks for the offer." replied Soarin. "And by the way, you don't need to call me 'Mr. Soarin', just Soarin is fine."
"Ok Soarin, if that's what you want." said Fluttershy as she sat on another sofa. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you got a crush on Rainbow Dash?"
Soarin sighed and answered "I've had hold of a photo from the Canterlot Royal Wedding of me and a rainbow-maned mare. The mare in the photo who I think is Rainbow Dash after meeting your friends just looked very cute. I thought that I should find her and us touring Equestria has given me many chances to do that. Now it looks like I'm close to seeing her since I've heard that she's coming here."
"Can I see the photo?" asked Fluttershy "Well, that's if you don't mind."
Soarin opened his saddlebags, pulled out the photo and passed it to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy then examined the photo.
"You see? When I showed this to your friend Rarity, she identified the mare without a problem." explained Soarin.
"This is strange, Rainbow Dash has exactly the same photo." said Fluttershy.
"She does?" asked Soarin.
"I'm sure of it." replied Fluttershy. "And I must mention that Rainbow Dash has been practicing for your visit. She's felt as if she isn't good enough to show you or your colleagues her skills but I think they're amazing."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Soarin. "If she wanted a Wonderbolt to see how she does, I'll be happy to watch her and give an opinion, but it'll only be my opinion and not the opinion of the Wonderbolts as a group."
"It'll still make her happy." said Fluttershy.
"Hmm, although I could mention this to the guys if she's as good as you think she is. If all the guys saw her fly and found her amazing, she could end up joining us." explained Soarin.
"Oh my goodness! She'll be all over the place if that happened!" gasped Fluttershy. "She's always dreamed of joining you, it'll be perfect for her."
"She really does sound like a true fan." said Soarin.

There was a sudden knock on the door.
"Oh my, she's here!" gasped Fluttershy. "I'll explain everything to her so that she doesn't get startled by you being in here."
"Whatever suits you Fluttershy." said Soarin with a smile.
Fluttershy then nodded at Soarin and went to answer the knock on the door.

Fluttershy opened the door to reveal her friend Rainbow Dash with two baskets full of different fruit.
"Hey Fluttershy, here's the fruit you wanted." said Rainbow Dash.
"Umm, thank you Rainbow Dash." grinned Fluttershy who was pleased that she got some fruit for her animal friends that'll last for the week.
"No prob. Guess I should get to practicing." said Rainbow Dash as she began to hover in the air.
"Wait Rainbow Dash, I need to tell you something." Fluttershy mentioned.
Rainbow Dash landed and asked "What is it?"
"Umm, well, Twilight visited here a few minutes ago with a stallion. The stallion is one of the Wonderbolts and he's actually here to see you." explained Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash was frozen after hearing the news.
Fluttershy asked "Are you ok Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash hastily asked "Where is he?"
"Well, he's in my cottage..."
Rainbow Dash then screamed in excitement as she barged past Fluttershy to enter the cottage. As she entered the cottage, she noticed a pale blue pegasus stallion sat on a sofa. The stallion stared at Rainbow Dash and stood before approaching her.
He then greeted her with "What's up."
Rainbow Dash could feel her heart pounding faster than her flying speed. She knew that this could be her chance to prove herself to one of the Wonderbolts. With that in mind, she remained silent.
The stallion then said "You seem to be the silent type. The name's Soarin. I'm a Captain of the Wonderbolts."
Rainbow Dash then shook her head and said "Name's Rainbow Dash."
"I've heard that you've been doing some tricks to show us." mentioned Soarin. "I want to see what you can do."
"Ok. After all, I can't turn down anything from the Wonderbolts." replied Rainbow Dash with a smile on her face.
Fluttershy then said "Do your best Rainbow Dash. I'm sure Soarin will like your flying skills."
Rainbow Dash then nodded at Fluttershy and said "Will do Fluttershy. See ya later!"
Rainbow Dash then sped out of Fluttershy's cottage followed by Soarin..

Soarin followed Rainbow Dash to a field where she had been doing her practice.
"Ok, before I begin, I have been practicing these tricks for at least two weeks now." explained Rainbow Dash. "I don't think they're my best but if I heard from a Wonderbolt, then it'll mean something to me."
"So, let's see what you've got." grinned Soarin.
Rainbow Dash then flew towards a cloud in the sky and landed on it to mark where she was going to start.
Rainbow Dash bounced on the cloud like a diving board and took off to begin her performance. Her first trick was a series of loops, twists and barrel rolls. She even managed to do a loop whilst doing a barrel roll at the same time. Her second trick involved two clouds which she sped around until they formed the shape of her cutie mark. This was followed by a shot towards the sun, posed for a second and pierced through a number of clouds, making a visible rainbow turbulence appear behind her due to the sun exposition and raindrops from the clouds. She then flew around in circles at a rapid speed, making a rainbow-coloured tornado. After the tornado was formed, she made a large rainbow from one part of the ground to the other.
Soarin couldn't believe his eyes. The performance he just witnessed made him feel as if he was watching the Wonderbolts doing a performance without him.
Rainbow Dash then landed in front of Soarin and asked "What did you think of that?" in her cool attitude.
"That was incredible!" replied Soarin. "Those tricks are flawless! You certainly are Wonderbolt material Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash's eyes became wide and she was soon bouncing with joy cheering to herself.
"I'm afraid to tell you that what I said is not the official word of the Wonderbolts." explained Soarin. "If you want an opinion from the Wonderbolts as an organization then you'll have to perform those tricks in front of us when we're together so we can all agree on an opinion from us."
"Well, are you planning anything that could help it?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I'll have to speak with Spitfire about it. Maybe if she's kind enough, I'll give you some training to help you improve your flying talents." replied Soarin.
Rainbow Dash smiled with glee after hearing what Soarin said.

Soarin still had the thought of his love for Rainbow Dash in his head. He was beginning to fear how she would react if he told her.
'Hmm, I can't just declare my love for her now. If I'm to get close to her I'll have to get to know her. Maybe I could hang out with her when I'm not doing any Wonderbolt business.' he thought.

Rainbow Dash then looked at Soarin and asked "Hey, did you want to hang out somewhere?."
Soarin then thought back to when he walked past a cupcake themed building when he was given a personal tour of Ponyville from Twilight.
“Should we go to the cake shop?” he replied.
“You mean Sugar Cube Corner?” Rainbow Dash replied “My friend Pinkie Pie works there. Don’t worry about her though, she may act crazy at times but she’s cool.”
“Hmm, hopefully she isn’t too crazy.” said Soarin.
“You just need to get used to her.” explained Rainbow Dash. “Anyway. One, two, three, GO!”
Rainbow Dash took off and sped away from Soarin, signalling him to follow her at her speed.

As Soarin chased Rainbow Dash in the sky, he felt the wind flinging his mane back and the cool air blasting on his body as if he was sat in front of a fan. It felt strange to be flying at high speed without his Wonderbolt suit on but it then made him remember the days before he joined the Wonderbolts and how he won every race with his friends as a young colt. He then remembered that was the main reason he became a Wonderbolt.

Rainbow Dash began to descend from the cool blue sky to the grassy ground in front of a building that looked as if it were made by a cake decorator since it had what looked like a giant pink cupcake on the roof. The roof itself was the colour of dark chocolate with a line of what looked like white icing along the edges of the roof. The building itself was a yellow colour which looked similar to the inside of a regular sponge cake.

To Soarin, it was the first time he could really analyse the building since Twilight was in such a haste to show him the rest of Ponyville when he passed it initially. Luckily he could identify the building as Sugar Cube Corner since Twilight and Rainbow Dash told him the name of the place.

Rainbow Dash began to slowly descend to the ground followed by Soarin who descended at the same speed as Rainbow. Without a word, the two pegasi walked into Sugar Cube Corner to find themselves stood in a queue of ponies.

“So Rainbow, what do you get when you come here?” asked Soarin.
“I don’t buy much from here.” Rainbow replied. “I mostly come here with my pals. Especially when Pinkie Pie throws one of her awesome parties.”
“Surely there’s something here for you.” complained Soarin.
“Well, come to think of it, I get myself some cherry or chocolate muffins. Oh, and if I’m lucky, I’ll get an apple pie.” explained Rainbow.
“They do apple pies?” asked Soarin in excitement.
“I wouldn’t put your hopes up. They’re only served on certain days but I can’t remember what days they do them.” explained Rainbow.

Soarin thought ‘I sure hope that today’s one of the days they do the apple pie. But come to think of it, I should be thinking of how to get Rainbow to like me. I mean, she already likes me for being a Wonderbolt. I reckon she’ll take some convincing to see me on the inside rather than the outside...’