Rainbow Dash. The toughest of the tough. The strongest mare in all of Ponyville. In fact, she could basically be classified as one of the stallions and colts for her attitude, and quite frankly—she didn't care. On the contrary, she was quite proud of it. Proud of being the 'tough one' and the natural leader. Lots of ponies looked up to Rainbow Dash, and saw her as their role model. They all wanted to be as strong, independent and tough as the rainbow-maned mare. Rainbow Dash had always felt the need to prove her strength and toughness, as could be seen when she participated in hoof-wrestling championships, and contests of strength and endurance like the Iron Pony Competition. As a result, the ponies she hung out and trained with were usually the stallions and colts, apart from her five best friends—Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy. She was happy with her status now—the tomboy, the toughie—and didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that a few of her friends had coltfriends, while she didn't have one. All she cared about was what others thought of her, and whether she was tough enough for them. And she'd never actually had feelings for anypony before. Ever. But one day, it all changed—because of a new stallion in town.
His name was Soarin. An all too familiar name. Known all over Equestria, because Soarin was a member of The Wonderbolts. He had been dispatched to Ponyville to look for potential new recruits for the Wonderbolts. It meant that he had to stay in Ponyville for at least a month, to observe the pegasi here; and their skills. He had to find out who was the fittest, swiftest and most agile—cream of the crop, best of the best. Because in the Wonderbolts, that was what it was all about. Standards. He came by a chariot, arranged by Princess Celestia herself, and was required to stay at Twilight Sparkle's treebary for his one-month stay. All these arrangements were made in haste, so even Twilight was not informed of the cyan stallion's arrival.
She did, however, upon reading a letter sent by Princess Celestia—on the reason of the Wonderbolt's stay, of course—invite him into the Treebary and—using a spell she had recently mastered—conjured up a bed for Soarin.
Whilst waiting for Soarin to unpack and familiarize himself with his new temporary home, Twilight attempted to strike a conversation with Soarin.
"So...Soarin, you seem familiar. I'm pretty sure I've seen you or heard of you before, somewhere..." Twilight frowned, trying to recall where she'd seen or heard of him before.
"I'm the Soarin. The one and only. The one from the Wonderbolts, obviously." Soarin replied rather snottily. "Surely you've heard of the Wonderbolts?"
"Of course," Twilight muttered, feeling disbelieved at how stuck-up Soarin sounded.
"So, Princess Celestia requested that I familiarize myself with Ponyville, seeing as I'll be staying here for a month and all," Soarin told Twilight, arching an eyebrow, hoping that she'd get the hint to bring him around Ponyville.
Breathe in, breathe out, Twilight. Keep calm. Keep cool. Twilight took a deep breath and forced a smile upon her face. "Of course, Soarin. Let's go now, shall we?" she offered through gritted teeth, as she stalked out of the door of the Treebary, not waiting for Soarin's response.
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"And this here, is Rarity's boutique," Twilight finished, quite pleased that she managed to introduce the more important parts of Ponyville to Soarin within an hour.
"I think we've covered some of the more important parts of Ponyville now, and you should be okay looking 'round Ponyville by yourself."
It also meant that, now that the 'tour' was over, Twilight could let Soarin explore the rest of Ponyville while she could get some peace and quietness.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off. I have some important...uh....studying to do. If you need me, I'll be at the Treebary" Twilight hastily said, attempting to trot—no, canter—off before Soarin could shoot her another one of his questions, which—to be completely honest—were rather unintelligent.
"Who's this Rarity pony? Is she home now? What does she look like? I have to, after all, be able to recognize everypony in town," Soarin rambled on once more, causing Twilight to cast a spell on him to turn him into an orange. Or better yet, a muffin. Oh the spells I can cast on him to make him stop talking and chatting endlessly...
Twilight let out a groan of annoyance and frustration, before replying through gritted teeth, "Rarity is my one of my FRIENDS, and—"
"Darh-ling!" a familiar voice accented with a British-like accent squealed.
Both ponies turned their heads around towards the boutique to look at the white unicorn running towards them.
"This is Rarity," Twilight snapped to Soarin, then turning back to Rarity.
"Twilight, you look like an absolute mess, dear! Nothing that I can't fix, of course. Oh, and have you heard that there's a new pon—" Rarity cut herself off abruptly from her rambling to focus on the stallion in front of her.
"Hello...Soarin, from the Wonderbolts, I believe?" she smiled at him—rather flirtatiously, in fact.
"Well, at least somepony here knows who I am," Soarin smirked to Twilight, before putting on a charming smile while turning back to Rarity, "You must be Rarity. Twilight here was just talking about you and your fabulous boutique!"
"Really?" Rarity gushed, sounding more excited than Pinkie Pie at a buffet party.
Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes.
This was going to be a long month...