//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Trip Down Memory Lane // Story: Til Kingdom Come // by TorontoFCBrony //------------------------------// The sound of the birds in the morning awoke Rainbow Dash. It was the day after the wedding to her beloved husband, Soarin. However, waking up was much harder than she thought it would be. Just opening her eyes was a struggle. But the mare was glad she continued fighting and opened her eyes in the end. As her tired eyelids opened up, she was facing the love of her life. He just had woken up himself, and the smile on both of their faces said it all. Even though they both didn't quite remember what had happened after about halfway through the reception, they still knew that the day before was one of the most magical days of their life. It was a day that the couple had waited over five years for. Even after all the trials the both of them went through- Rainbow thinking that her fiancé was dead for years and Soarin spending his time as a prisoner of war in Saddle Arabia- they still knew that the reward was a far greater gift that outweighed the horrible path to it. Rainbow lived a tragic life. Her father had died when she was very young, and her mother also passed away when she was just a young mare. She had to live for years feeling like a widow, raising her quiet filly, Violet, while Soarin was gone. Soarin had to deal with being shot, going into a coma, and waking up in a horrible place where he was treated like a criminal. And what was the Wonderbolt's only crime? He kept to his promise to his beloved Rainbow to not kill anypony in the war. Both of them had to deal with giving up their careers as Wonderbolts for different reasons. Rainbow Dash had to leave due to refusing to serve in the war in Saddle Arabia, and Soarin retired after he returned from the battle in order to focus on his wife and daughter. But despite all the struggles, the pain, the suffering- the reward was in front of their eyes. It was somepony that they loved; somepony who loved them in return. It was having a beautiful daughter together whom they could love as well. It was having a quiet life in Ponyville, where they could follow their new dreams. They both were no longer Wonderbolts, but they were optimistic towards the future. “Good morning, my love,” Soarin said to the mare that meant the world to him. After a happy sigh and a smile in return, Dash replied, “Good morning, Soar.” The male pegasus moved closer to give a tender kiss on the cheek of his beloved new bride. The kiss on the cheek was retaliated with a kiss on the lips from the mare, which turned into an open-mouthed kiss, which slowly led to... something else. It was the perfect way to start off a brand new morning. Just like the day before, this was no ordinary morning. Today was the day that they were going to leave for their honeymoon. The few months that the couple spent together before the wedding were full of craziness. Ponies from all over Equestria would come visit Soarin. His parents would visit their house almost every weekend since his return. The new couple spent most of their time caring for their daughter and taking care of daily responsibilities. But on this day they were going to leave for a week of relaxation, adventure, romance, and each other’s undivided attention and company. One thing was still on the mind of Rainbow Dash, though. Where are we going? she kept wondering. The truth was: Soarin was keeping it a surprise. He had something planned; something that was special enough for his special mare. Soarin turned over while they were still in the bed, the morning now further along, and he looked into the magnificent magenta eyes of Rainbow. “Hey…” he said to her. Just then there was a knock at the door. Both the mare and the stallion opened their eyes wide at each other in both surprise and realisation. They looked over at the clock on the night table and noticed that it was already nine in the morning. The couple quickly jumped out of bed and made themselves a little more presentable to let in the visitor. Rainbow brushed her mane a few times and Soarin brushed his teeth, due to having the smell of bad morning breath in his mouth. The pony at the door was Scootaloo, whom they were expecting. The little sister of Rainbow Dash, who was also her best mare, was coming over to stay at their house to babysit Violet for the week. It gave the young mare a chance to get out of her own house and have some time alone with the filly. Violet and Scootaloo had become a good little duo over the last little while. The orange pegasus proved to be almost a hero to the younger filly. “Okay, so... you know where all of our food and dishes are, right?” Rainbow asked as she quickly ran around the house, gathering everything she needed to leave for her honeymoon. Thankfully most of it was already packed away. “Uh-huh,” Scootaloo replied. “You know who to call in case of emergency, right?” “Of course.” "Bring Violet to school every week day." "I know..." “You know not to open the doors to anypony you don’t know, have Violet in bed by nine, and don’t let her watch any violent shows!” “Oh for goodness sake, big sis. I’ve got it under control!” Rainbow stopped running around to take a breath. She walked over to her honorary younger sister. “You’re right, squirt. I know you’ve got everything under control.” Scootaloo reached up to give the taller pegasus a soft hug farewell. “I hope you guys have a lot of fun.” “Thanks, Scoots. We will, I know it,” Rainbow responded with a smile. One other thing was still on her mind, though, and she needed to remind Scootaloo of it. “There’s just final thing, young mare.” “Okay, what is it?” Rainbow looked Scootaloo right in the eyes. “Absolutely no colts allowed when you are gone!” Scootaloo looked back at Rainbow with squinted eyes. “I can’t believe after all we’ve been through you would think that I would do something like that.” “Scoots, I mean it. Not even Rumble.” Scootaloo let out a sigh in reply and rolled her eyes, saying, “Fine.” She did, however, give a slight chuckle as well, which was returned by the mare. Just then, Soarin came by with his bag that was to hang by his side as the two of them flew to their destination, wherever it was. “Are you ready, dear?” Rainbow gave a face back to Scootaloo that just said, ‘Here we go,’ with excitement. She gave the younger mare a quick noogie, grabbed her bag, and ran up beside her husband, ready and eager to see where he was going to take her. “Aren’t you guys forgetting something?” Scootaloo asked, confident that the couple were indeed forgetting something very important. The two of them looked at their bags, and then to each other. “Um, I don’t think so,” Soarin responded. Scootaloo gave an unimpressed look back at them. “Your daughter?!” “Oh, stink,” Rainbow responded. The two of them were so focused on getting themselves ready that they forgot to say goodbye to their beloved little filly. They were only leaving for a week, after all. That’s not such a big deal, right? They put their bags down and flew quickly upstairs. The filly with the lighter blue fur and green eyes of Soarin, with a mane similar to her mother’s, only with an added streak of blue through the middle, was sleeping soundly in the morning. It was a Sunday, after all. The only thing she had to do on Sunday mornings was watch her cartoons, like My Little Human, and Flowerpuff Fillies. Rainbow gave a very gentle shove to the filly to see if she could wake her up calmly. The normally quiet filly let out a few grunts as she tossed and turned in the bed, trying not to wake up. After another shove from her mother, Violet finally opened her eyes. “Vi, we’re leaving now,” Rainbow informed her beloved daughter with a smile. “Say goodbye to your favourite parents in the whole world.” The young filly, who was still in her first year of school, let out a tired sigh and pushed the blankets off of herself. She leapt up into the hooves of her mother. The two embraced closely, and then Rainbow passed Violet over to Soarin. The filly shut her eyes and smiled as she felt the warmth of her father, whom she had only known for a few months because of his time spent in the Arabian prison, but she still loved him with all of her heart. Rainbow joined them for a family hug. Scootaloo, who was waiting at the doorway to Violet’s bedroom, could not help but feel joy as she saw the loving embrace by the happiest family in Ponyville. It was something that she never felt herself, being an orphan. Rainbow stretched out her hoof to allow her younger sister to join in the hug, which nearly brought Scootaloo to tears as she joined in. After the hug, the couple put their filly back onto the bed. They each gave her a kiss on the cheek. After saying their goodbyes, they returned downstairs with Scootaloo. Upon gathering their bags for the trip, they thanked the younger pegasus for foalsitting Violet, and they were now, finally, ready to go. Upon going out of the house, Rainbow couldn't help but notice that there was nothing there to pick them up. Soarin had not ordered a pegasus chariot to pick them up. Rainbow looked around the outside of their quiet Ponyville house, hoping to see a chariot coming in the distance to pick them up. But there was nothing there. Meanwhile, Soarin was just waiting for Rainbow to stop and look at him for confirmation. When his mare finally did that, she had a clear face of confusion. "Yeah, there's no chariot coming to get us," he informed her. "Soarin, why? First you don't tell me where we're going, and now you're telling me that you didn't prepare something to pick us up? Come on! We only have one honeymoon!" "Oh, don't worry, I prepared. I just wanted to show you a few things first," Soarin said while putting his front hoof on his mare's back. Rainbow was still confused about what Soarin actually meant. "What do you need to show me?" She asks him. "A lot of stuff. Just... follow me. It'll be worth it," he said as he made sure that they had everything they needed for their trip. After they readied themselves by making sure their bags were tightly closed on their sides, they spread their wings and took flight. After quite a while of flying high in the sky, with the spring sun shining down on them, Rainbow realised that Soarin was taking her in the direction of Cloudsdale. "Our honeymoon isn't going to be in Cloudsdale, is it?" Rainbow asked in hope that it would be somewhere new and nice. Soarin chuckled, "Buck no. I wouldn't do that to you. I just want to show you a few places first, trust me, please." Rainbow agreed in her heart to give Soarin a chance with what he was going to do. She really didn't have a clue, though. As the couple reached Cloudsdale by about noon, Soarin flew over to the Cloudadale Hospital. They stopped flying forward and hovered in the same position. Soarin pointed to the hospital and said, "Here is where we were both born, and where our journeys began." Rainbow didn't really care to see the hospital. She knew where she was born, after all. Soarin took her towards the school that the two of them went to, Cloudsdale High. Soarin continued, "Here is where we both went to high school. I don't know if you remember me then, because I was quite a few years older than you." Rainbow smiled and said, "How could I not? We were only in school together for one year when you were a senior and I was a freshmare. You were one of the best athletes to ever go here." "True, but that's not why I'm showing you this," Soarin informed her. "You see, even though I never really spoke to you then, one day we had a special race to see who would represent the school in the Best Young Flyer competition." "How could I forget? You won by a landslide." "Yes, well, that's still not my point," he assured her. "When all of the students were sitting on the bleachers, cheering on the competitors, the one I really noticed was you. You were the prettiest filly I had ever laid eyes on. Unfortunately, it was years after that until I saw you again, because I graduated soon after." Rainbow felt a lump in her throat. She didn't expect a compliment like that from her husband, especially since she knew that Soarin had dated Spitfire before they dated each other. She really didn't say anything in reply; she only smiled. Soarin continued, "The next few years were a different story. I won the Best Young Flyer competition that year and became a Wonderbolt soon after. But, let's continue our tour." Rainbow agreed, and Soarin took her along as he continued his tour of memories. The next stop was the floating stadium where that competition took place. Soarin said as the two of them flew overtop it, "This is where I won, but more importantly, this is where you won. You got to spend a day with us as a prize, and it's where I first got a chance to spend time with you, after you saved my life, of course. And the rest is history." Soarin and Rainbow then flew even higher. Pointing over to Canterlot in the far distance, he said, "That was where we danced for the first time, after the royal wedding. It didn't mean much at the time, but it was another great moment for me." Rainbow was actually really enjoying this tour that Soarin was giving her. It brought back a bit of nostalgia, and it was so far a great trip down memory lane. The next place that Soarin took his wife was to where things started to get serious for her- the Wonderbolts' headquarters. They landed on the roof, the soft clouds providing a great place to rest for a few minutes, after all the flying. "Okay, I know why we're here. To see our old teammates, right?" Rainbow asked. "No, actually. I don't want anypony else to spoil this day for us," the stallion replied. "We are here on the roof because this is where your training as a Wonderbolt began. This is where I got to see your amazing abilities, and I'll admit, you looked darn good in a wet mane." Rainbow blushed a little in response. Since she first dated Soarin, her entire personality softened. She wouldn't have taken a compliment like that before without saying something like, 'Hey, shut up.' But, alas, love changes ponies. Now she was a loving wife and mother, and a lot less harsh and abrupt as she used to be. She was still the same old Rainbow Dash, just improved. "Soarin, stop it. Are you done complimenting me? Haven't you said enough?" she asked in reply. "No way, we're about two-thirds done. There is just never enough I could say about you," Soarin said sincerely. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. The place beneath our hooves is where I got to know you, and your room is where, well, I got to 'know' you quite well." Rainbow chuckled a little bit with a hoof to her mouth. "Yes, I remember it well. Being with you was the best memory of being a Wonderbolt for me." "Same for me, Dashie. Come on, I have one final place to show you." The two of them spread their wings and took to flight, the hot afternoon sun now upon them. Thankfully, they packed snacks to eat on the way. As Wonderbolts, they were talented flyers, so they could multitask by eating while flying. Rainbow smiled in the air as she knew where they were going. In fact, they were just there the day before for their wedding. It was Violet Hill. As the couple landed in the field, they saw that the area was all cleaned up from their wedding the day before, thanks to Rainbow's friends, who all did their part. The field was pristine as usual. The cherry blossom tree was in bloom, and the field was full of the violet flowers that caused Soarin to name the place what he did. "This is where I fell in love with you. This is where I proposed to you. This is where I finally found my purpose in life," Soarin said, almost as if he had planned it all beforehand. "This is also where your funeral was," Rainbow reminded. "Yeah, well, we're focusing on what actually happened here, Dashie," Soarin joked. "This is where I feel that my life truly began, and this is where we start the next chapter of our story." Just then, a chariot with four pegasus stallions flew down from the sky, landing in front of them. This was obviously well planned by Soarin in advance. Rainbow was shocked. Soarin pointed to the chariot as if to say, 'Go ahead.' The couple settled in, and were off to a new place for a week of fun and excitement. "Where are we going, Soarin? Germaneigh? The Neightherlands? Mexicolt?" Rainbow asked in excitement. "No, Dashie. We're going somewhere tropical. I wanted to go somewhere where we can be served apple cider while laying on our plots at the beach," Soarin said. He could see the excitement mounting on the face of his wife. "We're going to Costa Caballo." Rainbow, clopping her hooves in excitement, wanted to make sure she heard him properly. “Costa Caballo? The beautiful island country? Really? That’s the most romantic place in the whole world!” Soarin kissed his mare on the cheek. “Then it will be perfect for us.”