//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Soarindash Confidential // by Rainbowpegasus //------------------------------// Soarin’ immediately felt Rainbow’s hoofs banging against his chest, begging him to stop. Eventually, Soarin’ ended the kiss. Dash stared at him in utter silence, shaking her head in disbelief. What had just happened? Was she sure that Soarin' had actually just kissed her, and for a second, just a second, she had kissed him back? She couldn’t believe that Soarin’ had done that! What was he thinking? “I’m so sorry, Rainbow,” Soarin’ whispered guiltily. “I shouldn’t have done that.” Rainbow just continued to shake her head. She turned around and buried her face in her hoofs, hoping no one saw what had just happened between them. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Soarin's eyes directly on hers, awaiting her response. Well, he wasn't going to get one! What he did was far worse than bad. “Rainbow?” Dash had completely lost the ability to talk. She was surprised, and slightly annoyed. Why did he do that? More to the point, what was SHE doing? She pretty much just lost her one chance to get in with the Wonderbolts, her life long dream, and almost lost her reputation, right then, right now. Not only that, but for a second she was so sure that she may have even kissed him back. She was trapped in her own twisted little world. She quivered and shook as she thought about that kiss. But the strange thing was, even though she hated to admit it to herself, and hated it even more to admit it to her friends, she actually enjoyed it. What could it mean? I mean, she couldn't possibly like him. That sounded completely insane. She was Rainbow 'Danger' Dash. The coolest mare in all of Ponyville. Besides, she defiantly did not need a relationship with somepony. She was perfectly happy the way she was. And when she gets wrapped up in the Wonderbolts training, she would be busier than ever. No. It simply couldn't be. “I… Should go.” Rainbow squeaked, spreading her wings to begin takeoff. Soarin’ jumped up and placed his hoof on her shoulder, causing Dash’s cheeks to go as red as a rose. “Will I still see you at the Wonderbolts tryouts?” He asked quizzically, trying to look at Rainbows eyes. Trying to get her to see the forgiveness in his peepers. Rainbow flooded out the tensity in her bones. She still had a chance with the Wonderbolts! And she was not planning to almost blow it again. RD nodded slowly, her magenta pupils practically glistening with hatred and sadness. And with that, she took off, the heavy wind blowing away the tears in her eyes. Soarin’ stared as she flew away into the leathery black sky, until all that was left was a faint rainbow trail hovering in the light of the moon. He had never felt more rejected by a pony in his life. He sighed, and took off into the gloomy night sky, his head hanging low. He would have to win Rainbow’s heart, and he could tell it wasn’t going to be easy. Soarin' drifted into the Wonderbolts HQ, to be greeted by Spitfires face right on his. "And where have you been all practice?" She asked, gritting her teeth, her eyes like two tiny fireballs knocking around her head. "Nowhere." Soarin' mumbled, even though he knew that was a pathetic answer "Were you out with that particular mare that we want on our team?" Spitfire asked, her head cocked and her eyebrows knotted together. "Please don't get angry, Spit... But..." The sun- yellow pegasus gasped with disbelief. "Soarin', you know the drill. Wonderbolts aren't allowed to be romantically evolved with anypony. I'm disappointed in you." "But-" "I forbid you from going anywhere near that mare again, unless on Wonderbolt business. Do you understand? Soarin' sighed sadly, his ears drooping. "Yes, captain. She doesn't like me anyway." Spitfire's face softened a little, but still stayed as firm as ever. "Good. Now back to practice. Now!" Soarin' flew to the stadium, batting his wings furiously. A single tear fell down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away, for his jobs sake. Rainbow gazed warily behind her, hoping that Soarin’ hadn’t followed her. Hoping that he wouldn’t take it too harshly. What if he told Spitfire? What if they wouldn’t let her on the team? What if Ponyville found out, and she was mocked for the rest of her life? No. That won’t happen. It can’t happen. she wouldn't allow it to happen.That’s the worse case scenario. It’s over and done with. And Dash couldn't be more happy to feel herself think that. As Rainbow was flying home, she spotted Rarity trotting down to the Carousel Boutique, and flew over to greet her. “Hey, Rares! How are ya?” Rarity raised one quizzical eyebrow at her. “Would you like to explain just why the Wonderbolts derby went on from six to ten o-clock?” Rarity asked, perfectly pleasantly. Rainbow sighed, yet again. She had to tell Rarity. Maybe she would understand. “I’ll tell you, but not here. Not now.” RD said to Rarity. She looked mildly confused, but nodded even so. “Lets go to the carousel boutique,” Rarity exclaimed. “We can talk it over.” So off they trotted towards the boutique, making small talk and jokes. My biggest secrets about to be discovered, yet I’m laughing it off Rainbow thought to herself with a frown. But she knew she could trust Rarity with this sort of dilemma. Rainbow and Rarity lounged on her sofa, relaxing with exhaustion. Rarity looked at the cyan blue Pegasus expectantly, tapping her hoof on her neat, stainless carpet. “Well?” she asked. Before Rainbow even knew what she was doing, she blurted out the whole story to the crystal white unicorn so fast that it was even hard for herself to keep up with her own story. Rainbow tried to stop herself, but it was so good to get the story out, that she just couldn't. She talked about the tryouts, and how she thought that Soarin' would not let her do it unless she went out with her. She talked about how they kissed on the only cloud in the night sky. Rarity looked shocked, but listened intently, nodding in all the right places. "Oh, how romantic!" Rarity said over- dramatically, sighing softly. "Now that's the kind of stallion I love." "Rarity!" Rainbow moaned. "This is serious!" "Sorry" Rarity smiled, deep in thought. “Darling, why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m good with stallions, if you haven’t noticed. Now, here’s the real question Rainbow Dash. I want you to answer me with complete confidence and honesty.” Rarity explained, looking more serious than ever. Dash nodded, trying as hard as the could to hide how scared she was to answer the question. She knew what was coming, and she didn't like it one bit. “Okay.” RD said. “Do you like him back?” Those five minutes she had to think of an answer were the longest five minutes of Rainbow’s life. What could she say? She didn’t even know what to think herself. Did she like him, or did she not? “Rainbow?” “I don’t know!” RD cried. “I just don’t know!” “Oh, I think you do.” Said Rarity simply, smiling encouragingly at her. What was Rarity talking about? She didn't. She had explained everything to her, and now she thought that she actually liked Soarin'? How perfectly insane! Then, it hit her. Of course she knew. She just didn’t want to believe it. “I…um..." Rainbow whispered. "I...Think I do." Those four words were words she could never ever take back. And she knew it. She stared at the floor. She wanted more than anything to curl up into a tiny ball and disappear into the floorboards, to get out of this situation, to take back the words she wished she never said. "You don't just think it, you know it!" "Fine. I do like him." Dash covered over her mouth with a hoof. What had she done? Her reputation around Ponyville could so easily be ruined. "Just... Don't tell anyone." Rarity nodded. Rainbow could tell that she understood, and she wasn't going to let her down. “Darling, love always comes before reputation. Stop worrying what others think, and go find him! Before its too late.” Rarity had a proud look on her face as she said those words, as if she had done this many times before. “And, of course, I will come with you. I want to meet this stallion and see if he is good enough for one of my best friends.” “Thank you so much rarity. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you before.” They both smiled at each other, reaching another friendship spark. “Tomorrow, we shall go find him!” Rarity proclaimed, grinning. “Okay, Rares.” However, they were both completely unaware of the little filly with a white coat, and a navy mane with a camera, hiding behind the couch, waiting for the perfect gossip to come out. Rainbow's worst nightmare was about to get published for everypony to see. She just didn't know it yet. Rainbow got back to her cloud mansion, feeling much brighter and happier. Rarity was such a great friend. No one could ever replace her. Without warning, she suddenly slipped on a small piece of paper, and toppled over, faling right on her rump. “Aghh” Rainbow mumbled, picking up the worn up note. But then she realised, it wasn’t in fact, a piece of paper. It was an envelope. It was the letter from Jetstream she had gotten. Her eyes filled with hatred as she thought about him, shaking her head menacingly. She tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter, and began to read. Her expression quickly changed. First it sort of froze, then it turned into a frown, then a complete twist. She dropped the letter on the soft cloud floor, where anypony could find it, and galloped to her bedroom, slamming the door so hard that it seemed the whole house shook, getting just as angry and petrified as she felt at that very moment.