A few more weeks went by and Rainbow Dash continued to rehabilitate under the watchful eye of Fluttershy.
Soarin' would come by to lend a helping hoof whenever he possibly could and to spend time with his sweetheart.
Rainbow Dash lay peacefully asleep on Fluttershy's sofa next to her wheelchair. She was exhausted from her training at the gym and napping was something that she enjoyed doing whether injured or not.
Soarin' touched down low with a box and a gift for his filly friend. He peeked through the window and saw Rainbow Dash sleeping peacefully. He felt a bit guilty for not knocking, but Fluttershy had told him that she would leave her door unlocked for him and that he was welcome to come inside at any time. Soarin' gently opened the door and stepped inside. He walked over to his sleeping beauty and got low before her. He put one hoof on her shoulder and gently shook her. "Dash. Hey, Dash."
Rainbow Dash squirmed a bit and yawned. She opened up her eyes and said, "Soarin'? what are you doing here today? I thought you had work today."
"I took off, Dash. I need to take you somewhere today."
"Huh? Where are we going?" she asked.
"It's a surprise."
"Uh-oh. Does it involve Pinkie Pie? I don't know if I can handle her high energy levels and risking her bumping into me while I'm still hurting."
"No, it's just you and me, sweetie. I hope that this doesn't upset you because I know you don't like me to shower you with gifts, but I just had to make this for you today." Soarin' picked up his gift for her from the floor and placed it on her chest.
It was a bouquet of beautiful, colorful wild flowers that he had freshly picked. He traveled deep into the Everfree forest to find these rare flowers and he did his best to find every color of the rainbow.
"Aw, Soarin', you're killing me and we're not even playing a video game right now. You spent the day picking me these wild flowers for me, didn't you? I really appreciate it. They're beautiful." Rainbow Dash sniffed the flowers.
Soarin' bent down and picked a dark purple flower from the bouquet and placed it in her colorful mane. He then kissed her forehead and said, "You deserve it, Dash. You truly do."
"So where are you taking me today?"
"Oh, just to a very special place. Do you think that you can let me fly you there?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head no. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I still need to be in my wheelchair."
Soarin' sighed and said, "I understand. It's just going to take us a bit longer to get there. Come, we should go now. I came extra early just in case the trip would take longer." Soarin' helped her into the wheelchair and then picked up a box that he had carried in and placed it on her lap.
"What's in the box?" she asked with curiosity.
"That's the surprise," he replied. "Did you eat lunch today? We might be having a later dinner."
"Yeah, I just ate. I'll be fine. Hey, we should leave Fluttershy a note so that she doesn't freak out when I'm missing. There should be a note pad and a quill on her dining room table."
Soarin' headed on over and wrote a quick note telling Fluttershy that they were both out and that they would be back later in the afternoon. He then came back and headed out of Fluttershy's cottage with Rainbow Dash.
"So this is supposed to be some kind of big super surprise?" Rainbow asked. "I can't imagine what's inside this box."
"You'll see soon enough. I hope that you will really like it."
As Soarin' pushed her in her wheelchair, her mind began to go back to the times when she was flying with him. She had told him that she would be his rainbow during his storms in his life, but she wished that perhaps there would be a rainbow at the end of her storm that she was going through right now with her pain and suffering. She dwelled on sweet memories of the past and she wished that she could fly right again Soarin'. She had no idea where Soarin' was taking her, but she wished for something magical to happen between them.
After about an hour of travel, Rainbow Dash found herself exactly at the same spot where they had their first kiss together.
The weather was warm and sunny now. Birds sang in the trees and crickets chirped with delight around the tall grassy bushes nearby. There was not a single cloud in the bright blue sky.
Rainbow Dash looked over and saw the crash site where it all had happened. "Wow, being here hurts a lot, but even though something terrible happened to me, not far from where we are, this spot will always be magical and precious to me because well....because of you, Soarin'."
Soarin's face was full of blush. "Go ahead. You can open your gift now."
Rainbow Dash tore through the gift wrap and lifted off the top of the box. What she saw brought tears to her eyes. "Soarin'? Why would you do this?"
"I'm sorry, Dash. I thought you would like it."
"It's wonderful," she said. Rainbow Dash pulled out the shiny new Wonderbolt's uniform and looked at it for quite a while before placing it down on her lap.
"How did you even get this made? I didn't have my Wonderbolt's uniform created the way most of them are usually made," Rainbow said.
"I stopped by Carousel Boutique to visit your friend, Rarity. She had saved your measurements and I was able to get her new materials from our special Wonderbolt's shop. You can thank Rarity for making you another uniform. I also saved and will be keeping your original uniform even though it is all torn up."
"That's so sweet, Soarin', but it just hurts me deep down inside to know that I'll never be able to get to fly with you as an official Wonderbolt. I never even got to perform my very first show with you guys."
Soarin' kissed her on the cheek and then said, "Nonsense, Dash. You'll always be the greatest Wonderbolt in my eyes. Did you forget that you made the team and became an official Wonderbolt? Did you forget that you blew past just about every single academy record? Did you know that Spitfire has all of your records displayed proudly for everypony to see?"
"Spitfire put my records on display?" Rainbow asked.
"She sure did, and we'll go fly up there sometime to see them. You passed all of the Wonderbolt's performance tests with literal flying colors and you smashed through world records. She said that you're always welcome to come and hang out with the Wonderbolts whenever you want and you have access to all of the facilities that we use. Once a Wonderbolt Dash, always a Wonderbolt, whether retired or not. You're going to be asked to star in this upcoming year's Wonderbolt's products like calendars, posters, collectable cards, and our upcoming newly revised Wonderbolt's special collectors edition magazine that features all of the Wonderbolts from the past and the newest members of the team as well. Your name is listed as an official Wonderbolt in the names of the Wonderbolt's that Spitfire keeps in her books and it will never be erased. I saw it myself. You're a legend, Dash, and Spitfire also wants you to come out to the next Wonderbolt's autograph signing event. Will you join me? We can sign autographs together while sitting next to each other."
"Spitfire has an entire book of the names of Wonderbolts that will never be erased? That kind of reminds me of Jesus's book of life," Rainbow said. "Wow, I never knew any of that. Sure, I'll gladly join you guys to sign some autographs. I just don't know what pony would want me to sign an autograph since I was never even able to do one show."
"Plenty of ponies will ask, Dash. Spitfire went a little overboard promoting her newest and most anticipated addition to the team when you first became accepted. She was so excited about you and still is. Everypony is really interested in meeting you, and let's face it, you have always had a very large following of fans, even when you weren't a Wonderbolt."
"Wow, I didn't expect any of this to happen. This means so much to me, Soarin'."
"You missed the best part," Soarin' said.
"Huh?"
"There's another little box inside of the gift box that you opened."
Rainbow Dash looked inside the box and he was right, there was a little cyan colored velvet box.
"What's this about?" she asked.
"This is the surprise," Soarin' whispered.
Rainbow Dash opened it and found the most gorgeous wedding ring that she had ever seen. She stared at it's beauty as tears welled up in her eyes. She looked at Soarin' who was now low before her on the ground.
"Will you marry me?" Soarin' asked.
Rainbow Dash put her front hoof to her face and just her two eyes could be seen peering out above her hoof.
"Rainbow? Are you ok?"
Rainbow Dash nodded her head yes and then wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect this to happen."
"So, will you marry me?"
"This is going to physically hurt me a bit, but I want to answer your question with one simple action." Rainbow Dash closed the little box and put it back in the gift box. She struggled to get herself out of her wheelchair and then slowly stood on her hind legs. She then pushed him backwards against the tree that was right behind him. She lunged at him with a kiss and Soarin' wrapped his front legs around her body as he embraced her. The pain flared up in her body at first, but getting a kiss from Soarin' always got her endorphins going in her brain and that seemed to distract her from the pain right now.
They kissed passionately for a long time.
Rainbow Dash pulled away from him and smiled as she stared into his colorful bright green eyes.
"So, I take it that the answer is yes," Soarin' said.
Rainbow Dash nodded her head yes with enthusiasm.
"That's the third time you kissed me exactly like this in our spot. Third time must be a charm," Soarin' said.
Rainbow Dash gave him one last quick kiss on the lips and then giggled. "I guess we have some planning to do. What are we going to do about the living situation when we get married?"
"I know how much your friends mean to you, so I already decided that I will be selling my house and moving in with you, once we get married, if that's ok."
Rainbow smiled and said, "That's awesome! I would have had a terribly hard time moving further away from them. What do you want to do now?"
"How about we go back to Flutterhy's cottage. Are you hungry? I can get some take-out for us to eat."
"Actually, I'm starving! I'm sure that Fluttershy is wondering what has been taking us so long anyway. Let's get going. I bet that she'll be excited to hear the news!" Rainbow Dash was about to walk over, but Soarin' scooped her up in his front legs and flew her back over to her wheelchair. "Hey! I need to start practicing walking on my own again."
"I'm sorry, Dash, but I have to practice carrying you for after the wedding."
"That's really sweet. Ok, I'll let it go this time, but I really need to start walking on my own again."
Soarin' nodded his head ok and then placed her carefully back into the wheelchair. He then began to head his way back to Fluttershy's cottage.