The next day Rainbow's Father was in the kitchen preparing her lunch for school. Rainbow Dash stayed glued to his side watching him like a hawk. She had already eaten her breakfast very quickly.
"Um, is there a problem Dashie? You normally don't watch me like this when I make your lunch."
Rainbow Dash walked away from him and opened the refrigerator.
"Uh, Dashie what is it that you are doing? I have your food right here."
Rainbow Dash ignored her Father and continued to push aside objects inside the refrigerator.
Rainbow's Dad stopped making her lunch and came over to her. He gently put his hoof on her shoulder. "Dashie, please tell me what you are up to. What can I get for you?"
Rainbow still ignored her Father's question and kept moving things around.
Finally, she found what she was looking for. She took out a pie and brought it over to the table. "I want to take this with me to school today."
Rainbow's Father began to laugh. "Oh, Dashie, you can't take that entire pie to school with you today! That's way too much for anypony to eat! I thought you didn't like pie anyway."
"I don't," Rainbow said.
Rainbow's Father cocked an eye brow. "Then why do you want to take it to school?" he asked.
Rainbow's mind repeated the words over and over in her head again and she said it out loud. "I need to win his heart, Daddy."
Rainbow's Father then remembered that he had told her that line yesterday and he started cracking up. "You mean you want to give this whole pie to that little colt you like? What is his name again? Soarin'?"
"Yes Daddy," Rainbow replied. "He likes pie and I have to win his heart."
Rainbow's Dad looked nervously around hoping that his wife wasn't around them. "Ok, Rainbow. I'll make you a deal. Mommy said that we should try not to eat this pie, because she made it for dessert tonight. But I was planning on having some anyway after lunch. You know how much I love apple pie. Does Soarin' like apple pie too?"
Rainbow Dash nodded her head yes innocently. "Yes Daddy, I think apple pie is his favorite."
Rainbow's Dad smiled and brought out a knife. He then began cutting the pie.
"No, no, Daddy. Stop!" she said.
Rainbow's Dad looked down at his little girl. "What now Dashie?" he asked.
"It's too small. Soarin' eats a big slice of pie."
"Oh," her Father said. He repositioned the knife and began to cut further away from the original incision. "Is this ok?" he asked.
"No Daddy, bigger. Much bigger." Rainbow Dash said as she stood on her hind legs and spread her front legs out as wide as she could, trying to emphasize just how big this slice of pie is supposed to be.
Rainbow's Father felt a drop of sweat trickle down his head. "Um, how much does this colt eat?"
Rainbow leapt up onto a chair near by and wrapped her front legs around her Father's front leg that was wrapped around the knife. She slowly moved his front leg over to where she thought would be a reasonable, or more like a Soarin' slice of pie.
"Are you kidding me Dashie?" her father asked. This is literally half the pie."
"We must do it Daddy. I have to win his heart."
Rainbow's Father let out a nervous little laugh and said, "When your Mother finds out what we did, she will kill me."
Rainbow Dash hopped off the chair and came back with more food and snacks. "These too Daddy! These too!"
Rainbow's Father had a look of shock on his face. "Ok, Dashie, but seriously no more than that. I think you may have forgotten that I still made you lunch on the counter and I can't imagine you both being able to finish what I'm about to pack here."
"Win his heart Daddy. Win his heart."
Rainbow's Father put his hoof to his forehead. "Ok, ok, ok, we will win his heart!" He began to pack the food in multiple lunch bags.
Rainbow looked up at her Father and said, "Can we go to school now?"
Her Father looked at the clock and said, "If we left now you'd be very early. Although I'm sure you want to go because of Soarin' right?"
The little filly proudly closed her eyes and nodded her head yes with much excitement.
Rainbow's Father let out a sigh. "Ok kiddo. Let's go." He grabbed the many lunch bags he had prepared. He then turned his back to her and squatted low to the ground.
Rainbow Dash instantly jumped onto the stallions back and clung to his neck.
The stallion walked out of the door and took off into the sky.
When he reached the school grounds, he landed on the cloud and Rainbow hopped off of his back.
He set the lunch bags down beside her. Rainbow's Dad gave her a playful pat on the back and said, "Ok sweetie, here are your lunch bags." Her Father started giggling to himself. "Hey Rainbow, when you share the lunch with your special colt friend, tell him that you know that the only way to a stallion's heart is through his stomach."
Rainbow Dash repeated the phrase several times out loud hoping that somehow that phrase would be like a magical saying that would instantly have Soarin' all over her like fly's on pie. She hadn't had the slightest clue as to what the phrase really meant, but she trusted her Father.
"Ok Daddy, I'm going to win his heart today."
Rainbow's Dad continued to laugh to himself. "You go do that sweetie. I'll be here to pick you up after school and maybe we can talk to Soarin' and his Mother about setting up a special play date! Go get him, tiger!" Rainbow's Dad suddenly gave her a very playful punch on her jaw with his hoof.
Rainbow became so confident in herself because of her Father's pep talk, that she ran full speed to the building. She got there extra early to talk to Soarin', but nopony was there yet because she showed up so early. Rainbow Dash put the many bags of lunch down and walked over to the flag poll. She began to count out loud. "ONE, TWO, THREE, GO!" Rainbow sped off to that check point that the other colts were using yesterday. She practiced running and flying back and forth between the two in order to become faster and to perhaps impress Soarin'. She practiced quite a few laps and then became tired. Eventually, all the other colts showed up except for Soarin'. She waited patiently for him because she wanted to try to beat him at the race. She felt that if she won a race against him, then he would be interested in her. Rainbow's ears perked up when she saw his Mother flying towards the school. She raced over to the flag pole and watched Soarin' hop off of his Mother's back. As he walked by her, Rainbow stopped him. "Soarin' I have been practicing racing and I want to play with you. Can we have a race together?"
Soarin' suddenly looked back at his Mother as if he were waiting for her to tell him what he should do. His Mother had no clue what they were talking about because she was too far away, but she gave him a beaming smile and a hoof up in the air to show her approval. He turned back to Rainbow and said, "Ok, let's have a race."
The moment he said those words, the main doors to the school building opened up. "Welcome back everypony!" the teacher said. "It's time to come in and start class."
Soarin' looked at Rainbow Dash. He had a rather confused look on his face. "Maybe we can race later Rainbow. I think we need to get to class now."
Rainbow Dash lowered her ears in sadness as the colt turned his back on her and walked into the school. She followed closely behind him.
Rainbow Dash kept her eye on Soarin' for most of the time, but she also couldn't help but look back at the clock. She couldn't wait for lunch time so she could finally prove to Soarin' that she likes him.
The bell had rung and Rainbow Dash rushed over to her cubby hole. She pulled out the many bags of food and sat at her lunch table.
The teacher was shocked that she had packed so much food. She had never seen anything like it before. She didn't even remember seeing Rainbow put the bags away in her cubby hole.
Rainbow Dash began to organize the food around her table as if it would attract the colt of her dreams. She watched Soarin' walk right over to her.
"It worked! My plan worked!" she thought to herself.
Soarin' suddenly walked past her and sat in the same spot where he sat yesterday. He opened up his bag and began to consume his food very quickly.
Rainbow's jaw almost hit the table. Her heart weighed heavy in her chest and she refused to touch any of the food. She sat back against the chair and crossed her front legs. She had a rather angry look on her face because she was so upset at how slow Soarin' was to understand her feelings.
The teacher noticed that lunch time was half way over now and Rainbow Dash hadn't touched any of the food that she had brought. She walked over to her and put her hoof on her shoulder. "Rainbow Dash. Aren't you going to eat? You almost have enough food to feed the entire class! Why did you bring so much food today?"
Rainbow Dash's face turned red with embarrassment. She tried to speak but she couldn't say the words out loud where the other fillies could hear her. Rainbow Dash got out of her seat and grabbed the teacher by her hoof. She dragged her over to another corner of the room.
"Rainbow Dash what are you doing? Is there a problem?" the teacher asked.
Rainbow looked up at her and waved her hoof as if motioning for the teacher to bend down so she could tell her a secret.
The teacher bent down low and Rainbow began to whisper in her ear. "I like Soarin' and I brought all this food to share with him today, but he won't sit with me and you won't let me sit next to him at his table. I don't know what else I can do."
The teacher put her hoof to her mouth and her cheeks turned slightly red at what the little filly just admitted. She leaned closer to Rainbow and said, "I think I can help you out. Let's go back to the tables."
The teacher instructed Rainbow Dash to take her seat. She went over to the closet and pulled out another chair and placed it across from where Rainbow Dash was sitting. She walked over to Soarin' and whispered in his ear. "Soarin' I think Rainbow Dash wants to be your friend. She brought some food to share with you today. Why don't you sit with her and talk?"
The idea of eating more food sounded very appealing to Soarin'. He got up out of his seat and the teacher guided him over to where Rainbow was sitting. He took his seat that was across the table from her.
Rainbow Dash lit up with a huge smile and began to shove the food across the table to him.
Soarin' instantly bent down and began to devour all of the food.
She sat there in contentment as he continued to practically inhale the food that she had brought him.
The teacher stood there quite surprised. "Aren't you going to have any of your lunch, Rainbow?"
Rainbow looked back up at her and said, "No. I want him to be happy."
Soarin' drove his entire face into the apple pie and began to chew loudly.
The teacher had a look of shock on her face. She was almost certain that Soarin' would end up at the nurses office with a bad tummy ache, or even worse, that he might vomit all that he just ate.
Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof accusingly at him and said, "My Daddy says that the only way to a stallion's heart is through his stomach."
Soarin' stared at her with the most dumb founded look on his face. His mind was not ready to process such phrases of that nature.
Suddenly, one of the other colts yelled out to Soarin'. "Hey Soarin' I'm not going to eat all these celery stalks. I'm going to throw them out if you don't want them.
Soarin's ears perked up at the thought of eating more food. He quickly got up out of his seat.
"Soarin', Soarin', Soarin, wait. Where are you going?" Rainbow Dash asked, but the colt was too excited and distracted by the free food offer. He left Rainbow Dash sitting at her table and now she had no food to eat for herself.
The teacher began to panic. "Uh, Soarin' why don't you sit with Rainbow Dash for now. I think you had enough to eat."
Soarin' heard her but his mind could not comprehend what she saying. He could not understand why anypony else would not want to eat free food. He sat down at the other table and began to chew loudly on one of his class mates celery stalks.
Rainbow Dash sat there with her jaw hanging open. She couldn't believe it. This colt had to have some kind of attention disorder or focus problems.
The bell rang and it was now time to play. Soarin' instantly rushed over to the closet and took out that red rubber ball that he oh so loved to bat against the wall.
Rainbow Dash had set up the game she wanted to play with him, but he had no desire to try it. He simply sat in the corner alone and was rolling the ball around with his hoof and then batting it against the wall.
Rainbow Dash became so angry that she flipped the board game with her front hooves and the pieces flew everywhere. She ran over to Soarin' and grabbed the ball away from him. She then ran over to the teacher and dropped the ball at her hooves. "Teacher! Please put this ball away and lock the closest door, because I want to play with Soarin' and this stupid ball is distracting him!"
The teacher picked up the ball and looked over at Soarin'. He was now crying because he loved that ball so very much. "Rainbow Dash, that's not how to get other ponies to play with you. Come with me."
Rainbow Dash followed the teacher.
The teacher hushed Soarin' and gave him back the ball. He grabbed onto it with his front legs and squeezed it so tightly against his little chest. He was so happy to have it back. She guided Rainbow Dash and had her sit down in front of the colt. "Now Soarin', please drop the ball for a second."
Surprisingly, he obeyed her and dropped the ball.
The teacher gently pushed the ball over to Rainbow Dash. "See, this is how you play with each other. Isn't this fun? Now Rainbow Dash, push the ball back to Soarin'. It's your turn."
Rainbow Dash did so and the colt clapped his front hooves with delight as the ball came rolling back towards him.
The teacher watched them push the ball back and forth several times. She lit up with a smile over the fact that she had fulfilled Rainbow's wish and also kept Soarin' happy at the same time.
"This will be our special game from now on Soarin'. Just me and you," Rainbow Dash said.
Soarin' didn't say anything. He just simply smiled as the ball kept rolling back to him.
When school ended, all of the young ponies ran out of the main doors and found their parents.
Rainbow Dash raced over to her Father and wrapped her front legs around his front leg. "Daddy! I did it! I did it!"
"What did you do, darling?" he asked.
"I won Soarin's heart! I won Soarin's heart!" Rainbow Dash began to bounce up and down in excitement.
Her Father stuck his hoof in her mane and began to rough it up. "That's my girl! Where is he? We should set up a special play date with him and his Mommy."
Rainbow Dash suddenly turned around, but Soarin' was already gone. His Mother must have picked him up early. "I think he's gone Daddy, but don't worry. I won his heart and he's mine to keep now."
Rainbow's Father grinned. He turned his back to her and squatted down low. "Come on kid, hop onto my back and we can tell Mommy all about your new somepony special. I think it will cheer her up since she almost had a fit when she noticed how much apple pie I let you take to school."
Rainbow Dash grabbed a hold of her Father and off they went.