The sun had already set. The Wonderbolts' show in Ponyville had ended some hours ago. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity were leaving the area where the event has been, leaving Rainbow Dash, the newest Wonderbolt, behind, to clean up the mess she considerably helped to make.
They had barely started walking away when Twilight noticed the absence of a certain filly. She stopped and looked to both sides.
“Where's Scootaloo?” the alicorn asked the other mares, before looking behind to see that the little pegasus had returned to her big sister.
“Are you sure you're gonna be okay, Rainbow Dash?” the orange filly asked her idol.
The older pegasus smiled at her. “Of course I am, Scoots. This is my dream! And is there anything I can't handle?” Rainbow Dash said, smugly. Scootaloo gave her a smile in response.
The blue mare put the broom aside, before hugging her adopted little sister.
“I want you to keep training, okay?” Rainbow started. “Never give up, 'cause I know that someday you'll get here too.”
Scootaloo nodded, while embracing Rainbow Dash.
“Promise me you'll never give up?” the rainbow pegasus asked while letting go of her.
“I promise,” Scootaloo answered with determination.
“That's the spirit!” Rainbow said, ruffling the filly's mane. “I'll make you proud, Scoots.”
“You're already doing it. You always did!” Scootaloo replied, before wrapping her hooves around Rainbow Dash again, who returned the gesture.
“Scootaloo?” Twilight's voice called, a little farther from where they were.
Rainbow sighed. “You'd better go now. And I have to clean up the result of my ‘awesome stunt’,” she chuckled.
Scootaloo chuckled back, before letting go of her sister. “I know you're gonna do great in all the Wonderbolt stuff they tell you to do. And you'll tell me everything later, won't you?” she asked, hopefully.
“You bet!” Rainbow winked.
“Awesome!” the filly buzzed her wings in excitement, before starting to run in the direction of the other mares. “Bye, Rainbow Dash!”
“See ya, Scoots!” Rainbow waved at her direction, before getting the broom again and continuing to clean the place.
Rainbow Dash sighed. She thought about everything that she went through to get where she was now. The dream of being in the Wonderbolts always seemed so reachable to her, and yet, so distant... How many nights had her dreams been filled with the Wonderbolts' amazing flying stunts? How many nights had her dreams been filled with the wish that, someday, she would be up there with them? She couldn't count. And now that she was finally there, she feared that it was just another dream.
But if it was, she didn't want to wake up ever again.
“Hey!” – Rainbow Dash's thoughts were cut short by a voice coming from behind her.
“AAH!” she jumped back in surprise, before turning around to face the pony who interrupted her thoughts. The pony was a light blue stallion with a navy blue mane, who was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform.
“Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you,” Soarin said sheepishly.
Rainbow caught her breath, before replying, “Me? Scared? As if! I was just... distracted, and you took me by surprise,” she justified.
“Uhum, of course,” he chuckled.
“What're you doing here anyway? Didn't the other 'Bolts leave already?” she asked.
“Probably,” Soarin shrugged. “Wasn't in such a hurry to get back, so I decided to fly around a bit,” he explained. “Then I saw you here and thought you might want some company,” he offered, with a friendly smile.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” he nodded. “Uh, unless you don't want me to stay here–”
“No, no! I do!” she interrupted. “Uh, I mean... Sure. Why not?” she shrugged, in an attempt to hide the fact that she was glad to have company. No, his company.
Soarin smiled. “Great!”
For a moment, Soarin simply stood there, watching her cleaning the place. He looked around. There was still a lot of work to be done. Although his body was tired and his mind told him not to risk getting a reprehension from Spitfire for not letting her punish Rainbow Dash like she wanted to, he felt like a good friend should offer a helping hoof to the newbie.
“You want some help?” he asked.
Rainbow lifted her head and looked at him. As much as she wanted to accept, her stubbornness spoke louder than her tiredness.
“Nah. I can handle this myself,” she said, smugly.
“Suit yourself,” Soarin shrugged, internally relieved that she refused. They were both quiet for a while afterwards. She continued sweeping the floor, and he stood near her.
Rainbow Dash already felt pretty uncomfortable with a pony standing there, watching her, and the awkward silence wasn't helping. Soarin, however, seemed completely at ease, but didn't say a word either.
“So,” – Soarin started finally, making Rainbow's ears perk up – “what an interesting way of ending your first show,” he joked.
Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment. “You guys are never going to forget that, are you?”
He snickered. “I doubt we will. But relax. You saw it: we all have our own embarrassing stories to be mocked about. It's so normal between us that we don't even get offended anymore,” he explained.
“Yeah, now I see it,” she nodded. “Guess I overreacted just a little bit... Especially about the first time, when I got to the headquarters... Hehe,” she said, with a short, nervous laugh.
“Yeah, just a little bit,” he confirmed, sarcastically. “What was with you waking us by jumping on my bed?”
Rainbow bit her bottom lip. “You don't wanna know...”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “I suppose I also wouldn't want to know why you were being so... ‘flirty’, back there in the locker rooms.”
She blushed in embarrassment and covered her face from him, with a wing.
“That never happened,” she said.
“Fine for me,” Soarin shrugged. “That was weird, coming from you. It looked like you were gonna bounce on me or something. Don't creep me out like that again.”
“Sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. Hehe,” she said, rubbing the back of her head in an embarrassed manner.
“It's okay. Just telling you that's not the right approach,” he kidded.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, as Soarin snickered. “That was... That was not the reason why I did that,” she said.
“Relax, Dash. I'm just kidding you,” he smiled. “And you'd better get used to it, 'cause we do that a lot in our team.”
Rainbow smiled back. Her smile soon turned into a smirk.
“So,” – she began – “Mr. ‘Clipper’, isn't it?”
“Oh yeah, that,” Soarin blushed in embarrassment.
“I thought it was only in the Equestria Games tryouts, but it seems like you're always trying to get rid of your wing,” she mocked.
“Guess it won't be a problem anymore. Now that you're here, I can almost die anytime I want that you'll save me,” he joked.
“Only if I feel like doing it,” she remarked.
“I know you will. You couldn't live without me,” he said, with a goofy grin.
“Pfff... Yeah, right. Seems more like you can't live without me to save your flank,” she poked him in the chest.
“Can't deny it. But you should be happy with that, 'cause if it wasn't so, I wouldn't care about you being in the team. I mean, why else would I be excited that you'd be flying with us?” Soarin teased. She narrowed her eyes at him, with an offended expression.
He snickered. “Heh, you take things too seriously, Crash,” he poked her back. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Of course I'm happy you joined us. As I said, you're the most talented flyer we've ever had. And, my friend,” he said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. She simply looked at him, listening with interest.
“You deserved it, probably more than most of the 'Bolts in the team,” he continued. “Don't tell them I said this, though,” he whispered, even though they were all alone there.
Rainbow gave him a smug grin in response. “Hah, I already knew I was awesome,” she said, patting her chest, proudly. They shared a chuckle.
Rainbow couldn't help but feel happy in hearing his words. It was good to know that there was somepony in the Wonderbolts who was glad to have her in the team not only for her skill, but for who she was.
“Well, I already complimented you a lot. You're cocky enough. No need to feed your ego even more,” Soarin said.
“I'm not cocky. I only like to recognize my own greatness,” she defended, with a smirk.
“Yeah, of course,” he chuckled. “But, hey, if you need anything, you can count on me,” he smiled.
She smiled back. “Thanks, Soarin.”
“No problem.” He extended a hoof. “Welcome to the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash.” She accepted the gesture and they shook hooves, before Soarin pulled her into a hug.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash protested, as he hugged her. “You know you're running a great risk of getting a kick in your flank right now, don't ya?” she said, menacingly.
“It's worth it,” he replied, nonchalantly.
She snorted. “You're lucky you're the second-in-command of the Wonderbolts.”
“Thanks for reminding me. As your superior, I command you to return the hug!” he said, with a mock authoritarian voice.
She rolled her eyes, while smiling. “This is abuse of power.”
“Oh, c'mon. I could've gone back already, but I stood here keeping you company instead. Don't you think I deserve it?” he asked, giving her an exaggerated fake pout.
She sighed dramatically, before wrapping her hooves around him and returning the embrace.
...And finishing it as quickly as possible.
“Enough. Let me go,” she said, ending the hug and getting the broom again.
“Hey!” Soarin protested. “This is cheating. I should've established a minimum time.”
“Too bad. You didn't,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and continued sweeping the floor.
“What's the problem with a hug? You were almost kissing me yesterday,” he said, mockingly.
She grunted. “I already said that that was not my intention. I was just... trying to get rid of the whole Rainbow Crash thing by standing out in a different way,” she explained.
“And you decided to talk about fashion with me?” Soarin raised an eyebrow. “That doesn't make much sense to me. Wouldn't it be more logical to try with one of the mares?”
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. He was right. However, when she was going to imitate Rarity, she didn't even stop to think. She simply picked Soarin and went for it.
“Guess I didn't think of it,” she shrugged.
He smirked. “Were you so desperate to talk with me that you just chose me randomly?”
Rainbow snickered. “Yeah, of course. Must've been that,” she said, sarcastically.
Soarin chuckled, before looking up at the sky. It was getting pretty late, and he knew that, soon, Spitfire would get suspicious, think he stayed to help Rainbow Dash and, later, complain that he wasn't letting her do her work.
As much as he wanted to stay, he didn't want to get himself, and possibly Rainbow Dash, in trouble.
He sighed and started flapping his wings, raising a few feet in the air. “Well,” – he started, making Rainbow turn to him again – “guess I'll be going. Nice talking to you.”
Her expression deflated a little, but she recovered soon, not wanting to let it show. “Yeah. It was nice talking to you too,” she smiled at him.
He smiled back. “Bye!” he waved while slowly flying backwards.
“Bye,” she replied, before looking back at the floor and muttering something under her breath about ending the hug too quickly, when he was far enough not to hear her.
“Good luck with the cleaning, Rainbow Crash!” Soarin shouted, mockingly.
“Get out of here, you moron!” Rainbow shouted as she threw the broom at his direction.
He dodged the object, before smirking at the mare below. “Love you too,” Soarin said, before putting his goggles on and flying away at full speed. “See ya at the headquarters!” he shouted, his voice fading in the distance.
Rainbow Dash flew to the direction she threw the broom and took it in her hoof, before looking up at the night sky, to the pegasus stallion that was already far away from her. She smiled to herself as she watched him, soon chuckling for no particular reason.
For a reason she couldn't tell, deep inside, she was still blaming herself for ending the hug so soon. Why she wished it had lasted longer, she didn't know. She didn't usually hug anypony besides her closest friends, and when she was forced to, she felt completely awkward. Surprisingly, she felt pretty comfortable doing it with Soarin. But why was that?
Of course she wouldn't tell him about it, but maybe it was because Soarin was one of the few stallions she felt like she could relate to, one of the only Wonderbolts she felt like genuinely cared about her, and one of the nicest guys she had ever met.
But, especially, he was another reason that Rainbow Dash never wanted this dream to end.