When Flash, Twilight, and Solar came out of the Everfree, Flash looked at the clock tower on City Hall and saw that it was already 11:00 AM.
“Oh shoot,” said Flash panicking a bit, “Hey Twilight, where is the train station again?”
Twilight pointed to her left, “About a quarter of a mile that way. Why?”
Flash started to trot quickly in that direction, “Its almost time for Soarin's train to come in”.
“Do you want me to come with you,” asked Solar, “or should I go find Cheese and see if the local inn has any vacancies?”
“Yeah, you should do that,” said Twilight, “The inn is over there, next to Bon-Bon's candy store, and you'll find Cheese with Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner. You'll pass it on your way to the inn. We will meet you there.”
“Thanks,” said Solar, “I'll see you guys later”. He then walked away to the direction Twilight told him.
When Twilight and Flash had gotten to the train station, the train had just stopped and ponies were getting of. Flash looked around and saw a dark blue mane walking in his direction. Soarin saw Flash and ran up to Flash with a relived expression on his face.
“Your finally home!” said Soarin ecstatically, “I thought you where dead, I'm glad that's not the case. So what are you doing here in Ponyville, I thought you would come back to Cloudsdale. Is there a mare that is keeping you here?” Soarin said the last part with his eyebrows wagging, making Flash blush.
“N...No! Princess Cadence said that this would be a good place to relax. Nothing more,” said Flash stuttering and looking a rock with a new interest.
Soarin laughed at Flash's expense,”It's alright bro, I know there is a couple nice mares around here. Oh, hey Princess Twilight, I didn't see you there,” said Soarin bowing.
“Just call be Twilight please,” said Twilight gesturing to Soarin to get up,”You only have to do that when your on duty”.
“Well then hello Twilight,” said Soarin with a chuckle, “So Flash where are we going first, I've already got a room set up for the inn so I have the whole day off. I don't have to leave until tomorrow evening to be on time for duty”.
Twilight started walking while Flash and his brother followed.
“We are going to a sweets shop run by Twilight's friend Pinkie Pie, you remember her from the gala experience,” said Flash
“I remember her,” said Soarin laughing, “She was the one that made the gala even bearable, I swear me and Spitfire were about to die of boredom if nothing was going to happen.”
“Wait,” said Twilight pointing at Flash, “You were at the gala? I don't remember you there.”
“You wouldn't remember me,” Flash replied, “I was part of the security, I wasn't invited. And thank Celestia I wasn't. Sounded like a train-wreck from the outside.”
Twilight blushed, “Well we all make mistakes right?”
Soarin laughed, “Yeah, but usually those mistakes don't involve crazed animals, pop music, cake flying everywhere, and a crying prince.”
“Blueblood was crying?” asked Twilight incredulously.
Soarin nodded, “Oh yeah, he was mad he got cake on his silk suit or some weird thing.”
The group got to the sweets shop. When they entered they saw that Flare and Solar were with the group. Soarin waved to Flare and gave her a hug.
“Wow Flare I haven't seen you in nearly year, where did you go after you finished your training?” asked Soarin.
“I decided I wanted to go to the Crystal Empire,” said Flare sitting, “I wanted to see the sights and I wanted to see where my family line started before they moved to Equestria before Sombra went bat-crazy. I was also asked to go there by the Princess Cadance because I was top of my regiment during training.”
Flash laughed, “Hey, I was right behind you. Well I was before we split because of the specialized training.”
“Specialized training,” asked Solar.
“Yes,” said Flash, “You see Flare being a unicorn, was part of the unicorn section of the guard. Me being a pegasus and having high endurance with heavy loads was sent to Security and Messaging. The reason I was in the avalanche, I stopped when delivering an update to the empire. Soarin here, became part of the select few to be a choice for the new Wonderbolt open positions.”
Rainbow perked up, “You mean there was a opening on the Wonderbolt's and I missed it? Come on!!!”
Soarin smiled, “It was before you signed up for the Wonderbolt Academy. About two years.”
“How do you know when I applied to the Wonderbolt's Academy?” asked Rainbow.
“Who do you think signed his name to let you into the academy in the first place?” said Soarin winking at Rainbow.
Rainbow starred at Soarin for a few seconds before slamming into him.
“THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!”
“Your welcome,” said Soarin with a wince, “now can you remove your knee from my gut?”
Rainbow blushed and backed away with the speed of a scared cat.
“It's fine,” said Soarin with a small chuckle, “I had almost the same reaction when Spitfire let me in.”
Rainbow giggled as Flash asked Solar if he was all set up at the inn.
“No unfortunately,” said Solar sighing into his dessert, “Apparently the last vacancy was taken yesterday.”
“Yeah that was probably me,” said Soarin, “If you want to, you can have it. I can sleep in a cloud or something.”
Solar shook his head, “I can't take something from you, I'll just have to find somewhere else to sleep.”
Dash listening in to the discussion spoke up, “If you need a place to stay Soarin, I have an extra bedroom connected to my house. I'll just have to grab some clouds to repair the room.”
Soarin smiled, “That's a great idea. I can stay with Rainbow and you get to have the room, heck you even get a free day out of it.”
“As long as you got a place to stay I'm ok with it, I'm not one to say no to a free room.” said Solar as he shifted his cape on his back.
Flash noticed this and asked why he wore it.
Solar smiled softly and took it off, making the room gasp. '
All along his back were scars and stitches of old injuries.
“I work all over Equestria,” said Solar, “Sometimes I have to go through the Everfree or the dragon lands to get to a place on time. These are from a day in the Everfree about four or five years ago when I was just starting to travel with my talent.”
“What animal did that,” asked Twilight studying his back, “They are too big to be a manicore..”
Solar nodded, “It wasn't done by a manicore, It was actually a group of timber wolves.”
“How did you get them to go away?” asked Flare.
“I didn't. A mare came to my help and nursed my wounds till we made it to the next town, “ said Solar shrugging.
“Do you know the name of the mare that helped you?” asked Twilight curiously.
“Yeah, she was a blue unicorn named Trixie,” said Solar chuckling, “Or should I Say the Great And Powerful Trixie.”
“How is she doing,” asked Twilight worried.
“She's fine, She's still doing shows, though she did say she wanted to come back here to Ponyville to apologize for something,” Solar looked to Twilight for an explanation.
Twilight's ears went down, “She kinda enslaved the town and then threw me out and put a glass barrier around the city when I failed to beat her In a magic duel.”
“How did she beat you?” asked Solar, “I know she's powerful but not enough to beat you in magic.”
“She was using the alicorn amulet. It amplified her magic, but it started to corrupt her. We had to trick her to take it off and she ran off before we could do anything,” said Twilight.
Flash nodded, “Yeah I knew she couldn't beat you. I've seen you use magic. Amazing stuff.”
Twilight's face flushed while she tried to do a remarkably good impression of Fluttershy.
“Thank's,” she said softly.
“Your welcome,” said Flash also blushing slightly.
“Smooth,” said Soarin leaning towards his brother.
Flash sent a glare his way as Flare tried to not giggle like a madmare.
“Anyway what do you want to do while your here?” asked Flash to Soarin's smug smile.
“What about we have a race for old times sake?” said Soarin with a competitive grin, “I wanna see if I can still beat your flank”.
“Your so on,” said Flash as they rushed out the door to find the perfect starting point for their race.
Twilight stood up and sighed, “Stallions”.
Flare nodded, “Yup”.
“Hey, whats that supposed to mean?” asked a confused Solar as he followed the mares out of the confectionery cottage.