A Date with a Friend

by MisterNick

Unexpected Interest

There wasn’t much that could catch Soarin off guard. As one of the Wonderbolts’ captains he had trained rigorously and was capable of anticipating most of what life could dish out. Stranded hikers or plummeting pedestrians he could handle. Deadly dragons and the terrors of Tartarus he’d had mixed success in dealing with but, ultimately had prevailed. Matters of the heart however were an entirely different matter.

Soarin hadn’t dated in years. The duties of his rank encompassed most of his time. The daily early morning training sessions, late night paperwork, coordinating and assisting in rescue operations, and the occasional airshow made up the bulk of his schedule. The rest of the time he often spent sleeping or tending to some of the injuries he may have sustained while on duty. So it had come as a surprise when earlier in the week one of the reserves, Rainbow Dash, had taken an interest in him.

It began on Monday with playful banter. In his case it was often followed up by an embarrassingly bad joke that not even his siblings would laugh at, yet she would. On Wednesday, during agility drills Rainbow Dash would gently tap one of the white pegasus’ wings or cut a turn a little closer to him than usual so that she would gently brush against him. Each time she did it Soarin would blush and swing wide of the mark in order to conceal his embarrassment from onlookers. When asked what was wrong he feigned injury and claimed that his wing was sore. He then gingerly flew to the medic for an examination and a quick rub down of the “injury”. After which, with the aid of a doctor’s note prohibiting him from performing his duties for the next four days, Soarin left the training facility.

As he glided home Soarin thought about the events of the past few days. He sighed quietly to himself knowing that what she had done had been a clear violation of the rules. It was completely inappropriate for an officer in the Wonderbolts to have relations with a subordinate flier. Such conduct could lead to not just her expulsion but his as well. The very thought of losing his position frightened him to no end. What would he do if he were dishonorably discharged?

What of Rainbow Dash? He’d always thought that being a Wonderbolt, no being the best Wonderbolt ever, had always been her dream. She’d certainly mentioned it several times when they first met. The very idea of flying with them was enough to make her ramble endlessly. He wondered what in the wild blue yonder could have changed to make her want to take such a risk as he slowly circled in on his house.

Soarin landed softly by his mailbox and retrieved his bills and a small package before entering his home and locking it behind him. He hummed to himself as he set the bills to the side and opened the package, a book he had ordered to replace the one his mother had sent him that somehow had been lost and needed to be returned. He set the book down, The Longest Flight by Sparks, and repackaged it as he continued to consider what it was he should do about Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll have to reprimand her,” he muttered to himself as he wrote his mother’s address on the new box, “There’s no doubt about it. She-she can’t just keep brushing up against me like that. It’s unprofessional. What if Spitfire had been paying attention? Then where would we be?” As he asked his last question the idea of the possibility of a ‘we’ made him smile in spite of himself.

Soarin quickly shook his head jarring the thought from his mind. It was ridiculous. There could never be a ‘we’ at least, not with her or any Wonderbolt. He grumbled and looked up at the clock and realized it was time to start dinner.

The aroma of the simmering carrot, potatoes, celery and various herbs wafted through the house as he toasted some bread and cheese on the skillet next to it. He’d resumed his humming as he smiled knowing that in a few minutes a hearty meal awaited him. After all, soup and grilled cheese was perfect for any pony.

Soarin flipped the sandwich over and it landed with an audible plop. He chuckled at the noise and turned the heat off on the soup. As he turned the dial the sound of the simmering vegetables slowly subsided. Soarin grabbed a bowl and ladle and spooned out a heaping portion of the soup and brought it over to the table. The sandwich soon followed.

Soarin took his seat and placed his napkin in his lap. It was then he noticed the low ringing that echoed throughout the house. He looked up from his food and glanced about. He’d eaten alone before. In fact, after he moved out of the barracks he’d eaten alone most nights. Yet, this was the first time he’d noticed the sound of silence. Soarin’s eye twitched in aggravation. He stood up from the table and muttered to himself, “Why is this bothering me all of a sudden,” as he grabbed a Louis Wingstrong record and tossed it on the turntable.

After a few moments the sounds of Wingstrong’s horn echoed throughout the small house. He nodded along to the melody and sighed quietly to himself as he sat back down to his meal. Was all of this unease really because of a few playful wing taps and grazes that made him uncomfortable or was it because it was her? He gnawed on the idea as he sipped his soup searching for an answer that wasn’t forthcoming and continued to do well after he’d finished his dinner and was in bed.

Soarin’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness by the time he’d begun actively counting each ripple on his ceiling. He remembered when he was a young colt how the darkness used to frighten him and how every sound that he didn’t recognize would propel him either deeper under his covers or into his parents room, much to their disapproval. He’d long since gotten used to the noises his home made. The occasional creaks, the whir of the refrigerator, even the odd tapping from outside his window didn’t faze him these days. Perhaps it should have. After all, maybe thieves had somehow come in during the night and stolen his mother’s book.

He chuckled at the thought. Of all the things to break in and steal, an overly sentimental romance novel would probably be the last thing any thief would want. Soarin still couldn’t believe he’d slogged through as much of it as he had before finally giving up on it. Heck he even felt silly at having to order a new copy of it after it went missing. “It’ll turn up as soon as I mail the new copy off,” he said to himself, “Then I’ll be stuck with the old copy. I could always give it to Spitfire for a laugh. Or maybe even Rainbow Dash, I’m sure she’d be all about it.”

Soarin’s stomach knotted up and his pulse quickened at the mention of her name. The pegasus grumbled to himself and flipped over on his side in response. His mind raced as he closed his eyes tightly. He couldn’t have feelings for her. Why would he have feelings for her? He knew what the risks were. It had to be something else. Quickly he focused in on his dinner that night, “The carrots were old. That’s it. I have a minor bit of food poisoning. I should have thrown them out days ago. It serves me right,” he reassured himself, “It can’t be love. It can’t even be attraction. Besides, what mare in her right mind would-“

He stopped talking and growled to himself as he kicked off the sheets. He strode to the bathroom, flipped on the light and opened his medicine cabinet. Soarin quickly grabbed the anti-acids and popped two of them in his mouth, chewed them up quickly and swallowed them. He then looked over at the small bottle of sleeping pills. He hated those things. They usually left him feeling groggy the next morning. However, since his mind had decided not to shut up, he made the sacrifice and popped one of the pills into his mouth and swallowed. Soarin turned about and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He sighed quietly and closed his eyes, “What sort of crazy mare would want somepony that’s can’t even keep fresh carrots.”

That night Soarin dreamed. He was lighter than a moth’s wing and floated on the winds of time. The white pegasus was a spirit and watched as those in his life slowly entered and waltzed out of his slumber. He saw Spitfire standing on a podium with several gold medals adorning her neck from the Equestria games. It made sense, that she would have done so well, her diligence had always paid off and she was a fierce competitor.

He then dreamed of his parents and his siblings on a Hearths Warming Eve. They gathered around the table heads bowed in thanks of the food they’d received. He saw that his sister-in-law was heavy with a foal. She beamed happily as did the rest of his family, not unlike the time he’d graduated from the academy. Their familial love was as strong and unbroken as ever.

Soarin then dreamed of Rainbow Dash. It was autumn and she was in Manehattan’s largest park with a pony he couldn’t quite make out. She was happy and spun under the eaves of the trees. The red and gold leaves fell and swirled about her slowly transforming into a distant beach’s orange sunset. She laughed with the anonymous pony and they leaned into one another, their gazes fixed upon the horizon.

So it went from season to season. Their love grew stronger with each passing year, until well in the future he saw them again around an anniversary feast. Rainbow Dash had grayed considerably as had her husband. Their children and grandchildren gathered around and wished them many more happy years together. Even though he couldn’t see their faces he knew they were smiling. He could feel it.

Across that sea of time and space where everyone was reasonable and loved and the rules of a flight organization didn’t matter a hill of beans. Soarin could feel his eyes mist as he watched the scene play out. It felt real. Could that anonymous pony be him? There was only one way to find out.

Comments

[flaminkomage]

Wow. This was very well done. Personally, I really liked it, being the huge SoarinDash fan I am.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Gotta give you points for the changeling angle, but...

It's, hm, abrupt. Too much happens all at once and messes up the overall plot, I think.

Outside that, it's a very promising idea you had.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[SoloBrony]

Yet, the biggest surprise came when he asked her if she would be interested in a hayburger and maybe a movie and she said yes.

It would seem Soarin is a very surprised pony. Even by himself.

Those facts weighed heavily on the white pegasus’ mind.

But not as heavily as they weighed on the lavender unicorn's mind.

Soarin isn't really white, just a very pale blue, but whatevs.

Yet, at night he envisioned the details of romantic scenes. He imagined dinners far fancier than the local McSoy’s, followed by long walks through the crisp autumn air in the large park in Manehattan when the red and gold leaves fell silently and in that moment they were the only two ponies in world filled with color and light.

Awww... what a softy.

“It’s just dinner and a movie. Nothing to worry about. You two have been solid friends for a bit now. It’s not like she’s going to bite your head off or something.”

Heh, he's going so overboard in preparation, it almost seems like this pony reads too much shipfiction.

Or, having finished reading it, maybe somepony else read too much shipfiction, heh. I loved the untwist, where the zany nonsense of the story was revealed to be... something far more mundane. It worked well in that regard, and I did find it funny.

That having been said, the grammar, punctuation, and formatting of the story is a complete mess. The pacing is a bit scattershot, too. You've got the potential to be a great author, with ideas like these, but you need a proofreader. There are proofreader groups on FIMFic, though, so get huntin'!

Good effort. Keep writing!

[Lord Destrustor]

The silliness was a bit too much, but the ending went a good way to grounding it back.
It did feel a bit rushed, especially in the middle, but I can see this was the point.
Still, It was pretty nice, despite some minor grammar problems.

Also, what happened with the changelings? Did they just go away on their own?

[CoffeeMinion]

Dang, man! This is pretty good!

As someone else said, it's a little rushed at points, and it's got a couple grammar oddities; but it's got some genuine feels and character interaction going on, which overcomes those things.

Nice work! And hey, if you ever need a pre-reader or something, you know where to find me.

[Moosetasm]

I wasn't sure if I was overtired and going crazy, or if the story was really doing what it was for a while there...

But twas good.

[MisterNick]

6831180 Well, I'm really happy that you enjoyed it!

[MisterNick]

6831244 Well, I'll be honest I didn't really think this one through. It was one of those 3 AM throw something together sort of stories that I didn't do my due diligence on and proofread and all that jazz. I'm going to have to do that and improve upon it.

6831285 I'm glad you thought it was funny. I really didn't proof read this story, which I should have done. It was way late/early in the morning and I didn't give it the attention it deserved. It's honestly bugged me and I'm sort of surprised to some degree that it generally got as positive of a reception as it has.

6831339 With regard to the changelings they continued to argue among themselves and flew off. That was another area that I neglected to address and will do so later on. I didn't really do what I should have done with this and edited, proofread and what not this thing so that I can look at it and not feel like I at least handled it appropriately.

[MisterNick]

6832558 This was an example of something I sort of threw together real fast. Not to make too many excuses for it but, it was like 3 in the morning and I didn't really proofread this thing at all. I'm going to have to do so sometime today because I'm honestly surprised folks liked it as much as they did and while I'm sure there are things that are pretty good within it. I know that I didn't do what I should have done as a writer to make this flow correctly.

On a different note thank you for the offer! I'll probably take you up on it if I've got something that maybe you'd enjoy working on.

6832901 Well I'm glad you enjoyed it regardless! I know it's kind of rough and it needs some work.

[SoarinDashSpaz]

Ok the part when he walked in on dash and thunderlane had me dropping "what the actual fucks" all over the place -inserts laughing emoji-

[MisterNick]

6865919 Well then I can safely say success on my part!