Soarin's New Wings

by Foal Star

Chapter 4: Keep Fluttering on

Two weeks had passed and Rainbow Dash was now watching as Soarin was flying up into the clouds, this time gracefully fluttering up and down, weaving through them majestically. Though despite the improvement, the cyan coated mare still growled impatiently at his performance, “Come on Soarin, flutter faster!”

Sadly, while his flying had improved he’d started to weaken in other areas. For the past several weeks Soarin has been packing on the pounds and was getting rather heavy in many weird places for a stallion. What was even weirder though, was that his mane and tail were growing longer now, while his face seemed to be getting smoother and less defined. On occasions, Rainbow Dash had to shake her head a few times to make sure that it was indeed Soarin that she was looking at.

“Is it just me or is he looking more like a mare?” Rainbow Dash wondered to herself, increasingly confused as she kept looking at him.

Though her concern turned back to annoyance at the sight of his bloated belly. “Well however he looks, if he doesn’t start laying off the food he’ll be too heavy to get off the ground.” She quickly shouted at the out of shape athlete, “Soarin! I told you to lay off those pies! You can't get back into the Wonderbolts looking like that!”

Soarin blushed, running a hoof through his mane “Yeesh, her coaching starting to remind me of Spitfire. Here’s hoping she doesn't make me do laps too.”’ He quietly groaned as he struggled to remain airborne.“You’re right but I've been having these insane cravings lately I..I can't control myself sometimes.”

Frustrated Rainbow groaned, running her hooves over her face. “This isn’t the time for this, You're a full grown stallion! not a pregnant mare! Have some self-control for crying out loud and get your head in the game!”

The bloated flyer could only squeak like a mouse under the mare’s glare, straining himself to reach the last cloud, gasping for breath as he fluttered back down to the ground. Thankfully, despite his weight and fatigue, he still managed to land gracefully on his hooves instead of his rump.

Rainbow Dash fluttered back down to him with a hard to read the expression, though Soarin could tell she wasn’t especially satisfied with his performance. “Well, you can at least flutter around and do some flips. Unfortunately, that’s not gonna be enough, there are still quite a few things we need to get a handle on.”

She took a step closer and pressed her hoof against his stomach, actually sinking into the growing rolls of fat, “For starters, you need to lose some weight. Once that’s handled, we can worry about your presentation.”

Soarin eyed her at the latter half of her sentence. “Presentation? What do you mean by that?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don't know but it seems that Rarity thinks you'll do better with a…” She cringed as she struggled to get the words out, “A costume and some classical music.”

Soarin groaned, slamming a hoof into his face, “I don’t need classical music or a costume.”

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. “Look, I agree with you 100% on that, heck if it was anypony else I’d tell them no way. But this is Rarity we’re talking about here. She’s been working on this all day and if we don’t she’ll never let us hear the end of it.”

Soarin merely offered a look of defeat, “Alright, I’ll try whatever it is on, but I’m not wearing it at the tryouts.”

“Well, we may not have a choice, considering we're going for a different approach here.”

Soarin eyed Rainbow Dash and explained, “Hey, even the Wonderbolts may have a spot on me seeing how well coordinated I am with my new wings.”

Rainbow Dash gave him smirk, lightly punching his shoulder, “True, you float around almost as well as a cloud, too bad you’ve got the same build as one. I'm sorry for being so tough on you. I think all of this pressure is starting to get to me.”

Soarin patted his gut and chuckled, “Yeah, I think the pressure is starting to get me to and I don’t just mean my stomach, though I really do need to watch what I eat.”

The cyan coated pegasus gave the stallion a look of encouragement. “Just when you feel those cravings kick in, try something healthy, like apples or salads.”

Soarin gave nod and patted his pudgy tummy, still slightly concerned about the change his body had gone through.

Though he was quick to put those concerns aside as he and Rainbow Dash made their way to Carousel Boutique, himself a little apprehensive about whatever Rarity was so eager to put him into.

Upon entering the store they found the white-coated mare humming a tune whilst threading a sparkling gold suit over one of her mannequins, obviously, the one meant for Soarin.

Upon hearing her bell ring Rarity turned towards Rainbow Dash and Soarin, taking special notice of the later’s long flowing mane, shortened face and little pudgy belly. While part of her was shocked by his change, she held it in and maintained her ladylike composure “Soarin, Darling! How is your routine coming along?”

The stallion shrugged, brushing his long mane from his face. “It’s going well I guess, I’m liking this new approach to our training, and I think I’m getting the hang of being more graceful.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful darling. I know it’ll be an exquisite display when you finally perform. Speaking of which.” Soarin’s dread immediately returned in full as Rarity levitated the suit from the mannequin, allowing him to get a full view of it.

The fashion pony, however, remained oblivious to his discomfort, “I finally managed to finish this suit for your performance. I believe it’ll accent your wings quite nicely. And with a little music thrown in, it’ll be a performance no pony will ever forget.”

Rainbow Dash gagged a little, “Are we sure that’s such a bad thing?”

Rarity quickly made her way over to Soarin to start the dressing process, though he clearly wasn’t happy about it. “Rarity, I appreciate what you’re doing, but I really don’t think I need to wear this when I perform.”

Rarity scoffed, “Oh pish posh, if we’re going for a softer touch on your test then we need to go all the way with it!”

She quickly managed to get the suit on him and finished buttoning it over his chest, topping it off with a golden top hat on his head that made Rainbow facehoof. “There we are, now go see yourself in the mirror and tell me what you think?”

Soarin grumbled angrily across the room, “I would tell you, but my mother told me not to use that kind of language in front of a lady.”!

He eventually came over to a full body mirror and saw himself in the sparkling gold top hat and the snug glittering suit actually shaping around his body well, almost hiding some of his excess weight. The sight actually made Soarin give himself a look over in the mirror.

“Huh, well it’s not what I usually wear. But it’s certainly not as awful as I thought it’d be.”

Rarity clopped her hooves together and continued asking, “Isn’t it just divine? I mean you look just fantastic darling.”

Soarin, taking one last appreciative look, wanted to nod but couldn’t as reality set in. “Doesn’t matter how nice this looks, it’s not gonna help me get back in the Wonderbolts.”

He turned to face Rarity with apologetic look while trying to explain as politely as he could. “Rarity this outfit looks amazing, but this isn’t what the Wonderbolts want. They want me to be fast and agile. This just won’t work.”

Rarity came up smiling and brushed a hoof across his mane. “Who knows but just do your best and do what you think will work.”

He sighed taking off the top hat. “Alright.”

Rarity paused for a second as she looked at his shortened face, the longer mane, and how his body was not just a little pudgier but also smaller than before. She gasped in realization, “Darling,I don't mean to be rude, but are you feeling okay?”

He looked up and asked, “What do you mean?”

Rarity gulped as Sweetie Belle ran inside the house shouting “Soarin!” She turned to see Soarin and asked, “Oh, hey there. Are you Soarin’s sister?!”

“Sister!?” Soarin squeaked and turned and ran to a mirror in the hall only to gasp at his reflection. At that moment only one thought crossed his mind.”What...what’s going on!?”

He turned to the mares and replied, “Sorry, but I need to go to Nurse Redheart and find out what’s going on.”

He then flew out the front doors and into the sky before anypony could say anything.

---

An hour later Soarin was now back in Nurse Redheart’s office and was sitting down across from her desk. Said Nurse was currently looking over the folder filled with his blood work, X-rays, hormone tests, and with a shocked expression asked, “Soarin have you been taking the testosterone pills I gave you right?”

Soarin slammed his hooves on to her desk, “Yes! I take one every day like you’ve told me! I don’t know what’s going on!?”

Redheart put the papers down and sighed, pausing for a few seconds before explaining, “Well there's no easy way to say this Soarin... I looked over your tests and well, your turning into a mare.”

Soarin sat back completely shock and whispered, “A mare!? But how!?”

Redheart peered at his wings. “I’m not entirely certain, but I'm betting that Rainboom and those wings have something to do with your changes. Unfortunately, this is obviously a magic related condition and I don’t have the kind of knowledge or skill to treat something like that. .”

Soarin slammed his hooves back on the desk and asked, “There has to be a way out of this! Maybe I'll take more pills! Or take get an injection or something!”

Redheart shook her head and continued as calmly as she could, “I wish it was that simple, but at this point that wouldn’t do anything. At this point, your best option would be to ask Twilight Sparkle, with her experience in magic she might have a solution.” Her expression quickly turned uncomfortably serious, putting Soarin further on edge. “However, if that ultimately doesn’t work, we’ll need to discuss some...changes you’ll be going through.” then we may need to discuss some changes.”

Soarin gulped and stammered, “Like, what?
Will my personality change?” He paused for a second as his pupils shrank, “Will I be able to get pregnant!”

Redheart nodded uncomfortably, “Yes, you’re going to have deal with all of that. I can give you some reading material that might help and advice if you need it.”

She took out bag and filled it with pamphlets and books from a drawer before handing it to Soarin.r. “Just in case Twilight can't change this; you should read these. They are usually for mares going through puberty, but under the circumstances, they seem appropriate.”

Soarin, almost numbly, took the bag whilst tremors shook throughout his body, all the while his mind tried desperately to come to terms with the taking sudden news. “Thanks, Nurse Redheart, I...I better get going!” He then ran out of the office and down the road as fast as he could.

“I'm sure Twilight can fix, this she has too!”

---

Meanwhile, at the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight was in the midst of organizing some of her books s when she heard a rapid knock on the door. The alarmed unicorn turned to hear a stallion shout “Twilight, it’s Soarin, I need to talk to you NOW!”

The purple unicorn was quick to open the door, resulting in Soarin flying, gasping all the way.

“Soarin, what in the world is the matter. I figured you’d be practicing with Rainbow Dash right now.”

Soarin however, didn’t acknowledge he question and instead practically got in her face, a look of mania in his eyes. “Twilight, you’ve got help me. There’s something wrong with me and you’re the only one I can turn to.”

Seeing little point in arguing with him the student of Celestia merely offered him a seat, before taking one herself. “Alright Soarin, so what’s this big emergency that’s got you so wound up.”

At that, he quickly became uncomfortably quiet, almost holding his head down in shame as he tried to find the right words for it. “It’s not exactly something I want to admit.”

“Soarin, if you don’t tell me what the problem is then I can’t help you.”

Soarin just lets out a frustrated sigh, sorely tempted to smash his face on the table. “Alright….I’m turning into a mare.”

A pin could have dropped right then and it would’ve been heard throughout the library, as Twilight’s mind worked to reboot itself.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that.”

Soarin, already upset at having admitted what he just did, simply just got up and started angrily walking around the room, , “You heard what I said! I just went to Nurse Redheart who examined me head to hoof and pretty much told me!”

Twilight, still surprised but processing the matter better, tried her best to calm Soarin down.d, “So what did she say exactly.”

Soarin shrieked, “I don't know, that my gender change might have something to do with how I got these damn wings. By the way, did you find anything that could help with that?”

Twilight's eyes averted from his gaze. “I'm sorry but I didn’t find any spells to counter what happened to your wings. As for your gender change, that may have something to with the Rainbooms magic. Unfortunately, since they rarely occur most ponies haven’t been able to study them. Though I think I know a spell that can help.”

Soarin groaned running his hooves through his mane, “What am I going to do I can’t become a mare! It’s bad enough I lose my wings and get replaced with these useless things, but now I’m turning into a mare on top of that, I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” He screamed, running out the door with tears streaming down his face.

---

Rainbow Dash groaned to herself, coming down from the sky to Sugarcube Corner. “I can’t believe Soarin is back here again after I told him to watch his darn weight! But I guess after learning that he’s turning into a mare from Nurse Redheart he’s dealing with a lot better go easy on him.”

She took a few deep breaths before going in to see Soarin with a dozen pie tins scattered all over his table, all the while sipping on a milkshake. Pinkie bounced up giggling at the stallion. “Wow Soarin you’re that big of an eater huh!?”

He shrugged and just kept sipping his milkshake grumpily as Rainbow Dash stomped with anger on her face. “Soarin! I need you out there practicing we only have one week left to get you ready!”

He just gulped more of his milkshake and grumbled, “Forget it, I'm done.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and growled, “Oh come on Soarin! You’re just mad because you're turning into a mare. So what! Isn't Spitfire a mare? And isn't she the captain of the Wonderbolts!?”

He just gave nod then she exclaimed, “I'm a mare! And I'm going to become a Wonderbolt one day! So don't think just because you're a mare you can't become a Wonderbolt!”

Soarin slammed his milkshake on the table and shouted, “No! Here’s the difference, you and Spitfire were born mares, I’m a stallion turning into one. I’ve always been a stallion and now I’m changing in such a way that it’ll affect the rest of my life in ways I can’t even begin to imagine. So yes Rainbow, this is a big deal and excuse me for not taking it in stride.” He quickly chugged down his milkshake. !”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on his shoulder and whispered, “Okay, I get it, this isn’t turning out how you’d hoped. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now. However, don’t think that just because you’re gender’s changing, it’ll change who you are. Mare or Stallion, you’ll still be Soarin and a Wonderbolt on top of that. Just don’t let it beat you down.”

He looked down into his empty drink, part of him wanting to just keep drinking and maybe pass out if only so he didn’t need to keep thinking about his situation. But, there was also that part of him that wanted to at least do something constructive, if only to take his mind off of things. Plus, wasn’t like he could stop it from happening. So with another sigh, he slowly got up from his chair.

“Alright Rainbow might as well finish what I started. Not like I can change anything else, least I can still be a Wonderbolt again.”

Rainbow Dash clapped a hoof over his shoulder. “That’s the spirit, now get out there and show your stuff flutter butt!”

With a nod, he slowly and almost painfully waddled out of the bakery, even more, weight piling onto his body. The sight made Dash more concerned than ever before.

“Stallion or Mare, if I don’t get him back into shape he’ll never become a Wonderbolt. Better do something and soon.”

Comments

[lillytheomegawolf]

Such a shame Spitfire hasn't seemed to come and see him at all.. I bet he could user her emotional support.
If the two are in some sort of relationship then shes handling her side rather poorly considering she could fly down to Ponyville even once a week to see him after work or on her days off. It's not like she's a slow flyer or anything. Especially with these new discoveries. I hope Twilight does come up with a spell to help..

[Foal Star]

8670079
As I explained before she still is the captain of the Wonderbolts and had to redo their maneuvers without Soarin and they were just starting their relationship. Ill make it more clear in chapter 6 and show Spitfire does care for him.

[lillytheomegawolf]

8670100
Alrighty. I look forward to it then

[Yosh-E-O]

Whoa! Definitely a lot of emotion going on here. It also brings out a lot of potential concerns that Nurse Redheart had on the onset of this tale when Soarin was leaving the hospital.

Dash's determination is very admirable in this story. I wonder if she's thinking that this is a way to get herself additional notice by The Wonderbolts? She's certainly showing 'Loyalty' to Soarin despite all that is happening.

Twilight certainly has had a lot on her hooves through your tales occurring during Season 1. I'm not sure if this story is in-line with other stories you've made but you have given Ms. Sparkle tons of research material beyond her friendship studies in Ponyville. :)