Racing Hearts

by Lazzari

Photos and Moments

Soarin had asked Fleet to drive him home. She had initially insisted on staying with him, but Soarin quickly shut it down, convincing her that he would be fine alone. He sat on his couch and looked to the side table. On it was a photo of him and Fleetfoot when they were in their teens. His younger sister had taken the photo when he wasn't looking. Soarin smiled and picked up the picture. He loved this picture a lot because of the memory it came with. He and Fleet had taken a vacation together with their families to the tropics. In the photo Fleetfoot was on Soarin's back, hanging onto him for dear life as he held her up with his arms.

***

SNAP

"SOOOOARRIIIN!!!! DONT DROP ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEAAAASE!!!!!" Fleetfoot screamed at the top of her lungs while holding onto Soarin. He had swum up from behind her in the water and had lifted her on his back and was laughing heartily at her expense.

"HAHAHA, Fleet, calm down. I won't drop you, I promise. Now just relax and keep holding on." Soarin said as he began to walk down the beach with her on his back. He knew exactly where he was taking her, and he wasn't worried about it seeming romantic at all. His and Fleet's relationship was very defined as like siblings to each other. They had both been joined at the hip since they were toddlers in preschool. And he knew that she knew this too.

Soarin walked along the beach in the water, getting a few confused looks from other families and people as they walked along. They paid no mind to it though. Fleetfoot was no longer almost choking Soarin and was instead just holding onto his shoulders and letting him carry her. To anybody, it would look like they were a couple, but they knew it would never happen. not in a million years. As they walked further and further off the path Fleetfoot tapped Soarin's shoulder.

"Soarin, where are we going?" Fleetfoot asked, curious as to where her best friend was taking her. Soarin smiled and looked back at her.

"Trust me, you'll love this. I found this place a few minutes ago and thought you would enjoy seeing it for yourself." Soarin said as he gently placed her down. He gently grabbed her hand and guided her along the path into a rocky terrain, that was outside the view of the lifeguards. They slowly came upon what looked like an opening in the rocks. I was just big enough that Soarin could fit through it, so Fleetfoot knew she wouldn't have any problems getting into it.

Soarin smiled warmly at Fleetfoot and started to step in. He reached his hand out to her, gently grasping her hand as he guided her through the opening of the cave. When they were both in, it was pitch black inside. Fleetfoot could hear Soarin shuffling around and heard what sounded like two rocks crashing together. In an instant, a flame had started and Soarin carefully manipulated the small flame to burn on a large piece of driftwood that had found its way into the cave. Soarin reached for her hand again, gently taking it in his own as he guided her along again. Fleetfoot could start to see little specks of something shiny in the cave walls as they walked. She was running her fingers across the walls to see if she could feel what it was, but couldn't figure out what was causing the small shimmers to appear in the light.

After about four minutes of walking, Soarin stopped. "Ok Fleet, close your eyes for me." He said, smiling at her warmly again. Fleetfoot obeyed and closed her eyes. After she closed her eyes her other senses kicked in. She could hear the sound of running water in the distance. She could feel Soarin guiding her along gently through a narrow passage, along with the warmth of the still-burning flame. Suddenly Soarin stopped her and stepped away from her. "Ok, you can open your eyes now."

Fleetfoot opened her eyes. The moment she did Soarin put the flame up against something. Once he did, the room lit up with light. The sight was breathtaking. The whole cave wall was covered in blue-hued crystals. Upon further inspection, she saw an opening in the wall that had no light coming through it, but clearly had something there. Soarin walked over with the makeshift torch and pulled her along gently. Once they reached the opening, Soarin held the torch up again. The light reflected off of many surfaces as he held up the torch, illuminating the huge cavern within. Fleetfoots jaw dropped. The cavern was covered in crystals. At the bottom was grass and flowers, and in the back was a huge and long waterfall that was flowing from the ceiling of the cavern. Along with the grass and flowers, many crystals jutted out of the ground, some taking shapes of animals and some taking the shape of humans. They looked like handmade sculptures.

"Soarin... this is... beautiful," Fleetfoot said while staring at the cavern starry-eyed. Soarin smiled at her, he knew she would love this. She always talked about how she always wanted to see something like a cavern or discover a secret hidden cave. He knew that they probably weren't the first people to have found this cave, but he didn't care, his best friend was happy and that's all he cared about right now.

Suddenly he felt pressure against his chest. He looked down to see Fleetfoot hugging him very tightly, and she was laying her head against his bare chest. He chuckled nervously as he patted her shoulder. "Heh, Fleet? You ok?"

She giggled and pushed him very gently, not enough to make him move much at all. "You dope. Don't think I'm coming onto you or anything. I just... Thank you. For showing me this. It's so beautiful and I wouldn't have seen it if we weren't best friends. You mean so much to me as a brother and I don't think I would even be here right now without you." She said giving him a weak smile. Soarin looked at her, puzzled as to what she meant.

"Fleet, What do you mean by that?" He asked as he wedged the torch between two rocks and sat on the ledge of the opening. Fleetfoot followed his actions and sat beside him. She hesitated to continue but was sure if she didn't he would press her on it anyway.

"Well... do you remember back when we were in like 6th grade? All those boys who used to bully me?" She asked. Soarin grunted and growled under his breath, gritting his teeth.

"How the hell could I not remember those ass holes. After I defended you, they didn't leave either of us alone until high school started." Soarin said with an annoyed grunt as he crossed his arms.

"Well we were still really close friends when that happened, but when you defended me, I felt more than just friendship. I felt like I was your little sister, being protected by her big brother. It was an invigorating feeling, knowing you cared that much about me. For a long time, I felt like nobody but my parents cared about me like that, it made me depressed Soarin... really depressed. I felt so alone, I felt like I had four walls closing in on me that never stopped trying to crush me... I... I wanted to die, Soarin. I wanted to seriously end my own life... But when you defended me like that, it gave me hope that someone did care about me. Because you cared. You cared enough to come to my rescue when those bullies wouldn't stop harassing me. That meant a lot to me, and I don't think you will ever truly and fully know just how much that meant to me." Fleetfoot said, the last bit of her words choking up a little.

Soarin stared at her, tears welled up in his eyes a bit. He had no idea that all of that was going through her head at the time. It made his chest feel all warm, but not in a romantic way. He felt like he was talking to a little sister who was opening up to him about all of her problems. She cared so much about him, in more than a way a best friend would. Fleetfoot genuinely saw him as her brother. That thought made his heart swell with happiness. He quickly drew her into a hug and held her tightly, not saying anything as he smiled as wide as he could, tears flowing freely from his eyes. Fleetfoot returned the embrace, wiping away the tears that fell from her own eyes.

***

Soarin smiled and set the picture back down. He quickly wiped away the small tears that had welled up in his eyes as he ended the memory. That day Fleetfoot had opened up about how she truly felt about him. He couldn't have asked for a better sister in his life. He knew she would always be there for him and always be around to hold him up emotionally when he needed it most.

He looked around the room again and spotted another photo hanging on the wall. This one was a photo of himself and Spitfire, with Fleetfoot in the background. Spitfire was tugging on his hair and had a devilish smile on her face as she held a handful of snow ready to shove it in his face. Soarin chuckled, which quickly turned into hearty laughter as he picked up the photo from the wall.

***

SNAP

"NO, NO, NO, AHHHHHH, OH GOD THAT'S FUCKING COLD!" Soarin wailed and cried out, his face now covered in snow that had been shoved into his face.

"HAHAHA, you should see your face Soarin, priceless!" A new voice laughed heartily as she clutched her stomach and rolled on the ground in the snow. Soarin looked down at her, a flat look on his face.

"Ha, ha Spitfire, very funny."

"Oh come on hotshot, I'll make it up to you by paying for your coffee. Now let's hurry up or we're gonna be late! Cirrus will be giving us new asses if we are late again." Spitfire said, giggling. Fleetfoot flew up next to her and chuckled.

"You know Soar, I think it's funny as hell how much you really hate the cold, yet your able to handle ice in our winter shows just fine," Fleetfoot said, earning a grunt from Soarin.

"Just because I can handle making ice doesn't mean I like it," Soarin said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh yes, because you like the heat much more," Fleetfoot said nudging Spitfire in the shoulder. Spitfire almost choked as she started laughing very loudly.

"HA, the day I say I like Soarin that way is the day I choke myself with a burning hot iron rod!" Spitfire said laughing more. Soarin rolled his eyes and gave Spitfire an annoyed pout.

"Gee Spitty, tell me how you really feel."

"Haha, come on Soarin, don't take it that way. You're a great guy, just definitely not my type, like at all." Spitfire said while putting her hands in her jacket pocket. Fleetfoot smirked devilishly and leaned into Spitfire.

"Oh yes, because you have a thing for timid men, it gives you more control when you flame up their stiff hard-" Fleetfoot was cut off by a snowball being hurled into her face at point-blank. Fleetfoot laughed as the snowball hit her and fell onto Soarin while laughing. Soarin tried to suppress a laugh but was letting a few snorts escape.

"Wait! Is that why you have a thing for commander Wave Chill! He's like 23 right?" Soarin asked looking to Spitfire, who was now blushing as red as a strawberry.

"Let's not talk about this! Uhhhh, so how was your weekend!" Spitfire tried to change the subject quickly while looking away. Fleetfoot didn't take the bate and zipped up beside her.

"Oh no, come on Spitty. We both know your cute self would totally warm Chiller up!" Fleetfoot said nudging her again. Spitfire covered her face with her wing and blushed madly.

"Fleeeeeet!"

"Oh come on Spitfire, you should just tell him how you feel! Get it off your chest already, you two are already really close friends. Who knows, maybe commander Wave Chill feels the same for you." Soarin said looking back at the two as they walked. Spitfire stopped dead in her tracks and struggled to get words out.

"N- no! I could never! I don't wanna ruin our friendship. And besides, he is my commanding officer! it would be totally unprofessional." Spitfire said turning her back on the two of them. Unbeknownst to her, Soarin and Fleetfoot had gathered up large amounts of snow into large snowballs while her back was turned.

"Well, Spitty. If you never tell him... YOU'LL NEVER FEEL THAT SEXY CHILLED BOD HE HAS!" Fleetfoot yelled out. Spitfire turned around and shrieked when she saw Fleetfoot and Soarin hurling two massive snowballs at her. She ducked just in time for them to miss her and they hit somebody else behind them instead.

Soarin and Fleetfoot both froze in place, their faces going as pale as clouds. Spitfire saw their reactions and turned to see who the snowballs had hit. She gasped and let out a small whimper when she saw none-other-than Wave Chill standing behind them.

"Heh, well my, 'bod' is certainly chilled now."

***

Soarin laughed and placed the picture back on the wall. Wave Chill had taken that picture while none of them were looking, as he had been walking behind them the whole time. Spitfire was completely mortified, but what came from it was enough to warm them up completely. Wave had confessed that he like Spitfire, a lot. The two were an official thing after a week.

Soarin smiled and looked at some other pictures threw out the years that had been taken of him and all his friends. Seeing several that made him smile as he walked around his house. He got to his bedroom and looked at the picture on the desk he had next to his bed. His smile quickly faded as he picked it up and looked at it.

The picture was carefully framed in a beautiful, pure silver frame that had lightning bolt designs on it. The picture was of him and Rainbow Dash, and Dash had a bandage around her shoulder. Soarin was holding her up, chest to chest, by her legs. She had her legs wrapped around his waist as she held both his cheeks in his hands while smiling and resting her forehead on his. They were both laughing in the photo, wearing the Wonderbolts uniform.

Soarin loved this photo. Fleetfoot had taken it in the spur of the moment with her phone. The memory that went along with the photo was just as fun as the picture looked.

***

"DASH! are you ok!?" Soarin asked, helping a shaken Rainbow Dash up to her feet.

"I'm fine Soarin, don't start freaking out on me, haha," Rainbow said, excepting Soarin's help. She had just taken quite the tumble from the air. She was practicing a new complicated flight maneuver with her squad. This new move required Thunderlane to grab her by the arm and throw her into Eclipse, who was in the process of finishing his fire manipulation. The move was meant to throw the fire right over Dash mere millimeters away from her body as she grabbed onto Eclipses' hand so he could continue into their spinning maneuver. But his timing was off and Dash had to think fast to avoid a painful experience. She had used a wind technique that she had yet to master, which caused her to fly out of control and fall to the ground. Sure the fall hurt but it was better than being burned alive.

"Geez, Dash, how many heart attacks can you give me?" Soarin said taking a sigh of relief. He held her up gently, looking her over. Her flight suit was torn on the shoulder where she made the impact, and he could see the signs of concrete burn quickly on her skin. He pulled out his pocket knife from his flight pants pocket and gently cut away the remaining fabric covering her shoulder and he looked it over carefully. Dash let him do this because she knew if she tried to stop him it would end up with him embracing her in front of the team... again.

Dash winced as Soarin touched what he thought wasn't as injured of a spot, but he ended up touching exposed burn. He quickly pulled his hand away and looked at her face. he frowned when he saw how much she was holding back the expressions of pain. He gently took her other arm and started to gently pull her along. "Come on, let's go see the trainers."

---

After Dash had her burn treated and covered, the two had made their way back out to the practice field. Spitfire was giving orders about what to do for the rest of the day and everyone was dispersing. Soarin and Dash both walked up to her together and Soarin tapped Spitfires shoulder. Spitfire turned around but her eyes looked to Dash first.

"How's your shoulder?" Spitfire asked quickly, causing Dash to look at her in surprise.

"Uh, it's fine. Feels a lot better now." Dash said giving a very obviously fake smile. Spitfire flattened her brow and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Fleetfoot zipping in and landing in front of Dash.

"DUDE!! that fall looked, like, ten times as worse as your making it sound! No way you escaped with just a concrete burn!" Fleetfoot exclaimed, looking Dash over frantically and poking her all over to see if her face changed in any pain.

Dash grunted as Fleet poked her in the back in between her wings. All of them froze and quickly gave Dash concerned looks. She quickly shook her head. "Guys, I'm fine, just a bit bruised." She stated adamantly.

Fleetfoot sighed and looked at Soarin. "You two are seriously meant for each other. You're both extremely stubborn people." Fleetfoot said. She turned her attention back to Dash and pouted. "Please Dash, you don't have to act all tough around us. You can tell us it hurts, we're your friends."

Dash smiled and grabbed Fleetfoots hand gently. "Fleet, I know that. It does hurt a little bit, but I'm telling you the truth, it really doesn't hurt that bad. I'm fine. Besides," Dash paused looking towards Soarin. "No way could I escape the freakishly cool protective boyfriend sense that Soarin has. He knows me too well and could spot a flat-out lie coming from me in an instant." She giggled as Spitfire nudged him in the shoulder.

"HA! Spitty, you owe me 10 bucks!" Soarin exclaimed. Dash looked at him in confusion and Fleetfoot giggled.

"They were waiting to see if within the next few weeks if you'd hurt yourself. They were betting on if you would try to deny the pain or come clean about it. Soarin won." Fleetfoot explained. Dash flattened her brow and glared at Soarin. He froze in place and chuckled nervously.

"Oh, really Fleet? Well, do you remember the bet you and I made?" Dash asked, giving Soarin a devilish look. Fleetfoot chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, from what I remember we bet 5 bucks," Fleet said.

"That's right, let's see if I win," Dash said, lunging herself at Soarin. She quickly wrapped her legs around his waist as he caught her. He held her up by her legs and was trying to regain his balance. Before he could say anything, Dash kissed him hard, open mouth. Soarin was caught so off guard that he ended up choking on air and pulled his mouth away from hers, coughing violently. He was blushing very red and was starring wide-eyed at Dash, who was beginning to laugh. Soarin looked towards Fleet who shrugged.

"I guess neither of us won that bet."

Soarin stared at Fleet for a moment, then looked back at Dash who was now laughing very loudly and blushing herself. He began chuckling and then started full-on laughing with her. Dash put her forehead to his and continued laughing as Soarin held her up.

SNAP

Art by: KikiRDCZ

***

Soarin smiled weakly as he set the photo down. This was one memory he wanted to treasure because it was probably the funniest bet he had ever heard of. Dash had bet that Soarin would pull away from the kiss, noting all the eyes in the area. Fleetfoot bet that he would kiss her back and take her to his bedroom at the compound. Neither of them had won because Soarin choked on the air that went through him before giving a proper reaction. So they both lost that bet.

Soarin carefully set the photo back down on his desk, gently running his thumb over the image of Dash. He sat on his bed and looked around his room. His eyes caught another framed photo of him and Dash dancing together at Spitfire and Wave Chill's wedding, other couples around them partaking in the dancing. Spitfire and Wave had been dating for a while before he finally worked up the balls to ask her, to everyone's relief. He chuckled as he looked towards a bow tie that he had on the nightstand. It was a black-tie, but it had metallic colors of the rainbow sewn into the fabric. The Grand Galla was the last event he had worn it to, which was just over a week ago. The tie matched Dashs' dress perfectly, having been made by Rarity to match.

He smiled and looked at his bed. It was made, and in-between his pillows was a small stuffed dog. He smiled weakly again and picked it up and held it in his hands. The stuffed dog had very specific markings on it, and it was designed to look like an Australian shepherd. Rainbow Dash had paid a lot of money for this stuffed animal, as the visage held a lot of significance to him. She had gotten her hands on a photo of his dog from his early childhood when he was about 8. This pet of his had been in his life for a long time and when he moved away he had taken his dog with him to live in his new home with him. He had lived a lot longer than normal dogs of his breed, having live 17 years of his long life. In the last few months of his life, Rainbow Dash had gotten to meet him. She had gotten along really well with his pet, who was very protective of Soarin. When he passed away, Soarin was devastated. He cried and cried for hours and had even called in that day to be alone. But after practice was over, Rainbow had come to his house and had brought his favorite comfort foods for him and offered her comfort. He had spent that night crying in her arms and eating pie and ice cream. Months later after the devastation left him, she presented the stuffed animal to him. He didn't think much of it first, assuming it was just a stuffed animal of the breed his dog was. But when he looked closer at it he noticed all the markings and specific placements of all of them. She had specially ordered an exact replica of his dog to be made, and in her words. 'So that you can always remember him and all the love you had for each other'.

Soarin smiled warmly and set the stuffed animal down. She had gone above and beyond for him when his pet passed away. Sure, he would have gotten over it on his own, but Dash had gone the extra mile to help make him feel better and did her best to help fill the at the time, empty space left in his heart. He couldn't have asked for a more amazing girlfriend.

All he could do now was wait. Make visits. And pray to whatever gods that she makes it out of this ok...

Author's Note:

Cheek out KikiRDCZ Who made the AMAZING artwork for this chapter! More to come for future chapters.

Comments

[Crystalline Waters]

Awe, this was so sweet! :) I feel so bad for Soarin.

[Lazzari]

10742089
I did my best to make this chapter as sweet as possible. work on the next chapter has already started and its super duper cute

[Crystalline Waters]

10742101
Ooh I look forward to it!