3 Dreams and Memories
“What a maneuver! Stupendous.”
“We can't beat her!”
“She's amazing...”
“Pfff, I could do that if I didn't sprain my wing!”
“Bring it on home!” Soarin yelled.
Rainbow Dash soared higher and higher, her body twisting majestically, leaving a trail of multi-coloured spirals beneath her. She felt absolutely weightless! The very air around her was her canvas and she would paint the greatest art with her greatest abilities.
“I'll bring it on home, Soarin! I'll take you home too, shall I?” Dash called out in a carrying voice that echoed over the field. “Watch this!”
She shot upwards, wings beating so fast they appeared not to move at all. Her limbs were pressed tightly to her body as she cut through the air like a javelin, the world vanishing beneath her. She flipped over in midair, feeling a sudden rush of wind in her ears. She hovered there, in the void, seeing nothing around her but blue sky and clouds.
Dash narrowed her eyes and flicked her wings so violently that it produced a terrifying noise. Was it like a clap of thunder, she pondered? She began her descent back to the crowd, temporarily invisible due to her staggering height. Gravity was her aid, but speed was her mastery. Rainbow's body was flat while her tail was aerodynamically positioned for minimum drag. She felt her hooves tearing through the solid sky as she accelerated back to earth. All she could hear was the rushing wind as she out-paced sound itself. A solid funnel of air was forming around her. Dash felt her body contract. Her grin was brighter than the sun!
There was an explosive bang that seemed to quake the very ground below. The visible light spectrum split open as a great ring of colour burst from the pegasus, expanding throughout the sky. Her rainbow trail had become completely translucent, a cascade of solid colours that did not fade with time, marking her path from the point of the Rainboom. Dash rushed straight to the ground, twisting and zooming off inches from the grass, her trail building a great wall around the field.
“There is nopony as perfect, nopony as athletic, absolutely no one, pony or otherwise, as TALENTED as you, Rainbow Dash!” Soarin spoke, gazing deeply into her eyes with an untold passion. “There's no one in the world I would be more honoured to call my partner for the upcoming show. Are you... doing anything tonight?”
“Why, thank you, good gentlecolt,” Dash said, tossing her long hair and giving Soarin quite the same look in return. “You will find me quite free this evening.”
There was a great bang of thunder overhead, though the sky was cloudless. It was precisely the same bang as the Rainboom had produced. Precisely the same noise her wings had made.
“I would love to take you out to dinner!” Soarin said, smiling broadly and winking. “Allow me to treat the best flier of our lifetime.”
“I would be delighted to go!” Dash agreed, extending a hoof.
Another bang of thunder as Soarin bent forward to kiss it, shaking the very world.
Wait... thunder didn't bang.
Rainbow Dash was grinning stupidly into her pillow, soaking it with an endless stream of drool. Bang! Her eyes shot open. What in name of Princess Celestia is that thumping noise, she thought? Bang! Rainbow stumbled out of bed. The novel she had been reading before dozing off tumbled to the floor with a smack. Eyelids heavy, Rainbow wiped off the stray saliva and checked her reflection in the mirror.
"Ugh..." Dash whispered silently. And she thought Scootaloo normally had a bad case of bedhead? Bang! “Oh, right,” Dash sighed. “That.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and frowned over at her alarm clock. She felt a flutter of anger in her belly. 'Oh, you have gotta be kidding! What do they think they're doing, making a racket like that at this hour?' Dash thought furiously. She told them to be in bed!
She stomped down the hallway, throwing Scootaloo's bedroom door open with a crash. Her eyes panned the room quickly. Scoot was standing on the floor, pulling hard on one end of a large piece of rubber with all of her might. The other end was tied to one of her bedposts. Apple Bloom was next to her, pulling the middle of the rubber back like a giant elastic band, a stack of heavy books next to her. Across the room, Sweetie Belle was standing on the dresser, wrapped in a bed sheet like a ghost, arms held above her head menacingly. The floor at the foot of the dresser was covered in open books,. There was a small mound of towels and clothes, as well. It appears that the two Crusaders on the floor were launching books at the dresser, trying to knock Sweetie Belle off and into the pile of clothes. Dash recognized that most of the clothes pile were garments she had folded that very day.
One by one, the fillies turned to stare at her, horror in their eyes. Apple Bloom dropped the book she was about to load as the rubber snapped to the bed when Scootaloo let go of it. Sweetie Belle dropped down off the dresser, whipping the sheet off of her body quickly. The trio moved together in a close knot, looking up at Rainbow's scowl. Scootaloo glanced at her wall clock. It was almost midnight, and Dash only ever let her stay up until 10:00 PM whenever the other Crusaders had a sleepover. The three of them were looking very uncomfortable. Perhaps they were remembering that she had told them to be in bed by then, Rainbow Dash wondered?
“Um,” Sweetie began in what she assumed was a winning voice, “hi, Rainbow Dash! How are you?”
“Five seconds,” Rainbow Dash huffed, folding her arms and glaring at each guilty face in turn as she leaned against the doorway.
Apple Bloom gave a gasp and dived on top of the bed, yanking down the bed covers and crawling under them.
“S-sorry, Sis...” Scootaloo had the grace to look ashamed. She jumped in next to Bloom.
Sweetie Belle, realizing she was the only one left in the no-pony's-land between the door and the bed, smiled weakly and backed up to the bed herself. “You're in good spirits, then! Me too! Yep, me too!” With a panicked grunt, Sweetie crawled into the bed next to Scootaloo and reaching over to click off the lamp on the bedside table.
Dash continued to frown at them in the semi-darkness, the light of the hallway barely illuminating the room. She could just make out their eyes. Scootaloo's were looking directly into her own. Realizing the younger pegasus was still ashamed, Rainbow allowed her anger to ebb away.
“Not another sound from this bedroom, girls,” Dash said, her voice much calmer than before. “Scoots, you know better. Goodnight.”
Rainbow closed the door and sighed. She had been having such a good dream, too. Most of the details had already escaped her mind, as the memories of dreams are wont to do. She was pretty sure she was talking to Soarin after the try-outs in the dream, but specifics were vague and trickling away like running water. Dash wondered if she was being conceited, trying to recall the praise he was giving her flying. It had all been created by her own mind, after all. Making a mental note to be a little more humble should the need arise, Dash walked back into her bedroom, stumbling a little as she tripped over a record player cord and some rolled up gowns. Maybe she should clean up in the morning?
'Naaah.'
She crawled back into bed, gazing enraptured at her poster of Soarin once more. She knew she was rapidly becoming obsessed, but every time she thought about that pony, she got a little squirm of delight in her belly. It was like fluttering butterflies, or maybe, bumbling Fluttershys? What she wouldn't give to actually be able to go out on a date with him. He was most certainly too famous a celebrity, though. How was he ever going to make time for her?
'He's probably dating Spitfire anyway, those two are always seen together...' Dash thought sadly as she rolled over.
She had always liked that wonderful Wonderbolt. It didn't help that she had met Soarin plenty of times before, be it at airshows, the Best Young Fliers competition, the Grand Galloping Gala, or at the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. It was like being offered a slice of cake you weren't allowed to take. Rainbow Dash found it maddening.
Just...
One date...
"Or a chance to take that horse for a ride!" Dash grinned to herself.
"Um... Rainbow... Rainbow Dash...?" came a soft voice. "You're just... staring at the wall. Um..."
Dash gave her head a shake, trying to clear her mind. She had been standing still in the corner of the basement for nearly a full minute, completely lost in her thoughts and memories. She had completely forgotten the ponies she had invited over.
"Aren't you going to help Applejack? Um, if you don't want to, that's fine... I can try...” Fluttershy mumbled uncertainly.
“Oh!” Rainbow Dash said, finally back to reality. “Sorry, you two! I was just... yeah!"
“Pardon my French, but what in tarnation were you just thinkin' 'bout that could possibly make you forget you had to spot me less than sixty tappin' seconds after I asked?!” Applejack spat, arms folded as she sat on the weight bench.
“I was just thinking about last night! Now, hold your horses, I'm comin'!” Dash said, marching over to stand above Applejack. "Horses. Get it? Nevermind."
“What happened last night?” Fluttershy asked, watching Rainbow Dash help Applejack lift the barbel off it's support.
“I had another dream about him...” Dash said loftily, blushing slightly.
“Oh... here we go... again!” huffed Applejack as she began to lower and raise her hooves quickly, pumping the weight.
“Give me twenty, AJ! That's not that heavy.” Rainbow said, grinning down at her.
“Who did you dream about? Soarin?” Fluttershy asked.
“'Course... she did!” Applejack panted. “Just... to distract me with... her bedroom fantasies!”
“Oh, please!” Dash rolled her eyes. “As if you don't enjoy them!”
“I... never... said... that...” AJ gasped, finishing her set and making to get up.
“Hold it!” Dash said crisply, grabbing a pair of twenty pound weights with her wings and slipping them on either side of the bar. “Do ten. Slowly.”
“Are you flippin' crazy?!” Applejack snapped, giving a snarl as she struggled to take the weight back off the support again.
Rainbow grinned and placed a hoof under the centre of the bar, giving Applejack a little bit of extra push.
Fluttershy approached, waiting for her turn on the bench. “Are you... um, nervous about the try-outs?”
“A little. I mean, not that I expect to lose or anything. Gah, there I go again! I feel so conceited lately. But...” Dash gestured at the trophies adorning the wall, “it's not like I can pretend I'm not the best flier, at least in Ponyville or Cloudsdale. No, I'm not nervous about try outs in THAT sense... I'm just a bit nervous about seeing Soarin again. The concept of being his partner in an airshow, having to work personally by his side! It's exciting! So... I'm, I guess, nervous. Yeah...”
“Y'all should be thankful for the opportunity.” AJ said, rubbing her arms as she slipped off the bench and back onto all four hooves. “Yer turn, Fluttershy.”
“Is there... a level zero?” the yellow pegasus asked apprehensively as both Dash and Applejack pulled every single weight off the bar.
“Uh, yes?” Dash rolled her eyes, jabbing at the empty bar. “That. Just do twelve regular reps.”
Applejack took a gulp of water from a bottle she had on the floor as Fluttershy climbed on to the bench as if she were ascending the steps to a set of gallows. “So... you've been here two months now, right? Y'all still findin' motherhood the bee's knees, sugar?”
“Of course! It's...” Dash began, turning away from Fluttershy, who was struggling to push the bar up once. “It's been amazing so far. Still the best decision I've ever made, AJ! Scoots is an awesome kid! She's so clever! She's the most honest, humble, and sincere thing I've ever met. She's the sweetest thing, too! Remember me telling you girls about when I was talking to the matron when I went to adopt her? How she was worried that no one would ever want Scoot, because nopony seemed interested in a pegasus who couldn't fly? They just go for the earth ponies, y'know?”
“Yes, yes, I remember! You did a wonderful thing that day.” Applejack said, placing a hoof on Dash's shoulder. “I'm still so proud of ya. Any doubts I did have that y'all might not be able to handle raisin' a filly, let alone one of the Crusaders, has long been snuffed, Rainbow Dash. Of course, it woulda been easy for me, since I've had to raise a Crusader myself, with a bit of help from Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. Because of... y'know... that accident... They drowned back when she was still in diapers.”
“Thanks, Applejack,” Rainbow said quickly, trying to shove the conversation away from Applejack's parents as she watched the pain etch itself upon her friend's face. She placed her own hoof on Applejack's shoulders, returning the favour. “I know I can look to you for inspiration or advice when I need it, though! Like the clubhouse thing.” Dash finished with a warm smile before turning her head to Fluttershy. “All done, Flutters?”
“... four...” Fluttershy croaked, her arms quaking.
“But hey, despite that particular day kind of sucking, it's been smooth sailing! It's not really as hard as you would think,” Rainbow continued. “First off, there's nothing in Equestria that I can't handle. Secondly, Scoot's already a little independent, so most of the actual taking care of part she handles herself. It's just that the poor thing's never really had... anyone. You know, before me.”
Applejack shook her head, sighing. “It's scary how we've all lost loved ones. I've lost my parents, you've lost your mother... and even poor Scootaloo has lost a mom.”
Dash turned her face away so Applejack wouldn't see her scowl. “Yep... even Scootaloo's mom."
Dash closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She had to be careful or else she might end up looking suspicious. When she turned back to face Applejack, she didn't like the puzzled look on the earth pony's face. She spoke again hurriedly to disguise her momentarily bubbling anger.
“My dad's a tough cookie, though! When death comes to claim the great Radiant Dash, it better be prepared for a fight!” Rainbow laughed. “He's always been so rugged and strong! I mean, look who he had to raise! Even after my mom died...” Dash trailed off.
“That's all... I can do...” Fluttershy choked, rubbing her sore biceps.
“How many didja get?” Applejack asked.
“Six!” Fluttershy whispered softly.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash loaded as much weight as the bar could hold. Dash asked Fluttershy to sit up on it as well. Giving her wings a flick, Dash threw herself down on to the weight bench and pressed her wings against the underside of the bar.
“Hey, remember what I was like in school and summer flight camp?” Dash asked Fluttershy, wrapping her arms behind her head as she began to thrust her wings upward, lifting all the weight plus a fully grown pegasus with ease.
“Oh! Oh dear, you were a bad pony...” Fluttershy shivered, bouncing on the barbel.
“Yep. I was okay to my friends, like you, Fluttershy! But man, I put my poor father through hell and back...” Dash sighed, shaking her head. “I was a bully! I was a liar! I was a slacker when it came to anything unrelated to sports, so my grades were terrible. I used to break into the school at night as a dare. I would sneak out of my house, too! When I was born, I was my dad in miniature. We had the same colour fur and he's the only person I know who ever had a rainbow mane. But by the time I got my cutie mark, his fur was nearly grey. Stress, I tell ya! But he was always so tough! My mom was gone by then, so he had to handle a hyperactive and cruel filly Rainbow Dash all by himself!"
“It's no small wonder you can handle a little thing like Scootaloo, then!” Applejack laughed, tapping her hoof on her thigh as she counted Dash's reps silently. “Clearly, you learned from the best.”
“You got that right! Oh man, I must have been gettin' it once a week when I was at my worse. I can't believe he put up with me. I really wish I never made life so difficult for him, especially given how supportive he was of me... Even through I was the worst child a parent could possible ask for, he ALWAYS pushed me to try my hardest. I wouldn't be half the flier I am today if it weren't for Radiant Dash!” Rainbow continued to reminisce, her friends listening silently. “I can't wait to see him again once he retires and moves back home. He hasn't even been home to meet Scootaloo yet, but his letters make it sound like he totally can't wait! That's another thing that I am SURE made him suffer, knowing his baby girl wouldn't be able to give him grandkids... but he was never disappointed with who I was. Just, y'know, disappointed in my bad behaviour, I guess! I hope he loves Scoots... I'm sure he will! I bet you anything, he'll show up with seven years worth of birthday gifts, just to make sure he's caught up! He'll spoil her!”
Dash dropped the bar back on its support, getting up and flexing her wings. She flapped one gently across Applejack's face. “Gentle as a breeze...” she approached a punching bag and jabbed at it with the other, making the bag swing violently, “but strong as a minotaur! Sooo, how many?”
“I lost count around fifty,” Applejack said, shrugging. “Been busy listenin' to y'all monologue!”
“If you wanted me to shut up, ya shoulda said so,” Dash said, tossing her mane and frowning.
“I'm not complainin'. I love listenin' to family stories! I'm sure he'll love Scootaloo, too.” Applejack assured her.
“Speaking of... where are the fillies now?” Fluttershy asked.
“With Rarity.” Rainbow answered before jerking a hoof at Applejack. “This poor sap gets them tomorrow! As confident as I am with taking care of Scootaloo, foalsitting the Crusaders seems to get exponentially more terrifying with each one added. At least during the day times they can go about Ponyville on their own, but as soon as bedtime comes, watch out! It must be a nightmare whenever Babs Seed is in town, eh, AJ?”
Applejack smiled. “Well, I can handle it! And I'm sure Scootaloo would love to invite the others over for a sleepover next time Babs is stayin' with us! Then we can all see exactly how brave 'n confident you are, Dash!”
“I look forward to the challenge!” Dash smirked. “Anyways, thanks for coming over, girls!”
“Oh, it was our pleasure, I'm sure!” Fluttershy said sweetly. “We don't really get to spend much time together these days...”
“Yeah. It's hard, what with Dash workin' two jobs 'n' all. Besides, neither Canterlot nor Ponyville have been in much danger lately. There's been no real need for the Elements of Harmony! No need for the six of us to come together to fight somethin',” Applejack said, yawning.
“I know!” Dash exclaimed. “What a snore.”
“You mean a 'bore'?” Fluttershy corrected, raising an eyebrow.
“I know what I said! Anyways, wish me luck in the try-outs tomorrow!” Dash beamed, waving as her two friends made to leave the basement gym.
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another great chapter
FINALLY! A FIC WITH SOARIN IN IT!
? Is there a chapter everyday
2358872
That's the goal I've set for myself. I put a chapter up the moment I finish writing it. Working on #4 now, but I doubt I'll get it posted before I head to work. Otherwise, it'll need to wait until morning!
2357240
It'll get better!
2356489
Thanks!
2357704
Soon!
Oh I can't wait to see what you got in store for me. I hope that Dash, Scoot, and Soarin can all live together happily in the end, but if it comes down to a choice, I would hope Rainbow picks Scootaloo. Seems like it would be better morally, and I know Rainbow wouldn't skip out on her knowing what happened with her mother.
Finally a well written fic! I see so many with these characters that are just a pain to read. This one flows great and the character interaction is excellent. I'm a believer!
2357240 There is tons of those xD
I was half afraid Dashie would injure her wing lifting weights and then not be able to try out!
cwl chapter but ive got loads ahead of me.
ive got alot of catching up to do...
Chapter 3 has been fixed up!
that's derpicdn.net/img/2012/11/27/164830/large.png