> Soarindash Confidential > by Rainbowpegasus > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a terrible, rainy day in Ponyville. Nail-biting rain clouds were gathering in the sky, and flocks of birds were heading towards the Everfree Forest for cover. Dull grey tufts of clouds engulfed the creeping sun and everypony was huddled inside their little cottages for cover. however, there was one rainbow maned mare that would not be intimidated by the thunderous storm stomping towards her little hometown. Rainbow Dash batted her wings furiously against the gloomy skies, higher and higher. She knew the huge storm that the weather ponies had scheduled was dangerous, but in the air, she's unstoppable! However, there was one stallion admiring her grace. Her beauty. A certain Pegasus with a dark navy mane and a stunning sky blue coat of luscious fuzz. Soarin'. He simply stared and gawped as the cyan blue Pegasus descended higher and higher into the raging storm brewing above Ponyville, her gorgeous rainbow mane blowing against the heavy wind. Her stunning magenta eyes twinkled with glee as she bolted towards the silver moon. Soarin' wondered when she would skid to a halt and begin to descend back down to Ponyville. Without warning, Rainbow stopped in mid air and gazed down at the little town that she loved with all her heart, wishing she could fly higher, but knowing that the bedraggled storm could trample her if she did. She began to make her descent back down to Ponyville, performing a jaw-dropping Sonic Rainboom on the way. A huge array of colours errupting in the sky like an impossible firework. Soarin' was always completely enhanced by it, even though he had seen her do the incredible trick a couple times. Then it hit him. He knew how he felt about the rainbow haired mare that he had been watching ever since she left flight school. He was in love. It was a bright new day, and Rainbow Dash was lazily gliding towards Sugarcube Corner, a huge infectious smile glazed across her face. Pinks was, for the fourth time this week, throwing one of her good old signature parties, and she was as exited as ever. Her mind had just began to wonder when suddenly... "RAINBOW!!!" Dash shrieked as Spike hurtled towards her, blowing dragon smoke in her face. "Spike!!! Do you mind?!" Rainbow growled, a tiny bit of rage taking over. "Sorry Dash...It's Soarin'! Ya know, from the Wonderbolts? He's here to see you! He's waiting down at Sugarcube Corner!" "OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH!!!!" Rainbow shrieked with glee, briefly hugged Spike and bolted towards Sugarcube Corner, a gorgeous rainbow trail frantically chasing after her. Rainbow hit the roof of Sugarcube Corner with a loud thud, and immediately spotted the navy blue maned Pegasus practically drowning in a cluster of fan girl ponies. She couldn't help but think to herself: that will be me one day. Soarin' noticed Rainbow Dash and quickly flew over to greet her. "Hey Dash! How are ya? We have so much to discuss." He looked around briefly and leaned over to whisper into her delicate, sky blue ear. "Come with me." Dash obediently followed alongside him, hoping that Pinks wouldn't take the fact that she didn't show up for her party too harshly. The two pegasi dropped down on a huge fluffy cloud overlooking the town of Ponyville, Soarin' still grinning sheepishly. "Soarin'? You've been grinning at me like that ever since I saw you down at Sugarcube Corner! What gives?" RD asked curiously and slightly suspiciously. Soarin immediately shook his head and wiped the goofy grin off his face, wishing he had made a better impression. "Uhhh... No reason! Anyway, back to the point... I've been ordered down here to ask you something." "What is it?" Asked Rainbow Dash, trying to keep her cool. Soarin' cleared his throat and spoke. "Well, the Wonderbolts tryouts are coming up next week, and we would love it if you were to join us and give it a shot. Your almost sure to get in!" "You...I-I mean they... W-want me to try out for the Wonderbolts?!" Rainbow stammered, her insides leaping. Soarin grinned. "You betcha." Rainbow returned the grin and managed, barely though, to stay calm. Even though the exited ness was getting the better of her. "Just one condition," Soarin' exclaimed, his emerald green eyes twinkling. "And what's that?" Dash cocked her head to one side. "Come out with me, in Canterlot, tommorow night, six o'clock sharp." Said Soarin', grinning goofily and looking directly into RD's engulfing magenta eyes. Oh, how he loved those eyes. But, to his disappointment, her gorgeous eyes were in fact, anywhere but on his. They were looking around cautiously, filled with horror and disbelief. You can't go out with a stallion! She thought to herself. Your Rainbow Dash! The toughest mare in ponyville! NOT one of those mushy gushy girly ponies! If my friends ever found out, or worse, if all of Ponyville found out, I would lose my whole reputation! But if it's for the Wonderbolts...well... What harm is just one tiny date? "Dash? You ok?" Soarin' snapped Rainbow back into reality. She did a quick look around for Pinkie-just in case- and took a deep breath. "I would love to." Dash breathed, regretting the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. But it would be worth it. Soon, she'd be living the dream, soaring with the Wonderbolts, doing twists, turns and daring dives. It had been her dream ever since she was a little filly. It was her destiny. "Ok great! See you tommorow, Dashie." Soarin said goofily, winking. And with that, he took off into the gorgeous night sky, leaving Rainbow Dash to replay what just happened in her mind. "No one can know."she whispered. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash awoke from her deep slumber to the bleeping of her alarm clock. “Arghh, shut up!” she cried, hitting the clock so hard that it knocked right off the table and shattered into a million pieces, for the 6th time this week. RD let out a long, exhausted sigh, and slowly sat up on her comfy cloud bed, even though what she wanted more than anything was to snuggle back under the covers and sleep for the rest of the day. But she had arranged to meet her friends for breakfast, a normal Saturday morning ritual that they always had. Her face fell even more when she realised that tonight she had to meet Soarin’ in Canterlot for a date. Anypony would think she would be exited, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t stand the thought of having a Very Special Somepony. She would lose her whole reputation. But it was for the Wonderbolts. She had to go. Suddenly, Derpy crashed through the roof of Rainbow's home, her pale yellow mane scattered with muffin crumbs. Dash gritted her teeth- this was the millionth time this month that she had done this. But everypony knew not to get angry at Derpy. "Letter for Rainbow Dash!" She said, grinning like she didn't pretty much just destroy Rainbow's mansion. "Thanks Derpy. Leave now. Please." "Whatever you say!" Said Derpy cheerfully as she flew upwards into the sky, leaving yet another gaping hole in the ceiling. "Seriously." Rainbow muttered, tearing open the letter. "A letter from... Jetstream?!" Dash said, surprised. She hadn't seen Jetstream in years! RD checked the time. "Im late!" she squealed, rocketing off as fast as her wings could carry her, completely forgetting about the letter that could destroy everything. Rainbow drifted down to Sugarcube Corner, deep in thought. She glanced around at the hundreds of award winning cakes with soft buttercream frosting and creamy goodness. She breathed in the amazing scent of freshly baked cakes filled with deliciousness. She decided she should really should come here more often to eat, even if it is bad for her shape. Gotta keep fit for the Wonderbolts! Suddenly, RD felt the hard force of a Pinkie Pie hug, which could hurt anypony severely if they weren't used to it. “Dashie!! Where did you go yesterday! We all missed you!” Pinkie shouted over Rainbows shoulder. After what seemed like forever, Pinks ended the hug. Rainbow learned long ago that she could never make a Pinkie Pie hug end. “Spike told me that you saw Soarin’ yesterday,” Twilight said. “Something about him wanting to talk to you?” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. He invited me to the Wonderbolts tryouts!!!” she screamed exitedly. “Well that’s great, Sugarcube!” Applejack grinned. “Were all so happy for ya.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “We TOTALLY have to have a super duper amazing celebration party tonight!” Pinkie said. “It’ll be TOTALLY FUN!” Rainbow sighed. There was no way of hiding it now. “Uhm, sorry Pinks! I have umm… a Wonderbolts derby to go to in Canterlot.” There. That should do it. “Well, that’s too bad.” Whispered Fluttershy. “Darling, how could you go to Canterlot to see a Canterlot derby and not invite ME!” Rarity said sadly. “Fancypants would be there!” Rarity flicked her tail, an annoyed look on her face. “Um, it’s a um… special one. Only the ponies who are going to be at the Wonderbolts tryouts can go.” Rainbow Dash cursed her voice as it cracked when she said ‘Wonderbolts’. She felt awful for lying to her best friends, but she had to. She just couldn't tell them. “Okay Rainbow. Girls, lets get something to eat.” Said Twilight. Dash heaved a sigh of relief. Rainbow opened the door to her huge apartment, humming softly. However much she didn’t want to do it, she knew that she had to get ready for her date tonight. She steadily guided a comb through her hair, wincing at the pain. Her knotty mane never went straight. Never. But it looked okay. She figured, or hoped, that Soarin’ wouldn’t care what she looked like. This wasn’t anything official, anyway. Or she hoped it wasn’t. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soarin waited for Rainbow at the least- fancy table he could find, panicking and thinking about what he were to say to Rainbow if she ever showed up. Would it be awkward? Would he do something to annoy or hurt her? "Oh, hey Dashie, what's up? Take a seat." He said to the empty chair in front of him. He decided that approach would be a little too corny. "Oh Dashie, wasn't expecting you here." He face hoofed. Of course he was. He immediately shut up when he realised that two ponies near his table were staring at him and whispering to eachother. As soon as he was about to give up and go back to the Wonderbolts HQ, he saw a sky blue figure approaching the door. He straightened up and ran a hoof through his mane, breathing steadily, trying to calm himself down. Rainbow walked into the restaurant where she and Soarin’ had arranged to meet at. It was much fancier than she expected, with candles on top of the crisp white tablecloths and a goegeous view looking over the whole of Canterlot. She thought about what would happen if Rarity were to see this resturant and smirked. Rainbow spotted Soarin' in the corner of the resturant, waiting patiently and tapping his hoof on the ground. To her relief, he wasn’t wearing a suit, but when she walked over, he DID stand up and pull her the chair out for her.Just a casual get- together,She reminded herself. The date was, actually, pretty decent. They talked a lot about being a Wonderbolt, and how to cope. To Rainbows surprise, he made being a Wonderbolt sound pretty hardcore, but Rainbow knew she could defiantly handle pressure. Rainbow ordered a daisy sandwich ("Gotta keep fit if i'm ever going to become a wonderbolt." she had explained to Him), and as for Soarin, he ordered a huge apple pie, not to dash's surprise. Rainbow ate slowly, aware that everypony was staring at her, but Soarin' literally put his face into the apple pie, chewing loudly, completely unaware that everypony was staring at him in horror and outrage. He seemed pretty sure that Rainbow was certain to get onto the team, which made her more exited about the tryouts than ever. A while into the get- together, Rainbow decided to ask for what she wanted the most. “Hey, do you wanna just forget about this date thing, and go flying? Maybe even have a race?” Rainbow had a determind smile pressed onto her face, and soarin had no choice but to agree. “I’d like that.” So Soarin payed, they departed out the door at high speed, and took off into the dark, moonlit sky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Surprisingly, Soarin’ found it very hard to keep up with Rainbow. She was amazing- doing incredible stunts that nopony would dream of, doing endless loops in the air, laughing sweetly as she flew. In the air, she was the most passionate pony Soarin’ had ever set eyes on. "Hey flyboy, not so fast now are ya?" Rainbow exclaimed, puffing out her chest and smirking sneakily at him. "Well, I am up against the only pony in Equestria who can do a sonic rainboom." Soarin' said, laughing. Suddenly, he zipped upwards, towards the only cloud in the sky. Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ swiftly landed on a cloud overlooking the whole of Canterlot. They could see everything, from the train station to the palace. thousands of tiny lights were scattered over ponyville, illuminating each and every building in sight. Dash had to admit, it was pretty cool, but a little too romantic for her liking. They sat in silence for a while, both gathering their thoughts, before Rainbow decided to speak up. She was about to take another deep breath, but stopped herself. She had done that way too many times. “Soarin’, I need an honest answer,” Rainbow exclaimed. “Why are we here?” Dash's heart beat like an african drum. She wanted to know so badly what this was all about, even though deep down, she knew. she just couldn't process the fact completely. It was then Soarin's turn to take a deep breath. “Rainbow, I really like you. I have since you saved me at the Best Young Flyers competition. I know that you probably don’t feel the same way, but I love you, Rainbow Dash.” And before Dash could say anything else, Soarin’ jerked his head forward and kissed her. Before she knew it, Dash had lost her sense for space and time. Soarin’ swore that Rainbow kissed him back, for only a second though, before he heard the muffled screams coming from inside her mouth. Before he felt her hooves pushing against his chest, Rainbow frantically trying to end Soarin's couple seconds in heaven. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soarin’ immediately felt Rainbow’s hoofs banging against his chest, begging him to stop. Eventually, Soarin’ ended the kiss. Dash stared at him in utter silence, shaking her head in disbelief. What had just happened? Was she sure that Soarin' had actually just kissed her, and for a second, just a second, she had kissed him back? She couldn’t believe that Soarin’ had done that! What was he thinking? “I’m so sorry, Rainbow,” Soarin’ whispered guiltily. “I shouldn’t have done that.” Rainbow just continued to shake her head. She turned around and buried her face in her hoofs, hoping no one saw what had just happened between them. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Soarin's eyes directly on hers, awaiting her response. Well, he wasn't going to get one! What he did was far worse than bad. “Rainbow?” Dash had completely lost the ability to talk. She was surprised, and slightly annoyed. Why did he do that? More to the point, what was SHE doing? She pretty much just lost her one chance to get in with the Wonderbolts, her life long dream, and almost lost her reputation, right then, right now. Not only that, but for a second she was so sure that she may have even kissed him back. She was trapped in her own twisted little world. She quivered and shook as she thought about that kiss. But the strange thing was, even though she hated to admit it to herself, and hated it even more to admit it to her friends, she actually enjoyed it. What could it mean? I mean, she couldn't possibly like him. That sounded completely insane. She was Rainbow 'Danger' Dash. The coolest mare in all of Ponyville. Besides, she defiantly did not need a relationship with somepony. She was perfectly happy the way she was. And when she gets wrapped up in the Wonderbolts training, she would be busier than ever. No. It simply couldn't be. “I… Should go.” Rainbow squeaked, spreading her wings to begin takeoff. Soarin’ jumped up and placed his hoof on her shoulder, causing Dash’s cheeks to go as red as a rose. “Will I still see you at the Wonderbolts tryouts?” He asked quizzically, trying to look at Rainbows eyes. Trying to get her to see the forgiveness in his peepers. Rainbow flooded out the tensity in her bones. She still had a chance with the Wonderbolts! And she was not planning to almost blow it again. RD nodded slowly, her magenta pupils practically glistening with hatred and sadness. And with that, she took off, the heavy wind blowing away the tears in her eyes. Soarin’ stared as she flew away into the leathery black sky, until all that was left was a faint rainbow trail hovering in the light of the moon. He had never felt more rejected by a pony in his life. He sighed, and took off into the gloomy night sky, his head hanging low. He would have to win Rainbow’s heart, and he could tell it wasn’t going to be easy. Soarin' drifted into the Wonderbolts HQ, to be greeted by Spitfires face right on his. "And where have you been all practice?" She asked, gritting her teeth, her eyes like two tiny fireballs knocking around her head. "Nowhere." Soarin' mumbled, even though he knew that was a pathetic answer "Were you out with that particular mare that we want on our team?" Spitfire asked, her head cocked and her eyebrows knotted together. "Please don't get angry, Spit... But..." The sun- yellow pegasus gasped with disbelief. "Soarin', you know the drill. Wonderbolts aren't allowed to be romantically evolved with anypony. I'm disappointed in you." "But-" "I forbid you from going anywhere near that mare again, unless on Wonderbolt business. Do you understand? Soarin' sighed sadly, his ears drooping. "Yes, captain. She doesn't like me anyway." Spitfire's face softened a little, but still stayed as firm as ever. "Good. Now back to practice. Now!" Soarin' flew to the stadium, batting his wings furiously. A single tear fell down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away, for his jobs sake. Rainbow gazed warily behind her, hoping that Soarin’ hadn’t followed her. Hoping that he wouldn’t take it too harshly. What if he told Spitfire? What if they wouldn’t let her on the team? What if Ponyville found out, and she was mocked for the rest of her life? No. That won’t happen. It can’t happen. she wouldn't allow it to happen.That’s the worse case scenario. It’s over and done with. And Dash couldn't be more happy to feel herself think that. As Rainbow was flying home, she spotted Rarity trotting down to the Carousel Boutique, and flew over to greet her. “Hey, Rares! How are ya?” Rarity raised one quizzical eyebrow at her. “Would you like to explain just why the Wonderbolts derby went on from six to ten o-clock?” Rarity asked, perfectly pleasantly. Rainbow sighed, yet again. She had to tell Rarity. Maybe she would understand. “I’ll tell you, but not here. Not now.” RD said to Rarity. She looked mildly confused, but nodded even so. “Lets go to the carousel boutique,” Rarity exclaimed. “We can talk it over.” So off they trotted towards the boutique, making small talk and jokes. My biggest secrets about to be discovered, yet I’m laughing it off Rainbow thought to herself with a frown. But she knew she could trust Rarity with this sort of dilemma. Rainbow and Rarity lounged on her sofa, relaxing with exhaustion. Rarity looked at the cyan blue Pegasus expectantly, tapping her hoof on her neat, stainless carpet. “Well?” she asked. Before Rainbow even knew what she was doing, she blurted out the whole story to the crystal white unicorn so fast that it was even hard for herself to keep up with her own story. Rainbow tried to stop herself, but it was so good to get the story out, that she just couldn't. She talked about the tryouts, and how she thought that Soarin' would not let her do it unless she went out with her. She talked about how they kissed on the only cloud in the night sky. Rarity looked shocked, but listened intently, nodding in all the right places. "Oh, how romantic!" Rarity said over- dramatically, sighing softly. "Now that's the kind of stallion I love." "Rarity!" Rainbow moaned. "This is serious!" "Sorry" Rarity smiled, deep in thought. “Darling, why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m good with stallions, if you haven’t noticed. Now, here’s the real question Rainbow Dash. I want you to answer me with complete confidence and honesty.” Rarity explained, looking more serious than ever. Dash nodded, trying as hard as the could to hide how scared she was to answer the question. She knew what was coming, and she didn't like it one bit. “Okay.” RD said. “Do you like him back?” Those five minutes she had to think of an answer were the longest five minutes of Rainbow’s life. What could she say? She didn’t even know what to think herself. Did she like him, or did she not? “Rainbow?” “I don’t know!” RD cried. “I just don’t know!” “Oh, I think you do.” Said Rarity simply, smiling encouragingly at her. What was Rarity talking about? She didn't. She had explained everything to her, and now she thought that she actually liked Soarin'? How perfectly insane! Then, it hit her. Of course she knew. She just didn’t want to believe it. “I…um..." Rainbow whispered. "I...Think I do." Those four words were words she could never ever take back. And she knew it. She stared at the floor. She wanted more than anything to curl up into a tiny ball and disappear into the floorboards, to get out of this situation, to take back the words she wished she never said. "You don't just think it, you know it!" "Fine. I do like him." Dash covered over her mouth with a hoof. What had she done? Her reputation around Ponyville could so easily be ruined. "Just... Don't tell anyone." Rarity nodded. Rainbow could tell that she understood, and she wasn't going to let her down. “Darling, love always comes before reputation. Stop worrying what others think, and go find him! Before its too late.” Rarity had a proud look on her face as she said those words, as if she had done this many times before. “And, of course, I will come with you. I want to meet this stallion and see if he is good enough for one of my best friends.” “Thank you so much rarity. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you before.” They both smiled at each other, reaching another friendship spark. “Tomorrow, we shall go find him!” Rarity proclaimed, grinning. “Okay, Rares.” However, they were both completely unaware of the little filly with a white coat, and a navy mane with a camera, hiding behind the couch, waiting for the perfect gossip to come out. Rainbow's worst nightmare was about to get published for everypony to see. She just didn't know it yet. Rainbow got back to her cloud mansion, feeling much brighter and happier. Rarity was such a great friend. No one could ever replace her. Without warning, she suddenly slipped on a small piece of paper, and toppled over, faling right on her rump. “Aghh” Rainbow mumbled, picking up the worn up note. But then she realised, it wasn’t in fact, a piece of paper. It was an envelope. It was the letter from Jetstream she had gotten. Her eyes filled with hatred as she thought about him, shaking her head menacingly. She tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter, and began to read. Her expression quickly changed. First it sort of froze, then it turned into a frown, then a complete twist. She dropped the letter on the soft cloud floor, where anypony could find it, and galloped to her bedroom, slamming the door so hard that it seemed the whole house shook, getting just as angry and petrified as she felt at that very moment. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “RAINBOW!!!!” RDS five friends stood their ground at Rainbow’s door, huge creased expressions on each of their faces. They had not, in fact, seen their friend for 4 whole days, and they were all extremely worried about her. Applejack banged her hoof on Rainbow’s door, for the eleventh time in the past hour, and called out her name once more. No answer. “Maybe she’s just not home.” Fluttershy whispered, her voice as soft as a feather and hiding her face behind her pastel pink mane. “Ah don’t care if she’s all the way in fillydelphia! We have to find her!” Applejack enquired, hair tail swishing angrily from side to side and a annoyed, cocky expression plastered onto her deep orange face. “Girls, calm down! If there’s one thing we know, she’s defiantly not far. Rainbow would never leave her home for 4 whole days. She loves it here too much, and she would lose her job.” Twilight explained, nodding in everyponies direction as she spoke in her high, squeaky voice. “I must agree with Twilight,” Rarity exclaimed. “Maybe she’s just… having a nap! You girls know how much she loves to nap! Why, I never really see her doing anything else!” Everypony nodded their heads in agreement. “Maybe she just needs a super duper spectacular amazing party to cheer her up!” Pinkie screamed, bouncing up and down wildly, her tail shaking up and down frantically. Everyone simultaneously face hoofed and sighed. They were used to this now, though. “That’s it!” Applejack shrieked. “Ahm mighty sorry, Rainbow, but it’s the way its gotta be!” all of the four friends just stood there and gawped as AJ spun around so fast that nothing more than a blur of orange could be seen, swung her hind legs up and bucked down the rainbow coloured door, causing thousands of tiny cloud tufts to spray in all directions and cover them from head to hoof. “Why, that would be breaking an entry!” Rarity explained, turning and putting her nose in the air. “I simply shall not do it!” But nopony was around to hear her say that, as they had all rushed inside and were scanning every inch of the luxurious cloud covered home to find her, or even just a clue to where she may be in Ponyville. Or Equestria. They rooted through wardrobes, shelves and, eventually, even bathrooms, but she was nowhere to be seen. They didn’t look in her bedroom though, of course. Rainbow had made it clear when she met her friends that her bedroom was ‘Off limits to any and everypony, no matter what the circumstances are.’ Rarity waited outside Rainbow’s fluffy cloud home, tapping her hoof and shaking her head wildly around. What were they thinking?!! They couldn’t just prance into a ponies home and root though her personal things like a gang of no good Draconequuses, and ruin her home! Without warning, a small breeze ran by, causing a small piece of tightly folded up paper to drift out of RDS house, landing right between Rarities clean, sow white hooves. It was a dark, menacing brown, and had ‘Rainbow’ printed clearly on the front of the sheet in bold, black italics, underlined and circled, as if the pony who wrote it was afraid that Dash wouldn’t notice her name on the front. Rarity levitated it from the ground, began to unfold it, but then stopped. “Now, you shouldn’t be snooping, Rarity!” She said out loud to herself, placing the ominous letter back in the place she found it. She stared at it for 10 long seconds, eventually picked it up, not being able to hide her curiosity, neatly unfolded it, and began to read… IDear Rainbow, I never want to touch you ever again. You've ruined my life, You're the worst thing that I ever set eyes on. Yes, I did love you but now it's time to give you a taste of your own medicine. I'm so ashamed of myself 'cause of you. you're a big risk to anyone and to me. I was going to stay away from you and never touch you again. But then I did something horrible. I defiantly don’t regret it. Are you aware that I saw you with Soarin’ in Canterlot? Now, come to my place at six o’ clock, Friday night. If you don’t show up, something horrible will happen -J Her expression quickly changed. Almost in the same way as Rainbow’s did. “Girls, I think I may have found something” Rainbow sat glumly on the highest tuft of cloud in the skies of Ponyville. She could see everything from up there; from Twi’s huge tree house library to the shockingly pink Sugarcube Corner. Tiny ant- ponies scuttled around the little town, buying vegetables from the market and getting all kinds of tasty treats. She wondered to herself if her friends were even remotely worried about her. She hadn’t seen them for- what? Four days? They must be worried, especially when she had promised Rarity that she could go and meet Soarin’. She had completely blown her off, and she felt completely awful about it. She was pretty traumatized when she read the creepy letter, but she had realized something over the past couple days. She could TOTALLY take on Jetream one-on-one if that’s what he wanted. She was the toughest mare in Ponyville. She could knock him out with her eyes closed and her two wings tied together if she wanted to! After sitting on the lumpy cloud for a couple minutes, pondering her thoughts, Rainbow felt the weight of the cloud slightly increase as another pony took a seat next to her. It couldn’t be Fluttershy. She would never go this high up in the sky, and it wouldn’t be one of her friends. Dash remembered all those long lectures that Twi used to give about how if an Earth Pony or Unicorn were to come up, they would surely suffocate from being too high up in the sky. Rainbow slowly and cautiously twisted her head round. Her eyes went wide with surprise when she saw that it was nopony else but Soarin’. Dash began to sweat and she began to breath quite heavily, like a worn out dog. Soarin’ give her a reassuring goofy grin, which was, of course, not at all what she was expecting, and said something that she thought would never happen ever again. “How about a race?” Soarin’ knew that Rainbow could ever resist a race, even if it was with someone who she despised. But Rainbow Dash was not budging. She just stared at Soarin’ gawping with nothing but ultimate surprise. Soarin’ waited patiently for a reassuring answer to come out of her mouth, but no ‘your on!” was escaping. He sighed heavily with sadness, and began to hover above the cloud. “I guess that’s a no then.” He slowly enquired, drifting away with his head hanging low and his eyes tightly shut. Without warning, a bright Rainbow trail dashed past him, leaving his head banging and his eyes wide with shock. “Now that’s the Dashie I know!” He laughed, whizzing forward in attempt to catch up with her, even though he knew he didn’t stand a chance. They rocketed all around Ponyville, doing daring dives and laughing cheerfully as they flew, Rainbow, of course, performing several Sonic Rainbooms on the way and surprising Soarin’ as much as it did the first time he had ever seen her do it. It really was amazing. With the incredible rainbow flurry of colors exploding out of what seemed like a tiny blue dot in the sea blue sky. Rainbow didn’t recall feeling this happy in a very long time. “RAINBOW DASH!” RD skidded to a steady halt as she saw Scootaloo frantically galloping towards her, a deep frown on her orange face. “Woah, Squirt! Calm down there!” Rainbow laughed, hovering just above Scootaloo’s head. She did a quick glance around for Soarin’, but he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, she set herself down next to a shaking Scootaloo, looking at her seriously. “What’s up?” “Okay! Number one, where have you been the last two days? And number two, are the rumors true?” Rainbow lifted a single quizzical eyebrow at her, wondering what she was talking about. “I’ve been around Cloudsdale,” she lied. “And um.. What rumors?” “Duh! The Gabby Gums!” Scootaloo explained. “Have you been living in a hole?” Rainbow began to panic, fiddling with her hooves and perspiring crazily. “…Scoots? ...What happened with Gabby Gums?” “You and Soarin’ happened. Is it true?” > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow stared at Scootaloo with utter disbelief and panic. She shook her head frantically, as she slowly lowered herself onto the green grassy hill. She wanted more than anything to shrink down to the size of the smallest parasprite so that no one would ever notice her again. Never again pressurize her. Never… “RAINBOW DASH! Seriously, what’s going on with you today?” Dash snapped back into the real world, leaving behind the misery and worry that was quickly accumulating her body. She couldn’t break down. She just couldn’t. Putting on the most normal face she could muster, Rainbow turned to Scootaloo putting on a plastic grin. “Oh come on, Scoots!” she exclaimed. “You know me! I’m WAAAAAAY too awesome to have a very special somepony. So why don’t cha… show me that Gabby gums you were talking about?” Scootaloo looked suspicious, but turned and snagged a light grey newspaper out of her bright orange saddlebag. “I’ll tell you now Dash, you’re not going to like it,” She said nervously. “Honestly Scoots, when are you going to learn that nothing can bring the roughest, toughest pony down?” She beamed, even though on the inside she was slowly and surely melting her way to the floor. Slowly, cautiously, she began to hand the newspaper to Dash. Melting. RD rolled her magenta eyes and snatched the newspaper from Scootaloos grip. Melting. She swiped the first cream coloured page open, but to Rainbow it felt more like a death trap than just a simple story. Melting. From the minute the cyan Pegasus read the first word of the headline, her melted internal organs just fell; Downwards, Downwards, into the abyss of Ponyville humiliation. IS RAINBOW NOW REALLY SOARIN’S MAREFRIEND? She couldn’t read the rest. She slammed the newspaper shut and rocketed up towards the sky. Scootaloo shrieked her name, but she wouldn’t listen. Lucky for her, the tears in her bold magenta eyes were swept away by the heavy wind blowing against her mane as she flew up and up, needing to get away from the drama, the hurt, the confusion, her home. She couldn’t deal with it. She should have never let Soarin’ kiss her. What was she thinking? She skidded to a halt in mid air, hovering above the small town she called home, but right then it just felt alien to her. Wait. What was she talking about? She was Rainbow Dash, the coolest, fastest pony in ponyville, and probably all of Equestria! Why was she getting so worked up about a stupid thing like this? If she acted like nothing had happened, no doubt everyone would act the same way, even if she had disappeared for four whole days. Not only this, but why was she going to show up for her meeting with Jet? What exactly does “bad” mean? Suddenly, she burst out laughing. Why had she gotten so worked up? “Hey Dash, what’s so funny?” Without warning, Soarin zoomed up next to her, grinning his goofy grin that Rainbow had always loved. She thought about Fluttershy trying to get as fast and as high as they just did, and grinned to herself. But the grin quickly dropped as she realized. Her friends must be worried sick about her! Anything could have happened in the past days. “Gotta run, bye!” Soarin stared as Dash Flew towards Ponyville with so much speed that he wondered if she might faint if she went through all that air pressure. Soarin’ shook his head wildly and recovered from his shock. Without warning, the Wonderbolt zoomed towards The Weather Pony with as much speed as he could muster up, but he knew it would take a lot more to catch up to the strange rainbow explosion of colours that didn’t even seem pony. “Fluttershy! You know how much Rainbow loves to go up high. You have to go up!” Twilight explained, who was giving Flutters yet another lecture of how she could help to find Rainbow. “Ahm mighty sorry Fluttershy, but ahm with Twilight on this,” AJ exclaimed. “Me too. It’s the most likely place to find her. If she’s not there, something must have happened to her.” Said Rarity, nodding in agreement with herself. “I just want my friend back.” Twilight said sadly, bowing her head. The girls nodded in agreement. “That Gabby Gums sounds awful strange though,” said Applejack suspiciously. “Ahm sure Rainbow would never do anything like that.” “Applejack, you shouldn’t listen to those nasty stories,” Rarity claimed. “It’s all horrible lies.” “Maybe we just need to throw her a super spectacular party!!” Pinkie Pie shrieked, bouncing up and down, her pink mane bobbing. “You guys know how much rainbow loves-“ Suddenly, the girls looked up simultaneously to hear a loud thud on the roof of Twilight’s titanic tree house. Not to much of Twi’s surprise, the roof snapped and a Rainbow maned figure fell down with the stumpy, bedraggled logs, crashing onto the hard floor. She slowly looked up at her friends, who were crowded around her, and grinned nervously. “Sorry Twi.” Rainbow made a halfhearted attempt of a giggle as the girls all closed in for a huge group hug. “Rainbow, where on earth have you been?” Rarity exclaimed much too over dramatically. “We’ve been worried sick, sugarcube!” Applejack remarked. “We even searched your house.” “You WHAT?” Dash shrieked. “Well we were worried and… what was that letter about? You don’t have to tell me f course…” Fluttershy said, a worried expression plastered across her innocent face. Of course they found the letter. She had promised herself to stay cool, however, and that was exactly what she was going to do. “What letter? I don’t remember a- Midway through her sentence, the girls heard yet another loud crash, leaving another gaping hole for Twilight to fix up. A light blue Pegasus in a Wonderbolt uniform floated in though the gap, looking slightly embarrassed. “Rainbow, where did you go? You just suddenly bolted. I’ve never seen you go that fast!” Soarin’ exclaimed, grinning at RD as she looked at her friends who were one by one turning to face her in a confused but somehow knowing manner. If Rainbow was capable to speak at that exact moment, it would have been that she had never felt so embarrassed in her whole entire life. > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Keep your cool, keep your cool…” RD whispered under her breath, trying to control the rose red that was attempting to creep up to her cheeks. She couldn’t deal with this. It was too much. It was Ponyville, or Soarin. That’s how she saw it. She spoke the words before she even realised what she was saying. “Um, who are you?” Rainbow asked in a quizzical manner, cocking her head to one side and looking extremely convincing. “Well I know who you are, but why are you here?” she looked down on Twilights hard tree house floor, unable to take back those words. Soarin stared at her in utter disbelief, frowning. “What are you talking about Dash? Did you hit your head or something?” He asked confusingly. RD took a deep breath and turned to her friends. “Um, did you guys invite him here or something?” “No Dash.” Twi replied. “Judging by that Gabby Gums it seems you know him better than we do anyway.” Suddenly, Rainbow burst out laughing. “Hey wait, you actually believe that stuff?” she cackled, grinning at them. She spun around to say something to Soarin, but he had disappeared. Rainbow suddenly realised what she had just enquired, and broke down into tiny little pieces. On the inside, that is. Reputation is more important than some Petty Pony Love Story, right? “Glad to have ya back, Sugarcube.” AJ said, cockily grinning at her. “Good to be back” Dash replied, as they enclosed in another group hug. Apart from Rarity, who hung back in utter disbelief, staring at dash and shaking her head. Slowly, steadily, she walked up to dash and leaned over to whisper into her ear. “You can’t hide from this forever” she said, spinning around and trotting out, her curly hair bouncing along behind her. It was fine for now though, wasn’t it? However, all were unaware of the strange black silhouette lurking beneath Twilights tree, staring though the window and shaking her head menacingly. “Just you wait Dash” “SCOOTALOO!” Rainbow shouted, hovering towards her with her usual cocky grin. Scootaloo looked at her quizzically, wondering why she wasn’t angry. “Hey, what about Gabby Gums?” She asked, craning her neck upwards. “Ha, you actually believe that stuff?” “Well, there was an image.” “Faaaaakeee!” RD sung, laughing as her voice cracked. It had been several weeks since the event, and Rainbow had fully recovered from her trance and quickly had switched back to her normal self. She hadn’t seen Scoots since then.”Yea “Yeah, good point!” Scoots beamed, laughing hysterically- and a little sarcastically. She knew something was up, and she was going to find out about it. Who knows, maybe the CMC will get their cutie marks being detectives! “Right, well gotta run! Weather stuff!” RD said quickly, rocketing up towards the sky towards a rain cloud that was slowly descending over ponyville. Scoots had thought long and hard about what she was going to do about this situation, but she had made up her mind. The CMC would be taking a little trip to the wonderbolt headquarters. MEANWHILE, IN THE WONDERBOLT HEADQUARTERS… Soarin practiced his parallel swizzle half-heartedly, turning up towards the sky and brushing the top of the arena. Spit-fire had been watching him closely, eyeing his ever movement and every trip. Over the last week he had not been himself. As soarin flew downwards to the bottom of the arena, Spitfire speeded into his way, making him jump out of the way and flinch. “Hey, what was that for? You could have killed me!” The Pegasus shrieked angrily, his emerald green eyes blazing. “Well it seems like you have killed your flying. Where’s your spirit?” A long silence lolled over them as they hovered in the air, Spit-fire looking at him accusingly. He watched the Wonderbolts fly higher and higher, until they dove down into the depths of the arena, doing dangerous stunts. He just didn’t feel it anymore. He was sure Dash would be disappointed. Dashie. Without warning, Soarin burst into tears. He buried his head into Spit-fire’s silky orange mane and moaned so loudly that the whole team looked his way. He couldn’t stop. He missed Rainbow so much. He was nothing without her. “Come on”. Spit-fire whispered. “Lets go talk about what happened.” “Alright” Soarin sniffed. “Oh, and maybe on the way we can stop and meet the newest member of out team.” “And who’s that?” “Jetstream, I think he said it was.”