> Dashing Love (REWRITTEN)
>  by Kellster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A New Feeling!?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stretched and yawned as the school bell finally rang after that long, boring math class. Or at least, it was for her. She slouched on her chair and put her arms behind he back. It was lunchtime, but she had some spare time. And today, she decided to spend her break in the classroom. She relaxed herself and closed her eyes as she plugged on some earphones. She put on one of her favorite songs, “Magic Inside”. She hummed along to the song:

I am just a human!
I make mistakes from time to time
And now I know the real me
And put my heart out on the line
And let the magic in my heart stay true, woah
And let the magic in my heart stay true, woah
Just like the magic inside of you

As she almost drifted off to sleep, an energetic and high-pitched voice suddenly ringed through Rainbow’s head. “Hey, Dashie!” She said from behind Rainbow, taking off her right earphone. “Wanna eat together?” She asked as she somehow jumped right in front of Rainbow's desk.

“Oh, hey Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. She looked around. Everybody was still eating, meaning that it only a few minutes have passed, even though Rainbow felt like the lunch break had already finished. “Sure.”

Pinkie jumped in happiness and grabbed the chair in front of Rainbow, turned it around, and sat on it. “Look what I brought today!” Pinkie said, grabbing a container out of her bag. It was as pink as her mane, with the lid pure white. Pinkie’s signature, or cutie mark, was printed on the lid. “I brought…”

“…octo-dogs!” Pinkie exclaimed, smiling widely as she presented the octopus-shaped hot dogs, it even had two small holes on each one to interpret eyes. It was complete with rice and ketchup. Pinkie picked up her chopsticks and broke them into two. She smiled again, as always, and lifted her head up directly at Rainbow. “What did you bring?”

Rainbow put her phone back into her pocket, unzipped her bag, and took out a small pack of instant noodles. "I didn't enough time to get proper food, so I brought instant ramen noodles." She explained as she opened it and poured hot water in it. She tore her chopsticks apart and started chowing down.

The two of them talked about all sorts of things while eating their lunch, and suddenly, Pinkie thought of a very interesting topic. She grinned at Rainbow and giggled. "What?" Rainbow asked curiously, still slurping up her noodles.

"Well, I was just thinking that out of all the things, you've never talked about how cute Soarin is." Pinkie wiggled her eyebrows at her, holding up an octo-dog on her chopsticks.

Rainbow blushed a little, but rolled her eyes and finished slurping the strip of noodles on her chopsticks to pretend she never blushed. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

Pinkie chuckled. "Oh, stop pretending. Look at him over there, with his beautiful, sparkly eyes, those handsome muscles, his perfect, soft hair..." She babbled out all these things on purpose, of course, to see what Rainbow's reaction is.

"Alright, I get it." Rainbow snapped. "But I for one don't think so, you know I'm not into those sappy and girly stuff."

Pinkie rolled her eyes with a grin, as if sensing denial in Rainbow's voice. "Well, let's see about that." She said as she pointed her chopsticks towards Soarin, who was all the way to the other side of the room.

Rainbow turned her head to look at Soarin, laughing and hanging out with his friends. Rainbow blushed a little, yet more than before. "W-well...I.....I guess.......he is........kind of......." She said under her breath so quietly nobody hear her. But her pupils shrunk as she noticed that the person she was talking to was a super-hearing, logic-breaking, psychic, noisy and energetic party planner.

Pinkie made a small giggle and grinned. "Gotcha." She said, winking as she made an octo-dog nod.

Rainbow's face was completely red now, both because of embarrassment and anger. She tried to think of an excuse, or at least something to say so this won't be completely directed to her. "W-well, it's your turn!!" She shot back.

Pinkie thought for a moment. "Well, I don't really like anyone particularly, but I think Cheese Sandwich is cute." She grabbed the top of Rainbow's head and turned it around to see Cheese Sandwich, who was at the back of the room. Cheese put a block of cheese on his head and put lots of cheese in his sandwich, almost overfilling it. He took a huge bite of the sandwich and seemed to wink at Pinkie. Pinkie giggled.





Soarin groaned and stretched as he lay himself down on the grass outside the school. "Ugh, I can't believe mid-terms are soon." He mumbled. He closed his eyes and yawned. At last, no more distractions. He could relax peacefully, at least just for a few minutes. He opened his left eye and saw a pink-haired girl walking over to him. He sighed and shut his eyes again, pretending he didn't see her coming.

Pinkie noticed that, however, and smiled instead. "Somebody wants to talk to you." She said in a very sweet and kind tone.

Soarin opened his eyes fully, and sat up straight. "What?" He asked, astonished.

Pinkie stepped a little closer to him and giggled. "Not me, a friend of mine. She's waiting for you at that garden of cherry blossom trees. You know those trees, right? It's behind the school."

Soarin raised his eyebrow. In this school, Canterotu High, there was an old legend passed on by generation to generation. When you confess to somebody in the middle of the cherry blossoms in the school garden, your love will have a better chance of becoming true. Excited, and a bit curious, he got up and went on his way.

Pinkie left as well as soon as Soarin got up. She rushed to her classroom and scanned the whole class. However, the person she was looking for wasn't there. She rushed to all sorts of places, and finally found them in the girl's changing room. She hugged them from behind and smiled.

"Hey, Pink. What did I tell you about surprise-hug-attacking me at the back?" They said, annoyed.

"Hehe, sorry, I can't help it, Dashie." Pinkie said, letting go of Rainbow Dash.

"So, what did you want me for?" Rainbow asked, putting on the top of her school uniform. She spread her hair out of the uniform and put the sports uniform back into her locker.

"I need you to talk to someone for me!" Pinkie replied. "They're waiting for you at the cherry blossoms. You know, the ones in the school garden, not the pathway to school.

Rainbow paused for a minute and turned around to face Pinkie. "Is this a joke? Isn't that a place to 'confess your love' or something?" She asked, kind of annoyed as to why she got into this situation because of Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie smiled again. "Come on, there's no more time to waste. He might already be there." She pushed Rainbow out of the room as fast as she could. "Come on, chop chop!" She pushed harder, but Rainbow was too strong.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "W-wait, 'he'!? What the heck are you making me do!?" She said, letting her guard down as she realized what was happening.

"Come on, Dashie. You have no other choice! Besides, you owe me that time I played for your team." Pinkie said as she took advantage of this moment and pushed her even faster.

Rainbow sighed. She did say that she'd do anything for Pinkie if she helped them out when they were short on members for the big game last year. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll do it. Why am I doing this anyway?"

Pinkie closed her eyes and made a small smile. "Let's just say.....it's for the bright smiles in the future."

Rainbow didn't understand what she meant, but shrugged it off. "Okay.....stop pushing me, I can go on my own!" She yelled, annoyed. Half the girls in the locker room heard her, but Rainbow ignored it.

Pinkie stopped pushing Rainbow, just in time as they arrived at the entrance of the locker room. "Goooooooood luck!" She waved goodbye as she gave Rainbow her best wishes, in hope that it would work. In fact, she was absolutely positive it would go smoothly.

Rainbow waved back and ran to her destination, she didn't want to keep anybody right now.





"Where is he? I think she asked him first, yet he's not even here." Rainbow waited for a while until she lost her patience. She turned around, about to leave, but then...

"Hey, wait!" A voice came from behind. "Sorry I'm late."

The voice was obviously a boy's, and Rainbow could hear the footsteps stop behind her.

"What did you want to see me about?" He asked, stopping inches away from Rainbow as he took lots of deep breaths.

Rainbow was shocked when she recognized the voice. Did Pinkie Pie really just.....? Nevermind that, she now had to come up with something to say. "U-um.....my name's Rainbow Dash....." She said. Her heart was racing, her face was painted red, she was lost for words, what was this feeling...?

Soarin's eyes widened. He rubbed his neck and said, "Y-you're from the football team, right? I know you. I think you're pretty cool." He placed his hand on his mouth, not believing what he just blurted out.

Rainbow turned her head around, just enough for her left eye to see a little bit of him. "You think so?" What was she saying?? Normally, she would say, "Haha, duh! Of cour'se I am!" But for some reason, her words came out differently. "I-I mean, yeah! Of course!" She said, trying to force herself to say that.

Soarin snickered. "Well, is that all?" He asked, checking the time on his watch and turned his head towards the school building.

"Huh??? W-well, no, but, I'd just like to hang out with you....or something...." Rainbow slapped herself, but made sure Soarin didn't notice. What was she trying to say?

Soarin blushed a little. "Well, sure. Where?" He asked coolly.

"U-um.....there's that new cafe in the near the shopping district. We could go there." Rainbow said, trying to remember how the cafe looked like from the outside and its surroundings.

Soarin knows that cafe, but never went there himself. "Okay....pick you up at 8?"

Rainbow nodded, and turned around to finally face him. Her heart started pounding even more. "Well, I gotta go now. S-see ya!" She said, running away as quick as possible.

"Soooooo, how'd it go?" Pinkie curiously said in the hallway where she waited for Rainbow.

"I'm gonna kill you." Rainbow said in a very deep voice and tried not to face Pinkie and hide her completely embarrassed face. She hastily ran to class afterwards.

Pinkie giggled and smiled nevertheless and followed Rainbow to class.





"Mom, I'm going out for a while!" Rainbow shouted as she put on her shoes a the front door. She was trying to be very quick, but she couldn't put her shoes on properly, so Rainbow bent down and put it down.

"Okay, be safe!" Her mom yelled out from the kitchen. "Are you going to be out until after dinner!?"

"Yeah, I'm going to that cafe with....um....." Rainbow trailed off, thinking of possible things to call Soarin. "-a friend! Yeah, a friend." Her mouth moved on its own, even though she didn't intend to call him an actual 'friend' yet. She opened the door and saw Soarin walk towards the house.

"U-um....are you ready?" He asked as he reached the door. "Yeah." Rainbow said. She turned her head to check and see if anybody was watching. She sighed in relief once she confirmed there wasn't anybody and stepped outside to close the front door just in case anybody was.

"S-so.....just to be clear, this isn't a date?" He nervously asked.

"N-no!" Rainbow said, her voice tensing up and raising a little. "I-I mean....this is just a hang out! You know, fellow athletes."

Soarin nodded. He walked Rainbow to the cafe quietly, not knowing what to talk about.

After a few minutes, Soarin coughed and asked her,

"So....why are you hanging out with me again?"

"Why so many questions?"

"Excuse me for not thinking for something else to say."

"W-well, I chose you b-because...."

"What? Because what?"

"I-I-I don't know, okay!?!"

Suddenly, a car came speeding in the road while they were caught off guard. Rainbow was on the side of the road, but the car was so fast and it was about to crash into her. The beeping sound attracted both of them, making them forget the conversation. It attracted Soarin's atention first, and the only thing he thought about was....

"Look out!" Soarin screamed as he pushed Rainbow off the road. Thankfully, the both of them landed safely on the other side of the road. But they didn't quite stop, they rolled a little, and Soarin was the one on the ground. Rainbow landed on top of him. When Rainbow was finally able to clearly see, she noticed where exactly she was.

"G-get off of me!" Soarin shouted furiously, his face a little red.

Rainbow really mad. "You were the one who pushed me and got us into this situation!"

"You were the idiot who was standing in the middle of the road! You didn't even thank me at all!" 

The two fell into silence. Rainbow got up and brushed the dust off of her. Soarin got up as well. The two of them continued walking to the cafe like planned.

When they finally arrived, Rainbow stretched and smiled, feeling the coolness coming from the AC.

Soarin looked around and examined the new sight. It was a simple cafe, the sound of the wooden planks on the floor felt nice. The stereo had music of the right choice, and the volume of the music was lowered enough so you can hear each others conversations properly. There were enough tables and chairs that were spread out everywhere. There were flowers on each table, complete with sugar, salt, pepper, napkins, and a mini menu. The two sat down on an empty table for two.

"Welcome to Caffeine Cafe! How may I help you?" The waitress said once she walked over to them. She took out a tiny stack of white sticky notes and readied her pen for writing.

"I'll have a chocolate cake, please. Oh, and some soda as well." Rainbow said, her eyes glued to the many delicious desserts in the menu. She drooled a little, but she quickly took a napkin from the napkin dispenser and wiped it off. 

"And I'll have a coconut cream pie and soda too." Soarin added slowly as he took the menu off of Rainbow's hands and examined it himelf.

The waitress smiled brightly as she stopped writing and said, "Thank you! It will be out soon!" She beamed as she walked to the next customer.

After a while, their food came out, and Rainbow started to eat as fast as she could, she never realized how hungry she was.

Soarin noticed her speed, and mistook it for a battle. He tried to eat a little faster. However, they finished together. "Heh, it's a tie." Soarin said, laughing.

Rainbow saw where he was going. "Well, wanna order another round to confirm?"

"Hey, are you trying to prove you're better?" Soarin asked, a little annoyed by this.

Rainbow grinned. "No, I'm trying to prove you're a pussy to not accept my challenge." She said, attempting to trick him into playing another round.

Soarin jumped a little, not knowing her attitude would come out to be extremely different from what he first saw. He then put on a very daring face. "Oh, you're sooooo on."

The two ordered another round, but this time, of the same thing. They decided to order mint chocolate chip ice cream. Rainbow finished first, but tried to hide that she was nearly in a brainfreeze.

Soarin grunted after he finished, facing the fact that he had already lost. "H-how.....?"

Rainbow chuckled. "Guess you're too slow."





Rainbow yawned as she walked in the school's entryway. She looked up and admired the blue skies and the white cotton candy-looking clouds. She also took time to look at the cherry blossom trees on the sides of the pathway. When she entered the school, she stopped to put on her shoes, like everybody normally does. When she finished, Dash turned around, but noticed someone was behind her, watching her. She slowly turned around and saw a cheerful and happy looking girl.

"Heya, how'd your date go?" Pinkie greeted.

"I already told you that it's not a date!" Rainbow yelled. She lowered her voice just so nobody heard what she said.

"Riiiiiiight." Pinkie winked.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. She turned around again and walked to class, but Pinkie still followed her.

"So, how did it go?" Pinkie asked again, doing her best not to mention the word 'date'.

"It was okay, I guess." Rainbow said, trying to think of the past night. "Could've gone worse." She put on a sarcastic-ish face when she thought of what happened on the way there. She closed her locker and started walking to class.

Pinkie wondered what she meant by that and knew she was stretching the truth. But she just didn't feel like commenting and had other plans. She followed Rainbow to class and sighed. "Tsk, tsk, tsk! Rainbow, that's not how it works!" Pinkie said, nudging her. "You hafta make a move!"

Rainbow blushed. She didn't entirely understood what Pinkie meant by that, but knew she was talking about romance. She looked away, trying to hide her blush again. "I already told you, but I'm saying it. Again. I'm not interested in those kind of stuff."

Pinkie smiled and rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Dashie, you don't have to hide it from me!" "H-hide what??" Rainbow asked angrily. "That you like Soarin!" Pinkie yelled so loud that the group of students near them heard what she said. Luckily, it seemed like they didn't understand what Pinkie said. Rainbow's face was dyed red as she quickly pushed Pinkie to the next empty corridor. She started whispering,

"N-No I don't!"

"Yes, you clearly do."

"No! I already said no!"

"Very convincing, Dashie."

"Can we drop the subject?"

"Not until you admit it!"

"I have nothing to admit!"

"Then why did you ask him to hang out with you instead of just saying I forced you into doing this? And also, why is it so important that nobody hears us, and now we're in an empty hallway, whispering?"

Rainbow stopped walking. She couldn't find the proper argue. "B-because!" She started speaking. "I made a promise to you anyways."

Pinkie giggled. "True, true. But you can't keep on denying it."

Rainbow rolled her eyes as they entered their classroom.

To be continued...
> Cultural Festival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dashie." Pinkie Pie said with a somewhat serious tone and ate her chocolate coronet.

"What is it, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, taking another bite of her anpan.

Pinkie pointed at Soarin, sitting at a nearby table. The cafeteria was as busy as ever, but both of them knew who Pinkie was pointing at. "Another girl is hitting on him." Pinkie pointed at a girl talking to him. "You should do something about that."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and continued eating. "I already told you a billion times, I'm not interested in Soarin! Besides, that girl's probably just another fan. You know how famous he is."

Pinkie put on a very, very small smile and sighed. "Dashie, you'll never learn."

Rainbow raised her eyebrow and finished eating. "Look, there's nothing going on between us. We're just friends!"

"Mmhmm." Pinkie sarcastically said with a smug smile and raised her eyebrows.

Rainbow got up and brushed the anpan crumbs off of her uniform. "I'll prove it to you." She strutted over to Soarin's table, making Pinkie grin with a small laugh. 

"Ey, Soarin!" Rainbow shouted loud enough for Pinkie to hear. She sat on the bench next to Soarin and put her arm around him. "'Sup, bud? How ya doin'?"

Soarin blinked. "What're you doing, calling me bud?" He asked, biting his nigiri sushi.

Rainbow glared at him for a second and continued smiling. "Oh, nothing. Just saying 'heyo!' to my ol' pal!" She said, patting Soarin on the back, which annoyed him a little bit.

Soarin rolled his eyes and drank his soda. The girl previously talking to him grunted and glared at Rainbow.

"Well, um, okay?" Soarin looked at the girl in front of him. "What were you asking me again?"

The girl closed her eyes and got up. "Nevermind, I'll ask you later. In private." She walked away furiously.

Soarin was a little angry, but glad that Rainbow made her go away. "Hey, thanks." Soarin muttered quietly.

Rainbow snickered and looked closely into his eyes. "What did you say?" She said in a deeper voice.

Soarin blushed and looked away. "I-I didn't say nothin'."

Rainbow chuckled. "Could've sworn you said 'thanks' Soarin."

Soarin closed his eyes. "Tch. Fine. Thanks. Happy?"

Both of them smirked at each other and looked the other way. Pinkie, from a distance, smiled and ate her chocolate coronet.





Rainbow stretched her arms as she sat at her desk in her classroom. Soarin came and walked towards her. Before he began talking, the speaker suddenly came on.

"Attention students, attention students! As some of you know, the Cultural Festival is happening soon. Please take your time and get ready. Each homeroom has to decide what they're going to do and the Class Rep must turn it in until Monday. Thank you and have fun!"

The classroom buzzed in excitement afterwards, while others just didn't really care. Soarin cleared his throat. "So, Dash, a little birdie told be that you were the first to finish the 3 laps in P.E. today."

Rainbow smirked and slouched on her chair. "Well, duh. I am awesome." She said as she put her arms over her head and put a smug face on.

Soarin was a little annoyed, but cleared his throat again. "How'd you learn to become so fast?"

Rainbow closed her eyes and thought about it. "I actually don't know. Maybe I was naturally born cool." She then added, "But I guess I did practice a lot as a kid." The two of them continued talking about sports and so on, until the next class started.





The next day, the whole class discussed what they would do for the Cultural Festival. The Class Rep, Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant, Starlight Glimmer, stood in front of the class. "Alright, can anybody suggest a couple of ideas for the Cultural Festival?" Twilight said behind the teacher's desk.

Starlight stood behind her in front of the blackboard, ready to write down whatever the class comes up with. "If possible, we should think outside of the box this year." Starlight suggested. "I hear lots of classes are doing cafes and haunted houses."

Everybody agreed and fell silent while thinking. Some people suggested to mix cafes and haunted houses to create 'haunted cafes', but didn't go with it. Others suggested a 'cosplay cafe', but didn't think it was good enough.

In the end, they had to go with a Haunted Cafe.

Twilight sighed and signaled Starlight to write it on the blackboard. Starlight nodded and did what she was told. Afterwards, everybody chatted about the idea, and both Class Reps went and turned it in to the Student Council room. Pinkie jumped right in front of Rainbow. "This is gonna be so exciting!" She said, ranting on and on about the haunted cafe.

Rainbow cut off her babbling. "I get it, Pinkie. You're excited."

Soarin came over and joined into the conversation. "So, are we like, supposed to wear monster costumes or something?" He asked, thinking of costumes he could wear.

"I guess so." Pinkie said, shrugging. "Now that I think about it, it'll be fun to scare people right when they're drinking their tea."

Rainbow made an evil laugh and thought of a costume creepy enough to scare anybody.

"Dude, won't that kill them from making them choke?" Soarin asked.

"Well, I guess we won't go that far, but we can put fake cockroaches in their drinks!" Pinkie thought out loud as she was browsing through crazy ideas in her brain.

Rainbow and Soarin looked at her in disgust. "Why the heck would we do that!?!"

A while later, the class started to discuss again. "Alright, we're gonna need some waiters and waitresses." Starlight said, scanning the room for people who would be interested. After loads of discussing, mostly only girls were picked as waitresses, which were Rarity, Cloudchaser, Flitter, Sugar Belle, and a lot more. The waitresses were to wear a regular maid outfits, with fake blood all over.

Then they chose lots of monsters of different kinds. Pinkie Pie, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash were chosen as monsters. Pinkie jumped in enthusiasm. Soarin and Rainbow were both happy but didn't show it as much. The discussion was over after the bell rang.

"I still can't chose what kind of monster I'll be." Rainbow said at after class. The three of them sat together at Pinkie's desk. "I guess I'll be a wolf."

Pinkie giggled. "Awwwww, I bet you'd look cute! Right, Soarin?" Pinkie nudged Soarin, who was blushing as he imagined it. Rainbow blushed too.

"H-hey, cut that out!" Rainbow demanded as she opened a volume of the manga Naruto.

"W-well, I bet you'll be......furry?" Soarin blurted out.

Pinkie giggled and shrugged as Rainbow glared at her. "I'll just wear my costume of the Evil Enchantress! She's-"

Just as Pinkie was about to sing her song, Rainbow clapped her hand on Pinkie's mouth. "Please don't sing it."

Soarin looked at both of them in confusion. "I'll wear a ghost." All of them continued talking about ideas for the haunted cafe.





"I never thought putting decorations would be sooooo hard!" Rainbow moaned as she climbed a ladder and connected a black banner that said "Please come again..." in one corner to the other. The words were written in red paint to make it look like blood.

"It's not that bad." Pinkie grinned as she put a black tablecloth on one of the desks.

Soarin carried a chair and put it next to the table Pinkie was preparing. "It's bad for me." He snapped at Pinkie.

After a while, the classroom was almost completely black, making it hard to see. There were jack o' lanterns in lots of places and fake skulls and bones. There were also some hiding spots for the monsters to jump scare the customers. The classroom had some walls so one table would be separated from the other, making it scary if you heard a scream from a different part of the classroom. It had lots of other decorations as well, such as masks, witch hats, torches, even pitchforks.

Rainbow fell onto her feet after all her hard work. "Finally!" She screamed. "Now it's time to get into our positions!" All the monsters separated into different hiding spots.

Rainbow was determined to find a really good hiding spot, one which would scare almost anybody. She hid behind a small hidden black table near a regular table. She waited for somebody to come patiently. After a few minutes, she could hear footsteps coming.

"Here's.....your.......t-table.......miss......" A waitress, most likely Flitter, said in a zombie-like voice, leading somebody to the table near Rainbow's spot. As she walked away, she winked to Rainbow. Rainbow saluted and waited for the correct timing.

Finally, the waitress came back and gave the customer her order. After a few minutes, the customer finished her food and gave off a sigh, as if she thought that nobody came to jump scare her. Then, Rainbow jumped out and howled and growled. The customer shrieked in fear, and ran away to the exit, bumping into loads of other jump scares. Rainbow laughed silently and searched for other hiding spots.

"I'm beat!" Rainbow sighed and took off her wolf head. "It's like an oven in this costume if you don't take the head off every once in a while!" She complained as she wiped off her sweat.

"Me too!" Pinkie said, cartwheeling.

Rainbow shrugged and got up. She walked towards a certain student wearing a costume of a witch. "Hey, Twilight! I'm just gonna go explore  the festival a bit." She whispered to Twilight.

"Of course you can!" Twilight said. "This festival is about learning the creative arts, and developing are creative minds! It's so exciting! You should definitely go explore and get inspired by all others...."

Rainbow sneaked away as Twilight babbled about learning this and learning that with Pinkie behind her.

"Phew, I thought I'd never escape her." Rainbow said. The two of them explored the school, seeing all sorts of classroom activities. There were cafes, haunted houses, fortune telling booths, gardens, stuffed animal collections, animal exhibits, and so much more. Pinkie and Rainbow stopped and rested at a cafe of "Mysterious Brews".

"That was so cool!" Rainbow blurted out after taking a sip of some Truth Juice. "I mean, not as cool as ours though." She quickly added afterwards.

Pinkie chuckled and drank her Soothing Party Punch. Afterwards, she made crazy dances like the party animal she is. The both of them laughed. Pinkie then got an idea. She ordered a bottle of Truth Juice and said, "Hey, I have somewhere to go to! Follow me!"

"Where to?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"Just follow!" Pinkie yelled excitedly. "And don't finish your Truth Juice just yet!"

"Why are we back at our class?" Rainbow asked as they stopped running.

Pinkie gave a small laugh. "You'll see! Give me that and stay right here!" Pinkie took the Truth Juice bottle out of Rainbow's hands and rushed in.

Rainbow watched her enter in confusion. What did she want in there?

Pinkie came out with Soarin, holding two plastic cups filled with some type of drink. Pinkie happily gave it to Rainbow and Soarin and pushed them out of the class doors. She smiled as she gave them the plastic cups and went back inside.

"Yo, what was that about?" Soarin asked as he smelled the drink Pinkie gave them.

"Dunno." Rainbow said, still looking inside.

"Well, I was about to take a break anyways. Wanna come?" Soarin said, walking off to another classroom.

Rainbow took a sip of the drink and blurted out, "Y-yes!"

Soarin glanced at her and continued walking, with Rainbow walking next to him.

The two of them saw some other exciting classes together. After they got tired, they rested in front of some vending machines. "I'm so tiiiiiiiiireeeeeed!" Soarin groaned.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I'm more tired than you you know!" She said. "I explored more than you did before!"

They glared at each other and finished the drinks Pinkie gave them. They suddenly felt the urge to say something.

"U-um....." Soarin started. "I......I-I like yoooooooooouuuuur hair!" He yelled.

Rainbow blushed. "Th-thanks? I guess?" An awkward silence fell onto them. "I......I think you're very cool......" Rainbow mumbled so quietly nobody, even Soarin who was sitting right next to her, didn't hear her.

"What?" Soarin asked, tilting his head.

"N-nothing!" Rainbow shouted as she turned her head away. "Wait.....is this....?" She said, smelling the remains of her drink. She realized exactly what she just drank and threw the plastic cup into the trash angrily. "I'm gonna kill that pink-haired girl....."She muttered as she went back to her seat.

Meanwhile, someone was stalking them........

"Who is that girl???" They muttered. "Why is she with Soarin? Why are they both blushing?? Why do they seem so happy??? What is the name of that thing!?!" They looked at the girl even closer and noticed the hair color. "That's right..." They realized. "It's that girl who interrupted my precious talk with Soarin in lunchtime a few days ago. The famous Rainbow Dash. That rainbow-colored sporty is gonna pay..." They banged on the wall and ran away.

To be continued...
> A Rival In Winter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was staring to become cold. Very cold. Winter was drawing near. Rainbow Dash opened the window and blew. The air was visible, meaning snow might come soon. Rainbow beamed in happiness and closed the window. She looked around the room and walked towards her school uniform. It was already time to wear the winter uniform.

"Dashie!!!" A familiar high-pitched voice came from behind. "Let's walk to school together!" Pinkie suggested, already catching up to Rainbow.

Rainbow turned her head and grinned. "Hey, Pink!" She greeted. The two talked about all sorts of things until they got to school.

Once they arrived at their classroom, Rainbow slouched on her chair and stretched her arms. "We're finally here!" She complained. "When it's winter, the walk to school seems longer." She closed her eyes, almost ready to sleep. Due to the cold, it feels even better to fall asleep in class. She awaited Pinkie's reply, but Pinkie seemed to be absorbed in something else. Rainbow opened her right eye and looked at Pinkie. "Hey, what's goin' on?"

Pinkie didn't even answer. She wasn't even looking at Rainbow. Rainbow opened her eyes fully and turned her head to the direction in which Pinkie was looking.

She was clearly looking at Soarin. But for some reason, Pinkie looked worried. Rainbow raised her eyebrow and snapped her fingers in front of Pinkie's face. "Yo, Pink! You okay?" She asked.

"Huh!?!" Pinkie jumped and shook her head. She turned around to look at Rainbow. "Haha, sorry, I got distracted." She giggled and scratched her head. She went back to her seat, but she continued to look at Soarin.

Rainbow became worried, and decided to ask Pinkie at lunchtime.





"Hey, Pink! Let's eat." Rainbow said, grabbing a chair and sitting in front of Pinkie's desk. She placed a small black container on the table and tore apart her chopsticks. "Come on, where's your food? I want to eat my bento."

"Hold on!" Pinkie said, taking out a container filled with small homemade chocolate chip cookies. "Alright, lets's eat!" She said, eating her cookies.

Rainbow beamed and ate her bento. "So, what's wrong? You looked worried a while ago." She asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." Pinkie said, munching on a cookie. "I just had a bad feeling about something." She shrugged.

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. "What kind of bad feeling? Are you sick? Maybe it's just your Pinkie Sense giving off a false alarm."

Pinkie shrugged again. "I dunno. Sometimes I can't really tell." She said, still chewing a cookie. She swallowed it and said, "I'll just figure it out later."

Rainbow nodded and changed the topic until the bell rang.





Pinkie Pie sighed. "I've been roaming around school to find what my Pinkie Sense was telling me, but I still can't find it!" Pinkie complained, although talking to herself at the mirror. "Come on, me! You can find it, right???" She asked herself, shaking the mirror repeatedly.

"Hey, Soaaaarin!" A voice came from outside the bathroom.

"Huh?" Pinkie said, slowly walking towards the door to listen. The voice was clearly not Rainbow Dash, it was probably just a fan. But Pinkie's Pinkie Sense was telling her that that voice was important.

"Huh? Oh, it's you again." Another voice, most likely Soarin, said. "What do you want?"

"I was thinking we should walk home school together!" The other voice said. "You know, just the two of us!"

"Um.....okay?" Soarin said.

"Yay! Come with me!" The other voice said.

"H-hey, wait, where are we going?" Soarin shouted.

"What do you mean? We're just gonna walk home!" The other voice giggled.

"Wait, let go of me!" Soarin yelled. "I don't even know your name yet!" The two voices started to trail off, and Pinkie tried her best to listen on carefully.

"My name is......" The other voice trailed off, the two were already walking away. Pinkie grunted and slammed the door open. She looked around and saw a girl, grabbing Soaring arm and walking with him towards the entrance. Pinkie recognized the girl, but could not remember who it was. Just then, Pinkie remembered.

"It's her!" She thought out loud. "The girl who was talking to Soarin at lunchtime a few days before Cultural Festival!" Pinkie pouted. "She's interfering. And I'm not letting her do that, or my name isn't Pinkie Pie!." She said to herself, running around school to find Rainbow. "...which, it is."





Rainbow yawned as the bell rung. She took off her indoor shoes and wore her outdoor shoes.. "Ugh, I'm tired! Studying in winter is hard because you think you'd rather do something warmer." She complained, slamming her shoe locker shut.

Pinkie shrugged. "Fine by me!" She said, gently closing her locker. "By the way, I have something important to tell you!" She said, jumping up and down.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and picked up her bag. "Tell me on the way." She said, starting to walk towards the exit.

Just then, Pinkie gave a loud "Yay!" and pulled Rainbow somewhere. She ran as fast as she could until they reached a certain road.

"What're we doing in Soarin's road?" Rainbow asked curiously. She looked around, but there was nothing special or unusual to see. "Is that it? You just wanted me to go to Soarin's house?"

"Shhhhh!" Pinkie said, putting her finger on Rainbow's mouth. She walked a little slowly and reached the corner. "There they are!" Pinkie whispered loudly to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow raised er eyebrow. "Whaaaaat?" She said. "Why are we spying on Soarin and that other girl?" She asked, stepping into sight.

"Hey, wait!" Pinkie almost screamed. She pulled Rainbow back and squished her face. "Look, this is very important! If you don't do something, you'll lose Soarin!!!" She whispered loudly. She pushed Rainbow into sight and quickly hid.

"Hey, Pink-grrrrr....." Rainbow took a deep breath and strutted to Soarin. "Ey, Soarin!" She greeted, putting her arm around him. "Funny seeing you here!"

"Wha-Dash-huh!?" Soarin stammered. "Of course you'd see me here, this is the way to my house!" He shouted.

"Anyway, let's walk home!" She grabbed Soarin's hand and quickly walked to his house, forcing him to walk with her. "Let's goooo!"

"Hey, hold up!" Soarin yelled, trying to stop.

"What do you think you're doing!?" The girl who was previously with him said. She hurried along with Rainbow Dash. "I was walking with Soarin first! I should walk with him!" She demanded.

"Well I was friends with Soarin before you were!" Rainbow boasted. "So I should walk with him!" She walked even faster. But the other girl ran after her. The two started to argue more and more about who should walk with Soarin, while Soarin is behind them, being dragged to his house.

"I had a crush on him since grade 5!" The girl yelled. "So I am clearly worthy of walking with him!"

"I've liked him since grade 3! So, ha!" Rainbow yelled even louder.

"Hold on-" Soarin shouted, falling on the ground. The two girls stopped squabbling and turned around. "We're already here! My house is right over there!" He said, pointing at the house next to them. He got up and shook the dust off of his clothes. "See ya tomorrow." He waved his hand without looking back and entered his house.

The two glared at each other. "This is all your fault!" The other girl said. "If you hadn't come, Soarin wouldn't be mad!"

"My fault!?!" Rainbow yelled. "It was you who dragged Soarin around!" She stepped closer to the girl. "What do you want from him anyway?"

The other girl didn't answer her question and snickered. "Just stay away from him." She whispered.

Rainbow closed her eyes angrily. "What the hell, man!?!!" Rainbow yelled. The other girl jumped.

"You seriously think I'm gonna do that!? He's my friend! And I'm not gonna let a girl like you date him!" She shouted, sweat coming down from her face. She stopped yelling and took a deep breath. Afterwards, there was just plain silence.

The other girl snickered and turned around. "This isn't over yet." She whispered in a deep voice. She ran away, leaving Rainbow Dash behind.

"Man, I was awesome!" She quietly said to herself. But she knew someone was spying on her. "Pinkie, I know you're there." She bluntly said.

Pinkie came out of hiding and hugged Rainbow from behind. "Heehee. I heard ya." She giggled.

Rainbow blushed for a split second and cleared her throat. "What did you hear?" She asked, signalling Pinkie to let go of her. "Everything?"

Pinkie smiled and nodded. "Yup!" She cheerfully said. "I heard the argue, the yelling, most especially how you yelled that you 'liked Soarin since grade 3' yada yada yada...." She giggled again and jumped in front of Rainbow.

Rainbow's face was painted red. "W-was this a set-up!?!" She shouted and grabbed Pinkie's arms. "Did you plan all this just to make me say that!?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! I was planning to do that in another day. This was unintentional." Pinkie explained, putting Rainbow's hands down. "But you didn't say it. You admitted it." She winked and walked away.

Rainbow Dash wanted to say something. Shout after her, or maybe even chase her. But she didn't. If Pinkie eavesdrops, it'd be hard to prove her wrong. She grunted and stomped her foot and decided to walk home.





The next day was a Saturday, so there was no school. Rainbow couldn't forget about what happened yesterday, although she was desperate to forget it ever happened. She decided that maybe if she went out, she'd relax and focus on something else. She got up from her bed and put on some thick clothes, and went to Sunset Strip Mall.

"Man, the mystery burger tasted so good!" Rainbow said to herself after she left Hay Burger. "Even though the cashier said that it had mystery ingredients...." She stretched and looked around. There wasn't much to do, and this mall mostly had food stores. She shrugged and decided to go watch a movie at another mall, but then she stopped. She saw a familiar face and waved her hand. "Ey, Soarin!"

Soarin noticed Rainbow Dash and waved back. He ran towards her and said, "Sup." He nervously stopped. After seeing Rainbow, he suddenly remembered about a couple of certain events that recently happened. "Um....whatcha doin' here?" He quickly asked.

"Nothing really, just clearing my mind and stuff." Rainbow laughed. "If you know what I mean."

"Oh." Soarin realized what she meant. "Ooooooohh." He scratched the back of his head. "Gotcha. I'm here for the same reason too actually." He laughed. After that, both of them laughed.

"Well then, I'm gonna go see a movie." Rainbow changed the subject as quickly as she could. "Wanna come?" She blurted out.

Soarin blushed. "U-um....sure." He answered. The two of them walked to the nearest mall, Blue Sunset Mall. It was very crowded because it was the weekend, but they were able to wait in line.

"Er, can I ask you a question?" He nervously said.

Rainbow nodded. "Sure, go on ahead."

Soarin froze. He hoped that she would say no. "Well...." He trailed off. "......was.....was everything you said yesterday true?" He finally asked.

Rainbow Dash blushed. "W-were you spying on us after you went home!?" She almost yelled.

"N-no, not that! I don't even know you stayed!" He hastily explained. "I meant when you were, um, dragging me." He quietly said. He wished that nobody heard him, even Rainbow Dash. But unfortunately, she did.

Rainbow blushed even more as she realized what he was talking about. "Th-that? W-well, not exactly." She said. "I mean, what I meant back there was that I wanted to become f-friends with you...........s-so don't get the wrong idea! It's not like I like you or anything! I-idiot....."

Soarin raised his eyebrow and then shrugged it off. "Well, come on, we're next." He nudged Rainbow as the previous customer left. They both walked up to the counter. Since Rainbow didn't look like she as able to speak, Soarin said, "2 tickets for..."

"3 tickets for Hinny Of The Hills, please!" The girl from the day before said once she jumped right next to Soarin and grabbed his arm.

"Make that 4!" A high-pitched voice came from behind them. When the other three looked behind, there was only a short man with a hat and a trench coat. But then, the sort man threw the hat and trench coat off and revealed themself as a pink-haired highschool girl. "I'm gonna make sure nothing...........not meant to be happens!" She said.

"Pinkie, were you spying on us the whole time?" Rainbow asked, annoyed.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no! I was spying on this girl here!" She yelled quietly, pointing at the other girl.

"My name is Lightning Dust." The girl said. "I'm not just any girl."

"Yeah, whatever." Rainbow rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Lightning glared at her.

The cashier sighed. "Are you all gonna group up and buy tickets or not?" He asked impatiently. "Because you four have a heck of a line back there." He said, pointing at the angry line behind them.

"Oh, yep! All of us are going to go see Hinny Of The Hills!" Pinkie said, placing money on the counter. The cashier took the money and replaced it with 4 tickets. The four took their tickets and went to inside.

Once they got inside, Pinkie somehow already picked a seat in the middle and waved to everyone, signalling them to come and sit with her. They rushed next to her and Pinkie was sitting next to Soarin, Soarin was sitting next to Lightning Dust, and Lightning was sitting next to Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie noticed where Rainbow was sitting and got up. "Hey, Rainbow! Can you trade places with me?" She whispered loudly to Rainbow.

"What for??" Rainbow whispered back.

Pinkie walked over to her and whispered, "I just have to clear something up with Lightning."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Is this about me and Soarin?" She asked.

"Just do it!" Pinkie pulled Rainbow out of her chair and sat in place, forcing Rainbow to go sit next to Soarin. Pinkie then grabbed Lightning's face and looked her in the eyes. "Listen here, Dust! I've been through months of pairing Rainbow and Soarin and you're here to wreck all my work!! So, if you want Soarin, at least try to get past me!" She yelled. A couple of people around them gave them a simple "Shhhh!" and Pinkie grinned to apologize

"Look, it's not my fault Rainbow and I like the same person!" Lightning angrily whispered, putting Pinkie's hands down. "Besides, it's not like she has a chance! She doesn't even want to let Soarin know she likes him!"

Pinkie's eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe so, but me, her bestie, is there to help her!" She reminded Lightning. She finally put back her happy face and fixated her eyes on the screen.........and made sure she'd know if anything funny happened.

A few days later, things went back to normal. Or at least, back to their daily lives. But, a new person has been added to the group. And it didn't seem that Lightning Dust was going to give up on Soarin very easily.





After the movie, the four went outside the mall together. "That was so awesome!" Rainbow said, squishing her cheeks.

"Heh, more awesome than you." Lightning angrily said. Pinkie clapped her hand on Lightning's mouth.

"We'll be going home." She grinned. "Boom-bye!" Pinkie pulled Lightning along with her and left the other two alone.

"H-hey, let go!" Rainbow and Soarin could hear Lightning's last words before they left. They watched as Pinkie quickly pulled Lightning away, and Rainbow knew exactly why.

"Well, okayyyy...." Soarin said. "So, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" He nervously asked Rainbow. "I'm kinda hungry."

Rainbow blushed and looked away. But she decided to act cool and smiled. "Yeah, sure!" She turned her head to look at Soarin. The two paused as they looked at each other, and everything suddenly fell silent. Soarin walked closer to Rainbow, without saying a word.

Rainbow's pupils suddenly shrunk. "A-ah! W-well, we better get going then!" She stammered and broke the silence.

Soarin snapped out of it and slapped his hand onto is head. "Oh, right!"

As they were about to walk, a small white object landed on Rainbow's head. She tried to grab it, and saw a small piece of snow. They both looked up and noticed even more gently fall down. They looked at each other and laughed. They went inside to eat some snacks and by the time they got out, the whole place was already covered in snow.

To Be Continued...
> Secret Santa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash yawned as she walked through the snowy streets. It has already started to snow heavily. She watched as every single snowflake slowly fell. Rainbow looked around, and everything was covered in white sheets of snow. She sighed and ran to school.

"IT'S ALMOST TIME!!" Pinkie shouted as Rainbow closed her shoe locker, causing everybody to look at her. Slowly, everybody continued to their own business. Pinkie cleared her throat and calmed herself. "Christmas is almost here!!" She shouted a little quieter than last time.

"Yep." Rainbow said, picking up her bag. "You only now noticed?" She asked as she walked to class. Pinkie followed after her.

"No, I'm just trying to remind you." Pinkie paused and giggled. "About Soarin."

Rainbow stopped walking and then continued. "What do you mean?" She asked. "If it's about love again, I don't need to hear it." Rainbow said as she opened the classroom door and went inside.

Pinkie closed the door and grinned. "You never get it, Dashie!" Pinkie sighed. "Anyways, that's not exactly what I was going to say." She said as Rainbow sat on her desk. Pinkie stood in front of Rainbow's desk and smiled. "You know what they say, 'Christmas, the time you spend with your lover'! You know, that stuff." Pinkie winked and quickly went to her seat before Rainbow could speak. Rainbow grunted as the bell rang and tried to forget what she said.

At lunchtime, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Lightning Dust all sat together at one table in the cafeteria.

"Hey. Dash." Lightning said. "Where's your pink-haired friend?" She asked, looking at the empty spot next to Rainbow.

Rainbow shrugged. "I don't know." She said. "When class finished, she already left the classroom. There was no sign of her, and I was hungry, so I came here without her." She gulped down a piece of her toast. "Why're you asking?"

"Nothing, really." Lightning said. "Just that she always keeps an eye on me when I'm around Soarin. Now I'm at my free will!" She laughed and scooted nearer to Soarin. Lightning grabbed his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. Soarin groaned quietly.

Just then, Pinkie came out of nowhere and slammed on the table. "Listen up, people!" She yelled.

"Well, there goes my freedom." Lightning pouted and scooted away from Soarin.

"Since next Monday is Christmas, I'm planning on a game!" She announced, jumping up and down. She looked at er friends' faces, but they were just confused and didn't know what she was talking about. Pinkie cleared her throat and put a straight, boring face. "I mean Kris Kringel. Or..." She widened her eyes and put her finger on her mouth. "Secret Santa."

The other three looked at each other. "What's that game?" Soarin asked. "Never heard of it."

Pinkie gasped and jumped in front of Soarin. "You've never heard of Secret Santa!?!" She shouted. She jumped everywhere in all sorts of places and calmed down after she sat next to Rainbow Dash.

"Secret Santa is a game where each person in the group buys a gift for someone else in the group." She grabbed a blackboard out of nowhere and pointed at different parts. "You guys will know more tomorrow. See ya!" She beamed and rushed away. Nobody know where she went, but she was back for class later anyway.





The next day was a Friday, and the whole class was told they had an announcement. The Class President, Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant, Starlight Glimmer, went to the front of the class again. "We know this is sudden and we've never done this before," Twilight said. "But starting this year we're having a small game for Christmas!" She announced happily.

The whole class buzzed and everyone murmured to each other. The teacher, sitting on a chair nearby, gave a small "Shhhh!" to the class. "A student who remained anonymous suggested to the Student Council that we should play a game called Secret Santa."

Rainbow smirked and turned to look at Pinkie, who wore a wide grin. "This here is a box of every student's name in the school." Twilight explained as Starlight shook a small violet box in her hands, and lifted it so everyone could see. "You will all pick one and buy a gift for whoever is on the piece of paper. The dead line is next Friday!"

A boy raised his hand. "But what happens if we get ourselves?" He asked.

"Well, then you'll have to pick another one!" Starlight said. The boy who raised his hand groaned.

Then, Twilight held a long list of all the students' names. She read them out one by one, and each student took a name from the box. After the whole class got their papers, Twilight and Starlight nodded at each other. "Okay, I guess that's it then!" Twilight cheerfully announced.

"Um, Twi, there's actually another girl who's absent." Rainbow raised her hand and pointed at a chair across the room. It was clear that nobody was sitting there today.

The teacher cleared her throat. "As long as she's not here, she's as good as gone to me!" She said. She signaled Twilight and Starlight to sit down, and when they did, the teacher went back to teaching the class.

At lunch break, Rainbow sat next to Pinkie. "So, who'd you get?" She asked.

"Not telling!" Pinkie giggled. She then put her finger on her mouth. "It's a secret!" She hushed. Rainbow saluted. The two kept on talking about the event until lunchtime was over.





"Sooooariiiin!" Lightning Dust yelled and waved her hand as she ran to Soarin. "Hehe, funny to see you here!" She giggled and grabbed Soarin's arm.

Soarin rolled his eyes. "You always see me here." He said bluntly. "What difference does it make now?" He asked, trying to make Lightning let go of his arm. Finding out he couldn't, he continued walking out of the school's exit.

Lightning giggled. "You're so funny, Soarin~!" She laughed even louder, trying to make sure Rainbow could hear if she was nearby. Soarin rubbed the back of is head and moaned.

"So, who did you get for Secret Santa?" She asked as they got out of school grounds.

Soarin blushed and looked away. "I'm not telling. Especially not you."

Lightning Dust glared at Soarin, thinking of who he's thinking about, and then smiled. "Awwww, if it's me, you don't have to be shy about it!" She giggled and bopped Soarin on the nose.

Soarin's blush faded away as he cringed. "No, I'm not shy about it!" He shouted. "Besides, if you are my Secret Santa, I wouldn't blush about it." He blurted out. Lightning Dust paused for a minute and then took what he said another way.

"Oooooh, I get it!" She giggled. "You're being a brave guy! You're so cool, Soarin!" She hugged his arm tighter. Soarin wished that time would speed up so he could go home.





Rainbow yawned as she sat on her chair and looked around her bedroom. There was nothing to do, and she felt a lot bored than before. She could think about things to do before, but for some reason, they wouldn't sound fun when she thought about it now. Rainbow then took out a notebook from her bag and started to do her homework.

After a while, her phone rang. Rainbow picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

"Ey, Dashie! It's me, your ol' pal Pinkie Pie!" The person on the phone said. "Wanna go shopping with me for the Secret Santa thingy?" She asked. "I know there's plenty of time for it, but at least window shopping! C'mon, there are lots of sales today!"

Rainbow sighed. "Alright. I guess it's better than doing my homework." She stretched her arms and closed her notebook. "See ya later."

After Rainbow put on some outdoor clothes and met up with Pinkie, they both went window shopping at the mall. There were lots of things to shop for and it was almost impossible to find the perfect gift.

When they were tired, they sat at the food court. "Phew, I can't believe that there was barely anything to buy, and we've already seen half of the mall!" Rainbow complained and drank her soda.

Pinkie shrugged and drank her strawberry smoothie. "I don't know. I saw cool gifts too but none of them fit." Rainbow nodded.

After they explored a little more the sky got darker and darker. They said their goodbyes as Pinkie went home. Rainbow sighed and went back into the mall.

"Well, I guess I can find something if I explore again." She said, looking at the shops around her. Just then, she remembered she brought the name of the person she needed a gift for and took it out. She read it again and looked up. "Who is this, anyway?"

Rainbow wondered about it and shrugged it off, deciding to look for him at school.





The next time Rainbow went to school, she told her friends that she had something to do and left. She searched around the school, holding the piece of paper for the Secret Santa event. She asked a bunch of people, and finally, somebody led her to the library. She opened the door and wandered around.

After a few minutes, Rainbow came around to a quiet corner. She hid behind a bookshelf and peeked. It was certainly a guy, reading the first Daring Do book. Next to him was a pile of logic books. "So, that's him? I have to buy a gift for him?" She muttered. Rainbow walked away and thought. "Since he was reading a Daring Do book, that must mean he's a Daring Do fan, right? Or maybe he's an egghead, since he had a large stack of books that I've never even read..." She shook her head and left the library. "Whatever, I'll think about it later."

For the next few days, Rainbow thought of what present to give him and finally bought one. At home, she wrapped the gift in a navy blue colored foil. She sighed and wiped her sweat off, thinking that her search of gifts if finally over.

On Thursday, she brought the gift with her to school and hid it in her bag. Rainbow ran to the library and looked for him.

"Huh? He's not here!" She thought to herself. She turned around and-

-BAM!

She hit him and fell on the floor. Luckily, nobody else heard it. "H-hey, watch where you're going!" He whispered and grunted.

Rainbow snickered. "You were the one who didn't, I just turned around and you were there!" She got up and whispered back. The two glared at each other until he noticed the gift Rainbow was holding.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing at the gift. Rainbow nearly jumped and raised the gift near his face.

"Oh, right. This is for you. Merry Christmas." She quickly muttered. She totally forgot about it. "Q-Quibble Pants, right? I'm Rainbow Dash, your Secret Santa."

Quibble paused and looked at the gift. Surely, it wasn't a prank, so he grabbed it. He shook it near his ears, it barely made any noise. He ripped it open and froze.

There it was-the first edition of Daring Do And The Quest For The Sapphire Stone. It looked a bit old, but to ultimate Daring Do fans, it was one of a kind.

Quibble brushed the wrapping off and blinked. It was real. He opened it and flipped through the pages. "Th-thanks..." He blurted out.

Rainbow snickered. "Oh, so you forgive me for bumping into you earlier?" She raised her eyebrow and smirked.

Quibble closed the book shut and blushed. "N-no! I still don't!" He yelled. People around them gave a loud "Shhhh!". Quibble gave them a thumbs-up to tell them that he won't do it again.

"Whatever, see ya!" Rainbow put on her casual grinned and walked away. Quibble stared at the direction she left. Rainbow stopped a few inches away and whispered, "Oh yeah, and take good care of it. You have no idea how much trouble I had to go through to get that book." Quibble nodded as Rainbow continued to leave.

Meanwhile, near the school fountain, Pinkie Pie told Lightning Dust to meet her there. Pinkie waited a while until Lightning came.

"Alright, Pie, what is it?" Lightning asked, annoyed. "Make it quick, cuz I'm missing precious Soarin time." She stepped closer to Pinkie. Pinkie giggled.

"Merry Christmas, Lightie!" Pinkie shouted as confetti came out of nowhere. She lifted up a small box wrapped up with a light turquoise wrapper and a golden amber ribbon, similar to Lightning's hair color.

Lightning's mouth fell wide open as she raised her eyebrow. "You?" She said, crossing her arms. "You're my Secret Santa?" She asked, a little bit shocked.

"Yes indeedy!" Pinkie said with a wide grin. Dust took the gift and shook it, making sure it didn't have anything......funny in it. But then again, Pinkie is known to be a party animal so she must've gotten a really good gift. Lightning tore the wrapper off and examined the box. It was a long shoe box. But, it was too long to be shoes, so it was probably small boots.

Lightning took the lid off and grinned. It was black boots with electric yellow shoelaces. It looked perfect for sports.

"It's made for running real fast!" Pinkie happily jumped up and down and suddenly stopped. "Although......" Pinkie muttered quietly.

"If it was a race of you and Rainbow Dash, Rainbow would win, especially if the winning prize was Soarin." She silently said in a creepy voice under her breath, so Lightning couldn't hear.

"Anyways, did you like it!?" She asked loudly in case Lightning did hear what she said.

"Yeah, thanks, you little pink-haired energy ball!" Lightning laughed and tried it on. It felt very comfortable, and at the same time, it made Dust feel as if she could run faster than before. She ran around happily as Pinkie beamed.





The next day, which was the dead line for Secret Santa, Rainbow went to school excitedly. She wasn't excited for studying, though, she was only hyped for getting her gift. She hasn't gotten a gift all week, so surely she'll get it today. She quickly ran inside and put on her indoor shoes, and ran to the back of the school near where the the cherry blossom trees are.

She looked up and smiled. The snow slowly came down and filled the area. She then turned around and noticed somebody was there. "Soarin?" Rainbow tilted her head. "What're you doing here?"

Soarin blushed and looked away. "M-Merry Christmas..." He said, stepping a little closer to Rainbow Dash. He lifted his hand, revealing a very small box. Rainbow grabbed it and examined the box. It was pure white and was not that light. She opened it and gasped.

Inside was a small bracelet.

Soarin blushed and turned around. "H-hope you liked it." He hastily said. "See ya." Soarin quickly ran away as soon as he finished talking. Rainbow fell silent. She lifted the bracelet and looked at its design. It was just a simple accessory, but Rainbow decided to treasure it.

"W-why do I care so much about it?" She said to herself. "I-it's just a bracelet.....right?" She wore it and kept the box in her bag, and then ran to class.

"So, care to tell me now?" Pinkie giggled as she jumped behind Rainbow as soon as she sat on her chair.

Rainbow turned around. "Tell you what?" She asked.

Pinkie jumped in front of Rainbow's desk. "Who your Secret Santa was!" She threw her hands in the air as confetti came out of nowhere and giggled again.

Rainbow blushed and turned her head away. "It was Soarin." She muttered. But Pinkie could hear what she said.

"Heehee. See? Told ya you two were meant to be!" Pinkie winked. "My Secret Santa was Applejack! She gave me an apple pie!" She licked her mouth as her pupil widened. "And I ate it!"

Rainbow laughed. "'Course you ate it, you're Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie grinned. "So, what did Soarin give you?" She said as she wiggled her eyebrows and nudged Rainbow Dash. Rainbow blushed and looked down.

"Really think I'm gonna tell you?" Rainbow hushed.

Pinkie wondered about how she'd get Rainbow to tell her and suddenly looked at Rainbow's wrist. "Aha!" She shouted, making everyone in the room look at her. Pinkie grinned as everyone left them alone. "He gave you a bracelet! How sweet!" Pinkie said, squishing her cheeks.

Rainbow blushed and covered the bracelet with her hand. "You better not tell anybody about this." She glared at Pinkie. "Especially Dust, she'd freak out." Pinkie nodded and saluted.

Later on at break, Lightning told Soarin to meet her at the rooftop of the school.

As Soarin opened the door and looked around the rooftop, he noticed Lightning looking out the fence. He walked over to her and cleared his throat. "So, what did you want?"

Lightning turned around and giggled. "Merry Christmas!" She cheerfully said. "I'm your Secret Santa!" She hugged Soarin and giggled. Soarin moaned.

"You've gotta be kidding." He said under his breath, making Lightning let go of him. "So, what did you get me?" He asked.

Lightning beamed and showed him a small picture frame. Soarin excitedly took it and looked at the picture, but then his smile faded as he looked at the picture. "Oh, thanks." He said. "It's a picture! O you." He said with a straight face, showing the picture to Lightning.

But Lightning just giggled. "Yup!" She said. "Put it next to your bed, so you remember me every time you go to sleep and wake up!" She giggled and ran downstairs.

Soarin walked after her. "I'm just gonna put it somewhere I won't notice everyday." He muttered to himself.





The next Monday, on Christmas, the school had a two week break. Pinkie hosted a Christmas party at her house, and she invited all her friends.

Rainbow arrived right on time and knocked on the door. She waited and looked around, she forgot that Pinkie lived in a rock farm near the countryside. Then, Pinkie opened the door. "Heeeey, Dashie! Merry Christmas! Come on in!" She happily greeted and stepped aside to let Rainbow in.

Rainbow looked around. The whole place was decorated with Christmas decorations, and had lots of tables with food on them. She walked towards a table and looked at the variety of food. She picked up a small bowl of cookies with small bits of something grey on it.

"Those are rock cookies." A familiar voice came from behind.

Rainbow turned around. "Oh, hey, Maud." She said. "Rock cookies?" She asked, taking a closer look. She realized that the grey bits look like rocks.

"Those bits are bits of rocks." Maud explained as she grabbed a cookie. "I taught Pinkie the recipe when we were 10." She crunched the cookie and looked at Rainbow. "Are you gonna take one?" She asked.

Rainbow gulped and took one. "Um......is it.....real rocks?" She asked, sniffing the cookie.

"Yes." She said, eating another cookie. "It's an edible type of rock."

Rainbow sighed and finally took a bite. It was thankfully easy to chew, and it tasted like a normal cookie without any flavor. Until she tasted something different. "Er......it was great!" She said, quickly gulping down the cookie and drinking some water. Maud blinked and walked away.

After a while, wen everyone finally came, Pinkie called everyone to the fireplace. "Alrighty, everyone!" She said loud enough so everyone could hear. "It's that time of year again! Merry Christmas!" She grabbed a glass of punch and raised it. "Cheers!" She joyfully drank it, and so did everyone else.

Afterwards, Pinkie nodded at Maud, who came next to her. "Maud's gonna sing us one of her Christmas songs, like last year!" She yelled, catching everyone's attention.

"Yeah, Maud sang great last year!" Applebloom, Appljack's sister, smiled.

"This song is about rocks." Maud said after she cleared her throat. "They're all about rocks."

Everyone listened carefully to Maud's song and applauded afterwards. And for the whole evening, everybody did lots of activities and fun games.

"Alright, now for the last game of today!" Pinkie announced. "Everyone make a circle!" Everyone did so and formed a circle in the middle of the room. "I know I asked you all to bring gifts, so take them out!"

Rainbow Dash and everyone else took out their gifts. "Now, This stereo's gonna play a sort story! Every time the narrator says left, pass the gift to the left! Every time the narrator says right, pass the gift to the right!" Pinkie said, lifting a stereo. "So listen carefully!"

The story began, and everyone made sure to listen and passed the gift along. After the story was finished, Rainbow opened her gift and saw a one of a kind soccer ball. She's always wanted a special soccer ball, but they were all too expensive. She happily took it and looked around the room, trying to find whoever got her gift. She then noticed someone holding the leather jacket she bought.

Looking closer, it was Soarin.

Rainbow Dash was startled and looked away.

After the party, Rainbow said her goodbyes to the Pie family. She left the farm along with Soarin. "S-so, you got a leather jacket?" Rainbow asked nervously.

"Yup." Soarin said, putting his hands in the pockets of the leather jacket. "Dunno who brought it, but I love the jacket!" He cheerfully said.

Rainbow blushed and sighed. "U-um, it was me."

"Huh?" Soarin said.

"It was me who brought the leather jacket." Rainbow said. "I guess you were the one who got it." She quickly looked away. "According to Pinkie, it was 'fate'." Rainbow laughed. Soarin laughed along.

"So, what did you get?" Soarin asked.

Rainbow opened her bag and took out her soccer ball. "This!"

Soarin flinched. "Oh, uh, that's mine." He said, putting one of his hands on the soccer ball. "My dad bought it for me a long time ago. A friend of mine that lives far away gave me the same thing as a Christmas present, so I decided to give the other one away." He explained. "I guess it went to you."

Rainbow blushed as she put the ball back into her bag. She then dpdged the awkwardness and laughed. "'Fate', huh?" She said, laughing even more. Soarin then laughed along again.

To be continued...
> A Happy New Year
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes as the light from the window got brighter. She rubbed her eyes and turned around, repeating "5 more minutes...." over and over again. Rainbow opened one of her eyes and looked through the window. Of course, it was still snowing, so the sun wasn't there to wake Rainbow up instantly. She finally got up and stretched, looking around her room.

It was nearly the New Year, and Rainbow could sense that it would be a heck of a year, since she's got two new friends. She usually only hung out with Pinkie Pie and her friends from the girl's soccer team, and all the other jocks. Suddenly, Rainbow's phone rang. Her vision was still not clear, but she managed to pick up her phone and answer.

".......'ello?" She said with a yawn.

"Hey, Rainbow, were are you!?" Pinkie shouted from the other end of the phone call. "You're late for school!"

Rainbow's tiredness wore off as she sprang up. She looked at the clock, and it was already 9:00 AM. The teacher would've skinned her alive by now. She hurriedly got ready and ran to school.

As soon as she got to the front gate, she leaned down and caught her breath. Rainbow wiped off her sweat and looked up. "Pinkie....I'm-I'm here! Is our teacher mad? Did she say anything!?!" She asked, shaking Pinkie.

Pinkie then giggled and put Rainbow's arms down. "Silly, Rainbow!" She laughed even louder. Rainbow looked at her, confused. "Did you already forget? We're still in winter vacation!" She laughed continuously, causing Rainbow to become more confused.

"Wait, what!?" Rainbow said, hastily taking out her phone to check what day it was. Winter vacation started on December 25, on Monday. It ends somewhere in January. Today was still December. Rainbow put her phone back in her pocket and looked up at Pinkie, who was still bursting with laughter. "So.....why did you call me and tell me I was late?"

Pinkie stopped laughing and cleared her throat. "Well, I thought you'd know!" She explained. "I wanted to test and see if you forgot already, and then you hung up before I could tell you, so I waited here to tell ya."

Rainbow groaned and went back home with Pinkie to change out of her school uniform and into her normal clothes.





As soon as Rainbow Dash finished changing her clothes, she came out of her room. Pinkie, who was waiting, was grinning widely. "So, where're we going?" Rainbow asked. "You told me on the way here we were going somewhere.

Pinkie giggled. "Well, I thought we could go shopping for some kimonos!" She said. She peeked into Rainbow's room. It was very messy since she just trashed the room, looking for some clothes. There was obviously one kimono, but it didn't look like it would fit Rainbow anymore.

Rainbow tilted her head. "What do we need kimonos for?" She asked. "What's the occasion?"

Pinkie laughed and snorted. "Rainbow, didn't you forget?" She said, trying to stop her laughter. "It's almost New Years, and we're going to go to the shrine with Soarin! And possibly Lightning Dust."

Rainbow sighed and turned around, scanning her room. It's true, the kimono she'd usually wear is too small for her now. "Well, I guess....but shouldn't we just wear normal clothes there?"

"Rainbow, this is a once a year occasion! It's better to do it in a kimono!" Pinkie said. Suddenly, she stepped closer to Rainbow and whispered in her ear. "Plus, I'm sure Soarin would love to see you in a kimono."

Rainbow blushed and pushed Pinkie away. "Fine, let's go." She said, walking down the hallway. Pinkie jumped in happiness and followed her.

As soon as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie arrived at the mall, they rested a bit at the canteen and started looking for kimonos to wear. Since New Year is just days away, there were lots of shops selling kimonos and having kimono sales.

"So um..." Rainbow said, looking at all the shops with kimonos on sale. "Where are we gonna buy a kimono?"

Pinkie jumped from one window of a shop to another, examining all the clothes on display. "I dunno, they all look so cute!" She squished her cheeks and followed up with Dash. "You pick."

Rainbow thought about where to go, but she had no talent in fashion, so she had no idea which shop to go to. But she gave up and entered a random shop. "C'mon, Pinkie. There's so many sales, that I think we should just go to a random shop."

As soon as they got out, Pinkie fell silent. Rainbow looked at her, concerned. "What?" She asked. "Pinkie sense again?"

Pinkie's expression stayed the same. "Yup. See ya!" She smiled for a second and ran away so fast Rainbow didn't see where she went. Rainbow shrugged it off and went home.





Pinkie groaned as she paced to and through the shopping district. Her Pinkie Sense was telling her that she was really close to where she needs to go, but she couldn't find where it was leading her. She has visited all the shops, and none of them were suspicious and nothing was out of place.

"C'mon, you can't hide for long!" Pinkie grunted. She peeked into one of the diners. It looked fairly normal. She turned around and noticed; there was a shop that she haven't visited yet. She cheerfully ran to that shop as quickly as she could.

As Pinkie was about to enter the shop, she read the sign aloud. "Jade's Jewels?" She said, tilting her head. "Never heard of that shop before. It's probably new. Come to think of it, that old antique shop used to be here, and it was closing down. I guess it's because of this!"

Pinkie nodded to herself and entered. The chime distracted Pinkie, making her hum to the tune. She then snapped out of it and looked around. There were lots of accessories and jewels of all kinds. She slowly wandered around, hoping she'd find what her Pinkie Sense was telling her.

Suddenly, her Pinkie Sense went wild inside of her. Pinkie turned around the corner and saw someone. It looked like a high schooler her age. He was holding a small necklace that had rainbow colors. Pinkie was certain that this guy was buying a gift for Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie panicked. What if he steals Rainbow away from Soarin? Pinkie couldn't allow that to happen. But if she did, his happiness would go away. Pinkie could't allow that either. She had to come up with a very good plan that wouldn't hurt anybody.

And there were only few possible ways to do that.





Rainbow blew through her mouth as she opened the front door. It was very cold and snowy, so she wanted to move fast. Rainbow quickly walked towards the mailbox and took the mail. She noticed that one of them was not a bill or a postcard from Granny. She ran inside as she thought about it.

"Mom, mail's here!" Rainbow shouted across the house. She took her shoes off and ran to the living room. "Mom!?"

Rainbow's mom finally came out from the kitchen holding a basket filled with laundry. "Sorry, I was busy doing the laundry." She explained, setting the basket aside. "Mail's here?" She asked, picking up the mail on the table. She quietly muttered something as she examined all the letters and envelopes until she noticed one that didn't belong to her.

She lightly smiled and put the envelope on the table in front of Rainbow. "Looks like this one's yours." She grinned and went back into the kitchen.

Rainbow picked up the letter. It's true, it was addressed to her. She ripped it open as confetti came out and read:

Hey, Dashie!!!

Time moves so quick, doesn't it? Well, It's almost New Years! Can you believe it?
I've decided for all of us to meet up at the shrine. You know, the one we visited
last year? That one! Don't forget to wear a kimono! See you there!

Love,
Pinkie Pie

P.S. If you're wondering which "us" I'm talking about, I invited Soarin and
Lightning Dust too. You better wear that cute kimono you bought to win him
over! Teehee!

Rainbow paused and smiled sheepishly as she read the last words and walked up the stairs. But little did she know that there was a small surprise waiting for her in her bedroom.

"Heya, Dashie!" Pinkie turned the chair around as Rainbow came in her room. "Welcome home!"

Rainbow jumped back. "P-Pinkie!? When did you get in here!?" She suddenly glared at Pinkie. "Did mom let you in?"

Pinkie giggled. She got up and pulled Rainbow in as she closed the door. "Silly Rainbow, do you not know what it is to have a best friend climb the wall and enter your bedroom through the window to poke around? Come on!" She giggled again.

Rainbow facepalmed and put the letter on her desk. "Is that how I got this?" She asked, pointing at the letter. "Whatever, anyways, what did you come here for?"

"I came to remind you about the letter in case you didn't read it yet!" Pinkie answered and jumped onto Rainbow's bed. "That's all!"

Dash rolled her eyes and sat next to Pinkie. "I did. Anything else?" She asked.

"Yeah, kind of." Pinkie's tone suddenly came a bit more serious. "I know you really don't want to tell me. But today, I really need a straight answer."

Rainbow raised her eyebrow at Pinkie. "Shoot." She said.

"Do you really, really like Soarin?" Pinkie asked as she sat up.

Rainbow paused. There was definitely no way out of this and Pinkie sounded very serious about getting the answer this time. She sighed and got up. "Yes." She muttered. Rainbow's face blushed intensely as she answered and looked away. "Anyway, is that all?" She hastily asked to avoid anything else.

Pinkie nodded and jumped off the bed. "Yup!" She grinned and opened the window. "Now it's time for me to make my grand exit!" She giggled one last time and climbed down. Rainbow watched as she did so, and noticed the rope hanging down from the window.





A few days later came New Years. Rainbow still couldn't forget what happened a few days ago. She tried shrugging it off, but it didn't work. She quickly changed into her kimono and walked out the house, hoping she'd forget by the time she arrived at the shrine.

As soon as she did, she still couldn't erase it from her mind. Until a certain someone hugged her from behind. "Dashie, you finally came!" Pinkie giggled and snorted.

Rainbow made Pinkie let go and continued walking inside. "Why, was I late?" She asked worriedly.

Pinkie shook her head and waved her hand at Soarin, whose arm is being hugged by Lightning. "Hey, you two! Get over here!" She shouted. The two walked towards Pinkie and Rainbow.

"Oh, so I was late?" Rainbow smirked at Pinkie. Pinkie laughed.

"No, you all came at the same time actually!" She replied. "Anyways, come on! Let's go!" She said, pulling Lightning Dust in with her.

"H-hey, let go!" Lightning demanded. Rainbow and Soarin were left alone.

"So, um.....happy New Year." Soarin greeted and rubbed the back of his head. "Y-you look......great in a kimono." He blurted out.

Rainbow blushed and looked away. "I-idiot!" She yelled. She crossed her arms and blushed even more.

Soarin snickered. "What, don't like compliments?" He teased as he stepped a little closer to her, making Rainbow blush a little more. "Fine then. You look terrible."

Rainbow got even angrier. "H-hey!" She said, turning her head at Soarin. She blushed as she looked at him and looked away again. "Well, thanks anyway." She mumbled, although Soarin could understand what she said. The two entered the shrine without a word.

After the four of them prayed, they all took their fortunes.

Pinkie jumped up and down. "Yay! Mine says middle blessing!" She continued giggling with happiness.

Rainbow and Soarin laughed. "My turn!" Rainbow said as she shook the box and took a stick. She put the stick back after she read the number and took a fortune that had the same number. "Mine says........great blessing! Aw yeah!" She sprang in joy.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. I bet I'd get something better!" She claimed, taking her fortune. She cleared her throat and read out loud. "Mine says.........small curse!? WHAT!?!" She roared with anger and surprise. "W-what the hell do I do!?" She said, hastily looking around.

"My Granny said that if you get a bad fortune, you should tie it to a pole, tree, or between a door. And you're supposed to leave it at the site of the temple!" Pinkie explained, pointing at the many bad fortunes tied to a pole.

Lightning quickly ran to the pole and tied it there. "That should do it." She sighed and wiped her sweat off. Afterwards, she ran back to her friends and hugged Soarin's arm.

Soarin groaned as he took his fortune. "Hey, Lightning, could you let go?" He asked. "I can't do this properly if you're hugging me."

Lightning giggled as she let go of Soarin. Soarin then took a deep breath and read his fortune.

"Haha!" He laughed quietly. "I got great blessing too! High-five, Dash!" He raised his hand. Rainbow did a high-five with him as both of them laughed.

Lightning huffed, jealous of Rainbow being able to have fun with Soarin. Pinkie then patted her on the head. "Don't worry, Lightie! You'll get a different guy soon!" Pinkie grinned.

Lightning moaned a little. "WHY WOULD I EVER WANT THAT!?!" she shouted, although nobody other than Pinkie and a few people near them heard her.

"Hey, look over there! Love fortunes!" Pinkie yelled, pointing at some people taking love fortunes at the other side of the site. "Let's go get some!" She giggled and ran ahead. The other three tagged along.

Before Pinkie could take hers, Lightning sped up. "Me first!" She said, grabbing a fortune. She read it to herself first before she read it out loud. "It says future blessing! Yes! Beat that!" She happily cheered.

Dash rolled her eyes and took her fortune. "Hey, wow. It says great blessing again!" She laughed harder and louder than last time. Pinkie giggled, somewhat knowing why that is.

"Stop keeping me waiting, my turn!" Soarin chuckled. He cleared his throat as both he and Pinkie read, "Great blessing." Soarin laughed as he hugged Rainbow. "Hey, we both got great blessing again!"

Rainbow blushed. "L-let go of me!" She yelled, pushing Soarin away. The two fell silent.

Pinkie giggled and started reading her fortune. "Anyways, mine just says blessing. At least it's not a curse!" She laughed. After the four explored a bit, they ate some food before leaving the shrine.

"So, what did ya wish for, Dashie?" Pinkie asked and chuckled.

Rainbow paused and put her hands in her pockets. "Why would I even tell you?" She said. "Besides, are we even aloud to tell each other?" She asked.

Pinkie shrugged. "Some people do, some people don't." She sprang up and looked for something in her bag. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Lightning snickered. "And what're you looking for?"

Pinkie made a mysterious laugh. "I wanted to spice things up a little this year." She gave a small grin. "But, we'll have to wait until after the fireworks."

Soarin looked up at the sky. "Speaking of which, when are they sta-"

Before Soarin could finish his sentence, the fireworks started. They started bursting loudly and beautifully. It made everyone feel happy, no matter what fortune they got. Some fireworks were blue, yellow, orange, and many others. After the fireworks, the sky looked a lot more lighted up than before.

"So, what was it?" Rainbow asked, peeking behind Pinkie. But Pinkie stepped back.

"Ah-ah-ah!" She scolded. "I bought the legendary...........firecrackers!" She screamed, showing off the packets of firecrackers. There were four of them; one was emerald green, one was pink, one was light blue, and one was dark blue.

They all ran to the nearest park and started playing with them. It wasn't as fun having only four people, but it was definitely worthwhile. Until it was late night, the four rested while waiting for the firecrackers to stop.

"Man, I could go days without getting tired of this!" Rainbow laughed. The other three laughed along.

Soarin was the last to stop laughing. "It's pretty rare of anyone to do this, right?" He asked.

Pinkie giggled again. "Doesn't make it any less fun!" She beamed.

"You're such an optimist." Lightning said, playfully and lightly punching Pinkie. The four laughed and shared stories about the past year, before saying their goodbyes and heading home.





A few days later came school. Rainbow Dash wasn't very excited about it, but she was still pumped about the new things that could possibly happen. Acting cool, she got up and got ready for school.

However, it was just like any other school day.

So Rainbow decided she should fix that and do something fun after school. For no reason at all, at least, Rainbow thinks there's no reason, she decided to hang out with the person she spotted right in front of her in the hallway.

"Ey, Soaaaarin!" She cheerfully yelled, running towards him. "Wanna hang out today?"

Soarin raised his eyebrow and blushed. "W-what?"

Rainbow paused. "D-don't get the wrong idea! We're just going as f-friends! Cuz that's what we are........right?" She stammered. Dash tried to calm down and chill. "Anyways, I need your help with a little something."

Soarin tilted his head. "And what 'something' are you talking about?"

Rainbow made a mischievous laugh. "You'll see."

Suddenly, someone yelled after Rainbow from behind them. "H-hey, Rainbow Dash!"

"Eh?" Rainbow said, turning around. "Oh, it's you. Quibble, right?" She took a wild guess, trying to remember his name. "Sorry, it's been a while since I last saw you. Was I right?"

Quibble hesitated. "Oh, um, yeah you're right. The full name's Quibble Pants actually." He shook his head. "A-anyways, I need tell you something."

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. Soarin just cleared his throat and said, "Well, I guess I'll wait for you outside school." He said to Dash. Rainbow nodded as Soarin continued walking.

Rainbow turned to Quibble. "So, what did you wanna say?"

Quibble froze. "Oh, right." He blushed and looked away. "I just wanted to thank you again for the book." He turned to face her again. "Nobody's ever went out of their way to buy me that Daring Do book. I wanted to know how I could repay you."

Rainbow rubbed her chin. "Well, I dunno." She laughed. "Make it a surprise!" She turned around and continued walking a little. "Besides, a surprise gift from a friend is one of the best things someone could do." She laughed, thinking of the time Pinkie told her that.

Quibble paused for a minute and followed after her. "W-wait!" He yelled across the empty hallway. "I-I.......I think I like you!"

The five words caused Rainbow to stop. She didn't how to react. She then turned around. "Oh, uh........"

It was very quiet. There was thankfully nobody else in the hallway, so nobody else could hear or see what was happening. Deciding to break the silence, Rainbow cleared her throat. She didn't know what to say, but she didn't want this to last forever either. She didn't have the same feelings for Quibble, but she had to say something.

"S-sorry, Quibble, but...." She tried her hardest to continue the sentence. "I already like somebody else!" She blushed real hard as she turned around. She didn't want to see his reaction.

Quibble froze. He wasn't as devastated, but he had to answer. "Was it that guy from earlier?" He asked. "The one that was talking to you?"

Rainbow nodded. "His name's Soarin." She hushed.

"Well, you're not together yet, are you?" Quibble asked curiously.

Rainbow blushed a little more at the thought of it. "N-no, we're not."

Quibble made a small chuckle and cheered up. "Well, I guess since you're not together yet, I still have a chance, right?" He asked happily. Rainbow fell silent.

"At least let me be your friend for now, okay?" He said. "See ya!" He hurriedly ran off. Rainbow watched as he left and exited as well.

Meanwhile, somewhere at the corner of the hallway...

"Hehe, I heard everything." They said. They took off their hoodie, revealing her true identity as Lightning Dust. "Wow, I didn't see that coming. Actually, I did, since she's pretty popular.....even to girls......" She shook her head. "Anyways, this is perfect. Now I can finally ave Soarin to myself." She made a quiet, evil laugh as she ran away.

To be continued...
> The Football Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow tried her best not to remember what Quibble just told her after she found the exit to the school. She could deal with stalkers and fans with no problem, but he was the first to actually confess to her after they met. Her heart was racing, she was nervous about the future. What if talking and being around him became awkward after that? Rainbow just couldn't take that kind of weirdness.

As Rainbow finally stepped out of school grounds, there he was. Soarin. Waiting for him.

"Sooooo....." Soarin said, rubbing the back of his head. "What exactly do you need my help with?" He nervously asked, not knowing what she might make him do.

Rainbow tilted her head. "Wait, what?" She asked, forgetting what they were talking about before Quibble came. As soon as she remembered, she shook her head and laughed. "Oh, right! I was talking to Lightning Dust earlier today, and she challenged me to a football game. I accepted it cuz it'd be a piece of cake to have both of us one on one, but then I saw her practicing with some of the strongest guys and girls at school!" She ranted, picturing Lightning winning. She shook it off her head, since she hated losing.

"N-not that I'm not strong, but most of my jock friends are on her team. And the rest are busy today." She looked at Soarin with puppy dog eyes. "Will you join my team?" She asked, clasping her hands together and looking at Soarin straight in the eyes.

Soarin blushed and looked away. "I don't really want to-"

"GREAT!!!" Rainbow shouted, cutting Soarin's sentence. "C'mon, she's probably at the soccer field." She said, quickly grabbing Soarin's hand and rushing back inside school.

"Hey, Rainbow!" Soarin yelled and blushed, trying to make her let go of him. "Even if I did join you, you're gonna play from a large group to two!  Do you think you're gonna win this even if only I join you!?"

Rainbow remained silent and sighed. "Whatever, at least I'm not alone on the team, right?" She let go of Soarin's hand just as they arrived at the field. The two of them quickly ran towards the locker rooms. "Alright, I'm gonna dress up. You should too." She said, opening the girl's locker room door. As she turned around, she noticed that Soarin was still looking at her. "A-and no peeking!" Rainbow yelled as she blushed.

Snapping back to his senses, Soarin hastily entered the boy's locker room.

Right after they finished, they got out, only to find out that Lightning was there, waiting to greet them. "Well, well, well! Rainbow, I thought you'd do better than this. Yet here you are, the only member of your team!" She said, smirking at Rainbow, who was giving a nasty glare. Lightning's eyes shifted towards Soarin, making her grin. "Awwww, Soarin, you're such a sweetheart, coming all the way over here to cheer me on!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and then made a challenging grin. "Heh, actually, Soarin's in my team!" She boasted, placing her arm on Soarin's shoulder. "Congratulations. You played yourself." She smirked and hummed as she walked away.

Lightning's mouth was wide open, but she did her best in hiding it. She gave Rainbow a small glare before she left, and then smiled at Soarin. "Well, whatever! Wait 'till you see how much more awesome I am, Soarin!" She giggled and ran after Rainbow.

Soarin groaned and followed after the two of them. "Why do I have to live like this?" He mumbled to himself.

After a few minutes, the rest of Lightning's team finally came. Everyone took their places, and Rainbow stretched before glaring at Lightning. "There's no way I'll go down without a fight." She muttered under her breath.

Just then, somebody blew the whistle, which caught Rainbow's attention. She quickly kicked the ball before Lightning could, but after mere seconds, Lightning came and stole the ball away. Soarin was ran out of his place and tried to protect the goal, but it was no use.

Until Pinkie Pie came and caught the ball.

"Pinkie!?!" Everyone shouted, confused at why she's here, and unsuprised that she'd make such an entrance.

Rainbow was the first to speak up. "What the hell are you doing here and what, also in the hell, are you doing!?! We're in the middle of a game!!!" She yelled, stepping closer to her.

Pinkie set the ball on the ground and grinned. "Hehe. I had a hunch that both you and Lightie would be here, playing in a football match. And then Lightie got a whole gigantic team, which made you feel lonely, so you took Soarin, forced him to join, and here all of you are, ready to have a whole match! So I decided to come in and join in with the fun, since Rainbow didn't have any other teammates." Pinkie ranted, already kicking the ball towards Soarin.

"Hey, that's cheating! We weren't ready!" Lightning complained as she ran after Soarin.

Pinkie jumped up and down continuously as she smirked at Lightning. "Stop complaining and start playing!"





"We're tied up." Rainbow said as she gasped for breath. "One more point and we win, come on!" She tried to yell, but she couldn't. She was too tired. She turned to Pinkie Pie and Soarin, who were both drinking water.

After a few minutes, the three were back on their feet, ready to win. Soarin was especially focused, but he didn't know why. Perhaps he just really wanted to win.

As soon as Lightning started kicking the ball with Rainbow following her, Soarin came and kicked the ball away, making Rainbow stop. "Huh?" She asked herself. She never saw Soarin so hyped before.

Soarin ran as fast as he could and kicked the ball over to the enemy team's goal. Rainbow's team made a loud "Woohoo!" while Lightning angrily kicked the ground.

Rainbow noticed this and gave her a smirk. "Heh, what's the matter?" She asked, grabbing the soccer ball.

Lightning glared at Rainbow and looked away. "Whatever. You won, I lost. That's it, and I don't care anymore." She said, pretending that she wasn't upset. Although it was quite obvious.

"Of course you lost, I'm awesome." Rainbow muttered as she stepped closer to Rainbow. She then walked away towards Soarin and Pinkie.

"WE WON!!!!" Pinkie excitedly yelled as Rainbow came over. "Yeah! All thanks to Soarin! You better thank him, Rainbow." She patted the two of them on the back and giggled. She then made a quick escape before Rainbow could yell at her.

The two of them were blushing, and Rainbow's face was even redder due to anger at Pinkie. She tried to calm herself and turned to Soarin, but didn't look him in the eye. "Well, thanks. I owe you one." She mumbled very quickly.

Soarin raised his eyebrow and snickered. "What was that?" He asked, even though he heard her the first time.

Rainbow blushed and looked at him. "I said thanks, alright!?!" She shouted. She then relaxed herself and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I owe you one, so...........a-are you free tonight?" She nervously asked.

Soarin jumped a little, his face dyed with different shades of pink. They always hung out, but this time sounded like something different. "Uh..........well, I...........................'m free tonight, I guess. Why?" He said as quick as he could.

"Haha, well...." Rainbow laughed. "Let's go to the bowling alley. I heard that you're pretty good..............at bowling. You're not a chicken, are ya?" She teased as she raised her eyebrow at Soarin.

"Huh? Are you kidding me?" Soarin moaned. "There's no way you're gonna beat me at bowling. My friend's call me the Ultimate Bowling Champ." He boasted.

Rainbow snickered and walked towards the girl's locker room. "Are you sure about that?" She said in a deep voice before entering it.





After the match, Lightning went home without another word to anyone and banged her fists on the table. "Why the hell does Rainbow get all of Soarin's attention!?!" She shouted as she turned around and continuously punched her punching bag, which had a picture of Rainbow Dash taped on it.

"That's because Soarin always sees her 'aura of nonexistent awesomeness'. What gives!?! Plus, that pink-headed nuisance is always there. If they weren't there to do anything, I would've had Soarin all to myself!" She huffed, punching the bag one last time and then punched the wall. She fell to her knees and drank the last drops of water from her water bottle and groaned.

Getting up, she suddenly remembered; there was somebody who confessed to Rainbow. Somebody who could help her get rid of Rainbow so she could be with Soarin. It was the perfect plan. With an evil grin, she walked over to her bed and closed her eyes. "Now, all I have to do is ask him to help me. I have to do it real quick though, Ditzy Pie or whatever her name is might get in the way. I have to do it when she's distracted....." She paused as an idea came to her mind.

"Perfect."

To be continued...
> Field Trip Of Five pt1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The snowflakes slowly started to stop coming down, meaning that Spring was almost here. Several days have passed by, and Rainbow Dash didn't see a single difference in any of those days, besides the football game that Rainbow played with her friends in the snow. It wasn't that bad though, there wasn't any snow on the field, anyways. And what happened right after New Year's.

She never expected to see his face again. She never knew she'd ever talk to that guy again. Everything happened so fast, and just thinking about it makes Rainbow uneasy. What if she broke his heart? What if it'll be extremely awkward to talk to him now? Because of all these crazy unanswered questions, Rainbow tried to avoid Quibble Pants as much as possible.

But he kept appearing everywhere. She's never seen him around before, and yet now he's unavoidable. Rainbow tried to eat in the cafeteria with her friends, but he was always in a nearby table. She tried eating in the classroom with her friends, but he was always hanging out with one of is friends in the same classroom. Heck, she even tried eating at the fountain in the school's plaza, and there he was, eating his packed ramen like a boss at the other side of the fountain. She could handle a stalker no problem, but Quibble actually confessed to Rainbow face to face. And not in a love letter.

Dash didn't know if he was stalking her or if it was all just a coincidence, but something happened that went a bit too far earlier this day.





After P.E. in the gymnasium, Rainbow was about to change into her regular uniform, until two girls came to her, looking very exhausted and frantic.

"R-Rainbow!" The one wearing glasses said, gasping for breath. "P-please! You.....gotta help....us!"

"We were.....l-looking for a basketball.....in the......gym locker, a-and for some reason, an entire......gigantic shelf fell!" The one with twin-drills panted. "We could.......clean it all up......ourselves, but there are some s-stuff there that are.....just too......heavy! Since you're the s-strongest girl in the school, could you please help us?"

Rainbow looked at them, confused. "Sure, of course I'll help. But why do you two look so tired?" She asked, starting to walk towards the gym locker. "Did something scare you in there?"

The girl with glasses closed the cap of her water bottle after drinking from it. "Well, we thought there was something in there besides us." She said, shaking with fear a little bit. "I was probably just imagining things, but she saw it too!" She said, pointing at her friend. The other one nodded.

Rainbow froze a bit, although still walking. But she didn't want to show that she was even a bit afraid. She shook it off and gave the two a challenging smile. "Well, don't worry! I'll definitely help you two!"

Once they got in, they immediately cleaned up the big mess that the shelf made. Rainbow looked up for a second and looked around. Thinking about it, the shelf couldn't just fall down all by itself. She got up and checked her surroundings for a while. She knew they weren't alone, unless the one who pushed the shelf left the locker already.

Turning around, Rainbow saw a very familiar face.

"Oh, hey Rainbow." Quibble said, blushing. He looked away, trying not to look at her. It was a bit embarrassing since the girl's P.E. uniform is a bit too 'revealing'. "Sorry, I was just looking for a soccer ball. I found one on the top of that shelf, but it fell when I was reaching for the ball. S-sorry!" He quickly ran out of the locker afterwards before Rainbow could tell him that it wasn't much of a problem.

But a thought crossed Rainbow's mind. Since the shelf fell, Quibble could've easily gotten the ball and just leave right afterwards. But after it fell, both girls came running to Dash and took a few minutes to get to the locker. Quibble could get the ball and run away faster than a few minutes. Does that mean he was waiting for the two girls to call Rainbow Dash to get there?

Rainbow shook that thought off. Of course he wouldn't, why would he? She continued helping the two girls clean up the mess until the bell rang.





Rainbow Dash thought about that as she was leaving the school. She couldn't forget about it, especially when she was in math class and basically daydreamed her way through the lesson. Rainbow tried to cool down as she turned her head and looked at the cherry blossom trees that were on the sides of the pathway. There was still some snow on the trees, even though half of all the snow on the ground were already gone. While examining them, Rainbow could see all the different students walking and running home.

And sure enough, Quibble Pants was also there.

Rainbow remembered again, and groaned. She really waned to forget, because now it's hard to approach him knowing how he truly feels. She tried to think about someone else, like a certain pink ball of energy.

"Hey, Dashie!!!" Pinkie Pie yelled from behind. She was speeding through the crowd and caught up with Rainbow Dash, hugging her from behind. "Let's walk home together! You had an errand to run yesterday so we couldn't. Now it's payback time!"

Rainbow grinned and rolled her eyes. "Pink, we walk home together everyday anyways." She laughed again and made Pinkie let go of her.

Pinkie giggled. "Yeah, but in the future you'll probably walk home with Soarin." She said, pointing at Soarin, who was only a few inches away. "You know what I mean."

Rainbow blushed and snickered. "W-well, I'll still be able to walk with anybody I choose! R-right?" She hastily said as they were leaving school grounds. "Anyways, I need your help with a little something."

Pinkie raised her eyebrow. "Heh?"

The two hung out at Hay Burger and Rainbow explained everything that happened about Quibble while eating their food. "I mean, I have loads of stalkers and fans, but y'know? I've actually met this guy before and he confessed." Rainbow slammed on the table and then crossed her arms. "What do I do about him? I don't like him, but if he never leaves me, it's gonna be awkward for both of us forever."

Pinkie grinned and took a bite of her cheeseburger. "Well, you two are still 'friends' right?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow nodded. "Then, just talk to him like he's one of your jock friends! No biggie."

Rainbow chuckled. "Actually, he's not a jock." Rainbow said. "He's a logic-loving-nerd who only likes the logic in Daring Do books." She said, taking a sip of her soda. "But yeah, I can do that. But what if he tries to make a move?"

Pinkie thought about it for a second and looked out the window. She then turned back to Rainbow and smiled. "Play it cool, like you always do!" She said. Then, Pinkie's bright smile changed into a death stare. "Right?"

Rainbow gulped as sweat came down from her face. "U-um, right!" She answered.

After going back to her usual self, Pinkie ate some french fries as Rainbow sighed.





The next two days were a weekend, so Rainbow had loads of time to forget Quibble. But she tried to hold on to Pinkie's advice and pretend that they were always just friends. Nothing more. At all. Or ever. Rainbow shook it off her again and jumped off her bed, thinking she'll just play video games indoors today.

But right after the weekend, Rainbow completely forgot about Quibble instead of acting like a friend to him.

She remembered that they had a field trip to Kurodsderu. Sure, that's where she was born, but she still loved to visit that place. She excitedly ran to school, and she was guessing that Pinkie did too, since she didn't bump into her yet.

But in class, once she speedily sat on her chair, waiting for the teacher, the pink-headed girl came. "Hey, Dashie!" She shouted joyfully. "Excited for the field trip?"

Rainbow looked up at Pinkie and grinned. "What do you think?" She asked, laughing. "Of course I am, it's Kurodsderu! Home of all the sportiest people in Equestria! The hype, man! THE HYPE!!"

While the two of them were ranting on and on about the trip, Soarin passed by and got distracted by two things: They were talking about the field trip, which e was also excited about, and one other thing he tried not to look at. Actually, it wasn't a 'thing'.

He came over and joined the conversation. "The field trip is for freshmen and sophomores, right? Does that mean we could go in groups?" He nervously asked.

Pinkie giggled. "Yup! The teacher said groups of five. So that means......." Pinkie paused for a while and looked up, thinking about which people would go to their group. "Me, you, Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust and..........one other person that we'll think about later! It's not like we have to tell the teacher which groups we're in or anything."

The three nodded to each other before the bell rang, and teacher came, also wearing a wide grin on her face. "Alright, this is it!!!" She shouted startling the class. Noticing that, she cleared her throat and returned to her normal face. "Okay, we'll all split up into groups of five. You can group up with the other classes too, if you want. I know I've already told you all to write down places you want to see there so you can make your time there worthwhile, so let's wish none of you forgot! I'm looking at you, Derpy." She said, glaring at Derpy Hooves, then slowly smiled in forgiveness.

Rainbow raised her hand. "But miss, isn't the bus going to stop at all the cool spots anyway?" She asked, groaning.

The teacher laughed. "Ahahaha, in you dreams. The bus is gonna stop at the typical tourist spots, so don't you think you can get away with that!" She said, making the whole class (except for some others) moan.





Later, all the freshmen and sophomores gathered at the airport. Rainbow, Soarin, and Pinkie were in the same class, so once they were in one group. They looked around at the big airport. ?It was as shiny and packed as ever, complete with people rushing around.

"This place is bigger than the last time I traveled." Rainbow thought. She then turned to Pinkie and Soarin, but Pinkie was nowhere to be found. "Hey, where the hell is Pink?" She asked Soarin as she hastily looked around. Not only was she worried, but if she went missing, it would all be their fault.

Soarin jumped a little and looked at the spot where Pinkie was. Rainbow was right; she wasn't there anymore. "Huh? I dunno. She was just here a second ago-"

"What?" Rainbow asked as she looked up at Soarin. She then looked at where he was looking, and noticed Pinkie rushing towards them, holding a small plastic bag. "Pinkie, where'd you go!? You do know if you run off like that, it will all be me and Soarin's fault, right!?!" She yelled.

Instead of cowering, Pinkie giggled and raised the bag she was holding. "I bought some souvenirs!" She laughed as she showed it to her friends.

Soarin jumped in shock. "You're supposed to buy it after the trip, on the way back!!" He shouted.

Pinkie shrugged. "Oh well. Oh, hey, There she is!" She said, waving her hand at Lightning Dust, who was all the way over at the other class. "Lightie, you're-"

"Late." Rainbow complained, rolling her eyes.

Lightning grunted. "Wasn't my fault my class was late. Plus, there was traffic, and one student was chasing the bus because he got left behind." Lightning's angry face then turned into a happy one as she laughed. "Then the teacher made him do an essay about being late."

After a few minutes of talking, Rainbow spaced out a bit. She noticed Quibble, who was all alone in another class. He was looking around, and pretty much didn't talk to anybody. Rainbow felt sorry for him, but she was also worried about talking to him, because that would cause a problem on so many levels. For example, Quibble might think that Rainbow was hitting on him. Or, Lightning Dust saw it as a chance to get closer to Soarin. Rainbow noticed she was getting off topic, and shook her head.

But the next thing she knew, Quibble was standing right behind her. "Eh!? Q-Quibble? Where'd you come from?" She asked, shocked of how he got there so fast. Or maybe she was being absent-minded for a long time.

"Um....what do you mean?" He asked, confused.

Before Rainbow could answer "Nevermind", Lightning came with a mysterious smirk. "Well, well, well! Looks like we have a fifth group member! Welcome aboard.........what's your name?" She asked, snapping her fingers at him.

"Quibble." He answered. "Quibble Pants." He said awkwardly. It was kind of embarrassing to say 'Pants' every time her introduces himself.

But fortunately, nobody really cared. Pinkie jumped behind Rainbow and whispered, "Was this the guy you were talking about?"

Rainbow turned around and raised her eyebrow at Pinkie. "Um, yes. But you don't need to whisper it to me if you're gonna do it so loud that everyone in our group could hear." She said, pushing Pinkie away.





The airplane was packed. It had lots of students in it that it looked like the plane couldn't hold them all, and it was all too much for Pinkie. "I gotta go. Save a seat for me, okay, Dashie?" She frantically said, already rushing to the bathroom after throwing her bag onto Rainbow's hands.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and noticed Lightning trying to catch up with Soarin. Since Pinkie wasn't here, she had to do do things by herself. She quickly grabbed Soarin's hand and blushed intensely. "U-um, look over there! Five empty seats! L-let's go before somebody takes it!" She said, alarming her group.

The four rushed there and took their places while Rainbow put Pinkie's bag on Pinkie's seat so everybody would know that the seat's taken. Rainbow hastily sat to the seat next to the window and Soarin. She sighed and stretched. "Finally, we're in the plane! We've been waiting for hours." She complained.

Soarin snickered. "You mean just 10 minutes?" He corrected. The two glared at each other for a second and turned away, their faces painted red.

Lightning quickly took the other seat next to Soarin and beamed. "Oh, Soarin! Thanks for sitting next to me!" She said, grabbing his arm again.

Soarin winced and tried to get out of her grasp. "You were the one who sat next to me."

"You're so funny, Soarin!" Lightning giggled after glaring at Rainbow Dash. "I like it." She said, continuing to laugh.

Soarin winced once again and looked up. "What did I do to deserve this!?!" He asked himself.

After a few seconds, Lightning finally let go of Soarin and stood up. "Be right back." She said to him before heading towards Quibble. "Alright, buddy, I've got something to talk to you about." Lightning said with a slight grin.

Quibble nodded and said, "Go on."

Lightning chuckled. "Well, you see, I like Soarin." She said, blushing and smiling at the thought of him. She squished her cheeks. "I get goosebumps just thinking about it!"

Quibble grunted and looked away. "Like I didn't notice." He mumbled before looking back at Lightning. "Anyways, what does that have anything to do with me?"

Lightning chuckled again. "Smart boy." She smirked and pointed at Rainbow. "That nuisance is getting in the way because she also likes him. Since you like her, we can both get the ones we love. If you help me, of course."

Quibble's cheeks were dyed in different shades of pink. "H-how did you know about that?" He whispered, grabbing Lightning by her collar.

"That doesn't matter. Are you in, or not?" Lightning asked before pulling away and grinning at him.

Quibble looked down and thought about it. Sure, he liked Rainbow Dash, but not that much that he'd go and do devious things to Soarin about it - wait, he did love her a lot. He'd do almost anything. Besides, they're not going to do stuff that are that bad, right? "Sure."

Lightning jumped in the air. "Great!" She happily raised her hands in the air and then hummed as she walked back to her seat.

After Lightning snuggled a bit closer to Soarin, Pinkie came out and sat next to Quibble. "Heard you like Dashie." She winked at him and laughed.

Quibble grunted and stood up. "Alright, where the hell are you girls finding out about this stuff!? Do you girls tell everything to each other!?!" He yelled, although making sure he wasn't heard.

"Well, I guess not everything, but she told me." Pinkie explained before slowly making a serious face. "But.........what do you mean 'you girls'? Did someone else tell you the same thing?"

Quibble gulped as sweat poured down his face. He didn't really want to lie, but he was working with Lightning Dust now, and it seemed like she didn't want to reveal that she knows how he feels. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head at Pinkie Pie, unable to speak.

Pinkie glared at him for a split secondand looked out the window, returning to her usual cheerful face. "If you don't want to tell me, it's fine." She grinned as she looked outside, watching everyone get ready for the plane to take off. Pinkie's smile slowly turned into a smirk. "I have my ways of knowing." She muttered.

To be continued...
> Field Trip Of Five pt2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Haaaah~!" Rainbow stretched as she stepped foot out of the plane. "That was so long! I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in the middle of the flight...." She said before turning to Soarin. "Hey, by the way, you looked kinda weird when I woke up. The hell happened?" She curiously asked.

Soarin flinched and looked away. "W-well......" He blushed and didn't continue his sentence. It was kind of embarrassing to explain what happened, and Soarin did not want to be the one to say it out loud. "You kinda..........um..............your head was..............you laid it..................on my shoulder..................." He muttered, trailing off.

Rainbow tilted her head. "Eh?" She asked, putting her hand behind her ear, trying to tell him that she couldn't hear what he said. "I didn't quite catch that. It sounded like you said I laid my head on your shoulder." She laughed as she said that. "But.....that would never happen. Haha......" She trailed off and looked away as well.

Lightning came right between them and laughed. "You two are so weird together! It kills the fun. C'mon, let's-" Before she could finish, Pinkie jumped in front of everyone.

"If somebody killed the fun, I would definitely know, since I know fun! And you definitely don't know, Lightie, since you think they killed the fun!!!" She yelled, catching the attention of those around them. Lightning gave her the evil eye and prepared to shout back.

However, Quibble passed by and looked at all of them. "I have the strangest group......." He muttered to himself and sighed. "You guys are so loud. Come on, or else we're gonna get separated from the other groups. We can't split up just yet." He said, pointing at the teacher of Rainbow's class, who was glaring at them.

The five of them hastily moved forward, trying to avoid getting in trouble.





After a short bus ride, they all arrived at the hotel in which they were staying. Rainbow's group went through the hallways, looking for which room they'll stay in.

"Hey, actually, with three girls and two boys, are we supposed to split up into two rooms?" Rainbow asked Pinkie. She knew that if they were to share a room with Lightning, things could go wild. But if those two knuckleheads joined the party, only time could tell if Rainbow survived.

Pinkie shrugged. "Well, I'm pretty sure the school won't allow the girls and the boys to sleep in the same room." She said, opening one door and politely smiling as she found out that there were already a group of girls inside. "I guess us three gals have to stay in one room, then!" She said to Rainbow and Lightning and giggled.

"NO!!!" The other two yelled, making people stare. After calming down, the two glared at each other and turned to Pinkie.

"There's no way in hell that I'm going to stay in one room for one night with her!" Rainbow complained to Pinkie, pointing at the blonde girl. After trying to chill down again, she sighed and looked at both of them. "I guess we have no choice."

Lightning grunted. "No way are we giving up on this!" She quietly shouted at Rainbow. But, after turning to Pinkie, who was giving her a death glare, Lightning went back to her original position and crossed her arms. "I mean, fine."

Afterwards, the three remained silent, except for Pinkie, who was giggling. And then, Soarin shouted after them. "Hey, we've found an empty room over here. Are you guys gonna keep arguing or what?" He complained as he pointed inside the room the two boys picked.

"Ah, right." Rainbow said as she remembered what they were supposed to do. "C'mon, let's go upstairs." She said, already walking towards the staircase. The other two girls followed her.

Just then, Quibble came out of the room and stood next to Soarin. "Wait, why're you gonna go all the way up there? That's gonna make it harder for us to group up." He pointed out.

Rainbow put her hands on her hips. "I don't want to risk the chance of getting any peepers. I'm not exactly sure if you two aren't perverts yet." She said, shooting a glare at the two.

Soarin flinched. "Why would we do that? There's no way we're gonna mess with you guys." He said. Actually, they might go there, but they won't do anything perverted. But they won't go there at all without permission from the girls, since they didn't want to risk getting beaten up by the most popular and sporty girl in school, another sporty girl who is pretty devious, and a logic-breaking psycho who can become sad or really dangerous. Thinking about it, Soarin's pupils shrunk. "Yeah. No way. Never." He reassured them.

Lightning shrugged. "Well, I don't exactly mind for Soarin, but Quibble, if you ever go up there, you're dead. And no matter what you say, we're still goin'." She said, turning to Pinkie. All they needed now was for Pinkie to vote on whether they're staying on this floor, or upstairs.

"Yeah, we're going upstairs." Pinkie said, skipping to the stairs. The other two girls followed her, and Soarin and Quibble went back to their rooms.





After Rainbow, Lightning, and Pinkie chose their room, they took a very quick look around and then immediately went downstairs to group up with the other two. The five nearly fought over which place to go before Quibble stopped them and suggested to go to Kurodsderu's most famous shrine.

Once they arrived, they all looked at it in awe. "Woah, no wonder this place is packed. It looks awesome!" Soarin said, taking a closer look at the cherry blossom trees. "These trees l definitely look healthier than those back home."

After a few minutes of admiring the view, the five went to get their fortunes after praying.

However, after finding out that all of them had a bad fortune, their mood was ruined until they tied the fortunes to a pole and they all head to a nearby temple.

There were lots of places to see, and lots of places to visit. But after a few hours of exploring, the whole group went back to the hotel, since they had nothing else to do.

"Eh........It feels like any other touristy visit." Rainbow groaned as she walked through the halls of the hotel. "Didn't feel great enough." She stopped walking and faced the others with a dissatisfied look. "We need to fix this. Now. I know we still have tomorrow morning, but then that would make this day a waste."

Lightning sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Well, what can we do?"

After that, there was a brief moment of silence. Nobody spoke, not knowing what to think or say. "Well, bummer, then. I'm beat, let's go to bed." Rainbow said as she turned around and head for their room.

Soarin ran after her. "Hey, weren't you the one saying we should do something about it!?" He shouted. "What's with the whole 'meh, let's go and waste our field trip' thing!? Didn't you say we'd 'enjoy this time'!? Huh!?!"

Rainbow smirked at him and huffed. "Why do you care so much? Are you planning something?"

Soarin crossed his arms and looked up. He didn't know the answer to that. Or maybe he did, he just couldn't accept it. Whatever it is, his brain isn't letting him know. "Whatever, let's just go." He said before quickly walking to his room.

"H-hey, wait!" Quibble yelled as he ran after him.





"So nice~" Pinkie sighed, lying herself down on the floor. "If I could, I'd plan as many parties as I can here, just so everyone can enjoy the luxurious place! Ooh, then that'd make everyday a partay!" She said, squishing her cheeks and imagining countless possible parties she could throw at this hotel.

Lightning crossed her legs after she dropped on the couch. "Wouldn't that break the fact of having a hotel room if you're gonna live in it your whole life?"

Rainbow shrugged at Lightning, trying to let her know that no matter what you tell Pinkie, her mind will never get fixed. She then rested her head on top of the kotatsu and closed her eyes. "Man, this day was a total waste. No wonder we got bad luck in our fortunes." Rainbow opened one of her eyes and looked out the window. The sun has already set, and the sky was pitch black.

After that quiet moment, Lightning sighed and got up. "If you two losers aren't going to do anything fun, then I'm going over to Soarin's. Oh yeah, Quibble's there too, but whatever." She said, walking to the door.

Pinkie and Rainbow flinched and looked over at Lightning, who already set foot out of the room. "Hey, hold on!" Rainbow shouted quietly, since there are probably some people who were asleep. "You can't just waltz in there like it's some kind of a local shop or something! Didn't they promise we wouldn't go to our room? Shouldn't it be the same for us!?"

Lightning stopped to turn around and give Rainbow a devious smirk, and then continued along to the boys' room.

Rainbow ran after her and pinned her down as quietly as she could. "Idiot, what if they think we're hypocrites or something!?!" She loudly whispered. Thankfully, nobody else was in that hall.

"Eh.......you're so boring. And yet you're the one who doesn't want to let this time go to waste. Aren't you the hypocrite?" Lightning challenged, trying to force Rainbow to let her get up.

Rainbow snickered and let her guard down, letting Lightning slowly stand up. Soon, Rainbow stood up as well, allowing them to eye each other dramatically, and letting Pinkie watch the action from their door. Lightning speedily ran downstairs as Rainbow followed her, reading her movements. She could tell that she was trying to get there before her, as if she were aiming to tease Rainbow by racing. And Rainbow couldn't allow herself to lose.

Rainbow ran faster and jumped towards the wall, letting her jump right in front of Lightning Dust. Lightning dropped to a halt by pressing her hand on the floor. This made Lightning distracted, and Rainbow ran to Soarin's room. As soon as she hopped inside, she shut the door and fell to her knees, resting her back on the door. She could hear Lightning knocking continuously, but Rainbow ignored her.

Soarin and Quibble looked up at Rainbow. "What're you doing here?" Soarin asked, walking towards her. "And what's behind you-" He reached out for the doorknob as he spoke.

"DON'T OPEN IT!!" Rainbow yelled, blocking the doorknob with her arm. She sighed and got up, her back still pressing against the door. "Look, I'm staying here for the night."

"EH!?!" Soarin and Quibble screamed.

Quibble sat up and spoke up. "W-why!?" He asked. "W-what if a teacher catches us!?!" He got up and readied the futon, since he knew that there was no way they could get out of this.

Rainbow dropped under the kotatsu and rested her head on top as soon as the knocks from the other side of the door stopped. "It's kind of a long story." She lied. The story wasn't long at all, but she really did not want to share it.

Soarin sighed and sat at the kotatsu as well. "So.......what happens if a teacher comes?"

Rainbow looked up for a brief amount of time and then looked back at Soarin. "We'll pretend that I'm the third guy in the room, and I'll just hide my face and my hair." She explained. "And before everyone even wakes up, I'll just sneak out of the room. Simple." She crossed her arms and grinned, as if the plan was sure to work.

Soarin rolled his eyes and crawled into his futon. "Welp, goodnight." He said as Quibble made himself comfortable in his futon, too.

Rainbow's eyes slowly closed before shaking her head, and then she quickly hid her face under the blankets of the futon.  Before actually falling asleep, she pulled the futon away a little bit, just in case the guys were planning on doing something funny. Shuffling around in her futon, Rainbow moaned a little bit. She was still worried about how she was supposed to wake up so early, and how she'll get away with this. Finally stopping in rolling around, she closed her eyes.

The three of them all sighed. "I can't sleep."

And luckily, by morning, Rainbow snuck out of the room without a problem.





Pinkie Pie stretched her arms. "Wow~! The open air baths are perfect!!" She said, sinking down to the bottom of the bath and then coming back up. "It feels so nice, it's tickling me a little!" She giggled and swam over to Rainbow. "By the way, where were you last night? You were there when I woke up, but it feels like you weren't there the whole time."

Rainbow paused a little bit and splashed water at Pinkie. She didn't think about excuses, even though they probably already know that she stayed over over there. "Ah, well, I was there! What're you talking about?" She lied, nervously laughing very quietly right afterwards.

Lightning came up to the surface over the water and moaned. "Are you sure? I stayed up for at least 30 minutes after you went inside Soarin and Quibble's room but you never came back." Her relaxed yet unimpressed face turned into a smirk. "Why is that?"

Rainbow flinched and swam past Lightning. "I stayed over there for about an hour before coming back to make sure I wouldn't have to face your ugly little face again. That's why." She shot back. The two glared at each other for a second.

Smiling, Pinkie swam in between them. "Anyways, let's have a race all the way over there!" She declared. "Loser buys all three of us free food when we get back!" She laughed and set in position.

"Alright then." Rainbow said, nodding to Lightning as they also got ready next to Pinkie Pie. The three grinned at each other, wishing each good luck. "Ready, set-"

"You didn't have to drag me all the way over here, you know." I voice said from behind the doors. "I have legs and I know how to walk!"

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't run away." Another voice said after what it sounded like snickering. "Since you acted like you didn't want to come, I made sure you did, because this is a very rare opportunity to have an open air bath in Kurodsdueru. Think about it."

The three heard two guys arguing, and it seemed like they were here to take a bath just like them. But the three girls' minds moved so fast that they didn't have time to think about that.

The other voice groaned. "I didn't say I didn't want to come, it's just that you woke me up and hit that idea on me right that very second. You didn't give me a chance to-"

"HAAAAAAAAAYAA!!!" Rainbow screamed as she threw the wooden bathing  bucket at Soarin's face once they opened the door. Soon, the other two also started pounding the two with buckets. Soarin and Quibble took cover with their arms, even though that didn't do much.

"Hey, what are you girls doing in here!?!" Quibble yelled, nearly falling over.

Lightning grunted. "You were the ones who came unannounced!!!" She shouted, throwing another bucket at Quibble's face, but even harder. "IDIOTS!! YOU GUYS SAID YOU WEREN'T PERVERTS!!!"

"Eh!?!" Soarin yelled out, trying to reach for the door. "Well excuse us for not knowing!" As he finally felt the doorknob, he grabbed it and reached out for Quibble's arm. He hastily took him along with him and shouted at the other three before closing the door. Closing his eyes, of course. "We won't forget this!"

After the two left, it finally became silent except for the fountain of rushing water and Rainbow, Pinkie, and Lightning taking heavy breaths. In a few minutes, the three looked at each other and nodded. "We won't be able to forget this, either."

To be continued...
> The Comedy of Sports Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow yawned as she sat up on her bed. She looked out the window and rubbed her eyes. The sun was shining, alright. Groaning, she tried her hardest to stand up and reach for the calendar. Scanning it, Rainbow tried to find today's date. Her eyes widened as she noticed which special event was going to happen next week.

It was Sport's Day.

Sport's Day was one of Rainbow's favorite events. She squealed in happiness on the inside and got ready for school.





"Alright, I'm going to appoint which students are going to do which." The teacher announced, looking around the classroom and shooting glares at the students who barely participate. The picking of students went on and on until the end of homeroom period.

"Pinkieee I'm tiiirreedddd....." Rainbow moaned as she rested her head on Pinkie's table. "Why does school have to be so early!? Can't we just have it in the middle of the day?" She said, grabbing a chair to sit on.

Pinkie sighed and didn't answer. After all, it was a rhetorical question. "What are you going to do in sports day? I'm going to do the bread eating contest." She giggled and took out a loaf of bread out of nowhere. She raised it in the air and reached for it with her mouth. But, as she raised her body, her arm raised too, so it didn't have much of a point.

"Weren't you listening to the teacher at all? Sheesh, and I'm the person that's supposed to be told by those words." Rainbow chuckled and took the bread out of Pinkie's hands. "Alright, here." She said once she readied the position of her arm.

Pinkie clapped her hands and tried her best to eat the bread with only her mouth. After a few seconds, a quarter of the bread was already gone.

"Woah, with your strange speed, you can actually win this thing for the class!" Rainbow thought out loud. She then looked away and yawned. "If you really weren't paying attention, I got picked for the obstacle course." She then looked up and in deep thinking. Oh yeah, and archery too."

Looking back down, Rainbow jumped back. "You're already finished!?!" She yelled. Everyone around her looked at her. Rainbow blushed and looked back at Pinkie. "How the hell did you do that?" Rainbow asked, whispering while she rested her arm.

"Beats me." Pinkie shrugged. Her face lit up as Soarin came by. "Sooooaariiinnn! Your girlfriend is here!!" She shouted even louder than Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's face overheated as she slapped Pinkie across the face. "What the hell do you think you're trying to do!?!"

Pinkie laughed quietly. "Silly Rainbow, you already know what I'm doing!"

"Hardly." Rainbow groaned as she looked away.

"Hey Rainbow, you and Soarin are dating?" Twilight asked, tilting her head.

Rarity joined in. "I knew you'd get interested in love one day!"

"Man bro, really? I didn't know." Thunderlane said to Soarin.

Soarin blushed intensely. "W-we're not together!" He said, slowly walking over to Pinkie's desk. "A-anyways, we're just friends, so don't get the wrong idea! Right, Dashie?"

"Woah, you already call her Dashie?" Starlight wondered out loud. "I thought only close friends like Pinkie call her that."

Lyra and Bonbon clapped their hands together. "How cute~!"

Blushing, Rainbow slapped Soarin even harder than Pinkie Pie. "What are you trying to make them think!?" She yelled. "Are you and Pink pranking me? HUH!?!"

Soarin rubbed his cheek in pain. "N-no! Why would I do that?"

Flitter turned to Cloudchaser. "Hey, you and Thunderlane are dating, right?" She said, pointing at Thunderlane. "Maybe you two can have a group date with Rainbow and Soarin."

Cloudchaser blushed too. "What are you talking about!?!"

"Why am I dragged into this?" Thunderlane asked.

Rainbow shot a glare at Pinkie, who was grinning. "You'll pay for this."

Pinkie giggled. "You always say that."





After a few days, Sports Day came as if it was just an hour after Pinkie shouted to Soarin about Rainbow Dash. Rainbow tried to forget, but it was hard to do that if every girl keeps reminding her and her classmates give her weird looks when she's around Soarin. Heck, it's become the most famous rumor around school.

"I'm sick of these rumors!" Rainbow yelled at Pinkie as she put on her P.E. uniform. "But I betcha if I make the class win, everyone will forget! So I'm givin' it my all!" She said, raising her fist in the air.

Pinkie chuckled. "You seem very pumped." She said. "Is it because you want to show off to Soarin? Don't forget that you're also trying to win him over."

"Enough with that topic!" Rainbow shouted angrily. She then calmed herself down and shut her locker. "Whatever. I'm gonna show Lightning what I'm made of even if you don't say that." Rainbow smirked and turned to Pinkie. "Are we going or what?"

"Oh, right!"





Rainbow nailed shooting the targets. She was the top of the school, and her fanclub was cheering for her. Yes, her fanclub. After a while, the obstacle course came, and Rainbow stretched in almost every way there is in front of Lightning Dust, trying to show her that she won't give up. Turns out, Lightning also got chosen for the obstacle course. "You don't stand a chance." Rainbow smirked.

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes with a scowl. "Right. But you don't either."

Rainbow stood straight and raised her eyebrow. "Won't that make both of us lose?" She questioned.

"Well, it's better than losing to a loser like you." Lightning shot back, strutting away. Rainbow snickered and continued exercising as Pinkie cheered for her like a cheerleader.

A few minutes later, the referee shot the air with the fake gun. Immediately, all the runners (except for some) started running as fast as they could. Rainbow and Lightning exchanged a nasty look every time they passed each other.

"Woohoo! GO RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Give me a D! Give me an A! Give me an S! Give me an H! What does that spell? DA-"

"I think we get it." Soarin said to Pinkie as a bunch of people were looking at her. "You're just embarrassing yourself."

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Haven't I always?" She giggled. She then ran to the Rainbow Dash fanclub and cheered along with them.

Rainbow used a very brief moment to wink at her fanclub, causing them to squeal and cheer even louder. However, this gave Lightning an advantage to speed up even more. Rainbow's eyes widened a little but accepted the challenge, so she ran as fast as she could.

But, since this was an obstacle course and not a race, they had to jump and duck every time there was an obstacle, this slowed all the contestants down, but they tried their hardest nonetheless.

Once Rainbow saw the finish line, she grinned and ran even faster. But, Lightning ran faster, making Rainbow hesitate a little. She shook her head and ran even faster. She was so fast, it looked like she left a rainbow trail. In the end, it looked like a tie.

But, luckily, one of the students took a picture of the two of them crossing the finish line, and it seemed as though Rainbow won since her arm crossed the finish line first. Rainbow jumped in the air happily as Lightning's mouth fell agape.

"Wait...what the...?" She said, trying to look for something to say. "But...that's not possible! We're a tie!"

Pinkie rolled her eyes and punched Lightning on the shoulder playfully. "Rules. Are rules!"

Soarin did a fistbump with Rainbow. "You did great!"

Rainbow looked away and blushed. "Th-thanks." She muttered. She then turned her back on Soarin and crossed her arms. "W-well, I guess it's your turn now!" She said loudly.

Soarin chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as he walked towards the basketball players. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he just has to throw as much basketballs as he could in the basket.

Pinkie Pie lightly slapped Rainbow Dash in the back. "Come on, aren't you gonna cheer for your boyfriend?" She said, raising her eyebrow with a smirk.

"For the last time, he's not my-"

"Rainbow, as a girlfriend, you should cheer for him!" Rarity pointed out with a grin. "It's what couples do. Support each other!"

Rainbow blushed. "W-we're not dating, alright!?" She whispered quietly to the two of them.

Applejack wasn't particularly interested in gossip, but she just wanted to know the truth. "Are you sure?" She asked Rainbow. "You two seem awfully close."

Rainbow grunted and sat up. "Really? Now Applejack's in on this?" She said with a blunt and bored face. "Alright, alright, I'm cheering for him. But we're not together." She then jumped up. "Go Soarin! I'm routing for you!" She shouted to Soarin, blushing.

Soairn blushed a little and tilted his head. "What is she doing?" he thought to himself. But then, Lightning Dust, somewhere in the middle of the Soarin fan club, was raising her hands in the air.

"Soooaaarriiinnn!!!" She yelled along with the other Soarin fans. "Go Soarin! Yeah!"

Soarin looked away and shivered. "What situation am I in right now?" He asked himself.

He then turned his attention fully to the basketball court. Sure, he needed the support from the audience, but he still had to focus. As the referee blew the whistle, he dribbled the ball and ran across the court. After a few seconds, someone stole the ball from him, and he became startled.

It was Quibble.

He shook the thought off his head and ran after him.

To be continued...
> Sports Buddy (Comedy of Sports Day pt2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ehh......we're losing..." Fluttershy quietly remarked, turning her head to the scoreboard. The score was 10-3, and unfortunately that 10 scores aren't theirs.

Rainbow tapped her leg repeatedly on the floor, crossed her arms, and angrily watched their team move back and forth. But it had only gone worse. Now they were 12-4. Sure, they got one more point, but the other team earned two more. Rainbow growled and sighed. "Gah, I'm telling you, if only I were on the team."

Starlight Glimmer tilted her head. "Then...why didn't you volunteer?"

Rainbow grunted. "Because the teams are 'boys only'. Ha! They should know better. I'm the top female athlete of the school!" She boasted with a grin.

Pinkie Pie smiled. "It's fine, they've got the top male athlete of the school!" She pointed out, literally pointing at Soarin. He looked very determined to win.

"Maybe one more cheer for your boyfriend will give him enough motivation." Flitter suggested.

Furiously, Rainbow facepalmed. "This. Is. Final. We're not together."

A few inches away, Lightning flinched and eyed Rainbow and her friends. "What do they mean 'boyfriend'? What do they mean 'together'??" She asked out loud.

"Oh, you don't know?" A girl wearing a headband said. "There's a rumor that Rainbow-senpai and Soarin-senpai are dating!"

Another girl wearing a hoodie jumped in. "I think it's true. I mean, they seem so perfect together! The two top sports students of the school together! Ahh, I ship them so much!!"

Lightning quietly snickered and rolled her eyes. "Like hell." She muttered. She then stood up and cheered for Soarin. "Soooarrriinnnn!! Good luck!!"

Soarin continued running and passed the ball to Thunderlane. Sadly, Thunderlane got blocked by Quibble who gave passed the ball to another pony.

"13-8..." Twilight sighed after a few minutes. Their class managed to catch up by a few, but on more point and the other team wins. "If they don't hurry, we lose."

Pinkie giggled. "Silly, Twilight. You hafta be positive!" She said as their class got another point. The crowd roared in joy. If you think about it, most if not all are rooting for class 2-2 rather than 2-1. 2-2 was Soarin's class, and it would be quite obvious as to why everyone wants to cheer for him.

After quite a while, Soarin's team was extra careful and managed to block all scores of the other team. Now they're tied. "That's more like it." Rainbow said under her breath, clenching her fists.

But, as soon as they got their hopes up, the other class got one more point. "@#%!" Rainbow said quietly. "For crying out loud....c'mon you guys. I know that you guys know that's not your best."

14-14 now. Everyone watched and cheered. Rainbow was way too busy muttering to herself that she forgot all about cheering. Just as soon as Soarin jumped to make one final score, Quibble came and blocked him, causing him to fall. Everyone gasped.

Rainbow flinched and stood up. "Soarin! Don't you dare lose!!" She screamed from the top of her lungs.

Soarin got back into action and through the ball before even touching the floor.

Silence suddenly filled the whole court. They all watched the ball spin around the top of the basket for a few seconds without a single sound. This was the dramatic moment of truth.

Rainbow kept standing. She was so stunned she couldn't sit back down. Plus, the ball seemed to spin forever. One last time, she whispered, "I told you guys you'd make it."

The ball took a short pause and finally fell through the basket. The crowd's cheer echoed through the court. Soarin wiped off his sweat and sat up. He took as many breaths as he could.

"...need a hand?"

Soarin looked up and found Quibble reaching his hand to him. Soarin smiled and grabbed his hand to stand up. The two shook each others hands and nodded.





"To us!!"

The class said as they clinked their glasses to one another. "And of course, to Soarin!" The teacher said.

Soarin jumped a little and looked around. "Me?" He asked. "What do you mean?"

"We're the ones who should be asking that!" Pinkie giggled. "That last minute shoot was cray-cray! It's all thanks to you that we won." The whole class nodded with a "mmhmm".
II
Soarin chuckled and grinned. "Well then....to me.....nah, you guys say it. It sounds weird when I say it."

Cloudchaser turned over to Rainbow. "Why don't you say it, Rainbow?"

"Eh!?" Rainbow gasped, noticing that everyone agreed. "W-why me of all people? Isn't this something everyone should say??" She said, trying to get out of the weird situation.

Pinkie nodded. "It makes sense since you're his boyfriend!" She exclaimed. Rainbow looked at her as if she's gotten bored of the rumor.

The teacher raised an eyebrow. "What?" She asked. "I knew both of you since last year and only now have you started dating? Sheesh, Soarin. I thought I knew you better."

Soarin looked at the teacher in confusion. "What are you talkin' 'bout?"

"A-anyways, let's all say it!" Rainbow said loudly, raising her glass of juice.

The class raised their glasses of water and cheered. "To Soarin!"





"Look, why're you so mad?" Quibble asked, finishing his juice box. "Losing that match didn't make us lose to Rainbow or Soarin." He said, throwing the box in the trash. Except, it instead fell on the ground.

Lightning snickered. "See? Even if it's not a ball your aim is so off." She then leaned on the wall. "It did lose us to them. I mean, now that Soarin won, Rainbow will like him even more. Plus, who encouraged Soarin to win? Ms. Colorful-hair Dash."

Quibble rolled his eyes. "It isn't that bad. They didn't confess, now, did they?"

Lightning grunted and glared at Quibble. "So you haven't heard."

Quibble flinched and stood up. "Th-they are!?!"

Lightning gave a satisfied laugh. "No, idiot. I just wanted to see you blushing when I say that." But then she looked away and anger. "However, there are rumors that they're dating."

"So...what should we do?" Quibble asked, calming his body.

Lightning paused and looked up. After a few seconds, she looked at Quibble. "You find out if it's true. Stalk them or something, I dunno." Then she smirked at the floor. "I'll join you during stalking from time to time, but you'll have to take charge. Anyways, I, on the other hand, will do a little plotting."

To be continued...
> It's Not What It Looks Like
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash jumped a little as she felt vibration in her her skirt's pocket. Getting back to her senses, she turned it on and tilted her head. There was one message from Pinkie Pie. Why would she get one message from Pinkie Pie if she could've told her face to face? They are at school, after all. Turning around, Rainbow was just about to comment upon how Pinkie just wasted a bit of her phone credit, but Pinkie wasn't there. Rainbow sighed. It wasn't unusual for Pinkie to be unusual.

She opened the message to read it and raised her eyebrow. "Oh, Pinkie." She sighed as she read through the small, pixelated words.

"heya, dashie! i need 2 talk 2 u. meet me in class 1-4! u know, the empty 1 that seems to have conspiracies???" It read. Rainbow groaned at how Pinkie really should've just left a note. She got up, left the classroom, and tried her best to find class 1-4. There were tons of rumors and stories about the classroom since there were 5 first year classes, yet, class 1-4 stays in another classroom, which is 1-6. People made rumors, like maybe that classroom is haunted or maybe somebody died there, but anyone who actually believed those myths were fools.

Rainbow asked around a bit, and eventually she found it. But, before making it obvious that she was entering, she waited for the hallway to be empty. People also made rumors about the people who went inside the room. However, that was nearly impossible since this was this school was the biggest in the country and not to mention most popular, and the fact that it was lunchtime didn't help. After a few minutes, there was still students roaming around, but they weren't looking, so Rainbow rushed inside immediately.

Shutting the door, Rainbow turned around and hesitated a little since she was closing herself inside an empty, dark, and dirty classroom. Thankfully, Pinkie was already here so she didn't have to wait. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie Pie giggled and stepped a little closer to Rainbow. "I have a little....favor to ask. It's about-"

"Soarin, right?" Rainbow said, unsurprised that this was about him. Sighing, Rainbow continued. "Give it up already, Pinkie. If you want us together, you can't just meddle your way through."

"I know." Pinkie said. "But if I didn't do anything, nothing would happen, am I wrong?" She asked, making her point.

Rainbow stepped back and tried to find her voice. "Whatever, anyways, what did you want?"

Pinkie turned around and did her girly run towards the window. "Do you have any plans for this weekend?" She asked calmly, as if it was expected for her to ask. But it's fine since nothing expected of Pinkie Pie.

Thinking, Rainbow looked up and then looked back down while walking towards Pinkie. "Nope. Completely boring non-existent schedule of mine is empty." She said as she leaned against the column next to the window. "Why?"

"You'll find out!" Pinkie winked. "Well, at Saturday, 3:00 P.M., meet me at the park!"

Rainbow chuckled. "If you were gonna tell me to meet me here to meet me somewhere else, then you should've just told me without having me to come in a weird room that has all sorts of "theories"." She said, looking around the room. It was starting to get eerily horrific. "Plus, you just wasted phone credit."

Pinkie smiled. "It's okay, I've got plenty of money from my part-time job." She insisted. "Well, I just wanted to make it more dramatic!" Right after that, the bell echoed through the building as the two felt silent. "K! See ya!" Pinkie waved goodbye at Rainbow and ran out of the room.

"Hey, wait, we're in the same class remem-oh, nevermind." Rainbow cut off, trying to follow up with Pinkie.





As Rainbow Dash ran around the soccer court, she kicked the ball into the goal and jumped in happiness with her team as the goalie missed in catching it.

"Great job, Dash!"

"Huh?" Rainbow said out loud as she turned around to see who was talking. "Thanks, Spitfire-wait, did you dye your hair pink?" She asked, tilting her hair at the obviously pink and poofy hair that was lying on top of Spitfire's head.

Spitfire giggled in a girly way. "Oh, Dashie, you're so silly!"

"E-EH!?!" Rainbow gasped, opening her eyes. Suddenly, Spitfire wasn't in front of her anymore. It was just Pinkie Pie. Plus, around her was just grass, trees, bushes, plants, and a few children blowing bubbles. "Oh, it's you. So, what did you want to talk about this time?"

"Oh, don't worry. It won't be with me." Pinkie waved her hand as she spoke. "Just stay calm and I'll be back in 2 hours!" She pointed at 5:00 on her watch and happily walked away.

Rainbow jumped. "T-t-t-two hours!?" She loudly asked. "What for!? Who am I meeting!?! Don't tell me it's Soarin!" She shouted, making a few of the kids stare.

But Pinkie just kept walking. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're making a fool of yourself.." She said as the kids started to blow bubbles a little farther away from them.

As soon as Pinkie was out of sight, Rainbow attempted to make a run for it, until she heard someone from behind. "Hey, Dash, watcha doin' here?" Soarin asked.

"Seriously, Pinkie, what's wrong with you?" Rainbow thought while turning around to face Soarin. "Pinkie told me to come here. Guessing she told you to come too." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "That Pink."

"Then where is she?" Soarin asked.

Rainbow made a loud sigh. "She just left. I'm guessing that she wanted to make us go on a d-I mean, n-nothing!" She stammered, blushing as she looked away.

Soarin chuckled. He walked closer to Rainbow and leaned over to match her shortness. "Say it. Didn't hear ya." He teased. But he seriously didn't hear and wanted to get it out of her.

Rainbow blushed even more and stepped back. "Not saying anything!" She yelled.

Soarin laughed and stood straight. "You're so cute when you're flustered!" He said in the midst of laughing.

Rainbow flinched and threw Soarin backwards. "WHAT THE HELL!!!?!" She shouted.

Soarin groaned and tried to reach for his back. "Urgh....it hurts.....why'd you do that??" He asked, trying to sit up, but he keeps on flopping back onto the ground. "I think you broke my back.....anyways, while we're outside, might as well do somethin'."

Rainbow shifted her eyes to Soarin. "Don't tell me you actually asked Pinkie to drag me out here so we can go out." She furiously said, ready to give Soarin another blow.

"What? Are you crazy?" He asked, finally able to get up. "I was going to leave the house anyways. You're outside already, so you're coming with me," He continued, grabbing Rainbow in the arm to pull her towards his destination.

Rainbow slapped Soarin's hand. "That's sexual harassment!" she shouted, keeping her arm to herself.

"You gave me a mortal blow!"

Rainbow stayed silent and instead began a new topic. "Anyways, where are we going?" She asked, continuing to walk.

Soarin lead her and heard his stomach grumble. "Well, i'm feeling hungry, so let's just go eat first. Hayburger's not too far away from here." He suggested, going towards the fasted route to the fast food.





Lightning Dust pleasantly sighed before taking another sip of her milkshake. As she found out that that was actually the last drop, Lightning grunted and slammed the cup on the table. "Geez, why does it always run out so fast!?" She muttered to herself.

Just when she was about to get up to take another order, Quibble came and slid onto the seat in front of Lightning. "Hey, don't order just yet. I'mma join you."

Lightning groaned. "Oh, It's just you. I thought it was one of those kidnappers sneakin' their butts around highschool girls to kidnap 'em." She sat down properly and crossed her legs and arms. "So, are you here to report something about Operation RASH?"

"Woah, woah, woah, wait." Quibble said, confused. "Operation what now? Rash? What the heck does that stand for? And why did it have to be the word rash!?!" He asked, thinking of other possible questions that wouldn't have a real answer.

Laughing, Lightning played with her empty cup. "Hello? We need to come up with some kind of secret name for our.....mission." She said. "Rash meaning Rainbow and Soarin Hazard. And it's called rash because Rainbow gives me itches I want to scratch."

Quibble shuddered and shook his head. "Well, I have important stuff to tell y'know." He said. "It's not exactly a 'date', but I saw Rainbow and Soarin and the park and I overheard them. They were coming here. Hayburger. From the looks of it, it as Pinkie-san's doing again."

"Dammit." Lightning said under her breath. "Since they're already out, all we can do is crash the date!"

"I said it wasn't a da-" Before Quibble could continue, Lightning put her finger on his mouth. One she pulled away, Quibble changed his sentence. He cleared his throat and said, "How're we supposed to do that? If either of them see either of us while they're just having fun won't they get suspicious of us if we stick around even more?"

Lightning wondered. "We just need to move secretly. We won't be suspicious if we don't get too close or act out of the ordinary." She explained, getting up. "I know just what to do, but you need to be very sneaky that it's as if you're invisible."

Quibble raised an eyebrow. "Um......alright."





"Here are your orders!" The waitress said, putting two plates of burgers on Rainbow and Soarin's table. "This one is for the girl, an this one is for you." She pointed at each burger that was in front of them. "Thank you for waiting!" She cheerfully said, quickly bowing her head before rushing to the counter.

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. "Wasn't she a bit....strange?" She asked Soarin, trying to catch a glimpse of the waitress. "Plus, she sounded familiar and didn't show her face."

"Meh, suck it up." Soarin said, already chewing on his burger. He didn't know that he was this hungry that he didn't even wait for Rainbow to start eating.

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow took a large bite of her burger. She looked out the window and stopped as she started coughing. "H-hey...what the hell!?!" She gasped, swiftly drinking her soda. After gasping one last time, she sighed. "I told you no spices!" She pointed angrily at Soarin.

"Eh!?" He said, taking a small chunk of Rainbow's burger and popping it into his mouth. After a few seconds, he started coughing as well. "Wow, it is spicy! Well, I didn't tell them to!"

Rainbow groaned and sat down with her arms crossed. "What the hell am I supposed to eat now!?" She whispered, noticing that they grabbed the attention of some people nearby.

Soarin blushed as he split his burger into half. "We can split my burger in half. We did order the same thing, you know." He placed Rainbow's half on her plate and looked out the window to avoid any comments.

Blushing furiously, Rainbow slowly ate her half. The two didn't talk until hey finished eating as an awkward silence surrounded them.

"So....that was your evil master plan?" Quibble whispered to the cashier, pretending to wait for his order. "To get them to like each other more by spitting the burger?"

The cashier crunted. "That wasn't supposed to happen!" She said, rushing out the door with Quibble being dragged behind her.





Rainbow yawned as she exited the fast food. "Haah....I could go for a little game of Super Smack Sisters.......well, wanna c-come with?" She asked Soarin nervously. She looked away and added, "I-i mean, it's the least I can do for...today."

Soarin mumbled and then gulped before speaking up. "S-sure, but, what if someone from school sees us and starts making rumors?"

"Trust me, they're already talking. I-I mean..." Rainbow stammered. "Just come already!!" She angrily pulled Soarin towards her house which was conveniently right around the corner. "Look, I'm challenging you! Be happy!"

Soarin's eyes narrowed. "Well, fine..I guess. But just stop pulling me? We just ate!"

Rainbow gently dropped him, although Rainbow's acts of being gentle wasn't exactly 'gentle'. "Alright, alright. C'mon, then!" She said, marching inside her house. "Don't let my mom get the wrong idea."

As Soarin entered, rubbing his neck, Lightning jumped out of a nearby bush with Quibble. "Ugh, we lost 'em! We can't work if they're inside her house."

Quibble raised his eyebrows. "Y'know we still can, right?"

"Quibble, I may make evil schemes, but I have standards." Lightning said, making Quibble unsure wether she was joking or not. "But we can crash their party by entering and pretending to be Rainbow's friends." She made a face as she spoke the last few words. Afterwards, she turned to Quibble and smirked. "Plus, won't you love to enter the room of your crush?"

Quibble blushed and angrily stomped towards the opposite direction of Rainbow's house. "I'm not fallin' for that."

Sighing angrily, Lightning pulled Quibble by his sleeve and stomped towards Rainbow's house. "You're coming with me wether you like it or not!!" She pressed on the doorbell and put on a smile. "Excuse us, we're Rainbow's friends! Can we come in??"





"Hey! You cheated!" Soarin shouted, watching his Rink fall off the edge.

"Nuh-uh. I used the hammer, idiot!" Rainbow yelled, making her Zonic taunt. "Just give it up, you lost to meh!"

Before Soarin could protest, there was a small knock on Rainbow's door. "Rainbow, honey, two of your friends came to see you." It seems it was Rainbow's mother.

"I don't remember inviting anybody..." Rainbow muttered as she head towards the door. She opened it just a little, trying not to show that Soarin was here just in case whoever 'friends' was here was going to gossip to others. She raised her eyebrows as she spotted Lightning Dust and Quibble Pants right behind her mother.

"Oh, excuse me." Her mother said, politely leaving them be.

Rainbow balked. "So....what're you two doin' here....together? In my house??"

Lightning grinned for some reason. "We wanted to play some games with you!" She smirked for a second then stepped forward, trying to force Rainbow to let them in. "Duh!"

Quibble cringed at Lightning's acting and sighed. "Lightning insisted."

Rainbow got ready to close the door and slam Lightning's face with it. "What makes you guys think I'll let you come in to this sacred place of mine?" She dramatically said the last part of her question.

Lightning smirked again. "Cuz if you don't, we'll tell the whole school you and Soarin were here." She said, forcing her way through Rainbow Dash and pulling Quibble in.

Rainbow sighed and shut her door. "We have guests." She grumpily said to Soarin with disgust.

To be continued...
> Th-This Is A FRIENDSHIP Valentine, B-Baka!!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rainbow Dash......Rainbow......Rainbow!?"

"GAH!!"

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Scootaloo said in a more calm but worried tone. She hurriedly jumped off the bed and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I was just so excited!"

Rainbow rubbed her forehead since it hit the wall and looked at Scootaloo, who was currently a blurry blob of orange and purple. "It's okay.......just don't do it again......" When her vision became clearer, she examined Scootaloo from head to toe. "Did you tan again?"

Scootaloo blushed and chuckled to hide it. "Uh, yeah!"

Smirking, Rainbow raised her eyebrow. "Looks as if there's more to it than that." She said, whistling. Rainbow slowly got up and fixed her bed. "Anyways, what're you doing here? Did mom let you in?"

Scootaloo's eyes averted. "Erm....noo?" She said a little more quietly. "See, I was so excited that I woke up early and ran to your house without even thinking. But once I got here I realized I'd probably wake your parents up."

Rainbow rolled her eyes with a smile. "It's fine. As long as you didn't break anythi-" She paused, noticing the deflated soccer ball in the corner of her room. She glared at Scootaloo, who was smiling sheepishly. "Well.....what exactly did you come here for?"

Scootaloo's face puffed up. "Right!" She said, rushing to Rainbow's calendar. "Did you forget already? Tomorrow's Valentine's Day!!" She exclaimed happily. She then clapped a hand on her mouth, remembering that she mustn't shout.

"Oh, that ol' thing." Rainbow said with a sigh. She walked over to Scootaloo and made a half-smile. "It's not like I have a boyfriend or anything, so I didn't really prepare for Valentine's Day, much less remember when it is." She cocked her head and grinned mischievously. "What brings you here of all places with that information?"

Scootaloo looked away and laughed awkwardly. Then she snapped up with a bright smile. "Oh! I wanted to make Valentine's Day cards and chocolates with you! Then we can exchange!"

Rainbow Dash put her arms on her hips and raised an eye brow. "Sure there's nothing else?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"Uh-huh."

"Yep!"

"......c'mon, spill it out!" Rainbow said, trapping Scootaloo in a hug. "You can tell me A-NY-THING!" She said, tickling Scootaloo non-stop.

Scootaloo, who was laughing like a maniac, struggled to make Rainbow let go. "S-stop it! Ahahah! R-really, there's-hah-nothing else-AHAHAH!!!" She tried to cover her mouth, but Rainbow quickly noticed it and hugged her arm as well.

After a few seconds, Rainbow laughed and let her go. "Just kidding, just kidding!!" She said. "But seriously. You can tell me anything! After all, I did promise to take you under my wing from a very long time ago, and I'm not breaking any promises!"

Scootaloo's eyes widened and scratched her arm. "Aw, c'mon, Rainbow! It's not exactly important."

"Would something that was worth waking up very early and waking your idol up just to make Valentine's Day cards and chocolates 'not exactly important'?" Rainbow asked with a smug smile.

Scootaloo flinched in defeat and sighed. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you! But you have to Pinkie Promise you won't tell anybody else! Even Sweetie Belle and Applebloom!" She said, thinking what her Cutie Mark Crusader friends would think of her when they find about what she was about to tell Rainbow.

Rainbow did the right actions with a smirk. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She finished with a grin and then then sat at her table in the middle of her room. "Come, sit. Now tell meh!"

Scootaloo did so and puffed up her face again. "So.......uh....." She began, sweat pouring from her face. But then she glanced at Rainbow, who was staring at her with a smug grin, and decided that she can't exactly keep it a secret from Rainbow Dash. "There's....this guy?"

Rainbow held back her laughter and instead let out a loud cough. A hard one, in fact. "Is there indeed?" She said with a small chuckle. "Haven't heard the details, and I love this already." She said, the biggest chesire cat grin on her face.

Scootaloo blushed furiously and waved both hands at Rainbow. "I-It's not like that! See....um......"

"....um......?"

"....well....."

Rainbow laughed with a few coughs breaking out. "My God, Scoots!!" She exclaimed. "You're-HAHAH, you're so cute when you're frustrated! Boy, am I ready to start shippin' you with.....whatever this guy's name is! Man, I'm so proud my little Scoots is growin'!" She continued laughing her hand on Scootaloo's shoulder.

Scootaloo blushed and puffed her face yet again. "It's not funny!" She groaned and looked away.

"Yeah it is! You can hide a box full if action figures, Scoots, but ya can't hide the bloom of first love!" Rainbow said, starting to calm her laughter. "So, who's this 'guy'?"

"Not telling."

"C'mon, you little lovebird!"

"No!"

"I won't tell if you don't tell!"

Scootaloo jumped a little and then turned to Rainbow. "First off, you know about my action figures? And second of all, what do you mean 'I won't tell'??" She asked. Then her pupils shrunk with realization. "Ohhhhh. I get it." She said with a small giggle and a smirk.

Rainbow's face became red. Then she smirked in return to hide her embarrassment. "Ehhh? You even understand feelings now, huh?Man, are you entering the teen stage. Your breasts are growing, too!"

Scootaloo blushed even more and crossed her arms, attempting to hide her chest. "D-don't change the subject! Anywho, who's your crush? You said that you won't tell if I don't tell, so tell me!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked Scootaloo in the eye. "You go first." She said.

Scootaloo inhaled some air then exhaled it. "Argh....fine." She averted her eyes as her face slowly crimsoned. "It's Rumble." She then looked at Rainbow, prepared for another one of her laughing fits, but instead, she saw a Rainbow Dash with small pupil, dazed. "What? You're not gonna laugh?"

Rainbow shook her head and smiled. "Oh, that's not it.....it's just.....his brother is Soarin.....and........"

"Huh? What're you talking abou-oh. Ohhhhh.....ooooooh!" Scootaloo chuckled. "I see how it is. Rainbow and Soarin, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G~!" She merrily sang.

Rainbow groaned and hugged Scootaloo again, prepared to tickle her again.

Scootaloo laughed. "Sorry! Sorry!" She said in the midst of laughter. Then she stopped, making Rainbow let go of her. "But it's not just him I wanna give chocolates to. I'm making friendship chocolates to give to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Twist, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, you, and Pinkie! Oh yeah, and Babs Seed, too, she's visiting for a while."

Rainbow grinned and jumped up. "Alright, then let's get bakin'!"

"YEAH!!!"

After a few hours of baking and making a bunch of cards, Rainbow decided to call it a day, but then Scootaloo wanted to hang out with Rainbow even more, so she 'accidentally' knocked over a bag of flour. Afterwards, they played Mortal Battle and the loser would clean up, but they ended up having countless rounds because Rainbow said that her arms were still 'tired from whisking the chocolate together'. After what it seemed like hours, they finally cleaned up because Rainbow got a text from her mom saying she was coming home soon. But, it seemed as if both of them were happy.

"Hey," Rainbow said as Scootaloo slipped into her shoes, preparing to walk back home. "Actually, you never answered my question. Why did you get a tan?"

Scootaloo chuckled softly, as if trying to avoid answering. "Well.....Rumble complimented me when I got a tan last summer. He said it looked good on me." She said, a faint red painting her face.

Rainbow smirked and then turned to the door. She couldn't let a little kid walk home by herself this late, so she agreed to walking her home. "Alrighty."





The next day, Rainbow packed her chocolates in a heart shaped box in which Pinkie insisted that Rainbow would use a few days ago. As Rainbow walked to school, she could already feel so many thoughts creeping up behind her. She shook it off, though, trying to focus on not being late to school.

"DASHIE!!!"

Rainbow turned around and the next thing she knew was that she was attacked by a squirming ball of energy. Rainbow laughed awkwardly and tapped Pinkie on the back, alarming her to get off.

Pinkie Pie giggled as she let go and dusted her uniform. She continued walking and then suddenly stopped. "I smell chocolate."

"Shoot." Rainbow thought. Of course Pinkie would smell the balls of chocolate with caramel inside it. Heck, she couldn't even hide a single pack of sprinkles from Pinkie. "Oh.....you do?" Rainbow lied, avoiding the topic. "I don't smell a thing except for.......these golden flowers! Hah! They look shiny, am I right!?"

Pinkie's eyes turned to the golden flowers. "Oooooh! They look like those flowers from that famous indie game!" She excitedly said, jumping towards the golden flowers. She examined them and kept talking about how shiny they were, allowing Rainbow a moment to heave a sigh.

Then, Pinkie stopped talking for a minute to glance at Rainbow, who seemed absorbed in something else. Pinkie grinned knowingly and stood straight. "Well, best we get going!" She said, humming as she skipped forward. Rainbow followed her like a lost child whose mind was not in this world.

After dealing with all the letters, gifts, and poems from her locker, Rainbow Dash faced another one of her Valentine's Day problems. The hallways. There would at least be some boys stalking her, following her, or attempting to give her something. Rainbow was used to mending them, but this time around she had Soarin and Quibble to worry about. She'd have to worry about being alone with Soarin for at least 5 minutes to give him her gift and worry if Quibble was going to do anything to her. Plus, there was Lightning Dust. Who knows what the heck she's up to.

Rainbow sighed as she roamed around the halls for a few minutes, prepared for the boys planning to 'confess'. She might as well speed up the process. Even a few girls gave Rainbow chocolates (which, Rainbow recognized them as underclassmen and one of them was a senior). After a while, Rainbow head to her classroom where Pinkie was waiting, and she was actually calmer than usual.

"Ey, what's up, Pink?" Rainbow asked as she walked up in front of her. "Did someone actually give you something?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Don't be silly! I'm not someone people would give those kind of heart felt things to." She said with a smile.

Honestly, this was surprising to Rainbow. Was Pinkie actually upset or jealous of Rainbow? Surely not. Then, Pinkie looked up and noticed Rainbow's worried look. "Don't worry, I'm not jealous of you!" She said, waving her hand in understandment.

......Did Pinkie just read Rainbow's mind?

Pinkie sighed. "It's just that the fans ship me with people who rarely get screen time. I'm happy that I'm not limited to a ship with a background character who never spoke and practically poked balloons with his horn to show where Applebloom was hiding, unlike Applejack who is shipped with a background character, but....." She said, looking at the open classroom door. Right outside was Pokey Pierce, fixing a loose button with a needle. In the other side of the room, Party Favor and Cheese Sandwich were having their regular goof offs. Pinkie giggled and continued. "I wish they'd show more episodes of those two. And give them more character development that I can help with."

Rainbow looked at Pinkie with a very confused face. "Screen time? Episodes? What the hell are you talking about?" She asked, scratching the back of her head.

Pinkie laughed and snorted. "Ah, right. You won't get it." She got up excitedly and grinned. "Good luck with dem Soarin Chocolates!" She said before almost rushing to Cheese's desk.

"W-wait!" Rainbow said, taking out a small plastic bag of friendship chocolates. "Valentine's ain't just for friends, y'know." She grinned and placed it on Pinkie's hand.

"Awwww, Rainbow!" Pinkie said, almost comically tearing up. Then she hugged Rainbow and placed a square box on Rainbow's hand. "Friendship chocolate chip cookie-flavored cupcakes! See, people usually give chocolates, but I thought I'd be different and give out cookies! Then I thought of cupcakes, so why not all of them in one thing!?" She explained as Rainbow opened the box to sniff the savory smell. "Well, see ya!"

Rainbow nodded and happily closed the box before looking around. Soarin......wasn't in class. There was still time before class started for Rainbow to give Soarin her chocolates. Rainbow quickly ran out the class, with the box in a plastic bag. Boys (and some girls) would go wild if they find out Rainbow was actually giving this year.

Rainbow spotted Soarin taking a short nap near the cherry blossom trees. She groaned as she approached him, doing her best to make loud steps in case he'd wake up from that. "Oi." She said loudly but softly. "Soarin. Wake up or I'll cut you." She threatened, seeing if it actually worked.

Soarin barely moved, except for the fact that he was breathing.

Grunting, Rainbow bent down and glared at him. "Hey, listen to a girl when she's talkin' to ya!" She angrily said, prepared to give him a mortal blow if he doesn't wake up.

Soarin moved his head, but no signs of waking up. Just when Rainbow was clenching her fist, Soarin merely got up and pulled Rainbow over to him.

"H-hey-" Rainbow stammered as she bent down even closer to him. She tried to pull away, but something made her stay put.

Soarin lightly snored, but that cute-bishounen-kind of snore. He rested his head on top of of Rainbow's, as if they were a couple falling asleep on each other in a train.

.......Wait. What.

Rainbow fell silent. She could feel his body heat. Plus, he was somewhat...soft? She felt that it was a bit too cruel if she punched him now, but her anger covered that feeling. "S-Soarin, wake the hell up. If you don't I'll stab you with a fork made of fire." She loudly whispered, moving him a little bit. "If you don't wake, people would get the wrong idea. You know what idea!" She said that last part even louder, enough to wake a sleeping giant.

Soarin lifted his head frantically and then turned his head over to Rainbow. Thing is, their faces were merely 5 inches apart.

Rainbow couldn't take it anymore. She punched him in the chest. Rather hardly. "Wake the hell up, you lazy moron!" She shouted before hastily getting up and brushing cherry blossom petals off her body.

"@#$%!" Soarin shot up as if he were soldier. "Ah........I mean, yes, sir!"

Rainbow rasied her eyebrow as if to warn him not to call her bossy afterwards.

Soarin rolled his eyes and blinked, trying to make his sleepiness fade. "Why'd you wake me up....?" He asked. "Well, it wasn't like I had a good dream, it was actually quite weird. We were snuggling here on the floor...."

"Say no more!" Rainbow yelled furiously. She calmed herself and looked up at Soarin (He was a lot taller than her). "A-anyways...." She paused, not able to bring up Valentine's Day over what happened. "C-class is starting in 10 minutes! You better be there!"

Soarin glanced at her for a minute and then checked his watch. It was true, but she seemed as if she was lying. "Sure there's nothing else? You don't exactly wake people up because class is starting."

Rainbow flinched as her face puffed up again. She was hiding the plastic bag behind her, and she didn't exactly know how to explain this to Soarin.

"....um.....here!" She said as if she were commanding him to accept the gift. She shot her arms up toward him and presented the pink heart box. Rainbow looked away, not wanting to see his reaction. "S-sorry about the box. Pinkie insisted." She reassured.

Soarin blushed and took the box without a word. He examined it before taking the lid off to smell the sweetness. He tried to hold back a smile but failed and then placed the lid back on before looking back at Rainbow, who was blushing more than ever before.

Rainbow put her hands on her hips. "WELL. This is a friendship chocolate, okay!?" She huffed, turning her head away. "Nothing special! It symbolizes friendsip!"

Soarin chuckled awkwardly and then walked past her. Then, he stopped and turned to her, who was looking down at the pile of cherry blossoms. "Oh yeah, and....th-thanks." He said before turning and rushing towards the school building.

Rainbow sighed in relief. Finally, it was over. She turned around after a few minutes and then followed. Now, how to deal with Quibble and Lightning.....





"Senpaiiii!!"

Soarin stopped in his tracks and turned, only to find a crowd of girls rush to him. He sighed and muttered, "Lay it on me."

"Be my Valentine, Soarin-kun!"

"Senpai, I love youuuu!"

"Soarin-senpai, I made a chocolate cake for you! I put all my love in it!!!"

Soarin sighed, trying to calm the riot. Just then, he recognized a familiar short-haired blonde rush up to him, pushing a few girls away. "Shi-"

"Soarin~!" She said merrily. "Come with me!" She pulled his wrist and fought her way through the crowd of fangirls, whose glares could probably pierce through metal. Lightning proudly ignored them, though, since they didn't do anything to her because it was obvious that she seemed to know Soarin personally.

After a long struggle, they got out of the crowd and they ran up to the rooftop. "Chocolates! Just. For. You!" She said, revealing a chocolate heart box with Soarin's face stuck on it.

Soarin accepted it with a sigh and opened it. It was sweet and it smelled delicious, and it looked handmade. He felt happy, but at the same time not knowing how to say he didn't exactly like her. But she probably knew that. Plus, there were friggin letters on each chocolate saying SoarinDust. Figures. "U-um, thanks!" He said, not knowing what else to say. But Lightning seemed very, very satisfied.

Lightning jumped. "Yay!" She sang as she leaped and hugged his arm. "C'mon, it's almost time for class~!"





Rainbow coughed as she dusted the blackboard eraser into the air. She sighed in relief before handing the eraser to Fluttershy, who put the eraser back to its place. Rainbow turned and looked out the window to watch the students outside at the plaza, running around doing their own shenanigans. Just then, she spotted a familiar dark blue haired boy with a blonde girl tugging his arm. Rainbow cringed and looked at somebody else. Quibble. He looked....troubled? He was looking for something. Then, Rainbow came to the realization that that 'something' was  a 'someone' when Quibble took out a pouch and started to open it right in front of a trash can....

"Ah, sorry, you'll have to clean without me!" Rainbow ran out the door, throwing the broom she was holding into Rarity's hands, who held it with merely 2 fingers in disgust.

Rainbow quickly ran outside and into the school plaza. She didn't wan't him to waste such good looking chocolates because...what? He was too embarrassed to give them to her? Honestly, that was a stupid reason. Rainbow hastily stopped right next to him. "H-hey, s...stop!" She said, grabbing the pouch right before it landed inside.

Quibble looked up and turned to Rainbow, dumbfounded. "Wha?"

"You can't just throw chocolates because you couldn't give them to someone!" Rainbow yelled, catching attention. She slapped him across the face for punishment. "Anyways, here." She said, placing it on his hands. "If you're not giving them, at least eat them yourself."

"Wait, no!" Quibble said right after Rainbow turned to leave. "They're actually for you. Here." He said, putting them back into Rainbow's hands.

Rainbow took it and forced a smile. She was happy, but..... "Thanks!" She said, avoiding anything else. She ran back upstairs, relieved that that was over with. Except....

"RAINBOW-SENPAI!!!"

It's gonna be a long day.





"She gave Soarin chocolates and he seems happy....I gave him chocolates but that didn't do anything........he was happy when he ate it.....but not as happy as when he ate Rainbow's.......gah! That damned pile of Rainbows! I'll just have to try even harder next time.......I have the perfect plan this time. It certainly won't fail."

To be continued...
> Petal Of Remembrance >PICTURE EDIT<
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


- Petal Of Remembrance -


Rainbow sighed and fell to her knees as soon as she closed the front door to her house and slipped off her shoes. Finally, she managed to get Valentine's Day over. That was a very tiring day. Rainbow lay herself down on the floor and sighed. What a day.....

"Rainbow, is that you?" Her mom asked from which Rainbow suspected was the kitchen. "At least say if you are."

"I'm home!" Rainbow shouted, loud enough for her to hear. She forced herself up and ran up to her room, catching a glance of her mother.

"Rainbo-"

Rainbow was too tired that she didn't hear her mom say anything and closed the door to her room. Panting, she turned around with a shocked expression. "Scoots, what're you doing here!?" She whispered, in case Scootaloo snuck in again.

Scootaloo jumped up from the coffee table excitedly and rushed to her mentor. "You're back!! How'd it go, how'd it go!?"

Rainbow chuckled and rubbed Scootaloo on the head. "Woah, calm down, sport!" She laughed and set her bag on her desk. "It was.....okay. You know I don't participate in 'gossip'." She asked with a smirk.

Scootaloo huffed. "C'mon, did he like it? Did he eat it in front of you? Did you kiss? Did you-"

"Woah, chill! We ain't going that far yet." Rainbow chuckled and took her coat off, setting it on her chair. "He liked it, but I dunno when he ate it. I'm not a stalker." She paused a little, thinking of Lightning. Did she stalk him? Dash didn't even want to know. "Anywayyy, I was planning on playing this online game, so if you wanna do something, come later, ok?"

Scootaloo's face drooped and then turned into a pleading face. "Pwease Rainbow?" She begged with puppy dog eyes. "I wanna do at least something with you!"

Rainbow groaned and turned to Scootaloo. "Alright, fine. We can go play baseball with the boys in the park like we did last week. You up for it?" She asked, putting her coat back on.

"Yes! Yes! Let's go!" Scootaloo excitedly leaped around the room and then climbed down the window. "I'll meet you at your front door!" She squealed right before sliding down with a rope.

After that, it got quiet. Rainbow sighed in sweet release.

"Why do people always enter through my window?"





Soarin yawned as he set himself on the park bench. He was walking home, but the chocolates he got from Rainbow would melt by then. He slowly opened the box and examined one before popping it into his mouth. Soarin grinned with delight as it melted in his mouth. As he was reaching for another one.....

"Yo, Soars!"

Soarin looked up, startled. Then he smirked. "Oh, hey Thunderlane." He continued in taking another chocolate as Thunderlane laughed.

"So whose chocolates are those?" Thunderlane jokingly asked. "I heard half of the girls in school gave you some goods." He sat beside him and then noticed the heart box. "Wait...didn't I see Rainbow holding that?"

Soarin blushed, but he looked away, attempting not to show it. He tried to choke out an answer, but nothing came.

A smug smile spread across Thunderlane's face. "Ahhhhh.....okay, the rumors are true then!" He burst out into laughter. "Bro, you shoulda told me! You had me worried you'd never find the perfect one!"

"People are still going on about that?" Soarin balked. Well, some things never become forgotten. "Whatever. I just......don't want the chocolates to go to waste."

Thunderlane rolled his eyes playfully. "Right, right." He jolted as his pocked rumbled. He took out his phone and turned it on, reading his new message. Soarin couldn't make it out, but Thunderlane chuckled, a slight hint of red on his cheeks. "Heh.......see? Getting girls is easy when you actually commit and admit!" He lightly smacked Soarin on the shoulder and got up. "If you excuse me, Cloudchaser's waiting."

And with that, he took off.

Soarin averted his eyes and then watched his friend leave. He closed the chocolate box and set it back in the plastic bag before looking back at Thunderlane. He actually was with Cloudchaser. And of course, Flitter was there too, but she left them alone. Soarin got up with a sigh and then turned to leave, until he heard his name being mentioned by a little girl.

"Did you bring me here just so I can play with Rumble?"

"Revenge!"

"What did I do!?"

"Didn't I just say while we were in my room that I wanted to play Overlook?"

".....yes? And?"

"Well, now. I. Can't! At least not today. But nonetheless, payback time!"

Soarin recognized that voice. He quickly his behind a tree in case they saw him. He peeked from behind it and watched.

Sure enough, he was right. Rainbow lead Scootaloo to the boys playing baseball with a smirk. "'Sup, mind if we tag along?" She asked as if it were a challenge. It wasn't her first time playing with them, so they agreed.

"Of course, sis! You're a good player, after all!"

It was Scootaloo's first time, though, so Snails came up and examined her head to toe. "Say, I know you!" He exclaimed. "You're one of those Cutie Mart Ciders, right?"

Scootaloo snorted. "It's Cutie Mark Crusaders." She corrected. But, even with that sass, she was felt uncomfortable and avoided looking at Rumble, who was standing at the side of the group. "Anyways, Rainbow suggested that I come here, so....."

"Scoots here doesn't know how to play baseball, so can one of you teach her or somethin'?" Rainbow cut Scootaloo off and rested her hand on Scootaloo's shoulder. She looked up and scanned the school of boys. There weren't that many, but Rainbow knew exactly who pick. She swiftly pointed at Rumble without hesitation. "You! Your name is Rumble, right? Teach Scoots the basics!"

Rumble froze for a second there and then pointed at himself. "Wait, you mean me?"

Scootaloo blushed and looked up at Rainbow. "H-how come you're not the one teaching me!?" She asked frantically.

"Just cuz."

Scootaloo grumbled and puffed up. "Alright, fine! How do I play?" She asked.

Rumble blushed a little and then handed her the bat. "Here, hold this and....."

As he taught her the basics, Rainbow watched them proudly with the biggest Chesire Cat smirk on her face. The rest of the boys did so as well, since it wouldn't take very long to teach. Soarin, however, covered his mouth, suppressing a laugh. He knew exactly what was going on. Taking out his phone, Soarin chuckled silently. "You grow up so fast.......but I hope you don't mind I take a picture of this ridiculous scenario." He jokingly uttered and pointed the camera at the two of them. He waited for the right moment to take a shot.

"And then you swing it like this...." Rumble swung the bat, demonstrating how it should be done as Scootaloo watched intently.

Scootaloo grabbed the bat. "Alright, alright, I get it." She assured him. She held it incorrectly and prepared to bat.

"Hey, wait-" He attempted to show fix her position by grabbing her hand, and.....

"Perfect!" Soarin thought as he pressed 'capture'. But just as he did, a random but strong gust of wind came, almost catching Soarin off guard.

Rainbow internally shrieked and tightly put her hands on her skirt. She sighed in relief and looked around. "Hopefully no boys are arou-" She froze as she noticed Soarin, holding his phone, aiming the camera at them.

Soarin was grinning mischievously before he noticed a very angry Rainbow Dash, glaring at him. "What the hell did I do-" He paused at he looked at the photo he captured carefully and blushed.

.......

"YOU FRIGGIN PERVERT! ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR WHAT!?!"

"Hey, that was an accident!"

"I DON'T CARE IF IT IS, WHY WERE YOU TAKING PICTURES IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!"

Rainbow literally one-punched Soarin with an extra hadouken attack, making sure he learned his lesson. The boys watched in awe, never knowing that such powerful attacks exist. Scootaloo and Rumble, however, were not just watching in awe, but in shock of what the hell was happening to the people they look up to.

After that, Soarin ended up playing along with them. Nobody remembered how that even happened. What Rainbow and Soarin knew was that things will no longer be normal between them. In fact.....it was never normal between them. Trying to forget what happened, they exchanged smirks whenever Scootaloo and Rumble came into contact, were up against each other, or talked to each other.

As the sky grew a pale orange, the boys said goodbye to each other, as their parents were probably worried. Rumble rushed up to Soarin with confusion. "Mind explaining what just happened?" He asked.

Soarin hesitated. "When you get to the right age, you'll find out."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at Soarin. "Soarin, you do know that he's a 12 year old boy who's turning 13 this year, right?" She reminded him. Although she was embarrassed to let others know, but she was just trying to play around with Soarin as a punishment.

Soarin just stared at her blankly.

Rumble tilted his head. "Oh, so you two are dating? I can take that, bro."

"NO!" The two yelled. Scootaloo chuckled and tried to hide it.

The four said their goodbyes and Rainbow walked Scootaloo home, just as Soarin walked home with Rumble. As Rainbow and Scootaloo where walking, though, Scootaloo mentioned something.

"Hey, come to think of it, if you marry Soarin and I marry Rumble, we'll become sisters-in-law!"

......and that was the longest walk Rainbow ever walked.

As they were walking home, Rumble was still very confused. "I thought you said you weren't into that kind of stuff?" He asked curiously, but Soarin seemed like he didn't hear. "Um....big bro?"

"Huh? What?" Soarin said, jumping a little before turning his head to Rumble. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"......so you do like her....." Rumble blurted out almost without thinking. "I mean, seriously! Tell me what happened!" He demanded. "I'm sure I can take it! And if you won't tell me, at least answer my other question."

Soarin mumbled and then looked down at his brother. "What was your other question again?"

"It wasn't exactly a question, but I thought you said you weren't into those lovey-dovey stuff?"

Soarin looked up at the sky. "Well....." He muttered, thinking of a response. Frankly, he didn't know what response to give. "When you.....grow up. A thing.....messes with your brain. And..........makes you think more....maturely???"

Rumble raised a brow. "Huh?"

"Just........whatever. Puberty, I guess." Soarin said, eyes glued to the sidewalk. "It kind of.....makes you think more like an adult. Or.....what do you call it.....you have a phase. It's hard to explain."

Rumble chuckled. "Long story short, you fell in love?"

Soarin averted his eyes. "However you see it, I'm becoming an adult now!" He claimed, avoiding the answer.

But the thing is, that wasn't it. That was only a quarter of the truth.




	

"Now, remember, Soarin! Stay at the park with Spitfire. Mama and Papa will be back by afternoon!"

"Yes, Mama!"

The woman stood and turned to her husband. "Are you sure about this? Why don't we just call Grandma to babysit?"

The little boy huffed. "Mama, I'm old enough!"

The couple laughed. "Okay, sweetheart, but be careful! Don't leave the park, okay?"

"Okay!" The two children said.

The couple left the children alone, still a little worried. But the children insisted and waved goodbye as the two left. Soarin grinned at Spitfire. "Now what?"

"Why don't we play baseball?" Spitfire suggested. "Oh....we don't have anything for baseball-playing."

Soarin brightened up. "I have a glove!" He said, taking out a baseball glove.

Spitfire frowned. "But......we still need a ball and a bat."

Soarin sat down. "Hmm......I know! Let's go find a really strong stick!" He happily jumped and ran off to the trees without another thought crossing his mind.

"Soarin, wait!"

Excited, Soarin didn't hear her calling out to him. Instead he ventured on, looking for what seemed to be impossible. Just then, he nearly tripped, but just in time, he jumped back. There was a small twig right in front of him. "It didn't break!" He gasped, picking it up with a grin. "Spifire, I found one!" He turned around, only to find he was alone. "Spifire?"

Soarin grew even more scared when he looked around him. He couldn't find a way out. He sat there, not wanted to go even further into this lost state. Tears slowly streamed down his face. He wiped them off, but they just kept on coming. Eventually he gave up and buried his face in his hands.

"Are you okay?"

Soarin sniffled, trying to stop crying. It sounded like a little girl the same age as him, but it wasn't Spitfire, and he wasn't about to let a girl see him cry.

"Is someone there?"

There was the voice again. Soarin wiped the remains of his tears off, but tears just kept flowing down like a continuous waterfall. "H-help me......" He muttered in defeat.

A rustling came from a nearby bush as a little girl fought her way out. Soarin could feel that she stepped closer to him, and he tried to look away. He was expecting her to laugh, but instead, he felt something soft pat his head. He slowly looked up, his eyes red from crying.

"There, there!" The girl cheered. "Are you okay?" She asked, removing her hand.

Soarin weakly nodded.

The girl giggled. "Are you lost?"

Soarin hung his head, afraid to admit it. Eventually, he nodded again. Another small, warm tear poured down. He wiped it off again and avoided the girl's eyes.

"It's alright!"

Soarin jumped a little and looked at his hand, another hand grabbing it. He looked up at the girl in confusion.

"You're going to be okay!" She insisted. "Come with me!"

Soarin slowly got up, his back aching a little. He followed the girl deep into the forest, not knowing what else to do. He didn't ask where they were headed, either. Soon, the girl stopped. "Huh?" Soarin cocked his head and tried to get a clear view of where they were. He never saw this part of the park before, but it was beautiful.

There were many golden flowers growing around the area, including some baby blue ones. There was also a most notably large waterfall right in front of them. The trees around them also looked much healthier than the trees everywhere else.

"Do you like it?" The girl asked. "It's my special place! You get to join me!" She smiled, running towards a blue flower. Soarin followed her.

"Here, for you!" She said, a blue flower in her hands.

Soarin stood there, perplexed. How was he supposed to react? Was he supposed to take it? He was a boy, and a boy having a flower would be weird.

"My mommy says that the simplest things can make anyone happy!" Her smile was bright, and her aura was upbeat. But somehow, it was also relaxing.

Soarin slowly accepted it without uttering a single word, but as he looked at the girl, she didn't look like she minded at all. He examined the flower. It glowed as it reflected the light from the waterfall, which reflected the sun's shine. Soarin smiled a little and chuckled.

The girl grinned and then turned to the waterfall. She ran towards it and came back with water balanced in her palms. She gently poured the water on the flower. Slowly, it turned red. No.......blue. Actually, it was rainbow-colored now. Soarin watched in amazement.

The girl laughed, seemingly pleased with his reaction. She ran back to the waterfall and started splashing water all around the little area. "Do you wanna come play?" She asked, beckoning him towards her.

But Soarin stayed in the shadows. Nonetheless, the girl turned and kept splashing the water. After a few seconds, Soarin turned to leave, but he also wanted to play with her.

"Oh, Soarin! There you are!"

Soarin looked up, noticing her mother right in front of him. She looked very, very worried.

"Don't ever run off like that again! You had me worried!" She said, almost at the brink of tears. She picked him up and smiled. "C'mon, let's get you back! It turns out Spitfire's mom can look after you."

Soarin nodded, but looked back at the little girl, who was still splashing water onto the flowers. Maybe they'd see each other again one day.






"Hmm......maybe he needs a punch in the face?"

"As much as I agree, he's injured, you know."

"I was just kidding!"

"I'm awake, dammit......" Soarin mumbled, slowly blinking. He saw three blurry blobs in front of him. "What......what's going on?" He asked, confused. Soon, he could make out white walls and a big window.

"Bro, you're awake!" A voice said. Soarin recognized it as his brother. His voice cracked a bit, though.

Another voice snickered. "See? He's not dead! Don't be such a crybaby."

"I am not!" Rumble protested.

Soarin grumbled as his vision grew clearer. "Wh......where am I? Wait, what am I doing in a hospital room?"

Rainbow sighed. "Rumble called us yesterday and said you bumped into a street lamp yesterday." She snorted. "How the hell did that happen? Were you distracted by a......certain something?"

Soarin flushed. "I told you, I deleted that picture!" He said. He stared at Rainbow, suddenly remembering his dream. Noticing the weird atmosphere, Scootaloo and Rumble shuffled out of the room, snickering.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sat down on the visitor's chair. "So tell me, what did cause you to bump your head?"

Soarin looked up at the ceiling, pain suddenly struck his head and looked back down. "Rumble just asked me about what happened at the park and I spaced out I guess."

"Really?" Rainbow raised her eyebrow. "Seems to me like it's more than that, y'know." She leaned back on the chair and looked out the window, watching the drops of rain streaming down the window. There seems to be a convenient shoujo anime rain coming down.

Soarin shrugged, then realized Rainbow wasn't even looking. "I remembered something while I was knocked out......like some kind of flashback, you know?"

".....no, I don't." Rainbow said bluntly.

Soarin looked at Rainbow, who was looking at him this time. "Oh yeah....what happened to my bag? Your chocolates were in there, and I didn't finish 'em yet."

Rainbow's eyes shifted across the room. Soarin weakly lifted the upper part of his body and noticed his bag, placed gently on the table. It looked pretty wet. "Did the chocolates....?

"Melt? Yup." Rainbow sighed sadly. "But I made you new ones." She blushed as she threw a pouch of chocolates on his lap. "Y-you better appreciate it!"

Soarin rolled his eyes with a smile. Even at a time like this she's like that. Soarin hesitated before opening it, though, and took some time examining the design of the pouch. It had two petals stuck to it, one blue and one golden. He opened the plastic and threw a chocolate into his mouth. "This is even better than the last one! Thanks!"

Rainbow blushed even more. "D-don't mention it. Seriously." She looked out the window again, watching the two droplets of rain race down.............droplet number 2 won. She picked up her water bottle, which she set on the ground a while ago, and opened the cap. She poured the water on the two petals. It slowly, ever so slowly, turned into a rainbow color. Soarin fell silent once again.

"Well hey........."

"Mmhmm?" Soarin mumbled, so amazed at the sight that he couldn't say a word.

"Sometimes the simplest things can make anyone happy."

Soarin paused as he stared at Rainbow.

..........

"SOARIN!! O. M. G!" A loud voice interrupted the silence. "I was so worried! Are you okay? Does your head hurt? Did you get amnesia?" She gasped. "Do you remember me!?!" Lightning Dust examined Soarins face and hands.

Soarin struggled to make Lightning let go. "G-get off, please.....I'm tired...."

"Oh, right! Of course!" Lightning jumped off with a giggle. Behind her, Pinkie Pie and Quibble Pants entered the room.

"Have you ever heard of 'staying quiet in hospitals', Lightning?" Quibble grumbled, occupying the seat next to Rainbow. He blushed at the fact that he was so near her. "Rainbow told us you were hospitalized, so we came to check up on you."

Pinkie giggled in that memorable Pinkie way. She took out a big heart card and placed it on Soarin's hands, next to the chocolates. "Our whole class wishes you well!" She cheerfully announced.

Soarin grabbed the card in disbelief. "How did you all get in contact so quickly?"

Quibble raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Rainbow didn't tell you?"

Soarin turned his head to Rainbow with a questioning face.

"Err.....right, I forgot to mention a teensy weensy thing." Rainbow laughed awkwardly. "You kinda skipped school for today. You bumped into the street lamp yesterday." She pointed at Pinkie, who grabbed a calendar out of nowhere.

Soarin eyed the calendar and opened the card. Sprinkles were glued on it as a design. Wait..........that's not glue.....that's......

"Yep! Icing!" Pinkie giggled. "You are correct, readers!"

Lightning cocked her head. "......readers?"

Pinkie pointed at you. "Them! Oh wait, nevermind. I gotta keep remembering that none of you would understand. Continue on with the story please!"

..........

Rainbow rolled her eyes and turned to Soarin. "Aaaaaaanyways, the doctor told me you'll be just fine. Your memory got jogged a little, but he said that you didn't exactly forget anything. Weird."

"Makes sense why I got that dream." Soarin said to himself under his breath.

Just then, Nurse Redheart came in with her clipboard in hand. "Excuse me, if you're done with the visit, Soarin needs a small checkup before leaving." She said ever so kindly.

Lightning beamed. "Does that mean he'll come to school tomorrow?" She asked excitedly.

Redheart nodded. "He can't participate in too much physical eduaction, though. You'll have to be careful from now on, okay, Soarin?" She said, stepping closer towards the group. Soarin nodded.

"Good!" Nurse Redheart smiled and then looked at the students. They all nodded knowingly and left the room, bowing politely before they did. The nurse turned to Soarin. "Are you feeling any better?" She asked.

Soarin nodded slowly. "It still hurts a little, but........one of my friends said my memory was jogged."

Redheart smiled. "Yes, but do not fret. Like what your friend probably mentioned, you didn't forget anything. We gave you a medicine that prevented that. It seems, however, that your memory became clearer instead." Her smile faded a little. "I also know......that you had amnesia."

"I.....had amnesia?" Soarin asked. "Since when? I don't remember having amnesia!" He said, trying best to stay calm.

"It's nothing serious." Redheart explained carefully. "When you were little, you got hit in the head playing basketball. All your memories were retrieved. The ones with Spitfire, your family vacations, your sports days in kindergarten, everything. There was one memory, however, that didn't return."

Soarin looked at his hands. He know now what she was talking about.

Redheart continued. "I asked your parents, but they were very thorough on their explanation that they don't recall anything else that you should remember. They thought maybe it was something you experienced by yourself."

Then her smile returned. "It seems that the memory returned." She looked at something Soarin couldn't make out, but when he followed her gaze, he realized she was talking abut the pouch of chocolates in his hand.

To be continued...
> White Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Guess what!" Rainbow turned around to see a bubbly Pinkie Pie skipping across the school halls, catching up to her as if she was running from a manticore.

"What?" Rainbow asked, curious to hear what kind of news he had. It was usually that the bakery had a 50% off sale, or some kind of ridiculous news about Lightning Dust trying to seduce Soarin."...and aren't you supposed to be at the cooking club right now?"

Pinkie simply grinned. "I know! I was just there 83.6 seconds ago!" She revealed a golden pocket watch to Rainbow, which was actually broken. "I came here to remind you that it's White Day tomorrow!"

Rainbow cocked her head. "The heck is White Day? Sounds kinda racist."

"Hey!" Pinkie grunted, pointing at something. "You can't say that! Some butthurt people might be reading this!" She crossed her arms and sighed. "Why do I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, always have to make sure these stories don't offend any readers!?"

Rainbow raised a hand. "Speak English, Pink. You still didn't answer my question."

Pinkie chuckled and took out a calendar she somehow hid behind her back and skipped through the pages until she found a specific month. She then pointed at one of the dates. "White Day is a day where, if a male gets a gift from a female on Valentine's Day, return the favor by giving a gift to the female!" Pinkie literally threw the calendar away and looked at Rainbow expectantly.

"I'm not following." Rainbow said bluntly. She had just come from math class and her brain was as dry as a rock. "Is this about Soarin again?"

Pinkie clapped her hands. "Ding ding ding! You guessed it! You gave chocolates to Soarin on Valentine's Day, yeah?"

Rainbow grumbled as a few girls walking past glared at her, hearing the words 'Soarin' and 'Valentine's Day'. She eventually nodded slowly. "So...you're saying he might give me something? I mean, if he actually does, yippee, but why'd you come all the way here just to tell me that?"

"You see..." Pinkie's expression suddenly turned a bit dark. She turned around and searched the area, apparently sniffing for any witnesses. "Lightning Dust......will be an obstacle if he does. Beware."

Before Rainbow could state that Pinkie was once again being a bit silly, Pinkie placed a finger on her mouth and zoomed away. Rainbow blinked, trying to process what just happened. She fished her pockets for her phone and checked the time......5:45. She had to hurry back to the club if she didn't want to be mistaken for cutting soccer practice.





Lightning Dust groaned as she licked her popsickle. "I think I'm gonna get a brain freeze. I told you I wanted soda!" She complained, continuing to lick the slowly melting piece of ice.

"Well, first, who doesn't like ice cream?" Quibble said, laughing. Lightning glared at him as he continued to laugh. For once he could tease her like she could tease him. "Second, they were out of soda. Apparently lots of people think their soda was better. What a bunch of idiocy."

Rolling her eyes, Lightning grumbled. She stared down at her topsickle and sighed. "I'm just terrible at eating ice cream. Every time I eat them, it melts because I was so slow." She carried on licking it and glared at a small piece of topsickle that had melted. "I guess I hate cold food? Whatever. That's not why we're here."

She pulled out her phone and pointed at the date. "Tomorrow's White Day. I need you to keep Rainbow distracted while I try to keep Soarin from giving her anything." Lightning grinned devilishly as she put the phone back in her skirt's pocket and looked up. "And maybe, just maybe, he'll turn to me instead!" She giggled before realizing she still had a topsickle to eat, and began frantically licking it.

"Hmm....." Quibble thought as he started licking his ice cream faster too. "Alrighty, then. What're you gonna do-"

"Speak of the devil!" Lightning whispered, pulling Quibble behind a nearby plant. She covered his mouth to avoid noise and pointed at a girl with rainbow-colored hair. "There it is!"

Quibble rolled his eyes. "She's a 'she'."

"Yeah, whatever." Lightning snickered and pushed him away. "Go and be lovey-dovey and all. I'll go find Soarin. He might be dripping in sweat after soccer practice.....I should go ask him to relax at the cafe!"

After Lightning ran off, Quibble cringed and stood there until he couldn't hear her laughing anymore. He slowly followed after Rainbow, who was seemingly browsing the book store. He entered the shop and looked around, amazed at the variety of books. Fiction, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, and so much more, most genres ending in 'fiction'. Quibble stopped dead in his tracks when he realized he was nearly caught by Rainbow. She was merely 2 feet away, flipping through some pages of Daring Do and the Griffin's Goblin. It had a high price, seeing as it was a limited edition.

Quibble hid behind a rack of manga and spied on her, trying not to be suspicious. He thought it was wrong of him to be spying, and that it wasn't even what he was supposed to do, but he somehow convinced himself that he was researching what kind of things Rainbow liked. Eventually, he sucked it up and approached her.

"Heya, Rainbow! What a coincidence!" He said, internally cringing at his cheesy greeting.

Rainbow jumped and turned around. "Oh, hey, Quibble!" She grinned and turned back to the book. She didn't want to stay for long, or the store clerk might kick her out. "Whatcha doin' here?"

Quibble scratched the back of his head. "Uhh....shopping for books?" He silently slapped himself and then stood beside her. "I see you're reading Daring Do."

Rainbow muttered a small "Mmhmm". Her eyes were still glued to the words. "I got bored, wanted to kill some time, so I came here. I heard they sold limited editions for low prices."

"L-low prices? But...." Quibble looked up and picked out a random limited edition Barry Cotter book. He flipped it over and died inside when he saw the price tag. Rainbow was obviously richer than him to say the store sold low prices. "Err, nevermind."

Rainbow chuckled, expecting his reaction. She placed the book back to it original spot and sighed. "Well, I spent all my money on that new Rintendo Twitch, along with that new Zenda game, so I'm completely broke. I better get a part-time job."

Quibble rubbed his chin in thought. "So you wanna buy a new limited edition book, huh....?"

Rainbow turned to look at him. "Huh?"

"N-nothing!" He waved his hands. "Uhh.....I was just about to eat at Sugarcube Corner. Wanna.....come with?"

"Uh..." Rainbow mumbled, checking the clock on the wall. It's not like she had anything else planned. She just thought about going home to play Critter Crossing....."Isabelle could wait, right?" She thought to herself before nodding. "Yeah, sure!"





Soarin stared blankly as he caught up with his younger brother. "What's that?" He said, pointing at the box in Rumble's hands.

Rumble jumped before turning around. "Oh, hey, aniki." He said sheepishly. "This? It's a......box of chocolates?"

"Box o' chocolates?" Soarin raised an eyebrow with a smirk. He kneeled down and examined it. "Can I have some?" He teased, trying to reach for the box. Rumble hid it behind him and pouted.

"It's....not for you?" Rumble said awkwardly. "I wanted to share it with my friends. I-If you want, I can buy another box for us."

Soarin waved his hand and laughed. "Nah, it's okay. Which 'friends'?" He asked curiously as he walked towards the gaming store nearby. "Is it perhaps a little purple-haired girl who likes to get a tan?"

Rumble chuckled, the chuckle slowly descending into a sarcastic one, if that even made sense. "What're you buying? Just a while ago you said your wallet was empty and couldn't buy me any gum!"

Soarin fished his pockets for his wallet and sighed. "I lied?" He said, examining a rack of Ponystation 4 controllers. "I mean, if you have enough money to buy yourself a box and some chocolates, I'm sure you can buy a small pack of gum." Soarin picked up a blue controller and zone out thoughtfully.

Rumble grumbled. "Fffffffffffffffine. I guess. Still, what're you buying?"

Soarin looked up for a second and put the controller back. "What did she want again? Some kind of game called Pona 4? Or was it Berona 6.....?" He mumbled, seemingly not listening to his brother.

Rumble huffed and tugged on his coat. "Hey aniki, listen!" He attempted to shove him lightly, but Soarin was much stronger than him. "Don't you mean Ponysona 5?"

Soarin snapped back to reality and turned to his brother. "How do you know that game?" He asked with a questioning face. "I heard it ain't for kids."

Rumble grunted. "I'm 12 and a half! Anyways, I don't. Scootaloo mentioned something like 'Rainbow really wants it' and stuff, so I thought maybe that's what you're thinking of." He shifted his eyes as he spotted a certain game with a red background and a bunch of anime characters on the front, the one in the front holding what it looked to be a mask. In the middle, it read 'P5' with a subtitle that read 'Ponysona 5'. "Is that it?" Rumble asked, pointing at it.

Soarin followed his finger and noticed the stylish cover art. "Rainbow did say the game was really stylish..." He thought as he picked it up. He turned it over and froze, looking at the price. "It costs as much as all my money, though...." He sighed and approached the cashier and placed the game on the counter. "Uhh......I'm buying this."

After they left the shop, Rumble spoke up. "So it is for Rainbow."

Soarin averted his eyes. "Well, she said she spent her allowance on another game. That's why I saved up enough money." He chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Rumble shook his head with a playful smile. "Seriously, teenagers with their love and all."

Soarina flushed. "Hey, you're also guilty!" He shot back.

Rumble looked away and winced. "Let's just go home...........I'm seriously tired."





The next day, the sun shone brighter than the last, which was both irritating and pleasant to Rainbow Dash. She loves it because it's a bit easier to go out and do lots of physical activity, and hates it for making it insanely hot. She yawned as she continued on walking to school after window shopping the sports shop displays, not caring if she was late. Rainbow reached for her phone and checked, it was indeed White Day.

Rainbow never cared about romance, so she had never heard of White Day before Pinkie explained it to her. She thought back to what Twilight said, "The more you learn!" Was it really something Rainbow wanted to learn? Before she knew it, she had arrived at school. The warning bell had just rung, so she was all clear. Some girls were squealing, most likely because of White Day. Rainbow groaned and entered through the shiny glass doors, hoping her class wasn't much worse.

"Why is everyone squealing!?" Rainbow complained to Pinkie as soon as she sat on her desk. "I mean, it's just White Day! What, do they expect to get a gift back? That's just getting your hopes up." She snickered and stretched before turning to Pinkie.

Pinkie smiled. "Well, they are girls." She said, trying to think of an explanation.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, not satisfied. "Hey, didn't you distribute a bunch of Valentine's Day sweets on Valentine's Day? Won't some guys mistake it for a Valentine's Day gift?" She asked.

"Hmm.......that is true...." Pinkie answered thoughtfully. "But I do it every year. Plus, even if the ones who aren't used to it did mistake it for that, I don't exactly mind. That just means there's more things to expect for my life!"

Rainbow cocked her head and shrugged. Pinkie was Pinkie. She didn't understand what she meant, but she didn't exactly care if she didn't, either. "Alright, so what am I supposed to do exactly? Just wait for a gift?"

"Either that, or just go about your day normally." Pinkie suggested. Just then, the school bell rang, and the teacher rushed in, causing everyone to politely go back to their seats.

Rainbow moaned as she did, and searched the room with her eyes. Soarin looked kinda nervous. Could it actually be that he had something for her? The day passed by, Rainbow procrastinating the whole time. By the time the lunch bell rang, Rainbow had already fallen asleep.

Pinkie giggled and poked Rainbow's arm, attempting to wake her up. "Wakey wakey, Dashie!" She yelled, knowing Rainbow hated being woken up and had to be hollered at. "It's lunchtime!"

Rainbow did nothing but grumble.

Pinkie huffed and slammed her fist on the table. At the same time, confetti somehow came out of nowhere and practically swarmed Rainbow Dash. "WAKE THE HELL UP!!"

Rainbow shot up and blinked. "Huh? What? Pinkie?" Soon, she noticed some of her friends chuckling at her with a poker-faced Pinkie Pie in front of her. "Err......hiya?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Pinkie snapped, placing her box of octo-dogs on the table. "Eating time."

Rainbow slowly nodded and took her fried tofu out, confused at what just happened. She momentarily let it slide and happily munched on her tofu. "Did anything happen while I dozed off?"

Pinkie swallowed the octo-dog in her mouth and shook her head. "Nope. I'm sure something will, though! Soarin's....somewhere, I guess. But I'm sure he was looking for you."

"But, we're in the same class-"

"He was looking for you." Pinkie said straightforwardly, shocking Rainbow and a few girls nearby. "Just sayin'. I mean, I'm sure he's planning something!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and got up to throw out her empty cup. But, once she turned around, Pinkie vanished. Rainbow stood there, not knowing what to do. Eventually she left the classroom to go looking for something to do or someone to talk to. The school was extremely large, as it had a high reputation and lots of students. A few minutes later, she noticed a familiar blue haired student walking with a blonde girl.

"Hey, Soarin." She said almost like a shout of war. She walked alongside him, doing her best to ignore the glaring monster that is Lightning Dust. "Soccer going well for you guys?"

Soarin was flustered for a second, then swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ehh....yeah? Thunderlane got hurt."

"Geez, Bulk Biceps flattened him again?"

"Yep."

"How often does that even happen??"

"Every once in a while, I guess."

"So! Soarin! I'm sure you're able to withstand it, though, right!?" Lightning Dust exclaimed, grabbing Soarin's arm. "Since you're sooo strong."

Soarin internally winced and nodded with a "Mmhmm". He shifted his eyes from Rainbow to Lightning and back, trying to think of how he was supposed to approach Rainbow while she's alone. "Uh, Lightning? I kinda have something to ask Rainbo-"

"Rainbow!"

The three turned around, finding an exhausted Quibble Pants following up. "I-I'm glad I found you. Can I talk to you for a second?" He said once he caught up.

Before Rainbow could answer, Lightning pushed her towards Quibble and nodded with a devilish grin. Rainbow grunted and then put on a smile for Quibble. "Uh, sure." She said, following him to the school plaza.

Lightning Dust waved as they left and turned back to Soarin. "Well, let's continue!"

Soarin sighed and walked with her. It wasn't that he wasn't fine with doing this, but it was that she'd do this to him every time he'd rather be doing something else. He looked at her, trying to think of what she was doing this for. He knew about her obvious.....feelings......but he was sure there was another reason. "So....what're we doing again?"

Lightning laughed. "Well, I just wanted to talk to you and stuff! I'm in the class next door, but it feels like we're sooo far apart!" She grumbled and then laughed again. "Just wanted to chat."

"Well, okay?"





"What did you want again?" Rainbow asked, stopping to look at her reflection in the fountain. She stared at herself in the eye, not knowing what else to do.

Quibble looked down and muttered, "Well.......I just wanted to give you this." He said, taking out a book that looked good as new.

Rainbow turned around, eyes wide open. "A limited edition?" She said, almost as if she were whispering. "Is this for White Day? I didn't give you anything, though."

"I know." Quibble said, looking away. He knew that she gave a gift to Soarin instead, but what could he do? "Th-then it's not for White Day. It'll just be about our friendship." He gulped. Did that sound risky?

Rainbow hesitated before accepting the book, carefully examining its cover and its imaginary glow. "Thanks." She said with a smile. "I...better get going, though. I think Soarin wanted to tell me something.....or something." She laughed awkwardly before running away. Midway, she turned around and waved goodbye, hoping that made cheered him up.

Quibble simply waved back and grinned, happy he did what he could, but sad that she still went to Soarin after that. "Maybe next time." He thought to himself, following Rainbow but through another way. He still had the job to distract her.





Rainbow yawned as she strolled around the school. She was quite tired, but she still had to look for Soarin. Why did she have to again? Oh yeah, he wanted to give her something. She blinked her eyes opening, aware of the male students taking notice of her. They might've been planning to give her something, even though she hadn't given them anything. Trying her best to ignore, she walked a little faster and turned around the corner. She stopped dead in her tracks, dumbfounded by the sight in front of her.

"Soariiin, I bought this just for you!" Lightning said, taking out a picture frame. It had a picture of them in it, Lightning smiling as brightly as eve and Soarin looking like he was confused. "It was from that day we went to the park together!"

Rainbow rushed behind the wall and watched them from there. Hopefully neither of them would notice. "They went to the park together?" She muttered, blushing at the thought. What the hell would they even do at a park together? Soarin probably just went with the flow and tried to accept what was happening.

Soarin accepted the picture with a half-interested gaze. Half not interested because he felt uncomfortable, and half interested for what was happening. "Uhh.....thanks? Thanks." He said twice, fixing the tone because it sounded rude.

Lightning grinned and clasped her hands. "Do you have anything for me?" She said, blinking her eyes in pleading.

"Uhh...." He searched his pockets and bag for anything to give her just to dispel the awkwardness, until all he found was a piece of gum and some soda. He rubbed the back of his head as he got back up and faced Lightning. "C-can it wait until next time? I don't have anything good on me that you might like."

"Oh, so you do have something?" She asked with a bright grin, but anyone could tell she was just fishing for a certain name. "What is it?"

Soarin cocked his head. "I was, uh, saving it. For...me?" He laughed awkwardly, internally smacking himself. "A-anyways, I don't think you'd like it, and I feel like someone else would be a lot happier. Uhh.....well....." He gulped. He turned to Rainbow, apparently aware she was watching them. He gave her the 'help me' face and then turned back to Lightning, not wanted her to know that Rainbow was there.

Rainbow flinched and stepped back with a slight blush. He actually knew? She shook her head and then jumped right into the conversation. "Heya, how's it goi-"

WABAM!

Soarin blinked, processing what had just happened. He finally noticed that Lightning kicked Rainbow, and she fell on the floor. He was jst about to ask if she was okay until she slowly got up and gave Lightning Dust the death stare.

Lightning returned the stare and then hugged Soarin's arm. "Oh, sorry! I thought you were someone else!" She giggled, even though she knew neither of them would buy it. Soarin just stood there, leaving this to them.

Rainbow dusted her clothes and then cleared her throat. She stepped up and yelled, "THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?" She stepped back and crossed her arms. "I rest my case."

Lightning rolled her eyes, about to protest, until the bell rang loudly into their ears. They had already missed the warning bell? "Shoot, sensei might get mad! See ya later, Soarin!" She laughed before rushing off to class, a small cloud of dust trailing after her.

Rainbow was about to do the same before Soarin stopped her. "What?"

Soarin blushed and placed a thin gift on her hand. "I'm...sorry I had to give it to you this way." He said so fast that Rainbow barely understood, but he quickly ran off to class.

Rainbow froze for a second before noticing a clock on the wall. She ran off to class, cursing to herself multiple times.





"Did you get anything?" Scootaloo asked, greeting Rainbow.

Rainbow slammed the door shut and laid herself flat on the floor. "Did you sneak in again?"

Scootaloo laughed, scratching her cheek. "Y-yeah....?" She said awkwardly. "That doesn't matter! Did you get anything from Soarin?" She asked again, munching on a piece of chocolate.

Rainbow cocked her head at the sight of it, but suddenly a thought hit her. "Ohhhhhh...............oooooh!" She chuckled and then sat next to her coffee table. "I see. Well, I didn't open it yet."

"Why not?"

"I didn't have the time." Rainbow said, then remembered that highschoolers had less free time than these kids. She took out the gift and unwrapped it before anything else. She stared at it for a while.

"What? What is i-"

"PONYSONA 5!!!" She screamed, raising the game in the air. "RANKU UP! I HAVE ACQUIRED THE ONE AND ONLY!" She quickly checked the cover and the back cover, then immediately opened it. She stared into the disk, as if it was glowing.

"Ponysona 5? The game you said you really wante-"

Before Scootaloo could continue, Rainbow turned the TV on, seemingly already booting up the game. Scootaloo blinked at how fast it took. Was she that excited? Was the game that cool? She wanted to know!

"Woah, woah, woah there sport." Rainbow said, suddenly remembering. "This game...ain't for kids."

"But I'm almost a tween!"

"I know and I'm sorry. If I could, I would."

To be continued...