> Racing Hearts
>  by Lazzari
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Worry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spitfire sat and watched as the man in front of her continued to look at the clock, and his phone. It was 7:20 a.m. and Rainbow Dash had not shown up for practice yet. Spitfire sighed and stood up from her chair. "Soarin, Practice was supposed to start 20 minutes ago, we can't keep waiting for her to show up." She said, anger escaping in her stern tone. Soarin looked at her and sighed.

"I know, I know, it's just not like her to be late like this. I know the drive from Ponyville is an hour, but she's never late." Soarin exclaimed checking his phone again. Spitfire shook her head.

"Soarin, everybody can slip up from time to time, hell even I do sometimes. But whatever excuse she has for being late better be a good one." Soarin could hear how annoyed Spitfire was. Rainbow Dash was supposed to be a key role in their newest routine, and without her, it was hard to practice it. She was supposed to be thrown in several stunts in the routine towards other bolts, and once she was done being thrown she was supposed to use her momentum to break the sound barrier. Soarin was then meant to send a ring of lightning towards it afterward, creating a rainbow lighting effect. And Spitfire was meant to toss a ring of fire right after. After the fire expanded, Dash was meant to fly in a tight spiral upwards to suck the fire back in with a vacuum effect and at the end collect the fire around her wings and outstretch them as hard as she can high above the rest of them, to force the fire off of her before the fire burns her. Needless to say, this routine has led to more than enough times where she has been burned, or they had to put out a fire. 

Soarin sighed as he checked his phone again, and saw that he still had no response from Dash. He thought about using some of his protected time off, to go make sure she was ok, but he quickly struck the thought. 'What if she shows up while I'm gone? What if she just overslept? What if she just forgot to plug in her phone and is rushing to get here right now?' Soarin shook his head. 'She's probably fine, and I'm just overreacting. Calm down Soarin, you have to keep a level head if you're going to practice... But what if something came up, or something happened to her on her way here' He blinked as Spitfire cleared her throat. He looked to her and saw she had an exasperated look on her face and was tapping a finger against her arm impatiently. 

"I'm just worried Spitfire, am I not allowed to be worried about my girlfriend?" Soarin asked in a flat tone, causing Spitfires' expression to lighten. 

Spitfire sighed and uncrossed her arms. She walked over to Soarin and placed her hand over his shoulder. "Soarin, I know you're worried about her, but she's just late, that's all. You're getting worked up over something that's probably nothing. She probably just got a flat tire or something on the way in or hit some traffic." Spitfire tried her best to comfort him, but she also had a responsibility as their captain to keep everyone on her team focused. She didn't have a problem with Soarin and Dash starting their relationship three months after Dash joined their ranks, but she made it clear to both of them that their relationship wasn't to get in the way of their duties. 

Soarin sighed and smiled gently at Spitfire, who was eye level with him thanks to his sitting position. "Your right, I'm sure she's fine, let's get to practicing without her then. Any ideas as to how we are going to do this without her?"


***


Rainbow Dash was running about her house, trying to grab all her gear. "Oh man oh man oh man, Spitfire is going to fry my ass for being late, I can't believe I overslept like that!" She rushed around grabbing her goggles and backpack that had all her stuff in it. She searched around for her keys and grabbed them. She wanted to check her phone but it was dead because she had forgotten to plug it in last night. She peered at the clock in her family room, it read 7:30 a.m. on it. "SHIT, I'm already 30 minutes late!" She quickly found her house key and rushed out locking the door, and running to her new, very nice luxury car. She had only recently been able to afford it after working with the Wonderbolts for a year now. She could easily fly to the compound in Cloudsdale, but the flight took about an hour and 30 minutes if she flew fast, and she didn't want to be drained when she got there. She gave no more thought to it as she threw her backpack into the passenger seat and started driving out of her driveway.


***


Soarin landed on the ground panting and grimacing in discomfort and clutching his hand tightly. Spitfire landed next to him, eyebrow already raised. "What was that Soarin? You haven't mishandled lightning like that in ages?" She asked, looking now at the new burn on his hand. His gloves had done their job in protecting him, but his hand wasn't lucky enough to escape being burned a little. Their teammates all landed around them, Fleetfoot landing next to Soarin. She quickly grabbed his hands pulling the other off of his burned hand, examining it. 

"It doesn't look too bad but you should go to the trainers and get it checked out, and treated," Fleetfoot said, still examining the burn. Soarin's hand was scorched on the sides and top of his hand, but in his palm, some dark red flesh burned and blistered. It looked like an average fire burn, but if Soarin knew Fleet she wouldn't let him continue without getting this treated. "Now stop getting so distracted. I'm sure Dashie is thinking about banging just as much as you are." Fleetfoot suddenly jabbed, making Soarin flatten his expression. 

Soarin suddenly lightened up a bit s they started walking towards the compound doors. Fleetfoot was always making things as fun as possible, if someone needed a good laugh or some cheering up, it was no question as to who they would go to. Soarin looked down at her a sly grin on his face. "Oh, please, we all know you and Dashie have gotten really close over the past year or so. You can't tell me your not a little worried about your new best friend." Soarin gave her a comically fake sad pout as he bent down to match her in height. 

Fleetfoot was much shorter than all of them, in fact, she stood at an astounding 5'2 compared to Soarin's freakishly tall 6'7. All the female Wonderbolts were a little over average female height, the only exceptions to this are the two females in his life that made him smile the most. Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash. It was a hilarious day when the rest of the Bolts found out that Fleet was no longer the shortest Wonderbolt on the team. That spot had been ungracefully claimed as soon as Rainbow Dash walked through the front doors of the HQ. Rainbow Dash was a very short 4'11 but always claimed to be 5'0. 

Fleetfoot giggled and nudged Soarin, causing him to lose his balance a bit and stumble, but not fall. Soarin chuckled as he regained his balance, looking down at her again. "Don't get me wrong Soarin, you're always going to be my best friend. Dash and I just share more common traits and interests. I can girl talk with her whenever I feel like it. Spitfire is great to talk to and all, but she is never one to just sit down and have girl talk with me." 

It was true while Soarin and Fleetfoot had been best friends since they were toddlers, they didn't meet Spitfire until Cadet camp about four years ago. The two quickly became close with Spitfire, during their training at the camp. And while Spitfire was a close friend to them now, she never really partook in the shenanigans that he and Fleet did most of the time, and never really spoke about her emotions. Spitfire had her husband, Wave Chill for that.

Soarin glanced back forward as they neared the trainer room. The moment the door opened, a unicorn woman greeted them. She had a white coat on and a mint-colored short pixy cut hairstyle. "What can I help you with?" She asked calmly with a soft smile. 

Fleetfoot grabbed Soarin's wrist with the hurt hand and pulled it out to reveal the burn on it. "This needs treatment and covering before he can continue today." She giggled and Soarin winced and pulled his hand away quickly. He walked up to a chair next to a medical bed and sat on it holding his hand out as the trainer looked at it. she quickly grabbed some disinfectant spray and gave him a stress ball to squeeze in his other hand. 

"HRG," Soarin grunted and gritted his teeth, clutching the ball tightly. 'Holy Celestia that fucking burns'. As soon as the trainer was done spraying the disinfectant on Soarin's hand she placed a cloth on the burn and pressed her hands on each side of his to put pressure on it gently. after a minute had passed Soarin stopped gripping the ball like a vice and relaxed. The trainer then began putting ointments on it and told him to let it sit for a few minutes. Fleetfoot sat down next to Soarin in the other chair and looked at him curiously. 

"Why are you so worried about Dash being late? I know you two are like head over heels in love for each other, but like, why?" She asked, resting her head on her wrist while looking towards Soarin. He sighed and shook his head. 

"I don't know, I just have this really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach"
> That Sick Feeling in Pit of your Stomach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Should we call the Headquarters?"

"Yes, call them immediately, and get the Captin on the line ASAP!" 

"On it!"

"Where's her chart! I need more information!"

"Dear Celestia... She's O negative!" 

"WHAT! You're sure!"

"THAT'S WHAT HER CHART SAYS!" 

"Good god, see if you can get ahold of anybody, look over the team's files, we have records of all of them here. We don't have any in supply right now because of the shortage. And hurry!" 


***


Soarin looked at the clock as he sat in the mess hall, it read 12:40 p.m. He quickly pulled out his phone and checked it still seeing no response from Rainbow Dash. He started to worry even more now. Something was up and he had a really bad feeling. If she was running late she should have been here by now. He suddenly flinched as someone slammed their tray down next to him. He looked over to see Lightning Streak. He gave him a flat look as he turned his head back to his phone and started to text Rainbow again. 

"Still freaking out about Skittles eh?" Lightning said, nudging Soarin in the arm gently. Soarin gave him an annoyed look and growled under his breath. 

"Come on, dude, you can't tell me you wouldn't be freaking out if it were Fleet. So don't give me any shit!" Soarin snapped at him, causing Lightning to recline a bit. 

"Geez bro, touchy much?" Lightning sighed and looked at his food, he took a moment to think about it. He can't deny that if it were Fleet that he would probably be in the same boat. Fleetfoot and he had been going steady now for two years and it was a wonder she hadn't dumped his ass yet for how stupid he could be sometimes. He was sure Soarin felt the same way about Dash, and he wouldn't deny that it was a bit strange that she wasn't here yet. "So if you don't mind me asking, why are you so worried? Maybe she's just sick or something."

Soarin looked at his phone again still seeing no response from Dash. He sighed and pushed his food away and placed his head on the table and groaned loudly. Lightning just stared at him patiently waiting for his answer. While Soarin had his head down on the table, Spitfire, Wave Chill, Fleetfoot, Misty Fly and his brother Fire streak had all come to sit at the table with the two of them. Soarin hadn't noticed any of them sit down as he continued, and ran his fingers through his hair. "I honestly don't know why, but I just have this really bad feeling that something bad happened. It's not like Dash to ignore me, she would have plugged her phone into a portable battery that she has stashed in her car. And even if she had gotten a flat or had car troubles she would have called me the moment her phone was charged enough. If she was sick she would have plugged in her phone to call me or text me to tell me so I could let Spitfire know. I've thought about every scenario in my head about shit that could have happened and it's killing me that she hasn't even opened a single message from me." Soarin was quick to ramble all his feelings out, it felt good to get it off his chest. But when he looked up from the table his eyes widened and he saw several of his friend's concerned eyes staring right at him. They all wore looks of worry and curiosity as they stared at him. He felt a small hand on his shoulder and quickly snapped his head around to see Fleetfoots hand gently rubbing his shoulder. 

"Soarin... you know the more you think about to worse it's going to get. You should take the rest of the day off or something, you were already distracted enough to mess up one of your perfected lightning handling techniques today, and your hand paid the price for it." Fleetfoot laid her head gently on his shoulder and reached her arm to his opposite shoulder and gave him a squeeze. Soarin reciprocated, leaning his head against Fleet's and she comforted him. "None of us want to see you get hurt because you're too distracted to focus. And it'll only get worse with Element training after lunch." Fleetfoot continued to gently rub his shoulder as Spitfire spoke up. 

"I know I told you that your relationship with Dash wasn't to get in the way of your duties, but I have to agree with Fleet here, Soarin. This is the first time you've gotten so worked up over Dash that it's broken your focus this hard. Not even when you guys had that ridiculous two-week-long argument. I would hate to see one of my best flyers get put out of commission because of a stupid accident." Spitfire said in a caring tone. It was her job to make sure that the Bolts all knew their duties, but the mental soundness and safety of all her flyers was also her responsibility. Soarin would have to work on his fire handling during element practice, and he kinda sucked at handling fire. The last thing she needed is for him to get severely burned or worse because he couldn't focus on controlling the fire.

Soarin looked to all his other friends as they all looked to agree and nobody objected. "Well... I mean, I guess I should. It would give me a chance to-" Soarin was cut off by one of the office staff rushing over and shoving the mobile compound phone into Spitfires' hands, and whispering something inaudible to her. Her demeanor wavered very subtly, but only for a second as she nodded and stood up and took the phone and walked over to the janitorial closet and walked in, closing the door behind her. The rest of the table all stared at where Spitfire had gone, but Fire Streak quickly turned to the Office worker who was still standing there waiting. 

"Excuse me, but is everything alright?" Fire asked. The male office worker looked to Fire and stuttered a bit. Fire noticed and saw he looked incredibly uncomfortable. He was doing his best to keep his gaze away from Soarin who was sitting across the table from them. Fire kept a calm demeanor as he saw this, the last thing they needed right now was Soarin freaking out. He said nothing more and held his hand up. "It's alright I'll get the details from the captain when she returns." Fire said, getting a nod and a salute from the man.

"Yes, commander, sir" 

Soarin wasn't listening at all. He had his eyes trained on the closet for the whole 10 minutes Spitfire was in there. Once she came out, all eyes from the table were glued to her. She calmly walked over, not changing her professional captain air even once. She looked at all the eyes on her and looked towards Fleetfoot. 

"Fleet, Fire, come with me I need your help with something important." She quickly walked towards the doors leading out of the mess hall, Fleetfoot and Fire Streak following her. 

Soarin watched as the three left the mess hall. What was that all about? 


***


"Ok Spitty, what's going on?" Fleetfoot asked as she stood in front of Spitfires desk with Fire Streak next to her. Spitfire sighed and groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes. 

"Fleet, you're better with him than I am, you have known him forever so I'm trusting you with this information. Fire, you're here because I need you to spread the word around the compound." Spitfire paused and looked both of them in the eyes in a very serious gaze. seeing that she had their full attention she continued. "I just received a call from Cloudsdale Memorial Hospital. Rainbow Dash was in a very bad car accident on her way here." She paused to let what she had just said sink in. Fire seemed to be waiting patiently for his orders but Fleetfoot had flinched very hard and had her mouth hanging open. Spitfire continued, "Fire, her doctor has informed me that Rainbow Dashs' condition is critical, I want you to go around the compound and inform everyone about what has happened. Inform her squad first and foremost, but avoid Soarin, that's why Fleetfoot is here. Second I want you to cancel the lead squads show for The Crystal empire, without Dash filling in for Rapidfire the lead squad is down a member and we will have to wait until he returns from Whinneapolis. Make sure to mention in the notice that the tickets already purchased will be good for the next show we do there. You are dismissed Fire." Spitfire said. Fire gave a salute and headed out the door and closing it behind him. Spitfire turned to Fleetfoot who looked incredibly shocked and worried. Spitfire sighed and got up from her chair and walked around her desk to Fleetfoot and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Fleet, I know this is hard for you too, I know that you and Dash are very close, but right now Soarin is going to need you. I'm not expecting you or him to stay here at all, but I need you to break the news to him. You have known him for far longer than I have and he needs somebody close to him to comfort him right now. And I also don't trust him to drive there himself, I need you to take him there so he doesn't get himself in the same position." 

Fleetfoot stared at her captain, baffled at the trust she was placing in her. What was she supposed to say to Soarin? How could she tell him that the woman he has been worried about the whole day is in the hospital and possibly in the biggest fight for her life? Soarin was her best friend, so she would do it no matter what. Fleetfoots gaze quickly turned to determined and she nodded. "Yes, mam!"


***


Fleetfoot had gone back down to the mess hall but Soarin wasn't there. Misty Fly told her that Soarin had left to go to his room and do some paperwork and file some reports on his computer. She quickly went up the stairs, stopping at his door. She hesitated to knock. What would she say to him? This was his girlfriend and the love of his life she was about to tell him about. How would he take hearing that his suspicions that he had throughout the whole day were true? She had known him for a very long time, but she hadn't a clue how he would react. All she knew is that she had to be there for him. She sharply looked at the door and the steal plate on it with Soarins name and knocked four times, pausing after each knock. This was their secret knock to let the other know they were at the door. 

Soarin heard the distinct four-knock pattern. he leaned over from his chair, his door just in arms reach for him, and unlocked it. "Doors open, Fleet." He said through the door as he went back to looking at some papers and typing away at his keyboard. The door opened slowly and Fleetfoot looked at him and quickly shut and locked the door behind her. Soarin gave her a quizzical look and noticed her very uncomfortable look. "Fleet? What's up?" He asked obliviously. 

Fleetfoot stared at him for a few seconds, and then went over to his bed and patted the spot next to her. Soarin looked at her even more confused, tipping his head to the side. But he followed her gesture and got up from his chair and sat down next to her. Fleetfoot stared at him, opening and closing her mouth several times as if trying to get out what she wanted to say. Instead, she knelt up on top of the bed to match him in height and hugged him as tightly as possible, pulling him as close to her as she could. Soarin didn't hesitate to return the embrace gently but with confusion. 

"Fleet?"

"Soarin..." Fleetfoots voice cracked heavily while saying his name causing him to tense up and shiver a bit. "Spitfire got a call from Cloudsdale Memorial Hospital. Rainbow Dash was in a car accident while trying to get here." Fleetfoot turned her head to look at the back of Soarin's head. She couldn't feel anything from him yet and he wasn't moving at all. He just sat there, motionless in her embrace. "Soarin?" She spoke his name softly. Suddenly she could feel Soarin's grip on her tighten, it almost felt like he was crushing her. He was... Shaking! He didn't say any words, he just clung to her as tightly as he could. She couldn't see his face from this angle, but she was sure it was an expression of pure terror. She pulled him in closer rubbing his back gently as she let him grip her tightly. She could hear the soft whimpering in his voice as it began to break. 

"I... I was right... I was right this whole... god damn... time." Soarin's voice was higher and squeaky and cracked with every word. He was now trembling. He let go of her and looked down at his hands. Fleetfoot got a clear look at his face now. His face was plastered in fear and terror and tears were flowing freely now, unhindered and not stopping. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as he looked at them. 

"Soarin, Spitfire has given us permission to leave to go to the hospital. I'm going to drive us there... Okay?" She spoke to him in a soothing tone, rubbing his back gently. Soarin didn't say anything he just let his hands fall to his sides and he nodded. She stood up and gently helped him stand and let him lean on her. She trusted him not to put his full weight on her, knowing he could easily crush her. 

Soarin did his best to support himself as he walked alongside Fleetfoot. she propped him gently against the wall next to her room. She went inside returning moments later with her bag and keys. The two walked down the stairs and to the main doors leading to the parking lot. They passed several Wonderbolts on their way down, some of them rubbing Soarin's shoulder and some giving sympathetic looks as they passed. He was sure he looked absolutely crushed. Hell, he was crying the whole way down. No sobbing, no uncontrollable wails or cries, just... tears. 

They quickly reach Fleetfoots car and Soarin slowly got in the front passenger seat as Fleetfoot got into the driver's seat. 

Nothing was said the whole way to the hospital...
> What Happened?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Fleetfoot and Soarin arrived at the hospital they told the receptionist who they were there for and she directed them to the right floor. Soarin hadn't said a word at all since the compound, and as they sat in the waiting area for the emergency wing Fleetfoot rubbed Soarin's shoulders and his back and hugged him a few times. None of the times she had hugged him had he reciprocated. 

Fleetfoot stared at the doors to the hallway. They had been there for two hours already and heard nothing from the doctors. At some point Dashs' friends had shown up, telling Fleetfoot that Spitfire had contacted Princess Twilight on the matter. Fluttershy tried to talk to Soarin but he just stared at the ground, not even reacting to Fluttershy asking him how he was holding up. Fleetfoot had to wave off Twilight as she tried to talk to him, knowing that nothing would really help him at this moment. Fleetfoot frowned a bit, still seeing Soarin's unchanged expression. She gently rubbed his shoulder and looked at him. 

"Soarin, I'm going to go see if I can talk to a nurse and get an update. Just... sit tight... it'll be okay." Fleet said, trying her best to keep him from breaking down. She could tell he was in a state of shock, she didn't need a doctor to tell her that. After giving him another hug, she got up and walked towards the desk at the front. Twilight walked beside her, saying nothing. "Excuse me, but is there any information on the condition of Rainbow Dash?" 

The nurse at the desk looked at Fleetfoot first, then at Twilight. She then looked at her computer and started to type. It took her a moment but after what felt like an eternity for the two, she spoke up. "Well, there isn't much to go off. It says here that they are trying to find someone that matches her blood type so they can give her blood. For now, she is just being kept as stable as possible." She finished and saw both girl's expressions change to disheartened. She frowned at seeing this. "I wish I could tell you more about what's happening, I really do, but without proper blood flow in her, it's impossible to get a good read on her vitals." Fleetfoot nodded gently at this, understanding. 

"Okay, thank you." Fleet turned to look at the others in the room. She hadn't even noticed, but Spitfire and Dashs' squad had shown up at some point. She quickly went over to Spitfire and hugged her as tightly as she could. Spitfire returned the hug and did her best to comfort Fleetfoot. 

"Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, Fleet. But I was talking with the local authorities on the matter and asked where they took her car so I could take pictures of it. Her medical insurance will need some details from me and I honestly think pictures of that car's state will help them understand the gravity of her injuries..." Spitfire trailed off a bit, seeing Fleetfoots even more nervous look. 

"Show me." 

"What?! You... want to see those pictures?" 

"Yes."

Spitfire looked at Fleetfoot, bewildered as to why in Equestria she would want to. But Spitfire complied and pulled out her phone and opened her photos. What Fleet saw took the breath right out of her lungs. 

The entire passenger side of the car was caved in, windows shattered, and the door hinges broke. The front bumper was completely ripped off and the passenger side of the hood and frame were bent out of place, exposing the destroyed internal structure of the engine, which was now pushed into the front windshield a bit, which was now shattered and gone. The right front tire was bent awkwardly and the wheel itself was bent inward and the spokes were broken off in some places. After seeing the clear initial impact there was still more damage. the front of the car was completely destroyed and looked like it had collided with something large, and the roof of the car was scraped and bent inward. 

Once spitfire felt like Fleet had seen enough of the damage she put her phone away, shivering a bit. "I talked with the police officer who is handling the case. He didn't want to talk about it at first, but I ended up throwing my higher rank at him to get the information out of him-" Spitfire was cut off by Fleetfoot dragging her over to a corner and flagging the rest of Dashs' friends over. "Fleet?"

"The last thing Soarin needs right now is to hear how the love of his life potentially got killed!" Fleetfoot snapped in a hushed, but aggressive whisper. Spitfire looked over to Soarin, seeing he still had the blank expression on his face... But she agreed. With the rest of Dashs' friends huddled around her she began explaining. 

"Well, from what the investigators saw and reported, and what they also got from witnesses. While on the highway, Dash was speeding, going at least 10 miles over the legal limit. And somewhere on the highway, there is a crossroad that is just a mane road. This intersection has lights to keep the flow of traffic. Dash had the green light to continue going, but another person who was speeding decided to run their red light and hit dash, T-boning her. This pushed her into oncoming traffic from the opposite direction and another unsuspecting driver collided with her head-on. After that, the car flipped on its side after being pushed about 20 feet from the initial accident. I was told the four others were brought to the hospital as well, but the driver that hit her first escaped without too many bumps or bruises. I was told he was a teen and he was texting when he hit Dash. The other car had two passengers and the driver. Two adults and one minor were in the vehicle, and no I'm not aware of their condition. They told me Dash was unconscious when they arrived." Spitfire finished, looking at all the distraught faces in the group. She felt Fleetfoot hug her again tightly. She quickly returned the embrace, hugging her tight and keeping her close. She looked to Soarin and sighed. "Come on everyone, let's keep Soarin company while we wait. He needs comfort right now more than anyone here." 

Fleetfoot immediately went back to Soarin's side and kept herself glued to him as they waited. 


***


They all sat there and waited for what felt like an eternity. Two more hours passed in complete silence. All of Rainbows' friends keeping each other company and giving each other comfort. Dashs' Squad all huddled close together, keeping Dash in their thoughts. Fleetfoot and Spitfire stayed by Soarin, who had gotten out of his shaken state to drink some water. After he finished his water, he had leaned against a wall next to the chairs they had occupied and slumped down onto the floor, and buried his face into his knees while they waited. Fleetfoot had sat on the floor next to him leaning against his side and letting her head rest on his shoulder. Spitfire had pulled a chair up closer to them both and was gently rubbing his opposite shoulder. He still had yet to make a sound that was intentional or even try to speak. Both women felt powerless in this situation. They couldn't do anything to help him through this, he was their best friend and they could do nothing. The only thing that would bring him comfort right now, is hearing Dash was ok. 

The silence was ended when the hallway doors opened and a doctor walked out. Soarin had looked up so fast that his head would have fallen off if it were not attached to his neck. All the eyes in the room were on him as he looked up from his clipboard. "Who all is here for Rainbow Dash?" The doctor asked, quickly seeing a bunch of people standing up and shuffling towards him. 

Soarin had gotten up and quickly made his way to the doctor, almost shoving Applejack in the process of getting to him. He didn't give the doctor a chance to speak as he threw questions at him. "Is Dash ok? Is she going to live? What's her condition like? Can we-" Soarin was cut off by the doctor putting up his hand and giving him a stern look. 

"Sir, calm down, I'm going to give you all an in-depth report on her condition, and what's going to happen going forward. Just please settle down first." He said giving all of them a stern look. 

Fleetfoot had finally made her way next to Soarin and wrapped herself around his arm, keeping herself close to him. Soarin looked down at her, but didn't protest. He then took a few deep breaths and calmed himself as he looked towards the doctor. 

"Thank you, now, Rainbow Dashs' condition is complicated. The first problem we had was her blood loss. She has O-negative blood, which usually isn't a problem because of how common it is. But because of reasons unknown to us, there is a shortage around the country of O negative blood. Our hospital does not currently have any O negative blood in its supply, but we were able to get two donors from our staff who donated a pint of their own blood to Rainbow Dash. But the problem doesn't stop there. She still needs more blood and-" 

"How much does she need?" Soarin asked, cutting off the doctor again. 

"Sir, I just said-" 

"I'm O negative. How much does she need?" Soarin asked, cutting the doctor off again. The doctor gave him a quizzical look and turned to Spitfire, who simply shook her head. 

"I couldn't stop him even if I ordered him not to," Spitfire answered the doctors questioning eyes. He quickly flipped a few pages on his clipboard and looked up to Soarin. 

"She needs two more pints for us to get a proper read on her vitals. Are you sure you're willing to donate?" He asked, giving Soarin a chance to back out. 

"I'm sure," Soarin replied instantly. 

"Okay then, after this is over I'll take you to her room so we can draw your blood. As I was saying. Before we had gotten any donors, she was hemorrhaging, which if you don't know what that means, it means she basically was having a stroke. This could lead to possible brain damage. It is not out of the equation that this could also cause some heart problems. Without enough blood in her body for that period of time, some of her organs could have gone into failure. This includes her heart, I'm honestly shocked she didn't go into cardiac arrest." The doctor paused to let that bit of information sink in. He then flipped a page again and started to speak again. "Now, onto the other physical things that happened. Her wrist on her left hand is shattered and the ulna bone in her forearm is broken in several places and will need to be replaced with a metal rod. Her nose is broken and will take time to heal. The impact sent her throat directly into the steering wheel, so it might be a while before she is able to make any audible sounds. Her right leg was crushed in between the seat and the driver's side door, a few broken bones but nothing that won't heal over time, the biggest problem was the severed muscles and tendons. Her hip is broken as well. Her left wing was the biggest fear factor in her ability to fly." The doctor was cut off by several shocked and terrified gasps coming from all the pegasi in the room. He quickly shook his head. "We aren't yet sure how the damage will affect her ability to fly, her wing has a few broken bones, but all those bones are incredibly important in its functions. Only time will tell if she will be able to use it again. Even if it does heal just fine, it will need physical therapy to get back on track. All in all, she was lucky she didn't break her neck or spine in any way, or else there would be more severe problems. She will need lots of physical therapy to get back on her feet. Right now we can only continue to monitor her as her body heals itself." The doctor finished his explanation and looked at all the faces looking at him. 

Nobody had the strength to say anything. Fleetfoot was gripping Soarin's arm with a vice grip. Spitfire just looked incredibly defeated. Dashs' friends and Squad all looked worried and scared. But Soarin just kept his eyes on the doctor. The doctor noticed and nodded. 

"Please follow me, sir." 

Soarin didn't hesitate. He quickly gave Fleetfoot a hug and gently guided her to Spitfire, who she then latched herself to. Once Fleet had the comfort she needed, Soarin followed the doctor to Dashs' room. 

The walk was long and silent...
> Please...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin's eyes slowly fluttered open. In his immediate sight was a leg in a full cast. He blinked rapidly, trying to readjust his eyes to the bright light of Rainbow Dashs' hospital room. He lifted his head and looked towards Dash first. The sight of her made his heart feel like it would shatter, and his stomach turned in knots. Her face was badly bruised, a few cuts from what appeared to be caused by glass, and a black eye. Her nose was covered with a cast and had an oxygen tube on. She had a lot of other things hooked up to her, and he didn't know what any of them were besides the oxygen and I.V. drip. He looked towards her wing, he couldn't help but feel tears welling up in his eyes a bit. Her wing was wrapped up in bandages and had stiff pieces around some parts of her wing. There was a bloodstain closer to the base of her wing, it looked like that was where the worst of the damage was.

Suddenly he felt really dizzy. He quickly laid his head back down on the bed beside Dashs' hand. Right, he had just given two pints of blood, for sure he would be feeling a bit out of it for the next few hours. What confused him more was why he was still in Rainbows' room. Surely they would have moved him to a recovery room by now... but he wasn't complaining about it. He wanted to be by Dashs' side, and he wasn't going to protest if they were letting him.

Soarin then slowly guided his head back up and sat up against the back of the chair he was sitting on. He looked towards Dash and then to the heart rate monitor. Seeing and hearing it beep steadily put him at ease. At least this way he knew she was alive. He looked down again noticing he had at some point grabbed Dashs' hand and was holding it very gently in his own. He smiled a bit as he saw once again just how big his hands were compared to hers. Dash was always complaining about how others made short jokes about her and how small she was. Slowly a memory started to play in his head.


***


"SOOOOARIIIIIIN, STOOOOP." Dash was kicking and yelling as Soarin held her in his arms, cradling her as he walked. He smiled and chuckled.

"Sorry Dashie, but I'm not putting you down till your not dizzy any more. That fall you took was fast and you spun the whole time, I'm sure you'd be puking your guts out if I set you down and let you try to find your equilibrium on your own. Besides, you're too small and cute to not carry around anyway." Soarin puffed his cheeks out and tried to stifle a laugh as he looked down at Dash, who was trying and failing to give him an angry pout. "Ok, that's just adorable."

Dash blushed, her pale tan skin turning a bright shade of red as she pouted more. "Soooooariiin." She whined.

"No whining Dashie, you can't deny how adorable you are," Soarin said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Dash blushed redder, using the hood of her flight suit to cover her face to try and conceal how red her face was. Soarin chuckled, he always enjoyed seeing this cute embarrassed side of Dash, because secretly he knew she loved to be carried like this by him.

"God, you two are so cute, I might just have to go puke up a rainbow if this keeps up." A new voice met Soarin's ears. Soarin smiled smugly and turned his head to meet Fleetfoots gaze.

"I don't know Fleet, you and lightning are pretty cute too. You always cover your face whenever he talks to you all lovie dovie like." Soarin shot back.

"At least I don't throw fits whenever he picks me up in front of others, haha," Fleetfoot said, shooting a cocky grin at Dash.

Dash pouted angrily again. "Oh, shove it, Fleet," Dash said in a sarcastically angry tone. Fleetfoot giggled and walked over to the two of them.

"Now that Mr. Freaks-out-if-his-girl-trips is done overreacting about your tumble, how are you feeling?" Fleetfoot asked changing her tone to serious.

Dash blinked and shifted a bit in Soarins arms. She held her hand out in front of her face and waved it a bit. Soarin recognized this as the self-test they are trained to give themselves when they fall on their head. "I feel really dizzy and I'm seeing my hand move, but it's really, like, blurry and stuff." She finished. Fleetfoot gave dash a concerned look.

"Soarin, you are taking her to the trainers, right?" Fleetfoot asked, getting a nod from Soarin in return.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have them run a concussion test on her after she sits down for a bit and has some water," Soarin said, readjusting his arms a bit to get a better hold of Dash.

"Ok then, well I'll leave her to you then, and don't hit your head on the way into the trainer room." Before Soarin could retort, Fleetfoot had sped off down the hall.

Soarin grumbled to himself as he continued walking with Dash in his arms. He could hear her trying not to laugh as they walked. He looked down at her and pouted. "Oh, not you too. I get enough shit from Spitfire and Fleet about being the tallest guy on the force."

Dash giggled and wrapped her arms around Soarin's neck carefully. "Sorry Soar, I just find it pretty funny, us two being a couple. Your the freakishly tall guy that hits his head on almost everything in the compound, and I'm the ridiculously short girl that cant reach more than half the shit around here without using my wings." Dash said, giving Soarin a light nuzzle as he held her.

"And I find it adorable every time you try to reach something without your wings," Soarin said planting a kiss on her cheek, making her blush again, but she didn't try to hide it this time.

"You know, if it were anybody else, I'd punch you for calling me adorable. But because it's you I think I can let it slide." Dash smiled and let her head rest on his chest. Soarin smiled at this. He knew she always felt comfortable around him, she never seemed to have her guard up with him around. It touched him deeper than most emotions could when she finally opened up to him.


***


Soarin smiled at the memory. Dash had spun out of control and had hit her head on the flag pole outside the compound moments before hitting the ground. He had initially freaked out when he saw her come flying past him out of control, but was quickly relieved when he saw she was mostly unhurt. She hadn't gotten a concussion either, which amazed him.

He flinched as he heard the sound of a door opening. He looked to the end of the room and saw a nurse walk in. She smiled at him and walked over at a quicker pace.

"Oh, good your awake. How do you feel?" The nurse asked in a soft tone. She began doing some physical tests on him, checking his pulse, listening to his heartbeat, and breathing.

"A little dizzy, but otherwise I feel fine," Soarin answered. He suddenly realized he had a question that he sort of wanted the answer to. "If you don't mind me asking though, why am I still here?" He asked as the nurse finished running checks on him. She smiled and giggled a bit.

"Well, you had insisted on staying by her side while you had your blood drawn. We didn't have any problems with it, so we let you. But we didn't expect you to be so squeamish about seeing your own blood. After we finished up getting the second pint of blood out of you, you passed out with your head on her bed. It would have taken five of us to move you, so we decided to just leave you there, and come make periodic checks on you every few minutes while we ran tests on her." She explained while pointing her pen at Dash.

"How long was I out?" He asked, not really knowing how long he had been asleep.

"19 hours." She quickly answered, not missing a beat. Soarin's eyes widened.

"Wait, 19 hours?" He asked again in shock. The nurse nodded in response as she walked over to Dash, writing a few things down on her papers as she did tests on her. Soarin watched as she did this, quickly discarding the fact he had been out for so long. "How... how is she doing?" He asked hesitantly, not knowing if he would like her answer. The nurse smiled at him softly.

"She's actually been doing great. If she keeps this up then she will be awake in no time. I estimate around a week before she wakes up." She said, smiling at him. "I suggest you go home and get some rest and recover from donating. We have this under control."

Soarin gave dash another glance. He didn't want to leave her side, but he had to trust that the doctors and nurses taking care of her would do everything to help her. "Ok then..." Soarin trailed off. The nurse smiled and lent him her hands and arms to help him stand. As he regained his equilibrium, he looked back at Dash. He grabbed her hand gently again, holding it softly and rubbing his thumb against the top of her hand. He stared at her for a few moments before leaning down slowly and planting a soft, long kiss on her forehead.

"Please... get better for us Dashie. We need you... I need you..."
> Photos and Moments
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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


***


SNAP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


***


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

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


***


SNAP

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

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

"Ha, ha Spitfire, very funny."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fleeeeeet!"

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

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

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

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

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


***


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

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

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

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


***


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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I guess neither of us won that bet."

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

SNAP





Art by: KikiRDCZ


***


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

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

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

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

All he could do now was wait. Make visits. And pray to whatever gods that she makes it out of this ok...
> A Smile Makes a Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four weeks had passed since the accident. The first few days Soarin had submitted the paperwork and files to Spitfire for a personal leave of absence until further notice since he had almost a years worth saved up. In the span of a week, Dash had undergone all the surgeries needed to fix the problems in her body. Her wing ended up having a bone replaced with a special enchanted metal that was meant to behave like bone. The bone in her arm was also replaced with a metal rod and her hip was realigned and had correctional surgery to replace the joint that was broken. The whole time Soarin never left her room during visiting hours, and when he wasn't allowed in the room, he stayed there in the waiting room, sleeping in the uncomfortable chairs, watching the boring shows on the TV.

Eventually, after four weeks of this, he got extremely bored of this and asked the nurses if there was anything he could do around the hospital to help them out. At first, the nurses told him he couldn't be around the medical staff while they were working, but Soarin insisted that there had to be something he could do when he wasn't allowed in Dashs' room. 

"Wait here please." The nurse said, leaving Soarin to wait. She walked over to the reception desk and picked up the phone and dialed something. Soarin waited patiently for her to finish what she was doing. 20 minutes passed and the nurse came back over with a packet in her hands. "This is the pediatric schedule for the next few weeks. You could do some good by visiting some of the kids or scheduling a meet and greet with them or something. Some of these kids are sick, injured, or dying. I'm sure that meeting such a great hero like yourself would brighten a few kid's lives." She said, handing him the packet. 

Soarin carefully took the packet from her and looked it over and smiled. Out of all the things he hated about being a celebrity, this was not one of them. He loved hanging out with kids and meeting them. It never failed to make him smile when he put a huge smile on an innocent face. And with his newfound free time, he could do more of that. With that, he walked to the elevator and went to the pediatric floor.


***


Soarin Walked the halls of the pediatric floor, looking around, he saw several cute decorations adorning the walls. Several arts and crafts paintings and drawings covered the walls as he looked around. Despite the worry for his lover, he couldn't help but feel a smile forming on his face. He saw several children running around the halls, playing games, talking, and laughing. He saw several older kids, some looking to be in their teens, but just young enough to be under 18. 

It didn't take long for him to be recognized. A young pegasus girl who looked like she was maybe eight years old stood in front of him now. 

"Excuse me, but... Are you Soarin? Like, THEEE Soarin, of the Wonderbolts?" The little girl asked, a nervous smile on her face.

Soarin felt his heart melt just looking at her. He quickly smiled and knelt to the floor to be at eye level with her. "That's me. What's up?" He asked, giving the girl a reassuring smile. 

The girl smiled really wide and started to bounce a little. This made Soarin's chest tighten from the adorable display. "My name is Summer Breeze! I'm like your biggest fan. And I don't mean the Wonderbolts as a whole, I mean like I'm YOUR biggest fan." Summer said, bouncing happily now and pointing at Soarin. "Sure the other Wonderbolts are great, but none of them are as cool as you!"

Soarin smiled, this little girl reminded him so much of Dash, it was almost too funny not to laugh a little. "Heh, thanks. What's your favorite move you've seen me do?" He asked, keeping the conversation going. 

Summer beamed widely and smiled. "I really love your lightning techniques, but none of them compare to your signature lightning rings. When you make those it's so cool. Especially when the other Bolt's fly through them and mix them with their own techniques." 

Soarin smiled and laughed. "Yeah, those took me years to master. I had been practicing those even before I became a Wonderbolt." He said confidently. Summer smiled really wide. The poor girl looked like she was about to burst. 

"You've been practicing stunts since you were little! That's so cool! Some day I wanna be a Wonderbolt!" Summer beamed. Soarin smiled and was ready to say something, but he quickly saw the little girl's face turn into a frown. He quickly looked for something to say. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, giving her a warm smile. Summer began to sniffle a bit. 

She extended her small child-sized wings and showed them to him. Soarin looked at her left-wing and felt his heart drop to his stomach. Her left wing was contorted and bent awkwardly in such a way that one wouldn't notice unless it was outstretched. "The doctors said that when I was in mommy's belly that I was laying directly on my wing the whole time while I was growing. Which caused my wing to break several times before I was even born. It caused my wing to heal awkwardly while I was growing." She stretched out her wing and grabbed it carefully with her hand. She shifted some feathers aside to reveal on the front of her wing a very large scar that ran from the very tip of her wing and the end joint of the front of her wing. "The doctors are trying to correct my wing with metal rods that can be adjusted manually over time, but it's taking a long time just for this part to be in the right place. And... The other kids at school tell me that I'll never be a Wonderbolt. They tease me and make fun of me for it and my wing and..." Summer trailed off as she started to cry. 

Soarin wasn't sure what to do or say at the moment. So he just rolled with his instincts. "Hey, it'll be ok, I'm sure you'll be a great and strong flyer someday. All you have to do is believe you can do it, never stop trying and never stop believing in yourself. And ESPECIALLY, don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something. Growing up I was told I would never be a Wonderbolt, that I was too slow and not strong enough. So from a young age, I started proving them wrong by conditioning myself and getting stronger as I got older. And now here I am, blessed to have an amazing family and loved ones who support me and believe in me." Soarin gave her a wide smile as he finished. Summer looked to him, a bit of hope in her eyes. 

"You really think I could become a Wonderbolt?" She asked, giving him a hopeful look. Soarin smiled and placed both his hands on her shoulders. 

"Summer, it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is what YOU think. and If you say that one day you'll be a Wonderbolt, then by Celestia, you'll find a way to make it happen." Soarin said, keeping his tone confident. While he knew that this kind of condition was hard to overcome, he knew it was possible. And what she needed was motivation to make that happen.

Summer smiled and wiped her tears away. Suddenly she lunged at him and gave him a hug. He was caught slightly off guard but quickly returned the hug gently. She pulled away and stared at him for a moment, and then she looked to be in deep thought. 

"Say, why are you here? This is the children's wing of the hospital." Summer asked. Soarin flinched slightly but it went unnoticed by summer. He quickly searched for what to say. The public was not yet aware of Soarin and Dashs' relationship, they had opted to keep it a secret from the media until they both felt comfortable revealing it. 

"Well... A very good friend of mine is here at the hospital. She got hurt really bad and they are trying to fix her. I got pretty bored of waiting so I asked if I could come put smiles on faces down here." Soarin fibbed slightly but kept honesty in his statement. Summer smiled at this and giggled. 

"Well, it worked!" She giggled more. Suddenly a woman came up behind summer and gently touched her back and knelt down to her. 

"Summer, you know what I've said about bothering other people in here." The woman said giving her a soft but stern look. Summer ran her foot along the ground and put her hands behind her back and pouted a bit. 

"Sorry, Mr. Soarin." She said, looking a little embarrassed. 

Soarin had to hold back a very girly sounding squeal as he watched the adorable display of embarrassment from her. He chuckled and smiled, "It's ok, If I could put a smile on your face, then it was totally worth it." He said giving her a warm smile again. Summer smiled wide and bounced in her place a bit and grabbed the woman's hand. 

"Mommy, mommy! This is Soarin, he's a Wonderbolt!" She exclaimed, pulling slightly at her now proclaimed mother's arm. Her mother smiled and ruffled her hair gently. 

"That's so cool! Did you have fun talking to him?" Her mother asked. She quickly got a vigorous nod from Summer as she bounced in place again. 

"OOH OHH, Mr. Soarin, could you sign my bag!?" She quickly asked gently reaching for a white backpack that was being carried by her mother. The woman looked to Soarin for approval and he quickly nodded. She smiled and handed the bag over to Summer and pulled out a sharpie from her purse and handed it to Summer. 

Soarin took the sharpie as summer held it out to him and he signed the front of the backpack. Next to his name he drew a lightning bolt with wings on it and handed the backpack back to her. Summer smiled and bounced up and down and squealed in excitement. Soarin couldn't help but chuckle at the display. Summer then quickly turned to her mother and held the backpack up. 

"I'm gonna show daddy! He won't believe I actually met THEEEE SOARIN!" She exclaimed excitedly. She then turned to Soarin and set the backpack down gently and rush at him and gave him another hug, this one tighter than the last. "Thank you, Mr. Soarin." 

Soarin smiled and hugged her back gently again. He could feel his heart fluttering with joy as she hugged him. "You're very welcome. And Remember, always believe in yourself. Don't let others tell you that you cant do something. Prove them all wrong when the time comes." He said, giving her a confident smile. 

Summer smiled and nodded, grabbing her backpack and running towards the direction of the waiting room. 

Soarin was about to leave but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Summers mother with her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you... You... You have no idea how happy it makes me to see her smile like that. She hasn't been that happy since, well... Ever. The only thing she has ever really smiled at is seeing the Wonderbolts perform. It makes me so happy to know you took the time for her. Not everybody does something like that. So thank you." She said, holding back the tears that were threatening to escape her eyes. 

Soarin smiled warmly at her. "Hey, don't mention it at all. She deserves all the happiness life can offer her. And if I could be that little bit of happiness for her for even a moment, then I'm glad to. Besides I'm kinda stuck here for a while, so I figured I would come put smiles on adorable faces while I waited." Soarin said, smiling warmly at the woman. 

The woman gave him a sheepish look and rubbed the back of her neck. "I wasn't going to ask, but since you sort of brought it up, why are you here? There aren't any meet and greets or anything like that on the schedule." She asked, still looking nervous. 

Soarin took a moment to think about how he could phrase this without his relationship with Dash coming out. It was easier to conceal it from a child who didn't know better, but it was much harder to hide it from a fully grown adult. He knew there wasn't any getting around it. So he gave her a pleading look and stared into her eyes. "If I tell you, you have to promise me you won't tell anybody about this. I don't want it going viral just yet. It's bound to come out eventually, but I'm not ready for it to come out just yet." he said, keeping his eyes on the woman the whole time. She nodded gently and gave him a sympathetic look. He sighed and took a deep breath. 

"My girlfriend, Rainbow Dash, who is also a Wonderbolt, was in a terrible car accident. It's been four weeks since the accident and I was getting tired and bored of sitting in that waiting room and doing nothing while visiting hours were closed off. So, to pass the time and get my mind off of everything going on, I decided to come here and put some smiles on cute faces. And meeting Summer is just what I needed to get my mind off of everything." He finished. He took a long breath out. It felt so good to get that off his chest, he had been wanting to tell somebody for a while now and it felt nice to tell someone about it all. 

The woman gave him a very sympathetic look and gently rubbed his shoulder. "Don't worry honey, my lips are sealed. I hope she gets better, keep your spirits up, It's all we can do in times like this." She said, looking in the direction her daughter had run. 

Soarin smiled at her. "I suppose you're right. And thanks... for listening to that. I kinda poured all that out without restraint." He said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. The woman smiled and giggled. 

"Don't you worry about it at all honey, I understand completely. Well, I'll leave you to your day. I'm sure there are more faces you want to see a smile on." She said, slowly retreating to the direction her daughter ran. Soarin nodded and turned and began walking through the halls again.


***


As he casually walked the halls, Soarin stopped to talk to several little fans. Several of them were shocked to even see him and several of them were even going as far as to pinch themselves to see if they were dreaming. So many kids were smiling and having a good time talking to Soarin. And in turn, he had forgotten almost completely about Dash. Of course, she wouldn't leave his mind completely, but having fun with these kids was helping him take his mind off the stress of it all. 

His next stop was the teen activities room. This was a stop he was looking forward to the most, because as much as he loved playing and laughing with the smaller children, he could have intelligent and more in-depth conversations with teens.

He approached the glass door, looking in he could see several teens and their parents playing board games and watching TV or movies. He opened the door and shut it behind him. He was turning his head to look around but before he could...

"Oh my gosh... You're like, Soarin! As in Soarin of the Wonderbolts!" Soarin turned his head to the voice and saw a teen boy sitting at a table and looking right at him. Upon hearing his name several others had turned their heads and were staring right at him. He smiled and waved his hand.

"Hi everyone. I'm just cruising around and seeing if I can make anybody's day better." He said putting on a warm smile. 

Quickly a group had formed around him, several beaming eyes watching him as he answered questions and talked to them all. He got to know several of the kids, some even telling them what they were there for, ranging from broken limbs to cancer treatments. He enjoyed talking to all of them, several of them had very intelligent questions and they even had some none Wonderbolt related conversations. 

But all good things eventually have to come to an end. 

About an hour in a half after Soarin had entered the room, a nurse walked in. She cautiously approached Soarin and tapped him on his shoulder. Soarin turned to look at her and smiled. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we need to speak with Mr. Skys about something important." When she said this several faces fell and took on sadness. Soarin couldn't have that. 

"Hey, don't feel so down it was really good talking to all of you, it really was. Just remember to stay strong and stay safe. You're all amazing kid's and I'm sure you'll make amazing men and women someday." He said confidently. This got all of them to smile and look less deflated. With that Soarin waved goodbye to all of them and followed the nurse out. 

She took him all the way to the elevator before saying anything, upon his request. Once they entered the elevator the nurse spoke up. "Mr. Skys, this is about Rainbow Dash and her medical records. We will have to wait to talk about it more with the doctor present." She said calmly. 

Soarin stared for a moment, confused as to what in the world they would need him for this. 'Wouldn't her parents be more suitable for this?' 

They got off the elevator and when they turned the corner Soarin saw one of Dashs friends standing and waiting. He immediately recognized her as Fluttershy. The nurse stopped in front of Fluttershy and motioned for her to follow. Eventually, they were led to Dashs room where the doctor was waiting for them both. 

The doctor turned to both of them and motioned for them to sit on the chairs near Dashs bed. They both gave each other confused looks but did as they were told. The doctor rifled through some papers he had in his hands and then looked to Soarin. 

"Mr. Skys, Miss Fluttershy, are either of you aware that you are Rainbow Dashs first and second emergency contacts in her medical records?" He asked, giving them both serious looks. Soarin looked to Fluttershy who didn't look fazed at all. The doctor then cleared his throat and spoke up again. "Mr. Skys, our records indicate that Rainbow Dash set you to her primary emergency contact about two months ago when she came in for a head injury. For a long time, Miss Fluttershy was the primary contact. Did you know anything about this?" 

Soarin shook his head, "No... She didn't tell me that she added me to any primary contact information lists. I'm not even blood-related to her. I'm just her boyfriend." Soarin said, looking towards Dash in her bed. 

Fluttershy perked up and shook her head softly. "Um, I'm not blood-related to her either, but because Dashie doesn't speak to her parents anymore, and I've known her and been friends with her since childhood, she listed me as the primary emergency contact for a lot of things. This included the Wonderbolts' when she joined." She said in a soft tone. Soarin stared at her for a moment, then realization hit him.

"Wait, Dashs parents aren't on her emergency contact information? Fluttershy, why doesn't she talk to her parents anymore?" He asked, even more confused now. Fluttershy gave him a quizzical look. 

"She never told you?" 

Soarin opened his mouth to respond but stopped to think for a moment. Come to think of it, Dash has never talked about her parents. Not even when the topic of them was brought up. She always seemed to change the subject or dodge the question without anybody noticing when it came up. The doctor cleared his throat again.

"While I'm sure this is news to you, it is a topic you can discuss another time. Right now we need to discuss who will be caring for Rainbow Dash when she is released." He paused and looked to them to make sure he had their attention. Seeing their full attention on him again he continued. "While yes, she hasn't woken up yet, I doubt it will be very long until she does. You can rest easy knowing she will live. But once she does wake up, after about 3 days of monitoring her vitals, she will be released. And we need to know who she will be in the care of." He finished. 

Soarin perked up and spoke up before Fluttershy could say anything. "I'll take care of her. She is my girlfriend and the love of my life and I will do everything in my power to take care of her." He said, earning a nod from the doctor. 

"Very well then. I recommend keeping her in a place that is familiar to her, so I would head to her home and prepare it for her. She will be wheelchair-bound until her arm has fully healed. So I suggest making a suitable living space for her on the ground floor if her bedroom is not already there." He said, handing Soarin some papers. "Fill these out and bring them in on your next visit. They are required so we can safely turn her over to your care. Everything you might need is also included here, those papers are yours to keep." With that, he turned to Dash and ran some more checks on her. 

Soarin turned to Fluttershy and gave her a stern look. This made Fluttershy shrink away a little bit. "I think I need some answers Fluttershy."


***


Soarin had agreed to wait until he and Fluttershy got to Rainbow's house to hear her explanation, in the promise that everything will make more sense when they got there. They had made a pit stop so that Soarin could get Dash a wheelchair that was easier for her to use around the house when he wasn't there. Adjustable wheel movement so she could use it with just one arm, due to her one arm still healing. Not that she would need to use it a whole lot, with Soarin going to be there almost 24/7 at this point. After that, they got other necessities needed to help care for a wheelchair-bound person. Once they got to Rainbows house Soarin set aside the stuff they got and turned to Fluttershy and gave her another stern look. 

"Ok Fluttershy, I need answers. What's up with Dashs' relationship with her parents?" He asked keeping a stern tone to his voice. However, Fluttershy didn't falter this time. She just gave him an understanding pout. She walked over to Dashs' bookshelf and pulled out a photo album. She then sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to her. Soarin followed her gesture and sat down next to her. She opened to the first page and in the first protector was an image of a toddler age Rainbow Dash, playing with Fluttershy.

"Rainbow and I have known each other since birth, literally. My parents were workers at the Cloudsdale weather factory, and so were Rainbows. My mother and Dashs' mother got pregnant at the same time. The only problem was that Dashs' parents were too young and weren't ready to be parents yet. Her mother was only 22 when she fell pregnant and was still in college. She ended up dropping out of school to work full time at the factory just to make ends meet after Dashie was born." Fluttershy pointed to the first photo. "Oftentimes my parents offered to let Dashie stay with their babysitter with me while they all worked, as long as they paid them for the services. And at first, everything seemed normal." She paused and then turned to flip the page, but she hesitated. "Once Rainbow got old enough to the point of speaking and walking we started to notice small bruises on her. Her parents always waved it off telling us she was just a clumsy girl." She then turned the page and reveal a new photo. 

Rainbow Dash, who looked to be about four or five years old was sitting on the floor with Fluttershy, playing with toy blocks and some stuffed animals. Soarin smiled at the seemingly innocent photo, but he turned his head to Fluttershy to see she wasn't smiling. She pointed very slowly a spot in the photo where Dash was. She pointed to a spot on her right arm near her elbow. He blinked as he looked at it. he would have completely missed it had he not looked closer. Her shirt was almost completely covering it, but it was there... A very large and purple bruise. "The bruises were getting larger and harder to conceal. enough to the point where she was being dressed in long sleeves and pants in the summertime. When confronted about it, Dash always said she ran into something while trying to fly or fell off something while trying to reach for something." Fluttershy turned the page again revealing another set of photos. 

These new photos were all just Dash, but next to a door frame with three different sets of markings on it. Dash looked to be about seven or eight in the photo and had a woman's hand resting over her head, a blue sharpie in the other hand from the same woman, drawing a new line over her head on the door frame. The other markings were labeled, 'Fluttershy', Zepher Breeze', and 'Rainbow Dash'. Fluttershy smiled and giggled a bit. "After a little bit of convincing, Dashs' parents allowed us to let her stay at our house for a few weeks at a time, and eventually it got to the point where she was at our house most of the days and was basically integrated into our family." Fluttershy flipped the page again, but her smile quickly disappeared. 

The next few photos only had Dash in them, but something was... off. Her smile didn't look real and it was forced. and the surroundings she was in were different. "At some point, Rainbows' parents decided they didn't want her staying at our house anymore. And whenever I saw her at school she looked sad and was afraid of anybody touching her, even me." Fluttershy paused and took a deep breath. "One day my parents confronted them about Rainbow when they came to pick me and my brother up. They told them that she wasn't their business and that they needed to understand that Dash wasn't their daughter. This made my dad very angry, but he didn't voice it. Instead, he opted to leave it at that and not bring it up again." Fluttershy stopped and didn't move the pages of the book again. She looked towards Soarin and gave him a very stern and serious look. Soarin had a look of hesitation and dread on his face. 

"Fluttershy... I-"

"Soarin, you're a very smart and observant man, so I'm sure you can put the pieces together, but you still need to hear what happened." She said looking him square in the eyes. Soarin gulped subtly and nodded. Fluttershy continued, "About two years past without us having much of any contact with Dash outside of school. On her 10th birthday, Dash showed up at our door crying and holding a bleeding cut on her arm. I'm sure you've seen the scar by now."  Soarin thought back, he had in fact seen the scar on her arm when they were together at his house having an intimate night. He didn't ask about it though, being too caught up in the moment. He had kept forgetting to ask about it for a long time. The scar was large and ran down from her elbow all the way to the top of her wrist. Soarin's eyes widened and looked back at Fluttershy in shock. 

"Dash told us everything that had been going on. That her parents had been abusing her physically for a long time and had told her to keep her mouth shut about it. But this had been the last straw. They had thrown something glass at her and it shattered, and when she fell down, her arm dug into the glass and ripped her skin open very deeply. When her father tried to grab her again, she kicked him hard in the face and ran out of the house, and flew all the way to our house, all while bleeding profusely. Of course, we all freaked out and took her to the hospital and called the police. When they showed up, they had brought child services with them. After Dash was stitched up and taken care of, she was placed in a temporary foster home. Child services tried to locate any extended family, but it seemed her parents had cut all ties to their families long before Dash was even born. When we were made aware of this, we offered to foster her permanently in our home and we took her in." Fluttershy smiled and turned the page again and revealed a ton more photos with Dash, Fluttershy, and Zepher breeze. 

Dash looked incredibly happy in all of these photos. Her smile was real and true. Fluttershy giggled and pointed to a photo of Dash looking like she would burst standing next to the, at the time, captain of the Wonderbolts, Typhoon. Soarin smiled and chuckled looking at the photos. Fluttershy smiled warmly and closed the book gently and placed her hand over it. "After that Dashie was part of the family. She was like our sister, and she was always happy and always flying around with us and she never hesitated to defend me. And as she grew older, her love for the Wonderbolts grew with her, which drove her to build her strength and speed even more than it already was. Leading us to where we are today." 

Soarin looked to the book again, smiling softly. Fluttershy's family was the only reason he had his Dashie now. If they hadn't stepped in then he probably wouldn't be here today. Soarin looked to Fluttershy and smiled and leaned in and gave her a hug. "You and your family are all really great people Fluttershy. Dash wouldn't be here now if it weren't for you and your parents. So thanks, for keeping her alive and well to live out her dreams and be here with us today." He said, tightening his hug at the end. Fluttershy smiled and hugged him back. 

"You're welcome, Soarin."
> The truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Fluttershy told Soarin about what had happened with her parents, it was easier to understand why she had him as primary contact for emergencies. But he now had a new question. 

Why? 

Why did she trust him so much that she would put him as primary contact? Why didn't she just keep Fluttershy as the primary contact and make him a secondary? They hadn't been together very long. 'Does she really love me that much?' Soarin thought to himself.

His thought process was cut off by something bumping into his leg. He had been sitting on the couch in Rainbows' house watching TV for about three hours after Fluttershy left after finishing up Dashs' room, which was already on the bottom floor. He looked down to see a... turtle? No, right, tortoise. Dash had corrected him enough times about it. He smiled down at Tank and picked him up gently and placed him on his lap, and gently rubbed his neck. "Heh, hey Tank, don't worry, Dash will be home soon." He said, continuing to pet Tank and watch TV. It seemed weird to him that the tortoise loved being pet like a dog or a cat would, but he wouldn't question it if that's what he liked. He had also remembered that since dash couldn't do a whole lot that he would have to take care of Tank as well. Fluttershy had been looking after him while Dash was in the hospital. 

Soarin looked around the room he was in. It was Dashs' living room, decorated with rainbow-themed items. Despite Dash being a very brash and tomboyish woman, she had many girly things. One of them being A huge pink mirror in her bedroom. Rainbow was the last person he expected to like girly things when they first met. He smiled as he remembered a more recent memory. 


***six months earlier***


"Okay Soarin, you have to promise not to laugh when you walk in..." Rainbow said, blushing a bit. Soarin smiled at her and gave her a quizzical look.

"Dashie, why in Equestria would I laugh at your house?" He asked, a bit confused. 'What could possibly be so embarrassing to her?' He thought. 

"Just promise, OK!" She shouted, giving him an angry pout. Soarin chuckled and nodded. 

"Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Soarin recited the pinkie promise, making Dash giggle. 

Feeling content Dash turned to unlock the door. Soarin watched her movements carefully, this was the first time Dash was letting him in her house. He had dropped her off here multiple times before after she had gotten drunk at parties. She always protested though when Soarin asked to come in and help her to her bed. So, needless to say, he was very excited to see his girlfriend's house for the first time. 

As the door opened she led him in. His eyes widened when he looked around. Dash had her back turned to him, so he quickly shoved the knuckle of his hand into his mouth and bit on it to help him stifle laughter. 

Dashs' walls were pink! Many girly colorful picture frames and decorations adorned the walls, all in the colors of the rainbow. Her house was extremely hectic, seeing as you couldn't look at one thing for too long, as your eyes would be drawn to another thing in mere seconds. Suddenly he felt a punch on his arm. It hurt, but it didn't move him at all. He looked down to see Dash glaring very angrily up at him, pouting and puffing her cheeks out, all while an angry red blush spread across her face. He bit down harder on his knuckle, trying to stop the laughter but it didn't stop from a few snorts coming out. 

"Oh, come on Soarin! I know it's bad but you could at least pretend it's not that bad!" She said pouting even more at him. 

Soarin chuckled and get up behind her and picked her up, face to face, and smirked at her. "Dashie, this is probably the craziest mish-mash of colors I have ever seen. But it fits you to a tea." He said, giving her a devious look. Dash smirked and gave him an equally devious look. 

"You callin' me crazy?" She asked, giving him a smarmy look. Soarin didn't hesitate. 

"Yes, but your the best kind of crazy and you're my type of crazy." He said, kissing her neck gently. Dash shivered and sighed happily. She gently threw her arms around Soarin's neck and her legs around his waist, holding onto him as he kissed her. Soarin gently guided them to the wall behind Dash and began kissing her neck more and running his hands all over her. He could hear Dashs' soft moans of delight as he did. He felt her hand guide his chin up to look at her. She smirked and gave him the most lust-filled bedroom eyes as she could.

"Bedroom is over there." She said pointing to a purple door behind the couch. Soarin smirked and moved them off the wall. He shifted to held her bridal style as he walked towards the door with her in his arms. 


***


Soarin Blushed and chuckled goofily as he remembered the day. After their fun, he offered to help her redecorate her house. She had agreed but only requesting the change of the walls to a cyan blue color, and shifting around some furniture to help make the house look less cluttered and hectic.  The house now had many of the items he had seen, scattered about the house. Making it appear more open and appealing to the eyes. The cyan blue was also a nicer touch. He'd be lying if he said he didn't absolutely hate that pink color she had before.

Soarin flinched as he felt something soft suddenly brush up against his neck. He turned his head all the way around and saw nothing. "What the... Eh, must have just been my hair or something." He turned to look back at Tank, who was still sitting happily in his lap. He smiled as he continued to pet him. He then felt the softness against his leg. He looked down and had to blink a few times to see it. He would have missed it for sure if it not for the white wooden floors of the house clashing against the black fur. 

Laying on the floor next to his leg, was a very dark black cat. The cat looked up at him and just stared. 

"Huh? When in the fuck did Dash get a cat?" He said out loud to nobody in particular. He stared back at the cat's bright green eyes as he continued to try and contemplate what he was looking at. Dash would have told him if she had gotten a cat, right? What the hell was it doing here? And why the hell hasn't it stopped staring at me? 

Suddenly the cat got up and jumped up on top of Tanks shell. It sat straight up, practically showing off its collar. Soarin hesitated to touch it, fearing that the cat was aggressive to intruders. But he held his hand out gently to the cat, it didn't respond so he took that as a sign that he could touch this new feline in front of him. 

He gently pushed the tag to his eyesight with his finger and looked at the name. 

'Cherished' 

He blinked as he looked at the name. "Cherished, Huh?" He turned the tag over to reveal the pet license and vaccination tags behind it, it was a male cat. Along with it was a tag with Rainbow's name on it along with her phone number. He looked back cautiously at him. "Wonder what your story is." He spoke out loud again. 

Strange, Dash had gotten another pet and hadn't told him about it. Fluttershy had also failed to mention this to him while they were setting up her room. He sighed as he looked at Cherished. 'Oh well, guess I'll just have to ask her when she wakes up.' 

He reached his hand up again, slowly and steadily, moving it towards Cherisheds' ears. He gently scratched behind his ears and he purred softly and curled up on Tanks shell. Soarin smiled as he began to pet him gently. Soon the three of them were fast asleep on the couch. 


***


RING RING RING

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FUUUUUUUCK!" Soarin was awoken by a loud ringing in his ears. He quickly reached for his phone and turned down the volume. He looked to see an unknown number calling him but he decided to answer it, just in case, it was the hospital. He put his phone on speaker and answered. 

"Ugh... Hello?" He said groggily. He looked at the clock in the living room and saw it was 5 a.m.  

"Hello, My name is Doctor Light Step, I'm Rainbow Dashs' doctor."

Soarin perked up immediately and listened carefully. "Yes, hi, how can I help you?" He asked. 

"Yes, I'm calling to let you know that Rainbow Dash is awake. We have to monitor her for a few days but please feel free to come visit her. The first thing she asked for when she woke up was you." 

Soarin felt his heart swell. She had... asked for him? Not water, not something to eat, not what happened. She asked for him. He smiled and looked back to the phone. "Uh ok, Ill be there in about an hour. Let her know for me please." He said, not really asking. 

Alright. I will speak with you when you arrive."

With that, the line cut off. Soarin quickly sprang up. He looked around for his shoes and found them by the door. He quickly made sure Dashs' pets had food and rushed out the door. 


***


Soarin rushed into the hospital, getting a few displeased looks from the other workers, but he didn't care, he had some pink eyes to look into. Once he got up to the floor dash was on he rushed into the hallway and towards her room. He went to open the door but froze as he heard voices inside. He listened through the door, trying to catch what it was that was being said. 

"What happened to the other people involved?" 

Soarin heard a strained and scratchy voice that to most would think sounded like a dying bird, but to him, it sounded like sweet harmony. It was Dash's voice. He continued to listen in, only catching little bits at a time. 

"-it. I'm sorry..." 

Soarin heard another voice that sounded gruff and masculine. It wasn't her doctor or a nurse. He sat there and tried to listen in for a few minutes, but he couldn't make much out due to the density of the door. Suddenly he heard keys jingling and footsteps coming towards the doors. He quickly backed away and got a few feet from the door before it opened. 

Soarin's eyes widened when the door opened. A male police officer stepped out with two other officers and a woman in a suit, behind him. All their eyes landed on Soarin and the woman in the suit cleared her throat. 

"Parden us, we had to ask Miss Rainbow Dash a few questions about the accident. Please carry on, there is nothing to worry about." She said, motioning the others to follow her. As they walked away Soarin watched them. They all had somber looks and looked as if they had seen a puppy be kicked. 

His thoughts were cut off as he heard a scratchy and hard-sounding wail come from Dashs' room. He snapped his head around, quickly rushing into the room to see Rainbow sitting up, and crying. She had a metal brace around her hip, meant to keep it in place. Her broken arm in just a cast and sling now, and her lower right leg in a cast. Her nose was no longer covered but it was red and still tender looking. Her eye still had the remanence of a black eye but it was hardly there. Most of her major injuries were now visible, mostly the large scar on her upper arm where the glass had dug itself into her skin and removed after. But what drew Soarin's eyes the most was her left wing. It was in bandages now being held outstretched with a brace and the large scar at the base of her wing extremely visible. Finally, he looked at her as a whole. She was crying. using her right hand to try and wipe tears away but failing as they continued to fall. 

He quickly rushed over to her going to her right to avoid her still broken arm. "Dash. Hey, it's ok, I'm here." He said, grabbing her hand gently and holding it tight. 

Dash jumped slightly at the touch but softened once she felt the familiar and soft touch of her lover. She looked up at him and stopped crying for a moment, pure shock stretched across her face. Soarin gently reached his other hand up to her head and gently ran his fingers through her prismatic hair, smiling warmly at her. He saw that her expression had remained unchanged as she looked at him. "Dash? Are you ok?" He asked, gently rubbing her back, being careful to avoid her left shoulder and wing. 

"S- Soarin..." Her voice was heavily strained and scratchy, probably from her hitting her throat on the steering wheel and not having talked for four weeks.

"Do you want some water?" Soarin asked rubbing her right shoulder gently. Dash stared for a moment, but then slowly nodded. He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently and glanced around the room. He found the small bathroom attached to her room, now he just needed a cup. He walked into the bathroom and found a stack of disposable styrofoam cups in the cabinet below the sink. He grabbed one and filled it with water and brought it back to Dash. 

Her hand shook as she tried to reach for it. Soarin quickly grasped her hand and shook his head. "Dash, I'll help you. just relax, it's ok, I'm here." He looked to her for approval, and to his surprise, she quickly caved and let him help her. He tilted the cup to her mouth gently, helping her drink. Once she finished, he set the cup down on the table beside her bed and pulled up a chair to the bedside, and grasped her hand gently in both of his. He watched as she leaned back down to lay in her now reclined bed. They didn't break eye contact at all for a few minutes and said nothing. 

Not breaking the silence, Soarin pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed her hand gently. He gently ran his thumb over the top of it and smiled at her again, this time with smugness. "So, when did you get a cat?" He asked, keeping the smug expression. Dash smiled and chuckled a bit. 

"About a month ago. It just never came up and I kept forgetting to show you pictures of him. Heh, I'm assuming this means you went to my house." She said, Her voice still a little scratchy and giving him a soft smile. He chuckled and nodded, continuing to rub her hand. 

"Yeah, the doctor told us that you would probably wake up soon, so he sent me and Fluttershy to make your house up to be wheelchair accommodating." Dash groaned once he finished. Soarin chuckled and rubbed her arm gently. "What? Don't like the idea of being cooped up in your house in a wheelchair for however long it'll take you to recover?" Dash groaned again, louder this time. 

"No, not one bit. I also don't like how I'm gonna need a shit ton of physical therapy to even walk straight again." Dash paused, looking towards Soarin and giving him a quizzical look. "Say Soarin, it's Tuesday. Aren't you like, supposed to be at practice?" She asked. 

Soarin shook his head and gave her another kiss on her hand. "No, I filed for a leave of absence until further notice and I'm using my vacation time for it, so it's a paid leave of absence.  I had a whole year's worth saved up anyway, so it's not like it's going to hurt to use it. Vacation time is paid out every 5 years so I needed to use it anyway." He said squeezing her hand gently. "I'm going to take care of you, Dash." He said, giving her another warm smile. Dash just stared wide-eyed at him. 

Soarin chuckled and leaned over and kissed her forehead again. He stared into her bright magenta eyes. Those eyes... To him, they sparkled and shined like gems. But... suddenly, a thought crossed his mind again. She hadn't told him anything about her childhood outside of Fluttershy. 

"Soarin?" 

Soarin looked back to Dash, who was now looking over him with concern in her eyes. She had seen his expression change and gave him a very worried look. He sighed and let go of her hand and looked at her again in the eyes. 

"Dash, Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me about your parents?" He asked. He quickly saw her expression change from worry to fear and terror. she stammered to try and say something. 

"M-my parents?! They aren't here are they?" She asked choking up a bit. Soarin quickly shook his head and grabbed her hand again. 

"No, Dash, it's ok they aren't here, you're safe. Besides, after what Fluttershy told me, I wouldn't be letting them even remotely close to you." He said, glaring at the scar on her right arm. Dash relaxed quickly, turning her arm to conceal some of the scar. Dash knew how protective Soarin was of her. He would go to any lengths to protect her. Dash looked away from him and sighed. 

"I'm sorry... I probably gave you the biggest heart attack of your life. If I had just woken up on time that day...." Dash trailed off, shutting her eyes tight trying to stop the tears again. Soarin quickly reached forward and tipped her head up slightly. 

"Dash, it's ok. You're alive and that's all that matters to me now. Sure it freaked me the fuck out, and I'm sure it was weird for the others to see me crying and acting terrified for the first few weeks. But once your condition started to improve it made me relax. Heh, I even left the waiting area to go down to the pediatric wing and meet some kids." He smiled as thought back to the memory of meeting Summer. Dash smiled warmly at him and used her good hand to tug at his shirt gently. He looked at her to see her tugging at his shirt, indicating she wanted him to lean down. He did so and she pulled him in for a kiss. He quickly returned the kiss, stroking her cheek gently. He pulled away, smiling at her warmly. Then, again the same thought came to his head. he pulled further back and glared.

"DASH! Don't try to change the subject like you always do! I want answers, now." He demanded. Dash reclined a bit and sighed. 

"I guess I can't avoid it anymore... I just... didn't want you to think I was weak or broken... I wanted you to see me for who I am today. I never wanted you to find out because it's too important to me...You're too important to me. And I didn't want you treating me like some charity case like the other guys did when I told them..." Dash looked away, a bit embarrassed. Soarin stared at her a bit confused. 

He had known that he wasn't her first boyfriend, she had told him she had tried with a few other guys before she met him and none of them had lasted more than a month. Mostly due to her breaking up with them. 

"Well... at least one of them didn't treat me like a charity case... but..." She trailed off again, looking hesitant to continue what she was saying. Soarin looked at her to continue, but when she didn't he flattened his expression and scoffed. 

"Dash, seriously. I want the truth and all of it. If we have to sit here for hours then we will." He said in a stern tone. Dash sighed and shivered as she recalled the memory and began to explain. 


***6 months before Dash joined the Wonderbolts***


"Stop! Look you feather brain, I do not, repeat, do not want to do anything with you. Especially not after how you've been treating me lately!" Dash screamed at the man in front of her. He growled under his breath and glared at her. 

"Dash, come on. We have been together for like four months! You'd think you'd be more willing to let a man be gentle with you after what you told me about your parents. Especially about your dad!" He yelled, grabbing her arm as she tried to walk away. Dash turned and pushed his hand off her roughly and she glared at him. 

"ONYX! How could you even say something like that! I'm not some delicate little flower! You can't just treat me like I'm some broken little girl!" Dash yelled, getting up in his face. 

Onyx growled and stood up straight, making himself tower over her. He was tall. 6'2 to be exact. He wasn't a weakling either. He was much more build than the average man but wasn't pumped up. Dash panicked and started to back away, but with every step she took back he got closer. She had to think fast. She tried to fly out of the room but Onyx grabbed her leg and pulled her down. In a panic, Dash screamed as loudly as she could and for as long as she could until he covered her mouth. But before Onyx had the chance to even do anything, the door swung open. 


***


"Fluttershy and Discord were coming over to have lunch with me that day. And I had forgotten to tell Onyx about it. So when they heard me scream outside the door, Discord broke it down and got him off of me. I dumped him right then and there and screamed at him until he left my house. I never pressed any charges cuz he didn't really hurt me and he didn't get the chance to do anything. So I left it at that. He moved out of Ponyville the next day to go back home to Cloudsdale." Dash finished. She couldn't muster the courage to look at Soarin. She waited for a response from him, but never got one. In an attempt to see what might be wrong, she looked up at him. 

Soarin was gritting his teeth very hard. His hands were clutching his pants as hard as he could grip them. And he looked angry... Very angry. Dash quivered and reclined a bit. When Soarin didn't stop she whimpered and made an audible squeak sound. Soarin flinched when he heard the sound. He took a deep breath and calmed himself and looked at her. He gave her a reassuring look that he had calmed down and she relaxed. 

"Sorry Dash... That was just really hard to hear... especially coming from the woman I love and wish to protect at all costs." He said, huffing a bit. 

Dash smiled warmly at him. His protective nature is what drew her to him in the first place. Hell, he did a pretty good job of intimidating men away from her when they started hitting on her. Soarin was, by no means, a tall bean pole. He was very muscular and proportioned evenly. His larger frame and body made it easier for him to control lightning in their shows, it also made it easy to catch and throw the other teammates in routines. His height made him just that more intimidating when he was angry. So when he got defensive of her she found it incredibly sexy. But as a consequence of this, he was very scary in her eyes when he was angry. He could easily hurt her on accident if he wasn't careful. She was a tough girl and could take a lot of pain, but it didn't mean that she wasn't suceptabul to being hurt by blunt force from something much larger than her. She wasn't skinny or frail either. She was quite built herself but maintained a much more aerodynamic physique. But like she had thought before. Soarin was about five times her size and height. 

"So now that that explained, and I have another guy on my 'beat if he comes near you again' list, care to explain why you listed me as your primary emergency contact?" He asked, looking at her again. She smiled and grabbed his hand. 

"Because I trust you. You've proven to me that you would do anything for me and would never dream of hurting me in any way." She said squeezing his hand. 

Soarin smiled at her and leaned in closer to nuzzle her. A nuzzle she happily returned. "Thanks, Dash. That means a lot to me... You mean a lot to me..."
> The good company of friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin and Dash had talked for hours after she woke up. They had sat there in uninterrupted bliss for what felt like only a few minutes. 

Suddenly the door to Dashs' room opened and all of Dashs' friends walked in. Pinkie Pie rushed over with a box and set it on the table next to the bed. 

"Dashie! imsohappyyourawakeandweneedtothrowyouan "I'm so glad your awake and ok party" andittlebethetalkofthetowncuzoneofequestriasgreatestherosissafeandaliveand-" Pinkie was cut off by Applejack shoving an apple into her mouth, which she happily took and ate. 

"Pinkie, I'm sure Dash is plum tuckered after everything that's happened. A party is gonna have to wait, heh." Applejack said chuckling a bit at her. Rarity stepped forward, pushing the two aside and looking to Dash and Soarin's locked hands and gave them an apologetic look. 

"Darlings, we can come back at another time. It seems Soarin and Rainbow Dash are a bit busy at the moment." She said, turning to pull them all away, but Dash chuckled and stopped her. 

"Rarity, it's fine. We were just talking about stuff. I've actually been waiting to see you guys for a while." She said. Twilight was the first to approach Dash and gave her an awkwardly placed hug, doing her best to avoid her friend's injuries. Dash continued, "With the Wonderbolts and all, I feel like I haven't gotten much of any time to spend with you guys. I miss all of you so much." She said, smiling at all of them. 

Twilight smiled and the rest of Dashs' friends gathered around. Soarin sat up and offered his seat to Rarity, who was now 7 months pregnant with her first child. Dash snickered as she saw Rarity. 

"Geez Rars', looks like your gonna pop with that belly you've got. Last time I saw you, you were what, 3 months?" Dash said snickering. Rarity rolled her eyes but smiled. 

"Yes, darling, I was three in a half months the last time we saw each other. Oh but I'm so excited. Fancy has been an absolute gem of a man while helping me prepare the nursery." Rarity smiled and clapped her hands. Dash smiled at her. Rarity was the oldest out of all of them, being 26 years old now. When they had all met Dash was in her teens at age 17 with Fluttershy being 17 as well. Applejack was 19, almost 20, at that point, Pinkie had just turned 19, and Twilight was 18. Rarity was 21 at the time. Dash smiled remembering all the good times. It had been 5 years since they had all met, and Dash herself was now 22 years old. 

All these good memories made Dash look at Soarin. When she had first seen him back at the best young flyers competition he was 19 and about to turn 20. He had just become a full-fledged Wonderbolt in the top tiers a few weeks before that and was a part of the lead squad. And... She would admit that her crush on him at the time was more of a fangirl crush, him being the only male Wonderbolt lead squad member at the time until Soft Cloud retired and Rapidfire took her place. 

Dash smiled warmly at him as he stood off to the side. She giggled and held her good hand out, "Soar, you don't have to stand off to the side like that. Come over here with my friends. You're just as much a part of my life now as they are." She smiled warmly and Soarin chuckled and nervously walked in the circle of girls where Applejack and Fluttershy had parted for him to join them. 

Soarin looked down at Fluttershy, who was giving him a warm smile and a reassuring look. He smiled back and looked to the others who were all doing the same. Twilight chuckled when his eyes landed on her. 

"Dash is right, Soarin. Your her boyfriend, and any boyfriend has to be a friend before that. And any friend of Dash is a friend of ours." She said, giving him a friendly and warm smile. Soarin smiled back and looked back at Dash. 

"So Dash, I never really have heard a whole lot of your stories about your friends. Usually Fleet gets all of those, so I want to know more about all these nice friends of yours." He said, glancing about them all again. But, as if her name itself was enough to summon her in seconds, the door busted open and a crying Fleetfoot rushed in with a very annoyed-looking Spitfire right behind her. 

"Fleet, calm down and slow down, you pushed two doctors out of the way while trying to-" Spitfire was cut off by Fleetfoots wail. 

"RAINBOW DAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!" Fleetfoot ran to Dashs bedside where Pinkie and Twilight had just moved out of the way from the wailing Wonderbolt. Fleetfoot didn't bother trying to avoid Dashs' injuries and just hugged her, and cried... a lot. Dash chuckled and winced a bit, but hugged Fleetfoot back as tightly as she could with her good arm. 

"Heh, miss me, Fleet?" Dash asked. 

Fleetfoot just kept crying and sniffling while hugging dash. It took Soarin stepping over and pulling her off when she let go of Dash. "Fleet, I know you care about Dash a lot, but please be careful with her. Her body is broken enough already. Heh, I don't think the doctors would be too pleased if you messed up their work on her." Soarin said, gently patting the top of her head. Fleetfoot pouted and puffed her cheeks out while rubbing the tears away from her eyes, but still said nothing. Soarin looked to Spitfire who was smiling at both Fleet and Dash. When she noticed Soarin's gaze at her she smiled and chuckled. 

"Good to see you Soarin, we miss you and Dash at practice, but I don't think anybody misses Dash more than Fleet." She said pointing to Fleetfoot. Soarin smiled and chuckled and nudged Fleet.

"Glad to know you've completely forgotten about me." He said chuckling. Fleetfoot glared at him and pouted even more, but still said nothing. "Fleet?" 

Spitfire cleared her throat and chuckled again, this time more restrained and as if she was holding back the laughs. "Fleet here lost her voice after screaming at Rapidfire for a poorly timed joke. He had just gotten back from vacation and made a joke about getting into a car accident because of how bad of a driver his wife was. And fleet exploded on him like a hurricane." Spitfire said, chuckling more. Fleetfoot glared and pouted at her. Spitfire chuckled more and walked over to her side and punched her arm gently. "That's the first thing and the loudest thing I've heard her say in two days." 

Soarin rolled his eyes and growled under his breath. "Leave it to Rapidfire to make a poorly timed joke without even knowing the shit that's going on." Spitfire glared at him and rolled her eyes. 

"Come on Soarin, you're not still mad at him, are you? You can't stay mad at him forever or it will start affecting your teamwork." She said, glaring at him. Soarin scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just don't think it's the time to talk about this right now." She said, grumbling under his breath. All of Dashs friends looked at each other in confusion and then back towards Dash who instantly burst out laughing when they all looked at her. Soarin grumbled and glared at Dash, "Dash, don't you dare tell them." He said, giving her a stern look, but it was ineffective against her. 

Dash giggled and laughed more as her friends just kept staring at her in bewilderment. The girls all looked to Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were chuckling and holding back laughter themselves. They all looked back to Dash who was calming down and gave Soarin a devious look. 

"If you want we can make a deal Soarin. In return for me not telling them, you have to do me a favor," she said, catching his interest. Dash motioned him forward, and she whispered something in his ear. He flattened his brow and grumbled again. 

"Fine, just tell them then and get it over with." He said unenthusiastically while blushing like crazy and covering his face with both his wings. Dash snickered and laughed a little again. 

"Before Soarin and I were together, Rapidfire went into Soarin's room at the compound one day while looking for him. He didn't find Soarin, but he found all his magazines that had me on the cover of them from when I went to a photoshoot with Fleet and Spitfire. And he had kept every magazine that published the photos they took." She giggled as the girls all gave her confused looks. 

"Uh, Darling that doesn't sound like anything strange." Rarity said to Soarin who was still covering his face with his wings. He sunk to the floor and covered his face harder. His blush might as well have been coming straight through his wings. Dash laughed and tried to explain it more. 

"Oh but Rarity, the Photos were of a Swimsute modeling shoot. Where I was in a bikini that left very little to the imagination." She said causing them all to blush. 

"Oh yes, I uh, ehem, do remember when that issue came out from Cosmare magazine." Rarity said, blushing a bit more in embarrassment. Dashs' friends were still not used to the idea of seeing her pose all sexy for the cameras, especially when it was definitely not her style at all. 

"Heh, Once Rapidfire found them just kinda laying his bed he took them out to the mess hall and called Soarin out in front of everyone for having a huge crush on me. Heh, which caused Soarin and him to get into a fight which suspended both of them for a week." She chuckled, looking at Soarin who was curled up on the floor still hovering his face and groaning. She smiled warmly at his display. "When I found out about it that day, I caught him in the mess hall for dinner and I made sure I was directly in Rapidfires and everyone else's line of sight. He was so embarrassed and shocked to see me approach him like that, he was so cute. He started fumbling all over the place with his words and was trying to apologize to me, but before he could, I pulled the collar of his shirt to my level and I kissed him. I kissed him so quickly that he had lost all his breath and was too surprised to get away from me to breathe. So once I let go of him he... passed out. HAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAH." Dash burst out laughing along with Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were now rolling on the ground and clutching their sides. 

Soarin was still covering his face but Twilight could see his whole face was red underneath his wing feathers. She giggled and tapped Soarin on his wing gently. He poked his eyes out from his wing and looked up at Twilight. 

"So, hahe, why are you mad at Rapidfire again? It seems like what he did brought you and Dash together." She said giggling a bit more and covering her mouth to stifle the laughs. Soarin looked back down and his eyes widened. He groaned and put his head back down. 

"Well, when you put it that waaaayy, I guess I can't really be mad at him," Soarin said still blushing but a lot less now. He looked up to Dash who was smiling very warmly at him. She held her hand out to him and made a grabbing motion for him. He smiled and chuckled, getting up from his spot, he took his place back next to dash and grabbed her hand and held it tight in his, planting another kiss on her forehead. This made Rarity 'daw' and got Dash to blush a little. But she didn't really care at the moment. She was happy and laughing again... Especially after the awful news the police officers had told her, she needed this.


***


All of the girls in the room were talking and laughing, mostly at Soarins' expense. Dash had told them all several funny stories about Soarin and how much of a goofball he was, and Spitfire was telling tales of their recruit training and immediate jump into the elite ranks. But there was a question on everybody's mind, and Soarin was the first to ask. 

"Dash... what exactly happened? We kind of got an idea from the police report, but I feel like we all kind of deserve to know what truly caused all of this." He said, looking her square in the eyes. Dash shied away avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible. 

"I overslept and forgot to plug in my phone the night before and-"

"Dash, You never forget to plug in your phone. That thing is your alarm clock, you'd have to have been extremely distracted if you had forgotten to plug-in you're phone." Soarin said, cutting her off. 

Dash sighed, she knew what Soarin wanted to know, and there was no way around it. He was serious when he said he wanted the truth. "The night before I had been drinking... A lot. I got very drunk and eventually passed out from getting blackout." She said looking away from all of them in shame. Soarin reached up to her face and pulled her chin back forward to look at him. 

"Dashie, I know you like to drink, but you don't usually drink alone unless something is bothering you. What happened?" He asked giving her a concerned look. She sighed again and grabbed his hand tight and squeezed it. She turned her right arm over to reveal the large scar on her arm. 

"I got a letter in the mail from my father, my biological father. In the letter, he said he wanted to see me and talk to me and so did my mother, but I'm not sure I even want to talk to them. It's bad enough that I work in the same city that they live in, now. I doubt I would ever be able to face him or her without crying and cowering away with fear... So I drank myself silly so I could try and forget the letter after I ripped it up and threw it in the trash. But of course, that didn't work." She hesitated to look at Soarin or the rest of them for that matter. Only Fluttershy knew about what had happened with her parents and she wanted it to stay that way for as long as she could. Suddenly she felt a hand on her upper left arm, gently resting on it. She turned her head to see Fleetfoots pleading eyes. Seeing as she couldn't talk because of her voice, Dash could only assume this was her way of asking her to tell them what she was talking about. 

Soarin cleared his throat and gave Fleetfoot a stern look. But it didn't work, she puffed out her cheeks and pouted at him and then looked to all of Dashs' friends who all looked bewildered except for Fluttershy. She locked on target and rushed at Fluttershy and jumped and squeaked in surprise. Fleet gave her a serious look and pouted very aggressively at her. Fluttershy quickly caved and nodded, making Fleetfoot let go of her. 

Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked to Dash, who was still avoiding all eye contact with everybody. She sighed and looked up to all of them again. "Dashie grew up with me and my brother Zepher Breeze. But before she was fostered into our family, For the short periods of time that Dash was with her parents, they abused her. Hence that large scar on her arm. She made me promise not to tell anybody, but that went out the window the other night when Soarin and I had a heart to heart about Dashs' past." She said, hiding behind her hair once she finished. 

Spitfire looked shocked and looked at Dash with concern. "Dash, why didn't you tell us any of this? We could have given you protection at the compound among other things so you could feel more comfortable and safe and-" 

"I  DIDN'T WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE A HELPLESS LITTLE GIRL!" Dash suddenly shouted, causing all of them to jump in surprise. She quickly covered her mouth realizing she had just yelled at her captain. "Er, Captin, I-I'm sorry I didn't-"

"Dash, it's ok, I'm here visiting you as a friend, not your Captin. But what do you mean? 'a helpless little girl', none of us would think any different of you if you need extra protection, especially for something as serious as that. And I doubt that I would even need to anymore, with your prince in shining armor probably there to protect you 24/7 now." She said motioning to Soarin and chuckling. Soarin rolled his eyes and chuckled but Dash squeezed his hand tightly, making him wince. 

"Dash? That kinda hurts." He said in-between breaths. 

"Could you guys give me and Soarin a moment to talk in private please?" She asked calmly, still crushing Soarin's hand. They all looked at each other and shrugged hesitantly and one by one they left the room.

"Dash?" Soarin gave her a concerned look as she loosened her grip on his hand. Dash looked up at him and gave him a pleading look. 

"Please... don't treat me any differently than you used to because of all of this... I don't want to be treated like I'm broken... I meant what I said, you mean way too much to me for that." Dash clasped her hand tightly on Soarin's, gripping it like a vice. He squeezed her hand in return and smiled at her. 

"Dashie, like you would ever let me treat you differently. I would probably get one of your famous punches to the arm and told to stop being so pussy whipped. And then promptly thrown out the door somehow and force to spend the night outside." He smirked at her and gave her a playful but gentle nudge to her ribs. She glared at him, sneering. 

Dash giggled and ran her hand up to his arm and to he chest, the to his neck. She pulled the collar of his shirt towards her. She got to his face, the same glare and sneer still stuck to her face. Suddenly she gave him a peck on the lips. "Damn right that's what would happen. And don't think I would care that it's the middle of fall." She said, chuckling. 

Soarin smiled at her and kissed her cheek. He loved this woman so much, he would do anything and everything for her. Taking care of her was the least he could do for her in return for her giving him her heart.
> The people in our lives...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually, Spitfire and Fleetfoot had to leave so they could get back to the compound. This left Soarin and all of Dash's friends there, but one by one they too all had to leave. 

Soarin and Dash were now alone again, enjoying each other's presence in the silence. Soarin had taken his spot back in the chair next to Dashs bed but had moved it closer to the head of the bed. He was laying his head gently on Dashs' good shoulder while rubbing her arm gently. Dash had her head resting against his, enjoying the warmth he provided to her cold cheek. Occasionally Soarin would turn his head to kiss her, an affection she gladly returned when nobody was in the room. Can't have people thinking she was sappy now. 

The door to the room opened once again and a new person walked in that wasn't a doctor. This Pegasus woman was dressed in a feminine black suit and wore a pair of short black heels. Her dark red hair was dun up in a ponytail and had glasses on. She smiled at Dash and walked over to the couple, Soarin picked his head up off of Dashs shoulders and gave Dash a confused look. She smiled and gave him a reassuring look. 

"Soarin, this is an old friend from flight school, her name is Crimson Justice, she's a world-renowned famous lawyer for celebrities. She is here to help me with this case because of a possible... wrongful death case..." Dash said, hesitating with the last few words. Soarin stared at her shocked. 

"Wait, wrongful death? What do you mean?" He asked, a bit of panic in his voice. Dash grabbed his hand and squeezed it but sniffled a bit, Soarin could see the tears welling up in her eyes. 

"I'm sure you saw the police officers who walked out of my room before you came in. They came to ask me what happened and to get my side of the story. I told them what happened and they told me my story lined up with the passenger of the second vehicle, but that I would still be ticketed for speeding since I had admitted to it. After he told me where to find the information on to pay the ticket or go to a court hearing, I asked him about the others. He told me that the driver who had hit me suffered very minor injuries, a broken arm was what he escaped with. They said he was texting when he hit me and that he is cooperating fully with the investigation. But..." Dash trailed off, more tears welling up and threatening to escape her eyes. Crimson Justice put her hand on Dashes left shoulder gently and gave her a reassuring look. 

"Rainbow Dash, none of what happened is your fault. I read through all of the files and reports. nothing you could have done would have stopped what happened." Crimson said, trying to reassure Dash. But Dash wasn't having any of it. 

"BUT IT IS MY FAULT! If I hadn't drank myself silly the night before then maybe I wouldn't have overslept, and if I hadn't overslept I wouldn't have been rushing to get to work and started speeding, and if I hadn't been speeding then that poor man would STILL BE ALIVE!" Dash shouted, tears now rolling down her cheeks like a waterfall and wailing loudly. Soarin looked at Dash with a concerned expression. 

He knew what Dash was doing. She was comparing 'what ifs' and that was never healthy. But he could guess from what he just heard, that the man who was driving the car that Dash ended up colliding with either died on impact or succumbed to his injuries. He grabbed her right hand and held it tight and gave her a sad look. 

"Dash, you can't blame yourself for this. It's not like you had control of anything at that moment. I'm sure the other victims don't blame you either." He gently draped his wing over her back, careful to avoid her hurt wing. Crimson then cleared her throat and looked away. 

"Actually, that's why I'm here, the wife of the victim is placing blame on both parties. Trying to make a wrongful death case against the two other drivers involved in the accident. My job is to pull Dash away from the wrongful death case because of the circumstances the accident was under. But this woman is very determined, but I can't say I can blame her, she is grief-stricken and anybody would be in this situation." She said, grabbing a bag from her side and pulling out papers, and taking a seat in one of the other chairs in the room. 

Soarin felt a tight squeeze on his hand and looked to Dash, who was shaking and clutching his hand. He squeezed her hand back and got as close to her as he could, his wing still draped over her back. 

"Soarin... this whole thing took away a child's father... I took away a woman's husband... If I hadn't been speeding, none of this would have happened..." Dash quietly sobbed into Soarin's chest, still clutching his hand. Soarin sighed and kissed the top of her head. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to convince Dash of anything otherwise at the moment. All he could do was offer his comfort and presence to her so that she could feel safe. 

Crimson stood up, a few papers in her hands. She leafed through a few of them and put them in order. "Ok Dash, I can assure you that I can get you out of the case no problem. Because of the circumstances, seeing that your vehicle was literally PUSHED into oncoming traffic against your will or any possible reaction time, I'm 100 percent sure that the judge will pull you from the case and leave the teen at fault. But now we need to go over what we want to do about our case against him. No charges have been filed yet since you have to consent to that." 

Dash stared at her bedsheets, in deep thought. "I don't know if I want to press charges or not yet and-" Dash was cut off by a loud scoff from Soarin. she looked up to see his angered glair directed at her. 

"Dash, He was texting and driving AND he was speeding. He could have killed you, and it's a miracle you even have the chance at walking again! Let alone the fact that you might not have the flight capabilities you once had because your wing was practically smashed." His angered words rang straight into her head and stuck. She looked to her wing and cringed. She remembered all of that pain, she was still conches after the crash and only became unconscious a few minutes after the fact. 

The pain... She remembers laying there in agony, crying hysterically from the pain. she could feel the seat crushing her twisted leg, she could feel her hip out of place and screaming at her, she could feel the weight of her own body and the door pinning her wing down underneath it. She could feel all of the blood coming from her nose and mouth. All the shards of glass that were dug deep into her skin. She remembered all of it. But specifically, she remembered, before she blacked out from the pain, she saw what looked to be a young pegasus boy. His view was blurry but she could see his outline through the shattered windshield. He was on the ground on his butt, she remembered hearing muffled wails and cries of terror, and after that, she blacked out. 

Dash shook her head gently, using her mouth to blow away a strand of red hair in her face. "Soarin, I don't care that I could have died, he's just a kid, and I won't be responsible for ruining a kid's life if I can help it." Dash turned to Crimson and gave her a determined look. "Crimson, once I'm out of the hospital, I want to meet him." She paused, waiting for her lawyers' reaction to dim. "I want to look him in the eye and see his reaction to what he has done to me and that poor family. I want to know what was going through his head before I make any decisions." 

Crimson gave her a skeptical look but nodded. "Very well. I will set up a meeting with his lawyer and we can discuss with the boy and his parents." She said, earning a nod of acknowledgment from Dash. 

"Good, is there anything else we need to discuss?" She asked. Crimson shook her head. 

"No, not at the moment. Those will come up once, and if, we get a case." 

"Alright, then I suppose we will be seeing each other soon," Dash said.

Crimson nodded, "Yes, I will give you a call in four days with the arrangements." She said, beginning to gather her papers. Dash nodded in reply and Crimson made her way out of the room. 

Dash looked to Soarin, who was giving her a disapproving look. She glared at him and grumbled. "Soarin, you're not changing my mind. And-" 

"I know, I just wish you weren't so stubborn sometimes."


***


Soarin eventually had to leave to go eat, it was now 5 pm and he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. So after a quick kiss and a promise to come to see her again tomorrow he headed back to his own home to prepare dinner for himself and pack for a long stay at Dashs' house. When he got home he checked his mail, it was full of letters and bills, of course, being a Wonderbolt had its disadvantages. He opted to just set the mail on the table and go through them after he had eaten. 

Entering the house, he set his keys on the small table next to the door and hung his backpack up on the hook rack along with his jacket. After flying into the kitchen and set the mail on the table and headed over to the fridge to see what he had in terms of food. He had some leftover vegetable and steak stirfry from a few days ago so he opted to just pop that in the microwave and eat that. Once he closed the fridge door he came face to face with another picture of him and Dash, a magnet being the only thing holding it up. He smiled while looking at it. 

The picture was from when he had taken Dash to meet his parents a short time ago. A nice passerby had taken the photo at Soarins' request. It also included his younger sister and his younger brother. He was the oldest of the three, his sister being 3 years younger than him, and his brother being 8 years younger than him. Soarin himself was now almost 25 years old, making his little sister 21 and his brother 16. In the picture were also his parents, his mom hugging Dash and his father had his hand on Soarin's shoulder. His parents... 

He thought back to Dash's past experiences with her own parents and what she had told him about the night before the crash. They had sent a letter wanting to see her again. From what he heard, there was no way he wanted them anywhere near her. They had abused her to the point of not liking to be touched. Which explained why she was so hesitant to let him touch her at the beginning of their relationship. 

DING

Soarin's thoughts were cut off by the microwave going off in the back of his kitchen. He got up, quickly pushing the thoughts from his head and replacing them with how hungry he was. Once he got back to the table with his food, he began eating and sifting through his mail. He separated fan mail from the bills so he could read the letters at some point. It wasn't that Soarin didn't like to read his fan mail, it was actually a good highlight to his day when he got to. But most of the time he was too busy, having to spend most of his time at the compound, there was little room for him to be home. He didn't know how Dash made it work living an hour away from the compound and still managing to make it into work every day. He had a hard enough time getting out of bed when he was actually at the compound. 

He sighed as he looked at the stack to his left, more bills. Each one he opened to read its contents and set it aside to pay later on his computer since he was just too tired to do them right now. As he sifted through the pile of unchecked mail his eyes caught an unmarked envelope. He picked it up and inspected it closely. 

The letter had his name on the front but there was nothing else attached to it. Usually, fan mail had a return address or at least his full address on it. So this had clearly been dropped in his mailbox. Curiosity overtook him and he decided to open it. As he read his eyes grew a bit wide with horror and confusion. 

Dear Soarin Skies,

I know we have never met and we don't expect Dash to have mentioned us before this. Our names are Raining Ice and Sun Rise, we are Rainbow Dash's parents. 

We found out about your and Dash's relationship through mutual family friends and connections, I promise you we didn't go snooping around and trying to find it, it was merely a coincidence that we found out. We have been trying to reach out to Rainbow for a while now and don't seem to be getting any luck on the matter. I can't say I blame her though, I wouldn't want to see us either after all we had done to her. But we were hoping you would give us a chance and meet us in person, we truly want to explain everything and try to make a patch in the broken relationship we have with our daughter. We want to see the beautiful woman we are sure she has become. And as a sign of good intentions and good faith we want to meet with the man who seems to have her heart and her trust to ensure our intentions. 

We will give you some time to think about it. If you do decide to meet with us, meet us at the Cloudsdale library in the directory and family history section on November 3rd, Saturday. 

Sincerely, 

Raining Ice and Sun Rise. 

Soarin stared at the letter for a while. He wasn't sure how he felt about all of this. Two people who had proven to be violent in the past asking to meet him. Well, with how short his Dashie was, he was sure these people couldn't possibly be much taller, so he wasn't so worried about not being able to take them. He was more worried about how Dash would react. 

He sighed, glancing at his calendar he had on his door. It was October 23rd, He had a little over a week to make this decision and he wasn't sure how to feel. His emotions were conflicting and telling him that these people had hurt his lover and done horrible things to her that caused her to have trauma. But at the same time the letter, while rather short, seemed sincere and well-intentioned. He blinked as he remembered something. 

He quickly grabbed the letter again and read over it once again. The letter mentioned that Dashs' parents had close ties to somebody that was close to his own family. Who in Equestria was close to such awful people? 

But... If they really were awful then how did their families seem to know each other? He had to figure this out and as fast as possible. Could his mom know? Maybe his sister or his brother knew. He had to find out. He quickly finished his food and grabbed his keys again, a destination in mind. 


***


Soarin smiled as he pulled into a very familiar driveway. , upon exiting his car he heard the sounds of his little brothers' dog barking. He smiled as he walked up to the door, letter in his jacket pocket. 

His home, where he lived for 19 years of his life before becoming a Wonderbolt. All the fights, all the playtime, all the arguments with his siblings and parents.

He smiled as he walked up to the door, staring at the wreath on the door decorated with nightmare night decorations. He slowly pulled his hand up to the door to knock, but before he could the door flung open, and a very excited teenage boy stood before him. 

"SOARIN!," the boy screamed, giving Soarin a big hug. Soarin smiled wide, as he returned the hug, embracing the younger boy. 

"Hey, Stratus, how's my little bro doing?" he asked, ruffling Stratus's hair gently. Stratus pulled away and gave Soarin a jab in the shoulder and chuckled. 

"Would be better if you would come to visit more often. We hardly ever see you anymore dude!" Stratus said, rolling his eyes. Soarin chuckled, smiling. 

"Well, you might be seeing a whole lot more of me now, I'm on leave from the Wonderbolts until my girlfriend is recovered from her injuries." He said. He looked over to Stratus to see he had a very confused and concerned look on his face. That's when Soarin remembered, "Oh right, I haven't told any of you about it yet." He walked past Stratus and into the living room where he greeted his brothers' dog and saw his little sister sitting on the couch and texting on her phone. He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Geez Sunflower, good to see you too," Soarin remarked slyly. 

Sunflower looked up from her phone and smiled. "Oh hey Soarin, what are you doing here?" She asked, putting her phone down. She got up and walked over to Soarin and gave him a hug. Soarin returned the hug and smiled. 

"I actually wanted to talk to all of you. Something has been happening this past month and I think it's time I talk to you guys about it. Are mom and dad home?" Soarin said, letting go of Sunflower. Sunflower nodded and pointed to the staircase. 

"They're upstairs in their office. let me call them down." Sunflower walked over to the stairs, placing one foot on the first step and holding onto the railing she shouted, "MOM, DAD, SOARIN IS HERE AND HE WANTS TO TALK TO US ABOUT SOMETHING!" 

Within seconds of his name leaving his sister's mouth, Soarin heard rushing feet from the top floor. He chuckled as he braced himself. Within a few seconds, Soarin's mother came flying down the stairs and hugging him as tightly as she could. His father joined them at the bottom of the stairs opting to pat his son's shoulder instead of hugging. With a smile, his mother happily bounced around with joy. 

"Oh Soarin, it's been so long since we have seen you, what's the occasion?" She asked, still smiling. Soarin chuckled, but his smile quickly faded. 

"Actually, it's about something pretty serious, and I kinda need your advice on it." He said, rubbing the back of his head. His parents gave each other glances and gave him worried looks. 

"Sure honey, let's go into the kitchen and talk there. It'll be more comfortable there." His mother said, walking towards the kitchen. Soarin motioned for his siblings to follow. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this to them. After all, this was never something he thought he would have to deal with. He never thought he would have to be caring for his girlfriend like this, and he definitely never thought he would have to choose to sit or not to sit in the same room with people who caused the woman he loved so much pain. He sighed as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the letter. Taking a seat at the table with his family he began to explain. 

"For the next few months, I'm going to be Rainbows caretaker. About a month ago, Dash was in a horrible car accident that almost cost her life. As of the moment, her hip is still healing, It had been broken in a few places and required surgery and artificial materials to correct. I will have to help her around her house until she gains full mobility again on her own with her legs. Her wing was also broken and it is still unsure how it will affect her flight capability yet, only time will tell us that. Her arm was broken and one of the bones was shattered completely and was replaced with a metal rod. But our biggest concern for her is her walking ability. She will be attending physical therapy sessions with a doctor twice a week for the next month while her hip heals. After that, it will be 3 visits every other day and I will have to help her with stretches and exercises every morning and night, along with other exercises in her home to help her gain mobility outside of physical therapy." Soarin paused, looking to his family. They all wore looks of worry and concern, along with some fear. Stratus was the first to speak up. 

"Soarin, what about the Wonderbolts? Arnt, you supposed to be training with them like, all the time?" He asked giving him a more concerned look. Sunflower spoke up next. 

"What are you going to do about money? Recovery and caregiving like that is expensive and-"

"I took a personal paid vacation. I have almost a year saved up so I have it currently set to go for 4 months, but I can end it whenever I want to." Soarin said, cutting his sister off.

They all stopped, staring at him wide-eyed. Soarin looked at them all confused as to why they were all looking at him like that. "What?" 

His mother was the first to speak. Sitting next to him, she grabbed his hand and held it tight, and gave him a very concerned look. "Honey, You haven't used any of your vacation time... at all?" She asked, squeezing his hand gently. Soarin looked at her confused. 

"Uh... no? Should I have?" He asked, looking around the table and to his father. He sighed and looked down at the table. 

"Soarin, you shouldn't burn yourself out like that. Even if you seem like your fine, your mind and body need rest too. Don't let your job feel like something that is the only thing that matters to your life." He said. 

Soarin looked down but then hardened his gaze and grumbled, "We're getting off-topic here. I came here because I learned something about Dash that I didn't know before a day ago. I learned that her parents abused her as a child, and now..." He opened the letter in his hands and placed it on the table. "They know about mine and Dashs' relationship and want to meet up with me, alone. And they apparently found out because of common family friends we have." He said, glancing at all of them. His father was the first to pick up the letter and read it. He shook his head and gave it to his wife, who also shook her head. 

"Sorry Soarie, not anybody we know." They said, passing the letter to Sunflower. Upon reading the names Sunflower looked to be in deep thought. She stared at the names harder and harder, looking like she was trying to remember something. 

Soarin waited patiently, not wanting to break his sister's concentration. She then looked shocked and gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "No way! They didn't seem like..." Sunflower trailed off. Soarin grumbled again and growled. 

"Sunflower, do you know them?" He asked, slightly losing his patients. Sunflower looked over to Soarin, who was leaning into his chair and staring at her. 

"Uh, not personally, A few months ago I went to Zinnia's house to help her pack for college. Her parents didn't tell us that they had coworkers of theirs coming over to talk about some work-related stuff, so when Zia and I walked downstairs we were pretty surprised to see two people we didn't know at all." She paused looking at Soarin in the eyes. "The man had four shades of blue and green in his hair and his wings were an ice blue color, a little darker than yours. The woman had red, orange, and yellow In her hair, and her wings were a really light yellowish-green." She paused looking at Soarin. He looked to be thinking about something, but then he puffed his cheeks out and tried to hold in a laugh.

He had to ask, there was no way around him not asking. If he didn't know it would save him the trouble of laughing at them or being intimidated. "How tall were they?" He asked, snickering. 

Sunflower puffed her cheeks out and put a hand over her mouth to contain the laughter. She shook gently in her seat as she put her head on the table and laughed silently. After composing herself she pulled her head off the table and smiled. "The woman from what I've seen was the same height as Dash, And the man was A little under Dads' height." She said motioning to their father. He was in fact, shorter than Soarin, coming in at 5'10.  Soarin chuckled and rolled his eyes. 

"Well, at least I know where Dashie got her height from." He paused looking down at the letter in Sunflowers hands again. It was strange how she connected those dots, no way his sister was THAT smart. She would have paid them no mind and ignored them unless asked something. "So did you find out who they were from Zia, or did you just completely ignore the fact that they had the same color scheme to make a rainbow?" He asked, staring at her with a smirk. Sunflower rolled her eyes and kicked his leg under the table smirking back at him. 

"No, Zia's parents introduced them to her as Raining Ice and Sun Rise. Her parents introduced Zia to them and told them I was her best friend helping her pack for college." Sunflower suddenly looked away a bit imbraced. "Ok, you have to promise not to get mad when I tell you what happened next." She said shying away a bit. Soarin glared at her and raised an eyebrow. 

"Sunny... What did you do?" He asked harshly. Sunflower cringed and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. 

"Well, Zia and I were talking about you and she told me how she thought you were really hot. I had to tell her that you had a girlfriend already. She cornered me and demanded to know who it was. I didn't want her trying to figure it out on her own cuz knowing her she would try to say it was Fleet or Spitty. So I told her that it was Rainbow Dash and Raining Ice and Sun Rise overheard our conversation." She said, nervously giving him the letter back. Soarin sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 

"Sunny... I told you not to tell anybody about my relationship with Dash. We didn't want it public yet, and if this somehow went viral at some point then we are both screwed!" Soarin groaned as he let his head hit the table. Sunflower sighed and looked away. 

"I know, I'm sorry Soarin... I just didn't want her to hit on you when you're already taken. I was thinking in a panic and just told her." She said, nervously twidling with her yellow hair. Soarin sighed and pulled his head off the table. 

"It's whatever, what happens, happens, there's no changing it now. But now, I want to know how Raining Ice and Sun Rise reacted to hearing about Dash." He said giving Sunflower a stern look. Sunflower gulped and shifted in her seat. 

"Well... At first, they asked me how I knew Rainbow Dash and I told them she was my brother's girlfriend. They asked if my brother was another Wonderbolt and I told them it was you." She paused, coughing a bit as she saw Soarin glaring at her again for telling more people about his relationship. "But then they asked if they could have your phone number and I told them no since your personal phone number isn't to be released to the public, like ever. And that was the end of it. They didn't ask me any more questions about you or Dash. So I'm not sure how they found your personal address to even send this letter." She said, pointing to the letter in his hands. 

Soarin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Probably the same way the other fans tend to find out where I live and send me fan mail. But this letter stuck out to me cuz all it had was my name on it and no return address, and my address wasn't on it either, so I can only assume that they placed it directly into my mailbox." He said, shivering a bit at the thought. "Kinda creepy..." 

"Do they know about Dash's accident?" His mother asked, giving him a concerned look. 

Soarin shook his head, "No, we have kept this completely out of the media, you are all the first people to know outside of the Wonderbolts and Dashs' friends. The last thing Dash needs is people starting rumors about her and the incident... especially since the accident had a fatality..." He trailed off, looking down at the table again. All of his family gave him a concerned look with shocked expressions. 

Stratus was the first to speak up, "Soarin... How bad was this car accident? What caused it?" He asked, cringing a bit as he saw Soarin's face scrunch a bit at the question. 

He sighed crossing his arms. "Dash was rushing to get to the compound since she overslept. She was speeding and another speeding driver T-boned her at a highway intersection, pushing her into opposite traffic. Dash ended up colliding head-on with another driver, who had his wife and kid in the car with him. The impact either killed the other driver on impact or he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital." Soarin explained sadly. He slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Dash is... pretty stricken by all of this, I don't blame her either, I'd be mortified too..." Soarin felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked over to see his mother gently rubbing it and giving him a knowing look. 

"Soarin, all you can do for her is be there for her. She will understand that with time, that none of this was her fault. She couldn't have known what would happen, and over time she will learn that." She said giving him a warm smile. 

Soarin smiled back, he knew all of this, but hearing it from his mother really seemed to calm him. She had always had that effect on him. So his next question was now easier to ask. Grasping the letter, he pulled it out and stared at it. "What should I do? I'm not sure if I should even attempt to meet these people. I already have a bias against them because of how they treated Dash in the past, but at the same time, I've never met them. I don't know who these people are over 10 years after Dash was taken away from them." He said, looking a little frustrated. His mother gently rubbed her hand on his back and smiled. 

"Soarin, I think this is a decision only you can make. None of us have the right to tell you what you should do at this moment. But if you were to ask me what I would do in this situation Since they don't seem to be quite as... built or skilled as you are, I doubt you would have any problems handling yourself if things got out of hand. Also like you said, You don't know these people, they could be totally different people now than they were 10 years ago. It's all up to you what you should decide. And if you ask me, if they want a relationship with their daughter and are going as far as this to reach her, then I think it says a little to their character now." She said smiling at him warmly again. 

Soarin smiled back at her and looked to see all the agreeing eyes around him. He looked down at the letter and thought for a bit. He really wouldn't have any problems with handling things if it got out of hand. He was heavily trained in combat due to the Wonderbolts also being one of the most advanced emergency military organizations in the country. These people were and still are Weather factory workers, he doubted they had any military training like he did. And if things didn't go according to plan for them and he didn't like what they had to say, it's not like Dash ever had to know... right?  

His own thoughts cut him off abruptly, should he tell Dash about this? What would her reaction be? He was positive she wouldn't be too keen on the idea of him meeting them and he definitely knew she wouldn't like him being alone with them. Let alone the fact that they found his address as well. She would probably freak out, seeing as they sent her a letter at her own personal address as well. Was this why she was making the hour-long commute every day to work? So she wouldn't accidentally run into them? She could always move in with him, they have been together long enough. But that would have to wait for her body to heal, and there is also the question of what would he do with all her stuff. And she might be too afraid to live in Cloudsdail again after everything that's happened. Maybe it would be a better idea to try and establish a functional relationship first before anything else. But even then, Dash is using a lot of money to make the commute every day. and if things don't work out she would still be hesitant to move in with him. Dash herself had lots of military training and over the year she has been with them, has mastered fighting techniques to protect herself, but even then would she be able to in the face of people who had traumatized her? What would happen if he wasn't there to protect her if things got hairy? What would happen if she got injured and couldn't defend herself? What if-

"SOARIN!!!!!" A loud shout cut off his thoughts. He looked up to see his sister angrily pouting at him with her arms crossed. 

"Dear Celestia, Soarin, I've been trying to get your attention for like three minutes now. You go off into ' la la land' or something??!" She asked, pouting even more. 

Soarin shook his head out and ran his fingers through his hair. "Uh, sorry, I was just thinking about a lot of things on my mind right now." 

"Clearly"

"Hey, don't act like you wouldn't be too. Oh wait on second thought, you probably wouldn't since you often don't think at all." He said smirking at her snidely. Sunflower kicked him under the table again and growled. 

"Hey! I know I can be an airhead sometimes but at least I'm not the person who chases rainbows and hits his head on almost every doorway ever made, trying to get to said rainbow! I'm surprised you don't have brain damage from how many times you've hit your head on things." Sunflower shot back and gave him a devilish sneer. 

Soarin smirked and glared at Sunflower, "Oh it's on, 'airhead,'" He said sneering right back. But before he could say anything else-

"Ok you two, that's enough sibling banter for us. Your adults, act like it." his mother said, smiling at the two of them. His father snickered a bit and nudge Soarin. 

"Sunnys right though. We were all trying to get your attention for a while. We were trying to ask you how long Dashs' recovery would take?" He asked, all eyes going back to Soarin again. 

He took a moment to think, "If I recall a nurse told me she should have full mobility, if everything goes according to plan, in about 4 months. Since she's young they aren't too worried about it not healing fast enough or properly. Usually, they start physical therapy at the hospital, but as I said, since Dash is young and will have full movement with her arms soon and will be able to get around on her own with a wheelchair, they are leaving her in my care to help her around the house with mostly basic stuff and like I said earlier, helping her do stretches every morning and every night." he finished. They smiled and said nothing, but Stratus was snickering. 

"So are you sleep on the couch at her house or something? Or are you gonna sleep in the same bed with a chick that's practically broken?" He asked snickering more. His father sighed and gently smacked him over the head. Stratus started laughing more and Soarin rolled his eyes. 

"No, Strat, I'll be sleeping in her guest bed until she doesn't need the wheelchair anymore. After that, it's up to her if she wants me in her room or not." He said snickering to himself and shaking his head. 


*** 


After spending some time with his family, talking and laughing about life in general, and having a little bit more food with them all, Soarin decided to get home. Once home he immediately went up to his room to start packing for dashs' house. He was going to be staying there for a while so he decided to pack two suitcases with his clothes and a small duffle bag of shoes to wear. After grabbing his large Wonderbolts issued backpack and emptying its contents, he went to his bathroom to start packing his toiletries. After grabbing his comb and brush he knelt down on the floor under the cabinet to grab some other items. Reaching for his Aftershave he grabbed it firmly out of habit, knowing that he tended to drop it while reaching down for it in the morning. Being on his knees though, his eyes caught the sight of something in the back of the cabinet. He couldn't quite make it out, being all the way in the back. He reached his hand out and grabbed it. His eyes opened wide when he saw what it was. 

He had totally forgotten he had bought this and hid it down there from Dash. After the accident it had completely left his mind, being more concerned that she was even alive. He smiled as he dusted off the small, long, black leather box. Opening it revealed the silver necklace within it. It was a simple one-strand necklace that didn't hang off your chest and didn't have any intricate placement. What made this necklace unique was that on each side of the chain, bezzles held many different, small, real, gemstones. Each of them a color of the rainbow. and meeting in the middle was three diamonds. He had been saving it as a gift to her for their one-year anniversary, But that day had come and gone with Dash asleep in the hospital during it. 

He closed the box gently, staring at it for a few seconds. Afterwords, he placed it in his bag with his other things. He was going to give it to her when the time was right, something romantic, as corny as it is, he knew she secretly loved that kinda stuff. He smiled as he finishes packing everything up that he needed. Setting all his stuff on the floor in his room, he looked out the window, seeing it was a beautiful night. He decided to go for a fly to clear his head. 


***


At top speeds, Soarin flew right past a large farm, letting the blades of wheat pull in his wake. He pulled up hard flying high up into the sky, landing on a cloud he sighed in contentment. It had been a while since he had flown like that. He loved his job but he had forgotten with everything going on, just how much he loved flying. 

Smiling, he looked up at the stars shimmering like diamonds in Luna's beautiful night sky. He had time and time was all he wanted right now. The past few days have been so draining to him. Suddenly, he felt very, very tired. to combat how heavy his eyes felt he rubbed them vigorously. Why was he so tired all of the sudden? He grumbled under his breath, feeling the effects of sleepiness catching up to him. Spreading his large powerful wings, he took off again in an effort to stay awake. He decided to think about something else while he flew to try and keep himself awake. 

Rainbow Dash. 

He was going to be responsible for her health and well-being for the next few months. He knew he would be able to he had no doubts, but he was more concerned with her mental state. Dash had received a letter from people she never wanted to see again and she knew exactly how she felt about them. But he didn't. Sure what they did was horrible and awful and it is going to take a lot of convincing to get him to even consider letting them even look at her, let alone talk to her. And he wasn't about to forget that the very large scar on her arm was caused by them, So letting them near her would be a hard thing to even accomplish. 

Thinking more of Dash made him think about how she would react to this whole thing. Would she get angry at him for going behind her back? Would she be terrified and scared to be near him, thinking that maybe they had compromised him? Could this all be a huge mistake waiting to happen? On the chance he liked what they had to say and agreed to try and get her to meet up with them, would she even agree to it? Would she be willing to put aside her past trauma to even talk to them? He didn't want to think about how hard it was going to be to even try to get her in the same room as them, let alone the same building. Would they try to meet in public? He could always easily protect her in case the need for it arrived, but having witnesses would make it easier. 

Soarin groaned, tugging on his hair. And this was all assuming that he even liked what they wanted to say. He sighed as his house came into view. His bed sheets were calling him, big time.
> Im here
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days had passed, Dash was being released from the hospital today. He had decided a while ago to not tell Dash about meeting with her parents, opting for the better option of not freaking her out. 

But right now, on his mind was that today he got to bring her home. He got to bring his girlfriend to her house, alive and well enough to breathe, and to him, That was all that mattered. His Dashie was alive, and he got the honor of being her trusted caretaker for the time being. 

He sat on the couch in Dashs' living room, once he had sat down Cherished jumped up to him and rubbed his head on his leg. Soarin smiled and scratched behind his ears, making him pur. He had been staying at Dashs' house for the past two days, making sure everything was ready for her to return. He had set up a few wheelchair ramps in places that had elevations, as her kitchen did.

Soarin smiled and chuckled to himself. Dash nearly blew a fuse when he suggested he help her shower for the time being. In her words exactly,  'The day I fucking let you wash me like a pathetic helpless child, is the day I cut off my own wings." She had told him she had use of her other arm, so she could at least wash herself alone. She would need help dressing and undressing which she didn't mind as long as it was him doing it. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her naked before. She would also need help getting in the shower since she couldn't currently walk on her own. He would also have to help get her cast covers on before she showers as to not get the casts wet.

He smiled as he continued to pet Cherished. He had become fond of the cat in the two days he was there, he had missed having a pet since his dog passed away, so having another soft and fluffy animal around was nice to him. No offense to Tank, he was a great pet for Dash and he liked Tank, he just isn't exactly the kind of pet that would like scratches behind the ears or playing with a laser pointer for hours on end. Dash had told him at his last visit that Cherished really like to be scratched behind his ears on his chest, so that's exactly what he did. She had told him his story too. He was abandoned on the streets of Cloudsdale and one night wandered into the compound parking lot. He didn't stop following Dash that night and kept meowing very loudly. She was a bit annoyed at first, but when she heard footsteps running away from her she had turned around to see that a tall man had been following her to her car, and once the cat started meowing he got nervous and ran away from them. She didn't know what the man's intentions were, but all she knew is that the parking lot was very well lit and bright, so she saw he had rope watched to his belt loop with a karabiner. She felt like the cat had saved her and protected her from a fate that meant nothing but pain for her. She had taken him home and saw he had several healed wounds and had a large, still visible, fresh scar on his right front leg. She had patched him up best she could and the next day took him to the vet as it was a free day for her squad. And ever since that night, he had been a part of her family.

Soarin smiled as Cherished jumped down and ran over to his bed and laid down in it. He looked to the clock and stood up, it was time for him to go get Dash. He eagerly grabbed his phone, wallet, and keys and locked the door behind him. Practically jogging to his car he got in and drove off. 


***


After an hour of driving, Soarin finally arrived at Cloudsdale Memorial hospital. Walking in, he was greeted by the bottom floor receptionist who had come to know and see him coming in every day for the past month. He smiled as he thought about it all, the staff had become familiar with him, but now hopefully the next time they see him, it wouldn't be a life or death situation or serious injury. 

Reaching the floor Dash was on, he walked to her room and knocked on the door. They had asked him to knock since they would be helping Dash get dressed. But once the knock came a loud shuffling sound could be coming from the room. He blinked and took a step back, the door flung open and a very frustrated-looking nurse looked at him. Soarin stared at her, a blank expression on her face. He blinked as her eyes widened. 

"Are you Rainbow Dashs' caretaker?" She asked quickly. Soarin gulped and nodded giving her a perplexed look. "Good! please help me, she refuses to let us help her get dressed and we can't exactly restrain her or give her a sedative for not wanting us to help her." She said, pulling him in. He blinked and looked up at Dash. 

She was sat up on the bed, propped up with the backrest up. She had a very red blush covering her cheeks and across her nose while covering herself with her good wing, her hospital gown halfway down herself and around her hips. Her face was contorted into a heavy angry pout and gritted teeth. 

"Uh," was all Soarin could say as he looked to her. The nurse turned to him and threw some clothes into his arms and gave him a flat look. 

"If she trusts you to take care of her for the next few months, then I'm sure she trusts you to dress her. Now please get her in some suitable clothing for release." She quickly said, leaving the room and him alone with Dash. 

Soarin looked at her and chuckled, She had curled herself up as best as she could with her leg still in a cast and a still healing hip, still covering herself with her wing. He walked over to her and sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her knee and thigh gently. "Hey Dashie, didn't like them touching you did you?" He asked looking her in the eyes with a warm, reassuring smile. She quickly relaxed, but kept her wing covering her. 

"N-no... I- I really only let you and Fleet touch me." She said, still blushing like mad. Soarin chuckled as he tapped her wing. 

"Well it's only me here in the room right now, so you don't have to worry about a thing." Soarin quickly found Dashs' bra in the pile of clothes he was handed. After Dash hesitantly pulled her wing away he quickly helped her put it on her, clasping the hooks on the first row of rings instead of the last, like she normally wore them, to protect her ribs from any bruising still there and to make her more comfortable. Once she had that on she seemed to be a bit more comfortable, letting her posture unstiffen and relax more. He smiled as he grabbed a T-shirt from the clothes. He looked at it and blinked. "Wait, Dash... Is- is this one of my T-shirts?" He asked giving her a smug look. 

Rainbow blushed and chuckled awkwardly as she looked at the shirt. She tucked her hair behind her ear, "Er... yeah, I kinda stole it from your house after one of our date nights." She said still blushing a bit. Soarin smiled and he chuckled. This T-shirt had to be like a dress on her. He always had to shop for special shirts because his torso was much longer than most men's. "I was... wearing it while driving to the compound..." She trailed off a bit as she looked away from the shirt. He looked at her, his eyes widening a bit. 

"Uh, If you want I can give you the shirt I'm wearing now and I'll wear this one." He said holding the shirt in his head. Dash smiled warmly at him but shook her head. 

"No, it's fine. They washed it for me and... got the blood out of it. There are a few holes in it but they won't bother me." She said hesitantly. Soarin looked to the shirt and then to her. She had a very off-putting excretion on her face, she wasn't smiling, she wasn't frowning, she was just blankly staring at the shirt. He sighed and he shook his head and set the T-shirt aside. Reaching under the trim of his shirt he pulled his current T-shirt off and carefully put it on her, careful to avoid the cast and help her wings through, having to rip the shirt a bit to fit her wing cast through the wing hole. Dash stared at him intently as he adjusted the shirt on her, tying it in a knot around her waist to keep it from snagging on things. 

Soarin looked up to her eyes, seeing she was staring at him. He smiled at her warmly and grabbed the shirt she was going to wear. "Dash don't think I'd let you wear something your not comfortable wearing. I could see it in your eyes. Don't worry about the jeans, I know these are probably ripped to shreds." He grasped the jeans gently, inspecting them. He quickly threw them behind him as he saw the bloodstains still on them. Sure, they had washed her clothes, but it was hard to get blood out of clothing without Hydrogen peroxide, and even then it had to be used immediately after the bloodstain appeared. This was a trick he had learned from his sister after she... got blood on his cloth car seat when they were teens. He had also noticed on the jeans there were several holes from glass and where Dashs' leg had broken. He sighed as he looked at her. Could she actually wear the shirt as a dress? Like, it's not like other girls haven't done that before. But Dash was never the one to wear dresses since she said it made her feel too exposed. 

"Dash, I'll be right back. I'm going to go ask the nurse if there are any different pants we can get for you to wear." He said, grabbing her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. She squeezed his hand back and smiled at him and nodded gently. He got up from his spot, taking the torn jeans with him. He slipped on the shirt that Dash was going to wear, a few holes but surprisingly no blood on it. 

As he exited a nurse was walking by. Quickly he got her attention by rushing in front of her. 

"Excuse me miss, I'm sorry to bother you, I'm sure your busy but do you happen to keep any extra clothing for patients. I didn't think to bring any extra clothes for my girlfriend, and well..." He trailed off as he held up the clothes, the jeans in full view, bloodstains and holes. He rubbed the back of his head nervously. Smooth genius, you're her caretaker and you didn't even think to bring any extra clothing with you. 

The nurse gave him an apologetic look and frowned. "Sorry, but any clothes we find we toss in the incinerator in the basement. Since most of those clothes have blood on them or if they belonged to a sick patient we don't take any risks with them." She paused seeing a look of fear and dread wash over him. She took a moment to think and perked up. "Oh but there is a department store next to the building, but it's a designer department store so their clothes are expensive." 

Soarin perked up a bit as he heard those words. He smiled and thanked her. Quickly he rushed to the stairs, using his wings and body momentum to carry himself down the flights of stairs. Reaching the bottom he bolted out the front doors and took flight towards the line of businesses next to the hospital. He saw the place the nurse was talking about and he groaned as he stopped in front of the store. 'Luna's Secret'. He groaned as he hesitantly walked in. This was a usually intimate wear clothing shop for women. He had seen some things from here in Dashs room and well... on her before, but he never once went into one of these with her. 

He sighed again as he looked around, all he had to do was find a pair of leggings or something to that extent. He looked to the jeans in his hands he was still holding. He flipped to the back of the jeans and looked at the tag his eye twitched a bit as he saw the size. Dash wore a size 6, he had never thought to actually look at what size she wore. As he thought about it he chuckled a bit. Fleet had always made fun of Dash for being as flat as a board and skinny as a rail. Dash was by no means frail though, She had muscle mass that made her appear larger and made her appear like she had meat on her. She always ate a healthy diet too so she was never too skinny. Though it made him wonder what she must have looked like before she gained all that muscle. He would have to peek at those photo albums at Dashs' house again. 

Focusing back on the task at hand, he looked around the room and saw a rack of what looked to be leggings. He rushed over to them quickly finding Dashs' size and grabbing them. He got a few glances from other women as he tried his best to avoid any and all eye contact. He quickly paid for the leggings, saying no words to the cashier but "Thank you" as he rushed out the doors, not even bothering to see how much he paid for them. 

Once he reached to floor Dash was on he quickly rushed back over, quickly ripping the price tag off and stuffing it into his pocket. 

He panted for breath as he walked in closing the door behind him. He looked up to see Dash giggling and smiling. Good, that's exactly what he wanted to see from her, it would make what was to come next easier. 

He smiled as he caught his breath, taking his spot back on the bed next to her. "Sorry, took me a bit to find a pair that would fit you." He smiled nervously, hoping she would buy his lie. She chuckled and shook her head.

"Are you sure you didn't just fly to the 'Luna's secret next door and buy a pair of leggings?" She asked, smirking at him and giggling more. He groaned as he rolled his eyes. 

"How did you know?" He asked. Dash smiled and pointed to the tag in the back of the leggings. 

"I actually have this exact pair at home. Also, the tag is kinda hard to miss, it's bright blue with white letter stitching." She said. 

Soarin rolled his eyes again and smiled at her, "Ok, you caught me. That's exactly what I did, figures I would grab a pair you already have." 

Dash chuckled as she nudged him with her knee. "Hey, it's ok, I just wanna go home so let's hurry this up." 

Soarin smiled as he shifted to stand. Gently, he placed his hands behind her, gently guiding her to the edge of the bed he pulled her legs to dangle off the edge. He stretched out the first leg of the leggings and slipped it over her cast. Putting the other leg in, he guided them up slowly careful to avoid hurting her. she winced ever so slightly once the pants reached around her hips. He gently grasped her hand and smiled. "Don't worry Dashie, once we are home ill help you get into something more comfortable and warm." She smiled at him gently and grabbed his hand and held it tight. 

She stared at him for a moment and then looked down at her leg and arm. He noticed her looking around a bit and gave her hand a squeeze. 

"Dash?"

She looked up at him and smiled warmly, pulling him close to her. He quickly leaned forward as she wrapped her arm around him, holding onto him as tight as she could. "I love you, Soarin." She said simply. 

He quickly returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to him. He had been craving this feeling for a long time, just holding her in his arms again. She was his world, his everything, she was his reason to get up in the morning. He got to see her stunning smiling face, hear her amazing laugh, touch her soft and sensitive skin, smell her green apple and cinnamon scented shampoo in her hair every morning at the compound. 

He flinched slightly as he heard a sniffle. He had been thinking so much about her that he hadn't even noticed she was shaking. He pulled away gently, his arms around her waist as he looked at her. She was holding back tears and her face was turning slightly red because of it. He quickly put his hand on her cheek and rubbed it gently. 

"Dashie, what's wrong?" He asked, stroking her cheek gently and wiping away a stray tear that fell from her eye. Dash pushed her head into his chest and let her hand fall to his chest as she started to cry softly. Soarin could tell she was still holding back, she needed to let it all out or it was going to make her chest start to hurt from the pressure of holding back tears. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair gently. "Dashie, hang in there, once we're home you can let it all out." He paused and gently wrapped his arms around her in an embrace again. 

"Don't worry Dashie, I'm here, and I'll always be here."
> Home, Sweet Home... Right?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin got Dash home, finally. After several minutes of trying to convince her that receiving help isn't the end of the world. 

Soarin looked at Dash from his side of the couch. She was pouting and grumbling to herself with her back rested on a bunch of pillows and her leg up on his thigh. She looked pretty peeved and he wasn't sure if he should try to comfort her or to crack a joke, afraid either one might end with him being yelled at and berated for 'treating her like a helpless little girl.

From the moment they left the hospital, she was insistent that she didn't need any help, that she could do it on her own. Sure, He would oblige if it was just a broken leg or a broken foot. But Dash had a broken hip, leg, and arm, and she was still pretty tender from surgeries and bruising. There was no way he would let her hurt herself like that if he could avoid it. He was her caretaker and he'd be damned if she got hurt on his watch. Dash was stubborn as hell and he knew it, if she could avoid getting help from anyone she would. 

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" He asked, hesitating a bit, knowing full well she might lash out about it. 

Dash grumbled and growled, "If I want something I can get it myself." She said, glaring harshly at him. Soarin reclined a bit and shifted his legs so she didn't have any direct access to his... under luggage, for what he was about to say. 

"Dashie, I'm not trying to treat you any differently, I just don't want you to hurt yourself or worse trying to do anything yourself..." He trailed off a bit looking away from her. Dash noticed and nudged him gently with her foot. He looked back at her and she gave him a concerned look

"What's up?" She asked, concerned. Soarin knew this, it was code for 'tell me what's wrong'. He sighed as he looked down at her leg, then her hip, then her arm. He scanned her top to bottom and his face contorted a bit into a scrunched glare as he did. 

"I just..." He hesitated, but another harder jab in his side with her foot made him continue. "I just don't want you to get hurt anymore. It's bad enough that you might not have the flight capabilities you once had. And it makes me feel awful that I could have done something about it at least." He sighed as he grabbed his phone and looked through it. "I'm sure you noticed once you got your phone charged up and back to you that you had several missed calls and texts from me. I was kinda freaking out about you and I had a really bad feeling... I just wish I had acted on it... maybe you wouldn't be in this position now if I had." He sighed, but his face was still scrunched up. 

Dash knew he wasn't telling her everything, so she tried to sit up but quickly found that with her angle it was hard to and very painful. She winced heavily, hissing through her teeth. Soarin quickly acted pushing her shoulders back down gently. He got up from his spot and helped her shift in a more comfortable way, easing her into a sitting-up position. He looked up at her, seeing she had an angry pout on her face. He smirked and chuckled. 

"Face it Dashie, you're going to need my help for the next few months, better get used to it." He said smarmily. Dash grumbled and pouted at him. He knelt down in front of her on both knees and grabbed her good hand and held it tight. He smiled up at her with his goofy smile, but Dash knew something was off. 

"Soarin, what's wrong. Please, talk to me." She asked, moving her hand to his cheek. His smile disappeared and he rubbed his face on her hand gently. Dash stared at him intently, he had grown some stubble in a month and the small bristles were scratching her hand. She didn't mind though, if feeling her skin on his was what made him comfortable at the moment then she wouldn't protest. He lifted his hand up to grasp hers gently in his own. Leaning closer put his head on her good knee gently. She could feel him shaking against her knee. Was he about to cry? She gave him an even more concerned look as she ran her fingers through his hair with her hand, trying to do her best to comfort him. 

"I wish it had been me Dash..." Dash flinched heavily and stopped rubbing the back of his head for a moment. He continued hesitantly, "I wish I could take your place in this whole situation. I so wish none of this ever happened to you... You don't deserve this." His voice started to choke up a bit at the end. Dash couldn't take it, hearing this from him made her heart break. He had been so strong for her during all of this, she didn't think about how seeing her like this would affect him. And this also showed her how much he really cared about her, had she been wrong to assume he had gotten over the shock of the whole thing? Was he still worried about her, he knew she wasn't going to die, but was something else still eating at him about the whole thing?

"Soarin, don't say that. You're a great flyer, and don't think I would be in any better shape if it were you right now... In fact, I don't think I could have been as strong as your being right now..." She trailed off, gently twidling with the ends of his hair. He looked up at her, tears filled his eyes and it almost made her break down right there. "I doubt I would have been able to keep my cool for as long as you did. I probably would have just sobbed uncontrollably until I couldn't anymore... Heh," she chuckled as she ruffled his hair gently. "Hell If it were you in this position right now, they would have had to pry my dead cold hands from the room, cuz hell knows I would have refused to leave your side." She looked at him, hoping to receive a reaction to that. To her relief, he started chuckling, which slowly turned into light laughter as he laid his head on her lap. 

After a few minutes of sitting there like that, Soarin got up and sat back on the couch with her. With a little bit of help from Soarin, she shifted so she could lay her head on his leg and lie down. He smiled contently as he gently stroked her prismatic hair, he leaned his head back against the edge of the couch and lay there with her in silence until they both fell asleep. 





Rainbow was awakened by something rough and wet touching her face. She groaned quietly and fluttered her eyes open to reveal her cat, Cherished, gently licking her face. She smiled and reached up to pet him and scratched behind his ears. He purred in response, enjoying the attention from his owner. She looked up to see Soarin was no longer there, and in his place was a bed style pillow. She sighed and took a deep breath. She could do this, she could sit up on her own, maybe then it would show Soarin she could do even a little bit on her own. 

She shifted her weight, putting most of her weight on her good arm, and carefully lifted herself from the couch. She grunted in discomfort as her balance shifted a bit, causing the pain in her hip to flare up. She sighed and grunted as she gently continued to push herself up. With one last solid effort to push her back up to the couch at an angle, she reached her hand to grab on the end of the couch cushion attached to the back of the couch and tried to pull herself up. She got halfway before a sudden shift causes her hip to pinch and she yelped and let go, and before she knew it she was on a collision course with the ground from her angle. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the impact, but to her surprise, she didn't touch the ground. She squeaked one eye open and looked behind her back. She sighed in relief when she saw two strong and muscular arms, cradling her. 

Soarin gently placed her on the couch, back in the same position he had left her in. He sighed as he looked at her and glared disapprovingly at her. "Rainbow Dash, what did I tell you!? I told you that you are supposed to call me over if you want anything or need to sit up." He said harshly. Dash pouted and puffed her cheeks out. 

"Soarin I was just trying to-" 

"I don't care what you were trying to do Dash!" He said aggressively. He placed both hands on her shoulders and helped her sit up gently. He then positioned himself to be face to face with her and gave her a stern look. "What would have happened if I weren't there to catch you? You would have hit the ground, and Celestia knows what the hell could happen if you had hit the ground hard enough." He said gritting his teeth a bit. Dash glared at him and growled. 

"Soarin it was two fucking feet! I seriously doubt it could have been that bad!" Dash said, starting to raise her voice a bit. Soarin glared at her more and grasped her shoulders gently and looked her square in the eyes. 

"Dash!" he raised his voice to match hers, "What happens when it's not just two feet! What happens when I can't hear you! What happens when I cant get to you fast enough! What happens when it's the stairs instead of the couch! Hm well, Dash! What then?" He growled glaring at her more. Dash was starting to shake a bit but he couldn't feel it, too engulfed in anger. Raising his voice even more, "You said you didn't want to feel like a helpless child! Well, I can't think of anything more helpless than falling and not being able to get back up because you're in too much pain!" 

All his words were stabbing into Dash. His grasp on her shoulders had tightened and she was feeling the pressure, but it didn't hurt. This was strange, he had never been this angry with her before. Not even when they had their stupid two-week-long fight. They had avoided each other that whole time and not once did he raise his voice this loudly at her. She flinched as he let go and sat on the floor with his back on the couch. He groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm himself down. Dash stared at him intently and said nothing, trying not to make his anger boil even more. 

He had been aggressive towards her, and that scared her. Was she pushing his limits? Was she seeing a side of him that he suppressed? Was he... was he going to hurt her? 

No!

NO! Stop thinking about that, Rainbow Dash. Soarin would never hurt you. He would sooner cut his own wings off before striking her... Right? 

She whimpered quietly, leaning away from Soarin a bit. This caught his attention and he turned to look at her. Her eyes were watery, but they didn't look like tears would fall. She looked... afraid. He quickly looked away and tugged at his hair gently. 

Had he just scared her? Oh sweet Celestia, no. What have I done, shes probably scared of me now! She won't trust me anymore and-

"Soarin?" 

Soarin's thoughts were cut off by Dash whispering his name. He swung his head to look back at her. She was hugging herself with her good arm and looking away from him. "Yes, Dashie?" He asked her softly. He wanted her to see he had calmed down, so he took a gentle approach. 

"You would never... hurt me, right?" She asked, purposefully being vague. Soarin quickly got up and sat next to her, draping his wing over her back gently. 

"Absolutely not, Dashie. I would never in a million years hurt you on purpose. The day I strike you like that is the day I cut my own wings off." He said, rubbing her shoulder gently. Dashs' eyes widened and she chuckled a bit to herself. 

She was right, that's definitely what would happen. She sniffled and leaned into his side, nestling herself into his strong wings and arms. Once again, she would have to kill anybody who saw this supremely girly display of affection. But she didn't care at the moment, she was in his warm embrace. His wings felt so soft, each feather gently grazing her back and arm in a comforting way. His muscular body, so large and inviting. His skin felt like silk to her, she would have to find out what body wash he used that kept his skin so soft. His warmth, dear Celestia, his warmth. He always kept her warm since she was always so cold. 

She let out a content sigh as she snuggled closer to him, as much as she could at least. At least this was one position she could be in without pain. Like this, he could cradle her with his wing and prevent her from moving too much, and use his arm to stabilize her body and keep her from making any sudden movements that could cause pain. And this was exactly what he was doing for her. This position also helped with keeping her as close to him as possible. 

Soarin smiled as he saw her get comfortable. She was never one for mushy public displays, but when they were alone she was like butter in his arms. He was so happy that she allowed this side of her to show with him. Not a soul, not even Fluttershy gets to see this soft, caring, and gentle side of her. It's reserved especially for him and him alone. 

He smiled as he ran his hand up her side, from her hip to her upper ribs and to her arms. He grinned softly to himself as he reached her neck and gently massaged the very middle of the bottom of her neck. This made her let out a quiet moan of delight as she allowed him access to her neck. He smiled and began gently massaging her neck. He moved his hand to the side of her neck where it met her shoulders and put pressure into his slow rhythmic movements. This elicited a moan from Dash, her body was extremely sensitive as it was, but her neck was a special sweet spot for her. 

He continued this and gave similar treatment to the other side of her neck, giving her a good neck massage to relieve the tension. He smiled as he burying his face into her hair, taking long, silent inhales of her natural smell. Her sent was rid of the apple and cinnamon scent that her hair normally took on, thanks to her shampoo. In its place, however, was the comforting smell that you always smelled after it rained. In a way, it was sweet but also earthy, and he loved that smell, much more than her normally sweet apple and cinnamon smell.

He gently planted his lips on the top of her head, rubbing her shoulders softly and gently as he kissed her. The steady rising and falling of her shoulders giving him solace. She was here, alive, and breathing, and that's all that mattered to him. He didn't care about her little 'almost accident' anymore. He had almost made her cry in fear, so he was more than willing to give her comfort and reassurance in this time of need for her. 

Dash made a cute cooing noise as she nestled herself even closer to him. This made Soarin chuckle and he started to cacoon her in his large wings. Something he loved a lot about her small size, his wings were the size of her body, making it easy for him to cradle her and also shield her. This made him drift into a memory that unlike the other wasn't as enjoyable. 






"SOARIN! ATTACK PATTERN 25 B!" Soarin heard the voice of his teammate, Rainbow Dash, ring through his ears. He grunted as he stopped his flight, using his powerful wings to slow himself down at an incredible rate. In an instant, another pegasus man slammed into his back. He grunted but quickly grabbed the man's arm and spun him around, putting his arm all the way to the other side of his back. He slung his other arm around the man's neck and used his knee to push his chest and stomach out. Before he knew it Rainbow Dash was right in front of him, she pulled up at an almost perfect 90-degree angle, and a second later another pegasus man slammed right into Soarin's captive, pushing his head directly into his comrade's chest and the rest of him into his stomach. 

At high speeds, this made the man in Soarins grasp gasp for air after it was completely pushed out of him. Soarin held on tight to his thrashing captive, he was trying to make him pass out from air loss. After 30 seconds of this, the man finally stopped thrashing and let go of his arm. Soarin quickly loosened his grasp and flew to the ground. He set the man down and ran to his comrade, who was trying to regain his bearings. Soarin quickly pulled out his gun from the back of his pants and pointed it at the man.  

"STOP, YOUR OUTMATCHED, STAND DOWN!" Soarin's voice boomed. Dash joined him seconds later retrieving her own gun and pointing it at him. They had been caught directly in the middle of an attack on Manehatten on an off day after a show. The two of them had been walking the streets of Manehatten together and seeing the sights. All of the sudden out of no were two pegasus men opened fire on an unsuspecting lunch seating area that was crowded. Soarin and Dash had both heard the shots and had jumped into action, using their military rank and royal permissions to step in when police weren't present. They had dragged them away from the city and finally cornered them both. At least... so they thought. 

Without warning, Dash was tackled from behind by the man Soarin had thought they had knocked out. The man Dash had been fighting took advantage of Soarin's distraction and tried to grab for Soarin's gun. All Wonderbolts were required to carry some kind of weapon on them, except during shows and meet and greets. Soarin, a long time ago, had opted to take his father's gun he had been given once he became a Wonderbolt. This gun was nothing to sneeze at either. It was a Glock 20 gen 3 10mm, and this gun in the wrong hands could mean disaster. 

Soarin did his best fighting the attacker, he struggled and grunted and the man's nails continuously dug into his flesh on his hands. But eventually, his grip was loosened enough by the pain and strain on his hands. The attacker grabbed the gun and knocked Soarin over the head with it as hard as he could, disorienting him to the point of being knocked on his butt. 

Dash was struggling in the grip of her attacker, she had her gun held in her hand tight in a way that made it impossible to get out of her hands. The attacker then opted to just pin her down, placing a foot on her hand and crushing it, making the gun drop from her hands. His other knee was over her back holding her down, this was easy for him since Dash was not very large. 

Without warning the attacker's partner pointed Soarin's gun at Dash and fired. 

Soarin didn't think, all he heard was the fire and he stretched his large wing out to shield Dash beside him. Of course, the bullet went straight through the meat of his wings, but the movement itself was enough for it to miss Dash's head by mear centimeters. Quickly, he acted getting up and flaring his wings out and flapping them hard downward. Dash and Soarin both closed their eyes, but the attackers got a very fast and painful dust spout in their eyes causing them to be blinded.  

Soarin sprang up and tackled the man and pinned him down and took his gun back quickly. Dash used her strength to push the man on top of her off, quickly grabbing her gun and pointing it at her attacker's head keeping him from moving until backup had arrived. 





Soarin frowned as the memories came to a close. That had happened before they became a thing. He unfurled his other wing to look at the large bullet wound now there. It was all healed up now, it has been over a year since it happened. When Dash saw the amount of blood coming from his wing, she was terrified. Thankfully the bullet hadn't hit any arteries or important wing tendons, it just passed through some thicker skin on his wing. But unfortunately for Dash, who happens to have hemophobia, his wing was gushing blood. So not only was she getting sick from seeing it but she had been worried half to death about him.

He sighed as he noticed her head move, he looked down at her to see she was looking at him with concern. He gave her a warm smile and kissed her forehead. Dash smiled and nuzzled her head onto his chest, getting herself closer to him. He smiled, picking her up gently and placing her in a sitting position in his lap, her back being held up by the armrest of the couch and a pillow. Dash quickly adjusted herself to be comfortable and laid against his chest. He smiled even more and chuckled as she nestled herself into his chest, making cute cooing noises as she did. He wrapped both his wings around her along with his arms, keeping her cocooned in his tight embrace. 





Art by: KikiRDCZ


"I'm sorry about earlier, Soarin. I just really, really, reeeeaallly don't like the idea of being this vulnerable. I like to do things by myself and this is all new to me. I'll try to restrain myself more so you don't have to worry about me." Dash said, resting her cheek on his chest. Soarin smiled and tightened his wings around her to get her even closer to him. 

"Dashie, it's ok. I know this is hard for you. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have freaked out like that, I know that you're trying to adjust and it was wrong of me to assume you would take it as a grain of salt at first. Heh, I should have known this would be hard for you, but instead, I got frustrated and pent up about it. So I'm sorry, I'll try not to let that happen again, ok Dash?" He looked down at the top of her head as he waited to hear her reply. 

But he didn't get one. He looked at her, a worried expression coming across his face. "Dash?" He flinched as he heard a sniffle escape her. Soarin quickly unfurled his wings around her and lifted her chin so he could look at her. The sight made his heart drop. Dash usually didn't like crying, not even around him. But when she did cry, it meant that something was seriously eating at her, making her either that sad or just so angry to the point where she cries. But even then if that's the case she tends to not do it in front of anybody, not even him. She was about to cry, tears were threatening to escape her eyes as they weld up her face was starting to scrunch up and turn red like it was at the hospital earlier. 

Right, how could he have forgotten? She had been so overwhelmed by this whole thing, it's a wonder she hasn't broken down yet, Celestia knows he would have by now. He cupped her cheek in his hand, looking her directly in the eyes. He refolded his wings around her slowly, "Let it out Dash, it's ok, I'm here," He said softly. 

And with that, the dam broke. Dash buried her face into his chest and started to sob loudly. Soarin tightened his hold on her, keeping her in his tight embrace. She had to hear and deal with so many things in just three days. He couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, all of this information from the past month had been dumped on her and it was finally becoming too much for her to handle alone. 

He leaned down, kissing the top of her head as he rubbed her shoulders and stroked her hair. Dash was a strong woman, but even the strongest of people can only take so much before it all comes crumbling down.
> wtf Fleet?...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP 

Rainbow Dash groaned as she reached her arm up to turn the alarm clock off. She grunted as she tried to reach it but her hand came just short of it. Before she could even try to get up and reach it, a larger hand pressed the button on top of the small device. She looked up and smiled seeing Soarin there, already dressed and at her side. 

"Morning, hot stuff." She said, earning a chuckle from him. 

"Good morning beautiful, are you ready to do your stretches?" He asked. Dash pouted at him and gave him sweet puppy dog eyes as she sat herself up slowly and carefully. 

Soarin smiled as he watched her move on her own. The doctor had warned that she would be tender for a day or two after being in the hospital for so long. He had said to not put the brace special made for her on until she was able to move her lower body on her own. It had been five days since Soarin had brought her back home and she was eager to get moving again. The brace made it easier for her to move and change positioning on her own, but she couldn't wear it when she slept. The stretches in the mornings and at nights had made her muscles accustomed to slow steady movements without pain. And of course, even if she did have pain, she was too stubborn to give in to it. 

He gently reached his hand forward and grasped her good shoulder, helping her the next few inches up. She didn't resist his help, she knew all that would happen is another lecture about taking help cuz she needs it. She gave him another cute pout and grabbed the sleeve of his long sleeve shirt and gave him the biggest puppy-dog eyes he had ever seen. Soarin knew this look, she wanted something, and she only ever used this look when she wanted something that he wouldn't agree with. 

He tried his best to avoid her gaze and grumbled, "What do you want now?" 

Dash smiled and pulled him closer to her by his sleeve and motioned for him to join her on the bed. He grumbled a bit as he obeyed, not able to resist her cute eyes. Dash laid back down with him beside her and caressed his shoulders and chest, blushing slightly at the touch. Soarin looked at her, seeing her blushing and touching him in the places she liked. 

Bingo. 

She was... in the mood. He wasn't sure If this was the best timing for it, especially with her still healing. He hesitated to touch her, knowing full well that if he did, he wouldn't be able to resist her. 

Dash looked back up at him and gave him a very warm and loving smile. She reached her hand up to caress his cheek, which was now clean-shaven, and she caressed it with her thumb gently. "What are you thinking?" She asked in a soft tone, keeping the mood gentle. 

Soarin scrunched his nose slightly and placed his hand over hers gently. "I'm thinking that if we go for it, I'll end up hurting you. I know how you like it and I'm not willing to do that, it's too risky."

Dash laughed and blushed a deep red and turned her hand around and grasped his, pulling it towards her lips. She smiled as she kissed the palm of his hand and moved it to her waist gently. "Then just be gentle, slow, and passionate. I'm in the mood, yes. But I'm not in the mood for what we usually do. I want you Soarin, and not in a lustful way. It's more of an 'I want you because I love you and you mean the world to me' kind of way." 

This made Soarin's heart melt. She looked so content, and happy. And it was fruitless to argue with her on anything when she felt this passionate about something.

So he didn't, he leaned forward and kissed her gently, locking lips with hers and running his fingers up her waist and to her back and into her hair. He was going to make sure she enjoyed this. 





Spitfire growled as tried and tried to reach Soarin. She had been calling him for hours and he didn't seem to be picking up at any point. She knew he had to be busy with Dash, but she had been calling since 7 a.m. It was now 10 a.m and she hadn't gotten more than a text telling her 'im busy.' 

"Spitty, come on, leave the poor guy alone. I'm sure he's helping Dash with something right now. He is her caretaker after all." Fleetfoots voice came from the corner of Spitfires office where she had beanbags and books, and entire gaming set up. Fleetfoot was quietly reading one of the mystery novels and hadn't looked up from her book.

Spitfire had wanted to make her office as comfortable as possible for the force. Meaning her 'chairs' was a large, plush couch the sat adjacent to her desk and beanbag chairs, and the corner of her office was dedicated as a hang-out spot for when she and her squad had a free day. More often than not though, she would catch Dash and Soarin playing video games. Well, Dash was playing, Soarin would be losing over and over again to his practical gamer girlfriend, at almost everything. Every now and then Dash and Fleetfoot would be in here talking or Rapidfire and Soarin would be there reviewing and going over the routines together.

"I know he's her caretaker, but is he really that busy helping her for three hours?" Spitfire grumbled as she sat down on a bean bag chair across from Fleet. Fleetfoot smiled and looked up from her book at Spitfire. 

"How much you wanna bet he's getting hot and steamy with her?" Fleetfoot asked in a sly tone while bouncing her eyebrows. Spitfire groaned and blushed.

"Fleet, I really don't want to think about Soarin's sex life. I know he is a brother to you and you guys talk about everything but I happen to like keeping private matters, private." Spitfire crossed her arms and looked at nothing in particular. Fleetfoot grinned devilishly and put her book down. 

"Oh Spitty, you cant sit there and tell me you weren't curious when we were younger." She paused and giggled to herself. "I mean, I'm in a committed relationship with Lightning, but even I have to admit, Soarin is one sexy tall drink of water." 

Spitfire blushed and glared at Fleetfoot, but she didn't reply. Fleetfoot gave her a cocky triumphant grin, "HA, I knew it! You WERE curious!" Spitfire blushed even more and sunk into her seat. 

"Fleeeeeet, I was only curious for like a few days, once I got to know his personality I wasn't into him that way. He is a great friend and will always be a great friend. I just haven't ever seen him that way after I met Wave. Besides, are you saying you were curious?" Spitfire asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Fleetfoot scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Spitty, Me and Soarin have known each other for fucking years, ever since we were toddlers! You think I haven't seen him in his birthday suit before?"

Spitfire looked at Fleet with a flat look and sighed. "Why have you seen his dick? Seriously Fleet? Isn't that weird to you?" Fleetfoot laughed heartily and rolled her eyes. 

"Spitty, Soarin is my best friend, I trust him with everything, absolutely everything. I've seen him naked and he has seen me naked. Once we got a certain age, it just wasn't something we were too concerned about. We have no problems getting dressed in front of each other and we have no problems seeing each other that way because we just don't care anymore. Hell before I got together with Lightning, I had Soarin be the one to feel my breast after I thought I felt a lump in it." She paused and chuckled a bit, "Heh, he didn't want to at first because he said he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable, so I told him to stop being a sissy and to feel my tity." Fleetfoot started to cackle and laugh while sitting in the bean bag chair. Spitfire just stared in bewilderment. 

"Wouldn't that make you uncomfortable Fleet? He's a guy, even I would feel uncomfortable with that." Spitfire gave Fleetfoot a curious look as she continued to laugh. Fleetfoots laughter died down as she sat back up. 

"Spitfire, I don't see Soarin as a man. Well, I know he is a man as he identifies as one, but we are just that close of friends. When your friends with someone that closely then gender isn't really something you think too much about. He is my friend, and I don't see him as a 'guy friend', it's hard to explain the feeling really." Fleetfoot smiled warmly and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Spitfires phone rang. 

Spitfire reached to answer, "Hello?... Soarin, what the hell were you doing for that long? Does Dash really-... Oh..." Spitfire paused, a deep blush covering her face. Fleetfoot smiled as wide as she could and lost it laughing, falling over to the floor. 

"NO WAY! HAHAHA WAS HE ACTUALLY SCREWING HER! HAHAHAH" 

Spitfire shushed her and growled under her breath "Ok, well ask... Fleet and I will be there in about 2 hours... Ok, see you then." Spitfire hung up and glared at Fleetfoot, "Was that really necessary Fleet?" 

Fleetfoot wiped a tear from her eyes as she calmed her laughter. "I can't believe the guy had the brass set to actually do that with her."

Spitfire rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Anyway, he and Dash have invited us to go to Dashs house for dinner tonight, they invited the rest of her squad as well as Rapid. You wanna go?" 

Fleetfoot beamed and shouted, "HELL YEAH! A chance to see Dashie, never passing that up!" Fleetfoot got up from her chair and bounced excitedly and glided out of the room. Spitfire rolled her eyes again and laughed. 





Fleetfoot barreled down the hall, having one place in mind to get to. She was heading towards the infamous squad four room. They were known for their shenanigans and roughhousing, it was always a blast with them around. Fleetfoot stopped at the door and knocked, the moment she did she heard clattering sounds and rushing feet towards the door. She backed up just in time as the door flung open to reveal an out-of-breath Thunderlane and Eclipse. She laughed knowing the two always roughhoused amongst themselves. 

"First commander, how can we help you?" Eclipse asked in a professional tone. Fleetfoot laughed as Thunderlane nudged him aside and leaned against the door frame. 

"Whatsup, Fleet?" Thunderlane asked in a swav tone. She laughed even harder and pushed him gently. 

"Soarin and Dash have invited us to their house for dinner, do you guys wanna come?" She asked, still giggling. 

"And see our captain again! for sure!" A voice shouted from inside the room. Fleetfoot peered her head around to see squad fours, third member, Jade Feather. Jade smiled as she walked up and shoved the two boys out of the way and came eye to eye with Fleetfoot. "What time is the dinner? I'll make sure these boys are ready to go by then." 

Fleetfoot chuckled and looked past her to see the two men of squad four roughhousing again in the background. It was Dash and Jade keeping the two of them in line most of the time, but they all saw Jade as the mother figure of the bunch, being a whole 10 years older than them all. "Dinner is at 6 p.m, but Spitfire and I are heading there early to spend some time with them. It's up to you guys what you decide to do." She said, still chuckling at the cacophony in the back. 

Jade's eye twitched a bit as she heard a crash from behind her. Fleetfoot looked back again to see the two men had rammed themselves into a table and it was now broken. 'THANK YOU, COMMANDER. We will be there." and as quickly as she said it the door was closed. Fleetfoot smiled and giggled to herself as she walked away from the room. 

She smiled as she walked the halls having another person in mind to find. She passed by many other staff members and other Wonderbolts never actually spotting who she was looking for. 

She grumbled in disappointment as she closed the door to the gym, "Where the hell is he? Rapidfire is impossible to miss with that freaking bright red hair and neon orange feathers." She said to herself. She rounded the corner on the top floor and she saw some orange feathers go into a room. She flinched and flew in the direction of it and knocked on the door as quickly as she could. She heard scrambling inside the room and she raised an eyebrow preemptively. 

The door swung open and Rapidfire revealed himself in his everyday clothes but he looked very angry. Fleetfoot internally groaned at the sight of him. Rapidfire was always hot-tempered and easily angered, as well as most of the time being a complete jackass. But he was part of their squad so she had to put up with it. As much as she couldn't stand him, he was still a productive member of the team and had great strengths that complimented their flying and combat skills, all four of them complement each other's abilities and that is why the previous Captin stuck the four of them together. Even though the guy himself was sometimes a jerk he could also be sweet if he knew it was needed. When he came back from his vacation and made that horribly timed joke he felt awful after learning what had gone down, even going as far as to comfort her when she started to cry about it all that same night. Underneath all his hardass exterior, he had a soft side. 

Fleetfoot took a deep breath and smiled at Rapidfire as best she could, "Hey, Rainbow and Soarin have invited us to Dash's house for dinner, you in?" 

Rapidfire looked back into his room for a moment then grumbled something to himself before replying. "Sure, what time?" He asked quietly. Fleetfoot gave him a quizzical look and tried to look around him into his room, but a wing blocked her field of view. She raised her eyebrow again and gave him a questioning look.

"Dinner is at 6 p.m, me and Spitty will be there before everyone else. Dash's squad will be there too." She answered carefully. She tried to peer through his wing feathers at what was up but Rapidfire slowly started to close the door. 

"K', see you tonight then," he said before closing his door fully. 

Fleetfoot stared at the door for a moment before rolling her eyes and walking away. Rapidfire was always hiding something, why would she think now was any different.
> Dinner and...A show?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin scrambled to put the pot back down on the stove as he heard the doorbell ring. He had been in the middle of cooking when it rang and he had to answer it as soon or he would never hear the end of the sexual jokes from Fleet. He turned the fire down and set the pot back down and went to answer the door. Cherished was there sitting on the side table next to the door, looking our the panes of glass on the sides. He chuckled as he opened the door and saw two figures scrambling to stand up straight. 

"HEYYYYYY" Fleetfoot said nervously. 

Soarin moved his gaze from Fleet to look at Spitfire, glaring at nothing in particular and blushing. He rolled his eyes and opened the door wider, "I don't even wanna know," he said calmly with a smile. Spitfire walked in quickly passing Cherished on her way in without even noticing him and taking a seat on the couch. Fleetfoot followed soon after but followed Soarin into the kitchen. 

Soarin smiled at her as they walked in the kitchen together and Cherished came running in and rubbed himself on Fleetfoots leg. She looked down and smiled bright and wide and sat on the ground and started to pet him. "When did Dash get a cat?" She asked, surprised. 

"I guess about 2 months ago, Something about him saving her from a nasty guy." He said, opening the fridge and grabbing butter. 

"That's cool, never thought she would be a cat person when she literally has a flying turtle." She said, scratching behind the cat's ears. 

"TORTIOUS!" A muffled voice shouted from the top floor and Fleetfoot burst out laughing. Soarin quickly turned off the stove and rushed up the stairs, towel still over his shoulder. 

Fleetfoot stood up and patiently waited for Soarin and Dash to come back down the stairs. Soarin had come down the stairs for a moment with two crutches the looked like they went around your arm and had set them down against the banister. After that, he had rushed back up the stairs. She knew it would take a while for them to get downstairs since Dash's house was three stories tall and she was on the top floor. So she took a moment to look around. She could see several railings drilled into the sides of the walls and even more chairs around the house the last time she visited. the house also had a view straight into the living room, where she could see in the corner what looked like a very soft mat and some cloth slings and weight equipment, and a treadmill. 

She had a pretty good guess that Soarin had set all this up for her so they could do physical therapy at home instead of at an office. About two days ago Soarin had called her to tell her what happened on the first day of physical therapy. And that they had quickly realized that Dash was not going to be able to go to any center to recover and they would have to have a doctor come to her house. 

Soarin had told her when they got to the physical therapy doctor for the first meeting that all seemed normal until halfway through the session when a security guard and run in to tell them that media and reporters were outside the building waiting for Dash and Soarin to leave. There was no other way out of the building without setting off fire alarms so they had to leave right then and there before even more reporters showed up. During the attempt to escape one of the reporters accidentally tripped Dash and she fell and Soarin couldn't catch her. Luckily though a nice reporter who wasn't too focused on getting her picture or answers to questions helped her up while Soarin tried to get the media away from her. But by then she didn't have any time to thank him because she could tell Soarin was getting angry and she didn't want him blowing a fuse in front of hundreds of cameras and journalists. So instead she made do with what she could and just started to cry. Fake tears, of course, because, to quote him, "Dash isn't a delicate flower". But the crying was enough to get his attention and he just pushed his way through the media as gently as he could with Dash cradled in his arms. And as soon as they got in the car and speed away Dash and stopped crying. 

Fleetfoot giggle at the recap of what Soarin had told her. Dash was one sly bitch when it came to keeping people focused and on track. She knows what gets under their skin and knows how to get them to do what they need to without them even realizing it, and Soarin was no exception to it. 

She continued to look around at all the ramps and railings set up around the house and it made her wonder how the physical therapy was going. But before the thought could even finish in her head, Soarin's form appeared from the stairs. 

He was walking backward very slowly and he was grasping a set of forearms. He had two very small hands on each arm holding onto him as they walked. Within 30 seconds Rainbow Dash was fully in view, making small methodical movements as she walked. 

Walked.

Rainbow Dash is walking. 

Fleetfoots smile grew to its limits and she started to clap silently as she watched Dash hold onto Soarin. Fleetfoot was so proud of Dash. Soarin had told her the doctors were wrong and the damage wasn't as bad as they thought it was. At least in her hip, it wasn't. Her wing was still heavily bandaged and in a full wing cast now, so she wouldn't move it on instinct. 

Fleetfoot was joined by Spitfire as they watched Dash reach the bottom of the steeps with Soarins help and when she finally did both Fleetfoot and Spitfire clapped for her, excited that their friend had finally regained a bit of her strength. 

Soarin smiled and held her up with an arm as he grabbed her crutches and put them around her upper arms. He gave her a small peck on the cheek before going back into the kitchen. 

"Hey, guy's I've missed you so much, being cooped up here with Mr. freaks-out-a lot has been so boring. I'm so ready to hear about the outside world. How's the force? How is my squad doing? Spitfire, how are you and Wave? Fleet how-" 

"Who their Dash," Spitfire chuckled. "Slow down girl, I know you like things fast but let's sit down and talk. I'm sure you're not supposed to be standing anyway." She smiled as she reached her arm to Dash. 

Dash rolled her eyes and pushed her arm away and used her crutches to hobble her way into the kitchen with Soarin. Fleetfoot burst out laughing again and followed her quickly as Spitfire rolled her eyes. 

Fleetfoot quickly pulled a chair out for Dash to sit in which she didn't protest to since she knew it was actually a harder thing for her to do with crutches. When they were all sat down Fleet smiled at dash and asked, "Why were you all the way up there anyway, isn't your bedroom down here?" 

Dash nodded and tapped her leg cast. "Doctors orders, I gotta practice going up and down the stairs once a day to get enough movement in-between physical therapy dates." Fleetfoot nodded in understanding and looked to her wing cast. 

Her wing was being held in place in a folded position as to not cause discomfort while sleeping. How did all of this feel to Dash? Fleetfoot herself had noticed something was different about Dash from the moment she saw her again in the hospital after she woke up. Her eyes just didn't seem to have the same light or happiness they once had. Had Soarin noticed it too? 

"Soooo..." Fleet tapped her fingers on the table, "Have they given you any news about your wing?" She cringed when she saw a visible flinch come from both her and Soarin who was moving pots around. "I'll take that as no good news yet?" she asked questioningly.

Dash stared for a moment, her eyes darting between Spitfire and Fleet. She sighed and half extended her good wing, methodically examining each feather. "Well... they haven't told me any good news yet. All they have told me is that there is a high chance I won't fly in the same way I once did... If I even can anymore." Dash's face deflated and saddened very quickly and Fleet could see small tears forming in the corners of her eyes. 

"It's ok Dash, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Spitfire quickly chimed in, "Let's talk about your team. They are all still a bunch of idiots and Jade is doing her best to keep Eclips and Thunderlane in line without you." She paused and giggled to herself. "Just the other day I had Thunderlain vacuuming the rugs in the mess hall after dining hours were over. I was doing my personal inspections of the other's work when out of the corner of my eye I saw Eclips come in and walk up behind underlain. And out of nowhere Thunderlain just gets this mortified look on his face and Eclips is bursting out laughing and flys off. I asked him what he said and he told me-

"Does it give the good suck Lane? Eh, it's a real quiet suck too it gets the job done quick and fast and it helps you finish faster too."

-And I was doing my hardest not to lose it laughing and keep a composed demeanor but I lost it then and there and just laughed my ass off." Spitfire started to chuckle and looked towards Fleetfoot. "I was telling this to Fleet in the lounge the same day and she added to it by saying-

"Hey everyone has preferences to how they like their suck. some of those don't give good enough suck so it's not sucking enough out. Some people like the good suck to be quiet and some prefer it loud so you can feel like you really get it all cleaned out"

-oh god I was taking a drink of water when she said all that and I fucking lost it then and there." all three of them laughed and Fleetfoot pounded the table with a fist as she laughed. Soarin came up behind with a confused look. Spitfire covered her mouth and chuckled. "Do you not get it Soarin?" 

"No... I don't. You're talking about a vacuum right?" He asked obliviously. They all started to laugh again, louder this time. Dash looked up and looked both women in the eye and made a wooshing motion over her head with her hand and arm and they all laughed harder. Soarin just rolled his eyes and went back to cooking. 

"Oh man, haaaaaa, that really does sound like my squad." Dash smiled in content and chuckled, "got any more stories?" 

Fleetfoot perked up immediately and started giggling. "So you know how Lightning sometimes stayed after hours to clean the practice building with the newbies? Well they were staying so late one-night cuz we had held an event in there and they were taking a long ass time to clean up. Lightning had had enough of that day already so decided to calm his temper with humor. So because he is really close with one of the recruits he started fake singing "We're not gonna take it" By uh... Twisty Mare. So he and 4 other people are in this building with him screaming WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, NO WE AINT GONNA TAKE IT and the other two recruits are just done with the day already and are screaming at him to shut the fuck up from across the building. And the other one is just laughing her ass off and singing with him in a really bad off-key on purpose. I walked in just at the right time behind recruit Lazzari and Gusty Days to hear them both say-

Man I can only imagine what Fleetfoot would think if she was walking by right now. Like I don't know what's going on but I should consider talking lightning into counseling.

-oh man I lost it right then and there and just laughed so hard. The two of them were so mortified but I told them it was ok cuz I knew how Lightning was." 

All three of them laughed again and this time Soarin was able to get the joke and laughed with them. Dash smiled and whipped a tear from her eye while silently chuckling. "Man I have missed being at the compound. I'm missing out on all the funny shit!"

"Haha, man you missed probably the most epic Silver Lining fail of all time the other day. It was the first time I've ever seen him so flustered since I became a Wonderbolt." Spitfire said covering her mouth and chuckling. This immediately got Soarins and Dash's attention and they both looked up intrigued.

Spitfire chuckled "The other day we were at practice and Silver was trying to get the new recruits to listen to him, which obviously wasn't working. So he went for a tactic he had never done before, show and tell tactics." Spitfire paused to let it sink in and she saw both Soarin and Dash look intrigued. "So basically he was going to show them how to do all the different elemental techniques but he messed up when he decided to do lightning after water. So he is still drenched in water once he got to lightning and he burned himself to a crisp. He was fine after but man I don't think I have ever seen him mess up that badly. Spitfire finished looking both Dash and Soarin. 

Dash looked surprised and Soarin looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. "Wow never knew Silver could mess up like that, he is usually so careful," Dash said putting her hand under her chin in thought. 

"Neither have I, Silver was always so careful and knew all the moves by heart. I was wonder if he was distracted by something." Soarin chimed in, setting a snack on the table. 

Spitfire grabbed one of the muffins and shrugged. " I'm not sure, well find out when Dash gets the chance to talk to him." 

Dash flinched and looked at Spitfire. "Why me?" 

Spitfire shook her head and laughed. "You are Silvers student, and he is your mentor. It's inevitable that you talk to him." Spitfire chuckled and took another bite of her muffin. Dash rolled her eyes and smiled. 

"well whatever, I wanna hear more stories." 





The four of them spent a lot of time talking until the doorbell rang. Soarin went to answer it but before he could even reach it the door swung open and Thunderlane, Eclips, and Jade let themselves in. Dash had always told them that they could feel free to just walk in whenever. Soarin chuckled and rolled his eyes as Eclips and Thunderlane immediately started roughhousing. 

"HEY! You two can rough house all you want in the compound but my house isn't a place for your secret lover's rough play." Dash quipped with a smirk. Both men stopped and gave her embarrassed stairs. 

"Dash we aren't lovers!" Thunderlane crossed his arm and gave her an angry pout. 

"HA" Fleetfoot laughed, "You two are less inconspicuous than a rainbow after a thunderstorm. It's kinda obvious"

Both men grumbled loudly and sat down on the couch away from each other. Fleetfoot giggled quietly to herself as Spitfire kicked her shin and gave her a "you shouldn't have said that" look but smiled all the while.

Soarin smiled and looked towards dash who was smiling to herself. "She looks so happy. This was a great idea, all her friends in one place, she definitely needed this", he thought to himself. 

He looked back at the stove and stored its contents, Spaghetti, and stirred its counterpart, homemade tomato and cheese vodka sauce with homemade meatballs thrown in it. He looked to the table again and saw at some point while he was distracted that Rapidfire had shown up. He thought to himself...

Yeah... Dash needs this right now.... I'll be sure this is the best dinner for her