Rainbow Dash's heart grew for Soarin unexpectedly without her knowing, his grows too.
Rainbow Dash has been in the Wonderbolts for a while now and she noticed her heart grew fonder for a special somepony for the last few weeks. Through many interactions with him, something in him changed. This may not be like the previous relationship he had. Will they confess or keep it quiet for the sake of their friendship?
I have been in the Wonderbolts for a while now! I still can't believe it! I'm IN the Wonderbolts! Oh, I just have to share with you EVERYTHING here!
I used to be in the 'D' team. It's a team where newbies like ME are! But I'm Rainbow Dash! I got out of there in a jiffy! Like why wouldn't I be? I am the best youngest flyer ever! I can even beat Wind Rider's record! (Not exactly my fondest memory of him when I last saw him.)
I simply have to SHARE my experience while I am here! However, I have to explain the system. As an experienced wonderbolt, Team A is where all the best of the best are! Like Spitfire, Soarin, Surprise, just to name a few.
Then TEAM B is the second best! They oftentimes perform with Team A! But their moves are wayy more agile than A. Team A always has the all-rounders in. Next, we have Team C! It's a team where we all are trained by Teams A and B to improve our skills. Team C has a large amount of pegasus in it as by the end of the year we will get posted to team A or B. But there's a catch. We have to pass a test! If you fail you continue to stay in C. If you pass the test, you will be posted into A or B based on your results. I obviously got posted into Team A! I am the best!
No one's POV
It was a bright morning, Celestia just raised the sun and the light cracked through each Wonderbolt's window. Everyone woke up all groggy and headed their way to the locker room. They were all getting ready making sure their day started right.
Rainbow Dash rushed down to the mess hall (Cafeteria) after complimenting herself in the mirror. She and a few ponies were already lined up for the food. She picked up a hayburger and an apple to keep herself on a healthy diet. She makes sure she never misses a Wonderbolt training day.
"Hey newbie," Spitfire greeted her as she sat down at the same table with her.
Soon Rainbow and Spitfire's mates join them at the table too.
"Good morning Spitfire! What will we be practicing later?" Rainbow Dash asked with anticipation as she munched down on her hayburger.
"I admire your willingness to learn newbie, relax it's just the morning! I will tell you later," Spitfire said casually eating her muffin.
"I heard the change of mentors is coming up!" Surprise said with excitement.
"OH NO! I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO CHART THAT UP!" Spitfire yelled as soon Surprise talked about the change of mentors.
Spitfire put her hooves on her head. Everyone at the table laughed as soon as Blaze said, "Did you forget because of the new novel you have been reading the past few days?"
"Sorry everyone, this seems to be a mistake on my part. The exchange of mentors will happen next week. Sorry Rainbow Dash, I won't be training you for the time being. I will get Soarin to do it for me instead," Spitfire apologized and immediately munched her food down and immediately left the mess hall.
"You will have a blast when Soarin trains you!" Surprise remarked and nudged Rainbow Dash with her elbow.
"Why? Isn't he like the rest of y'all?" Rainbow Dash asked not understanding her remark.
"Well being his best friend, let me tell you: he's a bit of a clutz," Surprised replied.
"To add on, he didn't even take on a student from Team C! He somehow talked Spitfire out of it," Fleetfoot added on and giggled.
As soon as the bell rang, signaling the start of training for the Wonderbolts. Soarin walked over to find his new student. On the way to the training venue, the walk was silent. He looked at Rainbow Dash and she looked at him.
"Sooooo, I heard you talked your way out of Spitfire to mentor students," Rainbow Dash broke the ice between them and gave an awkward smile.
"Yes, I did but that doesn't mean I slacked off when the rest of them trains!" Soarin said proudly with a smile on his face.
"So why didn't you take any student?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously, she never understood why one of the best never took in a student.
"Well it sounds weird but every time I took a mare under me somehow they all just liked me. In the end, nothing ever gets done. My team always makes fun of me for having a curse of making mares fall in love with me. It's really bad," Soarin said with nervousness in his voice.
Rainbow Dash immediately burst into laughter. She could not believe what she was hearing. Her?! Fall in love!? Never in a million years that would happen!
"HAHAAHA! Let's make a bet, if I ACTUALLY fall in love with you, I owe you 10 free apple pies," Rainbow Dash jokingly bet with Soarin.
"Well, this is the first time I'm not looking forward to getting Apple Pie from someone!" Soarin joked back.
Both of them continued to giggle and talk while on the way to their designated training ground. Soarin brought Rainbow Dash to his obstacle course that he was planning to do before being stuck with mentoring duties.
"This is the obstacle course I was planning to do today. It's a little difficult for newbies but I'm sure you can do it!" Soarin said with assurance. "But I have yet to finish the last few parts and test them out. So go stretch first before we start," Soarin said and flew off to finish up his course.
Rainbow Dash did some push-ups and stretched her wings. She did a few laps around the training ground and by the time she was back Soarin was ready to show her the course.
"So I will run through the course. You just watch at the side first," Soarin said and Rainbow stood at the side, eyeing his every move.
He flew through the hoops at a constant acceleration. Then came those swinging hoops. Those were swinging really really fast left and right, but Soarin immediately flew through it without a hitch. Then came the agile part, he flew side to side through the linear position of poles. The spacing of the poles in between each other was just the size of a stretched-out average pony. Then for the final stretch, go through the big hoop quadruple times and fly past the wingpower machine, and attain at least 15 wingpower.
"That's so cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed seeing Soarin do it.
She instantly knew she would ace this course. Soarin flew down and sat on the grass Rainbow Dash got past the first few hoops but those swinging hoops were starting to look daunting for her. But she shook those thoughts off and cleared those hoops. The poles were the challenging part because just right at the third out of the tenth pole she fell out already. She has never had an obstacle course that was able to beat her. If anything else this is a challenge to be won.
Soarin rushed over to see the fallen Rainbow Dash. But before he can even ask she was already back at the beginning of the course. This was the first time Soarin had a student with such a strong will to learn. Most of the time they immediately required his assistance. After the third try, Rainbow Dash was already losing hope. She can't believe it! An obstacle so hard that only Soarin can make it.
Soarin ended up becoming someone Rainbow Dash has looked up to. After a few attempts, Soarin just couldn't sit idly by and watch. He flew to Rainbow Dash and said, "I'm sure you can get into the A team. If we work on your agility more. So today we will be working on that."
He took 5 poles and placed them on the ground. The increments between them were further apart now. It's just the size of a stretched-out pony but added an extra inch. This was something more doable for Rainbow Dash. After making sure she got through it five times, Soarin added the last five poles and made her go through it. She was doing well with each increment decreased until...she crashed and couldn't do it anymore.
"Ow, my hoof..." Rainbow Dash winced in pain.
"I will be right back," said Soarin and went to get bandages.
This is one of the hardest training Rainbow Dash has ever done. For the first time in a while, she felt sort of hopeless a little. Just in time, a voice cheered her up, "I know you might be feeling down but remember this is your first time doing my course. I will always be here to teach you and encourage you in your Wonderbolt journey. Give me your hoof."
Soarin reached out his hoof, waiting for Rainbow Dash's. She reached out her hoof and Soarin warned about the slight pain as he wiped it down with an alcohol wipe before putting ointment on it. He carefully bandaged it and tied a little knot at the end.
Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words. This was the first time someone said this to her. She quickly snapped out of the mood she was in and thought to herself 'Woah there, I nearly got all sappy there hah...'
"It's almost the end of the day, do you want to go for a few rounds around the academy?" Soarin asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded and spread her wings preparing for take off. She flew up in the air waiting for Soarin to join her. The two talked and shared their stories.
"I'm still sorry about that time that I nearly kicked you out of the Wonderbolts that other time. I just really care about my team because I worked hard to get to where I am today. I just don't want to see anyone not be able to participate in a show they worked hard for," Soarin apologized
"Hey it's cool, I'm wayyyy over that situation. Friends?" Rainbow Dash asked and extended her hoof.
"Friends!" Soarin grabbed her hoof and shook it "Hey, I'm wondering what are you getting for dinner later?"
Finally, after training it was dinner time for everyone. Everyone took a shower before sitting in the mess hall. To be honest Rainbow Dash was tired for the first time. Not like her usual tired but actually tired that she will instantly fall asleep the moment she touches her bed.
"SO, how was Soarin as your teacher?" Surprise asked.
"His training is harder than Spitfire's... But I'm always up for the challenge!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"I told Spitfire I will train even harder if I don't mentor students," Soarin said as he sat down.
"Well that explains Dash being half asleep already," Fleetfoot remarked.
"And one of her hooves being injured," Surprise mentioned.
"Huh!? What?" Rainbow said as she suddenly jolted from her sleep.
Rainbow munchs down her dinner before bidding her teammates a good night.
"Sooooooo," Surprise looked at Soarin with a beam in her eye.
"What?" Soarin asked suspiciously looking at her.
"You know we're wondering how long it takes before Dash falls in love with you!" Blaze asked him.
"Oh come on guys she wouldn't. Besides she made a bet that if she did, she would give me ten free apple pies. The only time I don't wish for apple pies is probably from her!" Soaring exclaimed as he chomped down on his hayburger.
"But what about you?" Surprise said and bonked his nose.
"Give it up, I've already given up dating..." Soarin rolled his eyes.
"Come on don't let THAT one incident affect you," Surprise said.
"Ah...I'm beat from today...good night everyone," Blaze said as she walked off to the dormitory.
Soarin and Surprise walked off together to the dormitory slowly. With them bickering back and forth about the possibility that Rainbow Dash would fall in love with him. The next day awaits an exciting day for Rainbow Dash.
It has been two days since Rainbow Dash has been Soarin's student. Her agility has gotten better than the first lesson. Today is the day Rainbow Dash is going to do the quadruple flip. The most she could do was three.
"Need a little help?" Soarin flew to her. Rainbow Dash nodded her head with an ashamed smile. Before he started, he asked Rainbow Dash for permission to touch her body to properly couch her.
He flew with her doing the flip with her while supporting her belly as he flew beneath her. It took her a while to completely get to the fourth flip as at the third and a half mark she could barely bend and fly back. They finally took a break and Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, I was wondering since you're not mentoring you must have traded something with Spitfire right?" Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
"I have to come up with all sorts of possible formations in return for making her train Team C members. I also have to make sure I am in tip-top shape so she has this test for me every week. If I fail twice I have to get back to mentoring," Soarin explained with his usual gleeful smile. "I just wish when I trained mares, they wouldn't fall in love with me..."
"Why not stallions?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"They don't listen to me one bit, no matter how stern or strict I am they won't listen!" Soarin exclaimed and sighed thinking about all those times that he had trained stallions. "So I completely have given up on teaching!"
"Oh cheer up! Now you have me! An awesome student who listens and learns fast!" Rainbow Dash said with pride. "Hey, you seem kind of glum. Let's go for a fly around the academy."
Rainbow Dash instinctively took Soarin's hoof and flew up. She blushed due to her embarrassment as soon she noticed her hoof.
"I heard my friend, Applejack, is having a farm sale. Where she makes all the Apple products and sells them this weekend. Want to join me? Their cider is a must to try! There's apple pie!" Rainbow Dash said with excitement.
"Wait, is it the apple pie from the Grand Galloping Gala?" Soarin asked as his face brightened up.
"Yes, that's right! So I was wondering this Saturday morning if you would like to follow me to Sweet Apple—" Rainbow Dash crashed into a cloud.
Rainbow Dash was surprised that she crashed into a cloud. She usually multitask while flying. Always noticing what to avoid to not crash into.
Rainbow Dash's POV
This is a disaster! I've never crashed into a cloud like that while flying! But how can I not know?
"Hey, Rainbow Dash are you okay?" Soarin asked.
"I'm good! Let's get back to training..." I said feeling so ashamed.
I embarrassed myself in front of my idol! How embarrassing! I wish I could hide in a hole! I followed Soarin back down to the training ground. I attempted the quadruple flip again and I did it! I was so proud that I did my little victory dance. I got carried away and forgot Soarin was there, my cheeks turned a slight red from the embarrassment.
Soarin POV
For the past three days, it has been refreshing to finally have a student who is willing to learn. Maybe my curse is broken after all! Today was full of surprises. For example, when Rainbow Dash did her little dance I was so surprised. I knew she had one from that time when her name was cleared of sabotaging Spitfire. But to see it again today was a sight. I couldn't help but think it was a little cute.
The other instance was when she suddenly grabbed my hoof today. I was stunned at first since I was a little gloomy before. I could be remembering wrongly but I thought I heard my heart skip a beat. But how could I? Rainbow Dash is my student. Maybe it's the sudden change in mood that shocked me a little.
"How is it possible that you didn't notice where you were flying?" I asked finding it a bit odd for an experienced flyer like her.
"I don't know! This is the first time that it happened to me! Am I losing my skills!?" Rainbow Dash panicked as her eyes went big and she slowly dragged her under-eye skin slowly down as if she is trying to communicate a sense of dread to me.
"It could be that because you were talking about food, you lost focus. Sometimes that happens to me when I think about my apple pies and I have crashed into clouds before," I suggested with an experience of mine.
"That's it! Thank you, Soarin! At least now I know I'm not losing my skills!" Rainbow Dash instantly hugged me.
She pulled away immediately after what she said. She apologized for her impulsiveness as she explained she always hugs her friends when she's excited. I'm glad to know she considers me as a friend and not just solely a mentor. I suggested going for lunch as the sun held high up in the sky by this time of day.
I went to grab my tray and sat down beside Dashie. I made up that nickname since I don't want to keep calling her Rainbow Dash all the time. I hope to be able to use it in real life and not just in my mind in the future.
At the end of the day before dinner, I was glad to be able to ask her to let me use a nickname I made for her. She was so elated and kept saying 'OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH'.
"Today was hard work Soarin!" Dashie Remarked as she closed her locker that kept her belongings before she hit the showers.
"You're right! Tomorrow we will do something more relaxing, Dashie," I said and closed my locker door.
Before I even had a chance to view the room Surprise and Fleetfoot were already staring at me suspiciously. I gave them an annoyed look and asked what's with them.
"Already using nicknames huh?" Fleetfoot asked with a smirk on her face.
"Next thing we know you two are an item," Surprise wiggled her brows and shot up an assured look.
"You two really got to stop this... she's my student for Celestia's sake!" I exclaimed with a tinge of annoyance.
"Yeah.... student," Surprise gave a suspicious look and wiggled her brows again.
"I'm going to take a shower!" I exclaimed and trotted out of the room.
I just can't believe it! Dashie and I? Those two are just putting me with any mares as they see fit. I only see her as a good friend. That is from my three days of interacting with her. The day ended with a peaceful night.
As soon as it was Saturday morning, I met Dashie at the entrance of the Wonderbolts building. I followed her lead to the Sweet Apple Acres. Those delicious apple pies... My thoughts were interrupted by Dashie abruptly pulling me aside.
"Woah you got to be careful! A hot air balloon nearly crashed into you! What got you so into deep thinking?" She asked as we continued flying.
"Sorry! I'm just really anticipating those delicious apple pies..." I embarrassingly replied.
Dashie giggled at that moment. She added that this situation made her feel so much better when she crashed into a cloud.
"We're here!" Dashie exclaimed with excitement. "The line is going to get longer by the second! Come on let's get in that line!"
She grabbed my hoof and we dashed down to the line. When it comes to something she wants, she's crazy fast. "Sorry about that but when it's food, I'm the best when it comes to lining up!"
Her wings flapped rapidly as we nearly approached our turn for the cider stand. Her smile grew bigger and her face grew brighter. I chuckled a little to myself secretly, if I had to be honest she's like a little filly who can't wait to receive candy. She was over the moon the moment she got her hooves on the cider. She immediately gulped it down in an instant. I tried it and I really like it but not as good as Apple pies...
"I probably had made you wait a while to get to your apple pies...haha," Dashie said as she slowly dug the ground with one hoof.
I could tell she was feeling embarrassed. Seeing as no pony loves to hold some pony up of their time. She went up to her friend with the blonde hair and orange skin. As soon as she heard Dashie's request she ran to the farmhouse.
"Thank you so much for the apple pie Dashie!" I thanked with a wide smile.
Rainbow PoV
"Dashie?" Applejack looked at me weirdly.
"Is there something going on between both of y'all?" She looked at me sheepishly.
"It's a nickname Applejack? Can't you tell?" I rolled my eyes.
"Anyway, this is my temporary mentor Soarin. He's so cool! Let me tell you how fast and agile he is! He did those courses effortlessly! And then that qua—"
"I get it he's amazing. Go spend your time while I have some farm work to do," she interrupted me before I could finish my awesome speech about Soarin.
"I normally get all excited when I talk about the people I look up to..." I said feeling a little awkward.
"How is the Apple Pie?" I asked Soarin trying to shift the topic.
"It's amazing! Thanks to you, I was able to find the source of this great apple pie!" Soarin excitedly thanked me. His wings flapped rapidly just from talking about the pie he ate.
I could tell he was feeling a little embarrassed to show that excitement of his. If I were to be honest I found it a bit adorable— wait did I just call him adorable? Oh my gosh, I'm going to be uncool! How can I get all sappy like this? This is going to make me 20% wayyyyy less cool than before.
"Well now we won't have to feel awkward about being embarrassed anymore since we both have had that instance," I ruffled my hair and laughed a little.
Our Saturday ended off without a hitch. It was a nice day and I bonded closer to one of the members of the Wonderbolts. It felt like an awesome day! I bid Soarin goodbye for the day and look forward to meeting him next week. Look forward!? What is wrong with me? I'm getting all sappy again.
The next day, I went to see Twilight and Applejack was there already talking with Twilight.
"Twilight! I need your help! I think there's something wrong with me!" I dashed and interrupted their conversation.
"Looks like some pony is in loveeeeeeeee," Twilight said as her eyes squint together tightly and she squeaked. "C'mon Rainbow Dash admit it!"
"What!? Me? HAHAHA! Twilight you got to get BETTER at joking!" I laughed at her like there was no way I would be IN LOVE. I flew around the room with the map in it a few times, trying to shake off Twilight's statement about me.
"Now that I think of it, when you were at my farm, your face was glowing when you were talking about him," Applejack giggled and rubbed her chin with her right hoof.
"Hey! My face was always like that when I talk about something I like!" I rebutted and crossed my hooves. "For example, when I was talking about the Wonderbolts last time!"
"Yeah, we know but I could clearly see a difference." Applejack grinned as she sat down on her designated throne. She then motioned her hoof away from her head."Your eyes were gleaming with joy and love when you were talking about him. I know one when I see one."
"So Rainbow...how did you come to like him?" Twilight asked with a big wide smile.
"Oo! Oo! Like who?" A particular high-pitched voice echoed in the room.
"We were talking about Rainbow Dash having a crush on one of her Wonderbolt mates!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly to the other three that just arrived.
"I DO not have a crush on him!" I yelled embarrassed that my friends figured me out even before I figured myself out.
"I Rainbow Dash! Don't do love!" I exclaimed and grumpily looked at the five.
"Yeah right," Applejack remarked and the rest giggled.
"Oh my! who's the lucky pony?" Rarity asked with anticipation.
"It's a guy from the Wonderbolts. Pale blue skin, green eyes, and dark navy hair," Applejack sang Soarin's description out.
"Oh my! It's the guy you danced with at the Canterlot wedding!" Rarity remarked with her eyes gleaming with light. "And the guy who nearly kicked you out of the Wonderbolts..."
"I get it...you guys probably think I'm uncool..." I said with my head hung low as I flew to the ground.
"Oh Rainbow, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's normal," Fluttershy comforted me with a gentle voice.
"Fluttershy's right, it's normal, even I had one," Twilight said walking beside Fluttershy.
We all looked at her sheepishly. I do remember about Flash Sentry. Geez I wonder what happened. I think she was too busy with her princess duties to remember about him.
"So what happened with YOU and Flash Sentry?" I teased Twilight.
"Oh...nothing I'm way too busy to go on dates with him...or even talk to him...haha..." Twilight replied as her cheeks glowed red.
I celebrated in my head at the correct assumption I made before my thoughts were interrupted by Rarity.
"Does he like you?" Rarity battered her eyes.
I took a deep breath and explained the whole 'curse thing' that he has, including how if I lost a bet I suggested, I have to pay him ten apple pies.If I could be honest, I spoke too soon. Unless...I convinced myself that he is just a friend until he IS just a friend to me. It's too risky to lose my friendship with him. He is so cool! He knows how to keep promises and is a very diligent pony! What's more, is that he is so...ah never mind what am I saying. Focus Dash! Don't get into this sappy stuff!
Soarin POV
Today I am out with my teammates, we are grabbing lunch at a famous Canterlot cafe before going around Canterlot to shop. The dessert and drinks placed in front of my table looked so good, that I was dazed for a few seconds before snapping back into reality.
"So Soarin... yesterday I was flying across sweet Apple Acres..." Fleetfoot started off the conversation. She then had a wide smile plastered on her face. "I saw you with Dash...wondering if you guys made any progress?"
"Not this again...look Dashie—" Before I even continue Surprise, Fleetfoot, Fire Streak, and High Winds were all going "Oooooo".
"—Dash and I are just friends. I love to teach her because she's willing to learn anything that I teach, unlike my past students."
"Yeah right bro, you're smiling from ear to ear talking about her," Fire Streak teased me.
My cheeks felt warm and he noticed that before I even realized it. The whole group giggled at Fire Streak's comments.
"So you want us to give you a nudge?" High Winds said with her brows wiggling.
I rolled my eyes and drank my drink. When did she learn how to do them from Surprise? We were sitting outside and the breeze gently grazed my hair. The weather is nice today, not too hot or windy. I watch ponies walk and chat with each other. As I watched, I spotted a crazed mare in the streets running. She had blue skin and her rainbow mane was blowing against the breeze. She was running in a dress that seemed like she didn't wear it properly as a white unicorn with purple curls chased after her. Wait isn't that Dashie!? I immediately smooshed my face against the window of the cafe. I noticed I was staring for too long and quickly snapped my head back and faced my friends. She looked gorgeous! Gosh, what am I even saying...all those shipping of Dashie and I has really got me into thinking I do like her. She's just an excellent friend. The following day I got called into Spitfire's office. I knocked before I entered and said, "You called me here?"
"Yes, I've been meaning to ask, since you have trained Rainbow Dash for a while now. As you know I'm always busy and have had to train her for the past six months. I'm wondering if you would like to be her teacher now." Spitfire said as she continued to review the documents.
"She's a great student! I would love to mentor her until the exam at the end of the year!" I jumped out of excitement.
"Perfect! I will post the new mentor-student list later!" Spitfire said clapping her hooves in satisfaction.
I walked out of the office, as I skipped my way to the mess hall. I'm finally mentoring some pony normal!
No one's POV
"Hey, Dash! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to see who I'm going to mentor next!" Surprise said as she munched down on her hayburger.
"Me too! I hope Soarin is my mentor! I love his teachings!" Rainbow Dash said with excitement in her voice before softly saying, "More than Spitfire. Don't tell her I said that!"
"You know Soarin always praises about you to us!" Fleetfoot remarked.
"Really? That's awesome! What did he say?" Rainbow Dash looked at them with anticipation. What good things has her mentor said about her? She has to know! Is she good? does she have a chance to get into Team A?
"He said how he has been waiting for a student like you to finally show up!" Fire Streak said.
"And he said it all with a smile on his face," Surprise said and her brows started to wiggle.
"Good morning every pony," Soarin greeted and found every pony had left an empty seat beside Rainbow Dash for him.
Soarin quickly realized what the situation was and rolled his eyes and put down his tray. He munched down on his breakfast while listening to the conversation happening across this table of six.
"Hey Dash, by the end of the year if you get into Team A I will give you a surprise!" Surprise said with a big smile.
"Awesome! I will make sure I get into A!" Rainbow Dash said with excitement.
The bell started to ring and all the Wonderbolts started going to the announcement board. Who's their new mentor? Who's their new student? Every pony was dying to know. All of them gathered around the board, either rejoicing or moaning about being put with the worst mentor or student that they heard from one another.
"Awesome! Soarin is my mentor!" Rainbow Dash did an aerial flip when she read the board.
Soarin waited for Rainbow Dash at the doorway and they made their way to the training grounds. Soarin briefed her like how he always did when he had students of his own. As of current, the schedule is that team C will train with A and B until 2 pm. After that Team C will attend practice as a whole together under one of the Wonderbolts instructors. Teams A and B will practice together with Spitfire for upcoming shows.
"Hahaha! That's sooo cool! I'm Rainbow Dash! What's your name?"
"I'm Astatine Worn!"
It was the end of class and Rainbow Dash had made a new friend from the practice. At first, she thought she would be stuck with a bunch of slow pokes. But after the lesson even though Astatine isn't as fast or agile as her. She enjoyed the bond they made. They were both Daring Do fans! Her favorite part of the day was to finally head to bed.
The following day, Rainbow Dash worked on her agility again as requested by Soarin. Even though she boasted about how awesome she is or how good she is. It was all talk and no show. Up until Soarin put her to the test. Her confidence started to dwindle a little... actually a lot.
If she ever thought she was the best of the best out of the team. She will be constantly reminded by Soarin that it's a team effort and not a solo act. By code of the Wonderbolt rule book: being in a Wonderbolt is a team effort and not a solo effort unless it is their signature move. He always reiterates that whenever Rainbow Dash shows a routine she made during her free time. In the end, he always put her down somehow and some way unintentionally.
"Soarin! I would like to know why one of my best flyers is flying like a deflated balloon!?" Spitfire demanded after observing Rainbow Dash's behavior for the past few days.
"I don't understand why she's flying like that too. I will talk with her later in the evening after practice is over. She should be back in shape tomorrow," Soarin replied with uncertainty and gave an awkward smile.
Soarin went on with his day, his mind occupied with Rainbow Dash. He was wondering where it all went wrong. Was his advice terrible? Was Rainbow Dash disappointed in him? Did Rainbow Dash hear about THAT incident that she dislikes him and produces low performance just to get rid of him as her mentor!? His head hung low until he saw a particular Rainbow mane walking past him right after dinner. Her face looked like she was constantly thinking about something. She was brief walking. Her eyes were not the usual big round bright eyes but tired eyes that were half-closed.
"Rainbow Dash! Can I talk to you in the field for a second?" Soarin called out.
This must be the end of my career... was what Rainbow Dash thought. Rainbow Dash nodded and followed closely behind Soarin. She anticipated the horrendous news as her head repeated those dreadful words.
"Let me guess, my skills aren't good enough that you guys think I should be kicked out of the Wonderbolts..." Rainbow Dash sluggishly said her hung low as ever.
"No! No! I'm here to ask what's been bothering you these days. Your performance these days is not up to standard. You can tell me anything! I will try my hardest to give you solutions," Soarin said earnestly as he put one of his hooves on his chest.
"Really anything?" Rainbow Dash asked to be sure. Soarin nodded with a slight smile. Rainbow Dash breathed in and rambled, "It's just that you keep debunking my cool moves and showing even better ones. It's like you're always outdoing me for...I can't believe I'm saying this but for your sense of pride. You know every day I did my best to improve and meet your expectations but not once did I feel encouraged but discouraged and not good enough. That's what has been bothering me."
"I'm sorry Dashie. I didn't mean to one-up you. I just know you have a lot of potential to be the greatest flyer. If I were to be honest your ego sometimes gets in the way of our teamwork and we need to tame that for the sake of how the Wonderbolts work. I initially thought you like challenges a lot so by doing better than you, I thought you might feel more encouraged to beat me in a way to push your limits," Soarin apologized with a sorrowful expression.
"OHHHH, I see. Yeah, I can see why you thought of that...haha...I am competitively by nature yea..." Rainbow Dash awkwardly laughed.
"If it makes you feel better I can pay for your meal the next time we go out?" Soarin said with a smile. He hoped that this would make Rainbow Dash feel better. Who would deny free food?
"Awesome! I'm going to a Daring Do convention this weekend! Do you want to come along with me?" Rainbow Dash jumped out of excitement. She looked at Soarin and gave a cheerful smile.
Soarin agreed. He never told anyone before but he's secretly a Daring Do fan. A BIG FAN!
"Are you ready yet Soarin?" Rainbow Dash yelled out as she patiently waited in the living room of the Skies Manor.
"Yes! Yes!" Soarin said as he quickly rushed down the stairs and ran into the living room.
"Woah, I didn't know you were a Daring Do fan!" Rainbow Dash said in shock as she strapped her bag around her waist.
"I never told anyone in the team that I am a Daring Do fan. You're the first," Soarin giggled putting on his Daring Do hat and adjusting it a little.
"Why all the secret? She's a famous writer," Rainbow Dash asked as they took off to the Ponyville train station to Manehattan's train station.
"Surprise loves to sometimes tease me with things I love like my apple pies. I have a lot of limited edition Daring Do books." He said with a prideful smile which was then followed up with a worried voice. "I can't have Surprise knowing them and blackmailing me with it later!"
Rainbow Dash giggled as she tried to imagine that scenario. It must be funny to see Soarin running after Surprise.
"Last call for Manehattan!" The train conductor yelled.
"That's our train! Come on we have to reach it on time!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and sped up to the train entrance. Soarin followed her closely behind.
"Oh my gosh, have you read her latest book!? It's so awesome!" Rainbow Dash squealed as she followed closely behind Soarin to a vacant seat on the train.
"Yeah, I did! The escape was the best! The way she did that parkour! It's so exciting!" Soarin squealed a little talking about his favorite parts of the book.
"AND the way she fought those villains! Those kicks and punches AHHHH!! It's so awesome!" Rainbow Dash squealed with gleaming excitement in her eyes.
The rest of the train ride was just Soarin and Rainbow Dash talking about each book and the parts they love so wholeheartedly. Their eyes glowing with passion talking about the parts they love so deeply. How the detailed writing excites them! Letting them have a vivid picture for the readers to imagine.
"Next stop: Manehattan!" The train conductor yelled to the ponies.
As they got off the train, the station was filled with cosplayers for the Daring Do convention. Some in the cosplay of her, others in Caballeron cosplay, or any other characters from the book. The duo galloped to the convention center in their never-ending chat about Daring Do. What fun activities will be there? How busy would the place be? The endless amount of booths to be checked out! They went their separate ways and agreed to meet back at a specific food store during lunchtime due to both wanting to look at different kinds of booths.
As Rainbow Dash walked around she had fun and a gleeful smile was constantly on her face. It's like back when she was a little foal where she was at a fair. She accidentally bumped into an earth pony who later introduced himself as Quibble Pants. A stallion with brown-orange skin and a dark grey mane and tail with a few parts that were in a lighter grey. They met at the tiles booby trap area. Where they share their fanatic passion for the correct placement of tiles.
"Nice costume." Rainbow Dash complimented, eyeing the pony's fit.
"You, too," Quibble replied with a smug look.
"Thanks. The hard part was figuring out the right..."
" ...number of arrow holes." Both Rainbow Dash and Quibble finished the sentence together with enthusiasm.
"B-B-Because on page 84 of Sapphire Stone, i-it describes her dodging a quote, 'score of arrows shooting forth from holes in the very walls,' unquote, but then on page 107, Daring Do says she, quote, 'barely made it past the traps 'barrage of arrows,' unquote, but clearly, Daring Do is embellishing and the correct number of arrows is..." Quibble started to go on a rant about the hat design.
"Twenty!" They both answered at the same time and chuckled at the end.
Rainbow Dash was so happy that she brought around Quibble with her until lunchtime due to the bond they made that they easily agreed with each other. She asked Quibble if he wanted to join her and Soarin for lunchtime. He didn't mind at all so he followed. Soarin waited patiently for Rainbow Dash, who was surprised to see an extra pony that came along with her. Rainbow Dash introduced both to each other, and they immediately hit it off without a hitch.
"What!? You refuse to acknowledge the other books!?" Rainbow Dash asked in shock. her hoof covering her mouth. Soarin's jaw dropped to the ground. How could anyone not like ALL the books of Daring Do?
"Why would you come to this convention if you hate Daring Do so much!?"
"I don't hate Daring Do. The first series was smart and cool and an amazing nod to old-time serialized adventure books. That somehow managed to be self-reflective and ironic while at the same time celebrating the art form without a hint of cynicism. Which is why I came here to ask A.K. Yerling, muzzle to muzzle why she sold out and dumped down the rest of her books, in just a series of impossible action sequences!"
"Okay! Now, I know you're crazy! A.K. Yearling is awesome! And every Daring Do book that comes out is better than the last!"
"W-wow! Ok yeah! I-I'm sorry but I could never be friends with friends who willingly believe the impossible is possible just because Daring Do does it."
"That's ok! Because I'm not going to be friends with some pony who's so focused on things being possible! That he is willing to turn his back on the coolest hero of all time!"
A crowd had gathered around two ponies who were arguing. The bickering continued for a while, but eventually, both of them stopped and expressed their happiness at no longer being friends with each other. This caused the crowd to disperse as the drama had ended.
Soarin watched the argument, feeling bewildered at first. However, he instantly understood she reacted that way because she's the biggest fan of Daring Do (which she self-proclaimed). This is evident from her rereading the books too many times to count.
"I can't believe he calls himself a fan!" Rainbow Dash snarled.
"It's just one bad thing that happened today. Let's not let it ruin our day," Soarin comforted Dash in hopes that she wouldn't dwell too much on that incident.
Rainbow Dash immediately thought of a way to show Quibble that what Daring Do does is physically possible. She just has to get the actually Daring Do! So she bolted to a nearby hotel, barely listening to Soarin's comforting words. He stood there confused for a second before he swiftly followed her closely behind.
"Tell A.K. Yerling that Rainbow Dash has come to see her!" Rainbow Dash told the receptionist.
The receptionist just stared at her like she was some crazy fan while Rainbow Dash continued to repeat her line. Soarin was about to step in thinking she was going too overboard, until a pony in a cloak with big red glasses approached and talked to her.
"Oh thank god! There's an emergency!" Rainbow Dash said to the pony.
"Let's talk in my room..." The pony whispered.
Rainbow Dash followed closely behind. Soarin felt awkward that he couldn't do anything, so he sat in the lounge of the hotel, patiently waiting for her.
Rainbow Dash quickly said what her 'emergency' was. Daring Do immediately dismissed her concerns as she had much bigger problems to care about than dissatisfied fans. She showed the Amulet which is a key to the seven-sided treasure chest that Caballeron wanted to sell at a high price. Rainbow Dash immediately knew a new book was going to come out after this adventure and she couldn't wait!
She left shortly after to meet Soarin staring at the ceiling and counting each tile. Soarin was excited to see Rainbow Dash. He wanted to know how she knew A.K Yerling, he simply had too many questions to ask her. Before he could even ask anything. Rainbow Dash asked Soarin for a favor to keep a lookout on anyone suspicious, especially Caballeron! However, he felt down that he couldn't ask anything as soon he asked her something he would be immediately asked to be quiet. He was a slight bit disappointed since Rainbow Dash seemed so swept up in this new "agent" role that he could not even ask a question.
"Um, Dashie. You know Caballeron is a fictional character,"
"He's not! Ugh!!! I don't know how to explain but he's not—" Rainbow Dash accidentally bumped into some pony.
She turned her head to see Quibble Pants and bumped into him accidentally. She paid no attention to his blabbering as she still remembered seeing Caballeron around the fair!
"Hey! Are you listening!?" Quibble yelled at her.
"Have you seen Caballeron?" Rainbow Dash asked as she continued to search.
"Yeah! Like one there! And there, and there!" Quibble pointed to all the cosplayers.
"Is your marefriend okay?" Quibble asked Soarin.
Soarin's cheeks showed a tinge of red. Oh god, his mind started running wild. If Rainbow Dash is his marefriend would she want him as his coltfriend? 'What is wrong with me!?' Was the question he asked himself as soon as he snapped out of his train of thought. 'She's just a friend! and your student too Soarin! Calm down!' He thought to himself.
"I don't know. Just let her be... she's always adventurous...haha..." Soarin replied with a slight nervous smile. How does he tell him that she's not his marefriend?
Soon Rainbow Dash started running to an exit. Quibble and Soarin immediately followed out of confusion. The next thing they knew their vision went black. A few moments later they woke up in the middle of the jungle. All looked around to see five ponies surrounding them.
"Caballeron!" Rainbow Dash sneered as she immediately recognized the leader.
"I can't believe it! Daring Do has agents like you!" Caballeron laughed out loud.
Quibble looked annoyed while Soarin was confused. To be honest he can just break out of here in an instant since he's well-trained as a wonderbolt.
"Wowwww...I can't believe you bought the Daring Do experience..." Quibble sarcastically remarked and rolled his eyes.
"What!? No, I didn't! This is the real Caballeron! We're actually captured!" Rainbow Dash bickered.
"Whatever! This guy's accent is all over the place!" Quibble said and walked away slowly thinking it was for show.
He immediately got beat up by Caballeron's henchpony and dragged back. Soarin tried to fly but he got pulled by his tail back to the ground. So much for a Wonderbolt... Caballeron ordered for the three to be tied up with a lock. A lock immediately recognized by Rainbow Dash which made Caballeron think she's an agent for Daring Do. Caballeron set off to find the temple while his henchponies keep watch of the three.
Quibble went back to saying how dramatic this was then threw his pin into a nearby bush and lazily said "Oh my god, it's Daring Do! She has come to save us!"
The henchponies all spread out to find her. Rainbow Dash panicked as she was worried that they could not unlock the lock. By the time she was finished worrying Soarin already unlock it with a dumbfounded face.
"If I were to choose a favorite between you two, it would be him. He's way more logical than you," Quibble bluntly said.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Quibble wanted to leave the other way but Soarin advised the whole group to stick together as one might get lost in this big jungle. Quibble reluctantly agreed and followed Rainbow Dash's lead. The whole journey was Quibble ranting on the books about how bad it is and how he would change it. Which gave a headache to Soarin and Rainbow Dash. Soarin used his wings to block his ramblings. Quibble wouldn't notice since he walks behind Rainbow Dash and Quibble.
At some point, Soarin's heart felt weird. It felt like it was being swallowed by darkness. If he was to be honest, he hated seeing Quibble beside Dash. Soarin quickly snapped out of those thoughts after all Rainbow Dash is his friend right? Maybe he's just jealous that his new best friend is hanging out with someone else and he just feels jealous.
They all suddenly stopped as they approached an old wooden cranky bridge. It looks like it can break just by a step. Quibble bickered on again about how ridiculous this Daring Do experience is. Not until the bridge broke and Quibble fell. Rainbow Dash immediately took this chance to prove he was wrong. She grabbed the ropes of the bridge that was tied to a hoof of Quibble and immediately flew at Sonic speed by just letting Quibble's hooves slightly touch the river water. Soarin swiftly followed behind wanting to help but he couldn't even open his mouth to say anything.
"WAHH!" Quibble screamed before Rainbow Dash threw him off the cliff and he landed on a few trees before having a soft landing cushioned by a growing sapling.
"How's that!?" Rainbow Dash said smugly with her arms crossed. "Tell me that's impossible!"
Quibble was so stunned that he went on a rant about what he just experienced. By the time he finished, Caballeron already found them and captured them with ropes. They had to follow Caballeron into the temple because he didn't want to risk them escaping again. They may have accidentally led him to the temple he has been finding.
Quibble was back to insulting Caballeron and his henchponies saying how fake this is and he started making a lot of mechanism unfold in the temple the moment they stepped in because he was moving too much trying to prove a point. That was when a giant alligator-looking monster appeared behind them and they all screamed. (Quibble was the last to scream and realize.)
"God damn it! Caballeron!" Rainbow Dash yelled as he shut the door on all three of them.
They all scream waiting to meet their impending doom, just then someone rescues them all. Daring Do! Soarin and Quibble's jaw dropped. DARING DO IS REAL!? While a certain pony was smug about knowing her as she wrapped her wings around her.
Soarin shuts Quibble up with his wing before he can even ramble again. They swiftly followed behind Daring Do and made their way to finally, the puzzle room. Seven doors, one key. Only a one-time use. All of them carefully analyzed the door, fortunately, Quibble found that one of the doors didn't match with the other six doors. As the other six doors will have a match. There's a total of 3 sets of pairs of doors that are together. Daring Do put in the key of the Alicorn door and there was it! The treasure. Daring Do pick up the treasure and place it in her coat. Quibble immediately notified others about the flooded temple and the only exit was through the top! They all wondered for a hot second.
"I can carry him up!" Soarin volunteered. "Dash I just need you to support me from behind!"
"On it!" Rainbow Dash said affirmative like she was receiving a command from the second-in-command wonderbolt.
Quibble climbed up Soarin's back while Rainbow Dash was just right behind them to support them. Daring Do first makes it out of the temple waiting for the three. In a nick of time, they made it out and sat down at a safe place.
"I got to bring this to a museum. See you guys later! And also Rainbow Dash (is that guy your coltfriend?)" Daring Do told the rest before giving a smirk look to Rainbow Dash before she took off.
Rainbow Dash blushed and she thought to herself, 'Oh god not again,' on the way back Quibble and Rainbow Dash came to an agreement about their feud from earlier. Quibble just like how she solved the puzzles in a very realistic manner and anything that makes sense while Rainbow Dash loves all the actions like kicking, punching and the rest are in the books. The two looked at Soarin and he just said "I like all of them."
They all had a good laugh and went to enjoy the convention before they all had to get going again. Then the time for them to head back home. It was a bright morning but Rainbow Dash was still sleepy from yesterday. She boarded the train with Soarin and sat adjacent to him. 'She must have not rested enough from yesterday's action'. That was what Soarin thought. He looked at the swaying sleeping figure and sighed. He said to himself, "Just this once."
He put her head on his shoulder and started to re-read another Daring Do book. Whilst he was doing so, someone took a picture of the two famous Wonderbolts.
"Soarin~~~~ explain this!" Misty Fly slammed the table to get everyone's attention. She held up a photo high which showed the photo of the two on the train.
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped to the table. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Soarin was shocked, how did she get that photo!? Or even how did someone see them!? He thought no one noticed them at all. He gulped wondering how he was going to explain this to every pony. When everyone noticed Spitfire walking towards the table, Misty kept the photo under her wing. While doing so she fumbled a few times before successfully hiding it due to her being in a rush. Every pony pretended that it was a normal day at the table.
"Gooooood morning everyone!" Spitfire said with her usual greeting voice and sat at the end of the table.
She waited for a response from at least one pony. Everyone had shifty eyes and made excuses to leave the table early. Including Soarin who gave Misty Fly the stare to have a private talk with her.
"How did you get that photo!?" Soarin demanded with his eyes narrowed and nostrils flared as he stomped the ground.
"I somehow got my hands on it. Even if you get rid of this one I still have DOZEN copies in my house," Misty said with pride.
"If Spitfire gets her hooves on those she will put Dash AND I on probation! You know how important being a Wonderbolt is to her!" Soarin warned Misty with his stern voice.
He couldn't tell why but whoever gets in the way of Rainbow Dash's dream makes him furious. It could be just him being angry for her as he is her teacher.
"Oh wow, you sure do know a lot about Dash!" Misty said sarcastically.
"I know because I'm her mentor and her friend! I can see it in her eyes!" Soarin exclaimed with fury. He doesn't even know why he's getting heated up over this small thing.
Little did they know someone was listening to their conversation. That pony made a mistake with their large footsteps. Misty and Soarin rushed to see the pony but they were too late. No one was there. Soarin sighed and slowly made his way to the training ground. He hoped no one heard the conversation between him and Misty.
Rainbow Dash was already warmed up for the lesson. She greeted Soarin as per usual with glee. She was ready for today's lesson. Unexpectedly it was a surprise test for her. He brought out the clipboard and pencil ready. It was a mock test for her that was unannounced. She was shocked at first, but as she knows herself, nothing can bring down the awesome Rainbow Dash.
Soarin sets up an obstacle course that he knows is much more challenging and complex than the actual test. He lied to her saying that is 75% of the difficulty of the actual test. Rainbow Dash gulped seeing the daunting course. She took a deep breath, saluted to Soarin, and said, "I won't let you down, Sir Soarin!"
She put on her goggles and was ready to take off, as soon as Soarin blew the whistle, She flew off immediately from the ground. She flew past ten linear poles that were spaced out within an average pony length. She then dodged rapid incoming storm clouds by angling her body 90 degrees to the right and 180 degrees to the left. Next, she had to fly up and close her wing to do the drop that was always seen in the Wonderbolts' shows. When she nearly reaches the ground she has to glide ten centimeters before shooting straight back up with at least twenty wing power or more. She then had to put herself into the spinner as Soarin cranked it to the highest level. It spun many rounds until he was sure she would be dizzy and fired her off into the sky. Rainbow Dash spun around like crazy for a certain distance before regaining her consciousness and flew swiftly to get grab a flag that Soarin had placed before the mock test. Soarin stopped the timer and quickly wrote it down on his dashboard.
He wrote the grade and circled 'B-'. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. B-!? Her!? She thought she would at least get an A- at the very LEAST.
"There are some things I would like you to work on," Soaring started his speech and looked at his clipboard before continuing. "First, when you turn away from incoming storm clouds, it's too slow. Second, the amount of time you take to recover..."
Soarin went on about her faults in the mock tests and made her redo the test over and over again until she reached perfect ideal results. All the spinning made Rainbow Dash nauseous and they had to take a twenty-minute break to let her recover before they continued. The day was over in a flash and oh boy was she beat. During dinner, her mind wandered off to the photo she saw in the morning. She thought to herself that it looked cute but countered herself saying how she was getting sappy and disgusting so she dismissed the idea of the photo.
The next few months passed by swiftly and it was time for the big test! Rainbow Dash was nervous because she REALLY wanted to get into A team very badly!
"LISTEN UP RECRUITS! TODAY IS A BIG DAY FOR ALL OF YOU! IT IS THE DAY WHEN YOU GET INTO TEAM A..." Spitfire yelled as she raised a blue flag for team A, followed by a green flag, and continued. "...OR TEAM B. OR REPEAT THE WHOLE YEAR! BECAUSE YOU PUNKS CAN'T DO IT! SO YOU BETTER PASS AND I HOPE TO NOT SEE YOUR FACES HERE NEXT YEAR! DO YOU HEAR ME?"
Every pegasus in Team C saluted and yelled in unison, "YES MA'AM!"
"I WILL CALL OUT NAMES INDIVIDUALLY AND HAVE ALL OF YOU TESTED. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Spitfire yelled.
"YES MA'AM!" Every pegasi yelled in unison again.
Rainbow Dash spotted Astatine at the side shaking a little. She trotted to him and asked him what was wrong. His reply was shaky and Rainbow Dash could tell he was nervous as hell. She comforted him by encouraging him that he could do it. As much as Rainbow Dash would love to have less competition to be the BEST. She can't have her best buddy, Astatine, behind. He was practically the reason why she went to those boring Team C classes. They always had fun together secretly while paying attention to class. Soon Spitfire called out individual names one by one. All Team A and B members were on site hiding in one corner, secretly rating each of their flights that would be brought back to headquarters to discuss for placement.
The day was over and all Team C members finished the test, either feeling nervous or proud. Even if they felt all those sorts of emotions, they all could agree on one thing. The test was very tiring and hard. They laid their heads on the mess hall's table, practically dead. If some pony were to walk into the mess hall, they would think zombies have taken over the Wonderbolts' academy!
After careful calibration of each member from Team C. The board of instructors arranged every pegasi that could advance or stay in a folder. The results were posted and every pony gathered around in anticipation. Soarin was outside the door of the announcement room. He paced back and forth as he hoped Rainbow Dash's dream would come true. He hoped to see her in team A. No, he WANTS to see her every day. When Rainbow Dash came out with a disappointed face his heart nearly dropped.
"Haha! Played you! I got in! Woohoo!" Rainbow Dash said in excitement and hugged Soarin in a rush manner, causing them to topple to the ground.
"Now this is going to go down in history!" Surprise grinned as she snapped a photo of the two. She looked at the photo she snapped and smiled uncontrollably.
"Classical you. I might give the two a little push," Spitfire joked seeing Surprise smiling like an idiot.
Surprise jumped from Spitfire's sudden presence. She gave her a shifty look, eyeing her up and down before smiling widely. Spitfire laughed at Surprise.
"You know, Soarin is like a little brother to me and one of my best friends. And seeing how he can fall in love without realizing might just break Soarin's fear of dating. I might just give them a little push. That is for now they're just friends," Spitfire said with a slight smile.
"So you're going to join our secret Soarindash fan club?" Surprise smiled with her wings flapping rapidly out of excitement.
"Wait, when did you guys—"
"SINCE THE DAY HE WAS MENTORING HER!" Surprise fangirled.
Surprise went into fangirl mode and bounced like a ball around the corners. Spitfire shook her head and sighed. This is the Wonderbolts after all. Not strict but plain fun most of the time. The weekend finally came and Rainbow Dash just arrived at her home. She noticed her mailbox was usually filled with letters to the brim. One caught her attention immediately as she could recognize it was from her friends! She couldn't wait to meet her friends again. The classic confetti spray from Pinkie Pie always made her laugh.
"Dear Rainbow Dash, We all miss you dearly and hope you can come down to the castle this weekend to have a chillaxin' day with us.
Yours sincerely, Twilight."
Rainbow Dash dashed to the castle and party cannons were shot. She immediately hugged her friends as she missed them so dearly while she was training hard in the Wonderbolts.
"We prepared this just for you!" Pinkie Pie said in her usual hyper voice.
"Aww thank you guys," Rainbow Dash said with little tears forming in her eyes.
"What's wrong? You normally don't tear up at parties," Fluttershy asked with a worried tone as she stroked her back.
"I don't know, sniff I just really missed y'all!" Rainbow Dash said with her tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Oh come on now sugar cube, we always missed you no matter how far you are, we always love you," Applejack comforted her.
"That's right Darling, we love you to the moon and back," Rarity said, wrapping her arm around her neck.
"Thank you guys! I don't know what to do sometimes without y'all," Rainbow Dash wiped her tears and everyone pulled in for a hug.
"C'mon let's party!" Pinkie yelled.
The day ended with everyone happy and exhausted. The next day Rainbow was off to meet her Wonderbolt friends: Misty, Fleetfoot, Surprise, and Blaze were waiting for her at the academy entrance.
There was a fair ongoing and it was big. There were so many games to be played! Rainbow Dash and Misty were acting like little fillies. Running around playing games.
"Hey Misty! This looks fun! C'mon, let's go!" Rainbow Dash flew to a stall. Misty swiftly followed behind and said, "Let's try that one afterward!"
"Wait, guys! Don't go too far!"
"Just follow them behind fleet!"
"Dash! Misty! Wait!"
The other three were following them around like they were babysitting. In the end, all of them bonded closer than ever.
"Alright everyone, today we're going to try out a new formation. Soarin you will be in the middle. On your left will be Rainbow Dash and on your right will be Misty!" Spitfire started her introduction.
She gave the rest their instructions. And used a board to show how and what to do. This was for a duke's anniversary surprise for his duchess. Everyone cooed for the cute surprise. Spitfire had to settle them down before everyone started practicing. Spitfire using a speaker and was shouting at them about their formation.
"Soarin fly faster! My grandma can fly faster than you!"
"Fleetfoot you're too far right!"
Spitfire continued to yell as she watched the formation. They redid the performance many times. Sometimes they crash into another pony. Some stray too far. Spitfire finally called off the training and every pony lay on the ground. Except for one pony that was feeling alright like he just had warm up.
"How does Soarin still have so much stamina left?" Rainbow Dash asked as the others and she was on the floor while he acted like he hadn't been through any training.
"He's co-captain! Besides, since he never picked a student he was forced to train. So he's naturally going to be okay," Misty replied still panting.
"You know what else that good stamina can be used for?" Fleetfoot jokingly asked.
"C'mon Fleetfoot, they will do it later sooner or later," Surprise replied.
Rainbow Dash gave them a confused look. Surprise looked at Fleetfoot and giggled.
"You will understand, a few years down the line," Surprise said and chuckled at the end. Everyone else laughed while Rainbow Dash lay there confused.
"Hey guys, anyone needs help walking? Today's training is quite brutal!" Soarin asked looking at the lot of pegasus on the ground.
"Dash needs help walking!" Misty yelled.
"What!? No, I can walk perfectly fine—" Rainbow Dash immediately fell after she got up.
"Are you okay Dash!?" Astatine flew beside Rainbow Dash out of nowhere.
"Must be the training, haha I'm fine," Rainbow Dash said to him with an awkward smile.
Astatine reached his hoof out and pulled her up. He supported her to the infirmary. On the way there, they were talking and laughing together.
"OooOo Soarin has competition ~" Misty nudged Surprise and Fleetfoot.
The three mares giggled among themselves as they got up and walked to the locker room. Soarin stared at the two ponies heading to the lockers. He felt his heart sank into a deep void, at the same time angry. He wanted to push that stallion away. He asked himself, " Am I feeling jealous that Dash has another stallion friend?"
Soarin POV
Am I jealous? It can't be, when surprise had stallion friends I never felt this way. I feel so sad and betrayed. I am so confused. Dash never did anything wrong but I feel so hurt and betrayed...
"Thank you so much Astatine," Rainbow Dash thanked him for his help as she let go of her hoof and sat on the soft bed in the infirmary.
"What are friends for?" He said shortly after before leaving her in the infirmary room shortly.
He was off to look for a Team A member: Surprise. He loves her liveliness. How she's so.. everything he wants in a mare. Alright, she might be a slight bit older by a year or two but he doesn't care at all. He walked to see Surprise already hitting the showers. He felt a bit glum not to see a little more of her. He turned his head and watched the clock and gosh sweet Celestia it was getting late for him too! He rushed to the stallions' showroom and had a refreshing bath.
"Rainbow Dash!" Soarin yelled a little in the infirmary.
Rainbow Dash waved at him just as she was about to be discharged. They were off to their lockers as soon she was free. Soarin waited for Rainbow Dash to be out from the showers after he was done. Her mane was dripping wet as she walked out to the locker room. Soarin walked up to Rainbow Dash and said, "Why didn't you dry your hair properly? You're going to get a cold with the Windy weather outside."
"Oh it's fine I can just do this," Rainbow Dash shaked her head and body aggressively.
Her hair was all dry but it all splashed onto Soarin. His smile flipped upside down because now he is drenched.
"Oh uh, ha...haa.. sorry..." Rainbow Dash apologized to the face of a deadpanned Soarin. She picked up his towel and said, "I will dry you myself."
She flew above him and gently patted his mane. Normally, she would fly around the pony and give them the 'Rainbow Dryer'; where she flew at rapid speed around the individual. But the space was too small for her to do that. It took a while to get it to 70% dry. Time flew fast for both of them as they chatted nonstop. But to them, it felt like time transcended slowly between both of them. They didn't know they hearts were stirring and their stomachs felt like there was butterflies.
The rest of the team was starting to get worried as Soarin and Rainbow Dash were not in the mess hall. Surprise who finished her meal went to find them. She strolled the academy halls and was getting frustrated when she could not find them until she heard giggles from the locker room. She peeked and smirked to herself. She rubbed her hooves together and quickly flew to her room and back to the room.
"This is definitely going into my scrapbook!" Surprise said and snapped a photo.
"Let's get going to the mess hall!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "I am really hungry!"
Surprise was alarmed and quickly rushed off back to the mess hall and sat where she sat in the beginning. The others gave her a confused look before she whispered, "They're coming!"
"Sooo...why are you guys so late?" Spitfire asked seeing the last two finally sat down on the table.
"We encountered problems," Soarin replied.
The girls at the table giggled to themselves. Surprise already told them what happened. Soarin rolled his eyes again from the giggles and gleefully ate his food. The days passed with non-stop training. Every Wonderbolt got onto the train heading towards the Duke's castle far off Equestria. The town was built like in medieval-era; beautiful and elegant structures. Houses that were two or three stories tall, with walls made of bricks and roofs made with bricks and wood. A house that screams elegance, some even looking like a castle while being affordable to its' citizens. That's what the Wonderbolts' heard.
Every pony picked their partners to sit with, except for Soarin and Rainbow Dash. Due to no pony wanting to partner with them as all have their own preferred friends to sit with. In the end, those two partnered with each other, they didn't mind it since they both mutually liked each other and enjoy each other's company.
"How long is this trip going to be?" Rainbow Dash asked as she yawns as her vision starts to blur.
"Probably a day and a half," Soarin replied as he looked over to see Rainbow Dash's eyes, barely open.
"You should go to the bunk beds and sleep,"
"Really? I think so too. What if Spitfire have commands later while I'm asleep?"
"I will tell you when you're refreshed. I will wake you up when it's meal time."
Rainbow Dash nodded and she fell asleep in an instant, like she hasn't slept in days. Soarin wanted to ask her to move to the bunk beds into another cabin but he didn't want to wake her up. So as of now, he was stuck with her by his side. He doesn't hate the idea but he just doesn't want another photo taken...by Surprise again.
He sighed and carefully carried Rainbow Dash's body onto his back. He felt his body tense up when her whole weight was on her. His face was red from the embarrassment of carrying her through the cabin of the other Wonderbolts, as he knew his colleagues would ship him and her more if they see them like that.
He slowly placed her down on the bed and pulled the blanket over for her to keep her warm. He stared a little before snapping himself out of it and giving himself a pep talk, "Gosh I'm going crazy... It's so rude to stare at somepony sleeping."
Soarin went back to his seat and looked out of the window of his seat. He watches the birds soaring high and the scenery change as they enter into a new domain each time. His mind kept wandering off to Rainbow Dash. Is she sleeping comfortably? What is she dreaming of? Could she be dreaming of him? He even imagined him cuddling with her. He slapped himself for even thinking such thoughts. He scolded himself for having such inappropriate thoughts of a mare. She's just a friend was all he kept telling himself.
Misty who sat opposite of him witnessed the whole fiasco. She raised a brow wondering what was wrong with him until his cheeks lit up red. The gears in her brain started shifting and she already got an idea of what he was thinking and turned behind to Surprise and Fleetfoot.
"Hey Soarin, what got your cheeks all red?" Misty asked with her hooves crossed while she smiled.
"Nothing! I was thinking of...the embarrassing moments in the past!" Soarin replied quickly.
"Sure~ not thinking about Dash right?" Surprise said before her brow wiggled. The classic signature move that Soarin hates the most.
Soarin sighed and knew he couldn't lie to these three anymore. The three crowded around him and looked at him with anticipation. Soarin second guessed himself if he wanted to actually tell the trio about his 'problem'. He didn't want to at first until Misty said, "We know we make fun of you a lot, but hey we're here to listen to you. And whatever is weighing on your mind, you've got to tell us. Because by not willing to solve the problem is a form of running away."
Soarin looked at Misty like she taught him, something that made his brain clicked. He understood what he was feeling, and if he approached help it could be solved. After all, it's a problem regarding mares. But what if the problem is too ridiculous? After all, a stallion should be able to be the know-it-all and has no problems to seem masculine. Soarin finally convinced himself that these are his friends and he knows they won't laugh at him. So he took a deep breath and started to ramble...
"These past few days I've been so conflicted with my feelings. When Dash was with Astatine that time after our first practice for this performance. I can't help but feel angry or maybe Jealous!" Soarin finally spits out all the feelings weighing on his heart. "I'm confused, I love Dash as a friend but I'm starting to think I like her more as a friend. But it doesn't feel like that because normally if I fall in love, I know that feeling. I still remember that time when I had a relationship with my ex. That feeling of being in love."
"During that time, what did that love feel to you? How will you describe it?" Fleetfoot asked with a caring tone.
"It was soft and fluffy but at the same time, I felt suffocated. It felt dreadful to want to meet her at the same time. Love feels horrible. I don't want to experience it again if it is like that!" Soarin exclaimed and lightly stomped one hoof.
"Ugh! I've been wanting to spill this for so long! YOUR EX WAS USING YOU FOR FAME! THAT'S WHY SHE MOVED ON SO FAST AND CHEATED ON YOU!" Misty yelled and panted after saying all those honest words. She felt so much better after a year of carrying those memories that only she knew.
"What? What do you mean?" Surprise asked with her head tilted.
"OK, so his ex was my friend. I've known that from the very START of the relationship that she told me that she was going to use Soarin. Obviously, I told her not to but she didn't listen! I stopped being friends with her because I couldn't see her just using ponies like that, especially my friend! I didn't bring this up because I didn't want to affect Soarin's mood," Misty sighed and apologized.
"It's fine, I got over her and moved on wayyyyyyyy long ago! Thanks for telling me Misty," Soarin said with a grateful smile.
"Ahem! Back to Soarin's feelings. What did you feel this time for Dash?" Fleetfoot faked a cough and all three mares looked at him with gleaming eyes.
"I feel very light and there's this very fluffy feeling...and I want to be together with her and I envisioned a whole future. I want to protect her and she just seems so perfect..." Soarin said with a gentle voice, his eyes lit up as if it was glowing.
"You're in love!" The three said in unison.
"What!?" Soarin yelled.
"Your eyes were gleaming,"
"Your body language was obvious,"
"And that tone of voice when you describe what you felt,"
"It's all so obvious you love her!" The three said in unison.
That's when it struck him. All those feelings of jealousy when she's with other stallions. All those special soft feelings where she makes him feel comfortable around her. Soarin has a crush on Rainbow Dash.
"W-what do I do now? How do I make her like me?" Soarin asked with a worried tone.ul
"Oh don't worry, you got us!"Misty lightly pounded her chest.
"We will do the homework for you!" Fleetfoot added.
The three walked away leaving Soarin all alone with his thoughts. Soarin thought to himself and just could not believe it. He likes Rainbow Dash. His train of thoughts were cut off by Spitfire yelling lunchtime. He walked over to the cabin beds and lightly shook Rainbow Dash up.
"Dash! Wake up! It's lunchtime," Soarin said to the half-awake Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, thank you for waking me up," she yawned and kicked her blanket.
She gave Soarin a hug mindlessly thinking it was a pillow, before walking to the cabin for lunch. Soarin blushed and calmed himself down before going into the Cabin to have his lunch.
While Rainbow Dash was eating halfway she suddenly thought of her action earlier. 'I can't believed I hugged him!' Was all she thought. The mare quickly ate her lunch and went to sit at her spot on the train. She pulled out another Daring Do book to re-read for the don't know how many times she has read it but it didn't matter to her at all. After all, it's a Daring Do book.
"Oh my gosh! Are you at that part where Daring Do is right before she enters the temple!?" Soarin asked excitedly.
"Yes! Do you want to read it with me?" The rainbow mare asked with excitement.
Soarin nodded and they sat together reading the book page by page. Each exciting part makes them so intrigued that they are so close that they don't even notice.
"And Dr Caballeron was once beaten again!" They said in unison and faced each other.
This is the time they finally noticed their proximity between each other. They quickly looked away making awkward noises trying to make the stifled situation better.
"But knowing she's real makes it so much better!" Soarin squealed while he shook Rainbow Dash's body a little before giving a tight squeeze.
Rainbow Dash's heart beat like crazy. It's like someone is playing the drums rapidly non-stop. She felt comfortable in his embrace. All she could hear was her own heartbeat and her face heating up. Although this moment was short, it felt so slow. 'He's just a friend! I don't do this sappy stuff!' That is what she kept telling herself.
Soarin apologized for his sudden embrace in that light of excitement. His cheeks glowed red and it was really obvious. A part of Rainbow Dash keeps saying: 'He likes you!!' But another part of her says: 'He's just embarrassed! He doesn't like you!'
"It's fine, let's keep on reading..." Rainbow Dash said making the situation lighter. They huddled together and finished the rest of the book. Then another book after that...and another one.
'CHOO CHOO'
"Next stop: Elysia's kingdom. Alighting passengers please make your way to the exit."
