> To Be A Mare and A Gentlecolt > by DaringDo-Productions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash. The toughest of the tough. The strongest mare in all of Ponyville. In fact, she could basically be classified as one of the stallions and colts for her attitude, and quite frankly—she didn't care. On the contrary, she was quite proud of it. Proud of being the 'tough one' and the natural leader. Lots of ponies looked up to Rainbow Dash, and saw her as their role model. They all wanted to be as strong, independent and tough as the rainbow-maned mare. Rainbow Dash had always felt the need to prove her strength and toughness, as could be seen when she participated in hoof-wrestling championships, and contests of strength and endurance like the Iron Pony Competition. As a result, the ponies she hung out and trained with were usually the stallions and colts, apart from her five best friends—Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy. She was happy with her status now—the tomboy, the toughie—and didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that a few of her friends had coltfriends, while she didn't have one. All she cared about was what others thought of her, and whether she was tough enough for them. And she'd never actually had feelings for anypony before. Ever. But one day, it all changed—because of a new stallion in town. His name was Soarin. An all too familiar name. Known all over Equestria, because Soarin was a member of The Wonderbolts. He had been dispatched to Ponyville to look for potential new recruits for the Wonderbolts. It meant that he had to stay in Ponyville for at least a month, to observe the pegasi here; and their skills. He had to find out who was the fittest, swiftest and most agile—cream of the crop, best of the best. Because in the Wonderbolts, that was what it was all about. Standards. He came by a chariot, arranged by Princess Celestia herself, and was required to stay at Twilight Sparkle's treebary for his one-month stay. All these arrangements were made in haste, so even Twilight was not informed of the cyan stallion's arrival. She did, however, upon reading a letter sent by Princess Celestia—on the reason of the Wonderbolt's stay, of course—invite him into the Treebary and—using a spell she had recently mastered—conjured up a bed for Soarin. Whilst waiting for Soarin to unpack and familiarize himself with his new temporary home, Twilight attempted to strike a conversation with Soarin. "So...Soarin, you seem familiar. I'm pretty sure I've seen you or heard of you before, somewhere..." Twilight frowned, trying to recall where she'd seen or heard of him before. "I'm the Soarin. The one and only. The one from the Wonderbolts, obviously." Soarin replied rather snottily. "Surely you've heard of the Wonderbolts?" "Of course," Twilight muttered, feeling disbelieved at how stuck-up Soarin sounded. "So, Princess Celestia requested that I familiarize myself with Ponyville, seeing as I'll be staying here for a month and all," Soarin told Twilight, arching an eyebrow, hoping that she'd get the hint to bring him around Ponyville. Breathe in, breathe out, Twilight. Keep calm. Keep cool. Twilight took a deep breath and forced a smile upon her face. "Of course, Soarin. Let's go now, shall we?" she offered through gritted teeth, as she stalked out of the door of the Treebary, not waiting for Soarin's response. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And this here, is Rarity's boutique," Twilight finished, quite pleased that she managed to introduce the more important parts of Ponyville to Soarin within an hour. "I think we've covered some of the more important parts of Ponyville now, and you should be okay looking 'round Ponyville by yourself." It also meant that, now that the 'tour' was over, Twilight could let Soarin explore the rest of Ponyville while she could get some peace and quietness. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off. I have some important...uh....studying to do. If you need me, I'll be at the Treebary" Twilight hastily said, attempting to trot—no, canter—off before Soarin could shoot her another one of his questions, which—to be completely honest—were rather unintelligent. "Who's this Rarity pony? Is she home now? What does she look like? I have to, after all, be able to recognize everypony in town," Soarin rambled on once more, causing Twilight to cast a spell on him to turn him into an orange. Or better yet, a muffin. Oh the spells I can cast on him to make him stop talking and chatting endlessly... Twilight let out a groan of annoyance and frustration, before replying through gritted teeth, "Rarity is my one of my FRIENDS, and—" "Darh-ling!" a familiar voice accented with a British-like accent squealed. Both ponies turned their heads around towards the boutique to look at the white unicorn running towards them. "This is Rarity," Twilight snapped to Soarin, then turning back to Rarity. "Twilight, you look like an absolute mess, dear! Nothing that I can't fix, of course. Oh, and have you heard that there's a new pon—" Rarity cut herself off abruptly from her rambling to focus on the stallion in front of her. "Hello...Soarin, from the Wonderbolts, I believe?" she smiled at him—rather flirtatiously, in fact. "Well, at least somepony here knows who I am," Soarin smirked to Twilight, before putting on a charming smile while turning back to Rarity, "You must be Rarity. Twilight here was just talking about you and your fabulous boutique!" "Really?" Rarity gushed, sounding more excited than Pinkie Pie at a buffet party. Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long month... > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~Rainbow Dash~ "Ready to get beaten, Thunderlane?" Rainbow Dash smirked at her friend, as she stretched her wings in preparation for flight. "Look who's talking. We'll see what you have to say when you meet me at the finish line. Get ready to kiss my hooves," The dark grey stallion retorted, flashing a smirk of his own as he focused on the finish line about a kilometer away from the Ponyville Flight Training grounds, where they currently were. The two ponies were going to have an airborne race soon, and they were just preparing for it. Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash were both very competitive ponies, which was a reason why they were good friends too. Always up for races and competitions with one another. In fact, Thunderlane was probably the only pegasus in Ponyville who could meet up to Rainbow Dash's standards when it came to racing and flying. "Um...get ready... the race'll be starting soon," Fluttershy said, as she picked up the flag with her mouth. Both pegasi crouched down, ready to set off. They both fixed their gazes on the finish line marked earlier, which was visible from their starting point, but only just. "Alright, you two. This'll be a fair race, no dirty tricks of any sort. Fly through all of the cloud hoops, no skipping any. No taking any shortcuts or goin' off-course. Other than that, nothing else. May the best pony win!" Applejack yelled in excitement, as she nodded at Fluttershy and stepped back. "Uh....One, two...three," Fluttershy squeaked, waving the flag, and both pegasi set off at the same time, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Rainbow Dash felt a rush of excitement and adrenaline course through her body as she dived towards the first cloud hoop. Thunderlane was only a few inches behind her and she could see him struggling to overtake her. Thunderlane, when he put his mind to it, he could fly even faster than Rainbow Dash. He was a ridiculously stubborn yet determined stallion, and an incredibly fast pegasus. Because of this, racing against him was exhilarating and challenging to Rainbow Dash. But she still wanted, no—needed, to win. They both did, actually. You could say both of them were pretty proud ponies. Losing wasn't exactly something either Thunderlane or Rainbow Dash liked. Which is why they always pushed themselves as hard as they could, especially when it came to racing. Rainbow Dash slid through the fifth cloud hoop with ease, and she could tell that Thunderlane was gaining on her. She could feel the tiny gusts of wind caused by the stallions powerful wing beats. Hurry...hurry... Rainbow Dash urged herself as she attempted to flap her wings more furiously, which was energy-consuming. Rainbow Dash groaned as she gave a powerful flap, and pushed herself towards the direction of Sugarcube Corner, even though the sixth cloud hoop was nowhere near there. Maybe if I just 'missed' one, it's not like Applejack can see me from there or something Rainbow Dash then turned to look behind her. She gasped as she saw her friend hot on her trail. "Why in Equestria is that idiot following me?" she grumbled to herself. She was about to yell at him when Thunderlane's face scrunched up, and he let out a groan. His eyes were full of terror and alarm as his mouth moved furiously, but no words came out. Rainbow Dash looked at him in worry, as her eyes slowly trailed towards his wings. She braced herself, knowing that she probably wouldn't like what she saw. The muscles in Thunderlane's right wing was tensed, and he had a pained look on his face. Rainbow Dash knew what this was. All pegasi were required to, for safety purposes. It was a wing cramp, probably due to him over exerting himself, especially since he had to have more powerful strokes to keep up with Rainbow Dash. "Watch out!" Thunderlane screeched at her, getting his voice back. Rainbow Dash attempted to dodge out of the way, but it was too late. Thunderlane slammed into her, almost knocking her senseless. Rainbow Dash groaned in pain as both pegasi started spiraling towards a crowd near Sugarcube Corner. Normally, Rainbow Dash would be able to keep her balance and maybe help Thunderlane, but the stallion seemed to have put on more weight recently. Plus, she was see stars and dark swirls of blackness. Dizziness. Not a good sign. Rainbow Dash managed to form out a weak thought as she heard Thunderlane's voice again. "Watch out below! Somepony, help!" Thunderlane hollered, crashing into the roof of Sugarcube Corner a few seconds later. He fell faster than Rainbow Dash, and it had a heavier impact, as he was much heavier than the rainbow-maned mare. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was headed straight for the large crowd of ponies, her eyes shut tight in an attempt to stop the dizziness and nausea. Below her, ponies scrambled away from where they estimated she was going to hit. Moments later, Rainbow Dash felt herself come into contact with something....soft. "Oof!" somepony grunted in a low voice; causing Rainbow Dash to deduce that it was either a colt or a stallion. She let out another groan, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter. The pony under her wriggled out, causing her to hit the ground softly. Rainbow Dash could hear the soft murmuring and furious conversations around her, and faintly she could make out Applejack's voice because of the orange mare's accent. Rainbow Dash forced herself to open her eyes, her vision still blurred as she looked around her...and into a pair bright green eyes. Wait...she recognized those pair of eyes. Which dedicated fan wouldn't? That belonged to the one and only Soarin.Of the Wonderbolts! Rainbow Dash struggled to keep awake, especially since her idol was in front of her. Her body, however, thought otherwise. Drained of energy, and weak as a filly, Rainbow Dash felt herself slipping away into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was Soarin chuckling to himself. Well, that isn't now ponies usually fall for me, is it? > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash groaned as she forced her eyes to open to brave the bright light that was shining from the ceiling above her. I’m at a hospital, again. Rainbow Dash realized, then added sarcastically, Great. She heard the soft sounds of hoofsteps coming from her right, and Rainbow Dash instinctively jerked her head in the direction of the sound. She felt the muscles in her neck clench tightly at the sudden forceful movement, and she winced. “Ow,” she hissed in pain, squeezing her eyes shut. “Oh dear, don’t move, Rainbow Dash! You can’t strain yourself!” Nurse Redheart instructed Rainbow Dash as she came over. Rainbow Dash sighed and groaned in annoyance. Stupid injuries. This meant that she wouldn’t be able to go on flight practices with Thunderlane and Cloudchaser. Darn. Speaking of Thunderlane, where was he? Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted around, taking in as much of the ward as possible, since she wasn’t allowed to move anything else. Nurse Redheart chuckled and, as if she could read Rainbow Dash’s mind, told her, “If you’re looking for your friend Thunderlane, he’s in the ward beside yours. He’s taking a few wing checks now, I think.” Rainbow Dash mumbled a quick “thank you” and was about to say something else when an all too familiar stallion burst into the ward. “Nurse! Where’s that rainbow maned pony?” Soarin called impatiently. “My name’s Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus snapped, feeling offended for some reason. “Whatever,” Soarin huffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m supposed to check up on you and make sure you’re okay.” He frowned slightly as he trotted over to where Rainbow Dash was lying, giving a small nod to Nurse Redheart. “Your friend Twilight Sparkle forced me to, really,” he added. Rainbow Dash felt her heart sink slightly; he only came because somepony had told him to. Did you really think that he came because he likes you or actually cares about you? a little voice in Rainbow Dash’s head sneered at her. The mare’s gaze dropped down as she looked away from Soarin, breaking eye contact from him. Soarin, as oblivious as always, didn’t seem to notice how her eyes had lost a little of their usual excited glimmer, or how her ears dropped slightly. “Well?” he snapped impatiently instead, “Are you fine or not?” Rainbow Dash felt her heart sink even lower as she nodded a bit, unable to bear the thought of her idol treating her like this. “Fine then, whatever,” Soarin grumbled, rolling his eyes as he spun around and walked out of the door in a huff, leaving Nurse Redheart looking at Rainbow Dash sympathetically. Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat and dejection. Great, just great. ***** Rainbow Dash’s head moved up slowly as Rarity sauntered into the room, looking extra gleeful and peppy as she announced her arrival. “Hey Rarity,” Rainbow Dash greeted her friend in an emotionless monotone voice, forcing herself to plaster a fake smile on her face. “Rainbow!” Rarity shrieked, running over to her friend in excitement. “Guess what?” Rainbow Dash groaned internally; it must be one of Rarity’s stuck-up Canterlot friends coming to visit, or worse, some fashion show full of them. Snotty Canterlot ponies. Rainbow Dash tried to force an ever wider grin onto her face, pretending to be excited in whatever-in-Celestia’s-name had happened to Rarity. “What is it, Rarity?” Rarity let out another excited squeal, before gushing out, “Soarin wants me to be his partner for the Annual Grand Galloping Gala this year!” “What?” ***** “So he gave two tickets to both me and Twilight, and then he asked me, me, to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with him!” Rarity giggled out dizzily. She looked as if she might faint any moment, be it from the excitement or the fact that she was using all of her energy to bounce around the ward in a very un-ladylike manner. “Talk about being like Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath. “Yeah, yeah, okay,” Rainbow Dash muttered in annoyance, trying to hide her disappointment. “Isn’t the Princess supposed to be the one who gives us our tickets annually though?” “Well, of course, but Soarin had the extra tickets with him. Plus, it was more romantic that he was the one to offer me the tickets, not the Princess.” Rarity shot back defensively at once. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes; it was obvious that Soarin was flaunting what he had. “Why, are you jealous?” Rarity teased, winking at Rainbow Dash suggestively. Rainbow Dash snorted and let out a small growl of frustration while trying to hide the blush that was tinting her cheeks, “Of course not! Why should I get jealous over that idiot?” Rarity shot Rainbow Dash a small smirk. “Of course not,” she echoed sarcastically, putting emphasis on the ‘course’. Rainbow Dash groaned as she buried her face into the pillow she was holding. Knowing Rarity, she’d never hear the end of this. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Rainbowwww? Does the white dress or the lavender dress look better?” Rarity called out to the rainbow-maned mare who was in the kitchen. Rainbow Dash huffed as she chugged down her apple cider impatiently. Rainbow Dash had been discharged from the hospital three days ago, and Rarity had made sure to make full use of the three days to her benefit. It had been three days of Rarity’s continuous mindless chattering and small talk, three days of shopping with Rarity all around Ponyville and worst of all (to Rainbow Dash at least), three days of going around Ponyville with the risk of bumping into Soarin. During her four-day stay at the hospital, Rainbow Dash had came to the decision that it would be best to ignore Soarin for as much as she can, and as long as possible, hopefully for the full extent of his stay. Sure, he’d been her idol ever since she’d first heard of the Wonderbolts’ team, and Rainbow Dash used to think that Soarin was the kindest, greatest, coolest stallion of all time, but she soon decided against it after both incidents, first bumping into him and then their little meeting. Instead of being what she thought he was, Soarin was actually the most stuck-up, annoying jerk and braggart Rainbow Dash had ever met. Idiot. Soarin’s 'façade' had fooled all the others though; almost all the mares in Ponyville had—over a span of one week—developed a crush on the Wonderbolt, and all of the colts and stallions followed him around, begging him to teach them a few ‘cool tricks’. Rainbow Dash was, quite frankly, sick of all of this fawning over Soarin. Sure, she herself had been a fan of his, but taking it to this extent was plain ridiculous. All her friends were becoming as air-headed as those Canterlot ponies, Rainbow Dash believed. Stupid Soarin. And now, as if that drama wasn’t enough, Soarin was going to steal one of Rainbow Dash’s best friends from her. Rarity had spent hours talking about the stallion and how absolutely charming he was. Snap out of it, you’re overthinking things again. And overreacting. Rainbow Dash blinked and she shook her head, trying to clear her mind and her thoughts. “Rainbow Dash!” Rarity screamed again, louder this time. Rainbow Dash heard the sound of hoofsteps getting louder and coming towards her, which meant that Rarity was headed for where Rainbow Dash was. Oh no. Here it comes. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. The white unicorn huffed as she stood in front of Rainbow Dash, glaring at the Pegasus with her blue eyes. “For Celestia’s sake, Rainbow Dash! Did you even hear my question? I was trying to ask yo—“ “Just wear the white one, okay?” Rainbow Dash cut Rarity off, rolling her eyes. Rarity snorted, completely oblivious to her friend’s evident annoyance. “On second thought, I think I’ll wear my violet dress,” Rarity declared, looking proud of herself. Rainbow Dash slapped her face with her hoof in exasperation. How could she have never realized how annoying and demanding Rarity could be? And whiny. a small voice in her head added helpfully. "Stop that, Rainbow. It'd ruin your complexion," Rarity scolded Rainbow Dash, glaring at the mare's actions. Rainbow Dash let out another long groan, as she rubbed her face slowly. This was it, Rarity had crossed the line this time. “You know what, Rarity? Nopony really cares. So, whatever!” Rainbow Dash snapped angrily, standing up abruptly. “Settle all these things by yourself, okay? And for Equestria's sake, nopony actually bothers about their 'beauty' or whatever! I’m outta here.” With an agitated flick of her tail, Rainbow Dash stormed out of Rarity’s boutique, slamming the door and leaving a very shocked Rarity behind her. ***** “And then she just yells at me, for no reason!” Rainbow Dash spits out, feeling the anger in her bubbling. What in Equestria was wrong with Rarity?! Rainbow Dash looked over at where Twilight was seated, slowly cataloguing all the books that she had recently invested in. Twilight looked up from her massive catalogue of books to study Rainbow Dash’s face. Twilight felt a frown come upon her face as she realized how irritated Rainbow Dash looked. Twilight sighed as she set down her quill pen onto the table. “Well, I think that you should cool down, for starters,” Twilight suggested slowly. “And then after that, you can ask Rarity why she yelled at you?” Deciding to listen to Twilight, Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, standing up to stretch her legs. “Okay then, moving on to the next topic, it’s uhh…about the Gala,” Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously to Twilight. Twilight brightened up almost immediately at the mention of the Grand Galloping Gala. “Why, yes! Have you heard, both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia will be going to the Grand Galloping Gala this year! Isn’t that great?” Twilight grinned as she started to gush out. “I hope you’ve gotten a ticket for the Gala too! It’s really exciting this year; I’ve heard that the Wonderbolts have prepared a special performance just for the guests!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed at the very mention of the Wonderbolts. It was funny, really, how her adoration had turned into hate so quickly. She knew she shouldn’t judge the whole team just because of one stallion, but she couldn’t help it. All of them were stupid, annoying Canterlot ponies. They’ve let fame get into their head. At least, Soarin had. Asshole. Rainbow Dash hissed in annoyance, “I won’t want to go to another performance; not on my life.” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise, unsure of why the mare was behaving like that, or why her attitude has changed into something so…bitter. Twilight’s frown deepened, and she scoffed skeptically, “Are you sure, Rainbow? We’re talking about the Wonderbolts here. Remember them? Your idols?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes; how come it was so hard to believe that she disliked—no, hated—the Wonderbolts now? “Of course I’m sure, Twi. C’mon.” Rainbow Dash huffed. “I am 100% done with that stupid obsession over them. They’re nothing but stuck-up Pegasi who believe that they’re better than us.” She declared firmly. And now Soarin was going to choose one of the Pegasi in Ponyville to join them. Twilight Sparkle stared at her best friend in disbelief and shock. ‘Stupid obsession’? ‘Stuck-up’? What in Equestria had happened to Rainbow Dash? She’d gone from obsessing over the Wonderbolts to hating every single one of them. Even the mere mention of them would agitate Rainbow Dash. Twilight had to find out what had happened to her friend, and fast.