> Starlight > by aynstainxpenelope > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One: Dinner and a Race > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Okay, would you wear a dress for a hundred bits?” I asked Soarin another question as we walked around HQ. “Dash, that’s not enough to put me in a dress.” He cracked a smile. “How about a hundred bits and ten pies?” I knew he couldn’t refuse. “Hmm... Only if you wore a dress too.” He looked over at me and the sun reflected off his green eyes. We turned the corner of the long quarter to the cafeteria for dinner. I laughed. “Deal… If that ever needs to happen.” We walked to the long table full of food to get something to eat. All I grabbed was an apple, Soarin’ usually had a whole pie, but for some reason that was all he grabbed too. “Want to eat outside?” I peered through the big glass window to the green courtyard. “Yeah, it’s nice out.” He said. That was very much true. It had been raining the past week, it was needed for only two days, but the storm quickly got out of hand, and the Wonderbolts had been at a show far away from Cloudsdale and the weather team thought it was too big to handle. I, of course wanted to help, but they would not let me and thought I couldn’t handle the task. I could’ve done it. Maybe. We walked out into the warm air. It was very close to summer, and the weather was great. The rain had made things a little soggy, but it was still good out. Spitfire was out there with her recruit, Thunderdrum, trying to teach him the ethics of a good race. Thunderdrum did not understand it, as he is one of the very competitive pegasi that does not believe there is such a thing as cheating. I don’t know why he got to train with Spitfire, and I was with Soarin, but I ended up liking my results. I was learning new techniques, exercises, and diets. Spitfire said I would be better off training with him. Through the past couple weeks training with him, Soarin and I have become the best of friends, sneaking out late to go eat fast food, breaking rules. Our personalities are very much alike in many ways. We walked past Lightning Streak and his recruit, Swift Gale. They had already eaten and now he was training her. “What ya two lovebirds doin’ out here?” Lightning Streak remarked with his strong Australian accent. I blushed fiercely. “We’re not in love.” I turned around to face him. My stomach filled with rage. “You don’t have the right to say that!-” “You guys ah always together-” “Shut up! That’s-” “Dash, calm down- And Streak, we’re only always together because she’s my trainee” Soarin’s face was somewhat red too. “Keep telling yourself that...” Lightning clucked. Swift giggled while she was in mid air and tried to keep in bigger laughs, making the weights on her back pull her down, falling to the ground with an ‘oof’. I puffed out air angrily. I’m not in love with Soarin! We’re just really great friends... I heard Swift giggle again. All of these recruits are annoying... I thought. All eleven of them... That number would die down to a six in two months, and then three in six months. Those three lucky pegasi would be Wonderbolts. I hope I was included. Soarin caught up with me. “Sorry about that, Streak was just joking...” He told me. “I hope...” I heard him mutter. “Yeah, sorry for getting so upset,” I started awkwardly. “I’m just not used to getting told things like that.” “Yeah.” “Yup.” We walked to the end of the yard to the edge of the grass where it ended to a strip of cloud, or foundation for the Head Quarters. We sat down and started eating. We were both quiet, which was very out of character so I decided to just start something up again. “Would you rather not bathe for the rest of your life, or not change your uniform?” I asked while I turned on my back to look up at the orange tinted sky. Soarin smiled. “Do I have to choose?” He went on his back the same way I did. “Yup. You have to. No way around it.” “I guess... I’d rather wear the same uniform... Gross... You get all sweaty after a show, but then you take a shower... What if you put it back on right after that? Would you get it wet and then it would cancel the smell?” He asked. “I don’t know.” I laughed. “I’m not that deep of a thinker, but I think you’re right-” I was cut off by Spitfire. “Anyone willing to race with Thunderdrum?!” The air was silent. “There are no rules involved! Because he won’t take ‘em seriously!” There were a few murmurs. “Soarin’,” I whispered. “Should I do it?” “Go for it.” I stood up. “I will!” “Okay Thunderdrum, you will be racing Rainbow Dash. The race will start here, and you will go all around HQ. The first one to get here wins, let’s say, a fifty dollar gift card to a restaurant. No rules, no fouls.” She looked to both of us. “Got it?” “Yes, ma’am.” Both of us said. We stood side by side lined up on the edge of the stone path. “On your mark,” I got a pouncing crouch position. “Get set,” I whipped out my wings. “Go!” I shot up into the sky with Thunderdrum by my side. “You’re going down.” He told me. He bumped into my side, but not nearly hard enough to set me off balance. “Not in a million years.” I bumped into him with all my might. He lost a little bit of control and gave me a chance to get ahead. We turned on of the corners. He gained some speed and was once again by my side, but he was tiring. He flew up a bit, but I didn’t know why. Until he dropped and landed on top of me, knocking me out of the air. But I knew I could work with this. Instead of flinging out my wings, I tucked them in and shot towards the ground. My stomach went into my into my throat, but I had to pull through with this. Soarin taught me it. I tuck in my wings picking up speed, then shoot straight up. I took a deep breath and pulled my wings out and angling them just right. I was now going super fast, and caught up to Thunderdrum. He looked over at me dumbfounded as we turned the last corner. I was going to play fair. Use my talents instead of cheating. I pulled forward and pushed myself as far as I could go. Pure before kept my eyes open, and a cone of air formed around me. Yes! I thought, Sonic Rainboom! I’m going to do a Sonic Rainboom! And shortly after that, that’s what I did, and beat Thunderdrum by a long shot. I landed, digging my hooves into the ground to stop. I trotted back to Spitfire and Thunderdrum as he landed. He scoffed as Spitfire looked at the colors amazed. Soarin trotted up to us smiling. “You won! Where you gonna take that gift card?” He winked. “See,” Spitfire started to Thunderdrum. “You can win a race with great practice and good ethics. Even when you pushed her down, she used her resources and beat you.” “Yeah,” He blew a strand of electric blue hair out of his face. “Whatever.” About a month ago, I would’ve been so cocky about this, but Spitfire and Soarin had really shaped me up. “Okay Dash, your reward, a gift card, to where?” I glanced over at Soarin and smiled. “McDonalds.” Spitfire looked at me funny. “You have a gift card to wherever you want to go, and you choose fast food?” I nodded my head. “Yup.” I tried to keep a straight face. If she knew me and Soarin were sneaking out at two in the morning to go stuff our faces with the unhealthiest things on earth, she’d have our heads on a platter. “Really?” “Mhmm.” “Okay... I’ll get on that.” “Thanks Spitfire.” She walked back inside HQ with Thunderdrum by her side. > Practice and Plans > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Come on Rainbow Dash! Flap them wings!” He shouted at me as I struggled with two saddlebags filled with weights on my back. “Flap them wings!” I burst into a fit of laughter as I went plummeting back onto the cloud. “Soarin,” I choked out. “You’re a jerk.” I breathed heavily. “I just said ‘flap them wings’. What’s so funny about that?” He came and looked over me as I lay on the cloud. I giggled again. “I don’t know, it just sounds so funny.” “Get up in the air and flap them wings, Rainbow Dash!” “Soarin!” I barely got it out. “Stop saying that!” “Not until you take to the sky as you’re flapping them wings!” He pointed his hoof to an above cloud. I laughed again and flew up with trouble. “Okay,” I panted. “Am I flapping them enough?” “You only know when you’re flapping them wings enough.” He gave me a crooked smile. The cute one he always gave me when he was joking around. Wait... I thought. Did I just think that Soarin’s smile is cute? “Okay Rainbow Dash, you can come back down now!” I didn’t even notice that I was up on the cloud because I was too wrapped up with thought. “Oh, yeah.” I lightly fell down onto the cloud where Soarin was standing. I was tired from training and sore from the Rainboom yesterday. “Can we go eat lunch?” I whined. “One more exercise then we can.” “What is it...” I grumbled. “Fifty laps around here.” “I’m on it.” I started really fast, but very soon got tired. “Lift them…” Soarin started. “No! Don’t say it!-“ “Lift them hooves, Rainbow Dash!” “Holy crap, Soarin, will you stop that!?” I laughed as I struggled running. “Not until you actually lift them hooves.” “I am!” I ran faster. “Okay, that’s fifty. Good job lifting them wings and hooves. Made some progress.” “Yeah,” I said grabbing for my saddle bag. “I probably toned my stomach too, because of all that laughing.” “Better tell you that more-” “No!” I nudged him playfully, dropping my saddlebag. He reached down to grab it the same time I did, making us bump heads and look straight into each other’s eyes. That was a mistake. We stood there for like, a full year, until resuming awkwardly as I picked it up and he kept walking. In silence, we made our way from the giant training cloud to HQ. *** “Hey.” I said as I walked into Soarin’s room, tossing a bag of veggie burgers and other unhealthy, but tasty, treats his way. The food fell on his sleeping head. “Hey,” He mumbled tiredly. “Wha’ time is it?” “Time to eat food.” I sat down on the chair. “Like seriously, what time.” He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his hooves. “I dunno. One a.m.?” I shrugged as he went through the bag. “Celestia, you stay up late. Why? I mean like, sometimes I do, but this is every night for you.” He tossed what was left in the bag for me and I started to eat along with him. “I have a hard time falling asleep. And there are things to do, things to think. I have a lot going through my mind before I sleep, so I wait till’ I just can’t keep my eyes open.” “I see.” We sat in silence for a moment munching on our food, enjoying every bite. “Well, as a Wonderbolt, days are long and hard. You work hard, train hard, and your emotions kinda run out too. You get nervous before a show or derby or whatever.” He looked over at me with warm eyes. “You’ll sleep a lot as a Wonderbolt.” “If I become a Wonderbolt.” “Trust me, you will. You’re an awesome flyer with amazing skills.” His eyes were so warm they could’ve melted a fangirl on the spot. We stared at each other as we finished our meals. We soon realized what we were doing and looked around the room awkwardly. Great, I thought Second stare in a day. “So, you know what tomorrow is?” He asked clearing the silence. I gave a dry chuckle. “Your parents wedding anniversary?” He laughed at my comment. “No, our free day! You get to go to Ponyville, don’t you?” My jaw dropped a little. “Oh, wow. I totally forgot, I made plans like a month ago.” I smiled thinking about who I would visit. “All my friends are going to meet me. I’m so excited!” He smiled at me. “Right, so there’s Pinkie Pie, the party pony.” “Yup.” “And Rarity, the pony with the fashion sense, and Canterlot accent.” He said in a mock accent. “Yeah, can you get them all?” “There’s Fluttershy, who loves animals.” “Mhmm.” “Twilight Sparkle, the egg head, who turned you into an egg head.” “I only read, and it’s mostly Daring Doo.” I argued. “And I got you to read Maximum Flight.” “Because it’s epic- Now let me finish.” I laughed. “Go on.” “And AppleJack, the one who makes the most amazing pie in all of Equestria.” “You got ‘em.” “Okay, now go to bed so you won’t be a grump when you see them.” He gave me his crooked smile. “I should be the only pony greeted with that in the morning; none of your friends need to greet you like that.” “I’m not a grump in the morning.” I told him. “You are when you don’t get enough sleep.” Soarin said to me leading me towards the door. “So get to bed.” His smile was the only thing that convinced me. “Wake me up at eight.” I said walking away from his room. “Night Dash.” “Night Soar.” > Meeting the Friends > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Rainbow Dash,” I felt a hoof poke my back. “Wake up.” Soarin took the corner of my blanket in his mouth and pulled it off the bed. The cold air hugged my coat and I gathered into a tighter ball. “Five more minutes…” I muttered. “You told me to wake you up at eight, so here I am.” “Soarin,” I complained. “Lemme sleeepp…” “Nope.” And with that he pushed me off the bed. I fell on the marble floor with a thump, but quickly got up due to the fact that it felt like ice. “You’re unfair.” I sulked. “Your mane needs to be brushed.” He looked at it trying not to laugh. “Don’t think I’ve noticed that?” I snapped. “See! I told you your grumpy when you don’t get enough sleep!” He laughed and gave me a smirk. “Soarin!” I playfully tackled him to the ground. I stood over him laughing, and we locked eyes. “Am I interrupting anything?” I turned my head to look to where the voice came from. Cloudchaser stood there in the doorway trying not to laugh. I quickly stepped away from where Soarin lay on the floor. “Spitfire wanted me to make sure you're up,” She giggled. “Obviously you are, I’m surprised your wings aren't.” Soarin and I blushed. He looked at Cloudchaser with a cocked eyebrow. “Oh, come on. It’s obvious you’re a hunk and Dash likes you and you like her. Stop trying to deny it,” She trotted briskly out of the room. “Don’t forget it’s your free day.” She left us there both dazed embarrassed to death. *** We landed on the outskirts of Ponyville near Sweet Apple Acers. I breathed heavily, taking in the smell of apple blooms. Soarin gave a low whistle. “Sure is pretty.” “Yeah,” I laughed lightly. “Miss it.” “Bet you would.” He sighed. “I’ve always lived in Cloudsdale, and we go there a lot for shows. So I don’t really miss it that much. Kinda getting bored of seeing the weather factory, or the cloud pillars, the arena… I wish I had a place like this to call home.” I look at him. I see a piece of sadness in those emerald green eyes. “Cloudsdale isn’t that bad. I grew up there, it was nice. I wished I’d stayed there with my parents longer. Moved out when I was a month away from sixteen.” His eyes widened. “Sixteen? You moved out when you were sixteen?” I laughed. “Almost sixteen.” He laughed. We reached the bridge into Ponyville. Ponies greeted and welcomed me back as we traveled towards Twilights tree house. Nopony asked for Soarin’s autograph. Ponies in Ponyville were considerate, trying not to bother anyone else. He looked around with a glint of happiness in his eyes. He was about to say something when we were interrupted. “Hiya!” Derpy flew upside down in Soarin's face. “Aren’t you the Wonderbolt, Soarin?” “Yeah.” He smiled at her as she landed on the ground. She looked my way. “Rainbow Dash!” She gave me a hug. “I haven’t seen you in a million years! Last I saw you was at a Wonderbolt derby.” I looked at her confused. “Derpy, I’m not a Wonderbolt yet.” She cocked her head. “But-” She was cut off. “Ditzy! We must get going, 1987 is waiting for us, oh hello Rainbow Dash,” A colt with a green tie on and an accent trotted up to a confused Derpy. “Nice seeing you!” He trotted off with her scolding about how she ‘was about to reveal the secret’. Whatever that meant. We walked along laughing about Derpy and her weirdness until we reached the tree house library. I stood behind a tree with Soarin. “Well,” He asked. “What are you waiting for?” “Just you wait.” We stood behind the tree for a few moments until I was attacked by a giant ball of pink happiness. “RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie Pie shouted engulfing me in a lung crushing hug. “My Pinkie sense told me that someone important was here hiding behind a tree and I knew it was you!” “Pinkie Pie,” I choked out as all of me other friends came out of the house. “I can’t breathe.” She let me go. “Oh right,” She giggled. “Sorry.” Soarin laughed at the pink pony’s antics. My friends came up to me and gave me a hug and hello. “So, guys, this is my friend Soarin.” I know I didn’t have to say that, they knew who he was, but now that he was my actual friend, I felt the need to introduce him just as a normal guy. “Is he your coltfriend?” Rarity asked.” I looked back at his blushing face. I’m sure mine was like that too. “No,” I said shaking my head. “No we’re just friends…” “Yeah,” Soarin added. “I train her at the academy.” Rarity frowned slightly. “That’s a shame,” She eyed us. “You’d look cute together.” Before Rarity could embarrass us any further Twilight cut in. “Well it’s nice to meet you! Is Rainbow Dash doing well there?” “Yup,” He smiled slightly. “She’s one of the top students. Almost a guaranteed spot in the group, but I wasn’t supposed to say that.” My friends laughed. “That’s wonderful to hear.” Twilight told him. “Well I better get going,” Soarin unfolded his wings. “I’m going to meet my parents for lunch.” “It was mighty fine meeting ya’.” Applejack tipped her hat. My friends agreed. “Bye Soar.” I told him. “Be back to HQ by one in the afternoon tomorrow,” He smiled hovering above the ground for a bit. Our eyes locked. “Bye Dash.”