"I have, literally, nothing to do today," Rainbow told Thunderbolt as they pondered over what to do. "Well, the sky is pretty today," said Thunderbolt. "I've done quite enough hardcore flying today," said Rainbow. "Then let's do some un-hardcore flying," suggested Thunderbolt, hovering a few feet up to meet gazes with Rainbow. "Okay," said Rainbow, "Let's go for an un-hardcore spin, Thunder." Knowing full well there was nopony else within earshot, Thunderbolt took her hoof and replied, "Okay, 'Bow."
The two flew leisurely through the clouds, Rainbow looked around. "You know, I never fully realized how pretty the sky was until now," Rainbow thought aloud. "You've never gone for a leisurely flight before?" asked Thunderbolt. "Not exactly," said Rainbow, "Whenever I'm flying, I'm either going someplace and need to be there fast, I'm going someplace with my friends and therefore wait up for them and am basically just hovering, or I'm working on my flying tricks. I never really get up here and just look around." "Not even on weather duty?" asked Thunderbolt. "My job is to boss ponies around, not to do the actual work. That's why it pays, I guess," joked Rainbow.
They flew up above the cloud layer and saw the sun's light playing on the clouds. "This is beautiful," Rainbow said in awe. "That fits," muttered Thunderbolt. "What fits?" asked Rainbow, her hearing quite impressive. "Oh, nothing," said Thunderbolt, looking away to admire the beauty of something other than Rainbow Dash. For a few minutes, they just looked around, left and right, up and down, until the two met gazes and stared for a moment.
That moment seemed to last an hour, and then the two both turned away at the same moment, muttering various things. Rainbow looked up and saw one cloud, it was hit by the sunlight in one certain way that made it look especially soft. It was above everything else, like a pedestal. "Hey, Rainbow?" asked Thunderbolt, "You okay?" "Wanna race to that cloud?" asked Rainbow, "I haven't raced you yet." "That's only because you know full well I couldn't keep up," said Thunderbolt. "Try!" exclaimed Rainbow, dashing off. "Wait up!" exclaimed Thunderbolt, flapping as hard as he could to just fly at the same speed as her.
"First!" exclaimed Rainbow, touching the cloud. "Not-even-close second!" exclaimed Thunderbolt when he reached the cloud, a few seconds later. Rainbow giggled and did a little flying-cartwheel-thing, landing on the cloud and sprawling. Thunderbolt, unable to do anything nearly as cool or even half as graceful, simply landed. "What was that cool move?" asked Thunderbolt. Rainbow shrugged. "Dunno," she replied, "Some sort of flying quasi-cartwheel thing. Not sure." "Well, it was awesome," said Thunderbolt. "Thanks," said an embarrassed Rainbow.
Rainbow patted the patch of cloud between the two, motioning for Thunderbolt to move over. He didn't waste a moment. "It's so pretty up here," said Rainbow, looking down on the clouds that were progressively changing colors as the sunlight shifted. It was almost indescribable. "Yeah," Thunderbolt thought aloud, "It's not as pretty as you, though…" "I…" said Rainbow, "What?" "Uh… I mean… um…" Thunderbolt sputtered. Then he took off.
~Let's change character views again, 'cause apparently that's a fad!
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was sitting on the cloud with her face bright red. She stared, wide-eyed, while Thunderbolt flew off. It was several moments later before she realized fully what had happened and decided to go after him. Several seconds is a lot of time if you're in a speed sport, though, and so she had to fly quite fast. But Rainbow was faster than he, and soon she was almost caught up. "It's okay!" Rainbow shouted over the wind. "What?!" shouted Thunderbolt, Rainbow wasn't sure if he didn't hear her or he didn't know what she was talking about. Regardless she replied, "I said it's okay!"
Thunderbolt slowed down only a little. He looked back at Rainbow, she wasn't far behind and she was rapidly gaining. When she caught up with him, she neared, moved closer. "I'd… I'd always thought I liked you!" she shouted to him, "I just didn't think you liked me back!" Thunderbolt and Rainbow both stopped short. "You… you…" sputtered Thunderbolt, "But it… can't… You can't mean that!" His thoughts were a jumble. He thought that his feelings for her, they couldn't be real! And the same should go for any feelings she had towards him! "But I do!" exclaimed Rainbow, "I… I'll kiss you if it'll prove it!" Then it hit him: Rainbow Dash was a prankster. Always had been. Probably always would be. This had to be a really cruel but incredibly well-executed prank! "This can't be real!" thought Thunderbolt. Meanwhile, Rainbow was on the verge of tears. She'd expected a romantic, happy ending and she'd gotten confusion and disbelief.
Then Thunderbolt's expression changed from confusion to anger as he said, "You know, I'll have to give it to you." Now it was Rainbow's turn to look confused. "Don't play innocent on me," said Thunderbolt, "You know full well what you did. But as I said, very well done. Your prank turned out perfectly. However, there was one minor flaw. You have officially ended any friendship we had. Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. Be seeing you… hopefully never."