When Thunderbolt and Rainbow Dash arrived back in Ponyville, it was getting dark. "My place?" asked Rainbow. "Good idea," said Thunderbolt, opening the door as the two went inside. "You hungry?" asked Thunderbolt. "Nah," said Rainbow, "I'm too in love to be hungry." "Agreed," said Thunderbolt, ushering Rainbow up the stairs as the two went to Rainbow's bedroom. "I ordered a heating pad, it should be here in a few days," said Rainbow, "But for now, you'll have to do." "I'm fine with that," said Thunderbolt, climbing under the covers. "Scoot over here," said Rainbow, giving him those half-shut, seductive eyes. "No problems here," said Thunderbolt, happily obliging.
The next morning, Thunderbolt and Rainbow met in the same field on the outskirts of Ponyville where Thunderbolt had helped Rainbow with her sonic rainboom. Only this time, Thunderbolt would be the one trying to break the sound barrier. "I have a hunch," said Rainbow, beginning to sound like Twilight, "Fly as fast as you can." "That's nowhere near the sound barrier, not even close," said Thunderbolt. "How about if I do it with you?" asked Rainbow, "Then I can help you if you can't do it by yourself." "Okay," said Thunderbolt, nervously taking off with Rainbow on his tail.
Thunderbolt and Rainbow zipped off, each with their own trails. Thunderbolt's was dark gray, almost black, and it was energized with lightning. Rainbow's was… well… rainbow colored, as everypony knows. But Thunderbolt couldn't go any faster. There wasn't much turbulence in that area, so there was little wind to shout over. "So, you can't go any faster, you say?" asked Rainbow. "No, not a single bit," said Thunderbolt, "Not and sustain it, anyways." "I doubt that," said Rainbow. "Why?" asked Thunderbolt, "You're not me and you don't know my limits!" "Is Spitfire a good coach?" asked Rainbow. "Yeah," said Thunderbolt, "Why?" "She knows other ponies' limits without knowing the ponies themselves very well," said Rainbow, making her point, "Am I a good coach?" "Yeah," said Thunderbolt, "Oh. Okay. Next time, remind me to not argue with you." "Noted," said Rainbow, zipping ahead. "Hey, wait up!" exclaimed Thunderbolt. "I thought you said you couldn't go any faster," said Rainbow. "You're a good coach, all right," Thunderbolt sighed, catching up to Rainbow.
"You think you can go faster?" asked Rainbow. "The last time I said no, you didn't think I was right, and you were right that I wasn't right," said Thunderbolt, "So what makes you think that I think that you're going to think I've hit my limit this time?" "That was an incredibly convoluted way of saying 'yes'," noted Rainbow, flying just a bit faster. "Agreed," said Thunderbolt, not even bothering to catch up the two feet. "You can't go any faster, can you," Rainbow muttered, before saying aloud, "Okay then, c'mere." She slowed down a bit and grabbed his front hoof. "What are you… WHOA!" Thunderbolt said as Rainbow sped ahead, dragging him behind. Then she said, "I'm gonna let go of your hoof, in 3… 2…" "Celestia help me," Thunderbolt thought as Rainbow finished her countdown, "1." Then she let go.
At first he thought he was going to fall, but it ended up that he continued at Rainbow's pace with a blackish aura forming around his forehooves. "Whoa," said Rainbow. "You're amazed at that?" asked Thunderbolt. "Nah," said Rainbow, "I've just never seen an aura like that." Thunderbolt sighed, "Oh." "Well, you're nearing rainboom speeds," said Rainbow, now there was significant turbulence and she had to speak much louder. "Well, this is faster than I'd ever thought I'd go," said Thunderbolt. "I'm not sure what was going through your head while you were holding up that boulder," said Rainbow, "But you're capable of much faster speeds if you can hold up a boulder that big for that long." "That… wasn't just me…" said Thunderbolt. "Whatta ya mean?" asked Rainbow. "You know the process of creating emergency strength in certain situations and under certain circumstances?" asked Thunderbolt, presuming a pony so educated in flight would know what he was talking about. Rainbow nodded, "Yeah, I studied that in my third year at the Cloudsdale College of Flight, why?" "Same concept," Thunderbolt said, "Except the circumstances involved you."
"Well, what if I told you I was positive you'd get your cutie mark if you did this?" asked Rainbow, neither accelerating nor decelerating. "Uh, I still don't think I would do it," said Thunderbolt, well aware that he'd need some impressive motivation to pull off something this huge. Rainbow thought for a bit. "He doesn't have the competitive instinct that you do, Rainbow Dash," she thought to herself, "What does he want? Money? I don't think so. Plus, that's called bribing and it's not exactly good. I already brought up the most embarrassing thing about him, so… oh, I know."
"I'll do the rainboom with you," said Rainbow, "And you know what I was talking about earlier, about intertwining rainboom trails? That involves a certain level of intimacy…" "You mean…" said Thunderbolt, his face growing bright red. "Perfect," thought Rainbow, "Now I'll have a coltfriend who's not a blank flank! Apparently, the way to a pegasus's wings is through his heart. That works." "All right, but that's only if you can catch me!" exclaimed Rainbow, speeding ahead and coming real close to rainboom speeds. Thunderbolt sped up a whole bunch to catch up to her.
There was a sonic rainboom. However, there was also something else. A sonic thunderclap. Unlike a rainboom, which simply makes a booming noise, this made a long, drawn-out noise, like rolling thunder. Then Thunderbolt was followed by a lightning bolt-shaped trail. He easily caught up to Rainbow Dash (who let him do so), then she gave him this look of, 'well, what are you waiting for?'. They flew together and leaned the same direction, causing two barrel rolls around each other that is called a corkscrew. Except this was an extremely tight corkscrew.
Regardless of the spinning world around them, Rainbow Dash and Thunderbolt hugged and kissed as they flew across the Everfree Forest and into the plains past that and the rolling hills past that. When they finally decelerated enough to lose their trails, they pulled apart just a little and Rainbow said, "Wait, where are we?" They stopped altogether and Thunderbolt said, "No idea. Ponyville's that way." He pointed to where their trails had come from. "Well, let's fly back," said Rainbow, "Wait a minute. Look at your flank, Thunder." There was a light gray cloud with a bright yellow lightning bolt coming out of the bottom of it. "Well then," said Rainbow, "I knew we were similar, but not this similar…" Rainbow compared her cutie mark to his. They were identical in shape and size and only differed in color. "That's awesome," said Thunderbolt, "It's almost like we were destined to be together, 'Bow." "Almost, Thunder," said Rainbow as they started the long trek back to Ponyville, "Almost…"