It was October 1st, and the Wonderbolts were preparing for the 1010th anniversary of the Equestria Air Force's founding, which would be next year. It was necessary to train for the great parade that was to be held in Cloudsdale.
Rainbow Dash was thrilled, and throughout the morning she trained to the best of her ability, passing through fiery circles in a brand new fireproof suit, dancing in the air and drawing rainbows and lightnings, and darting together with her companions to create complicated geometric figures.
The blue pegasus felt alive as never before, and breathed the crisp autumn air deeply: the white clouds had accumulated in the clear sky like whipped cream, and the wind smelled of leaves and distant rain. Rainbow loved that atmosphere.
There was, however, a sour note. Spitfire was absent.
Fleetfoot had arrived very early that morning, around half past six, and had opened the Academy herself. Who knew why she and not Soarin, as vice-captain…
"Hey Rainbow Dash!" yelled Hoops, employee of the Weather Factory, "Should I shoot more clouds?"
"No, that's okay for now!" she answered him, before going down to the runway.
Here, she found Fluttershy applauding her.
"You were amazing as always, Rainbow!"
"Thank you, Flutters, now we'll take an hour break and then we'll get back to making some more figures."
The yellow pegasus smiled at her and took a few sips of water from her bottle; meanwhile, Misty Fly approached her flight mate.
"Hey, Crash, what do you think is wrong with Soarin today?" she asked, rather annoyed.
Rainbow gulped her water, then caught her breath:
"What do you mean?"
"He seems distracted to me. He's sloppy, less precise than usual. Either he's starting to suffer from nearsightedness or there's something troubling him."
"You think? I didn't pay much attention to him, I was too focused."
"In any case, he has to try to pull himself together." Misty sentenced, before reaching High Winds.
Rainbow didn't even have time to turn around to focus on her vice-captain, that he called her:
"Rainbow Dash, please come to the office. I need to talk to you privately."
The girl began to ask herself a thousand questions: had she perhaps done something wrong? Did he want to talk to her about Spitfire? Did he want to talk to her about himself, was he sick? Did he want to momentarily pass his command over to her?
Rainbow, as she walked, turned her head towards the paused group; no pony was paying attention to them.
Soarin sat down at Spitfire's desk and pulled down the blinds. The sunlight was quite bright that day.
Rainbow couldn't explain why, but she interpreted that gesture as disturbing.
"What do you want to talk me about?" she asked him, kindly but directly.
Soarin took off his sunglasses and put them on the desk top. Those piercing green eyes made her feel exposed.
"S-So?" she urged him.
"Rainbow Dash, there's a confession I need to make and I wanted a quiet moment. I'm sorry if I chose just today and this place, but I can't wait any longer."
A single bead of sweat dripped on Rainbow's neck. Why did he make it so long?
Suddenly, Soarin caught one of the girl's hooves between his.
"Rainbow Dash, I'm in love with you. I guess I always have been, ever since you helped me at Rainbow Falls. I would like to ask you to be with me, to form a couple. I thought I saw a certain interest on your part too, am I wrong?"
Suddenly, Rainbow had felt the tension leave her and giving way to a creeping irritation. What was that sugary flattery? Wasn't he with Spitfire? Even if the two had made the impossible as not to get noticed, it was clear that those two were a steady couple.
"I don't understand, Soarin… I thought you were with Spitfire…" she murmured, confused.
Soarin lifted her chin.
"Yes, it's true, but we broke up. I couldn't deceive her anymore, I love you."
Again a wave of irritation.
Forcing herself not to appear rude, Rainbow stepped away from the stallion's hoof.
"I still don't understand. You say you're in love with me, yet all this time you've been with Spitfire. Why didn't you come to me sooner? Why wait until now?"
"Because I was foolish. I dragged myself into a relationship with her out of habit, because we've known each other pretty much forever."
The rainbow-haired Wonderbolt was speechless. She didn't know what to say, she was stunned.
Seeing her so serious and lost turned off Soarin's enthusiasm a little, who decided to leverage her potential feelings:
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Rainbow… You've always seemed quite interested in me, ever since we met at the Grand Galloping Gala."
"Actually we met at the Flight School when we were little, but details." she hissed, increasingly unwell.
"I don't remember very well..." he said, mortified.
"Anyway yes, you're right, you interested me initially, but not anymore."
Soarin prayed he had misunderstood.
No, his dream couldn't vanish like this, after not even being able to touch it.
"Why aren't you interested in me anymore?" he asked, hurt.
"Let me think… Ah, here! Do you remember the ceremony in Celestia's garden? When was Spitfire sent away with an excuse? When you accused me of wanting to steal her place because I was a reservist? It was Wind Rider, and if Rarity hadn't intervened you wouldn't even have given me a chance to defend myself. I was the last wheel of the cart, so definitely guilty. That's the message that got through, Soarin. I don't forget."
Soarin froze and gasped.
"But pass that episode. Do you also remember the day I became a full timer? Here, thanks again to you and the whole team for targeting me with stupid jokes and pranks. Luckily you were madly in love with me, otherwise what would you have done instead of sneering while I was cleaning? Would you have spilled the detergent in my cabinet? Or would you have thrown a bucket of water in my face?"
The vice-captain was completely annihilated, crushed by that still rancorous outburst. Rainbow, however, was not finished yet:
"After those two episodes I drew a cross over you. And now you come here to serenade me? You wasted your time, sorry."
Now she was looking down on him, and something in Soarin snapped.
"How angry you are for two small mistakes! Besides, you're never wrong, right?"
"Of course I can be wrong, but I'm loyal. Indeed, I am the Element of Loyalty, and your little mistakes sounded like disrespect to me. By the way, why isn't Spitfire here with us? Is she sick?"
"She's pregnant."
It was as if someone had detonated a bomb in Rainbow Dash's chest. To recap, Soarin dumped his pregnant marefriend to roll his eyes at a girl he'd blamed and belittled in the past? Seriously? Was that the real Soarin?
However… Rainbow still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Pregnant? With whom? You?"
Soarin nodded solemnly.
At that point, Rainbow was furious; all of this was an affront to her Element:
"Then why are you here and not with her?"
Her voice came out as a low roar.
"I told you, I can't be with a girl I don't love."
"But you love me, right? And so I should melt like honey under the sun!"
"Why are you so hostile? I thought you liked me!"
"NO! I DON'T LIKE YOU! I CAN'T LIKE AN UNLOYAL PONY LIKE YOU!"
Rainbow had screamed with all the breath she had in her body. She almost thought she saw the windows vibrate.
"Are you going to take your responsibilities, at least?"
Rainbow's voice was gone into the cellar by now, deep and cavernous, dripping with anger.
"Who do you think I am?" he retorted, offended.
"Somepony who has apparently always played at being the poor misunderstood stallion in a team of mares. Now excuse me, but I have to go. You've wasted too much of my time."
Without waiting any longer, Dashie violently slammed the office door and walked out, away from Soarin.
Fluttershy was having an incredibly pleasant chat with Hoops, when she saw Rainbow coming, her face as dark as a thundercloud.
"Oh, Rainbow. Did something happen?" her sweet friend asked.
"Please, let it go..."
"Did you and Soarin have a fight?" Hoops asked her.
"Worse than that…" Dashie mumbled back.
At that moment, the Wonderbolts' vice-captain came out of the office and called the end of the break.
Throughout the rest of the training, there was a strange atmosphere, with Rainbow Dash and Soarin trying to avoid each other at all costs, but when, due to choreography needs, they had to fly close together, their gazes turned to ice.
Rainbow had to muster all of her small amount of patience not to blurt out again.
At the end of the training, which seemed to last centuries to the sky-colored Pegasus, Soarin disappeared without saying goodbye and she was finally able to relax.
Taking out a big gulp of air, Rainbow dropped onto the grass, and that touch with nature restored some of her joy.
After a while, the figures of Fluttershy and Hoops popped into her field of vision.
"Hey, Rainbow, would you like to try the new diner?" Fluttershy asked her.
In Cloudsdale a nice restaurant was newly opened, the "Creme Cloud", which was said to prepare light but hearty dishes.
"All right. Are you coming too, Hoops?"
"I'd love that."
Over three tasty, beautifully decorated plates, Fluttershy asked Rainbow what she had been talking about with Soarin.
"If you can tell us, of course…" she added hastily.
Rainbow took a generous sip of her cream and chocolate milkshake and leaned back on the loveseat.
"Soarin told me he fell in love with me."
"Oh!"
The two youths were somewhat surprised.
"To be honest, Rainbow, I thought you were interested in him…" Fluttershy told her.
"That was years ago. He has been mean to me on two occasions and has never apologized. End of business."
Hoops looked down at his well-scrubbed plate of brownies.
"I've been mean to you in the past too, Rainbow Dash. I want to tell you I'm sorry, if it's worth anything."
The girl smiled at him.
"Thanks, Hoops. I appreciate it."
In the late afternoon, Soarin went to Spitfire's house.
She didn't really want to see him, and the strong feeling she still had for him was fading.
"What do you want?" she asked, rudely.
"I came to see how you were."
"Like yesterday and the day before. Crappy."
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Soarin answered, sitting down on the sofa.
"Are you nauseous?" he asked again. Spitfire had discovered she was one month pregnant.
"You don't need to pretend to care." the Wonderbolts' captain chilled his warmth, glaring at him.
"But I'm not pretending! I am sincerely interested in my foal!"
Soarin was downright offended; could it be that they all thought of him as a good-for-nothing?
Spitfire's orange eyes stared at him for a long time: they were the eyes of a mother, of somepony who wouldn't tolerate teasing. Of somepony ready to do anything to defend her foal.
"When I told you, you said no. You kept repeating it. I saw your face, you looked like somepony who had suffered a tragedy. Don't worry, you will soon be able to have a baby with your Rainbow Dash too!"
"I was taken aback, Spitfire! I intend to help raise our child and it pains me that you consider me so unreliable."
"Somepony who leaves his partner on the spot telling her that in reality he has always loved another one, how would you define him? What if it was me who acted like this? Would you like it?"
Soarin looked down.
"Anyway, I won't have anything with Rainbow Dash. She doesn't want me."
"Oh, what a pity!" Spitfire retorted, with malevolent satisfaction.
"Listen, Spitfire, do you feel like fighting tonight? You're painting me as a monster, yet you're not the hotsy-totsy you always want to appear. Maybe you were wrong, you should have gone with Fleetfoot, that other witch!"
"What does Fleetfoot have to do with it now?" she reacted, upset.
"She has something to do with it. Or should I remind you of the Rainbow Falls competition, when you literally abandoned me in the hospital so that you could have, oh-but-look-at-that, your very own colorful rival in your team?"
Spitfire couldn't deny it was true.
"It's true, you're right. I was bad at that time. We settle the score in a tie. I'll go my way and you go yours. We won't get married or try to live together. If you want to be part of your foal's life you will be welcome, otherwise… Friends as before."
"I promise I'll be there."
The yellow pony carefully looked at the one who had been her everything: the light blue coat, the hair that reminded her of the sea, the emerald eyes... An intense and yearning melancholy made her sway, and for a nanosecond she had the desire to throw herself into his arms, even knowing that he would refuse her. It was a matter of very little, however.
The ringing outside the front door made them awaken from that enchantment. With a tired step, Spitfire went to open it, to find the scandal stone before her eyes.
Rainbow's first reaction to seeing Soarin was weariness. The stallion, despite everything, still had his heart pounding while meeting her.
"Can I come in?"
"Did you know everything?" Spitfire immediately asked warily.
"Yes, and I've come to reassure you: I don't intend to get in the way of your family."
Soarin felt a new hole in his heart when he heard that sentence, while in the eyes of the pegasus with the phoenix Cutie Mark a new hope came alive.
"Really?"
"Really. There is already a pony that interests me."
That revelation had slipped out of her mouth without her being able to stop it. What was that, a Z-series romance novel? And since when did she like somepony? Why had her subconscious played this trick on her?
Soarin's face darkened very much. He didn't want to say farewell to his dream. He wanted to be with Rainbow, maybe introduce her to the foal that was coming, and build an extended family. He was too angry to calmly formulate those thoughts though, so he quickly went away, not saying goodbye to either ponies.
"I don't know if I can trust him..." Spitfire murmured, after her ex-coltfriend had left.
"You say he won't be a father to his foal?"
"I don't know. I've discovered a side of Soarin that I really don't like. His falling in love with you is irrelevant, I don't like the superficial and capricious attitude he had with me. I thought he was much more mature." she concluded, bitterly.
"Honestly, he disappointed me too." Rainbow commented.
The two mares remained silent for a few moments, after which Rainbow asked the future mother a question:
"So? How does it feel to become a mother? Do you already have a few names in mind?"
"Oh, well… If it's female I'd like Moonstone, if it's male Hurricane."
"Oh wow! Great tastes!"
"And you? Who would you be in love with?"
Spitfire mischievously tried to deflect the attention to her flight mate.
"Ugh… Well, here, you see…"
Without even realizing it, Rainbow had floated in mid-air and now had her head dangerous inches away from the ceiling.
"Don't be shy, your secret is safe with me."
Rainbow had to see that Spitfire's motherhood, albeit so immature, had given her new softness, especially in her gaze and smile.
So she decided to let go.
"I've been thinking about it for a while, but it seemed so ridiculous to me that I wanted to put it aside without ever considering it again. You know Applejack? She and I have always been rivals in sport and ideas, but also very similar. I never thought I'd want anything from her that wasn't our long-standing friendship..."
"Oh, so you like your blonde friend! I never would have imagined it!"
"Heh heh…Me neither…" Rainbow replied, pulling her bangs down in embarrassment.
"I think you'd make a great couple. Applejack, from what little I know her, seems like a reliable type to me."
"She is! She is literally the mother of our group!"
The two girls laughed.
"I'm very happy for you, Rainbow."
At those words, the mood of the younger girl suddenly changed. She felt guilty.
"I'm sorry... It's my fault if you find yourself alone now..."
Spitfire lifted her chin with her wing.
"Soarin doesn't love me anymore. Sooner or later we would have left anyway..."
Dashie, at that point, did something she had never done before: she hugged Spitfire, which hugged back.
It was the beginning of a closer friendship.
"If you need anything, you know you can count on me!" the rainbow-haired said to her, before taking her leave.
The golden pegasus waved at her with her hoof, but before she flew away, she stopped her:
"Rainbow…"
"Yes, Spitfire?"
"Confess how you feel to Applejack. She has the right to know, and you have the right to know if anything can be born or if you'll be able to look around."
Rainbow's cheeks turned a light red.
"O-ok… Thanks, Spitfire!"
As she flew home, Dashie decided she didn't want to lock herself in right away, so she sat on a cloud and watched the sun go down. The dust particles were reflected by the golden and pinkish light, while on the horizon the sun could be seen gradually becoming more and more amber. The blue sky was darkening, showing shades of precious colors, shining like gems.
That show gave her the true dimension of eternity. An eternity she wanted to share with Applejack. Now she was sure of it, she loved her.
That evening, Granny Smith was surprised to see Rainbow Dash at her door.
"But look who's hare! Our Zap Apple in pony format!"
"Hello Rainbow Dash! Are ya stoppin' for dinner tonight as well?" Apple Bloom asked her.
"Good to see you! I made a tart just today!" Sugar Belle informed her.
As Dashie walked into the Apples' house, Applejack was coming down the stairs after taking a hot bath before dinner.
The pegasus' magenta eyes focused on her beloved, then on her family, and finally on the rustic but welcoming decor.
She wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, that was "home" for her and she would have wanted to spend eternity there.
"It's ready, Granny!" yelled Big Mac, who went to check the pot of minestrone.
"Very good! Let's add wun more dish!"