Dash's flight began to slow. She could see her tail slowly gaining it's definition back, as the river of colored light that followed her began to fade. Rather than letting it trail off and slowly simmer away, she propelled herself forward with a powerful flap and seperated herself from the stream of light caused by her Rainboom. She landed gingerly at the punch table and folded up her wings.

She poured herself a glass of punch amid a crowd of impressed onlookers. She relished in the cheers, but her expression changed when she was able to discern a familiar voice somewhere behind her.

"That was really something Dash!"

She turned to see Soarin, second in command of the Wonderbolts, casually approaching the punch bowl. Despite her frequent run-ins with the Wonderbolt as of late, she still hadn't gotten completely used to seeing one of her childhood idols in the fur. Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly regained her composure; she didn't want to appear as a fangirl.

"Oh, uh, hey Soarin! Thanks!" She managed to stammer. She finished pouring her punch and took a sip, searching for more time to pull herself together.

"No, Dash, really, I've never seen anything like that. At the "Best Young Fliers" competition, you needed like, a mile of airspace to achieve those kinds of speeds! You shot off like a rocket! A rocket! Oh, also, do you know if your friend Applejack made any of those pies?"

Dash thought back to the Best Young Flyers competition, remembering her encounter with the Wonderbolts. She thought of the Grand Galloping Galla, when yet again she impressed Soarin with her speed. Part of her just wanted to hang with her idols, but she would be lying to herself if she said she hadn't been standing a little closer to Soarin that night than she was to the other Wonderbolts.

In the past, Dash had typically only seen him after performances, when he was covered up by his flight-suit. He also usually kinda smelled, obviously exhausted from his performance. Not that Dash really minded; she didn't have as much of an aversion to his scent as she would have any other stinky pony. Still, tonight was different. He was in fully formal attire, as he hadn't been performing that night.

Well, maybe not FULLY formal Dash thought to herself as she glanced over at Rarity and Fancypants.

Turning her attention back to Soarin, her eyes wandered to his flank. There, Rainbow Dash could see his cutie mark for the first time; it was identical to the symbol on all the male Wonderbolt member's suits.

That didn't make sense; Spitfire is the captain of the Wonderbolts, Dash thought to herself. Soarin might be the best flyer on the team, but he wasn't the captain... it just didn't make sense. She'd have to ask him about it.

Dash had become so engrossed in her thoughts that her brain had become a cacophony of emotion. She was ecstatic to hear how impressed Soarin was with her flying, but she couldn't help but worry. Her thoughts instantly went to the worst-case scenario. She'd gone through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy back in flight school after one too many disagreements with classmates, and she was mostly over it. Still, when she found herself in these kinds of situations, her negative thinking would still manifest.

Perhaps he's just using me to get closer to Applejack... he *DOES* love those pies she makes... thought Rainbow Dash, always naturally suspicious.

However, Dash didn't have time to dig herself into a mental hole. Soarin stepped up beside her and refilled her now empty-punch glass, and poured one for himself.

"Cheers! To the best young flier in Equestria!"

Rainbow Dash blushed again. She clinked her glass against Soarin's, and they both downed their punch.

"Miss Dash! Mr. Soarin!" a thin young colt cried out. The pegasi pair turned towards the voice just before a blinding light shot out at them.

"Arrgh!" Dash shouted, shielding her eyes. Soarin just laughed;

"Not used to getting your picture taken?" asked Soarin as he placed his glass down onto the table. He was still beaming at Dash, but his initial excitement had tapered off and he now casually leaned against the punch table. He did need to look good in pictures, and of course there would be pictures.

"Huh? Wha- I, OH! I, um..."

"What's wrong Dash? Why are you so nervous?"

Dash just stared at the photographer blankly. Soarin wasn't sure if she'd heard him, but he decided to continue as if it hadn't happened.

"Please don't tell me you're still starstruck; there's... thousands of mares who would date me unconditionally, but I always kind of assumed you were attracted to more than just my celebrity."

Rainbow Dash struggled for air for a second before filling her lungs. She smiled and turned away, but on reevaluation of what Soarin said, she whirled back around.

"Whoa, Soarin, who said I was attracted to you."

Soarin appeared taken aback for a moment, but a sly smile crept onto his face. He placed one hoof on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, and with the other he stroked her multi-colored mane. He leaned in close to her ear, where his whispers would not be picked up by the army of Ponyrazzi surrounding them. What he said made Dash's hair stand up with excitement, her bottom lip began to quiver with nervous anticipate as she considered his offer.

"How 'bout you and I go get something a little stronger; I have a barrel of cider back at WBHQ."

Dash started to get dizzy. She would have collapsed to the floor were Soarin's arms not supporting her. Soarin felt her getting heavier in his arms and a wave of slight panic coursed through him. He saw the Ponyrazzi almost surrounding the two of them, separated only by the velvet rope of the VIP section.

The last thing he needed right now was some tabloid putting out another story about his romantic life. He whispered again into Dash's ear:

"Do you uh, do you need to lie down or something?"

Dash did her best to give an affirmative nod. Soarin turned around and Dash climbed onto his back. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony; moments before she had been performing the most impressive stunt Canterlot had ever seen, and now she appeared to be incapable of flying whatsoever. She positioned her arms under Soarin's wings, as not to impede his movement, and her head fell into the deposit between his shoulder and his neck.

Before they could take off, the skinny photopony from before called out to the pegasi pair:

"Soarin! What's wrong with Dash? Is she okay? What happened?!" What seemed like hundreds of microphones were shoved into Soarin's face. A lesser pony might have been overwhelmed by the attention, but seeing as Soarin was the second longest serving member on the Wonderbolts, he had experienced his fair share of media harassment. He knew how to handle this.

"Dash just performed a Sonic Rainboom, I'm sorry, the *LEGENDARY* Sonic Rainboom. She's exhausted."

Before Soarin could liftoff, the skinny photopony cried out to him once more.

"But, but, but where are you taking her?"

Soarin cocked his head that the Ponyrazzi and let out an audible chuckle.

"If I told you that, you'd all follow me."

With a wink, Soarin took off and the two blue Pegasi hurtled into the sky, the lights of the reception shrinking to mere twinkles beneath them.

It must've been the night-time air, or perhaps their newly found solitude, but Rainbow Dash exhaled a sigh of relief. Able to think once again, she glanced to the ground behind her. All of Canterlot was celebrating, and with the forcefield now removed, the open sky was once again accessible.

"I don't know how they dealt with it," Soarin began, "If I had to spend weeks under a bubble, I'd go nuts!"

Dash giggled and turned her attention back to Soarin;

"Well, remember, Canterlot is mostly populated by unicorns. You should know that, you live here!"

Soarin looked back at Dash for the first time since they took flight. Suddenly and without warning, Soarin spun himself around so that his back was facing the ground, nimbly catching Rainbow Dash on his belly. Startled by the sudden change in position, Dash's wide maroon eyes locked with Soarins.

"Wow!" exclaimed Dash, peeking her head around Soarin's body to look at his wings, "How are you flying while you're upside down?!"

"Come on," Soarin began, "I JUST saw you do the same thing during your Sonic Rainboom!"

"Right, but that was all contingent on my velocity! I couldn't have maintained that had I not been going so fast. I was just gliding, whereas you're FLYING at a leisurely pace. Not to mention, you're supporting all my weight."

Soarin chuckled to himself; Rainbow Dash barely weighed anything. He'd done much more complicated routines while holding Spitfire, who must have been twice Dash's weight.

It was and impressive talent though; flying with your back to the ground defies the fundamentals of flying that every Cloudsdale pegasus is taught in their youth. To sustain oneself while flying with one's belly up was simple for a talented flyer like Rainbow Dash, but she couldn't imagine doing it at this altitude, with these winds, at this speed, and with another pony lying on her belly. She focused back on Soarin and began;

"Hey Soarin?"

"What's up?"

"... never mind." Dash had lost her confidence and felt ashamed for even considering such a thing. He was just doing her a favor after all... though the chemistry between them was undeniable. Rainbow Dash's thoughts began to crawl to the realm of physical intimacy when she was jarred to reality by Soarin's voice.

"You," Soarin began, bringing his face closer to Dash's.

"You are a VERY impressive pony."

Dash was momentarily taken aback. She'd met Soarin plenty of times before, but they'd never had a talk like this. Furthermore, Soarin had never expressed any admiration toward Dash, and the fact that he did surprised her. Just as she was about to move in to kiss him, a dark thought crept into her pony mind.

"Soarin..."

"What?"

"...you're not... just saying these things because you want to..."

Soarin's eyes widened, and for a brief moment, his wings stopped flapping. However, with an exhale, he began to beat his wings again. Dash was still laying on his belly, staring down at him with large maroon eyes.

"Dash..." he began, "I already told you; if I was just looking for a rut, there are tons of hot pieces of flank who'd be down. Not to sound arrogant, but it's true."

Dash considered this. He had a point; he was a Wonderbolt! He could probably get any mare he wanted! She looked back down at him, her hooves on his chest.

"That still doesn't explain why you like... well, 'me' over anypony else!"

All of a sudden, the pair came to a dead stop in the middle of their leisurely flight. Dash had just gotten comfortable on Soarin's belly, but she found herself being whisked around yet again. All of a sudden, she was looking up at Soarin, who was now on top of her.

"Do I need a reason?"

With that, Soarin launched into a passionate kiss; one that rivaled Cadence and Shining Armor's just moments before.