A Peculiar Meeting {Soarin}

She had to shake it off; compose herself, if you will.

She couldn't meet him like this. She wouldn't

"Calm down Rarity!" she thought to herself, embarrassedly wiping a smudge of dirt from her otherwise immaculate ensemble. Fortunately for the mare, it came off with ease, and she heaved a heavy breath of relief out.

"Now then," she began, checking her reflection once more. "I was to meet him at the...well, the Colosseum I do believe." She glanced up and around, spotting flags several paces in the distance. "Oh how magnificent!" She beamed up at the colossal building, and began trotting at an appropriate-but-all-too-giddy pace. Canterlot never ceased to amaze her.

"I do hope he hasn't--" She stopped in her tracks.

In front of the towering stadium the Wonderbolt stood, uniformed and all. And here she was, arriving much more than fashionably late. She shrunk as he checked his watch. "Hopefully I haven't offended him..." she gulped.

Walking forward, she took this time to survey him. Before, she had seen him in full uniform. It took her moment to assess that, yes, this had been the poor pegasus she knocked-literally-out of the sky. Nearly navy mane, sky coat, bright green eyes...

Her face flushed, and she did her best shake it off. It was bad enough Rarity would have to bring up and apologize for the fool she she'd made of herself all that time ago, but to a handsome stallion? Could life be any more cruel?

She intended to use every ounce of charm in her to get through this one. And hopefully be invited to dinner.

Approaching him, she fluffed up her mane and rubbed her lips together, smoothing a layer of gloss about them. Rarity's final attempts at making her appear to be the epitome of perfection itself. Hopefully, it had worked.

"Soar--" She nearly fainted. Already she had forgotten his name. She cleared her throat and tried again, a light blush on her cheeks. "Soaring?" she offered; only slightly more confident than before.

However, it did sound right, so she tried it once more for good measure. "Soaring." She smiled at him, "The Wonderbolt, I presume." Rarity gestured to his flightsuit with a demure look.

"I am quite sorry for not having arrived on time. I got, caught up with something else you see and I...well I truly have no excuse. If you would please forgive that of me. " Her ears fell, though not for the reason he must have assumed. In reality, she was scolding herself for already asking a favor of him, and more specifically, in regards to forgiving her. One could only do that some many times in an allotted day, and Rarity was already spreading herself thin.

"Also," she began without thinking, ready to get this all underway, and out of the way. But it wasn't until now that she realized she had hardly given the poor stallion a moment to speak of his own!

She put a forehoof to her mouth, silencing herself in a very realistic way. The embarrassment was all too clear on her face, though she tired to masque it, only to a result in a very pained-looking furrow of her brow. She hoped, in desperation, that this soon would change course.

"Don't worry about it." These were the first words to leave his mouth, and they calmed her, for the moment.

"Better late than never...and I was beginning to think it was only going to be never."

Her eyes shot open, "Oh, darling No!" she reached out and placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. (If they...have those.) "I am ever so sorry for making you feel as if..." she paused, trying to come up with a better phrase, but was far from forming one, and had to make her case, "...as if I were standing you up! I would never do a thing like that." She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thought.

Yes, generally she was late, but in good taste. This, however, was nearly inexcusable. But, of course, it only got worse from there.

"And it's '-in''. Soar-IN'. With an apostrophe." With that, she drew her hoof away from him, turning her head to the right, in an attempt to hide her embarrassed expression behind the bouffant curl of her bang.

"But don't worry! Happens all the time, easy mistake. Soarin's who I am and soaring's what I do!" Rarity smiled at his attempt to make her feel better, and returned her focus back to him.

"certainly has a nice ring to it." She added after, a bit playfully.

"But enough about me, you were saying something? 'Also' what?" Was interjected at the same time, he had certainly noticed what she had began to say earlier, and that threw her off guard again.

Her smile turned uneasy, and she tried to feign confident charm, "...yes. Well, you see, Soarin'," She emphasized it correctly, "I have been hoping to meet you for quite some time." Her tone turned attractively coy, though most ways in which she spoke were just that.

"We've met before." Rarity added matter-of-fact-ly. "Though I doubt you acquired the most...admirable first impression of me, I must admit." She let out a quaint breath before flouncing a curl to help her power through this painful memory. "The...Young Flyers Competition.." she brought up, hesitantly, "I, ehm..performed with a certain Rainbow Dash, of Ponyville?"

At that point she had to just let it fly--no pun intended. But with the mention of Rainbow Dash, how could he not remember what she was talking about. "I was granted wings, gorgeous wings on that day, so many pegasi were complimenting their grace and I, why I was overwhelmed by the satisfaction! I selfishly entered myself, much to everypony's dismay, and caused quite the catastrophe!" Her eyes were pleading for forgiveness already. "Soarin' you...you attempted to save me that day." She bit her lower lip, crimson covering her cheeks. "In my bout of fear I did a terrible thing." She glanced over his face re-imagining kicking him all over again, "I was the one that--" she couldn't say it, and settled for a tiny, calm swipe at the air, mirroring how she had hit him.

"For so long, it has riddled me that I could never see you to apologize." Rarity closed her eyes to keep from hanging her head, "Of course, I truly understand if it isn't something you can accept. I just knew it had to be done." She offered one, sorry smile and the bat of her lashes, hoping that anything good could come out of this.

He looked off and away from her; Rarity felt a pit in her stomach.

When he snapped back, nothing felt any better. She, on her own, had formed a dejected look worthy of much sympathy. She knew she had to do something...say something! Anything! But she had no clue as to what that would be. This was all far too uncomfortable, and she truly wished she had not come at all.

"As I said..." she began, "I came to apologize. This wasn't meant to be confrontational at all I...if I had known--"

"You!" he exclaimed, causing Rarity to jolt and blink.

"Yes-?"

"You!" was interjected again, and she leaned her neck back in question, and some concern.

The ridges of her brow line furrowed together; she wasn't sure if she was being yelled at, or called upon. There was a tinge of fear in her, but mainly because she was afraid of the humiliation that she might be forced to endure if she got chastised by this stallion....especially publicly.

"How di-how'd-" She blinked. If he was trying to be intimidating, he wasn't off to a good start.

He sat down and she raised a brow, lips slightly puckering in thoughtful confusion. Though none of which compared to when he took her hoof in both of his.

Rarity flushed, eyes stuck on the gesture. It was so...forward. But what for? He was so frustratingly, yet delightfully unpredictable.

"Who are you?"

The question was easy enough, and one she answered quite regularly. But the way he asked, suggested another meaning; she just wasn't exactly sure what it was. However, holding her hoof, she figured, meant he couldn’t be all that upset with her. So, naturally, she took the opportunity to display a bit of charm.

“I am Rarity,” she answered, humoring him. “A fashion designer from little old Ponyville.”

"Rarity, I can’t accept your apology.” He removed the grasp on her hoof. (The gesture, once perplexing, now being longed for.)

But I came here out of the goodness of my heart, she thought. Surely he could recognize that and appreciate what I had to say? Couldn’t he tell how much effort this took!?

What seemed like a long and agonizing moment, was nothing more than a pause. And after that pause, he cured her distraught feelings.

“You didn’t need to apologize!”

She blushed, looking thankfully at him and he continued to calm her, all while affirming his own statement. But, the way he finished had her all confused again.

“You…were,thankful?” She said it aloud to make sure it really was as ridiculous as it sounded originally. It was.

“Maybe I should explain.” Rarity laughed as he did, nodding her head and encouraging him to go on.

She listened to his story with an appropriate, but engaged expression upon her face. Although, at the beginning, it was merely to be polite, but as he went on, she found herself becoming all the more interested in what he had to say.

He brought up many things. The difficulty of staying on task, and making the most of his gifts. The challenge of getting over how inferior the incident with her had made him feel…

Her lips parted when he turned away, she wanted to look at him as he spoke. So she shifted to try. As she did so, catching only the profile of his face still, the wind picked up. His mane rustled with it in a somewhat majestic display. Rarity smiled. He was very handsome.

She snapped out of her romanticized stupor in time to hear him speak again. “I pushed myself as far as I could go and then pushed farther. … And you know what?”

Rarity breathed a simple, “What?” that may or may not have actually been heard.

"It worked! I'm better than ever. And I owe it to you. You opened my eyes, Rarity. And I can't thank you enough for that.”

”Oh Soarin’, don’t be ridiculous darling…” she thought to say. But the blush on her face suggested she was more than content with taking the credit for ‘bettering’ him.

“But, I've talked about my own little story enough.”

Rarity shifted uneasily, letting her lip slip beneath her teeth. She certainly didn’t want him to stop talking. For once…she could have listened to somepony all day, and she wanted to listen to him. But all good things come to an end, and at a moment like this, the last thing she would do is let herself look any semblance of desperate.

“Did you want to talk to me about anything else besides apologies?”

She smiled at him, not really having an answer at first. But Soarin’s ability to share so much with her gave her a more perplexing form of confidence. “I don’t often do this.” she stopped, restating herself, “I do not ever do this. But, it just so happens that I am in Canterlot for one more day.” She stopped to judge his reaction thus far. “If you aren’t committed to any prior engagements, I’d love to talk again…when I’m not so…” She paused to gesture at the disorder of her current outfit. Not to mention, the same breeze that had highlighted Soarin‘, didn’t do much for her own mane.

Doing her best to keep an expectant look from her face, she smoothed a part of her dress and fluffed a curl. If he didn't say ‘yes’, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But she was certain she wouldn't forget this for sometime to come.