Little Floofy

Every year, the cloud city of Cloudsdale passes over Canterlot for a few days (I imagine it follows strong air currents that are basically the same every year, so it takes Cloudsdale in a circle above Equestria).

It was around a week since Twilight had left for Ponyville, and Rainbow had insisted on giving Princess Celestia a letter to send to her friends. When they arrived to the palace, they learned that the princess was out for the afternoon, but they were welcome to stay until she arrived. "Can I show Soarin the Labyrinth?" Rainbow asked the guard she was talking to.

"Absolutely," he replied, smiling. "Just watch out around the South Fountain: a new beehive was put in yesterday."

"Thanks!" Rainbow grabbed Soarin's wing in her own and trotted down the hall, heading towards the giant gardens. "You're going to love it!"

"Isn't that where you guys first ran into Discord?" Soarin asked. "I thought you didn't like it?"

"Well, it is where Discord made us all weird, but I LOVE hedge mazes!" Rainbow answered, leaping into the air and gliding off of a balcony down to the ground. "Ow. Coming?"

"Yep." Her coltfriend floated down after her. "What'd you say 'ow' about?"

Rainbow brushed the question off. "Nothing." The two jogged into the maze.

They walked in silence for a bit, then Soarin piped up: "It sure is quiet in here."

'Yeah." Rainbow looked around. "Not many birds come in here...or ponies, either."

"Why?"

"Er, I think it's because of what happened to us when Discord came back. Y'know... elements of not-harmony?" Rainbow explained.

"I think you mean 'disharmony'," Soarin laughed.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Since when were you the expert on grammar?"

"Since you started saying weird stuff," he replied airily, grinning. He looked around at the empty passage. "Sooo... no pony comes in here?"he asked.

Rainbow shrugged. "Eh, not really... Ow."

"What is it?" Soarin asked, noticing her pull one of her hind legs up suddenly.

"Uh, must have stepped on a rock or womthing," Rainbow fibbed, hoping to drop the subject. They turned the corner and found themselves in a tiny little courtyard with a small fountain and a tree. "Wow!"

"Sure is pretty!" Soarin agreed, not looking at the courtyard.

"Yeah, but it's a dead end," Rainbow pouted. "I thought this was the right way." She sighed and turned around. "Come on. I think the left down there-"

"We don't have to leave just yet," Soarin interrupted. "Let's take a little break." Without waiting for a reply, he trotted over to the fountain and took a drink. All the fountains in the garden were clean and cold, and it helped stand the summer heat. Reluctantly, Rainbow walked over and took a drink.

"Ah, that tastes go-" Before Rainbow could finish, Soarin wrapped his wings around her, swirled her in a circle, and landed next to her under the tree. "Oof!" she grunted. "Soarin!"

Soarin laughed at her. "What?" he asked innocently. "You don't like cooling off under a nice tree?"

She rolled her eyes at him, then winced. "Ow."

Soarin frowned, worried. "What's wrong?"

"I already told you. It's nothing!" Rainbow retorted, a little more sharply than she meant it.

Soarin blinked. "You are a horrible liar." He cocked his head. "What's wrong.

Rainbow considered making something up, but decided against it. She sighed. "I think I pulled that stupid muscle in my leg again," she replies dejectedly.

Soarin looked puzzled. "Why didn't you want to tell me about it?" His marefriend had had worse injuries than that and had always told him. In fact, a little pulled muscle didn't seem like much of a deal. But the face Rainbow had told him otherwise. "Does it hurt a lot?"

"No, not really." Rainbow shifted in the grass. "I just didn't want to spoil the moment." She huffed. "Like that worked." Soarin looked down at her thinking.

"It hurts when you stretch it out, right?" he asked, managing to scoot closer without her noticing.

"Yeah, but when my leg isn't straight, it's fine," Rainbow replied, getting momentarily distracted by a butterfly landing on her nose. She blew it off, watching it fly over to the fountain. "Heh, the animals here act like theOOH!" Her sentence ended in a whoop of surprise as Soarin wrapped a wing around the top part of her hurt leg and pulled her close. "Whatareyoudoing?!" she demanded.

"Making sure your leg doesn't get straight," he answered calmly, tightening his grip on her leg as she tried to wiggle away. "Hold still or you'll pull it again," he warned.

"Grr." Rainbow kept struggling, her feathers fluffing up. Too close to him! She couldn't get her hind legs under her because they were splayed in opposite directions, and Soarin's front leg was holding her front legs down. It took a moment for her to realize she was holding her breath. She let it out with a huff, panting.

"Seriously, Crash, you're gonna pull it again." Soarin held her leg tighter, making sure it wouldn't straighten.

Rainbow, finally comprehending she couldn't get up, stopped struggling, all her feathers being successfully floofed. "You're a moron," she muttered darkly. "I hope you're happy."

"Very," he replied, smirking. He pulled her even closer. "You?"

Rainbow didn't answer, too focused on trying to make her feathers smooth out. Of course you won't smooth out, she grumbled in her head. Stupid feathers. She huffed. "You can move your wing now."

"Nah, it's great right here." Soarin shifted his wing, brushing her tail. Immediately, Rainbow's face flushed deep red. Soarin smirked. "Uncomfortable?" he asked.

"If you must know, yes, I am," Rainbow retorted, hoping it would convince him to move his wing, which was still touching her tail. Gagh, too close.

"Good," Soarin replied, leering down at her. "You're 20% cuter when you're uncomfortable."

Rainbow flushed an even deeper red, glaring at him. He just grinned back.

"Scrunchy face," he laughed.

"Grrr!" Rainbow growled, trying to wiggle away again. Her coltfriend pinned her against his chest, preventing her escape yet again.

"You'll never escape!" Soarin teased. He looked down at the slender mare, nostrils flaring. Rainbow couldn't help but notice that she had started sweating. They sat in silence for several minutes, then Rainbow spoke:

"Sooo, when are we heading back to the palace?"

Soarin sighed peacefully, looking out at the tiny garden. "Let's stay here for a bit longer...."

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Wow. That was long XD So just a few notes:

1. I'm not really happy with my current pony leg style, so I tried adding muscle lines and slight hoof shapes to them, as well as shortening them.

2. Sorta the same with wings: I want to make them a bit more realistic, and I was studying bird wings on my trip, so I'm gonna try and throw some realism into it.

3. Also changed the mouths  up a bit, and I also realized that I haven't been putting a gotee on Soarin and I like it better like that, sooo....he shaved his gotee.

Anyhoo, let me know what you think in the comments, and any suggestions/tutorials would be greatly appreciated.

PS Soarin's cutiemark is from wikia.com because I was lazy

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