//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A heart of a racer // by mixdrum0071 //------------------------------// One sunny spring morning in Ponyville Thunder Joe had just woken up. As he was standing in front his bed he took in a big breath and started to stretch. After he stretched, he headed down to the kitchen and looked at his calender. “Three more week before the Amateur Racer tour begins” he said to himself out loud. He sat down with his breakfast and pulled out the Amateur Race book and started reading the requirements section of it. He had most of the requirements but all he needed was to build a team in which he needed a coach and a teammate. In a disappointed attitude he said “I’ve got everything but a team. Where in Equestria will I find a coach and a team mate to race with me?” Being bummed out to about what he found out, he put the book away and started to cleaned his house. After all that, he decided to leave his house to go for a walk in the park because he had nothing better to do. He started heading over towards the park and as he did, he notice little Pegasi all talking about when they grow up they either wanted to be in the Wonderbolts or be a professional racer. Then started to race each other. After Thunder Joe saw that, he started to crack up a little and he said to himself. “Well that made my day. I remember when I wanted to be a racer and to this day, I’m still wanting to become one.” Then he continued to walk along by himself. After a long walk in the park he decided to take a nap in the park, so he went to his regular place to lay down and shut his eyes. An hour or so later, he heard some racket in the park. It was just kids playing around with a ball. He ignored them and he tried to shut his eyes again, but just as he was closing, them the ball hit him in the head (it wasn’t a really hard hit). A little orange pegasus pony with a short purple mane and eyes that matched approached him. She said “Hey mister, can you hand us our ball?” Thunder Joe passed the ball to the little pegasus and he ask her “Was it you that hit me with the ball?” she replied “Yeah, sorry about that. it wasn’t purposely though! It was an accident!” He look at her and there were two other ponies approaching as well, a pale yellow earth pony with a red mane and a large pink bow tied to it and a white unicorn pony with a grayish pink and purple mane. He said “ Well that’s OK, Just be more careful where you kick that ball.” He heard the unicorn say “Hurry up Scootaloo! You slowpoke.” Scootaloo kicked the ball toward them then said to Thunder Joe “Hey, it was nice to meet you sir.” Thunder Joe smiled and said “It was nice to meet you too. Have a nice day.” Standing up not having a slight clue what to do, he thought he would visit his good friend Doubledecker. He finally reached Doubledecker’s house after a two-minute walk. Thunder Joe knocked at the door. “Who’s there” the voice came from inside. “Who do you think it is egghead.” Thunder Joe said. The door opened and Doubledecker came out, a yellow unicorn stallion with a yellow mane with blue on the tips. He was still a blank flank however. “Good to see ya bro! What brings you here?” Thunder Joe looked at him and chuckeled “Well, I woke up this morning not knowing what to do. So I thought I would drop by.” Double decker excitedly replied “Well I’ve had nothing to do today either and I really did not want to go babysit my cousins today. You’re my only excuse to escape that!” Both of them laughed and started to walk around Ponyville aimlessly, with no real target of point A and B. It was a few minutes of silence when Doubledecker asked “So have you registered for the Amateur Race Tour yet?” Thunder Joe slowed down a bit with his head hung low and said “ I would’ve but I need to form a team first.” “A team huh. My good friend, if I was a Pegasus I would totally join you but I'm not. However, I can help you find the right pony for this.” Doubledecker said trying to cheer Thunder Joe up. Thunder Joe replied “It’s not as easy as it seems. No pony really knows me enough to be willing to help, and I also need to find a coach! You know they just don’t come falling from the sky!” Doubledecker looked up to the sky and saw Rainbow Dash flying around. Then he had an idea. He would ask Rainbow Dash to join Thunder Joe. “Hey! I think I know a pony who would love to join your team.” said Doubledecker. Already questioning Doubledeckers’ idea he still let him tell who the pony was “Go ahead and tell me who you got in mind.” Thunder Joe said. Doubledecker looked at the sky again then back to Thunder Joe. Then he said in a loud voice “Rainbow Dash! I know that you’ve only lived here for three months now, but everypony in Ponyville knows the one and only Rainbow Dash!” Thunder Joe looking at Doubledecker with a wide grin replied “OK, but how are we going to get her to join me?” decided to go to a restaurant. Thunder Joe arrive With that question, Doubledecker was stumped. “I’m not sure how but tomorrow I will find a way. I’ll see you later pal.” as Doubledecker and Thunder Joe parted ways, he felt hunger strike. he made it to the restaurant and sat down at a table when an older pegasus walked to him. he was an organge pegasus stallion that had a red and white mane that looked like it was white hot to the touch, and he was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses. He went up to him and sat at the same table. Thunder Joe had a look of suspicion on his face and there was silence for a while. The pony said to Thunder Joe “Hey kid. I hear that your looking for a race coach?” The first thing that came out of Thunder joe s mouth was “Who the hay are you? And how did you know that I was looking for a coach?” The stallion replied “I overheard your conversation what your buddy saying that you were looking for a coach and how you wanted to join that race tournament . I just arrived here from Canterlot. Oh, I haven’t even introduced myself. I apologize. My name’s Blazewing.” Thunder Joe looked at him and said “Well nice to meet you Blazewing. Listen, if you know anyone that’s willing to coach me, please don’t hesitate in telling me!” Just then the waiter came by the table “Welcome to Sunshine and Celery Stalks. What can I get for you gentlecolts?” Thunder Joe replied “I’ll have one of your roast hay sandwiches” The waiter wrote it down. then he looked towards Blazewing and said “And for you sir?” “ Just bring nice hot cup of sweet tea please” Blazewing said to the waiter who wrote down the order and was off. Then he turns to tell Thunder Joe “You don’t know who I am, do ya kid?” Thunder joe noticed that he did look familiar. “I think I've seen you before but I’m not sure.” Blazewing getting a little impatient with Thunder Joe “Now look here kid. I was a former Racer, but I’ve retired.” That's when it hit Thunder Joe. He thought that he look familiar to only realize that when Thunder Joe was a little colt, he had seen Blazewing winning races like a true champion. “WOAH! Your the legendary Blazewing that I've seen win races since I was a little colt” Thunder Joe exclaimed. “More than just races kid. I’ve won rallies, series, and many other kinds of racing.” Blazewing said. Just then, the waiter returned with their orders. Just as Blazewing started sipping from his tea Thunder Joe quickly asked “Hey. If I asked you to coach me how much would you charge me?” Blazewing responded “Kid, it’s not about the money for me. It’s the sport itself. It’s always been part of my life. I might not able to race anymore, but heck! I’ll train you to be as good as me or better.” That sparked hope for Thunder Joe. He thought he would never find someone to coach him, but luck was on his side today. “Then will you be my coach?” Blazewing nodded. Thunder Joe thought to himself “YES! I have a coach! Now to find a team mate.” Thunder Joe started to eat his sandwich. Blazewing looked at him and asked “Well how ‘bout that Rainbow Dash your friend was talking about? Sound’s like she could be the best team mate you’ll ever have.” Thunder Joe thought the same thing about Rainbow dash, but he didn’t know Rainbow Dash personally. “Sure, she sounds good, but I don’t know her personally to just ask her to join me.” Blazewing replied “Hey. A team mate is even better when you don’t know each other too well, and what better way to get know each other by working together.” When they were both done with their meals, the waiter came by and said “Here’s your bill gentlecolts.” Thunder Joe was reaching to get his money to pay for the meal but Blazewing put a hoof up and said “Hey kid, it’s on me.” Thunder Joe looked at him. “Thanks but you didn’t really have to.” Blazewing just smiled and said “Hey it’s the least I can do for our new-found partnership.” Thunder Joe with a big smile said “Thanks coach” They both walked to Thunder Joe’s house. On their way there, Blazewing said to Thunder Joe “Hey kid, you don’t have to call me coach. You can call me Blaze.” Thunder Joe looked at him and said “I think am going to call you Pops instead.” Blazewing replied “Fine with me, but just don’t call me old cuz that’s not cool.” Once they got to the front door of Thunder Joe’s house and Blazewing asked “Not to be a bother but do you mind if I stay here for a while.” Thunder Joe had just finished unlocking the door to his house and said “Sure thing Pops. I have a guest room that you can stay in.” Blazewing thanked Thunder Joe and then said “Well we got to get up early tomorrow kid.” Thunder Joe had a surprise look to his face. “What for?” Blazewing looked at him and shook his head in disappointment “Don’t you do early morning workouts? Kid, if you wanna be a champ, you got wake up early to practice. Early morning practice runs are the best. Trust me.” He headed toward the guest room and went inside. Thunder Joe started to understand what it meant to be a champion of racing, so he started to climbed up to his room and drifted to sleep. A while later, Blazewing splashed water on Thunder Joe in which immediately woke him up. “What the hay Pops! What did you do that for!?” Blazewing said to him “Wake up! It’s early morning! Off to training” Blazewing headed downstairs. When Thunder Joe finally made his way downstairs, Blazewing was in the kitchen cooking up a meal. “Here. When your done having breakfast, we’re going to go to the park to train.” Then he quickly added “Mind if i use your tea pot?” Thunder Joe replied “Well, you’re already using my stuff, why not. Also, you didn’t have to splash me with water to wake me up you know.” Blazewing laughed and said “Kid, you are a heavy sleeper. And I mean heavy! It was the fastest way to ensure you woke up.” Blazewing had made some tea while their conversation was going on. “Here have some of this ginger tea, it’ll really help to get up your energy faster” Thunder Joe gave a small smile and thanked him for the tea. “It’s still dark though. Are you sure you want to go this early?” Blazewing quickly responded “But of course! There isn’t anyone out at this time of day so it’s perfect! Besides, we wouldn’t want anyone to slow us down in our ten mile flying session.” Thunder Joe’s jaw dropped. When they finished up breakfast, they head towards the park. It was still dark outside. Thunder Joe looked up to the sky and saw the stars. The sky didn’t have one cloud in it. Once they arrived at the park, Blazewing and Thunder Joe started to stretch out for a warm-up. Once they were done stretching, they did some push ups and other exercises which took up a lot of Thunder Joe’s energy. “Ready to fly kid.” Thunder Joe, though tired, said “Yeah, I'm ready pops. Don’t cry when I out run you.” Blazewing just looked him and chuckled. “We’ll see.” Thunder Joe smiled as they lined up, their wings open and ready. Blazewing said “On your mark. Get set. GO!” They were both off. Thunder Joe was ahead of Blazewing for a good long portion of the way. Halfway to the end, Thunder Joe looked back and said “Told you pops. I’m one of the fastest around!” Blazewing replied “You sure about that?” Blazewing started to flap his wings faster and faster. Before Thunder Joe knew it, Blazewing had overtaken him and was far up ahead of him. “What the!?” Thunder Joe tried to catch up with him, but Blazewing was way to fast for him. At the end of the ten mile flying session, Thunder Joe landed and collapsed onto the floor. He was gasping for air. Blazewing showed no sign of even being tired. He walked up next to Thunder Joe. “Haha! Lightning before thunder you know!” He looked at Thunder Joe and said “Tired already?” Thunder Joe got up and shot a glare at him “You just got lucky this time!” Blazewing looked at him and smiled “You do have potential Thunder, I’ll give you that. You just need to work harder and maybe you’ll make it to the big time.” Blazewing looked off into the horizon, the sun now a little above it. He looked back at Thunder Joe and said “Hey, do you think your friend’s up now? Because I think it’s time we bring Rainbow Dash onto the team” Thunder Joe walk up next to him “Yeah, I think so. Lets hope he talked to her.” They made their way over to Doubledecker’s house. Once there Thunder Joe knocked the door. Doubledecker asked “Who is it?” Thunder Joe replied “It’s me Thunder.” Doubledecker opened the door “Hey! What’s up!” Thunder Joe looked at him and told him “Hey bro, since you’re the one who knows Rainbow Dash more then me, you think you can introduce me to her?” Doubledecker closed his eyes and said “Bro, I’ll do anything to help you. You’re my friend.” Thunder Joe smiled “OK then. Show me the way.” They headed off to find Rainbow Dash. Doubledecker being curious asked. Thunder Joe “Mind if I ask who is that Pegasus is?” Thunder Joe was not surprised. He had forgotten to introduce Blazewing to him. “Oh not at all bro. He is the legendary Blazewing.” “Whoa! Is that where Rainbow Dash lives?” Doubledecker smiled and responded “It sure is.” They had arrived at Rainbow Dash’s house. “Well here we are. You’ve got the wings, you should go and talk to her. Just say you’re a friend of mine. Don’t worry though, she’s quite friendly.” Thunder Joe looked flew up towards her house. Once he reached her door, he took in a big breath and knocked. The door opened up. Rainbow dash had just gotten out of bed. She asked “Yeah? What do you need this early in the morning?” Thunder Joe replied “Good morning Rainbow Dash, sorry to have waken you. I am Thunder joe an-” he was interrupted by her. “Oh Hey! Your the new pony who just moved in huh.” He then smiled and said “Yes I am. Though I’m not here to just to introduce myself to you, but to ask if you would join my racing team. My friend Doubledecker said you would be perfect for the job.” Rainbow Dash was unprepared for this kind of question. “Hmm. I dunno know bout this” Thunder Joe looked her in the eyes and said “Come on. Don’t you want be popular and famous?” That sparked Rainbow Dash’s attention. She replied “You got my attention! But first, tell me what’s in it for me.” Blazewing flew up next to Thunder Joe and said “First off, you’ll meet legendary racers, also the Wonderbolts go to every race.” Rainbow Dashs eyes widened. She said “Wait. I’ll get to meet the Wonderbolts? For real?” Blazewing looked at her and said “Yes. The Wonderbolts also recru....” she abruptly interrupted him. “Sign me up! When do we start?” Thunder Joe replied to her with a grin. “How ‘bout now?” Rainbow Dash’s smile faded. She replied “I can’t today because I got to help Applejack with some chores.” Blazewing said “That’s ok. We will start tomorrow, early morning. It’s great to have you on the team.” Then Blazewing and Thunder Joe took off. They met up with Doubledecker on the ground and headed to Thunder Joe’s place. Once they arrived, they walked to the kitchen and sat down. There was a moment of silence when Thunder Joe finally broke the silence. “Well, now that we have a team we just have to find a name.” Blazewing said to Thunder Joe “Well we should wait to ask Rainbow Dash about the team name.” Thunder Joe nodded and agreed to name the team along side Rainbow Dash. Doubledecker said “Alright tomorrow, when you meet up with Rainbow Dash ask her. Any ways I got to go or I’m going to be late to babysit my cousins. See ya!” Thunder Joe replied to him “Alright see ya pal” Doubledecker got from the kitchen seat and left. Thunder Joe woke up the next day. He did his daily routine exercises. When he was done, he went downstairs to the kitchen and found a note left on the table. Thunder Joe read it “Meet me at the gym when your done with breakfast and don’t forget to bring Rainbow dash with you to start training. -Coach “Pops” Thunder Joe looked around and noticed that Blazewing had left some tea there for him on the stove. He decided that he would have some toast with it. After he finished his small breakfast, he headed to Rainbow Dash’s house. Once he got there, he knocked at the door. Rainbow Dash open the door and said “Oh hey! What’s up?” Thunder Joe then said “Hey. Ready to train up today?” Rainbow Dash looked slightly confused but then her face changed when she remembered. “Oh yeah! I’d forgotten about that. Um...give my five minutes to get set. You can wait in the living room while you wait.” Thunder Joe nodded and headed inside. The living room was to the right of the doorway. It was a fairly big room with fluffy cloud furniture all around. While he waited for her, he thought another cup of tea would be good. He was on his way to the kitchen but decided to not go any further since, one, this isn’t his house and two, he had just met her yesterday. He started to head back to the living room when Dash came around the corner. She looked at him and said “What were you doing?” He looked at her nervously and said “Well, to be honest, I was gonna make you some tea. Blazewing says it’s a pretty good way to start off the morning.” She smiled at him and said “Thanks anyways but I start off my mornings with one of these!” She flew towards the refrigerator and pulled out an energy drink with the Wonderbolts logo on it. “The Wonderbolts energy drink is all I need!” Thunder Joe looked at her and said “Well do you mind if I ask you to drink some of Blazewing’s, um...specialty tea?” Rainbow Dash signed but agreed not wanting to be rude to a new friend. Thunder Joe poured the tea into the cups which Dash had just provided. He gave one to her and he took the other “Hope you like it.” He said to her with a smile. She sipped a little to see what it tasted like, she wasn’t used to tea at all. “Hmmm. It’s good, but I mean it’s not perfect like my energy drinks. What kid of tea is this?” Thunder Joe smiled knowing that Dash like the tea, then he replied to her “Well, it’s ginger tea. Coach showed me.” She replied “It’s pretty good but it needs a little bit more sugar.” they both laughed. Once they were done, they cleaned up and made their way to the gym. Once they got there they saw Blazewing was waiting for them. He had been on the treadmill when he noticed them walk in. He approached them and said “Took you forever to get here!” Thunder Joe looked at Rainbow Dash then back to Blazewing and said “We had some tea before we came here.” Blazewing smiled a little. “That’s fine, but now we just have to work harder today, to make up for some lost time.” Rainbow Dash asked “What are we gonna to do first?” Blazewing look at her and said “Well, we are going to condition our legs so we’re going to use the treadmills." Both Rainbow Dash and Thunder Joe had a puzzled faces. Thunder Joe “Why? We’re going to be using our wings, not our legs.” Blazewing looked at the both of them “You’ve got to workout the entire body, not just the wings.” Thunder Joe and Rainbow Dash understood and they went to work on exercising. Blazewing walked to a radio that was lying around for ponies to use. He turn it on “Hey, lets not make this workout session boring, let’s put some music on.” The radio started playing some kind of 80’s rock like music. They started up the treadmill. It went slow at first, both Thunder Joe and Rainbow Dash were walking. Then Blazewing started to increase the speed of the treadmills. They started to run. They were running so fast that other ponies stopped what they were doing to see if they were going to keep up the pace, some betting on who would stop first. Blazewing shooed them all way. They were running out of breath but they kept on going with fire in their lungs. When they finished running and catching their breath, they headed toward a flat, empty part of the gym and do exercises like push ups and jumping jacks. The days went by really fast. They had created a certain workout routine for every day but in the weekends Thunder Joe, Blazewing and Rainbow Dash flew a ten mile flight in the early mornings. There were four days left before the first day of amateur race tour. Blazewing’s last challenge was to fly to the tip of Equestria’s biggest mountain. Rainbow Dash and Thunder Joe were to race each other to the tip. “Alright then you two. When I give the signal, you go. Ready...” They got into a ready position, low to the ground and wings spread out. “Set...” They lowered their bodies a little bit closer to the earth. “GO!” The launched them selves up as fast as they could. It looked like it was going to be and easy race but then they notice the obstacles. There were a lot tree and rocks falling from various locations. They got that this race wasn’t just a race, it was to train their maneuverability to be able to quickly move swiftly around other racer and to have fast reflexes. They were both going up really fast, dodging trees, rocks and the occasional hikers. Most of the time, it was unpredictable as to what was coming next. Both Rainbow Dash and Thunder Joe where neck and neck but Thunder Joe passed Rainbow Dash the first moment he got. Thunder Joe looked back for a second but just as he turn his head back around, he saw a big boulder falling towards him. He had little reaction time before he collided with it but he barley managed it. “Phew that was close.” They were both reaching the top after a good two hours, Thunder Joe was ahead. although Rainbow Dash quickly caught up. She drafted in with him and shot past him at the last moment. They made it to the top and collapsed on the floor. Blazewing had been waiting for them at the top. He looked at them both and said “You two did a good job. You deserve a nice long rest.” Thunder Joe’s breathing was becoming more stable now. When he finally caught his breath, he said “So what exactly are we training for? This seems to be more than just for the amateur races.” Blazewing told them both “This type of training is for the endurance type races. If you can handle that, than this amateur race should be a breeze.” Rainbow Dash had just recovered her breath but said nothing. Blazewing started to fly off. he looked back at them and said “Well there are four days left until the race season begins. Take it easy these next few days. You’ve worked hard enough.” He smiled and flew off, quick as lightning. Both Rainbow Dash and Thunder Joe got up. Thunder Joe looked at Rainbow Dash and said “Wow! What a day.” She replied “Heck yeah! I’m tired! I hardly ever get tired! I don’t know about you, but I going home.” “Yeah, me too.” Thunder Joe and Rainbow Dash started to fly in the direction of their houses. Thunder Joe looked back and called out to her “Well, see you at the race Rainbow Dash.” “Yeah. See ya around!” “Oh, one more thing! We need a team name for the race. I was going to tell you earlier this week, but we’ve been so caught up in training it slipped my mined. Got any ideas?” Rainbow looked at him and told him “How bout we wait till tomorrow. Ask me then OK. I’m too tired and I need to catch up on some sleep.” Thunder Joe nodded to save it for tomorrow.