RIIING!
As the final bell rang, Peni and Josie met at the doors, literally jumping with excitement. Copper had stayed from school that day to meet with his brothers, who actually told their mother they were arriving there early, and tell them the great news.
Before Peni could wave goodbye and head home, Josie grabbed her hoof and pulled her towards her mom, saying, "You're spending the night at my house. Asked my mom yesterday, she said yes, since we're going to the competition together."
"Whoa, whoa! Okay, let me text my mom," Peni said back, fumbling with the phone in her saddlebag. A quick text: Mom, I'm spending the night at Josie's, be back home after the competition. Her mom texted back almost wildly fast: Toothbrush, hairbrush, coat? Reply: Extras all at Josies'. Text you again when we get there. "Okay, she knows now, LET'S GO!" Peni shouted, racing behind Josie as fast as her legs would carry her and her body would allow. Even with the short distance, Peni was panting at Josie's mom's car. "I hate being overweight..." she said between pants.
Josie asked, obviously worried, "Are you OK? Faust, you lasted longer than that during Monday's laps." Peni held up a hoof, asking for a moment with the gesture.
"Y... Yeah... I didn't... didn't have... control... of my bre... breathing... this time..." Peni replied, still panting, but taking deep breaths to sooth her rapidly beating heart. "Let's just go... I'm fine, you know that..."
"Yeah," Josie said, continuing, "I know that, but that doesn't mean I can't be worried. Okay, let's go." Josie helped Peni into the car. "You can rest, it'll be a long ride."
"Okay. I'm ready. I can do this," Josie encouraged herself, preparing to practice her cloud barrels against another contestant, since she knew the colt. She'd asked him if he wanted to practice with her, and he'd gleefully agreed.
"On your marks!" Peni began the starting shouts. The pegasi moved to the marks on the clouds, made by one of their feathers. "Get SET!" They flared their wings, beating them slowly, then speeding them up to almost unrealistic speeds.
"GO!"
The pegasi took off, Josie inches behind, letting the colt, Wild Winds, race ahead. He seemed to get cocky, turning back to laugh, when a blue, purple, and golden blur sped past him. Looping three times for each barrel, then three times back, Josie won. That was her tactic, letting other ponies get cocky and underestimate her, then beat them to the punch and win.
Wild Winds stared from where Josie had passed him, awestruck. Shaking his head and basically regaining consciousness, he said, "Well, J., I don't have to tell you you won. I'll see you at the big race tomorrow morning!" He went off, flying to Cloudsdale.
"I did awful!" Josie exclaimed, thinking how much better she could've done. "I've gotta practice ALL NIGHT to get that right!"
"NO! No, I won't let you! If you want to do ANYTHING at all, you need sleep!" Peni demanded. "What you can do, is practice RIGHT NOW, to some wing-ups, make yourself stronger and wear yourself out at the same time. That way, you'll get plenty of sleep when your done."
Josie replied, "Can't really argue with that logic. Okay, I'll start with some wing-ups." Josie lay on the ground, then began pushing up her muscle-heavy body with only her wings. After doing as many wing-ups as she could, Josie stood at the starting line she painted on the ground, and took off. The wind she let off blew the seeds off a field of dandelions and a few leaves off a tree. But she wasn't satisfied. Stretching her wings, she did more wing-ups.
"Josie, Peni! Come inside for a bit, dinner's done."
"What is it, Mom? Dinner, I mean," Josie asked.
"Lasagna with wheatball chunks," Josie's mom replied, then headed inside saying, "Don't be too much longer, Josie." Josie did about five more wing-ups, and flew past the tree again. A bunch more leaves flew off, but she gave in, and went inside to eat. Of course, after eating, she wanted to go back out and do more wing-ups. Peni counted, and when Josie told her to get on her back - "Or at least put a big rock on!" Josie'd demanded - Peni obliged. Placing a rock on Josie's back, Peni went back to watching and counting.
The next time Josie flew past the tree, most of the leaves flew off, littering the green grass. "YES!" she shouted, jumping into the air. "Now, I've gotta make sure I can go past those cloud barrels without barreling into them." The two mares laughed at the pun, and Josie went up to the starting line cloud.
"Ready? On your mark... Get set... GO!"
Josie flew off, bits of cloud trailing her gold and violet streak. She reached the first cloud, and spiraled around it. The cloud's sides twirled like a spring, and only got tighter the second time Josie went around them. That time span between the first and second loops were a mere 2 seconds. And Josie was definitely satisfied.
And exhausted. "Celestia, I've gotta sit down..." and she collapsed. Peni managed to catch her and lay her down just in time.
"Okay, I'm gonna get your dad... stay there..." And Josie's dad carried her to the camper where the two teenage mares were sleeping. The beds were set up, and Josie's dad laid her down on the couch-bed.
"Josie... Josie, wake up... Come on, you've gotta start getting ready..."
"Huh? Whuh... Oh... Okay, I'm up..." Josie said, gently pushing her weight off the couch mattress.
Peni told her, "I've laid your uniform out on the counter, away from the sink and stove top." The elastic uniform was made to cause the least increase of wind resistance, and the least amount of movement restraint. After having a cup of coffee, and eating a dandelion-toast sandwich, Josie was fully awake, pulling the uniform on. The colors were deep, ocean blue with white swirls. She looked like a sky at sunset, but without the deep violet of sunset.
At the competition, all the colt pegasi from all over Equestria were warming up. Fancy, dressy colts from Manehatten and Haywaii, bulky colts from here in Cloudsdale, and thin, wiry colts from Califoalia. A mare was handing out numbers for the race, and Josie was number 6. Copper and Peni chatted in the arena seats, theirs having to be on the top row, the balloon section for earth ponies and unicorns. Copper decided to sit with Peni, so she wasn't alone in the basket. Josie's parents took their own balloon.
And to make everything better, Josie was the only mare.
"Did you see some of the other contestants? The thinner ones look pretty fast, since they have less body mass to carry. But the bulky ones have more body mass, so they could either have really strong wings or be really slow," Peni speculated. "But after what Josie did last night, I think she has a good chance of at least 3rd place, and of course at most 1st. She's doing wing-ups right now, she told me she would do as many as she could and rest, then do more and rest, so on and so forth."
Copper replied, "Yeah, and one of the wiry ponies, number 17, has HUGE wings. He looked pretty fast. Oh, oh, it's starting!" Peni's teeth began to chatter. It was FREEZING in the balloon section! "Are you cold?" Copper asked. Peni could only nod now, her teeth chattering so fast. "Here, I'm made for colder weather, and I brought a coat." He laid the fleece-lined coat on Peni's shoulders, then hugged her close to keep her warm. Her face turned bright red, looking nearly violet under her blushing cheeks and nose.
OhFaustohFaustohFaustohFaustohFaustohFaust! Peni thought, trying to keep her attention on the racers coming out at the mention of their names and numbers.
"Number six, Josie!" shouted the announcer. This caused Copper to move his hooves and start clapping. Peni did the same, and cheered.
"WOO! GO JOSIE! I BELIEVE IN YOU! NO MATTER IF YOU WIN OR NOT, YOU'LL ALWAYS BE THE FASTEST PEGASUS NEXT TO RAINBOW DASH!" Peni shouted. To her, there were no prizes or titles of 1st and 2nd places. There was only winners. Fast or slow, heavy or thin, or right in between.
Once all the racers were in their respective locations, the cloud barrels were put into place. A humongous colt looked at Josie and laughed. "Shouldn't you be in the kitchen, little mare?" The other colts laughed.
You won't be laughing too much longer, Peni thought as she cheered away.
"Ready? On your marks!"
The ponies moved to the checkered strip laid down on the cloud.
"GET SET!"
Wings flared, and beat rapidly at the air.
"GO!!"
The pegasi took off, Josie doing her usual 'lag behind then take them by surprise' tactic. Several of the colts turned to look, but only saw a fading trail of blue, gold, and violet. Peni couldn't even see Josie, only a rounded trail tip. The clouds swirled into ice cream shapes, and before everyone could even put up the winners tape, Josie was across the checkered line. The line itself was to be split as the winners tape, so Josie tilted and used the tip of her feather to break it.
"OH MY CELESTIA! JOSIE YOU WON!" Peni jumped up and down, hugging Copper. He flew out of the basket and started to pull it down, doing so slowly. The rest of the racers had either stopped or crossed the line already, so Copper and Peni were allowed to go to the finish line.
Once there, Josie and Copper picked up Peni in a group hug, and cheered together.
After the competition, Josie's parents used a small amount of Josies' winning money to buy milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner. As it got dark, Peni, Josie, and Copper started walking to Peni's house to drop her off.
"Copper," Peni said, "Thanks for coming with us. I'm glad I got to spend some time with you. Oh, and here's your coat back, Copper." Peni handed the coat back to the colt. "My house is just over here, thanks guys." Peni hugged Josie and Copper, hesitated for a few moments, then...
Kissed - or more liked pecked - Copper on the cheek, and took off running, her face beet red. Josie gasped, and Copper just stared, eyes wide and cheeks red. Copper touched his cheek, and just said, "Oh, my Faust... She feels the same way..."