Rainbow Dash woke to a howl. Her afternoon nap was being cut short, again.
She yawned and turned back over, trying to get the vaporous cloud to muffle the sound and go back to sleep. Then her eyes shot open and she kicked the cloud underneath her, causing it to pop and putting her into free-fall.
The fall was just the spike of adrenaline she needed to fully wake up. Rainbow grinned as she flared her wings for a landing. It was time for a rematch!
Link waited patiently before her, watching as she came to land.
"So, you ready for another round?"
---
"All right. On yer marks," Applebloom called out.
This wasn't their first rematch. Link had challenged her more than once since their first race, and he was getting closer and closer to beating her. He was only five seconds behind her time last time. She was still better than him, but only just. If she wanted to win this race, Rainbow was going to have to put it all on the line.
"Get set!"
Rainbow grinned. She was going to win. She was the fastest pony in Equestria. Future Wonderbolt. The only Sonic Rainboom in more than a thousand years! There was just simply no way she could lose!
"GO!"
Rainbow took wing and shot into the lead, so fast she appeared as nothing more than a blue and rainbow blur.
---
Link ran, his paws pushing powerfully off the ground with every stride. His opponent would be nearly half way done by now, nearing the end of the finish line only to start again. She was, in truth, the fastest living creature he had ever seen, and it was only through these convoluted rules and the limitations imposed by trying to fly through a forest at near ground level that he was able to get close to her at all.
But she was still ahead. He had been closing the gap every time he came back for another race, slowly but surely. Repeated runs through the forest had honed his knowledge of their race track, and for every little shortcut he found, another few seconds of her lead would vanish.
Link jumped onto a fallen tree just to the right of the path and ran up it, avoiding a limb that had fallen over the trail. Critical seconds that would have been wasted slowing down to go around the side and squirming through the snagging branches were avoided. With a leap, he jumped back onto the trail and landed without a break in his stride.
Link put on a burst of speed. He would win, this time.
---
The trees passed in a blur to Rainbow. If she hit one of them, it would hurt. A LOT. It would probably break her record of the longest hospital stay.
Rainbow grinned. Like she would hit a tree. She was Rainbow Dash! There was just no way she was going to– whoa!
Rainbow swerved just in time to dodge a limb in her path. She wiped the sweat from her brow and continued forward. Maybe she shouldn't boast in the middle of a race... not even to herself...
She continued at her blinding pace, following every curve and turn the trail had to offer. She was significantly slower in these trees than she was in the open air, but she liked flying like this. It was more of a challenge, and quite a workout to boot.
She recognized the beginnings of the final stretch, and suddenly became worried. Where was that wolf? She hadn't passed him yet... of course, she hadn't passed him before the final stretch in any of their races yet...
She poured on more speed, flapping her wings powerfully, every bit of her straining against the resistance of the air in front of her. She was forced to brake to make the final turn, and then... she saw it.
Link, further ahead of her than he had ever been before, nearing the finish line.
Oh no you don't!
Rainbow put on every bit of speed she could muster for the last straightaway, every ounce of energy. Even so, he was far ahead. It was going to be close...!
Rainbow flashed across the finish line and turned upwards, bleeding off speed before turning it into a gentle glide. She grinned. She had won again. She had to have won. There was just no way she could have lost to something that had to run along the ground–
Applejack was grinning like the cat that had got the canary. No... no way...
"And the winner is... Link!" Applebloom announced enthusiastically.
Rainbow was so dumbstruck she forgot to stick the landing. She unceremoniously skidded to a halt at Applejack's hooves.
"Wha... but... there's no way... he couldn't...." she protested weakly from her position on the ground.
"He beat ya fair an' square, sugarcube. At least, as much 'fair and square' as that means in this whole convoluted race," Applejack refuted. "Came in a whole half-second ahead of you. 'Course, he looks like he just ran the race of his life."
Rainbow looked over to see that Link was, indeed, still panting heavily. He was stretched out on the ground, belly on the cool ground and all four paws in different directions, tongue lolling out of his mouth as Applebloom spritzed him with a little fan/water bottle thing.
Time passed in a daze, and after a while Rainbow was only vaguely aware of Applejack helping her to her hooves. I lost...
"So you know what he wants as a prize?" Applejack asked. Rainbow instantly became nervous.
"Nooooo....?"
She wasn't going to like this, was she?
Applejack snorted.
"Well, me neither. Looks like we get t' find out together. So, Link, ya won, and Rainbow promised t' do whatever you wanted within reason–"
"What about all the times that I won!" Rainbow yelped in protest.
"That wasn't part of the deal, Rainbow," Applejack said with a sly grin. She leaned in close. "Bet you never thought he'd win, didja?"
Rainbow snorted and ignored the farm mare. She threw out her chest and marched up in front of Link.
"Well, you won," she told him. "So, what do you want me to do? What do you want?"
Link stared past her, just to her side.
"Uh, hello?" she said waving her hoof up in down in front of his face. He looked her in the eye and growled before flicking his eyes back to something else. She snorted her frustration.
"Ah think he wants a feather, Rainbow."
Rainbow turned her head to see that her wings were spread and that Link was staring very intently at a feather that was out of place. After a hard workout like this, it wasn't surprising to see feathers out of alignment and other such things.
"You want a feather?" she asked him.
He looked her in the eye and nodded once.
Rainbow took a few steps away, just enough to get some space, then folded one wing against her side and brought the other as far forward as she could. Then, she craned her head back, and began to preen.
She felt her tension melt away as she straightened and maintained her feathers. Preening was supremely important to any and all pegasi, a necessity to keep their wings clean and flightworthy. Straighten this feather here, tuck it back under there...
One feather was broken. It had to come all the way out. She grabbed it, and with a little tug and a prick of pain, it came out. Good, just what Link wanted.
"Here," she said around the feather. Link carefully took the blue feather from her teeth into his own canines, then stepped back.
"I sure hope today doesn't go to your head," Rainbow told him, a bit of her old bluster back. "I mean, after all, I did beat you all those times before. You won't find it so easy next time you race me!"
Rainbow caught the tail wag and the ends of her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.
"Come back when you're ready for the next race!"
NUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!
Oh, well, I guess it compensates the rapid-fire chapters you published these last days. Have a nice trip!
Hmmmm what could the Blue Pegasus Feather do...?
Nice, more feathers for potions!
Just thought of something. Wouldn't it be hilarious if Link somehow found a grass that made him howl the Sun's Song? Then either Celestia or Luna would have to keep swapping the sun/moon to properly keep the time steady.
Great, now he's stocking up on potion reagents...
4565590 Oh, I'm sure I don't know...
On another (not unrelated) topic, can't he already jump pretty well as it is? maybe it's gonna be a potion ingredient?
Oh, so he wanted a feather for the potion.
Hang on, before anything else...
Long ago, the six nations lived together in harmony...
Oh, for an idea for another intermission chapter..... Twilight's looking for Link and finds him sitting near a tree, waiting for something as the sun is about to go down. She starts to talk to him, only to hear a creepy whooshing noise along with a sudden clink as the sun goes down. She turns and sees a lamp.... floating. Along with a creepy laugh. Link pushes her out of the way, only to get slashed. Thankfully, it's a minor slash, but still noticable.... Twilight sees the cut, and realizes whatever it is, it's invisible, but Link somehow is seeing and fighting it. He saves her life.... and makes her regret just how inconsiderate she's been with pestering him for questions as she brings him to Fluttershy.
That's just an idea though.^^ And of course, she'd definitely report the strange thing to Celestia, about the invisible foe.
Darn to the fact that the next update will be a good ways away, but I guess your great quality compensates for it, eh?^^
4565189 Yeah, last thing Hyrule needs is one of those.
4565590 bad halucinations? maby slice up the player in first on Mario cart
4565608 Yes, YES PLEASE
I like this story. It's interesting to see a cross-over fic where the ponies are still the main focus. It's not so much a story about Link in Equestria, but how the Mane6 deal with Link in Equestria and the shadow. Also, I'm hoping that they will eventually be able to communicate (with Midna most likely).
4565608 If you think about it, no one else ever notices the sudden time change, so most likely it doesn't move the sun but alters the flow of time for Link.
The pegasus feathers are like blue chu jelly... those things were freaking rare as heck!
4565608 or maybe howl the song of storms and piss off the entire weather team (I know it wasn't in Twilight Princess but let me have my moment dammit!)
Did I mention that I LOVE how Epona is portrayed in this story?
Cause we all love it!
Two quick notes about Chapter 12: an inconsistency with Twilight Princess and a plot hole.
First, you call the Diamond Dog boss Canis Tyranis, but the creatures transformed by the Fused Shadows into bosses all shared a naming convention: Twilit (Adjective), (Name). This one doesn't follow.
Also, when Link goes into the boss room, the doors are described to shut and lock behind him. While this is consistent with the game, it creates the plot hole that when the ponies show up, the door is already unlocked and open while Link is still fighting the boss.
4767086
Whoops... It's been a while since I played the game... Might have to change that name....
As for the unlocked part, the Alpha made three keys, one to Spot, one to Fido, and one for himself. Spot was with the ponies.
4566043
Then everything changed when the shadows attacked.
5127114 LMAO i see what you did there
4571935 uhh don't remind me
That settles it; when I finish reading this, I'm writing my own Twilight Princess/MLP crossover.