The Race in My Head

by Owlor

The Party In My Head

If Rainbow Dash had a favorite town, it'd be Cloudsdale, and if she had to choose her favorite part of Cloudsdale, it'd probably be “The Crazy 8”. The Crazy 8 is a series of sky-highways running trough Cloudsdale. They where especially designed for speed, and it was the road of choice for people who needed to get somewhere in a hurry. Rainbow Dash didn't necessarily have anywhere to go, but she definitely had a need, the need for speed, that is.

If Rainbow Dash had a favorite town, it'd be Cloudsdale, and if she had to choose her favorite part of Cloudsdale, it'd probably be “The Crazy 8”. The Crazy 8 is a series of sky-highways running trough the city. They where especially designed for speed, and it was the road of choice for people who needed to get somewhere in a hurry. Rainbow Dash didn't necessarily have anywhere to go, but she definitely had a need, the need for speed, that is.

The buildings of Cloudsdale all had very peculiar designs. There where several schools of thought, ranging from Neoclassicism to the Retro-Futurist school that emphasized buildings that looked naturally created trough wind. The particular architectural school that dominated around the Crazy 8 was the Nocticulent School, which taught that buildings designed for Pegasuses should above else, look beautiful in motion.

Sure enough, the buildings on the side of Rainbow Dash's vision didn't disturb her, but blurred together into soothing waves on white against a background of sky-blue. Since the next mile or so in front of here was empty, she risked closing her eyes just to enjoy the speed.
“Good old Number 7”, she said to herself.
If Rainbow Dash had to choose her favorite part of Crazy 8, she'd probably lean towards Highway Number 7. She knew this highway like the back of her own hoof, there was no twist or curve or bump that she did not know by heart.

There where 6 miles to go, and her wings where getting tired. A tiny part of her mind wanted to quit, but it is a part that she long ago had stopped listening to. It was the part that would usually just sit in a small room in her mental space, playing metaphorical video games.

The rest of her intended to speed up as soon as she entered second wind. She kept flapping her wings in a steady rhythm, but she got her path blocked by a young pony. She wasn't gonna let him slow her down, though. She risked throwing her rhythm off slightly to steer around him.
“Hey, watch it!”, the pony yelled.
“No, YOU watch it!”, she yelled back.
She tried to get back into her groove, but it was too late. She was out of her zone, and the part of her who wanted to quit grew slightly larger. She was approaching the place where Number 7 intersected with Number 8, and she forced herself forward until she reached the crossroads.

“I might as well wait for Fluttershy now”, Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she landed. She crossed her arms and looked behind her. Her impatience grew for several minutes until she finally saw a yellow and pink dot on the horizon. She then had to wait for a few minutes more until it grew into a a slightly exhausted-looking Fluttershy. A solid minute more went by until she was close enough to land.
“We're on the Crazy 8!, Rainbow Dash exclaimed, there's no speed limit! Why do you fly like a turtle with wings?”
“Yes, but the Pigeon Run isn't about speed, Fluttershy said, “It's about endurance. Personally I'm just aiming to get trough the entire course as a challenge to myself, I can never hope to compare with the trained athletes.”

The Cloudsdale semiannual Pigeon Run was their famous marathon-race, named for being (according to legend) based on the route of the messenger pigeon who played a crucial role in the Nimbostratus Wars, (also known as the Eve of the Red Rain.)

The competition where open for anypony to participate, and many ponies, like Fluttershy, flew it as an exercise, as a personal challenge or just for fun. But for those who had the taste for glory, the competition was serious business, because the first pony who completed the run and crossed the finish line got crowned ”Queen for a Day”. And apart from the neat sum in prize money they got to make any request (within reasonable limits) of the Cloudsdale town mayor. But even that honor was nothing compared to the recognition you got from it. If you where good enough to win, you'd get the entire town cheering for you and treating you, appropriately enough, like royalty.

”Endurance, huh?”, Rainbow dash said, “Well, I'm gonna take number 8 down to number 2 and then take the entire Crazy 8 all over again, you up for it?”
Fluttershy looked away for a moment.
“Uhm, I think I'm too tired”,she said, “I'll probably go back to the house.”
”Allright, catch ya later!”
”Just don't forget about the reception for participants this evening! Fluttershy said as Rainbow dash darted away.

The Reception was held at Parhelion Hall, the largest and most intricate cloud-building in Cloudsdale. It was shaped like a thundercloud and was large enough to hold half the town in one place (and by all appearances, that's exactly what it did.) The reception was only open to participants of the race, which in practice meant just about anyone. The main hall where crowded and the party was shaping up to be large, charming and very, very dull.

They had a table with punch and Hors d'oeuvres, but beyond that where where little offered in terms of food or entertainment. They did have a host Mcing the event, but she was clearly just reading from last years script. This usually happened whenever they ran the competition in two consecutive years and the manuscript from last time had yet to have a chance to disappear into a void of bureaucracy.

Ponies where standing around in groups of two to eight ponies, and each group where essentially talking about the same thing, the weather. They'd talk about which direction the wind where blowing and how it affected training, the temperature and how it affected flight and the prognosis for the day of the race and how it might affect their chances to win. Eventually Rainbow Dash felt tempted to scream just to hear something that was not badly butchered meteorology jargon.

”This party is so DULL” she said to Fluttershy.
”Well, there's only a few days left before the race, and most people want to be well-rested”, Fluttershy replied.
”Forget that!” Rainbow Dash said, ”I tried that last year, and I ended up being so wound up and restless I lost all my focus, I need to have some fun or else I'll go insane!”
“Well, this place is large, and the Main Hall is only part of the reception. If we have a look around, perhaps we'll find ponies doing something interesting elsewhere. “

The Parhelion Hall was indeed a large, intricate building. It had a small library, several common rooms, a dining hall and several lecture halls, all very nicely designed in the prettiest colors condensed water could offer, white... and off-white. It was very functional, very pleasant and, just like the party, it was very, very dull.

”I should go back to training”, Rainbow Dash said as they reached the basement floor (if something that's high up in the air can have a basement.)
”please”, Fluttershy said, “You've been training all day, you don't want to exhaust yourself before the race, do you?”
”Well, what do you want me to do? Dulling it up in dullsville? No thanks, I am out of here.”
They turned around to go back trough the corridor, but they where stopped by a pony flying towards them.
“You're leaving already?”, the pony said, “but the party hasn't even started yet!”
“I thought it had already started”, Rainbow dash said, and pointed back down the corridor.
“Oh not THAT party!”, the point said, “I meant the party for all the COOL ponies in the race, you wanna join?”
“Do I!”
The other pony perked up.
“Allright, we're in a basement room, it's down the corridor here and to your right, I'm gonna be right back, just make yourselves comfortable. My name is Tam-a-line by the way, nice to meet you!”.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed the direction. Opening the door, they where struck by the scene. The look on Rainbow Dash's face resembled the look of somebody who just had their prayers answered. The party may not have started properly yet, but it was already more interesting than the reception upstairs.

Music was pounding from a small stereo connected to a large stack of loudspeakers which shaped the air-molecules inside the room into a version of “Honk if You can Dance” by Vinyl Scratch with a souped-up bass-line. Synthetic bass drums and car-horn samples filled the room. Some ponies where dancing, others where chilling on beanbags. And most importantly, they talked about everything OTHER than the weather, miracle of miracles! Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy.
“Come on, Fluttershy, get down to the beat!”, Rainbow Dash did a simple two-step dance.
”oh yeah, get down...”, Fluttershy smiled awkwardly and bobbed her head slightly.

”Hey there!”
The two ponies where noticed from across the room by a pony with a purple coat and a trendy silver waistcoat.
”you're from Ponyville, aren't you? I don't think I've seen you around. “
“Yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash”
“And I'm Fluttershy”.
“Rainbow Dash?”, the pony said, “The pony that totally rocked the 'best young flyer' competition? Oh, I remember you now, you where awesome!”, I'm Rainbowshine by the way.
”You're a Rainbow too? Cool!”, Rainbow Dash said, “Say 'Shine, you know anyone else from Ponyville around here?”
”Oh, there's a couple”, Rainbowshine said, “For example, the weird girl over there”, she pointed towards a lazy-eyed pony currently engaged with draining an entire bowl of punch. She noticed them looking towards her, and she instantly perked up and flied towards them. This proved to be an extremely bad idea, though, since she crashed directly into them.
“Are-you-here-for-the-competition-I'm-here-for-the-competition-its-so-great-to-see-ya-you-should-try-their-berry-punsh-it's-great!”, her eyes rolled around slightly in their sockets.
“Thanks Derpy”, Rainbow Dash said, “I'll keep that in mind, just be careful in the competition alright? Try not to... crash into anybody.”
“No promises!”, Derpy staggered away.

The two friends and Rainbowshine where enjoying themselves. They managed to find a good compromise between Rainbow Dash's need to be in the spotlight and Fluttershy's desire to stay at the sidelines. They found a place In the corner with a sofa, a couple of armchairs and a table carved out of the cloud like a block of ice. Ponies would pass it by to get a drink and many would stay and chat. Soon they had amassed a small group of young flyers and they where eagerly discussing their best tricks with each other.
“...and then you ride in your own slipstream and if you tilt your wings slightly....”
“I tried that one and I ended up crashing down in a haystack....”
“.You usually need to build up a decent speed to do it, but I could probably do it in...”
...and on and on like that. For those uninterested, it probably didn't sound any more exciting than the weather-related discussion upstairs, but for Rainbow Dash, it was endlessly fascinating. She could picture herself doing some of these tricks, somersaulting trough the air, releasing your wings just moments before you hit the ground to really impress the audience. She made a note to herself to try some of these when the competition was over...

”Allright, I'm ba-a-ack, who want's some peppermint rush?” a familiar voice said from the door, belonging to Tam-a-line. Instantly the crowd surrounding the sofa and armchairs disappeared. Tam-a-line had instantly gathered an eager crowd of ponies as she made her way to a low table and some thick clouds being used as bean-bags. When she saw Rainbow Dash, she stopped.
”Oh hello, you're the girl I met before, she said, “Are you having fun?”
“Oh yes!”, I'm so glad I didn't have to stay at that boring reception.”
“You wanna do some Peppermint Rush with us?”, Tam-a-line said.
“What's that?”, rainbow dash said.
Tam-a-line giggled.
“Oh, you should try it, it's a very potent mixture of sugar and peppermint, it'll get ya real hyped up.”
“sure”, Rainbow Dash said, “it can't hurt.
“and how about you, 'Shine, you wanna try it?”
“If 'Dash wants to try, why not?” she said.
“How about you?”, Tam-a-line said, directed at Fluttershy.
“I think I should probably take it easy...”, she replied.
“Allright, suit yourself, everypony who wants some, come over here!”

Tam-a-line handed out small striped pieces of candy, and Rainbow Dash let hers rest on her tounge. It tasted slightly of toothpaste. What kept it from being an ordinary, if slightly bland peppermint candy was its effects. At first, it only manifested as a slight tingling on her tounge, as if the sugar crystals was unfolding into sweet origami flowers. Then her mind started doing the same. She was still herself of course, it's just that there was more room for her, if that makes sense. Lame jokes could be stretched into hillarious knee-slappers and even the most confused attempts at profundity could be mined for nuggets of wisdom. Somebody turned the stereo up (or was that her mind too?) and the the music gently massaged her synapses. The digital beats seemed to slow down from energetic House music to what sounded to like a pleasing dub-track.
“pretty cool, huh?” Tam-a-line asked.

The discussion turned from being about the technique of flying, to being about the sensation of flying.
“...and I start to wonder, am I the one who's moving, or is the rest of the world?”
“Well, with the universe in constant motion, how can you tell?”
“You know what would be cool? If you could calculate precisely how everything in the universe moves, and then fly so that you are always in the same point, everything else is just moving around you.”
“So, what you're saying is that you want to be the center of the universe?”
“Yes, is that too much to ask?”

Rainbow dash started laughing, everything seemed to be extremely amusing. Rainbowshine left the group to dance with Derpy and a group of other ponies that had to split up from the main dance-floor because they caused too much chaos (turn out is IS possible to mosh to “Love from the Dancefloor” by Livinr0dent, in spite of it consisting mostly of piano samples, Casio drums and chipmunk vocals.) The night went on in a haze fueled by sugar and mint.

”Rainbow? Rainbow? Are you awake Dashie?”
Rainbow Dash blinked, her eyes where still working on the whole ”focus” thing, but once they got the hang of it, she recognized the shape of Fluttershy standing above her in a mostly empty basement.
”What happened? “, she asked, “What are you doing here? What time is it?”
” You fell asleep, I didn't want to leave you alone, its 3:15”
”3:15! crap, the party was supposed to end at 2! We better get out of here.”
Across the room, Rainbowshine was also regaining consciousness. With her hoof against her forehead she fought off a pounding headache.
”Now I know how it feels like to be a thundercloud” she remarked .
“Durp...”, a voice from above remarked.
At the top of a bookshelf, Derpy where resting, with the punchbowl as a hat.
”some punch...", she muttered