Saligia

by Firebrand

Superbia II - Vainglory

My name is Mercury. Recently, I won second place in the Ponyville Final, and secured myself a spot in the Equestria Races. My cutie mark cements me undoubtedly as a racing pegasus, and I have the skill to prove it. I graduated flight school with commendations from actual Wonderbolts. I have a wall covered in trophies and medals. Racing is my life.

But I hate it. I hate racing so goddamn much. I hate going too fast and losing control, I hate crashing, I hate the pressure, I hate the competition, I hate the attention. I hate it all so, so much. But, alas, racing is my life.

I don't want to do this anymore. I don't know what I want to do instead, but I do not want this. I don't have a choice, though. I have to impress, and improve, and be the best damn racer I can be, because that's what I'm supposed to do, because racing is my life.

Because every fucking pony that ever sees me sees that damn lightning bolt on my flank and thinks "Oh, she must be really fast!" and that translates to "She must do races." Except I don't wanna fucking race, I just want to be able to go day-to-day and not worry about training or scheduling or dieting or any of this athletic bullshit, but no, my friends and my family all gather around me and buy me tracksuits and sign me up for races and push me to the starting line and cheer for me and congratulate me, and put my trophies and medals on display because they think all those victories they force out of me are important to me because as they well know RACING. IS. MY. FUCKING. LIFE.

I wish I could disappoint them, just a little, just so they know my heart's not in it, but then how much of it—how much of me is a lie? They know me as a racer, an athlete, a winner... and if I'm not that, then what am I? Nothing, right? "What has four legs and flies?" Heh.

And then this mare, Rainbow Dash... a rematch? She won. What does she want a rematch for? I certainly don't want it, but I can't just say that, of course, because my friends made me... my friends. I guess I should blame them more than her, for pushing me out there like that, and bashing her so hard... I guess I can get why she challenged me. Big head. Honor. Something.

But... it's bullshit, isn't it? It's bullshit how she's too damn proud to see through my friends' boasting, and it's bullshit that the whole idea of a rematch even came to be, and it's bullshit that I'm going to have to race her all over again. It's bullshit that I even stand a chance against her; I want nothing to do with this, but what could I possibly do to back out?

---

"Oh, come on!" yelled Rainbow Dash, stopping to stomp the ground as she paced back and forth in front of Sweet Apple Acres.

"It's only been fifteen minutes, darlin'." said Applejack, leaning against a tree a few feet away. "She's just a little late, 's'all."

"I'll bet she is!" said Dash, turning to face Applejack. "See how fast she was? There's no way she could be late to anything!"

"Now listen, sugar, I know you're anxious ta get this race started, but—"

"I'm gonna go get her." Before Applejack could protest, Rainbow Dash took a few quick steps and launched into the air.

Dash shot away from the farm and towards Ponyville, flying with determination towards the pegasus district, a cluster of relatively low-hanging cloud houses and businesses on the northwestern end of the city.

She touched down in front of one of the houses and banged on the front door, and was greeted after a few moments by a deep purple pegasus mare with a pink mane, peeking through the barely cracked-open door.

"Hey." said Dash. "Do you know a pony named Mercury? Know where I can find her?"

"Nope." said the mare curtly. Somepony shouted from inside, and she turned and shouted something back.

"You sure? About my height, gray, short red mane, freaky fast flyer?"

"Well, there is a pony kinda looks like that I see sometimes a coupl'a houses down. Think she's friends with the fat green dyke what lives there. Number 7, I think."

"Okay, thanks." Rainbow Dash nodded and turned to leave, and the door closed quietly behind her. Yelling could be heard from the other side, at least three voices arguing violently about something.

Dash proceeded down the road, and stopped at the house numbered 7. She knocked on the front door.

The androgynous green mare from before answered. "What do you want?" she said.

---

Mercury curled up tighter. She was lying on her bed, wrapped snugly in blankets and wide awake.

She hadn't slept the previous night. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about the impending race. She rolled over and stared out the window.

Ultimately, she had just decided to not show up. She could make an excuse later, but as long as she wasn't there now, she would be—

There was a knock on the door, and Mercury went cold. Death had come for her.

She considered staying in bed until the visitor left, but she knew that wouldn't work. She got up and went to the door.

"Who is it?" she called timidly.

A familiar voice called from the other side: "Mercury, get you skinny gray ass out here. Gon' be late."

Mercury sighed with relief. It was just Leafy, being as brutally tactless as ever. She opened the door and, sure enough, Leafy stood waiting.

Alongside Rainbow Dash.

Mercury stammered. "Oh, R--Rai-Rainbow. H-hi. W-Was just about to g-go and... and race ya. M-might not, though. F-feelin' kinda... bad." She forced a couple of weak coughs.

Rainbow stared back at her, unamused.

Leafy spoke up. "You ain't sick, Merc! When you sick, ya hair turn pink."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this, grinning.

"You weren't trying to bail on me, were ya?"

"N-no. I w-wouldn't. I—"

"Yeah, ya would." said the small green mare. "She would. Now, c'mon, Merc. You got a race to do." She grabbed Mercury's front leg and dragged her along, following Rainbow Dash all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres.

There, on the main dirt path, a couple hundred feet from the front entrance, a sloppy line labeled "Start" had been scratched into the sand. Around this, a small crowd of ponies were gathered: she saw a couple of her friends, Sandstorm and Rosewood, alongside an orange earth mare in a cowboy hat, a yellow pegasus, and a white unicorn, whom Mercury recognized as some of the Elements of Harmony, as well as an actual princess come to watch her race! The purple alicorn separated from the group and stood in front of the starting line as Rainbow Dash and Mercury approached.

"C'mon, Merc, show'er what yer made of!" called the tag-along green pony, Leafy, after joining her friends on the sidelines once she had led the racehorses to the starting line.

"Yeah, Merc." taunted Rainbow Dash. "Show me what you're made of."

This unwarranted taunt caused the purple alicorn to shoot a glare at Rainbow, before she cleared her throat and begin to give instructions for the coming race:

"This will be a simple three-point loop through the orchards. The first pony to hit all three of the targets and then come back here will be the winner. Not unlike the Ponyville Final race, really, but with fewer waypoints. And on that note," she said as she stepped off the side of the track. "Ready?"

Mercury and Rainbow Dash both lowered themselves into launch positions.

"Set?" The alicorn raised one of her front legs, and the assorted ponies who had gathered around the start line grew silent.

"M-may the best... m-mare win." Mercury stammered faintly as she and Rainbow Dash tensed up, ready to pounce.

"Go!"

Dash and Mercury shot from the starting line, leaving ephemeral chromatic and crimson trails in their respective wakes.

Unlike the Ponyville Final, which was an entirely open-air competition, this race was tight quarters and close to the ground. Speed wasn't as important so much as agility, as the racers would have to worry about dodging trees and making sudden turns.

The first post was visible from the starting line: a small flagpost sticking out of the ground at the edge of the woods, several hundred yards away. It was a straight shot, and Rainbow Dash used this opportunity to reach her full speed, reaching the goalpost several seconds before Mercury. In passing the pole, however, she suddenly veered off to one side and went careening off into the orchard behind them, bouncing off of several trees and losing nearly all momentum.

As Mercury reached the pole, she saw the reason for this: an arrow had been drawn into the ground at its base, pointing directly to the left, perpendicular to the path they had been traveling, and towards the second waypoint. Rainbow Dash had hit the turn too fast and lost control.

Mercury nimbly changed directions and began advancing towards the second post, positioned in a clearing between two groves of trees, at about the same amount of distance as the first had been.

As she darted towards it, she scanned the ground around it for another arrow to point towards the final goal. It pointed to the left, as well, but this time with a much smaller degree of deviation. Mercury expertly navigated this bend, and began accelerating towards the third mark, situated on top of a small shed in the middle of the clearing, almost a half a mile away.

There was no sign of Rainbow Dash. Her mind began to wander as she picked up speed towards the distant goal. Was this really happening? Was she actually in the lead? Because Dash had wiped out? Was this just dumb luck? Would she want another rematch?

The arrow at the base of the third pole pointed in almost the opposite direction she was currently heading, so Mercury brought both of her wings up wide in order to maximize air resistance and come to almost a dead stop. She then dropped her right wing, causing the drag against her left to spin her around counter-clockwise in a half-circle, before she began flapping madly once more, heading towards the finish line.

As she finished her about-face, she saw Rainbow Dash gaining on her. She had, apparently, only just now recovered from her spill and was now making up lost distance with a vengeance. For only the briefest of moments, as Dash was speeding towards the third pole, and Mercury away from it, Mercury could see Dash's face. She was looking straight ahead, focusing intently on the goal, gritting her teeth. There were tears in her eyes, which seemed to burn with rage and shame.

Suddenly, Mercury didn't want to win. She wanted to make it absolutely clear that she was the inferior racer, let Rainbow Dash have her victory, and never have to worry about it again.

Unfortunately, she held a solid lead which grew every second. She was about halfway to the finish line by the time Rainbow Dash entered the final stretch. This was going to happen. This was actually happening.

Mercury's friends had stepped from the sidelines and were now crowding the finish line. She touched down and trotted to a halt, and her friends immediately swarmed her, showering her in congratulations.

"Shit, Merc, ya did it!"
"See, told ya!"
"Holy damn, 'cree. That was fantastic."

The rest of the bystanders—now grown to more than a dozen ponies—followed shortly afterwards, crowding around the underdog racehorse and bombarding her with yet more words of praise and admiration, causing Mercury to shrink under their adoring gaze.

Unnoticed by the crowd, Rainbow Dash had finished the final stretch, landed at the finish line, and now stood and watched the crowd with contempt.

Mercury, desperate for an escape from the crowd of ponies entrapping her, saw this as an opportunity to escape. She nudged her way out of the throng and walked over to Dash, who stared at her silently. Her still-glistening eyes bespoke callous hatred.

"That was a good race." said Mercury. " Maybe we can practice together sometime if you—"

Rainbow Dash cut her off with a loud hrmph and began walking away. Mercury followed her.

"Hey! No hard feelings, right? I mean, it could happen to—"

"C'mon Merc," interjected one of her friends, a blond earth stallion named Sandstorm. "Quit talkin' to this loser."

Leafy run up alongside him. "Ha! They might as well call you Rainbow Crash!"

At this, Rainbow Dash's gaze—which had been alternating between staring pointedly at nothing and disdainfully at Mercury—shot to Leafy, and her calm anger was supplanted by something violent. She lunged forward and struck the portly pegasus across the face, then turned and, with a short running start, took off and was out of sight within seconds.

The crowd was dead silent. Mercury stared, slack-jawed, towards the sky in the direction Dash had flown. Leafy walked over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"C'mon, 'cree, don' worry 'bout it." said the small green mare, rubbing her bruised face with her other hoof. "Drinks are on me."

"Th-thanks, Leaf."

She's mad. She's really mad. Why is she so mad? Everyone loses a race now and then.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long to put out.
I have several excuses, but nobody will want to hear them, so i guess I'll just say that Superbia III will maybe be out by the new year.
The acts after Superbia won't take nearly as long, I promise.