The Race in My Head

by Owlor

First published 11th of March, 2012

Rainbow Dash is competing in Cloudsdale's maraton, but faces problems outside of the track.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy goes to Cloudsdale for a maraton flying competition, where they meet up with Derpy,(who's currently involved in a relationship with the Mayor of Ponyville). While there, Rainbow Dash befriends a pegasus that gets her and her friends into trouble. And now, more than just glory depend on her making that maraton run.

Prolouge

Night-time have traditionally been the time for secrets. If you are outside at 3 o'clock at night, you generally don't greet anypony you meet the same way you might do during the day. At that time of night, ponies are only outside if they have some sort of business, and chances are they want you to stay out of it. Ponyville isn't exactly a town that's known for its criminality or its extensive underworld, so nighttime is usually a time for romantic entanglements.

This night where no exception, sure enough, a few... sparks was flying trough the air. Young couples having their first taste of romance, old couples rediscovering the simpler joys of a relationship, and of course a juicy arrangement of extra-martial affairs, lovers from rivaling families and other kinds of forbidden love.

Many ponies where flirting with scandal, but none more so than the young gray and blonde mere with lazy eyes that where walking down the street in a suitably dramatic black hood. She was making her way to an elegant house, partially carved out of an old oak tree.

The house belonged to the towns mayor, who where nervously looking out from behind the drapes. The cloaked mere made her way in without knocking, with only a quick look behind her shoulder. Once she was safely inside, The Mayor dared to greet her, and she did so with a smile.

“My dear Derpy!”, The Mayor said, “I'm so glad you wanted to come.”
“Sure, but even if I live to be a hundred”, Derpy said, “I'll never figure out what you see in me”.
This was what she usually said, and The Mayor only responded by giving her a quick kiss, which Derpy accepted with gently closed eyes.

“I'm not sure what I'd do without you”, The Mayor said afterward, “It's stressful being the mayor of this town, every day there's at least ten disasters to manage, and I am only one pony. You know precisely what I need to unwind.
“Yes I do!”, Derpy said with a smile, “I brought my favoritest recipe for blueberry muffins, they are easy to make and they are really tasty!”
”Ooh, you don't waste any time getting straight to the point, do you?” The Mayor said.
”Well, it's kinda late and I am hungry”, Derpy replied.
The Mayor smiled at this.
“Well, let's get to baking then”, she said and they both went into the kitchen.

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

Fission Mailed

There are sounds that only comes out at night, and every area has a different nightly soundscape. If you've never been inside a large building made out of cloud somewhere in the troposphere, you're gonna have a hard time imagining what sounds you would hear, regardless of how they are described.

In the end, though, what's most striking is not the sounds you hear, but the sounds you DON'T hear. It's surprising how fast you tune out the constant background of soft white noise that gets created by hundred of flapping wings in one place. You generally don't realise you're doing it until nighttime comes and the hiss dies out. Then there isn’t much sound at all, except the ones you or anything near you create.

It is the tiny sounds that are the most unnerving, little hisses, little ticks and tacks, echoes of echoes of clocks. Every noise reminding you of just how fragile the tense silence was. Some sounds would remain a mystery, just part of the auditory nighttime crowd, others made sense once they where puzzled out.

The gang of stray ponies made their way across the basement corridor in silence. There was a soft thumping sound that didn't match any of the ponies hoofprint. This could have been just another unexplained nighttime sound, but it got instantly connected to the light of a flashlight that where coming from around the corner.
“It's a security guard!”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “Hide!”. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rainbowshine jumped behind a series of particularly large potted plant. Derpy panicked and froze up to disguise herself as a statue.

The securtiy guard went by them with an expression of extreme boredom, barely glancing around him. There was a long tense moment as the guard slowly shuffled right by them, just a few feet from where they where hiding. Derpy gulped when the guard grunted slowly and stopped right next to her. But he just coughed and kept on walking.

Once the guard had disappeared behind the next corner, Rainbowshine signaled with her hoof for the group to form a huddle. The group started a a whispered discussion.
”Shouldn't we just talk to the security guard?”, Rainbowshine said, “he'll let us out”
”heck no!, Rainbow Dash said, “Do you have any idea how much trouble we'd be if they saw us snooping around late at night, what if they don't let me compete in the race? I can't win if I dont get to fly!”
Rainbowshine gave 'Dash an amused look.
“Oh, you think you're gonna win, huh?”, she said.
“Perceive the victory in your head, Young Grasshopper”, Rainbow Dash said in a mock-erudite voice, “then work to make your vision become a reality.”
“Allright”, Rainbowshine replied, “let's perceive the victory in our heads, I picture us sleeping in our own beds, and not in a cramped jail-cell, how are we supposed to make this vision a reality?”
“I'm thinking...”, Rainbow Dash said. “We can't just walk out the front door. How about the air-ducts?”

The Parhelion hall was labyrinthine enough as it is, and the air-duct was like a maze within a labyrinth, or a cipher inside a crossword-puzzle. The air-ducts where made out of cloud like most anything else in Cloudsdale, but it still had a very different consistency. It was created out of the same long, misty clouds that the Weather Patrol would put across the sky at sunset if the forepony where feeling wistful enough. The air-ducts where large enough for a pony to crawl trough, but not large enough to hold a comfortable discussion. If you wanted to look back, you could just barely look over your shoulder and judge whether or not any other pony where nearby, but not much else.

Rainbow Dash was leading the ponies and the rest where crawling behind her. The pipes did glow slightly for some reason, but it was not enough to really help them see where they where going, it was just one step above total darkness. It was hard to get a sense of the enviroment outside the pipes, pretty soon your sense of place adapted and it was hard to picture the building as anything but a long, complex series of pipes and intersections.

They went on in silence, but soon enough they came to an intersection and Rainbow dash had to stop crawling. The others where suddenly hatled.
“Why did you stop?” Rainbowshine asked from behind 'Dash.
“I don't know which way to go, she said, “left or right?”
“let's see”, Rainbowshine tried to match the course they had crawled to the mental map she had of the basement, but she could not make them match, “I have no idea”, she said and glanced over her shoulder.
“Fluttershy, what do you think, left or right?”
“Uhm, I don't know”, Fluttershy said.
“Okay, Can you ask Derpy?”
“Sure, Derpy, left or right?”
“Left!” Derpy said, “Wait... what are we talking about?”
“I don't know”, Fluttershy said, “I just heard Rainbowshine asking me 'left or right?' and that she wanted me to ask you...”
Nopony could see it, but Rainboshine tried to give fluttershy an annoyed glare from behind her shoulder.
“We're trying to find out which way to go!” she explained, “left or right?”
“Oh, was that it?”, Fluttershy said, “We should go right, we've crawled halfway past the first corridor, into a common room and back out. Then the pipe seemed to do a turn, but it was only a dent, they prolly had to work around something in the ceiling. The right pipe should lead toward the stairway while the left will just lead us back trough the second pipe in this corridor”, she paused to catch her breath” Uhm, I think, at least...”
“Wow...”, Rainbowshine was dumbfounded. She went silent for a second to collect herself.
“well, its worth a try”, she said, “Right, 'Dash!”
They could not be sure if Fluttershys description where correct, but at least the air drum was getting larger. It was still cramped, but less claustrophobic at least, and you didn't feel like you had to turn your eyes around in the back of your head just to look back.

It was getting hot crawling inside the pipe, (ironic for something designed to keep the building cool) and eventually they had to stop and rest.
“You know what this reminds me of?”, Rainbowshine said, “Those games where you run around in a dungeon and fight monsters.”
“Sounds scary...”, Fluttershy said.
“Well, you don't ACTUALLY run around in a cave and fight monsters”,she explained, “you sit at a table, you play a character and you say what your character is doing. And one of you is the Game Master and he'll tell you what happens in the dungeons and what the consequences of your actions are....”
“What?”, rainbow dash said,she looked very amused,
“'Shine!”, she said while laughing, “I didn't know you where such a NERD!”
“I'm not a nerd!”, Rainbowshine said, “I... I heard about it from a friend, allright?”
“Well, I think it sounds very interesting”, Fluttershy said, “like how we used to play as kids. You say you are a tree and then you are, a pretend-tree that is... “
“Yeah, that sounds fun!”, Derpy said, “Let's pretend we are in a dungeon!”
“Are we really going to do this?”, Raindowsshine said, still a bit bitter over being called a nerd.
“It's either that or keep crawling”, Rainbow Dash said, “which do you prefer?”
“Oh, Allright, then I am the powerful sorceress Lila Starshine....”

“...and then the dragon pass out and you see he was sitting on a large pile of shiny gold and jewels!” Derpy said.
In the end, it proved not to be an all-together unpleasant way to wile away a few minutes. They kept the story going until they where all rested and had their strength back.

They kept crawling, it was impossible to tell where in the building they where, or even get a good sense of how far they had been crawling. They could catch glimpses of the building underneath from the occasional air-vent, but from this angle, most rooms looked about the same. The ponies where growing increasingly frustrated, and it was only the silence imposed be the necessity of going forward that kept them from fighting. Eventually they had to take another break, however....
“Couldn't we have tried to get into the air ducts later down the corridor?” Rainbowshine said, “I'm getting really tired of this!”
“We've gone this far, Rainbow Dash said, we can't just give up!”
“Sure we can, we just kick open an air vent, get down, get trough the corridor and...”
“and then? Waltz out the front door?”
“I was picturing something closer to Foxtrot...”
“Oh, don't you sass me!”
“Please don't fight”, Flutteshy said.
“Yeah, Derpy filled in,” save some air for us!”

“Who's there!”, a voice could be heard from below them in the building. The three ponies suddenly got very silent.
“What is it?”, a second voice said.
“I thought I heard something, from in there!”.
“Well, there's nopony there, you sure it wasn't just the wind?”
“I know what the wind sounds like!”, the first pony protested, “I used to work for the Weather Patrol. No I'm telling you I heard something from here. They where talking about dancing!”
“Look”, the other pony pointed with his hoof. “there's nothing there! Unless you think there are ponies sitting in the air duct and discussing dance-moves, you must have misheard something.”
“I guess so”, the first pony said, “let's just continue on, shall we?”
The ponies sitting in the air-duct and discussing dance-moves didn't dare to crawl on until a few minutes had passed.

It was no use, eventually even Flutttershy's sense of direction was failing them and they ended up at a crossroad, completely uncertain which direction to take.
“what are we going to do?”, Rainbow Dash asked, and Rainbowshine passed the question on.
“Well”, Derpy said, “I learned a trick once to solve labyrinths, you just stay at one side and follow it.”
“I know that trick”, Fluttershy said, “But it only works for some types of labyrinths. I know one that works for all kinds, though.”
“Clawing trough the walls?”, Rainbowshine asked, “Because that's about what I feel like doing right now....”
“Every time you are at an intersection”, Fluttershy explained, “You mark the path you want to go, if you reach an intersection with a path you have already marked, you take the path that's unmarked. If all paths are marked, you pick one and mark it again. Eventually you will find your way out without having to mark any path more than twice.”
“That's going to take foreeever!” Rainbow Dash said, “is there really no better alternative?”
“I don't think so” Rainbowshine said, “but we don’t have anything to mark with, unless somepony got a crayon.”
“I got a whole box!” Derpy said, “but you can't use the yellow, it is my favorite color and I want to draw a big happy sun later!”

Fortunately, they had already made it pretty far, so it didn't take too long for them to find an exit.
When they reached a large circular air-vent in the end of what otherwise seemed to be a dead-end Rainbow Dash looked just about ready to cry.
“What is it, Rainbowsinhe said, “what do you see?”
“It's so beautiful!”, Rainbow Dash said, “I can't believe it, we're outside, we found our way out!”
There was no room for Waltzing or Foxtrotting, or even just a victory dance, and they couldn't exactly yell, so the ponies had to settle for a careful “Yay!” said in unison.

A few brief kicks and the air-vent flew loose. The four ponies where finally outside, and the sight that hit them was indeed beautiful. Cloudsdale has long been praised by artists for how utterly amazing it looks during the nighttime. The gaslight that illuminates the city during the night has a particularly pleasing way of scattering inside the clouds.

The early morning air was particularly sharp at this altitude. It was a cool and refreshing breeze, especially for somepony that had been stuck in an air-duct for an hour
”We made it!” Rainbow Dash said, “What do you say about that 'Shine?”
“I'm glad Fluttershy's crayon-trick worked, or else we'd be crawling around in there for eternity!" Rainbowshine said.
“Oh, it was nothing special”, Fltutershy said, “and I am just glad to be outside!”
“So much space!”, Derpy said with a smile and extended her wings.
“By the way”, Rainbow Dash said, “I had something I wanted to say to you, 'Shine”
“What's that?”
“'Lila Starshine?' you really ARE a nerd!”, Rainbow Dash said while laughing.
Rainbowshine didn't respond, but shot her a disgruntled look.

.

I Like Birds, part 1.

The Main Street of Cloudsdale was a particularly magnificent piece of city-planning. This street, more than any other street took full advantage of all three dimension available when you design something for Pegasuses. It had been continuously built on for several generations, and you could read the bizarre twists and turns of Pegasus architectural fashion in the buildings lining the street, like huge white insects trapped in amber.

Fluttershy convinced Rainbow Dash to take half a day off to accompany her when shopping. The stores where eager to take advantage of the tourist-boost that the Pigeon Run generated, and as such there where a lot of interesting offers on display. The usual quiet dignity that imbued the commercial district of Cloudsdale where rapidly eroding away. There where sales on top of sales and endless advertisements. Some owners had taken to shouting from their clouds like in an old bazaar.

“Need to relax before the race? Fastwings massage parlour is what you need, ask for the Royal Treatment....”
“Apples on a stick! Apples on two sticks, perfect for sharing! candied apples! Applesauce! Flim & Flam-certified Apple Cider, only the finest apples, may not be completely vegetarian....”
“Could I interest you lovely mares in our latest invention, our newly patented Razorblade Blender, it slices, it dices... Will it Blend? There is only one way to find out...”
Thankfully, they made their way past Main Street down to Bernoulli Avenue. This was the site of the more upscale shops, who didn't feel the need to resort to fierce advertising (and thus didn't have nearly as many customers.

The fashion of the Pegasuses was slightly more utilitarian than that of the Unicorns. You can't exactly afford extravagance when you are designing clothes for a species with wings, after all. There where one exception to this rule, however, the hats. Thanks to the lightness of cloud-fabric, volume was not a problem, as long as the hats where reasonably aerodynamic. As such, the Cloudsdale hat-makers where probably the only ones who used a wind-tunnel as part of their equipment...

”What do you think about this hat?”, Fluttershy said, as she tried out a rather futuristic-looking hat with a purple moon-shaped brim in one of the more fashionable boutiques.
”I... don't think that's your color”, Rainbow dash remarked.
”oh its not for me”, Fluttershy said, “its for Rarity, wouldn't it be nice if we could find some nice gifts for our friend while we are here? Cloudsdale is called the fashion capital of the sky after all....” ”That's because it is the only place around here where you can get clothes at this altitude, at least until they invent clouds that can rain socks and ugly hats.”
Fluttershy gave 'Dash a look filled with doubt.
”you don't like it?” , she asked.
“I like it fine...” Rainbow Dash said, “just not as a...hat”
“Oh, okay, how about we find Rarity a nice scarf instead?”

They went walking down the streets, idly looking trough shop windows for anything that could pique their interest. As they where looking trough the window of a shop that had a large collection of knitted scarves, Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash.
“You said that purple was not my color”, Fluttershy remarked, “but what do you think is my color?”
“ Uhm, green maybe? Or blue. I don't know”, rainbow Dash said “Say, what do you think is my color?”
Fluttershy examined her friend for a while. Blue coat, purple eyes, multicolored highlights in her mane...
”All of them” she concluded.

As they continued along the street, they talked about scarves, then about what, if anything, to wear for the race and finally they started discussing training techniques. Naturally, they had very different ideas, Rainbow Dash's plan for her training was a strict regime involving the gym, endurance training, aerobics and Poni-Chi and Fluttershys plan for training involved... birdwatching.

”We're supposed to train, not have a picnic!”, Rainbow Dash said, “How do you ever expect to be good just by hiking trough the cloud forest? “
“But I heard they have several species of rare birds I want for my life-list”, Fluttershy said, and besides, I'm just an amateur, you're the athlete.”
“We'll see each other later then” she said as Fluttershy flied back to the house to pick up her binoculars.

On her way to the gym, Rainbow Dash bumped into Tam-a-line. In her eyes, Rainbdow Dash could see the same slight insomnia that was still haunting her.
”hello!”, Tam-a-line said, “some party last night, huh?”
“Oh yes”, Rainbow Dash said, “so what are you up to?”
There was a slight hesitation.
“Is something the matter?”, Rainbow Dash asked.
“I need a place to crash tonight, alright?”, Tam-a-line said, “would you help a girl out?"
“Sure, but we're going home after the race”, Rainbow Dash said.
“Oh, that's no problem, at worst I'll only stay for a few days.”, Tam-a-line said.
“We're down at the Cumulonimbus Docks, Fluttershy is staying with me for the race, but I am sure we got a room you could crash in, if it's just for a few days.”
“Thanks, you're the best!”

I Like Birds, part 2.

The ecology of the sky-forests surrounding Cloudsdale deserve a book in and of itself, and in fact, there are several already. The definitive guide was “An Educated Pony's Guide to The Airbourne Forests”, by Vanilla Wand. It caused quite a bit of controversy among intellectuals due to its highly contested Sequential Formation Theory. The book is highly antiquated by this point, but most of his physical descriptions and analysis have stood the test of time.

To quote:
“...Each species of the flora of the cloud have familial relation to one that rest as ground level. It is therefore not preposterous to assume that the clouds where colonized by a sequential process, whereby low-flying clouds would be infected by air-borne spores and form proto-forests at near-ground levels.

These would then bloom into mushrooms and in turn affect the clouds above them, each time displaying a drift in inheritance factors. Over time the lower cloud forests simply withered and died, leaving only those at high altitudes consisting of the most hardy of mushrooms. The few plants that can be found at this attitude where probably planted by birds resting on the cloud or else by wind. Now, some of my critics...

He goes on to respond to criticisms of his idea with thinly veiled insults and threats, all aimed at ponies who are long gone and mostly forgotten by now. It isn't until about page 147 of his book that he gives a good in-depth description of the Cloud Forest:

The South-western Cloud Forest is a solid collection of Cirrus-clouds. The cloud-type is particle-heavy and semi-temperate, but with a higher degree of humus-particles than normal. Its shape and consistency however, is largely formed by an abundance of mycelia going trough the clouds, giving it its characteristic ridge-shape.

Because of the peculiar conditions in place, the fruiting bodies can grow to massive size. The spores create a micro-weather around the mushrooms that results in complex system of fractal-shaped clouds surrounding the top of the sporing body. The cloud complexes almost warrant more study than the mushrooms themselves..
...and that is really just the tip of the thundercloud, the Cloud Forest is simply like nothing you can find anywhere else.

If you had extremely good eye-sight you could probably see a small, yellow and pink smudge somewhere in the fog at the base of the Cloud Forest. Fluttershy had found a pretty good spot, far enough in not to startle the birds, but still close enough to the edge that most of the sky was available to her.

She called out a careful “pish-pish-pish” and waited patiently. The sky remained bright blue, uncolored by any birds, but she didn't mind.
“The birds will come eventually”, she thought to herself, and sure enough, after some time, there was a bit of a stir.
Flutteshy prepared her binoculars as a large magpie flew up form inside the fog. She had already seen magpies several times though and she was hoping for something rarer. She closed her eyes for a moment to focus on the atmospheric sounds. The wind was blowing, but it was carrying with it a small bird cry.
“green-eggs-and-ham, green-eggs-and-ham”, it said.

Oh, what could it be? Fluttershy didn't have a mental archive, she stored all important knowledge under rocks in a peaceful grove inside of her mind. She tipped back the stone containing the memories of all bird cries she's ever heard and let them echo across the forest in her head. It had the same bubbly intonation as an Aracuan bird, but lacked the fast, goofy quality. It had the same rhythm as that of a Panchito pisiformis, but the wrong tone, and what was with the slight buzz at the end?
She opened her eyes again and watched the sky.

There was a small splash of color clashing against the sky, a yellow and black smudge. Fluttershy tried to make herself invisible as the smudge turned into the contours of a bird. It had a yellow belly and black wings, and when it drifted closer to Fluttershys hiding place, she could see it had a somewhat disgruntled expression on its face. It lapped water out of the spring as Fluttershy worked on identifying the bird. It was a distinctive enough bird, so identification was easy, she read its entry in the “The Birds of Equestria - a field guide”:

Tunderbird (Alcedo luminarium); 28 to 35 cm, 140 to 170 grams. Common in the Storm Mountains of Eastern Equestria, rare elsewhere. Body stocky, head large with conspicuous ragged double-pointed crest that covers the entire pileum from the base of the bill to the nape. A nearly complete yellow collar across the hindneck contrasts with the uniformly black dorsum. Creates thunderstorms, and is generally accompanied by heavy rainfall.
“Oh dear...”, Fluttershy said to herself.

Mission Failed

Rainbow Dash's schedule for the afternoon was a beautiful piece of work, skillfully optimized to get the most out of every hour. Even the pauses where carefully timed to allow her to make the most out of her speed and endurance. It was a masterpiece of time-management, and like any masterpiece of time management, it was completely destroyed due to uncooperative weather.

She was standing outside of the gym, ineffectually shielding herself against the rain with a newspaper. The streets where emptying as the ponies searched for shelter. Rainbow Dash gave the entire world a disapproving glance, but the universe continue to mess up her plans without reacting.
”Aaargh, that rainstorm came from out of nowhere!”, she said to herself, “I really hope the cloud patrol have it fixed before the race, there's only two days left!”
There was no use trying to fly in this kind of weather, so she had no choice but to drag herself across the wet clouds back to her house.

Rainbow Dash's house where usually located right above Ponyville, but for the Pigeon Run she had docked it at the Cumulonimbus Docks. The advantage of Cloud over other building material is that it makes any home a mobile home. just put some sails on it, create a strong enough wind and you could take it anywhere, the sky is literary the limit. The Cumulonimbus Docks where created with this in mind, it is a place where visiting ponies can dock their homes and create temporary streets of cloud-houses.

When Rainbow Dash approached her house, she found two ponies standing outside of it, arguing. One of them where Tam-a-line, the other was Fluttershy.
“...look, I TOLD you once already”, Tam-a-line said, “Rainbow Dash SAID I could stay here!”
“Well, we'll just know when she return don't we?”, Fluttershy said.
“Lay it off, this isn't your house, y'know.”
“But you barely know Rainbow Dash, you met her yesterday!”
“So what?”
“Whats the matter, you two?”, Rainbow Dash asked, and the two ponies turned to look at her as she was walking down the docks.
“Miss Binoculars here won't let me into the house!”, Tam-a-line said.
“She said birdwatching was a worthless hobby for losers!”, Fluttershy said.
“Birdwatching IS a worthless hobby for losers!”, Tam-a-line said.
“Stop it you two!”, Rainbow Dash said, “'Shy, Tam-a-line here needed a place to stay for the race and I said she could use my couch, is it going to be a problem?”
Fluttershy could see Tam-a-line blowing a raspberry from behind Rainbow Dash's back.
“Certainly not,”, she said, “unless she wants to make it a problem.”

Having two friends who where on bad terms with each other together under the same roof during a rainstorm is never a fun experience. Thankfully, here house was large enough so that they could each find a different corner to brood in as the rain where crashing down outside, like a colony of liquid lemmings throwing themselves off an apocryphal cliff.

There was no clock ticking in Rainbow Dash's house, but there almost needed to be one to complete the scene. It was a tableau of utter boredom, at least until they heard a knock coming from the door. It was an erratic knock, but after some meandering, it did find a consistent rhythm: “Knockety-knockety, knock knock”.

Opening the door, Rainbow Dash found two wet ponies, Rainbowshine and Derpy. They both had very different expressions, Derpy looked perky, but Rainbowshine seemed less than amused.
“Hi 'Shine!”, Derpy said, “you wanna come out and train with us? Come on!”
“Haven't you noticed the rain?”, Rainbow Dash said, “Now is NOT a good time to train.”
“That's what I told her, “Rainbowshine said, “but she insisted!”
“You didn't have to come with me, “Derpy said, “I wasn't gonna force you.”
“Meh, not much else to do right now anyway...”
“I like the rain!”, Derpy announced, “it feels so nice and cool and afterward, there's puddles you can jump in!”
There was a brief silence as Derpys stomach started to rumble.
“That reminds me, Rainbow Dash said, “have any of you eaten yet? No? I'm starting to get hungry, too”.

The mood of the household was instantly brightened, not only by the prospect of food, but also because at least they had a mission: to make dinner. Rainbow Dash where kinda low on supplies, but she had enough ingredients for a simple meal. The four ponies (Derpy voluntary stayed out of the kitchen, since her and plates do not mix well....) divided their duties, Rainbow Dash and Tam-a-line agreed to cook if Rainbowshine and Fluttershy could take care of the dishes afterward.
“So...”, Rainbow Dash asked Tam-a-line, “what do you think we should make?”
“How about Cloudsmash?”, she asked, “that's nice and easy.”
Rainbow Dash didn't expect such a quick and definite reply, she had figured that Tam-a-line was about as enthusiastic as a cook as she where (that is, not very...).
“That's a great idea! Rainbow Dash said, “I don't think I've had that since I was a little foal.”
Cloudsmash was a Cloudsdale specialty. There where many variations, but at its core it consisted of mashed potatoes and boiled carrots served with a creamy white sauce. It took a skilled chef to make the dish presentable, but anyone could make it tasty, as the rest of the ponies soon discovered after some initial skepticism.

The dinner conversation was dominated by birds since the subject came up as Fluttershy was challenged to explain what was so special about birdwatching.
“Oh, there's just a ton of amazing birds out there”,she said, “some that nopony has ever seen before...”.
She went on to talk about the red-bellied woodpecker nesting outside the Evergreen forest, the two-headed Gandaberunda and the vain Oozlum bird that flies in chaotic inwards spirals trying to admire its own tail-feathers.
”you mean its trying to stick his own head up its butt?!” Tam-a-line said”,
”I wouldn’t put it like that, but pretty much, yes...” Fluttershy replied.

She told her some of her own bird-stories, like the time when she tried to rescue a bird from princess Celestia, not realizing it was a phoenix, and soon the two ponies where laughing together as friends.
”I never knew there are so many awesome animals in Equestria, did you really stare down a cockatrice? ”
”That's great”, Rainbow Dash said, “But could we please talk about something that is NOT birds?”

There was another knock on the door, his one was a pretty standard “knock-knock”, only it sped up slightly when repeated. Rainbow Dash opened the door and outside there where a pair of young ponies that looked slightly confused and apprehensive.
”hello, we heard Tam-a-line was there?”, one of them said.
“She is”Rainbow Dash said, “Tam-a-line!” she yelled back inside the house, “there's somepony for you at the door.
“What is it about?”, Tam-a-line said as she walked towards the door.
The first pony at the door lowered her voice slightly and said, ”We where looking to score some Peppermint Rush....”
”I'm sorry”, Tam-a-line replied, “I'm all out, unless....”, she turned toward Rainbow dash with pleading eyes, “'Dash”, she said, “would you help me make some more?”
“I don't know....”
“We'll split the profits, of course”,she said, “Let's see, on a normal batch I earn about...”, Tam-a-line whispered a number to Rainbow Dash and it caused her eyes to widen in disbelief.
“Really? And I get half of that?”, Rainbow Dash said,
“I gotta pay you back for letting me crash here somehow, don't I?”
”I guess so, what do you need?”

She was interrupted by Fluttershy who came to the door.
“I heard you from the kitchen”, she said, “I don't want to stop you from earning some extra bits but... well...” she paused for a moment.
“Peppermint Rush is ILLEGAL to make!”, she exclaimed.
“Well...”, Rainbow Dash said, “If people don't hurt others with it, maybe it has no business being illegal?”
“I suppose so...”
“Well, I'm certainly not going to say no to extra money, how about you?”
Fluttershy looked away for a moment.
“I'm sorry...”, she said, “I'll try to find another place to sty until the race, and if I can't find one, I'll just fly home, I guess..”
Fluttershy turned around to leave.
“It's nothing personal”, she said, “I'm not going to be angry at you, I just don't want any part of this.”
There was an awkward silence as she walked out and it took Rainbow Dash and Tam-a-line a moment to realize that the two young ponies where still standing at the door, puzzled by the whole scene.
“Don't worry”, Tam-a-line said to them, “there will be more Peppermint Rush later, just come around here some time tomorrow night.”
Satisfied with this, the two ponies bid farewell and left.

Derpy and Rainbowshine was still sitting at the table. Derpy was finishing her third portion of Cloudsmash.
“This is delicious!” she declared as she took another big bite.
“What's happening out there?” Rainbowshine asked, “where did Fluttershy go?”
Rainbow Dash explained the situation to them.
“...so Fluttershy didn't want to help us out”, Rainbow Dash said, “but how about you?”
“Does this mean we'll get more Peppermint Rush?”, Rainbowshine said.
“Well, obviously.”
“Then I'm in”, Rainbowshine said.
“And how about you Derpy?”
Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment and her eyes spun around.
“You want me to explain to you again?”
Derpy nodded. Rainbow Dash did so and at the end asked the same question as before.
“You need to do something?”, Derpy said.
“Yes”
“And you need me to help you do it?”
“Probably, yes”
“Then I'll help you do it!”, Derpy said, “it wasn't really that difficult.”
Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Alright”, Rainbow Dash said, “Tam-a-line could get most of the ingredients herself, but she needed help to get the most important ingredient, Breeze-mint A friend of hers grow it in an underground greenhouse. Well, under-cloud since we're not on the... never-mind! The City Guards are suspicious of her, but she thought we could probably get there unnoticed. But in case there IS any trouble, we'll need a plan, Derpy? can you cause a scene if needed?”
“Can I?”, Derpy said, “Most of the time people tell me NOT to cause a scene...”
“And where do I come in?”, Rainbowshine asked.
“You'll help me look for trouble while I deal with the Greenhouse-people.”

The three ponies went out on their mission to fiend the Breeze-mint. According to Tam-a-line, the greenhouse where located into the Cloud Forest, and to get there, they had to use their Orienteering skills. Rainbow Dash was in charge of reading the map and she worked hard trying to match cloud-formations and giant mushrooms to the symbols and signs on the map.

It wasn't easy to get into the mindset where you thought of giant red and yellow mushrooms as tiny blue squares, and could see cloud-elevation in the pattern of entangled lines across the map. And even if you could get into that mindset, there where still the fact that the forest looked about the same all the way trough. Finding the tiny differences in the pattern of mushrooms, algae, lichen, flying rocks and cloud-formations was a grueling exercise.

“Are we lost yet?” Rainbowshine said as they where walking down a pathway.
“I'll tell you when we are lost, all-right?”, Rainbow Dash responded, “You try reading the map if you think you'd be so much better at it!”
“You're doing fine”, Rainbowshine said, “I'm just getting a bit frustrated, it's all”.
“I know, I HATE orienteering”, Rainbow Dash said, “My gym teacher always made me do it if I caused too much trouble playing Dodge-ball... okay, NOW we are lost!”.

She threw her hands up into the air and sat down on a toadstool. The forest around them was completely still, apart from a few stray brids and the slight counter-clockwise rotation of the cloud-cover that rested over the giant mushrooms. Rainbowshine didn't have the heart to voice her anger. She just slumped down besides Rainbow Dash and the two ponies looked utterly defeated. Derpy, on the other hand, looked curiously chipper.

“What are you so happy for?” Rainbow Dash asked her.
“She said we should look for a small glade, right?”, Derpy said.
“right”
“with a giant mushroom in the middle?”
“Right”
“And a Rainbow Pool at the side of it, shaped like a bunny?”
"Right!"
“I think I found it!”, she said and pointed to the cloud next to them, which did indeed match her description.

“All-right, 'Shine”, Rainbow Dash said, “notice any trouble?”
Rainbow Dash scanned the area, she didn't think the Rainbow Pool looked all that much like a bunny, more like a duck.... But besides that she couldn't see anything wrong, at first, anyway... the forest was peaceful and alien, as was the norm for this place. The only thing that made this place any different from the hundreds of glades they had already passed by was that this one seemed slightly more occupied. If you had a keen enough eye, you could spot all the little signs that told you that this more than any other place where a place where ponies would stop by to rest and/or party. She was getting ready to call it when she spotted something in the distance.
“Yes!” She said, I see a couple of ponies over there, they might be City Guards.”
Might be' was putting it mildly, these Guards where not exactly inconspicuous. Even from their hiding place some distance away, they could see their mistrustful leers. They looked like they would hoofcuff a toadstool if it where capable of looking at them funy.

“All-right”, Rainbow Dash said, “It's your turn, Derpy!”
Derpy where shoved out of the fog. After a second of confusion, (which she spent spinning around), she got a hold of herself and flied towards the guards... and she promptly crashed into them.
“What are you doing here, civilian?”, said one of the Guards.
“I...”, Derpy began, searching for words, “I was looking for birds, I heard a Thunderbird had been spotted in the area, and I wanted to see it. Birds are great! Tell me, have you heard about the Oozlum bird? It keeps trying to stick its head up its own butt!...”
The guards looked at each other as Derpy went on. She played the role of diversion admirably and it gave the other two enough time to approach the giant mushroom.

As instructed, they knocked twice on the mushroom, and it sounded hollow. A small hatch opened which exposed a pair of suspicious eyes.
“Password?”, the pony on the inside asked.
“Hopscotch”, Rainbow Dash replied, “Tam-a-line sent us.”
“Yeah, she sent a letter, told me to look for a girl with a parrot for hair”
“Excuse me?”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
A door opened up form the inside of the mushroom. The two ponies went in and the door quickly closed.
“Watch your step”, the door-pony said and led them down a dark spiral staircase.
Because of the rather cramped and stairway, the ponies where unprepared for how large and elaborate the underground greenhouse was. Well, under-cloud, since... never-mind!

Anyway, the rows and rows of Breeze-mint plants that where growing here was the only flowering plant they had seen so far in the entire forest, which mostly consisted of fungi and lichen. They where enlightened by a system of mirrors and lenses of a design that could affectionately be described as “backyard tech”.Rainbow Dash and Rainbowshine where greeted by a large red pony with an unkempt mane and round purple sunglasses.
“Tam-a-line is making Peppermint Rush I heard?”, he said without even an introduction, “and of course she had to send a couple of rookies, she never learns!”.
He suddenly seemed to realize other people in the world existed.
“Oh, no offense to you”, he hastily added, “here, take this bag of leaves and please leave before you attract attention with that mane of yours, and tell Tam-a-line that she owes me.”
He ruffled the hair of Rainbow Dash as she gave him a look filled with daggers and venom.
“There is NOTHING wrong with my mane!”, she said.
She was about to go on complaining, but Rainbowshine stopped her.
“We better leave now before Derpy runs out of birds”, Rainbowshine remarked.

As they went out, they collided with Derpy, who was flying towards the mushroom in high-speed.
“I couldn't hold them off any longer”, she explained, “they are coming here and they look suspicious, we need to fly!”
They leaped into the air in unison and began flapping their wings. Without looking back they darted towards what they hoped was roughly the direction of Cloudsdale.
“I don't see them anywhere”, Rainbow Dash said after they had flown for a couple of miles, “I think we lost them.”

A shot of magic rang out from behind her and when she turned back she saw the two guard ponies holding a piece of fabric that supported a unicorn. Their eyes where homing in on them, and by all appearances, they where excellent fliers.
“Oh crap”, she said.
Hoping to confuse the guards, They steered towards a collection of small clouds and zig-zagged around them, but the guards persisted. Behind the clouds hey found a thick misty cloud that they dived into, and soon they where embraced by fog. It was hard to see, but it didn't matter. For them, all that mattered was the general direction, while the guards had to catch a very specific target.

“I think we're safe for now”, Rainbow Dash said, but that assessment was quickly dis-proven when she glanced behind her. She saw a series of bright lights that where working on dividing the fog into tiny spiral whips that glided away with the wind.
“Crud”, she exclaimed, “there's a spell for clearing fog? That's it, we're doomed!”
“Maybe not!”, Rainbowshine said, and she started to kick some of the more solid segments of the cloud in front of the guards.
“Great thinking!”, Rainbow Dash said, “it buys us at least five seconds of time, let me think... UP!””
The three ponies made a sharp upward turn, too steep for the guards to follow and they lost them in the mist. Stray cursing and shots of magic rang out from underneath, but it was too late, by the time they managed to clear the fog, the three ponies would be long gone.

The Race In My Head, part 1.

“You want a room NOW? Good luck with that!”, the hotel room clerk said to Fluttershy, “I bet you every hotel in town is booked for the race.”
Fluttershy looked dejected, of course this would be a problem, she should have seen it coming. The same scene took place in a few more hotels until somebody actually gave her a good idea.
“You need a place to stay for the race, dear?”, an old lady in the lobby of a particularly shabby hotel said, “Why don't you just by a tent-cloud and dock it in the Cloud Forest? A lot of young ponies do it.”

The Cloud Forest was particularly lonely at night. The small, luminous mushrooms that grew around the edges only provided just enough light for you to see how truly alone you where. Fluttershy dived further into her sleeping bag, trying to shut out the world. But the shrieks of nighttime birds and the low white-noise rustle of the wind forced her mind back to reality. She couldn't think inside of a sleeping bag, her mind simply didn't work that way. It was too small and artificial. She took a jar of fireflies out of her backpack and gently tapped the glass.
“Buzz buzz hrmm buzz?”, a small squeaky voice said from the inside of the jar.
“I can't sleep”, Fluttershy said to it, “I want to go for a walk, could you please shine for me?”
“Buzz! Buzz!”, the voice commanded and soon the jar shined brightly.
“Thank you, Mr, Crazy Diamond”, Fluttershy said, Crazy Diamond was the name of the chief Firefly.
“Buzz!”, Crazy Diamond replied.

The forest was a neon-blue haze, and that fit the state of her mind a little better at least. This part of the forest was not safe to fly in, and she made her way trough the old decrepit walkways that somepony put up ages ago. Nobody seemed to have used them for at least decades, if not centuries, not a lot of ponies went this deep into the forest. She tried not to look down as she walked over the aged sky-bridges, or else vertigo would not be far behind. The night was cool and restless, like the main character of a Cyberpunk story.

She had hoped that the exercise would tire her out, mentally if not physically, but that didn't seem to be the case. Her mind was still spinning, and if anything, wandering trough the forest made her more awake. Between the luminous mushrooms, the birds and the rustlnig of the wind, it was like trying to relax by walking trough an empty dancefloor in a nightclub. If she didn't get a good nights sleep, she would be in terrible shape for the race.
“Perhaps I should just fly home”, Fluttershy said to herself.
But she couldn't. For her, the Pigeon run was not about being the best or the fastest, it was about setting a goal for yourself, and then fulfill it. If she went home now, she'd disappoint a part of herself.

But it just wasn't the same without Rainbow Dash. If it wasn't for her, she probably wouldn't have come in the first place, Cloudsdale wasn't exactly her sort of town. She let out a small unheard sigh.
“I guess if I've stayed this long, I can stay a while longer”, she thought to herself, “and the race is the day after tomorrow anyway....”
She made her way back to the tent, asked Crazy Diamond to turn down the lights and slept a troubled sleep.

At about the same hour of the night, Rainbow Dash had trouble sleeping as well. Tam-a-line had invited all her pony friends to celebrate her lat
est batch of Peppermint Rush. The music kept pounding from downstairs, Livinr0dents song “My Life is a Cloud”. (Which made frequent use of air siren samples...) Rainbow Dash tried to shape the cloud she used as a pillow into a pair of earmuffs, but the intrusive low-frequency bass-line seeped in and de-tuned itself between her ears. Eventually she gave up trying to shut it out and went downstairs.

Her living-room looked like what would happen if you emptied a bag of skittles on a large bass-speaker turned on its side, strew cotton around it and played a Dubstep track. She had ponies from the rough side of Cloudsdale lounging around her living room, going trough her stuff and raiding her kitchen. The best that could be said about it was that they kept the place MOSTLY intact, at least cloud-furniture are easy to mend if broken...
“Rainbow!” Tam-a-line said, “come and join the party! I'm sorry about the table, I'll try to replace it, I swear!”, she made an attempt to fasten one of the legs to it, but it just turned into smoke.
“Don't worry about it”, Rainbow Dash said, “just... TRY not to break anything else. And I can't join, I need some rest before the race!”
“Oh, I'm sure you can manage”, Tam-a-line said, “you're a trained athlete, aren't you?”
Rainbow dash plowed trough the room towards the stereo.
“Yes”, she said to Tam-a-line, while she dialed the volume down.
There was a disappointed sigh from some of the dancing ponies in the room.
“And as a trained athlete”, she continued, “I know I need to sleep before a race, so could you PLEASE take this a party somewhere else?”
“Well, keep it down, don’t worry Tam a line said. By the way, could you stay here a few more days before the race? I don’t want to impose on you, but this place is GREAT for business!”

It almost seemed as if the words “last straw” flashed in Rainbow Dash’s eye for a quarter of a second.
“No”, she said, and her voice had an unusually sharp tinge, “I'm not gonna stay here for after the race, when the pigeon run is done, I am out of here!”
“Please? You should at least let me stay until this batch is sold, It's too risky to move”
“and what if I don't?”
“Well... then I can always tell the guard ponies about where to find a large quantity of illegal candies...”, she said in a low voice, “But don't worry about it”, she said in her normal voice, “Now go have a nice sleep. I promise to tell them to turn the music down...”

It didn't really matter much that she had turned the volume of the music down, though. The ponies where still talking, loudly, and she couldn't turn those people down unfortunately. And in the end, it didn't matter, because eventually, one of them turned the music back up anyway! She hit her pillow a couple of times and then turned over, forcing herself into sleep.

“Fluttershy`?” The clerk said, “I haven’t heard that name..”
She's pink and yellow, very demure, don’t speak up much....”, Rainbowshine described.
“Yeah, I remember her!”, the clerk remarked, that's the crazy mare who thought she could get a room just a few days before the race! Yeah, I've seen her around here...”
“Where is she now?”
“I dunno, probably went camping, lots of ponies do that if they can't get a room before the race.”

Rainbowshine looked defeated as she walked out of the lobby. This part of the street was adjacent to the Main Street, which meant it had the same impressive neoclassicist architecture, but with slightly less hustle and bustle. Outside, Derpy was waiting on a cloud shaped like a park-bench.
“So?” Derpy said, “did you find her?”
“Yeah”, Rainbowshine said, “she somewhere out in the Cloud Forest, we'll never find her!”
“Well, she's gotta come to town eventually, right?” Derpy said, “If we stick around, she might come. In any case, it is a really nice day, and there's so much of Cloudsdale I haven't seen yet, like the shops, the Marblehoof Library, The Weather Factory, the Owl Temple...”
That was not a terribly bad idea, they had to keep to the central streets if they wanted a chance, however slim, to bump into Fluttershy, though. But it gave them quite enough time to explore local watering holes and landmarks, at least.

They looked at the Mighty Atmospheric Obelisk (that was its official name), but it was honestly a slightly disappointing sight. It looked good on a postcard, but you didn't really need to see it in real life. Because big or small, it looks pretty much exactly the same. The real treat was that some anonymous street artist had carved roman numerals on the ground around the Obelisk, which made it into a giant sundial.

Afterwards they went for a trip to the Albedo Museum of Climate Engineering, where Rainbowshine nearly exposed her inner geek again as she rhapsodized about the great mares and horses that made the Weather Patrol what it is today. They went casually strolling down the Main Street, admiring the massive pillars and attempting to avoid the pushy salesmen who at that point before the race had abandoned all pretense and set up an actual outdoor bazaar right in the middle of the street. But still not a glimpse of Fluttershy.
“Should we give up and go home?” Rainbowshine asked Derpy.
“What?”, Derpy said, “Go home without first buying some ice cream? That's madness!”
“Okay”, Rainbowshine said, “I know a place where we can get really good ice cream!”

The Race In My Head, part 2.

Back at her camp, Fluttershy had been overcome by ennui. The isolation was tearing on her and she may or may not have attempted to talk to a mushroom. There was a brief battle between her boredom and her shyness, but eventually her boredom won out and got to dictate terms. She collapsed the tent-cloud (a process that slightly resembled deflating an air mattress) and put it in the backpack with the rest of her stuff. She then started wandering back towards Cloudsdale.

Fluttershy didn't expect to stumble onto Rainbowshine and Derpy on the Main Street of Cloudsdale, and to be fair, by that point, neither did them. By this point “getting ice cream” and eventually “eating the ice cream” had replaced “finding Fluttershy” as their mission objective.
“Hi, we thought you where still in the forest”, Rainbowshine said.
“And I thought you would be over at Rainbow Dash's place”, she replied.
“We would, but it's just not fun any more.” Rainbowshine said, “Ponies keep visiting to buy candy, and then they hang around forever, acting all weird from the sugar rush.”
“We're a bit worried about Rainbow Dash”, Derpy said, “we think Tam-a-line is getting too much control over her life. She really should think about last-minute training.”
“Come think about it”, Fluttershy said, “So should we. We can talk to Rainbow Dash after the race, provided she still wants to talk to me...”
“I know an indoors swimming pool around here!”, Rainbowshine said, “Diving is great exercise for flying, plus it's really fun!”

The indoor swimming pool was a surprisingly intricate piece of engineering. It wasn't easy to combine cloud with ceramic tiling. There where a lot of things going on underneath the cloud just to keep the water in place, tricks of material science that could only be described as “dark arts”, and possibly a hint of actual dark magic. Beyond that, it was a perfectly pleasant indoor swimming pool, however, the water made the light display a playful fragmented reflection on the ceiling and walls.

For some reason, the ponies felt the need to change into swimsuits, even though they normally didn't wear any clothes whatsoever (Don't ask, that's just how the world works...). In the dressing room, Fluttershy and the othe friends found Rainbow Dash. She had changed int oa pair of boyshorts with the Wonderbolt logo on them, but rather than go to dive into the pool, she just sat there, apprently lost in thought.
“Aren't you gonna get into the water?”, Derpy asked her.
“Yeah, evenually...”, Rainbow Dash replied, “Right now I just don't feel like it... wait a minute! Derpy, what are you doing here?”
“Goin' swimmin!”, she replied with a smile.
“Fluttershy!”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed!, ”Uhmmmm...”
Fluttershy echoed the last sentiment. There was a moment when neither of them dared to speak and the meaning of the word “mamihlapinatapai” seemed to resonate trough the air.
“We need to talk!”, they both concluded in unison.
In response to this, Rainbowshine couldn't help but snicker. Realizing the riddiculusness of the situation, the two ponies started laughing as well, and Derpy joined in because... well, if this many ponies was laughing ,it must be really funny.

The bland taste of the pools cafeteria didn't exactly benefit from the smell of chlorine that was in the air. Honestly, the cafeteria where mostly there to complete the scene, to create a place where people who didn't want to get wet could talk, and to provide bland chlorine-tasting snacks for those who absolutely had to have a hit of sugar before their swim. While they sat around a tacky table shaped like an ornate pillar, Rainbow Dash explained her predicament.
”...she's completely taken over!”, Rainbow Dash said, “I'm sorry if I got you guys in trouble, you made the right choice to leave.”
“We shouldn't have left you like that”, Fluttershy said.
“At least we can help you now”, Rainbowshine added.
“How?”,
“I dunno, just tell the city guards?”
“Of course I can't do that!”, Rainbow dash exclaimed, “If Tam-a-line and her friends realize I ratted them out, I'll never be able to go back to Cloudsdale. And I was in on it, remember? They'll probably want to arrest me too, and then I'll miss the race.”
“I got an idea”, Derpy said, “but one condition: You must never ask me how I did it, allright?”
The other ponies agreed and they all went back to the pool. They didn't exactly get too much training done once they discovered how fun it was to dive in like a cannonball and try to make the biggest splash. They may have eventually gotten back to training if they hadn't found a Beach-ball. Supervising Derpy in the deep end of the pool wasn't easy, so they mostly stayed at the shallow end, bouncing the ball around and generally played around like foals. Once they got out of the swimming pool, Derpy separated from the rest with minimal explanation. She took off and flew the straightest path she could manage back to Ponyville.

The Race In My Head. Part 3.

The Mayor looked at the stack of paper iThe Mayor looked at the stack of paper in front of her, with the look of somepony forced to scale a mountain at gunpoint. There was disputes to settle, decisions to be approved, approvals that had to be decided, and other varieties of grueling paperwork, all crowded together in one comically large pile. She sighed, she had no choice but to try and slog trough it all. For every paper she moved from the “in” file to the “out” file, she sent a wish out for some sort of distraction, anything that could brighten the day, and the answer came with a knock on the window. When the Mayor looked outside, she found a pair of lazy eyes staring back at her.
“Derpy!”, she exclaimed and opened the window, “what are you doing here? Did anyone see you?”
Derpy shook her head. “I was stealthy”, she said, “Like a ninja!”.
The Mayor looked at the obvious trail of destruction outside of her window. “So I see”, she replied, “Well, you seem to have gone unnoticed regardless, thank Celestia”
The Mayor opened her window up and let the mare in.
“Now what is the matter, darling? anything wrong?”
“It's about a friend of mine “, Derpy said, “She needs help!”
Derpy went on to explain the situation.
“Oh dear, that IS bad, and is there something I can do about it?”, The Mayor said.
“There MUST be!”, Derpy replied, “I mean, you're the Mayor!”
The Mayor fell silent and leaned back in her chair. Derpy looked at her with pleading eyes, a look too adorably goofy and sad to resist.
“It's not fair”, she said, “you know I can't say no when you give me that look. I suppose I could.... pull a few strings.”
“Yay!”, Derpy said.
There was a knock on the door. “Who are you talking to in there?”, said a voice from outside, belonging to the Mayors secretary, “I did not book any meeting at this time.”
“It's allright!”, The Mayor said trough the door, and then softly to Derpy, “You need to get out of here, we'll meet at my place after the race, ok?”
Derpy nodded and flew back out the window... or rather, she stumbled out, to the increased confusion of The Mayors secretary from the other side of the door.
“I heard something crash, are you okay in there?”
“Yes, definently”, The Mayor said, “I was just talking to myself.”
“In two different voices, ma'am?”, her secretary remarked.
“I am a hobby-ventriloquist”, The Mayor said and her voice suddenly gained a slightly darker quality, “Also, I will fire you if you question this explanation, are we clear?”
The secretary on the other side of the door stopped knocking and there was perfect silence for a moment.
“Yes”, the secretary said finally, “quite clear. Now about that meeting at five...”

In Rainbow Dash's house, the distinction between a party and a non-party had become a thin one. Tam-a-line was an enterprising mare and she made sure to keep the customers entertained, which included music, snacks, friendly conversation and a space to crash in for ponies coming down from their sugar-high.

Rainbow Dash opened the door, and the sight that met her did not amuse her. Though at least no more furniture where broken...
“Oh you're back!”, Tam-a-line said, “I hope you don't mind that I let a few of my friends stay here for the night, they came down pretty hard.”
“Oh for...”, Rainbow Dash nursed the space between her brows.
“Anyway”, Tam-a-line said, “You'll be happy to hear that I manged to sell a lot of Peppermint Rush, and I'm thinking of starting up a second batch.”
“That's.... nice”, Rainbow Dash said, forcing a smile.
It seemed that Tam-a-line could detect the apprehension In Rainbow Dash's voice, because she suddenly looked a bit worried.
“It's about last night, isn't it?”, she said “Look, I don't want to screw you over, allright? I want us to be friends. It's hard to find someone you can trust in this business.”
“Is that so?”, Rainbow Dash said.

There was a commotion starting outside. A few not-so-bright ponies came running into the house, followed by a pair of City Guards leering out into the world behind smoked lenses.
“Just as we thought”, one of them said, “A Den of Debauched Delinquents!”
“Nobody move!”, said the other, “keep your hooves where I can see them!”
“Oh crap!”, Tam-a-line yelled, “We must have woken the neighbors or something, I knew we should've kept it down.”
One of the guards hoofcuffed Tam-a-line and the other one grabbed Rainbow Dash.
“Let go off me!”, she said, “This is MY house!”
“Is that so?”, the guard said, and you could just barely see one eyebrow being raised behind his sunglasses, “In that case you should definitely come with us.” He handcuffed her and led her outside to a prison wagon.
The two guards where joined by a handful of others and soon most of the ponies caught inside had joined them. Four of the guard placed themselves on each side of the wagon and together they had enough strength to lift it up into the sky. Rainbow dash studied the wooden planks that made up the floor as the wagon rose up and they where carried away.

“Oh crap”, Rainbow Dash said, “oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!”.
They had placed her in a jail cell away from the others, and she was completely alone with the words “oh crap!” running trough her head.
“How am I supposed to compete in the race tomorrow if I am stuck in here?!”, Rainbow Dash yelled to herself.
“You think THAT'S your biggest problem?”, another prisoner shouted from across the hall, “Ignorance truly is bliss, isn't it?”
Rainbow Dash sat down on the ground of her cell, a particularly thick variety of cloud that tried to pretend it was stone. She felt melancholia crash trough her like seismic waves, followed by violent after-shakes of anxiety. She retreated into herself and became like a rainbow-colored stone herself.

The rest of the day she spent in that state, just a relentless inner gray that refused her even the satisfaction of a mental breakdown. It was as if some lower part of her brain-functions had stepped up to the plate and said “I'll take it from here”. The next morning, she was woken up early by one of the guards.
“Starting today, you are on temporary parole”, the guard informed her, “the mayor is letting you compete in the race, apparently there where some pressure or something from Ponyville, their Mayor called up and threatened to cause trouble if their star athlete didn't get to compete In the race”, he said.
“Oh my gosh!”, Rainbow Dash replied.
“Athletes!”, the guard muttered, “you guys get all the breaks. The second this race is over, I'll personally throw you back in her, you understand?”
“Sure”, Rainbow Dash said.

Later that day, the other ponies met up with Rainbow Dash outside of the station.
“I don't know what you did, Derpy”, Rainbow Dash said, “but it was totally awesome!”
“It's still just for one day”, Derpy reminded her.
“Who cares? All I need to do is win the race, get crowned Queen for a Day and wish myself and Tam-a-line free!”.
Rainbowshine and Fluttershy traded glances with each other.
“Are you really going to let Tam-a-line go?”, Fluttershy asked, “she was the one who got you into trouble to begin with.
“Well, she may not have been a good friend”, Rainbow Dash said, “but she's still my friend. And if I just leave her, I'll be the bad friend!”
“Not to put rainclouds all over your Parade”, Rainbowshine said, “but first you need to WIN this race, and that is easily said than done, are you ready for it?”
There was a fire burning in rainbow Dash's eye, hotter than any sun.
“I was BORN ready”, she said.

I was the day of the race, and both spectators and participants saturated the atmosphere with a heavy air of anticipation. The first group of participants where waiting at the starting line. The flyers started in three groups, the first group included the amateur-flyers, those that, like Fluttershy, where mainly there for the challenge. The second group was the trained amateurs and the third and last group was the one Rainbow Dash belonged to: the athletes.

“Group three to the starting line, five seconds!”, a voice blared out trough the loudspeakers.
Rainbow Dash's focus narrowed. As she placed herself at the starting line, she prepared to turn herself into a lighting bolt. She preferred not to think too much when getting into the right starting position, any thoughts would just distract her. She ran the track in her head. Could she see herself first over the finish line? Of course she could.
She remembered something a trainer had quoted to her as a filly: ” You will begin to touch heaven in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, is being there.” She'd always thought that quote was a bit cheesy and she didn't really understand it, but this day, it kept ringing trough her head regardless. The five seconds where up.
“3...” the loudspeaker said, “2... 1.... START!”

It was like her wings didn't exist. The work of her muscles became just as second nature as breathing. A few seconds into the race and she was already among the first, but it was still early, it meant nothing. Fluttershy was right, this was an endurance test, not merely an exercise in speed. To win, her body would have to be just as brutally efficient as the machinery in the Weather Factory.

Rainbow Dash slowed down slightly and ignored the other ponies inching in on her. They didn't matter, not yet. She rounded the first checkpoint and by that time, several other athletes had overtaken her. She resisted the urge to push herself back to the lead. She knew she had to save her energy until the end. She wasn't gonna let anyone else get past her, though.

The second checkpoint passed, and then she approached the water station. No-pony wanted to stop in this race, obviously, so they had a pony operating a hose that she aimed at the participants. It was then up to you to catch the amount of water you needed in the air. It was not a perfect system, and prone to abuse. The water was always colder in the beginning, which could throw some fliers off and severely cripple their chances for the rest of the race. There where even rumors of the water-ponies accepting bribes from bookmakers to sabotage the race, but nothing could be conclusively proven.

Rainbow Dash where soaked in ice-cold water. It wasn't much, but it was enough to throw her internal rhythm off. She wasn't like an automatic machine anymore. She where controlling herself manually, she could feel it. While she was shaking herself off, the other racers where inching in on her.
“Oh, no you don't!”, Rainbow Dash said.
She started zig-zagging to throw the other ponies off, make it harder for them to get past her. That did keep them at bay, but it wasted precious energy. Soon she just couldn't hold them off any longer and they broke trough.

She stepped on her inner gas pedal, forced every aspect of her mind and her body back into the zone. But now it was her turn to be behind a pony who didn't want her to get back to the front. This pony used a slightly different tactic than her, instead of wasting her energy with speedy zig-zags, he simply tilted towards one side, forcing her to slow down.
“Clever move”, Rainbow Dash thought, “but not clever enough, this pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking...”.

Instead of overtaking him on the side, she flied straight down, under him. The other pony got put slightly off course by her sudden disappearance and that hesitation was all the time she needed. She re-appeared right in front of him, forcing him to suddenly “break” and drop down slightly. Once he was back on track she was already way ahead of him.

The finish-line was closing in on the horizon, and she was once again back in the front of the race. It was time for the endgame. She was flapping her wings as fast ash she could, and her vision got dominated by black dots, but all around her, the other athletes where gaining in. The gravity of her situation was sinking in, and it felt like a millstone forming around her neck. One mistake, even a slight pause to catch her breath, would make all the difference between weather she became the toast of the town or had to spend the next month in jail. She closed her eyes, that very thought alone seemed to invite error. She decided not to think about it, or about anything.

Thought did not exist, the world did not exist. The other athletes only existed as ghosts in a void that otherwise contained nothing but her and the finish line. She darted on, but the black dots that had disrupted her vision started to disrupt her mind as well. Even her reduced image of the world disappeared into blackness...

Once she shook herself out of it, she had already lost. She lagged dangerously behind and only a final spurt could save her chances. But... she just couldn't do it. She had no strength left. The best she could do was to saunter towards the goal and hope for divine intervention.

The crowd cheered, but not for her. Some other pony had reached the goal before her, a stallion that to her only existed as a flash of white teeth and a blonde mane. She didn't really pay attention at this point, the black dots where still dominating her vision. She laid down on the cloud after she crossed the finish line and it took her final ounce of strength to keep afloat enough not to sink trough it.

It took her a while to notice, but apparently her friends carried her away from the arena.
“That was a great performance!”, Fluttershy said, “You came in at number five, you should be proud.”
“Proud...” Rainbow Dash muttered, “that counts for NOTHING! They don't hand out prizes for fifth place! Number fives are losers!”
“You're not running away, are you?”, a voice asked her from behind. It was the Guard from before.
“I could try”, she said, “but right now you could send out attack-snails against me and I wouldn't be able to outrun them...”
“I'm glad to hear that”, the guard said, smirking.
“That was some pretty impressive flying there”, he said, “Won't do you a lick of good in jail, though. Put her down, she's coming with us!”
The other ponies obeyed and Rainbow Dash where escorted off to jail.

Rainbow Dash was lying down on the cot in her cell, intently admiring the ceiling. She didn't really give it much thought, but she was kinda lonely. The other ponies had gone home, Fluttershy had left with her house yesterday, along with Derpy. Rainbowshine had made an offer to visit her, but she had declined. “Better have her stay out of trouble”, she thought. “She was part of this too, after all”. It only felt a little unfair that she was the one who had to suffer all the negative consequences, but by this point, she had spent enough time alone with her thoughts to just shrug it off.
“A packet for Rainbow Dash”, the guard announced.
“Really?”, she said.
“Yes, really.”, the guard said as he handed it over to her. According to the address, it was sent by Twilight Sparkle.
“Good old Twilight”, she thought, “I wonder what it could be?”

Twilight was not the sort of pony who would, say, give her a file hidden in a cake. That would be more Pinkie Pies thing (only either the file would be made out of sugar, or the cake would simply be shaped like a file, with little dark chocolate teeth. It would be a really tasty cake, though.) But she still held out hope for something that could get her out of jail, or at the very least a Daring Do-book to help occupy the time. She opened up the package. Inside was, (among a few other gifts from her friends) a quill, a bottle of ink and two parchments. One of the parchments was empty, the other one was a letter:

“Dear Rainbow Dash

Fluttershy explained what happened to me, and I just had to write right away. The good news is this, we have decided to post bail for you, but it's gonna take a couple of days for us to raise the money. There will still have to be a trial, of course, but under the circumstances, I think you'll get a pretty lenient sentence. In the meantime, why don't you spend some time writing a nice letter? I think you can guess to whom... Spike will be around soon to pick it up, have a nice day!

Faithfully yours
Twilight Sparkle.”

Rainbow Dash groaned, but then resigned. She was right, it's not like she had anything better to do at the moment. The took a look at the other gifts in the package. Derpy had sent her a muffin, or at least something that looked like it once was a muffin, most of it was lying around in crumbs. The crumbs where pretty tasty, though. Pinkie Pie had sent her a cassette player and a cassette containing a recording of her singing a motivational song. By accident, or as a deliberate ironic joke, the melody was reminiscent of “Foalsom Prison Blues” by the Pegasus country-singer Joan Crash. (Rainbow dash preffered k.d. mustang herself, at least she didn't do any songs about prisons....) Fluttershy had included her own letter, written on paper made out of sugar-canes and which included the word “sorry” ten times.
“Well, whats done is done”, she remarked to herself.
But there was no need to stall any further, she picked up the quill and started to compose a letter:

“Dear Princess Celestia

If Twilight hasn't already informed you, I probably should, I am writing this from inside a jail-cell in Cloudsdale. What can I say? I just got with the wrong crowd. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, but frankly, there's very little of it I wouldn't do again. The girl that dragged me into this actually turned out to be pretty interesting friend. We've talked a bit since and she knows a lot about life I just never had a chance to learn.

There's one thing I'd like to change though, as an athlete, I really should have thought more about my health. I didn't get a chance to train properly for the race, and it showed in my performance. It is very easy to get distracted by what feels good in the short term and forget about the things that pay off in the long term.

There's a reason I don't like just lounging about all day, and there's a reason I train and I compete. The sense of accomplishment you feel when you picture the goal in your head and then make it a reality, that's a rush more powerful than anything you can get from Peppermint. That being said, I have a few choice words I want to say about Equestrias enhanced sugar laws...."

Epilouge

Once again, a mysterious cloaked pony made her way trough Ponyville. She eventually reached the hourse of the house of The Mayor. This time she could not see anyone peering trough the curtains in the window. She was under strict instructions not to knock, so she just tried the door. It opened. She found The Mayor waiting for her in the hellway.
“There you are, Derpy”, The Mayor said, “we need to talk!”
A sweatdrop ran down Derpy's forehead.
“I don't think I like talking!”, she said.
“Neither do I”, The Mayor said, “but we need to regardless.”
She led Derpy into the living room and they both sat down on the rather tastefully designed sofa.
“You got to understand”, she said, “that I have a very important position in Ponyville. I got a lot of responsibility, and you have me pretty much on my knees. You know more than enough to drive me out of office for good, because I trust you, and I know you can keep a secret. But this means you put me in a difficult position when you request something from me. Maybe you don't realize it ,but you could force me to do pretty much anything...”
The Mayor looked sad, she continued the rest of her monologue without looking Derpy in the eyes.
“If you're going to make any more requests from me that require me to use my official position, we're going to approach a point where I can't be both the mayor and your lover at the same time, do you understand?”
Derpy looked even sadder. At the bottom of her derpy eyes, large gushes of water where waiting to be released.
“Please”, she said, “I just wanted to help a friend, and I would never want to force you to do anything! I promise not to ask for something ever again!”
The Mayor hugged her and they both stayed in that embrace for a very long time.
“Don't feel bad about yourself”, The Mayor finally said, “what you did was noble, and I'd never have granted it if I thought it was too much to ask.”
“You're the greatest!”, Derpy said, “But to be honestly had hoped for a solution that didn't involve putting Rainbow in jail...”
“Me too”, The Mayor said, “but there where only so much I could do without attracting too much attention, and I really hoped she'd win, it would've been such a nice homecoming parade...”
“OOOOH, I LOVE PARADES!”, Derpy exclaimed, “Could we have one anyway?”.
Suddenly, she froze up and stopped herself.
“Uhm, that wasn't a demand or anything, just a suggestion... no not even that, please don't have a parade just because I said it! Wait, that's a demand too, isn't it?”
She was flailing frantically about trying to correct herself, but The Mayor just laughed.
“I'll take that suggestion into consideration”, she said and gave Derpy a quick kiss.
“But now it's time for ME to make a demand”, The Mayor said, “You do owe me one after all.”
“Anything you say”, Derpy offered.
“Do you have the recipe for those really tasty triple-chocolate nougat muffins you made once?”
“Of course I do!”, Derpy said, “But they are really complicated, they're gonna take all night!”
“Oh, I don't mind that!”, The Mayor said with a chuckle.