Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
Several flower stems littered the grassy valley—their petals completely plucked clean.
A few paces over... a second jug of medicine lay—completely empty.
And a dozen more feet from there...
...Rainbow Dash lay slumped on her chest, panting and wheezing for breath.
She paused only to gnash here teeth, gazing across the tall grass.
Ponyville lay in the distance under a hot noonday sun. Its gold-thatched rooftops glistened in the light... like distant stars. Even if she walked—Rainbow knew—it would take an aching eon to get there.
Wincing, she tried to stand up—only to plop back on her haunches. "Ooomf..." Panting for breath, she looked at her forelimbs. Her fetlocks practically dangled from where she held them. It took an epic amount of concentration to get them to even flex at this point.
With a nervous shudder, she looked all around her. The earth had been ripped up from where her heavy hooves struggled—in vain—to get a decent running start. Elsewhere, several fresh potholes remained from where she had fallen multiple times on her belly, back, and flank.
The mare then looked at the empty jug of medicine. Not a drop had been left inside. The more she gazed at it, the more her extremities tingled—as if laughing at her. Rainbow's breaths grew shallower and shallower. She squeaked something—like an exhausted little foal. Her vision fogged and she felt a soreness overwhelming her throat, spreading through her body. The first of many shivers came, and she hugged herself in time to weather an oncoming sob—
"Hey! Rainbow Dash! There you are!"
"...!!!" Rainbow Dash hopped up with a single flap of her wings. Through sheer will power, she managed to land on all fours and not collapse. Her outstretched feathers managed to keep her upright and balanced as she peered aside. "Huh?"
A stallion touched down, grinning. "Training super hard, huh?"
Rainbow sniffled, but hid it with a smug expression. "Uhhh... Sharp Quill?"
"Pfft!" He shrugged. "What'd you expect? A griffon with a metal beak?"
"Rrnnngh..." Rainbow Dash attempted to smooth her bangs back. Her numb hoof slapped her forehead in the process. "If that's a reference to something, I'm too friggin' tired to care."
"Well, that wouldn't surprise me!" Sharp Quill smirked. "I heard you signed up for the Equestrian Marathon!" His teeth showed. "Right after you gave that moron in a blue suit a severe tongue-lashing!"
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow winced. "Yeahhhhhhhh..." Her ears twitched. "Exactly... how many ponies in Ponyville know about that?"
"Why shouldn't they?" Sharp Quill chuckled. "You're the pride of the town! About time someone showed up that windbagged blowhard!"
"Yes, well..." Rainbow shuddered, nearly teetering over. "I'm not a fan of mega-jerks."
"Heh... yeah." Sharp Quill winked. "Too bad he's not the one doing the running, huh?"
Rainbow froze in place, her cold blood running colder. "...what's that supposed to mean?"
"Well... heh... only that it's Brick Lesneigh whom you'll be competing against. Sure won't be a walk in the park."
"Yeah, and...?" Rainbow glared.
"You've got your work cut out for you, that's for sure—" Sharp Quill suddenly found himself bending back from an intimidating growl.
"Are you saying that I haven't got what it takes to challenge that thick-skulled moron head-on?!" Rainbow snarled.
"Huh?" Sharp Quill blinked. "Of c-course not! Just saying that it's a superbig challenge!"
"So what? I can't step it up and beat that living mountain at his own game?!" Rainbow barked.
"N-no, Rainbow..." Sharp Quill grimaced, lifting a hoof. "Quite the opposite! It's... r-really quite inspirational! Heck, I just signed up today so I can... y'know... sorta team-up with you and the rest of the runners!" He gulped. "Why are you so ticked off all of the sudden—?"
"I said that I could beat Brick Lesneigh and that's what I'm gonna do!" Rainbow thundered, her nostrils flaring. "You think I'm some sort of weak pony who's gonna let Ponyville down after all she's promised?! Huh?! You think I wanna leave my lasting legacy as a has-been?!"
"I... d-didn't say any of—" Sharp Quill blinked hard. "Yeesh, Rainbow... what's wrong with you today?"
"The only thing wrong with me is that I hadn't committed hard enough! But that changes here and now!" She huffed and puffed. "Screw Brick Lesneigh and screw you! I ain't afraid of nothing. If Brick Lesneigh thinks he's such a badflank—he doesn't know what he has coming! I'm gonna kick his flank so hard at this running competition that it'll put every sonic rainboom I've ever made to shame!" She flapped her wings harder, lifting up. "See that I don't!" FWOOOOOOSH! In a thunderous streak, she rocketed towards the heart of town.
Sharp Quill lingered in place, reeling. "Jeez louise..." He shuddered, standing evenly. "What crawled into her butt and grew branches?" Just as he said that, he nearly tripped on something. The stallion glanced down, spotting two empty jugs. His muzzle dropped as his brow furrowed curiously. In a nervous stupor, he gazed sky-high. "Rainbow...?"
Inside the Town Hall building...
An elderly volunteer sat at a table marked "Equestrian Marathon Sign-Ups." She yawned, scribbling words and numbers across a checksheet.
Thump!
Startled, the mare jolted in her seat. She looked up to see a heavy bit bag lying on the table before her—its canvas edges still settling. "Uhhhhhh..." She looked up over the bag. "Can I help you?"
"You sure can." Rainbow hovered in place, nostrils flaring. "I've come to donate to the Equestrian Marathon."
"Uhhhm..." The elder mare shifted nervously. "But—Miss Dash... is it? You've already signed up... and donated."
Rainbow frowned. "Well I've come to donate more."
Page generated in 0.086 seconds
Total duration
611 users online
959,793 hits today, 2,130,388 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Oh, nice one, Dull Quill!
Way to stick your hoof in your mouth!
All the way up to your freakin' elbow!
So either Dash is going to miraculously discover some way to be physically able to run the race, or it's finally going to come out about her condition. I don't see Dash bailing when Scoots and Caramel are counting on her, and with the jugs of medicine being discovered by Quill, I suspect that at least one pony is going to know about it before the race (though probably not the rest of the mane 6, because this is Appledashery after all).
On an unrelated topic, where are we we roughly again in comparison to the shows seasons? I've lost track
7381218 Between Season 1 and 2. The story began with the Gala, and the events in this universe have caused a tangent with Discord and Rainbow's relationship interfering with the start of season 2.
Sharp Quill's gonna think she's on steroids with the mystery potion and rage
New headcanon: Shellstrings is a comic book in the Appledashery universe.
Also, wuh-oh... Sharp Quill is now the first character to really have a shot at uncovering Rainbow's secret. He'll probably be totally oblivious, but he has a shot!
Distance!
I wouldn't even be surprised if Rainbow got disqualified for substance abuse at this point. Absolutely no one knows about her condition, so what will ponies think if they find out she's needs a mysterious potion to run?
yeah....afraid of nothing.
Except of telling her friends about her condition that's going to kill her.
And getting the surgery that could save her life because her wings are more important
And telling her friends that she lost her house
And telling her friends that she is planning on moving away.
And admitting to herself or anyone else that she just screwed up and shot her mouth off and for once she cannot back it up.
And not telling Applejack how she feels and letting it get to the point where it can be argued that she would be better off if she DIDN'T tell her (the one time she had the guts to do so the plot waltzed up and cock blocked her).
So yeah....basically afraid of nothing
And I'm too tired to come up with a clever quip.
Seriously, though, I haven't a clue at this point how Dash continues on for another hundred chapters, never mind another thousand, short of a deus ex machina.
7381373 she's afraid of all the things that she's not supposed to be afraid of and runs headfirst into the things that sane ponies go around
7381302 Discord and Fluttershy both already know. Fluttershy might not know how bad it is at this point, but she's at least aware
Okay, so ripping up the earth to get traction isn't too far fetched, but just how hard is she falling down that she's cratering the earth?
small trenches I can see, where she's fallen on her face and it's dragged like a shovel, but to just straight up leave mini craters...
So now, on top of everything else, she's broke? Is she trying to be this stupid?
Aww, Dash...
How many of those potions do you have left? Does anyone remember a number from the last batch Zecora made or was it just 'a bunch'?
7381492
cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/62981978.jpg
But all seriousness, I'm not too sure myself. This race is going to wreck Dash's supplies, her mind, and her body trying to pull off the impossible. After the race? She's broke and going to be out of potions soon (if she isn't already), she's going to be in real rough shape come time step up to the Lunar Code.
7381302
I could see him bringing the potion to one of Dash's friend's attention thinking she's drinking alcohol and it blowing up into a 'what the heck is this stuff Dash?'. Oorr... nothing could happen. It's a coin flip, really
Lets just hope the judges believe in natural medicine.
Rainbow Dash is such a dumbass right now. It's enough to make me want to take a break from the story.
Well. An opportunity for discovery of Dash's crippling disability? Or yet another hook in the grass?
7382230
Nah, she's been doing it so much recently that it just comes naturally now.
7379244 Kill... myself??? why?????
Rainbow Stahp, please...
Somepony slap some sense into her already. Oh right she hasn't shared anything with the other elements.
Caramel, your purse, if you please.