//------------------------------// // 17. X Race // Story: Hero Souls: Awakening // by SvenFoxx //------------------------------// “What?” Trixie smirked and backed up to the center of her stage. “You heard Trixie. I challenge anyone who will accept. Name the game, name the rules, and Trixie will prove her claims.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “A race!” she announced immediately, landing on the stage. “A race? And I suppose you’ll be so kind as to inform Trixie how she is to do such a thing against a Pegasus, especially one of your reputation… Rainbow Dash?” Trixie asked with raised eyebrow. Rainbow Dash scowled when she realized what Trixie was insinuating. “You want me to not fly?” she asked in distaste. Trixie shrugged. “Well, Trixie supposes she will just have to spontaneously sprout wings and instantly know how to use them. After all, it is entirely unfair if you can take shortcuts that Trixie cannot.” She grinned. “Of course, if it’s an unfair race you want… Trixie is capable of playing ball.” Slowly, a grin spread across Rainbow Dash’s face. “You’re suggesting an X Race.” Her grin became vicious. “I’m game! Draw the line. We’re racing to the library, you have to touch it, and back. First across the line wins, and I’ll acknowledge you as better than me at racing.” Trixie magically drew a line on her stage. “And the rules of engagement?” she asked casually. Rainbow Dash flew to the line and got into a ready position behind it. “Nothing that can kill or cripple. And no endangering the spectators or buildings.” Twilight made herself known with a sigh, trotting up as Trixie got into a ready position. “Fine, if you two are going to do this, I’m going to referee. I’m going to make my way to the Library and then send up a flare. That will be your signal to start. Agreed?” She got two nods, and then vanished in a flash of teleportation. Trixie quirked an eyebrow. “Not many Unicorns can teleport. Who was that?” she asked her competition. “Twilight Sparkle, the owner of the Golden Oak Library,” Rainbow Dash explained. Trixie’s eyes widened. “That was Twilight Sparkle?” she asked in shock. “The very same Twilight Sparkle that is Princess Celestia’s personal student in magic? The same Twilight Sparkle that nearly levelled the examination center all those years ago on accident?” Rainbow Dash nodded with a smirk. “What? Worried that there’s a Unicorn out there more magical than you?” she taunted. Before Trixie could respond, a purple tinted flare of magic shot into the air. Trixie acted immediately. A spell shot from her horn to Rainbow Dash’s hooves and then she was off like a shot. Rainbow Dash tried to follow, but... Her face hit the floorboards of Trixie’s stage. She looked at her hooves, and found them frozen to the floor by strong ice. She grimaced. “Okay, I should have expected that when racing a Unicorn in an X Race,” she admitted, to some chuckles from the crowd. “That no good cheater!” Applejack roared in anger, before hopping up to the stage and rearing around to buck the ice holding her friend in place. “Wait, Applejack! Stop!” Rainbow Dash cried, stopping her friend just before she unleashed. “If you help me, I’ll have to forfeit. What she did was legal,” she explained. “Honestly, she could have done worse. At least I’m not hurt.” “Legal!? In what way is attacking other racers legal!” Applejack was having none of it. “She can do whatever she wants in an X Race, Applejack, so long as she adheres to the rules we agreed on.” Rainbow Dash said, examining her hooves. She frowned. Applejack was still scowling. “I don’t like it.” “You don’t have to. You’re not the one racing.” Rainbow Dash slowly bent her legs at the hooves. There was a sound of cracking. “Almost…” “My friend is! I like seeing my friends win!” Rainbow Dash smiled at her friend and opened her mouth to say something. Suddenly, the ice shattered from the force she was applying. “Yes! Later!” She zipped away with a rainbow contrail immediately, intent on winning. --- Twilight saw Rainbow Dash approaching at speed. “She was just here! Hurry and you can catch her!” she shouted as quickly as she could. Rainbow Dash looped around the trunk of the tree, striking the bark as she did, and shot off in the opposite direction. Twilight instantly vanished in a teleport. --- Everyone saw Trixie as she came running into Town Square, but roughly ten feet from her stage Rainbow Dash came blasting in as well. Trixie noticed just as Rainbow Dash passed her, and saw Twilight appear in a teleport on the stage. An idea hit her. What happened next was too quick for anyone to follow. The end result, however, was Trixie and Rainbow Dash in a tangle of limbs on the other side of the finish line. As they untangled themselves, Twilight approached. “The winner is Trixie Lulamoon,” she announced. “But Rainbow Dash was in the lead!” Rarity protested it. Twilight shook her head. “Yes, but then Trixie teleported directly in front of Rainbow Dash, ending with Rainbow shoving her over the line. Technically, Trixie crossed first, so… she wins.” She glanced at Trixie as she dusted off her hat and cape. “I trust you know how incredibly dangerous what you did was?” she asked more quietly. Trixie waved a hoof. “Yes, yes, teleporting blind and all that. Trixie will repeat herself, she is the best.” Twilight got in her face, growling. Trixie quailed slightly. “You could have exited that teleport inside of my friend. You would have killed her and you in one of the worst ways possible.” she whispered fiercely. “If I see a stunt like that again tonight, I will snap your horn myself!” “Yes ma’am.” Trixie shivered. For a moment she had forgotten this was supposedly Twilight Sparkle. She was likely the only Unicorn in Equestria that could make that call and get away with it. Trixie took a moment to regain her bearings before turning to Rainbow Dash with an expectant grin. Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine, you’re a better racer than me,” she admitted, but then she also grinned. “But I intend to challenge you again one day! I ain’t second best to anyone at speed!” Trixie nodded. “And Trixie will be waiting.” She turned to the crowd. “Next?” Applejack stepped up. “Alright. Ah suppose I should have a go at this,” she smirked. “I challenge you to a Bucking Contest!”