//------------------------------//
// The Last Great Race 
// Story: Robot Pony 
// by Dreadnought 
//------------------------------//

Everybody rushed to downtown.  Men, women, children.  Young and old.  Locals and tourists alike.  Hurriedly they threw on coats, donned hats, and pulled on gloves.  The fortunate remembered to grab their flashlights before leaving home.  Everyone had been waiting for this moment.  Every since last year, everybody in town, across the state, and even the world, had been waiting.

Downtown Nome lit up on a cold winter night.  News crews trained their cameras onto the blackness as people peered into the darkness.  Everyone was abuzz with anticipation.  Hushed whispers flew back and forth - predictions, rumors, and speculation.  Who would it be?  Who would win?

Good morning to viewers from across Alaska.  Welcome to our special live coverage of the finish of Iditarod 2020!  We are moments away from seeing the leader cross the finish line.  Reports from the last checkpoint indicate that Thomas Waerner departed first with a significant lead.  Waerner is a native of Norway.  Number 40, he began participating in the Iditarod in 2015, where he finished 17th overall and was named the rookie of the race.  Last year he didn't compete, but this year he is poised to win his first Iditarod!

The crowd grew restless.

It appears that he has arrived!  As you can see, he's coming down the street.  Wait!  What is that?  It appears that another team is right behind him!  This is unbelievable!

The two teams raced through downtown.  The trailing team slowly gained ground.  The leader pushed his team harder, and began to pull away.  The challenger spurred their team faster, closing the gap.  Neck and neck they raced.  The finish line lay just ahead.  The crowd roared.  Never had there been such a close finish in all of the Iditarod!  This would be one for the record books!  They crossed!  The challenger won by a nose!  Number 59 won!

News crews rushed to interview the winner.

The reporter pushed a microphone forward to the musher, "Congratulations on winning the Iditarod!  Can you say a few words?"

The musher paused, clearly worn from the thousand mile race and nine days on the trail.  The musher reached up and pulled off their hat to reveal a rich pink mane.  Pulling off the facemask showed a yellow face and large cyan eyes.

"Oh, I'm so happy to be here," Fluttershy beamed.  "It's ever so cold out and I'm very tired of being on the trail."

"What was the secret to your success?"

"Well, animals are my special talent.  I told Mr. Paws - he's my lead dog - that we were way behind and needed to catch up.  The whole team wanted to win, so they pushed themselves hard."

"And weighing as much as a child, compared to that of a full-sized man, also helped."

"I suppose you're right."


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