This, however, brought her out at the other end of the trench, and she soon cleared the climb and exited out on top, before quickly hopping in the air. "Yes! I did it! Eat that, Diamond Tiara!"
"Excuse me?!" said an extremely shrill voice. Scootaloo turned around to see Diamond Tiara emerging from the climb, her face red, puffing and panting, and mud on her clothes.
To say that Diamond Tiara looked a mess would be something of an understatement. As she should there (sorry, that should say stood there, please do forgive my shonky editing), she continued to puff slightly, a possible consequence of her choice of attire. As previously mentioned, her dress was now with mud upon it, as she had been going through a trench at a different pace to Scootaloo. She also looked a mess in that field, as her hat was missing and some of her jewelery was also misplaced (probably all the way back there in the mud). She glanced about and headed for a nearby tree, flopping down as best she could and spreading her skirts to prevent the whole lot flying up in her face. She looked at Scootaloo, her facial expression a distinct one of confusion.
"How did you get through the canyon so fast?" she asked. "There's no way you could have covered the ground that quickly!"
"You're forgetting something," Scootaloo smiled. "Well, two things actually. The first is that what I'm wearing is far lighter than yours, so I can run faster. I also don't have a corset on. Which makes breathing easier."
"That still doesn't explain your grip on the terrain, though," Diamond Tiara responded, trying to get some of the mud off her hem. "This'll take ages to get out, and the cleaning staff are currently on their day off!"
Scootaloo smirked, and lifted her skirt. Not in that way. On her feet were the boots, revealed for the entire world to see.
"What? There's nothing in the rules that says those were allowed!"
"Yes," Scootaloo responded. "But there also wasn't anything that said they weren't allowed either. So I figured I should wear them, giving me an advantage in that field as you know the terrain here. I don't."
Diamond Tiara sighed. "I really should word rules much more carefully," she said, and stood up, having given up with the mud. "These'll need cleaning, of course. Speaking of which, I have a challenge."
"Is this the third one?" Scootaloo asked.
Diamond Tiara pointed at the sky, which had turned rather ominous. Thunder boomed in the sky, and the environment was becoming slowly more oppressive. "I don't think we can do anything else outdoors, so the third section will need to be changed."
"To what?"
Diamond Tiara smirked, relishing the look on Scootaloo's face. "Whomever gets back to the house last has to wash them." With that, she suddenly blasted away with a boost of speed, laughing.
"You're on!" Scootaloo replied, and sprinted after her, determined to get there first.
It was now a few days later, and on a cold, wet evening, the wind howled. The rain poured and thundered against the windows and the shutters, and the sky itself was dark and grey, for it was completely full of clouds and rain (as, indeed, clouds are made of water). Rainbow Dash looked out of one of the windows at the weather, which was grim and not a lot of fun, and sighed. "This weather sucks," she sighed. "The rain means I can't go and do anything outdoors, and the lack of light doesn't help in that regard." She paused. "Mom and dad can't be having fun in this weather. Meeting outdoors in the rain can hardly be much fun. I suppose sitting here and staring at the rain isn't very productive, so I'll go and do something upstairs."
After all, those speedruns weren't going to run themselves, after all. She had a few times that she had her eye on beating, and certainly enjoyed the challenge of grinding for a record. The art of using hours to save a second was one she was very good at, and so she went up the stairs.
As she passed Scootaloo's room, she could hear her adopted sister clearly enjoying herself at something, and decided to check on her. When she entered, she saw something that surprised her.
She knew of her sister's fashion tastes quite well, especially the surprise revelation of a little while back, but she was rather surprised to see not one, but two dresses there. One of which was larger than the other, and a different design to boot. It looked like something a stereotypical princess would wear.
"You're really getting inta this, huh?" Rainbow Dash commented.
"Yeah," Scootaloo replied. "It's just fun to indulge in every now and then. Besides, according to Diamond Tiara wearing a hoop is quite a bit of fun. Speaking of which, the other one's for you."
Rainbow Dash laughed. "Funny one, Scoots! Me in a funnel cake? Hah! That'll be the day."
Scootaloo looked at her flatly. "Dash, I'm being serious here. Rarity made it for you, to, and I quote, 'help that sportster discover her feminine side'."
"She's been trying to squeeze me into one of her dresses ever since I turned down the part of Belle when the school did Beauty and the Beast! That sort of thing's for Twilight."
"Well, she did put a lot of hard work into it, and I think she would appreciate it if you at least tried it on."
Rainbow Dash thought to herself. There was no harm in just testing it, and besides she'd just take it off the moment she put it on. Easy.
"Fine. How do I get it on."
"Walk over to the thing compressed on the floor and pull it round your waste."
Rainbow Dash did so, and as she did the frame popped out into a dome shape. "Seriously? This is about the girliest shape possible!"