//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: Inn's Victory // Story: Blank // by GameMakingOtaku //------------------------------// Chapter 22 Inn's Victory It's been about a week, and Inn is seeing less of her friends. She has been spending more time at the hut than the inn. She's been exploring the Everfree. Just flying around. Inn was a unicorn, using magic and not wings to practice her magic. This seemed to work. Not as well as Inn hoped, but still well enough to where she did not need those books for a little while. She had spent the whole night out. One thing though gets her attention. A large lightning bolt in the clear night sky. Inn flies to the sores of the freakish bolt. At a ruined castle, she finds a frightened filly unicorn. Wow this must be some powerful pony. I wish I had such skills. She must not be teased at all, thought Inn. Not long after Inn got there, a flash of light was seen in the room. Oh, got to fly. ============= Two days later, Inn is now trying to use her magic to power her flying speed as she uses her wings. Magically induced speed. “Yes~!” shouted an exhilarated Inn. “I can now make five rings? This is too much fun!” She was looking at the five rings of clouds that formed form their own massive boom. She may now be five times faster than Rainbow. ============= After a total a one and a half weeks of nothing but training, drinking tea, and eating some wild fruit, she finally made her last trip to the hut before heading back to Inn inn. There was a few guest waiting for her at the inn though. Twilight was sitting at the check in counter, Fluttershy was sweeping the floors, and Rarity was adding in some new decorations to make the inn look better. “Ah, hello,” said Twilight and Inn at the same time. “Why are y-you all here?” asked Inn with a tilted head. After setting down the mop, Fluttershy chimes, “Well, um, we were looking for you. When we saw that you were gone, we thought it would be a good idea to keep things tidy for you.” She then looks down and blushes. “Hope you don't mind.” “Yes,” Rarity began as she neatly set down her eloquently designed tablecloths, “may we ask where it is that you have been for so long?” Rarity was twisting Fluttershy’s words... “It's been nearly two weeks dear.” “Actually it's closer to one and a half weeks, but still where have you been for so long?” Twilight was looking at how tired, sweaty, and messy Inn was.. Inn slowly walks up to her friends. “Oh, ah, well, ah... I was training.” She tries to giggle and make everypony feel better, but it just sounds forced. “Doing what?!” they asked in unison. Oh how that is so fun to hear. “I was t-training my magic, and f-flying.” “Wait,” began Rarity with a raised hoof, “I think that I'm lost. You have to work on those skills? It doesn't just come to you?” She begins to twirl her hoof for emphasis, “You know, like everything else.” Happy with something of a topic change, Inn smiles. “No, I-I have to work on it.” “What were you doing training for so long?” asked Twilight with a raised eyebrow. Short lived topic change. “Ah, I'm t-tired. Do you m-mind if I j-just go to s-sleep? I-I'll answer you la-later.” Inn did not think that this would really work. All three look at Inn skeptically. “Fine, but how long ago was the last time you slept?” said Twilight. “Ah, when I was last here,” replied Inn. They all gasped. “What's wrong with you dear? That is not good for your complexion, not to mention your health!” Rarity advised, dramatically placing a hoof over her head. Just then, a blue streak came flying in through the window. Or ah, crashing in is more accurate. Luck for Inn, for all attention was now on Rainbow. “Wow, Rainbow Dash, that was a bad crash. Are you okay?” asked Fluttershy. Rainbow staggers up to her hoofs. “Yeah, I'm fine. I do that all the ti-” she stops when she sees Inn. “Yeah, you d-do it a lot, d-don't ya?” teased Inn. “You! It's you! Why are you here?” shouted Rainbow. Inn walks up to Rainbows side. “This is m-my inn, you so happen t-to have crashed into,” she said, gesturing with her hoof to show that Rainbow had landed in Inn's inn. Rainbow started blushing. “You know what I mean! Why are you back?” Rainbow looked at the faces of her friends and decided to drop the topic. “Ah, forget it. It's good timing that you came back. Are you up for another race? I feel like creaming a good flier this time.” Rainbow got into a ready position. The others looked at each other, a look that said, Did Rainbow know of the secret too? “Oh, you are the one with good timing. I just got back from practising my flying. I'm good for a race,” said Inn in Rainbow's voice. “Great, then let's go!” ============= Inn, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity all went to a far of place for the race. Twilight said she had something to take care of, so she wasn't there for the race. They talked on the way, making preparations for the race. This race would be like the first, three laps on a four and a half mile long track. It will also have some of the elements of the second race, where there are obstacles, and a looser set of rules. There are forty walls of clouds, that have holes in them. The object is to fit through the holes, not hit the walls, and not go around them. This time, they can fly up and down, and even hit the other racer. “Wait wait wait? Did you say that you want it to be okay to use magic? You do know that I can't use magic, and that would only be you using magic right?” asked Rainbow, a little shocked by the suggestion. “I think it was Applejack that told me this; you and her had a race, and you-” Inn began, still using Rainbow’s voice. “Oh okay, I know where you are going. Fine! That's so cheap.” Rainbow turned her head away from Inn for a second. When she turned her head back, Inn look like Rainbow. “Now we are ready to race.” Inn turned her gaze upwards, like she was looking at her own head. “Oh, wait.” Inn adds on a unicorn horn as big as Princess Celestia's. “Now we're ready.” Rainbow looked at the horn with big wide eyes. “Oh that is so awesome.” The others were working on not getting in the way, mostly by being quiet. Even them, though, almost gave out a gasp in amazement. The two ascended to the first cloud. They got into position, “Ready!” yelled Inn. “Set!” yelled Rainbow. “GO!” they shouted together, darting off. They were neck to neck for the first three check points. Rainbow decided to take up the offer of bumping and hitting 'other racers' and just before getting to the fourth checkpoint, she did just that. Inn crashed into the wall forcing her to go back around to go through the hole in the cloud. Inn did not mind though. She sped up to Rainbow's tail. Every so often Inn would tug at Rainbow's tail, making the blue pony a little off her game, and frustrated. “Stop that!” shouted Rainbow. “Okay,” replied Inn, as she snatch the lead for the forty-second check point. Both Inn and Rainbow started to pick up speed after Inn captured the lead. When Inn hit the hundred and fortieth check point, she makes a sudden stop. After Inn saw Rainbow finish her first lap and take the lead, she lit her horn, and flew with just magic. Rainbow got curious about what just happened, so she turned her head and saw a glowing Inn catching up with out wings. Inn was not as fast with magic as she was with wings, and Rainbow was getting faster as time went on, so it was the ninety-first check point that they were once again neck to neck. Inn started to do loops around Rainbow, which made her mad. Trying to get her to stop, Rainbow tries ramming Inn. Rainbow could not follow where Inn was, so the attempt failed. Instead, she had thrown herself of course. Inn won this lap, but only by a little bit. While Inn was at the end of the last checkpoint, she plummeted down almost to the ground. This scared her friends so much that they screamed and ran to try and catch Inn. Inn however, when Rainbow was at the first mile mark, Inn darted straight up, making two booms that were accompanied by cloud rings, and shock waves. Everypony was staring at Inn, or the best that they could that is. Inn leveled out right at the first cloud hole. It was at this point that they all could see Inn was using wings and magic, for there was a short tail of light from the magic around Inn's body not fully keeping up. The track was being blown away by the speed that she was going. As Inn past up a dumbstruck Rainbow, she had another cloudy boom, that almost destroyed the next quarter mile of check points. The shocks continued, as Inn still had the dexterity to move through the obstacles without flaw, and again, at about the second mile mark, another boom with a cloud ring occurred. The third and a third mile mark held another boom boom. Inn could not be followed by pony eyes at all any more. When Inn hit the finish line, she tried to keep to her past rhythm of sudden stops. But this was not like the last two laps. Just as Inn made her sudden stop, she unknowingly made another boom. This mixture of forces, where one was stronger than the other, did not only knock Inn out cold, but also flung her for several hundred miles strait in the air. It took the three a few seconds for it all to click on just what happened. When they saw Inn's body floating down to the ground. They all darted to help Inn, Rainbow dash and Fluttershy flying to her rescue. ============= Inn slowly opens her eyes. She begins to think that this is happening too much lately. She finds three friends huddled around her. Looking worried as they waited, and quickly relieved as Inn looked at them. She stands up and starts to talk but is stopped by her friends. “Wow! That was simply amazing, Inn! How did you go so fast? It's just so cool how you were able to out match Rainbow Dash! That's not easy you know? Hope you're okay, after what happened that is,” rambled Fluttershy, who was very energetic and, for her, loud. “Oh, my darling! How could you use magic like that? It was a phenomenal sight to behold indeed!” Rarity said, almost over Fluttershy, thinking that there was pauses in what Fluttershy rambled. “Oh, don't think you've won yet! You had to use magic to finish that race! I'm still the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria!” gloated Rainbow, doing the same as Rarity, making what was all said a little jumbled. “Ah, what can I say. I'm fastest, most magically gifted earth pony there is,” said Inn hearing Rainbow's reply better than the rest, and trying to be funny with her own reply.  She goes from having a happy smile to having a somber smile. “You six ponies are the best friends I've ever had. I guess that doesn't really say much, seeing my past, but I can't see having any better friends than you.” The three look at each other. “What's with this all of the sudden? Inn... are you okay?” asked Rarity. Inn almost lost control of her transformation, it flickering in and out. She also had a very crazed smile creep across her face for a second. She regained herself though, her smile being a truly happy one. “No, I'm fine. I'm just so happy to have been around long enough to have such great friends.”