//------------------------------// // Limitations // Story: The Daring Adventures of Dash and Zecora // by Hack_N_Slash //------------------------------// Peace had recently been restored to Equestria. It was about two weeks after the wedding of Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore' Cadenza. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, thanks to the weather team's own Rainbow Dash. With the work for today having been complete, Dash decided to head to a nearby field and practice some new tricks she had come up with yesterday. Ever since the incident with the Fluttershy during their tornado duty, Dash had been trying to increase her maximum wingpower and speed. To help her in her pursuit to increase her speed, and gain more wing power, Rainbow had borrowed Twilight's anemometer to measure her progress. Gotta beat 16.5, gotta beat 16.5... The words echoed in her head. "After today, I'm hopin' to AT LEAST have 18.0 wing power!" she said to herself, preparing for her take off. She started on the ground, building up a steady pace, and worked her way up to a trot. She got into a full gallop, and at that point, opened her wings and took off at an earsplitting speed. Her wings beating a mile a minute, she raced towards the device. I can do this, I HAVE to do this! She sped faster and faster, until she had reached her maximum speed. "I CAN DO THIS!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. At that moment, Dash sped past the machine, nearly taking it with her as it quivered in her wake. Exhausted and spent, Dash trotted back over to where the device was sitting. "16.7?!" Dash exclaimed in confusion and outrage. "That was the fastest I've ever gotten from a ground take off! How was that still only 16.7?! This thing's gotta be busted!" She stamped her hooves in protest and bucked the nearest tree in sight. After calming down, Dash had made a mental agreement with herself to come back the next day and try again. Back at home in her cloud house in the sky, Rainbow lay upon her queen sized cloud bed, opening the latest installment of her favorite book series. "Daring Do and the Legend of the Cursed Shield. This is gonna be SO, AWESOME!" Turning pages until she reached the one with the number of the chapter, Dash began reading the tale. Quickly, she became so enthralled, that she became lost in the book, unreachable to the rest of Equestria... "'-but, just as Daring Do was about to make it out of the collapsing tomb, shield in hoof, a large rock had fallen on her wing, pinning her to the ground." Man, do I know how THAT feels... Dash thought to herself. "With the tomb still crumbling around her, and little time to act, Daring wedged the shield between the rock and the ground, and lifted it off her wing. With a quick glance to the doorway, she notices that the entrance had also blocked by the avalanche. She searched for a nearby exit, and to her fortune, spotted a crack in the wall, just wide enough for a pony to fit through. Daring raced to the opening in the wall, but much to her horror, the shield wouldn't fit through. 'Ugh! I'll just have to come back for it!' were the last words she uttered before exiting through the crack in the wall and reaching the freedom of the outside. To Be Continued..." "Aw, what?! That's the end?! Come on! Daring barely made it outta there, and now I gotta wait until the next book to find out whether or not she gets the shield back?!" Needless to say, Dash was all too less than thrilled about the ending of her recent read, but, we've all been there before, haven't we? "Oh well, *yawn* I guess it's time I hit the hay anyway. I got a lotta practicing tomorrow if I wanna get faster than I am now." And with that, sleep quickly washed over the exhausted young mare. The next morning, Rainbow Dash decided to pay Twilight a visit to make sure the anemometer had been working at it's full capacity. She packed her saddle bag with a few snacks and the book from last night, because she had wanted to re-read it to make certain she had not missed any crucial details, and she was out the door. While on her way to the library where Twilight resides, Dash bumped into Fluttershy, who appeared to be carrying a sack filled with carrots, judging from the label. "What's up Fluttershy! Ya need any help?" Dash noticed that she was struggling to carry the medium-sized sack. "Oh-um, uh, no, thank you. You see, I was just picking up some food for Angel and the rest of my furry little critters from the market. Where is it that you're off to, i-if you don't mind me asking." her front hooves now trembling under the weight of her parcel. "I'm just headin' to Twilight's to see if this anemome-thingy is busted or not. I flew harder than I ever have before, and it said I still only have 16.7 wing power! Can you believe that?!" Dash's outburst slightly startled her friend. "Oh, well, um, that's still pretty fast you know. I'd say you're the fastest pegasus in all of ponyville." the timid mare said while still shaking under the weight of the heavy package. "Heh, thanks, but I already know that. I gotta get faster if we wanna beat Fillydelphia's 910 wing power record." At this point, it was all Fluttershy could do to keep herself airborne. "Well, I can see you have a lotta work ahead of ya, so I'll just be off. See ya!" The cyan mare prepared her wings for a speedy take off. "Oh, okay. I'll see you later Rainbow." and with that, Dash bolted off in a trail of blazing rainbow colors, leaving the yellow mare in her dust, her final words being "LOUDER!" with a residual echo. Fluttershy looked down to see that the force from Dash's take off had torn a small hole in the bag she was carrying, letting a little over half of the cargo fall to the ground below. "Oh, pony feathers, Fluttershy, you are such a clutz sometimes.... " she said with a small frown as she turned back in the direction of the Ponyville marketplace.