//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Racing Hearts: Rainbow Dash's Story // by Ponyville Ranger //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with My Little Pony or anything affiliated with it whatsoever. Author's note: Hi, everypony, and welcome to my first MLP fanfic. This fic centers on Rainbow Dash. Now, for this particular fic, I have created an OC. Now, I fully support RainbowxSoarin'and RainbowxBig Mac, but I have something even bigger planned for my OC in the future. I hope you enjoy it. Please no flames or criticism. Ponyville Ranger. RACING HEARTS: RAINBOW DASH'S STORY It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. The sun was shinning, birds were singing, and one cyan pegasus was zipping across the sky. Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville, attendng to her cloud duties, which for her never took long. After kicking another cloud into obscurity, she laughed as she hovered in the air. "Yes, ha ha! I'm done. And it only took..." She glanced at her watch. "...about five minutes. Wow. Okay. Soo... I'm all done. Now what?" The young, little sky blue pegasus rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. Being the fastest flyer in all Equestria meant she could finish her weather duties as quick as anypony can blink. Since she had some free time... lots of it... she reasoned she could practice some of her aerial tricks. She thought of which ones she could improve on. She felt that most were pretty awesome as they were, but then she wanted them to be worthy of getting the Wonderbolts attention. Deciding to work on her Triple Loop-the-loop Arial Spin, she prepared to perform the trick. She found an open spot of land just outside of town to practice over. Flying forward, she quickly gained speed, and was just about to make her first loop when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Stopping, she turned to see another pony flying about a quarter mile southeast from where she was. "Huh?" Curious, Rainbow Dash took off after the other pony, which was obviously a pegasus. As she picked up speed and got closer, she could make out that this pegasus was a colt, judging by his size. Thing was, she didn't recognize this colt. She knew a lot of folk in Ponyville and in Cloudsdale, but she didn't recall seeing this one at all. This pigued her curiosity even further. A new recruit of the weather team, perhaps? No. Couldn't be. She'd know about it. After all, she was the faster flyer in all Equstria, the winner of the Best Young Flyers competition, and the captain of the Weather Patrol Division over Ponyville. As Rainbow got closer, she notcied him dropping altitude, seemingly heading down towards the park. Lowering her own altitude, she kept her pace, making sure to stay with him. The other pegasus flew between two trees and Rainbow followed, landing on the ground and looking around for the other pegasus. "Aha! Gotcha now." But he was gone. "Wha...?" How? Sure, he did seem kind of quick, but this quick? It wasn't possible. Not unless he was faster than what she could tell from following him. Glancing around, she spotted him standing on a bridge over the stream. Rainbow trotted over to the bridge, ready to meet this new, speedy pegasus. He obviously noticed her reflection in the crystal blue water below and turned to see the smaller cyan pony trotting up to him. It was then that they got a good, long look at each other. For a moment, Rainbow Dash was speechless and unable to focus. This colt, a year or two older than her, was a little on the muscular side. He stood tall, roughly the same height as one of the royal gaurds, and he was, indeed, a pegasus. He was a darker blue than her, with black and yellow hair, mane and tail. His eyes were red, but a comfortable red, which Rainbow found odd she was even noticed that. His Cutie Mark was a black cloud with a yellow lightning bolt coming out of it. His wings were longer and larger than her own. "H-Hi!" Rainbow greeted. Why did she suddenly feel so nervous and shy? "Hi!" the colt greeted back. And that smile he gave... Why was her legs suddenly starting to feel weak? Must have a bug or something. "I saw you flying up there. You're pretty quick." "Thanks." Rainbow held out her right hoof. "Name's Rainbow Dash." "Hey, Rainbow. I'm Lightning Strike." He extended his right hoof to shake hers and she could have sworn she felt sparks fly in her brain. "Cool name," Rainbow thought. "Hey, I think I've heard of you," Lightning Strike said, raising a hoof to his chin in thought. Rainbow blushed a little but smiled proudly. "Really? You've heard of me?" Then is suddenly hit him. "Yeah! You won the Best Young Flyer competition! You're the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" Rainbow blushed more now, and raised a hoof to her chest as she puffed it out proudly. "Yep, that's me." She cocked her head. "I've never seen you around here before. You new?" "Yeah," Lightning answered, "I just moved here a few days ago. I was checkin' out the scenery when you musta found me." "Oh. Well, welcome to Ponyville," Rainbow said with a smile. "Thanks. It is a beautiful little town," Lightning said. "Yeah, we're pretty found of it," Rainbow said with a light grin. "Hey! Since you're new here, how 'bout I show ya around?" "Sure! That'd be great! Thanks!" "No prob. C'mon, follow me." Rainbow blasted off the ground into the air in a flash, and Lightning was right behind her. He caught up rather easily and the two flew toward town. "So where didja used to live before ya moved here?" the cyan mare asked. "I used to live in Manehatten," Lightning replied. "Didja like it there?" "Not really. I mean, it was okay, but city life isn't for me. Heh. As that old saying goes: 'It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there'." "Can't say I blame you," Rainbow Dash said. "I like the big, clear skies around here. I'd go nuts if I had to stay in Manehatten for a week." She chuckled. "Heh, try living there for years," Lightning Strike laughed. "How did you keep your sanity?" Rainbow asked with a laugh. "Ya know... I don't really know." Both pegasi laughed, and Rainbow found Lightning to be quite charming and funny, real easy to get along with. "In the city, it's all bunched together," Lightning said. "Not a lot of room to fly. And when ya do, it's all stop and go, stop and go." "Well, we've got lotsa open space around here. Lotsa room to fly..." "I'm liking it already," Lightning said, and Rainbow felt her cheeks heat up for some odd reason. Yep, she had to have a bug. Probably needed to stop and see the doctor later, or Zecora. At this point, the two had arrived over the town, and Rainbow decended, Lightning following her. Rainbow Dash began her tour of Ponyville, showing Lightning strike every place of interest. Finally, finishing her tour of the town, she pointed a hoof at Sugarcube Corner. "And this is Sugarcube Corner, where you can get the most awesome cakes, cupcakes and almost any kind of dessert you can imagine. If you have a sweet tooth, this is where ya wanna go." "Sweets, huh? Awesome! I know where I'm gonna be going often!" Lightning said with a big smile, making Rainbow laugh. "Maybe we can get a piece of cake here sometime," Lightning suggested, looking down at the smaller, slightly younger pegasus, who adverted her gaze for a second as her cheeks flushed pink. "Y-Yeah. I'd like that." "Do ya happen to know if any of these places are hiring?" "Well..." Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin. "...the weather patrol can always use a new member, but I doubt you'd be interested..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, did you say weather patrol?" Lightning said suddenly. "Yeah," the young mare nodded. "Why?" Lightning grinned. "I used to be a weather pony in Manhatten!" Rainbow gawked in shock. "No way!" "Way! I was a member for a long time. They used to call me the fastest flyer in Manehatten." "Really? No way!" Rainbow said surprise, a big smile on her face. "How come I never heard of you?" Lightning rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I was modest about it. Word got around, but I never admitted to it." "That's so awesome!" the cyan pegasus exclaimed excitedly. Then Rainbow grinned slyly. "Fastest flyer, huh? How 'bout a race?" "A race?" She nodded, grinning. "Yeah! Call it a test to see if ya get the job. See, I'm the team leader of the weather patrol here in Ponyville, so if ya can keep up with me, you get the job." She pointed out in the distance. "There's a Weeping Willow about two miles from here, close to the Everfree Forast. We race to it and back to here. Deal?" She extended her hoof. Lightning grinned, and shook her hoof. "You've got yourself a deal, little rainbow." Little rainbow? Strangely enough, Rainbow liked the nickname. ...Or petname she guessed it was, but she actually liked it. As Rainbow tried to hide the small blus to her cheeks, the two pegasi lined up side by side, ready to go. "On your mark..." Rainbow said. "Get set..." Lightning added. "GO!" they shouted and blasted off. Rainbow had taken the lead at first. Since she was smaller, Rainbow Dash was more agile and she had quicker acceleration. However, looking back, she saw Lightning Strike gaining on her quickly. Although he couldn't accelerate as fast as her, he obviously had the same top speed. He caught up alongside her and winked. "Ya call this a race, little rainbow?" He sped on ahead, and Rainbow laughed as she smiled slyly. "Ohh, yeah!" She increased her speed, gaining on him. Anyone on the ground would have seen a rainbow streak and a yellow and black streak zoom across the sky at blazing speeds. It didn't take long for the duo to reach the tree, zipping around it and heading back towards the finish line. Lightning wasn't as nimble as Rainbow, but he held up really well, as he was back racing alongside her in just a few seconds. Both were lauing as they raced and dodged around clouds, performing random tricks and stunts as they flew. Soon, they saw the finish line just up ahead. They crossed it together, tying. "Wow! You are really fast!" Rainbow complimented, painting a little. "I've never met anypony with that kind of speed before." Lightning blushed a bit. "Thanks. But you're the one that's fast. You were like a rainbow bullet!" Now it was Rainbow's turn to blush. "Wow. Uh... Thanks." "Hey, how's 'bout another race sometime?" he offered. "Yeah! That was really fun! Anytime ya wanna race, I'm the pony to call." Rainbow puffed out her chest a bit. Then she flew closer to him and held out her right hood. "Ya passed the test, dude. Welcome to the Weather Patrol." Lightning shook her smaller hoof. "Awesome! Thanks! So when do I start?" "How 'bout tomorrow?" Rainbow suggested. "Meet me back here in the morning." Lightning raised a hoof in salute. "Yes, ma'am!" Rainbow chuckled. Lightning was funny, and she liked it. She really liked it... "And tomorrow I can introduce ya to my friends," the little pegasus said cheerfully. "Sounds good." Lightning looked up, seeing the sun was beginning to set. "I better get goin'. It's getting late, and I suppose we have a big day tomorrow." Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. Don't forget." "How could I?" Lightning chuckled. He waved at the cyan pony girl as he started flying away. "See ya tomorrow, little rainbow." "See ya, Lightning," Rainbow said, waving back. She felt somewhat dissapointed that he had to go. But... She also felt elated that she'd see him again tomorrow. That night, Rainbow Dash couldn't get Lightning Strike out of her head. And for her, it just felt odd. But not in a bad way. No. In a good way. To be honest, she'd never really paid much attention to colts before. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, just that none ever caught her attention. Until now, that is. Something about Lightning just made him stand out from other colts. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but he just seemed... different, unigue. ...Kind of like her. One thing she knew for sure... tomorrow would be anything but ordinary. And the more she thought about it, the more she began to understand. Lightning was good looking. Okay, really good looking. Okay, scratch that. He was hot. Plain and simple, he was super hot. Wait, did she really just think that? Sighing, she finally admited it to herself. He also had beautiful, intense eyes that she could easily find herself getting lost in. And he was funny, modest, and he was super fast. Rainbow Dash had never really put a lot of thought into the concept of dating, she just always felt that when the time was right, she'd meet a guy. Flying was a passion for her, and so was the dream of joining the Wonderbolts. While other pegasus ponies flew merely as a means of transportation, it was so much more than that to Rainbow. It was a thrill, a rush, a joy... a passion. She had focused on that so much that, apart from haging out with her best friends, practicing tricks and stunts and her job as a weather pony, nothing else came into play. Thus she never really thought much of her being with a guy. But the idea made her feel... well... giddy. She wasn't bouncing around the room like Pinkie Pie, but still, she felt a different rush when she thought about Lightning. And this rush felt deeper, and more... intimate. She recalled the qualities she wanted in a pet: coolness, awesomeness, radicalness, style... And right now, she had seen all that in Lightning. She frowned suddenly. What if she was just jumping ahead of herself? What if it was just her mind and hormones playing tricks on her? No. She couldn't think that. She couldn't think negatively. But she didn't want to get her hopes up either. She'd learn more about him the next day, and she'd tell him more about herself. She wanted to know more about him. And honestly, she wanted to hang out with him more. Rolling onto her side in her cloud bed, she looked out her window at the clear, moonlit starry night sky. And with one last thought, she drifted off to sleep. "I hope we can be more than just friends..."