Practicing for the racing team at school had gone great for Singer. He was able to find his rythm early, and found out that he was pretty fast. He was among the fastest in school. Still wouldn't be able to beat Rainbow Dash, who remained the fastest. To add a major growth to his minor difficulty, Thunder Clap had joined the team as well, which meant that it would be yet another place for him to terrorize him. It also didn't help that Thunder Clap was fast as well.
Another practice race was coming up and our hero was extremely nervous. He eyed the cloud based course that had been set up, it had been larger than what he had grown accustomed to, as a part of the coach's teaching method. He tried to keep his eyes from wondering to Thunder Clap's direction, lest he catch him glaring at him and get intimidated before the game began.
"Alright, you little pansies! Today we are going to make mares and stallions out of you. You've all shown your abilities on the baby course, but let's see how you handle the "Gauntlet of Terror", the "Floating Rubber Balls of Terror", and "The Moving Pillars of Terror". Yes there will be a lot of terror in this course." said the coach, a tall slightly buff brown pegasus stallion, who's red cap made his eyes just barely visible. His cutie mark was a wistle, go figure.
Just then one of the colts raised his hoof, earning the annoyed expression of the coach. "What is it Buttersworth?"
"Um... was this cleared by the principal?"
"Mind your own business ya wimp or I'll have you sit out practice. There are three things we don't do here: We don't question the coach, we do not rough house the other competitors.... THUNDER CLAP, and we do not back down! Just in case you pea brains forgot the rules. Will there be anymore questions, Buttersworth?"
"Um... no..." replied Buttersworth.
"Any fake and made up sicknesses you want to try to pull on me today, Thunderlane?"
"No..."
"Any 'funny' jokes you want to make today, SINGER?!?"
"Um... heh heh... no sir."
"Alright then. Good... Oh yeah... And Miss Rainbow Dash, do you have any smart alek remarks to throw in?"
"No sir, coach sir!" giggled Rainbow Dash. "But would like to comment on how well aligned your cap is today. It really aligns to your eyebrows well."
The rest of the class began to chuckle and laugh at Rainbow's wise crack. "Just for that Miss Dash, I'll see you in detention tomorrow at lunch."
"Aw come, on coachy. I was just complimenting you."
"Miss Dash, do not try my patience! And do not ever call me 'coachy'!" said the impatient coach. "Now.. let's get this show going, shall we?"
There were about twelve pegasai at the start/finish line and all of them had the same look in their eyes... determination. For Thunder Clap, he wanted to beat the best and put a hurting on his competition, mainly Singer and partially Rainbow Dash, for Singer he just wanted to prove that he could run with the best and make his dad proud, for Rainbow Dash it was mainly about maintaining her status as the best in school. As they lined up with the rest of the pegasai, they anxiously awaited the start of the race. Singer's nerves were at ease when Violet had just made it to watch in the stands, but then he returned to his nervous state when his father and older brother came up and sat besides Violet.
"What are they doing here? Oh no... this isn't good! I'm so not ready for them to see me race yet."
"Perhaps it's a good thing, they showed up." Replied Thunder Clap. Oh crap, had he been talking out loud again? Now Thunder Clap was really going to let him have it. "So that way they can see how big of a loser you are, so they don't raise the bar on their hopes too high."
"Hey Thunder Flap, why don't you keep your stupid opinions to yourself? You feel good picking on ponies who are smaller than you?" said Rainbow Dash.
"It feels awesome to pick on somepony who's smaller than me, I don't have moral standards like you losers. It's almost as fun as it is picking on those who think they are top dog around here. You're going to eat my cloud dust, Rainbow Crash. You and your little colt friend here."
"That would be funny, but I hardly know this kid. Though I'm sure he could beat you in the 'class' department."
"Miss Dash, Mr Clap? Do you have something you two would like to share with the rest of the class? Don't make me be like Miss Merryweather and have you come up in front of the class to explain, because I just might do it for kicks and giggles." said the coach.
"Just putting the Clapinator in his place, coach." Rainbow Dash giggled at the glare he gave her, then turned to Singer. "Don't worry about old Thunder. He's all talk and no action... well unless he's dealing with somepony like... oh yeah... you. Sorry kid."
Singer just sighed and tried to ignore what Rainbow had just said. She wasn't all that good at being encouraging. Singer just shook it off and prepared for wing to wing racing.
"Alright you cloud busters, I think you've waited long enough. It's time to get out there and go for the win! Try not to kill each other out there and don't come back until you've finished the course!" said the coach.
The colts and fillies readied themselves for the race. Each anxious to get going and go for the lead early, and hopefully keep it. As the coach, prepared to set them loose, he flew over to the start finish line near one of the poles that held the checkered banner.
"Alright, you have one lap to get to the lead and avoid all of the these obstacles. Whoever does NOT complete this course will automatically fail today's session. And we don't want any of that, do we?"
All he got were blank expressions from most of the students.
"Good. Now on your mark!"
Singer flittered his wings with great anticipation as he awaited the command.
"Get set..."
Thunder Clap looked over at Singer, and smirked. But got no reaction from his zoned out target.
"GO!"
Rainbow Dash was the quickest, taking off and sped on to an early sizable lead. Singer and Thunder Clap found themselves racing neck and neck for third, behind Thunderlane who was currently running in second. Singer scooted over to the right to avoid his adversary. Thunder Clap wasn't about to let the opportunity slide to ring Singer's hopes dry fade away though. He wasn't likely to let go of the day Singer stood up to him for a long time. However as much as Thunder Clap, tried to faze him, Singer wasn't budging. He wasn't about to let his dad, his brother, or his best friend down. Yeah the pressure was on, but so was his game.
As Rainbow Dash flew through the Gauntlet of terror with relative ease, only getting whacked by a boxing glove that came out of the wall once. Thunderlane, who surprisingly remained second for the moment, wasn't as lucky as Dash and kept getting punched out of line. Thunder Clap was running third at the time and he approached the Gauntlet with extreme predjudice... against Singer. He was able to actually manipulate one of the boxing gloves to whack Singer in the face, by grabbing it before he advanced. The impact knocked Singer off course and he had to go through it again.
"Ha.... loser" said Thunder Clap, narrowly avoiding the final boxing glove and advancing to the next obstacle.
Singer, frustrated and wanting to beat Thunder Clap, so badly stormed through the Gauntlet again only to get the same result as last time. Singer hovered in the air along with the rest of the clueless pegasai when he finally decided to try again. He maneuvered at a steadier pace going between each of the seven punching bags. Though the possibility of beating Rainbow Dash and Thunder Clap, seemed out of the question now, he wasn't going to quit nor was he going to back down. Although, he would have to perservere anyway if he wanted to pass.
Another pegasus colt, with a light blue coat and a dark blue mane and short tail began to follow Singer through, doing exactly what he did. Soon everypony else would catch on and follow their example. But Singer and the other colt were already out of the Gauntlet and went straight for the the Giant Red Balls. On their way, while racing Singer and the other colt engaged in conversation.
"Hey, name's Singer. What's yours?"
"Star Chaser." replied the colt.
"That's a pretty cool name. Good job moving through the Gauntlet."
"Hey, I was just following you. Whoa..." said Star noticing that both Rainbow Dash and Thunder Clap were still at the Giant Red Balls, that moved up and down at a rapid pace.
"This can't be good." said Singer.
"Oh great, the rodents caught up. Have you figured out the strategy for moving through these things, yet?" inquired Thunder Clap of Rainbow Dash.
"Yep" she said speeding through the balls untouched.
"Hey! Gaaaaaaargh!" said Thunder Clap as he decided to go through before Singer could reach him. Only to get pounded by one of them and thrown off course.
"See you Thunder Clap" said Singer, somehow managing to avoid them all as Rainbow Dash had, with Star Chaser still in persuit as well.
"WHAT?!?" said Thunder Clap as he rushed through them again. He wasn't about to let some dork beat him. "I'm not going to let you beat me!"
Singer upped his pace and flew through all of the cloud rings. He wasn't about to let Thunder Clap scare him, and he had Rainbow Dash in his sights.
Well I won't back down...
No I won't back down!
You can stand me up against ol Thunder Clap
But I won't back down!
Gonna stand my ground
Won't be turned around
While this whole world keeps on dragging me down
I'm gonna stand my ground
And I won't back down!
Singer continued to chase Rainbow Dash through the clouds. He couldn't believe how well he was doing. As Rainbow started to slow down, he knew that the last obstacle was in nearing. The moving pillars.
"Hey, you're catching up pretty fast! You really have some spunk, kid. Tell you what. Grab my hoof and we'll go through this together. No rules against it."
"That sounds great, but... why?"
"I like to reward a strong willed attempt. Besides if I want any hint of a challenge for you to attempt to beat me, you will need all the help you can get."
"Sounds fair."
"We better get going before your "Best Friend" decides to rear end us."
"I'm going to destroy you both!" said Thunder Clap rapidly approaching."
"NOW!" said Rainbow Dash as she and Singer both dodged the first pillar that was moving side to side. They then had to dodge another that was going up and down. Rainbow was pretty much doing most of the work, as Singer found it hard to keep up. They then came upon a small hole created by a bunch of overlapping idle pillars coming from different directions. "Okay dude, you're going to need to fly up. We can't go through this part together. When I say now, you fly up and do not slow down!"
"Gotcha!" he said unconfindently.
"NOW!"
Singer and Rainbow then let go of each other's hooves and Singer flew upward as fast as he could, rising above the idle pillars.
"YES!" called Rainbow Dash as she flew up to meet him halfway and grab his hoof for the final time as they raced through a series of fast moving pillars. They let go of each other's hooves as they went through the end of the pillars and now it was every pony for themselves. "See ya dude, try to keep up!"
Singer stepped on the gas as not far behind, Thunder Clap, looking as rough as ever after getting hit by several pillars, stormed out and sped after Singer and Rainbow Dash, the latter of whom was pulling away. No matter how fast Singer flew, he couldn't catch her. He knew he'd have to settle for second.
However his finish wouldn't come easy as Thunder Clap had caught up with him and was now bumping into him trying to knock him out of the sky.
"DUDE! Get over your personal vendetta against me. It's old news! Nopony even cares about it anymore!" said Singer.
"That's where your wong, Dinger!"
"Oh nicknames... that's real mature."
"Shut up you little worm!" said Thunder Clap. "It's time to finish what I started..."
Singer sped up again and pulled in front of Thunder Clap and started to pull away. Rainbow Dash had already passed the start finish line and Singer was nearing it. Just when things seemed well within reach, he felt a hard impact from behind. Thunder Clap had head butted his flank, causing Singer to lose control. Singer kicked his legs as hard as he could but was unable to stop himself, he spun out of control all the way to the start/finish line finishing third behind Thunder Clap, but not without hitting hard into a wall, that stopped his uncontrallable spinning.
Violet watched this from the stands with great horror and rushed down to help Singer. She was determined to be there to help him get back up.
Thunder Clap walked over to Singer, who was still lying on one of the clouds and feeling a bit disoriented.
"Looks like Singer is a real Dinger! He can't control himself to save his own flank. What a loser!"
"Hey! I saw what you did, Thunder Clap and that wasn't cool!" said the angry cyan pegasus filly.
"Coolness is beginning to escape you, Rainbow Dash. I mearly gave him a bump and run manuever and it sent him spinning. He's just a wimp and the fact that you are standing up for him makes it even more sad."
"If you know what's good for you, you are gonna shut it, now!"
"Thunder Clap, thanks to that litte stunt you pulled, you will spend the rest of the week and all of next week in detention." said the coach, looking down on him with disapproving eyes.
"Puh... whatever. I came in before that worthless runt so that's all that matters."
"Want to make it three weeks?"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, coachy!"
"One more outburst and you will be suspended again!"
Thunder Clap, not really feeling the need to continue this little exchange, decided to go off and leave. School was over now anyway and he had better things to do.
Singer was okay, but he had hurt his leg a bit. The worst pain he felt was in his pride. But his pain quickly went away when Violet suddenly appeared at his side.
"You've looked better." she said wiping some of the sweat off of his head.
"I've felt better." he said.
"For what it's worth, you really did a great job out there. You improved a lot."
"Thanks Violet. That means a lot."
"Hey kid" said Rainbow Dash interrupting. "I just wanted to say that, that was one of the best performances I've ever seen by somepony who isn't me. Oh and don't think a whole lot of the holding hooves thing. That was just teamwork."
"Understood Dash. And Thanks for standing up to him. He seems more afraid of you than of me."
"Hey no problem. I heard about you standing up to him a while back and that took guts."
"It was one of the scarriest things I've ever been through." noted Violet.
"Indeed..." agreed Singer, who was the one who went through it all."
"Hey, don't let it get to you. He's just a bully. The ponies who stand up to bullies are worth twenty of them." said Rainbow Dash. "Well, I gotta go... see ya!"
"Bye and thanks again" said singer waving.
"Good race out there, Singer" said Star Chaser.
"Thanks man. Where did you come in?"
"Right behind you and Thunder Clap. Sorry about what happened to you. That wasn't very sportsman like of him to do that."
"I'm not too offended, that's just who he is."
"Still, it wasn't right. Good job out there."
"Thanks, you too!"
As Star Chaser flew off to meet with his mom, Singer was now starting to feel a bit better about how he did. That is until he meet up with his dad and Brawn.
"What in the hay was that, Singer?" said Briefs.
"Uuuuh... racing?" said Singer unsurely.
"If you wanna call it that." said Brawn.
"That was without a doubt, the worst display I've seen a member of this family do in an event like this!"
"But dad, I ran my best and tried as hard as I could for the win."
"You got all antzy when that other kid bumped into you and you spun out. That was horrible!"
"He cheap shotted me, Dad. Didn't you pay attention?"
"That's enough!"
"No really Mr. Case, it's true."
"Miss Pedals, please do not speak again."
"Dad!"
"Son! Let's go home!"
"Undeniably the worst flying i've ever seen." said Brawn. "A real champion would have had that rainbow haired kid beat."
Violet wanted to lash out at Brawn but held back in fear of Singer's father snapping at her again. She watched as they escorted Singer back home, Singer looking back at her sadly. It was going to be a long walk back home.
Later that night, Singer was in bed when he got a knock on his window. He looked up at his window and Violet was there. With a large grin, he let her in.
"Violet... am I ever glad to see you." whispered Singer.
"Hey. I figured you could use a bit of encouragement after your dad and Brawn got all flank hurt on you. They were way out of line."
"That's what my mom said when we discussed it as a family. My dad's been pretty tough on me as of late."
"I'm sure your dad just wants to see you do your best. But personally, I think he's being a bit unreasonable about it all."
"You too, huh?" chuckled Singer.
"You did do a good thing out there. You showed Thunder Clap that you aren't afraid of him. I'm proud of you, Singer."
"While I do wish I could say that, I can't. I AM afraid of him. I took it upon myself today to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could stand up to him and that I won't be easily pushed around.."
"Well in my opinion, you finished well Singer. Though I highly doubt that Thunder Clap will leave you alone."
"Just so long as he leave you out of it, I'm fine."
"That's sweet, but you're my best friend. We will endure his antics together."
"You're awesome, Violet. I don't know if I tell you that enough."
Violet then gave him a hug and went back to his window. "I have to go now, Singer. But remember, don't back down!"
"Never!" he said. "Hey... tomorrow? I think it's time that we extended our friendship circle, don't you? So many other nice ponies around, and it will be good for the both of us."
"I think your right" said Violet. "We should work on that tomorrow."
"Great! Goodnight, Violet."
"Good night, Singer!" she then flew off back to her house.
Singer then went for his journal, but then backed off.
"No need to write this down, I think I'll remember it... Then again, can't be too safe."
"Thanks to Violet, I was finally able to go to sleep that night. I wasn't about to let my dad's high expectations keep me down. Though my adventures as a colt were fun, it wouldn't be long until I would be forced to have to grow up. And boy I sure wasn't looking forward to that, especially if my dad and Brawn were going to act like that the whole time."