//------------------------------// // Terminal Velocity // Story: Wings of Friendship // by DemonBrightSpirit //------------------------------// The sun's intensity had long since begun to fade by the time several pegasi had gathered to do warm up exercises. The obstacle course was finally in place after a few delays, and the event's organizers were more than a little eager to see the final event resolve before day's end. Although all the competitors were there, it was hard for most of them to put their hearts into it. After all, Rainbow Dash had pretty much already won. "Hey Rainbow, how about sharing some of those blue ribbons?" Thunderlane joked. "Looks to me like you've got enough for everypony." "You can keep the ribbons," Cloudchaser spoke up before Rainbow Dash had a chance to. "Who are you taking with you?" she asked with an endearing smile. "I can think of somepony who would love a chance to meet the Wonderbolts!" It was a simple proposition, but one Rainbow hadn't realized. The prize was two all-access passes. Since they were good for a week, she could bring each of her friends on a different day. That would still leave two days, and that's only if every one of her friends actually wanted to go. Oh! She could bring Scootaloo! That little filly would love it for sure. She could bring the squirt on the day of the show and totally blow her mind! With a smirk Rainbow Dash casually rolled her eyes. "Well…" she deliberately started off with a long, dramatic pause, "I'm probably gonna bring my Ponyville friends, but there might be a day or two where nopony can make it." As soon as the words left her mouth, Rainbow Dash regretted them. Several of the pegasi around her all started beseeching her at the same time. Even though there were only a handful of them, they somehow managed to encase Rainbow in an unruly mob. Thankfully, the announcer called for the racers to get ready, freeing her from her self-inflicted torment. Rainbow had to give her head a good shake to make everything stop spinning before she approached the starting line. This time, Rainbow Dash made sure to pay attention to the starter instead of her competition. Due to her diligence, she got off to a quick lead. It was a good thing, too. The first part of the course involved darting through rings of clouds. Each one was barely wide enough for two ponies to pass through at once, and the agility need to go from ring to ring made passing nearly impossible. Rainbow held the lead up until the very end. As she turned to nosedive to the final ring below her, Lightning Dust dropped past her with her patented rear hoof-first technique. Not only did she beat Rainbow through the last ring, but a quick pump of her wings put her back on course much faster than Rainbow could recover from her nose dive. As soon as she reoriented herself, Rainbow Dash found that Lightning Dust had already put a lot of sky between them. Cursing under her breath, Dash scrambled to make up for it as they headed into the next obstacle. The same giant fans that were used in the training camp were arranged to form a long tunnel in the sky. They were all pointing towards the center of the tunnel blowing from different directions. Instead of blowing hard enough to send a pegasus flying, they were blowing simply to form disorienting wind shears. Entering the tunnel, it quickly became apparent that she wasn't going to be able gain much on Lightning Dust. It took all her concentration just to keep from spiraling out of the wind tunnel. The moment she was clear of the wind shears, Rainbow Dash took off at full speed. There was a good gap of open air between the end of the wind tunnel and the next obstacle. Rainbow was determined to seize the opportunity to exploit her superior speed to catch up to and pass her competition. It wasn't enough. Just as she approached Lightning Dust's tail they hit the next part of the course. Lightning passed through a narrow cavern in the side of a mountain. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but to let out a frustrated grunt as she trailed behind her rival. This part was so stupid! The winding caves weren't wide enough for anypony to pass anypony else. One slow pegasus would surely end up clogging the whole thing up. Not to mention that the sudden, sharp turns in any direction were giving Lightning Dust the advantage. Rainbow would never admit it to anypony, but agility was the one thing Lightning Dust could beat her at. By the time Rainbow Dash shot straight up out of the mountain and clear of the claustrophobic caves, she could just barely see Lightning Dust off in the distance. This part of the course was more her style. She raced along a ridge of mountaintops as several ponies launched clouds at her. The cloud cannons were inaccurate, but one hit would surely cause anypony to spin out. Since she was busy dodging the spinning puffballs it was hard to gain on Lightning. But gain she did, little by little. Why!? Lightning Dust bitterly thought as she looked over her shoulder to find Rainbow Dash slowly gaining on her. Why couldn't she have wiped out on one of the obstacles earlier!? Setting her gaze back in front of her, Lightning found the last obstacle of the course: a large conglomeration of storm clouds. They were lightning-free for the safety of the fliers, of course. They were only there to distract everypony with wind, rain, and reduced visibility. It was as if this part of the race was specifically designed for Rainbow Dash. She was a weatherpony for crying out loud! She was sure to steal the lead from her and wallow in her glory, again! If only Rainbow Dash had screwed up earlier in the race, Lightning Dust lamented as her face was suddenly pelted with rain and wind, then I just might have actually been able to win! Why does she have to so…so awesome!? Letting out an audible growl, Lightning chanced a glance over her shoulder to find Rainbow Dash closing in fast. The only way Lightning Dust could possibly win now is if by some miracle Rainbow fell out of the sky. There has to be a way! I have to make her lose! Rainbow Dash was grinning like crazy as she flew in right behind Lightning Dust. They had already played this game before, and she had won. The only difference this time was a whole lot of sky before the finish line. There was no way she was going to lose. Swooping from side to side, she tried to get around her rival. Lightning Dust seemed to halfheartedly try to block before seemingly pulling the wrong way on purpose. She even pulled her back leg in to give Rainbow more room. Feeling the bite of disappointment at her rival's apparent surrender, she slowly started her pass. Just then, Lightning suddenly moved back nearly crashing into her! The flash of a turquoise hoof was the last thing Rainbow Dash saw before everything went black. Now that she had a pair of binoculars, watching the race was a much more enjoyable experience for Fluttershy . She was glad Rainbow Dash had convinced her to pick them up during the intermission. I have to remember to thank her after the race, she made a mental note. With the aid of the binoculars, the yellow mare had been able to watch every part of the race. Well, almost every part. Try as she might, Fluttershy just couldn't make them see through the mountain or the storm clouds. Just seconds after losing sight of her friend in the storm clouds, Fluttershy lowered the binoculars into her lap. They weren't going to do her any good from here on out. She tapped her hooves idly against the binoculars as a worry set in her heart. She couldn't place where it came from or why it was there, but there it was. It made her heart race in her chest as she felt a terrible dread. Suddenly, the announcer spoke up, "What's this? It seems as though Rainbow Dash is a bit disoriented! She only just entered the storm clouds and already she has shot out of the bottom for some reason. Wh-what's this?! She isn't flying! Rainbow Dash is falling!" The few Wonderbolts tasked with presiding over the competition took off at full speed as the crowd collectively gasped. Fluttershy was pretty sure she wasn't one of the ponies that were gasping. After all, she would require the ability to actually breathe in order to gasp. She just sat slack-jawed a moment before she had the presence of mind to grab her binoculars and get a sense of the situation herself. Flying up above the crowd, she quickly spotted her friend. The cyan pony's legs and wings were unmoving as she gently tumbled in the air. She's in a free-fall! Fluttershy realized with no small sense of horror. The binoculars fell. Fluttershy flew as fast as her wings would allow. It wasn't enough. In spite of her adrenaline-fueled efforts, there was no hope of her reaching Rainbow Dash. Her friend was mere seconds away from a bone-shattering impact with a modest-sized lake. Even the Wonderbolts couldn't make it in time. Smack! Just as Rainbow Dash smashed into the water, the Wonderbolts breached the lake's shores. In an instant they were circling the spot where Rainbow had impacted. They had been so close. So close, in fact, that some of the water from the splash rained down on them as they searched for any signs of life. Fluttershy landed on the lake's shores a few agonizing seconds later. She was suddenly having a hard time breathing again as her chest constricted painfully. Oh! Please, please, PLEASE be okay! she silently prayed as she watched the Wonderbolts gather at a spot on the lake as they seemed to fish something out of the water. "Hey! Make way!" a gruff voice forced Fluttershy to tear her attention away from the lake. Fluttershy jumped clear as a pegasus-drawn cart landed where she had been standing. The cart was white with a big, red cross on the side: an ambulance. A second ambulance followed seconds later, landing near the first. Their presence only amplified Fluttershy's worries—if that was even possible. She quickly trotted around the first ambulance to spy the three uniformed pegasi working together to carefully bring an unmoving, blue mass over to the awaiting paramedic ponies. A multicolored mane confirmed Fluttershy's fears. It was Rainbow Dash. The Wonderbolts gingerly hoofed Rainbow over to the paramedics. As they rolled the soaked mare onto the stretcher, Fluttershy saw it—a splash of red, pink, and white against a blue background. The awful, horrible sight caused a deathly pallor to spread over Fluttershy's face as she physically recoiled from it. Then, her eyes rolled back in her head as everything quickly faded to black.