//------------------------------// // Prompt #568-Pedestal // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// “Race me,” demanded Lightning Dust as she skidded to a stop in front of Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Rainbow glanced from side to side as Lightning Dust advanced on her. “I’m not sure that that’s a good idea, Lightning. It’s not going to end well.” “Don’t care. Race me. Fast as you can.” Lightning Dust was pushing into Rainbow Dash’s personal space, and it was clear to the Element of Loyalty that the only way out that Lightning Dust would accept was a race. And if Rainbow purposely threw the race, Lightning would simply demand another one until she got what she wanted: a true deciding race between herself and Rainbow Dash, both flying at full speed. Rainbow sighed. “Fine. One race. From here to Cloudsdale and back. Twilight, do you mind giving us a start?” “Sure, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, and took up position just to the side of the two crouching racers. “You said as fast as we can go, right Lightning Dust?” “Yes. No holding back.” “Okay,” said Rainbow, “just checking.” “Three,” said Twilight, “Two. One. Go!” Lightning tore off, and Rainbow remained crouching for a few seconds. As Twilight was about to ask what Rainbow was doing, her friend took off, and the moment that Rainbow got beyond the highest building in Ponyville, she shattered the sound barrier. ***** Lightning Dust landed back in front of Rainbow Dash with a puff of dirt and a scowl on her face. “What the hay was that!?” “It’s called a Sonic Rainboom, Lightning. I’m the only pegasus alive who can do them.” “You must have just gotten lucky! Again!” “Yes,” muttered Twilight under her breath, “because there is no way that a pegasus flying faster than sound itself could ever beat anything else in the sky.” “Lightning Dust, you asked for my full speed. You got it,” said Rainbow Dash. Lightning Dust growled, and took off again, flying away at top speed, and Rainbow Dash got ready to go after her, but was stopped by Twilight’s hoof. “I think you’re the last pony she wants to see right now. I’ll see if I can find her once she stops moving.” **** Twilight Sparkle appeared with a flash just inside the Everfree Forest, and immediately looked up. “Hello, Lightning Dust.” “What do you want? And how the buck did you know I was here?” Twilight smiled, “I want to help, Lightning Dust. As for your second question, you’re remarkably similar to Rainbow Dash. She does the same thing when she gets upset.” Twilight heard a body shifting in the canopy of the trees. “Just leave me alone. Go back to the best flyer in Equestria. You don’t need a second-rate hack like me.” Twilight frowned in thought for a while, before getting an idea. “Why are you so obsessed with beating Rainbow Dash, anyway?” “I’m not.” “You flew in, challenged her to a race, and from what I’ve heard about the Wonderbolt Academy, you constantly pushed yourself and measured yourself against her. You’re obsessed with beating her. Why?” “Because she’s not like I thought she would be!” cried out Lightning Dust, sticking her head out from the foliage, her chest heaving. [Time] “Care to explain that?” asked Twilight, now that the dam had been broken. “It was at summer flight camp. I was there the year after the first supposed Sonic Rainboom, and all the instructors used Rainbow Dash as an example of this fantastic flier. Over time, I guess I built up this image of her as this confidant pegasus who always won her races, and I...I idolised her, okay! Me, who was only tipped as a Grade 4 flier. Everypony in flight camp talked about how Rainbow Dash entered the Grade 1 race at the end of Flight camp, and won the whole thing, so I did the same. I didn’t win, but I came third, and that’s when I got my cutie mark.” Lighting Dust dropped out of the tree, and showed her mark, a lightning bolt pointing down at three stars. “I think I get it, Lightning Dust,” said Twilight, “you had this image of Rainbow Dash, and now you’re trying to match that image with what you know she’s like, and it’s causing this mental conflict in you, and so now you think that she isn’t as good as you thought she was. But the problem is that Rainbow Dash is still that good a flier, and you’re simply projecting your differences in morals and ethics and general personality onto your difference in skills, because you have, on some subconscious level, realised that your attitude is wrong, and that Rainbow Dash is the better pony.” “What?” asked Lightning Dust, and Twilight resisted the urge to slap a hoof into her face. “You’re a jerk, and Rainbow Dash isn’t, and still manages to be a better flier than you. Think about it for a while,” said Twilight, teleporting away and leaving Lightning Dust with her thoughts.