The Chase
Early Morning
Gray dull light filtered in from a nearby window. RD began to stir as the light hit her face.
Slowly getting up, she looked down at her hands, only to see hooves. She was momentarily freaked out until she remember the following day. “Oh right.” She muttered to herself.
She went to the washroom and splash a fair amount of cold water on her face, forcing herself to wake up. The others were still asleep as she quietly made her way downstairs.
Moving into the kitchen, RD could see more clearly outside. The entire town was covered in a thick fog. Putting the weather aside, RD looked through the kitchen cabinets for something to eat.
She found a box of Lucky Hooves, Toaster Stirrups, and some Quaker Oats.
“I swear, if everything in this town is a pun, I’m gonna commit suicide,” RD commented. “Oh wait, it probably be called saddleside.” She rolled her eyes and settled down with some peanut butter on toast and an apple, RD quickly ate her breakfast.
After finishing her breakfast, RD looked at the time. It was around 6:00. This was the time she normally went out for her morning jog. Knowing she would be bored if she stayed inside until her friends woke up, RD decided that she shouldn’t break her tradition now. Also she figured with the fog outside that if anyone saw her, she would just be mistaken for her counterpart and nothing more.
Opening the door, RD was greeted with a blast of cool air. After looking around, she began her routine.
Looking around the town, she notice the layout and design of the town. It had a quaint charm to it, as if it were out of a fairytale more so than designed with a practical purpose in mind, with long winding streets and large amounts of space between each house. Then again, she could only see so far, given the fog, so how much of the town was being represented, RD didn’t know. However, her contemplation of the town was soon interrupted.
Following a huge gust, RD soon found herself tumbling end over end as the fog was being pushed right towards the edge of town, not that she knew that though. Soon the fog seemed as still as it had been before.
“Time?” Rainbow Dash yawned, overlooking the fog bank.
Tank soon handed a stopwatch over to his owner.
“12.8 seconds!” Rainbow Dash said with a look of astonishment. “Geez, I must really be tired.”
RD finally regained herself and noticed her counterpart floating above her. “Hey, what’s the big idea?”
Rainbow Dash turned to notice another pony within the fog. “Ohmygoshohmygosh,” Rainbow said panicking. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t-“She raced down and reached her counterpart, pulling her out of the fog. “Oh, it’s you,” she said with relief, noticing who it was. “You had me worried there for a second there.”
“What do you mean ‘it’s just you’?!” RD said indicating that she was pissed off. “I’m minding my own business when you come out of nowhere and start tossing me around.”
“Hey, I said I was sorry,” Rainbow Dash said. “Also, I thought my interspace thing counterpart could at least take a beating without whining about it.”
“I’m not whining,” RD replied, rubbing the back of her head. “It’s just that I don’t like having a rock smash into my head and my world turned upside down every couple of seconds, although that seems to be happening a lot more often than I would have thought.” She looked at her counterpart, still pissed off.
“Well, again, I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash replied with a hint of annoyance.
“Thank you,” RD said with fake gratitude. At that point, RD noticed she was near the town’s entrance. “What are we doing here?”
“Got to bring the fog somewhere,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Here’s as good a place as any to get it to weep. Want to help?”
“Uh, sure?” RD said, unsure of what Rainbow Dash had planned.
“Okay then,” Rainbow Dash said, landing on the cloud. “You do know how to weep a cloud right?” Rainbow Dash said in a serious tone.
“Err Yea-“ RD silenced herself and thought for a moment. “I’ve got no idea.”
“It’s pretty easy,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Just copy what I do.” She started bouncing up and down on the cloud. Below her, raindrops were forming and falling to the ground.
RD started bouncing very shallowly at first but so found the cloud was very much like a trampoline and started bouncing higher and higher.
“Now you’re getting the hang of it.” Rainbow Dash said.
RD and Rainbow Dash bounced up and down for several minutes as the cloud slowly shrank.
Rainbow stopped bouncing after a while, but noticed that her counterpart wasn’t slowing down.
“You may want to-“ Rainbow Dash said, but it was too late. RD had landing on the cloud, but it was far too thin to support her and she landed on her plot a foot or two below. “-stop.” Rainbow Dash looked down at her counterpart, a smirk on her face. “Way to go Rainbow Cra-“ She stopped herself midsentence. “Jeez, no wonder everyone calls me that,” she said to herself. Rainbow Dash shook her head and helped her counterpart up, who was rubbing her sore bottom on the ground below.
“Got to be careful,” Rainbow Dash said. “When the clouds get this thin, we just flick them away.” Rainbow Dash proceed to lower the cloud closer to the ground and started flicking her tail at the remaining fog. After a few more good tail thwacks, the fog had dissipated.
“Finally got rid of that,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve always hated fog.”
“What!?” RD replied. “Fog is awesome! It’s nice and cool, which makes early morning runs really nice, and it’s a cloud near the ground. It’s like the best cloud ever!”
“No, it’s not,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s dense, boring and you have to get up really early to clear it. It’s just a pain in the neck. Cumulus nimbus on the other hand…” Rainbow Dashes thoughts trailed for a moment.
“Whatever,” RD said, rolling her eyes.
“Have you ever been in a Cumulus nimbus?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean they’re-“
“No I haven’t,” RD said as she interrupted Rainbow Dash. “Didn’t have these until yesterday.” She flared her wings.
“That’s gotta suck,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I don’t know what I’d do without my wings. What do you do?” Rainbow Dash was rather curious.
“Well, first, it doesn’t suck because I don’t know what it’s like to have them.” RD responded. “And for the most part I play a lot of sport. I’m the captain of all the Wondercolts teams.
“Wondercolts?” Rainbow Dash said, before snickering to herself. “So you’re a WonderCOLT?” She started laughing rather loudly.
RD was confused. “What’s so funny?”
“Colts, you know as in guys,” Rainbow Dash said, as she stopped laughing trying to explain herself. “I’m saying- you know what, never mind. Anyways, they sound like a rip off of the Wonderbolts.”
“Well, these ‘Wonderbolts’ sound like a rip-off of us.” RD said defensively.
“Please, the Wonderbolts are only like the most awesome thing of awesome.” Rainbow Dash replied.
“If they’re so awesome then why aren’t you on the team?” RD asked.
“Well, you see, the thing is,” Rainbow Dash began. “Hey, wait a minute, how did you know I’m not on the Wonderbolts?”
“I didn’t,” RD replied, smirking.
“Yeah, well …Shut up,” Rainbow Dash responded. “Besides, I’m more awesome than you can handle.”
“Prove it,” RD said, relishing the challenge.
Rainbow Dash scanned the sky. She found a small cloud in the distance and pointed it out. “Alright, first one to that cloud.”
“You’re on,” RD replied.
Both mares dug there hooves into the ground, readying themselves for the start.
“On your mark,” RD began.
“Get set,” Rainbow Dash continued.
“GO!” both mares said.
They leaped from the ground and bolted straight towards the cloud, Rainbow Dash taking the lead. RD tried to catch up, but wasn’t use to using limbs she previously didn’t have. The race was over in a matter of seconds, with Rainbow Dash touching the cloud.
“What took you so long slowpoke?” Rainbow Dash said, mockingly.
“I’ve never had these before,” RD said, pointing to her wings frustrated at her loss. “Also, I’ve never been…this... high…up.” RD said as she looked down. She was hovering high in the air. Realizing where she was, RD panicked and dashed as quickly as she could to the perceived safety of the cloud and processed to choke the ever-loving [redacted] out of it.
“A Pegasus scared of heights,” Rainbow Dash said rather amused. “Now I’ve seen everything.”
“Hey, I’ve never been up this high before, I’m not use to it,” RD said, still holding on to the cloud. “And what about Fluttershy? I bet she’s scared of heights.”
“Fluttershy’s not scared of heights,” Rainbow Dash replied. “She is scared of crashing, falling, spinning out of control, and hitting things, but she’s not scared of heights. Actually, she a really good flyer, not that she believes it. She’s nowhere as good as me obviously, but still.”
“Hey, you want it help me out here?” RD asked, still on the cloud, annoyed.
“I know they’re new to you, but you do have wings.” Rainbow Dash replied. “Just take a deep breath and flap them. You’ll be fine.”
“Right, great advise,” RD said, her voice thick with sarcasm.
“Jeez, I didn’t know you were such a chicken,” Rainbow Dash said, turning her back on RD.
“Hey, who you calling chicken.” RD processed to get up off the cloud and race towards Rainbow Dash, forcing her to turn around.
“Not you, that’s for sure,” Rainbow Dash said, point to the cloud behind them.
RD looked at the cloud behind her and then at what usually would have been her feet. She was once again floating high above the ground.
“Deep breath,” Rainbow Dash advised.
RD drew breath. As she exhaled, she felt all of her fear evaporate.
“Definitely your first time flying.” Rainbow Dash said.
“No, I’ve flew before,” RD replied,
“When?”
“At the Fall Formal, when everyone was a half horse hybrid thing. And then here when we were roaming the castle.”
“That’s not flying, that’s hovering at best.” Rainbow Dash said. “This is flying.” Rainbow Dash processed to do several high speed twists and turns that my poor writing abilities cannot describe, although that’s not saying much.
“So what’d you think?” Rainbow Dash asked.
RD was awestruck. It took her a minute to register the question. “That. Was. AWESOME! You gotta teach me that.”
“Well, I suppose I could show you some of the basics,” Rainbow Dash said with a slightly mocking tone to her voice.
After a couple hours practice RD had nearly mastered everything Rainbow Dash had taught her and was flying around with expert precision.
“You’re a natural,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well, I had a pretty good teacher,” RD replied.
“You’re too kind,” Rainbow Dash replied. Both ponies then processed to laugh, until a new noise entered the conversation.
“Forgot to grab breakfast,” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed her stomach, slightly embarrassed.
“It’s fine. Probably time for lunch anyways.” RD replied. “Know anywhere good to eat?”
“Yeah, there’s Sugarcube Corner on the west side of the town hall.”
“Race ya there.” RD said, grinning madly.
“You’re on,” Rainbow Dash smiled as the two speed off toward lunch.
Next Time: City of Death