//------------------------------// // Adventures in Ponyville: Rainbow Road REMATCH // Story: Courage // by scion //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash woke to a howl. Her afternoon nap was being cut short, again. She yawned and turned back over, trying to get the vaporous cloud to muffle the sound and go back to sleep. Then her eyes shot open and she kicked the cloud underneath her, causing it to pop and putting her into free-fall. The fall was just the spike of adrenaline she needed to fully wake up. Rainbow grinned as she flared her wings for a landing. It was time for a rematch! Link waited patiently before her, watching as she came to land. "So, you ready for another round?" --- "All right. On yer marks," Applebloom called out. This wasn't their first rematch. Link had challenged her more than once since their first race, and he was getting closer and closer to beating her. He was only five seconds behind her time last time. She was still better than him, but only just. If she wanted to win this race, Rainbow was going to have to put it all on the line. "Get set!" Rainbow grinned. She was going to win. She was the fastest pony in Equestria. Future Wonderbolt. The only Sonic Rainboom in more than a thousand years! There was just simply no way she could lose! "GO!" Rainbow took wing and shot into the lead, so fast she appeared as nothing more than a blue and rainbow blur. --- Link ran, his paws pushing powerfully off the ground with every stride. His opponent would be nearly half way done by now, nearing the end of the finish line only to start again. She was, in truth, the fastest living creature he had ever seen, and it was only through these convoluted rules and the limitations imposed by trying to fly through a forest at near ground level that he was able to get close to her at all. But she was still ahead. He had been closing the gap every time he came back for another race, slowly but surely. Repeated runs through the forest had honed his knowledge of their race track, and for every little shortcut he found, another few seconds of her lead would vanish. Link jumped onto a fallen tree just to the right of the path and ran up it, avoiding a limb that had fallen over the trail. Critical seconds that would have been wasted slowing down to go around the side and squirming through the snagging branches were avoided. With a leap, he jumped back onto the trail and landed without a break in his stride. Link put on a burst of speed. He would win, this time. --- The trees passed in a blur to Rainbow. If she hit one of them, it would hurt. A LOT. It would probably break her record of the longest hospital stay. Rainbow grinned. Like she would hit a tree. She was Rainbow Dash! There was just no way she was going to– whoa! Rainbow swerved just in time to dodge a limb in her path. She wiped the sweat from her brow and continued forward. Maybe she shouldn't boast in the middle of a race... not even to herself... She continued at her blinding pace, following every curve and turn the trail had to offer. She was significantly slower in these trees than she was in the open air, but she liked flying like this. It was more of a challenge, and quite a workout to boot. She recognized the beginnings of the final stretch, and suddenly became worried. Where was that wolf? She hadn't passed him yet... of course, she hadn't passed him before the final stretch in any of their races yet... She poured on more speed, flapping her wings powerfully, every bit of her straining against the resistance of the air in front of her. She was forced to brake to make the final turn, and then... she saw it. Link, further ahead of her than he had ever been before, nearing the finish line. Oh no you don't! Rainbow put on every bit of speed she could muster for the last straightaway, every ounce of energy. Even so, he was far ahead. It was going to be close...! Rainbow flashed across the finish line and turned upwards, bleeding off speed before turning it into a gentle glide. She grinned. She had won again. She had to have won. There was just no way she could have lost to something that had to run along the ground– Applejack was grinning like the cat that had got the canary. No... no way... "And the winner is... Link!" Applebloom announced enthusiastically. Rainbow was so dumbstruck she forgot to stick the landing. She unceremoniously skidded to a halt at Applejack's hooves. "Wha... but... there's no way... he couldn't...." she protested weakly from her position on the ground. "He beat ya fair an' square, sugarcube. At least, as much 'fair and square' as that means in this whole convoluted race," Applejack refuted. "Came in a whole half-second ahead of you. 'Course, he looks like he just ran the race of his life." Rainbow looked over to see that Link was, indeed, still panting heavily. He was stretched out on the ground, belly on the cool ground and all four paws in different directions, tongue lolling out of his mouth as Applebloom spritzed him with a little fan/water bottle thing. Time passed in a daze, and after a while Rainbow was only vaguely aware of Applejack helping her to her hooves. I lost... "So you know what he wants as a prize?" Applejack asked. Rainbow instantly became nervous. "Nooooo....?" She wasn't going to like this, was she? Applejack snorted. "Well, me neither. Looks like we get t' find out together. So, Link, ya won, and Rainbow promised t' do whatever you wanted within reason–" "What about all the times that I won!" Rainbow yelped in protest. "That wasn't part of the deal, Rainbow," Applejack said with a sly grin. She leaned in close. "Bet you never thought he'd win, didja?" Rainbow snorted and ignored the farm mare. She threw out her chest and marched up in front of Link. "Well, you won," she told him. "So, what do you want me to do? What do you want?" Link stared past her, just to her side. "Uh, hello?" she said waving her hoof up in down in front of his face. He looked her in the eye and growled before flicking his eyes back to something else. She snorted her frustration. "Ah think he wants a feather, Rainbow." Rainbow turned her head to see that her wings were spread and that Link was staring very intently at a feather that was out of place. After a hard workout like this, it wasn't surprising to see feathers out of alignment and other such things. "You want a feather?" she asked him. He looked her in the eye and nodded once. Rainbow took a few steps away, just enough to get some space, then folded one wing against her side and brought the other as far forward as she could. Then, she craned her head back, and began to preen. She felt her tension melt away as she straightened and maintained her feathers. Preening was supremely important to any and all pegasi, a necessity to keep their wings clean and flightworthy. Straighten this feather here, tuck it back under there... One feather was broken. It had to come all the way out. She grabbed it, and with a little tug and a prick of pain, it came out. Good, just what Link wanted. "Here," she said around the feather. Link carefully took the blue feather from her teeth into his own canines, then stepped back. "I sure hope today doesn't go to your head," Rainbow told him, a bit of her old bluster back. "I mean, after all, I did beat you all those times before. You won't find it so easy next time you race me!" Rainbow caught the tail wag and the ends of her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly. "Come back when you're ready for the next race!"