//------------------------------//
// The Race 
// Story: The 7th Element 
// by thunderhawk7865 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 36: The Race

"AAARGH!" Dan roared as he whizzed around yet another corner, with Rainbow Dash to his right and Lightning Flash to his left.

"Looks like the three racers are neck n' neck, everypony!" Pinkie Pie announced excitedly.

"I can barely stand the suspense!" Spike said, his teeth chattering as the three racers whizzed around corner after corner, and dodged rock outcroppings and various trees that grew within the gorge, still maintaining their extremely fast velocity.

"Tired yet!" Lightning Flash yelled at his opponents, swerving around another rock formation.

"In your dreams, Flash!" Dash yelled back, and Dan smirked in agreement, his eyes still on the gorge.

Flash growled and broke off from being next to Dan and sped ahead. Dan and Dash looked at each other as they rounded another corner. Dash's violet eyes gleamed with determination, as if begging Dan to let her show him up. Dan smiled and nodded. Dash narrowed her eyes and looked ahead. She then sped forward ahead of Dan, speeding past Lightning Flash.

"What the hay!?" Flash barked.

Dash turned around and flew backwards in front of Lightning Flash as they flew through a straight area of the gorge. She then put a hoof on her mouth and exhaled, making a spitting sound as she did so.

With that, she turned back around and flew forward.

"Why you!" Flash sneered, while Dan, who was close behind, snickered and smirked.

"OH! Wow, everypony!" Spike laughed, "RD just added insult to injury by passing Flash backwards!"

"She sure has style!" Pinkie Pie shouted, while laughing hysterically.

"Keep at it, Dash!" Dan yelled from behind Lightning Flash.

Flash scowled and fluttered his wings even harder and faster than he was before, but Rainbow Dash was still gaining ground on him and Ace was matching his speed behind him, managing to keep up the whole time.

After the two stallions banked around another rock outcropping that stuck out of the ground, they were both panting pretty heavily. Both of them were getting worn down by the speed at which they were traveling, and Rainbow Dash was still getting further and further away.

As they approached another corner, Lightning Flash came to the sudden realization that he was not as fast as Rainbow Dash at her top speed and Dan was just as if not faster than him at his top speed as well, "This is a losing race..." The co-captain of the weather team thought. He narrowed his eyes and looked over at Ace to his right. He smirked.

"Time to play dirty..."

Lightning Flash banked in Ace's direction in the blink of an eye. Before Ace could react, Lightning Flash bodyslammed Ace into the wall as they began to round the turn.

"Seeya, Blue Bass! Haha!" Flash called as he sped around the corner.

"GAH!" Dan flipped through the air and gasped as the wall of the cliff fast approached. Dan recovered right as he was about to crash into the cliff-face and whirled around, his hooves landing on the wall. Dan snorted in annoyance that Flash would cheat like that, and then began to run along the wall, his wings still flapping to avoid disqualification or time penalty and to speed up his recovery back into the race.

"Whoa, everypony! It looks like Flash is starting to play rough!" Spike gasped.

The crowd observing the race via a unicorn, magically produced jumbo-screen "oh"ed in sync as Dan impacted the wall, but cheered when he started bolting along the wall.

Applebloom, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Blazing Dawn hoof-pumped in the air. Applebloom bounced Blazing Dawn up and down on her lap as Blazing Dawn watched his dad recover.

Dan took off off the wall and into the air again. Up ahead, he saw Lightning Flash and Rainbow Dash round another tight corner, with Lightning Flash close behind. As he flew after them, he noticed rocks along the bottom of the gorge that had apparently broken off of the cliff-face in a rockslide.

Dan gulped as he rounded the corner, "This must be where Dash got trapped by that rockslide..." He gasped and barked out loud. "OH NO YOU DON'T, LIGHTNING FLASH!" With a sudden burst of speed, he took off after the two racers in front of him. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!"

Both the racers ahead of Dan couldn't hear him, as they were too far ahead and going too fast. Lightning Flash was slowly gained ground on Rainbow Dash as they whizzed in and out of rock outcroppings that looked incredibly unstable.

Dash was smiling as she flew, happy with the satisfaction that she was well on her way to victory, "Nothings gonna stop me now!"

"Guess again, Rainbow Crash!"

"Wha-ARGH!"

Lightning Flash slammed into Rainbow Dash from the side as he rocketed by, knocking her into one of the unstable outcroppings. She then started falling towards the ground after the impact.

"NOOO!" Dan roared from behind as the outcropping started to crumble and collapse. Rock after rock broke off from the rock formation and fell after Rainbow Dash.

Nearing the bottom of the gorge, Dash recovered mid-flight, but was unable to see a discernible way out of the rocks that were quickly plummeting towards her.

"OH NO!" Pinkie Pie and Spike shouted, leaning out of their balloon to get a better view. The crowd gasped and held their breath as they watched the rocks come crashing down off the outcropping towards Rainbow Dash. Applebloom turned Blazing Dawn around and held him and patted his back, not wanting the baby alicorn to see his mother in peril.

Dash closed her eyes and waited for the worst as the rocks came tumbling down towards her.

A slashing sound rang through the air, followed by the crumbling of one of the giant boulders that was flying through the air.

Rainbow looked up and gasped. Dan was in his blue and black Element armor, minus the helmet, and was slashing away at another rock that was falling down with one of his Element scimitars.

"GO RAINBOW!" Dan barked as he sliced another rock that was crashing down towards them, "GO NOW!"

Rainbow didn't have to be told twice. Without responding, she swerved in and out of the rock fragments that were flying through the air as Dan destroyed the bigger rocks, giving her a pathway out of the cascading boulders.

As she got clear of the massive rockslide, Dash turned to see if Dan was alright, "ACE!" She shouted as the last of the rocks fell to the floor of the gorge, "ACE!"

One of the boulders exploded and Ace flew out, his scimitar in front of him like a lance. As the tiny rock fragments rained down around him, he sheathed his sword and embraced Rainbow Dash as she rocketed over and hugged him.

"That was too close..." She said through heavy panting.

Dan shared her sentiment by panting with her, "Whew...yeah..."

They released each other and looked in the direction Lightning Flash had flown in.

Rainbow Dash snarled, "I'd never thought Lightning Flash would cheat like that...when I get my hooves on him..." he slammed her two front hooves together.

"Now, now, Dash..." Dan shook his head, "His pride is on the line here. Males tend to..." He inhaled in a hissing fashion, "Over-react when pride is on the line like this..."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that he almost killed me!" Dash snorted angrily.

"Dash, you're right, it doesn't. I'll deal with that later." He smirked, "For now, we have a race to win."

"We can't win now!" Dash folded her front to hooves, frowning, "He's probably almost to the finish line by now!"

"Remember what we can do that he can't, Dashie..." Dan patted her shoulder.

Dash had to think for a second, but then her eyes lit up with determination and revenge, "Let's do this!"

"Atta girl!" Dan barked before the two racers bulleted off after Lightning Flash.



"It's not over yet, folks!" Spike yelled with excitement, "Rainbow Dash and Dan have made it through the rockslide and are rapidly gaining ground on Lightning Flash!"

The crowd cheered and Pinkie Pie continued, "Is Ace wearing his Element Armor?"

"It sure looks like it, doesn't it?" Spike commented.

Lightning Flash was taking it easy at this point, flying at a slower more relaxed pace, "There's no way they'll catch me now!"

Dan and Dash could have sworn they heard the sound of a jet as they flew faster and faster, rounding bends and dodging more rock outcroppings, speeding up the whole time.

"Let's team up, Dashie!" Dan barked above the speeding sound.

"How!" She shouted back, tears forming in her eyes as the wind blew past them.

"Grab on to my bracers!" Dan shouted and flew underneath Rainbow Dash, turning upside down and extending his front two hooves towards her.

Dash, her hooves shaking from the velocity at which they were traveling, slowly reached down with her two front hooves and grabbed onto Dan's bracers.

"Good job-WHOA!" Dan shouted out in surprise as they rounded another corner, almost smacking into the wall.

"Lock legs, too!" Dan barked as the sound barrier cone slowly started forming around the two, "Hurry! It's starting!"

"I'm...trying...!" Rainbow Dash growled. Another outcropping stood in their way, but the two ponies were traveling through the air so fast, that the outcropping shattered from the sheer force the two were exerting.

Lightning Flash heard the echo of the jet sound behind him and turned his head, "What the-? WHAT!" A piece of the outcropping that Ace and Dash shattered flew past him and slammed into the cliff-face, "Cud!" He rocketed off, around the final bend, and started on the final sprint towards the finish line.

"And Lightning Flash is on the final stretch!" Spike yelled, "But Rainbow Dash and Ace are...are...whoa..."

The sound barrier broke.

The crowd gasped as Dan and Dash started spiralling through the air as they rounded the final bend behind Lightning Flash. The cone around them started to glow with the lights of many different colors.

"Is that a...?" Pinkie Pie said.

"Double Rainboom...?" Spike questioned, leaning out of the balloon as the crowd held their breath.

Lightning Flash was less than 100 yards away from the finish line.

His wings flapped harder and faster as he desperately tried to speed up. "AAAAARGH!"

There was an explosion of light, followed by a shockwave, half made of a rainbow, and half made of glittering, pure golden light. The energy spiraled around each other as they rocketed forward in the blink of an eye.

In a flash of golden light that blinded the crowd temporarily exploded throughout the area. Applebloom covered Blazing Dawn's eyes quickly as the light exploded around them.

Celestia stood forward and absorbed the light from the explosion into her horn.

When the light was all absorbed, and everypony could again look at the finish line, Lightning Flash was standing just beyond the finish line, panting heavily. Rainbow Dash and Dan were farther in, sprawled on the ground quite a ways away from the intense speed they were traveling.

Ace sat up and rubbed his head, his armor clinking around as he did so, "Ugh..." He looked around, "Did...did we win?"

"I..." Rainbow Dash fluttered to her hooves, "I don't know..."

There was silence for a moment or two before the crowd started to murmur amongst themselves.

"Well, it looks like no pony saw the winner, Spike..." Pinkie's voice reverberated around the field.

"Looks like the ref will have to view the footage..." Spike said as the ref trotted over to the side of the finish line and picked up the camera that was set.

As the ref went over the footage, Dan and Rainbow Dash trotted up to Lightning Flash, re-joining him at the finish line.

"Hey guys, good ra-" Lightning Flash was interrupted by Dan's hoof crashing into the right side of his face, "ARGH!" This knocked Lightning Flash backward a few feet, "Rrrr..." He looked up at Dan, a small stream of blood streaming down the side of his face, "I guess I deserved that..."

"What the BUCK were you thinking, man?!" Dan growled, "Is this race really worth Rainbow Dash's life?! Are you that arrogant!?"

Rainbow Dash just stared at her co-captain with disappointment in her eyes.

Lightning Flash sighed and wiped the blood away, taking off his goggles, "I'm...I'm sorry..." He shook his head, "I just wanted to win so badly I..." He walked forward a little, "I didn't mean for the rockslide to happen!" His different-colored eyes welled with tears, "I'm sorry, Dash. I would understand if you fired me..."

"Flash..." She fluttered up and put a hoof on his shoulder, "I understand what it's like to lose, believe me." She smiled, "It's okay, and I'm not gonna fire you. Just be more careful in the future..."

"Wait, what?" Ace looked confused, "What happened to tearing him a new one?"

She turned and smiled at her lover, "Flash didn't mean for it to happen...and he apologized..." She shook her head and chuckled, "Just...don't let it happen again..."

"Miss Dash!" The ref called, "Could you come over here, please?"

"Yeah, be right there!" Rainbow took to the air and flew over to the ref and they both started looking over the footage.

Lightning Flash and Dan were shocked, their mouths hanging open.

"What..." Flash asked, "What was that?"

"Believe it or not..." Dan chuckled, "Personal growth on her part..."

Both stallions chuckled before Lightning extended a hoof, "No hard feelings?"

Dan gazed at his hoof for a second before he sighed and shook it, "You're good, brony. Sorry I punched you."

"Hey, I said I deserved it!"

"ACE!" Rainbow Dash flew over and tackled Dan in a hug.

"What, huh, who, where!" Dan was shocked at her sudden tackle.

"WE WON!" She cried.

"What?"

Dash pointed up at the magic screen above the field. The footage was being slowed down by at least 100 times. It showed Lightning Flash edging his way on-screen towards the line, his eyes closed as he strained to cross the finish line first. Right before he crossed, however, Dan and Dash edged their way into the frame, spiralling through the air, waves of rainbow and golden light swirling around them. They crossed the finish line right before Lightning Flash did, passing him at the last second. They had won by only a fraction of a second.

The crowd erupted into massive cheering and stomping of hooves as Pinkie Pie freaked out above in the balloon.

"AAAAAH! THEY WON! They won! They won! They won!" Pinkie was bouncing up and down.

"The first ever annual Ghastly Gorge circuit is a tie! The winners are Rainbow Dash and Blue Bass!" Spike barked.

"Yee hah!" Applebloom threw Blazing Dawn up in the air as the alicorn laughed and cheered at his parents. Applebloom caught him and hugged the baby alicorn.

"Aw...look..." Scootaloo nudged Sweetie Belle, "Applebloom's got a new crush..."

"What?" Applebloom shook her head, "He's a week old!"

The three friends laughed together as Dan and Dash cheered and hugged each other again. Lightning Flash smiled and started stomping his hooves with the crowd.

"Make way, ya' looney tunes!" Blue Arrow's rough accent resounded through the crowd. "Royalty, comin' through!"

The crowd parted and quieted down as Celestia and Luna strode onto the track, followed by Spitfire, Soarin', Blue Arrow, and Papyrus. Lightning Flash, Dash, and Dan all bowed when they approached.

"Congratulations to you both." celestia said with a warm smile, "That double Rainboom was equally impressive."

"I've never seen anypony go as fast as you two did." Luna nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, your highnesses..." Dan and Dash said in unison.

"It was incredible..." Spitfire shook her head in disbelief, "You'll have to teach us that sometime!"

"Omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh!" Was all Rainbow managed to say as Spitfire and Soarin' approached.

Dan chuckled, "That's a yes, Spitfire."

"You too, Ace." Soarin' said, "It couldn't have been done if you haven't used your Element of Harmony to save Rainbow dash. This race, my friend..." He put a hoof on Dan's shoulder, "Is the most intense race I've ever witnessed."

The crowd behind the group of ponies cheered in response to Soarin's comment.

"I don't know what came over me..." Dan said, shrugging and looking down at himself, "It just appeared when I wanted to save Rainbow Dash..."

"The one you love, Ace..." Celestia smiled, "You are the Element of Love...never forget that..."

Dan nodded, closing his eyes and letting the Element know that he was done with his task. His armor and sword disappeared in a flash of light.

"Sweet..." Dan said, looking over himself, "I like this new ability..."

"I would certainly hope so..."

Everypony on the finish line turned to see that Lunar Eclipse, the alicorn Prince of Death, had appeared.

"Lunar..." Luna blushed slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Reminding you..." Lunar said, striding forward, "That this race is not the real reason you came here..."

"What?" Dan and Dash said together, looking at the princesses.

Celestia's warm smile and turned to a mournful frown. Luna's expression had a similar transformation, but her eyes were closed and she appeared to be gritting her teeth underneath her frown.

"Yes..." Celestia murmured, "Yes, of course..." She turned to Dan, "Ace...come with Luna, Lunar Eclipse, and I...if you please..."

"What's going on?" Dan asked, glancing from Dash, who had a confused, worried look, back to the two princesses, who maintained their sad expressions.

"We will discuss it in private..." Celestia spread her massive wings and took to the air, Luna following shortly after her sister.

Lunar walked up beside Dan and nodded, "C'mon, boy..."

Dan looked at Rainbow Dash, who was standing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and holding Blazing Dawn. She nodded and waved.

"I'll be right back, Dashie!"

"See ya later, hun!" Rainbow waved.

With that, Lunar and Dan took off after the princesses towards the other side of the gorge where they would not be disturbed.



OCs:

Lightning Flash (c) Lightning Flash.

Blue Arrow, and the Red Hooves (c) QTXAdsy