Chapter 10
A Quick Dash
It was a beautiful sunny day, even the ever dark Everfree seemed a bit brighter. Inn did not feel like doing her spying duties today, and decided to just enjoy the lovely sunshine. she needed to stretch her wings, so she decided to do some flying. This was a good chance to get something useful done. She flew off to look for a good place to start practicing.
Inn flew low, keeping the morning glow on the horizon in sight, careful to avoid any possible sneak attacks from other flying predators. She started off slow, only trying to warm up her wings. It took longer than she had expected to get warmed up, she was rustier than she had thought. she finally felt her wings getting used to the rhythm and began to accelerate, still just warming up.
She could feel the wind in her face as she flew, the trees a blur as they rushed by below. She smiled at the warm sun on her back as she pushed herself to go even faster.
But then, her enjoying the day was cut short by a blast from above her. Something had just zipped by really fast, and the shock wave had thrown Inn off slightly. Inn looked up to see what it was, only to see a rainbow trail extending rapidly into the distance. What could this be? It couldn't be a pony, nor could it be a monster from the Everfree, so what was it? Inn was curious. it was moving fast, what ever it was, but Inn was faster.
She still needed to stretch her wings, but Inn did not need top speed for this speedy target, it did have a head start though, and that could be a problem. Inn flew faster and faster, her speed nearing her maximum, after a while, the prolonged chase began to wear on her. If this went on much longer she might have to give up.
Finally, a glimpse. It was not the detailed view that Inn wished, but she could see a blue pony.
A blue pony? It shouldn't be possible for a pony to create a rainbow just by flying fast, so how can this one? As she struggled to slowly draw closer, she saw the pony's rainbow colored mane and tail. Was that it?
Just as Inn was beginning to wear out, the blue pony dove down into the trees and was gone.
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Inn went back her to her hut and had some tea. It took a little more than an hour for her stamina to return. Then she went back out to practice some more, filling reinvigorated in her few hours brake. She felt inspired, the blue pony had not seemed to be going full throttle. With the day still nice and bright, Inn had plenty of time to warm up. As Inn flew, she could have sworn that she saw some patches of blue between the leaves of the trees. She decided to go and see what it was. Looking for a good place to hide first, Inn made her move.
She sees that it is better to hide in the trees than on the ground. Trying to not make the same mistake as last time, she finds a few good trees in case she has to move from one to another. After getting the more tedious planning and set up part of her job out of the way, things she had skimmed over on previous occasions, she took a good look at what had made the blue blob.
A rainbow mane and tailed pony was strolling along in the forest.
Inn was completely giddy. She had to think of herself as acting in order to not blow her location with cheers and a nice victory dance. She had thought that this pony was long gone, but not only was she here, she was taking to herself. Inn could get some information on her too.
“That joke was like totally awesome last time I was here, those guy were so scared!” said the blue pegasus, laughing at the memory of the frightened faces.
Good! It sounded like she came here often. Maybe Inn could see how the blue mare would like one of her jokes. Inn started to turn into the blue pony, but then she realized she didn't know what this pony’s cutie mark looked like.
As Inn changed trees to get a better view of the flank, the blue pegasus continued, “... Oh and the land slide was a nice touch too!” Inn paused for a minute. Was it possible that it was the same land slide that she had seen? Inn moved in closer. The laughter slowly faded from the blue pony’s voice, as she added, “it was good that npony got hurt by it.”
Inn finally got into a position to see her cutie mark, a cloud shooting a red, yellow and blue lighting bolt. With that there was a double of the blue rainbow pony in the trees.
Inn slowly flew over to the other pony’s side, trying to not let her notice Inn’s prescience until Inn was right there next to the rainbowed one. “Wow, you look just like me! That is totally awesome!” Inn said, trying her best to mimic the mannerisms of the other pony.
The blue pony jumps and looks to her left, seeing an exact mirror of herself just touching down. “W- What the...” she began.
“Oh, do you know what I’m thinking right now?” asked the fake blue pony.
“‘What in Equestria is going on here?’” said the blue pegasus sarcastically.
“No, but that is close, I’m thinkin' we should race!” she got into a low position as if she was going to take of.
The pony was still in shock at seeing another her, but she could not resist the offer to race. “Oh you're on!”
“Great! Just... there aren't actually any clouds today. So we will have to use land markers instead of clouds.” the fake blue pony said, looking up at the clear sky.
The blue pony nodded. “That's cool.”
“Awesome~!” cheered the fake pegasus.
Both pegasi flew up to the treetops, Inn climbing higher. She pointed out the land marks to the other pony. Where they where would be the starting and finishing point. The points to the right and left where a hill with a dip towards the center, and tree that was so large that it seemed to be growing smaller trees on it's branches. Then off in the distance was another three points of reference, what looked to be an old deserted Castle, a mountain peak, and a lake.
The pegasus was shocked. This course had to be at least three miles long, and the other her was asking for three laps. This did not bother her though, it was just that it had to be the longest track shes ever been in. Does this doppelganger really think that she can last the entire race against her?
“Got that? just level flying. I know that you can build up a lot of speed by descending, but this is a pure speed race. Not a tactical race,” finished Inn.
“Yeah yeah yeah, I hear ya. Let’s just race now!”
“Okay,” the double said as if it was a bad idea to rush.
They got into position, getting ready to go.
“Get ready... get set... Go!” they both said, taking off right at ‘Go’ at immense speeds.
They where neck and neck coming up to the hill with a dip towards the center. Making a sharp turn which was masterfully executed by both ponies. The rainbowed one looked to see if the other her was still close only to see her eye to eye. The ruined castle was fast approaching. She had to lose the other her here.
When they approached the ruins, she sharply increased her speed. Looking to her side again to see if the other was gone, she saw herself looking back with a big smile. In no time, the mountain peak had crept up on them. Another sharp turn, and another spike in speed. This time the pegasus was only focusing on winning and not seeing if the double could keep up.
In a blink, the lake was just below them. Trying to not look back the blue pegasus continued to gather speed. The straightaways seemed to get shorter and shorter, as she executed a sharp 110 degree turn at the large tree and saw the end of the multicolored stream left in her path, and another blue pegasus fly by with forelegs crossed behind her head as she flew backwards. The smile on the faker's face made the real blue pony mad that she was showing such cocky behavior in the race, and that she had lost the first lap.
With a massive increase in speed, the rainbowed one rushed ahead. The pony looked back to make sure she had regained the lead. just then a few things clicked. First, her opponent had a rainbow stream just like she did. Second, the fake was enjoying the race more than anything. Third, she was keeping up with her. Finally, she saw that the other's stream was not as long as her own. In an instant, the fake passed her again.
A little distracted by these new thoughts, the blue pony did not speed up right away. When she hit the second stretch, she snapped out of it and darted ahead of the fake to take the second lap win.
Meanwhile, a bouncing pink pony was out in the forest below looking for a particular type of tree sap. She heard a loud boom overhead and looked up. “Ooh~! A double Rainbow~!”
The third lap was very intense, mostly due to the speeds at which they both where performing such sharp turns. They where increasing their speed at every check point and hitting each one with a forty-five or ninety degree turn. the last lap only took a few seconds from start to end.
The real Pegasus won. Barely.
They land, with one out of breath and the other cheering.
“Yay, yay, that was fun!” one of them chanted, bouncing around. “Let’s do that again!” she said planting her hooves firmly on the ground, face to face with the exhausted pony.
“Ah, y-yeah. Like maybe another time. It was fun though. I never have to go all out like that.”
“Do you think it's more how long the laps where? That's what I'm thinking!” asked one, with no response from the other. “So like what’s your name?” the fake knew the question would be coming up soon and wanted to beat the real one to the punch.
“Rainbow Dash, ah, and you?” she asked in return.
“Rain Rush!” she shocked herself with the fast answer.
“Well Rain, you, are, good,” complemented the wheezing Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, you too. I saw you earlier, but I hadn’t flown in like forever, so my wings where to rusty to catch up to you. But as I was warming them up, I saw you and was just like 'I had to race you!'”
“S- so you’re still trying to warm up?” Rainbow was shocked by this, she had had a hard time with Rain as it was, but if she were still just warming up... Rainbow worried that she may have found her better.
“Ah, not much, I think that last lap did the trick. You do seem to be the same speed as me though. Which is like totally awesome~!” Rain said.
This did not give the tired pegasus any comfort. After a short talk about flying and stunts, they parted ways.