Races

by Tom From Myspace


Ch.1: Winning!

You blast through a cloud, creating a tiny shower of rain to spill from it.

'Today is the day.' You think.

'Today is the day I finally beat Dash in a race.'

You fly on with anticipation and excitement. It was almost impossible for you to keep pace with her on any other day. Your wings simply wouldn’t allow you to fly fast enough to catch her. But now, she’s one hundred percent out of sight. You assume you took the lead when you flew into that batch of storm clouds the rest of the weather team was supposed to handle.

You decide to slow your pace. After all, the finish you two created is in visual range. You begin to think something is wrong. There was heavy lightning back there, and you barely made it out unscathed. You didn’t see another lick of her after you went in. You stop to hover, and consider turning back.

Then, a large gust of wind rushes down from above you. All you can see is a rainbow trail. She’d been flying above you the whole time! Stunned, you fly off towards the finish, only to meet your friend there.

“Beat you again, slowpoke!” She declares triumphantly.

“Hey, I almost had this one,” You reply.

“Do I hear a call for a rematch?” Rainbow Dash asks, leaning her head towards you.

“You’re on. First one to Ponyville and back?” You respond.

“Heck yeah!” she replies.

“Ready?” You ask.

“On three?” She replies.

“One….” You begin.

“THREE!!!” She calls out, taking off.

You realize what just happened and take off a few seconds later. She’s flying slow enough to keep it fair. You catch up in no time.

“Didn’t think you’d catch me Speedy,” She says with a grin.

She’s called you Speedy as long as you can remember. She calls you that because you were the second fastest at flight camp when you were foals, the first being her. You went over to her to congratulate the Sonic Rainboom that she had created that one day. It didn’t take long for you two to find a common interest, and become friends.

You begin to edge into the lead. She quickly responds, and ties with you. You both fly towards the Library. You nearly hit another Pegasus, and bank to avoid her, hitting Rainbow Dash in the process.

You watch as your accident sends her flying through the library window with a loud crash. You fly down and land inside, amidst a large pile of scattered books.

“Ow! I didn’t think you wanted to win that badly, Speedy.” Rainbow Dash says, rubbing her head.

“Sorry. Raindrops came out of nowhere, and I didn’t want to crash.” You explain.

“Oh, Come ON!” Yells Spike.

“It took me four hours to clean this up last time!” He states angrily.

“Don’t worry, I got this one.” Says Dash.

She begins putting books away with record speed. You and Spike watch as the rainbow blur replaces all the books on the shelves. You’re both amazed at not only her speed, but her precise organization. It must have come from having to do this so often.

“GO!” She yells out, shooting back out of the window.

You’re a bit slow in remembering that you’re still in a race. You blast out of the window yourself. You follow after her at full speed, nearly grazing rooftops as you head back towards Cloudsdale. You notice when she looks back at you. You begin to speed up, despite the fact that you’re going your hardest.

As she slows a bit to say something to you, you notice something out of the corner of your eye. Just as you reach Cloudsdale, Derpy comes flying by. She collides with Rainbow Dash, and sends them both back towards the ground. You want to stop, but giving up now would be a waste of your energy. They both recover quickly.

You fly up and land on the main road of Cloudsdale. You collapse, but manage to cheer about your victory. The other ponies around you look at you like you’re crazy, but ignore it. You stand up and celebrate a bit more. A Bemused Rainbow Dash flies up behind you.

“Well Speedy, you finally beat me. I guess you finally earned that nickname.” She says with a smile.

“I hope. I won’t be racing for a bit. That really wore me out.” You pant.

“You know what I think?” She asks.

“What?” You pant.

“You deserve a reward,” She replies, flashing another smile.

“C’mon Dash, you don’t need to do that.” You say, still gasping for air.

“Oh, come on Speedy. You finally beat me. It took you how many races?” She points out.

The real reason you denied it is because she never offers a reward like that. The last time you saw her give anypony a reward was when she made a bet. And it was rare for her to lose. The only reason that she even lost it was because Twilight made the challenge.

“C’mon, let ol’ Dashie give you something!” She practically pleaded.

“Well, if you insist.” You accept.

You trot off to your cloud home, still exhausted. You’re also a bit confused. Why did she offer you a reward? It wasn’t that big a deal, was it? She does take races seriously though. Maybe it was important to her. Either way, you’re still being a good friend and that’s all that matters.

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You are suddenly awoken by a knock at your door. What time is it? Oh Sweet Celestia! It was midday! You already missed half of your weather patrol! Rainbow wouldn’t be happy, you knew it. She is Weather Manager after all. You figured it was your supervisor, and go to let him in.

“Speedy! You up yet?” You hear Rainbow Dash ask.

Rainbow Dash?! You’re in for it now. If she was at your door after you miss weather patrol, it was usually a bad sign. Your heart begins racing. Weather patrol was the only really important job in Cloudsdale. It was also the only one you wanted. You hesitate, but you open the door.

Standing at the door is Rainbow Dash. She isn’t mad. In fact, she doesn’t even seem to realize you’ve missed half of your patrol.

“Hi Dash. You need something?” You ask.

“Not really.” She replies.

“Then why are you here?” You ask.

Not that it was a bad thing. You’ve always had a soft spot for Rainbow Dash. She was the filly of your dreams. It hadn’t taken long for you to figure that out. Not that you’d tell her that. You’d rather have her as a friend, than not at all.

“You wanna go get some lunch in Ponyville? My treat.” She offers.

She looks at you, her rose eyes piercing into your soul. It’s not a special look or anything, you’ve just gotten yourself thinking that way again. You decide not to tell her about missing your patrol. It was obvious she didn’t care if you did.

“Sure. When do you wanna go?” You ask.

“Is now good?” She asks.