//------------------------------// // Competition // Story: Troubleshooters: Tia and Twily // by ultra1437 //------------------------------// The news program playing on the wall-screen shifted topics, drawing Twilight’s attention. A blonde-maned pony in a suit shuffled several papers in his hooves. “This weekend, the 52nd Chromatic Cup racing championship will be held. Cup favorite-to-win Sky Prism took the pole position during saturday’s time trials.” Twilight recalled the name. Sky Prism was around twenty generations descended from Rainbow Dash, if she remembered right. She looked over to Celestia, nestled into several cushions, some article or book floating next to her. “Hey, Tia? Want to go see the race?” Celestia, who had been paying more attention to her book than Twilight or the wall-screen, looked up “Hm?” Pointing a hoof at the screen, Twilight asked again, “Want to go see the race?” Both ponies watched a trailer play, showing several ponies, gryphons, and other fliers speeding along a three-dimensional track. Celestia hummed thoughtfully for a moment, long enough that the holographic text had disappeared from being ignored. “It has been a while since we’ve gone to one, let alone the championship race.” She smiled softly, the kind of smile that absolutely made Twilight’s day whenever she saw it. “Yes. Let’s go.” “LADIES AND GENTLEPEOPLE! WELCOME TO THE FIFTY-SECOND CHROMATIC CUP CHAMPIONSHIP!” The rest of the announcement was drowned out by the stunningly massive crowd cheering. From their seats, Twilight snuggled against Celestia. Though the stands were packed, everyone had room enough to stretch if necessary. They looked down at the starting line, sixteen racers staggered in their starting positions as their teams checked them over one last time. They eyed the lead racer, Sky Prism as she checked over her suit and thrusters. She was shorter than most of the others, but her wingspan is where it really counted when racing. Hers was the largest, but not by much. Wings spread, she was more than twice as wide as she was tall. A massive gryphon tom next to her flapped his wings powerfully, lifting himself off the ground on the second stroke. As he set back down, he seemed to flash a cocky grin Prism’s way. In response, she shooed her team out of her way, before unfolding her wings. Where her dull pink mane ended and pale-orange coat gave way to feathers, her coat seemed to shimmer and shine, each primary a different color of the rainbow. Her wings spread straight up, pausing a mere heartbeat before slamming downward, lifting the short mare higher than the gryphon had gone, with half the wingbeats. She dropped back down, her grin could only be described as ‘shit-eating’ as she saw the gryphon visibly pale. Turning back to her team, she waved them over, and motioned to the thruster on her back and under a wing. Twilight looked at the other teams, testing equipment, racers taking off and hovering to check weight and balance, among other things. Her mind drifted to how much the sport had changed with time. Racers relied on their natural skill, sure, but technology helped push them further, pushing their limits farther than ever before. The suits let them take turns much sharper and faster without snapping joints or passing out. The advent of rocket and jet thrusters let them accelerate and hit much higher speeds. Improved training regimens improved racers’ stamina and strength manyfold. “She’s more impressive than I thought.” Celestia’s voice brought her from her musing. Twilight nodded into Celestia’s neck. “She is. She’s truly like Rainbow, the fastest pegasus alive.” Several minutes passed by, the two mares enjoying their time together silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Their ruminations were interrupted as the announcer came over the cloudspeaker. Twilight snickered at the term. ‘Cloudspeakers. Cloud loudspeakers. Somepony so caught Tartarus for that…’ “Racers, are you ready?” Down on the track, the teams had cleared off, leaving only the racers left. Several of them pawed at the cloud they stood on. A single pegasus, in a black and white jersey stepped in front of the two leaders, a green flag in hoof. He raised it high in the air, above his head, holding it for several seconds. Looking to the clock, he swung the flag down just as the minute ticked over. Mere fractions of a second later, sixteen bodies launched skyward. Prism took the lead, naturally. Airborne with her first downstroke, she rocketed through the first checkpoint less than five seconds after the race started, moving fast enough her contrail had started already. The contrail itself was almost identically Dash’s, except there were two of them: one from each of Prism’s wings. She passed through the first ring, snapping her wings in tight. Freefalling, she picked up speed quickly pitching forward to fall nose first. She only opened her wings back up after she had passed through the second ring, her competitors mimicking her behavior, their wings folding and diving to pick up speed. Gliding more than flying, she angled to level and climb. Her speed carried her through the third ring as she banked toward the fourth. The race turned into more of a blur for Twilight after that. Celestia was incredibly warm, comfortable, and snuggly, after all. Only when the crowd gasped did Twilight’s mind seem to reboot. A pegasus clipped one of the metal rings with a wing, throwing him out of his racing line and he started to spiral. Before he got too out of control, the thrusters under his wings lit and fired powerfully, taking over forward momentum and letting their pilot use his wings to slow his spin and bank back into line a few seconds later. Once he stabilized, the jet thrusters fired harder, rocketing the stallion through the next ring twice as fast as he’d previously gone. Cheers went up through the crowd as he made his recovery, losing only two places as a result. That also seemed to trigger something through the rest of the racers. Their contrails disrupted as it seemed everyone fired up their own. Several racers turned into mere blurs as they fired away full bore, using their wings only to steer. Way in front, the gryphon that had started next to Sky Prism had caught up, his massive thrusters giving him major speed on the straighter sections of the course. Not content merely gliding under his jet power, he flapped his wings, his magic innately working to align the air currents to funnel right into the boosters. His speed more than doubled, and with a small crack, he broke the sound barrier. Right before the turn, he blew by Sky Prism like she was standing still, but overshot the turn and had to lose most of his speed to turn properly. Prism herself seemed only to use her boosters sparingly, relying more on her agility to rocket around her turns at full speed than to set airspeed records between checkpoints. She banked hard, almost seeming to come straight at the stand Twilight currently sat in. From her point, she saw the smirk that graced Prism’s muzzle as she closed the distance to the next ring. The gryphon, his turn finally completed, blasted toward her and the next ring, a crack signaling he’d broken the sound barrier again. Just as he looked to pass her, she and Twilight locked eyes. Twilight could swear she saw a wink directed her way before a second crack signaled Prism passing the sound barrier herself. The wave of force from the two sound waves washed over the stands, the sound and force vibrating the crowd to their bones. Several ponies and gryphons around her shivered uncomfortably. As they passed overhead, Twilight turned her focus on the other racers, Prism and the gryphon diving down behind the stands she sat on, obscured by the stands themselves. The rest of the racers battled among each other for positions, but it was clear that the two leading had nothing to fear from the others. Twilight’s mind wandered again, letting the battling blurs serenely splitting the sky calm her down. ‘I think I’ll just rest my eyes a minute…’ “AND THE WINNER IS SKY PRISM!” The announcement shocked Twilight to awareness, bundled up in Celestia’s warmth. The white mare herself was asleep, leaning against her. The rest of the announcement was lost as she barely contained the squeal seeing Celestia sleeping so adorably. The twin chromatic contrails blasted around the course one last time, taking a victory lap before landing in the winner’s circle. The gryphon she’d barely beaten across the finish line, mere hundredths of a second slower than herself, landed and shook her hoof. Turning back to Celestia, she was out cold, snoring softly. Wanting to leave, she scooped the larger mare onto her back, draping Celestia’s forelegs around her barrel. Instinctively, Celestia tightened her grip, hugging Twilight firmly. Spreading her own wings, she took off gently headed back to their shuttle for home.