Rainbow Dash let out a content yawn enjoying the warm summer sun in the comfort of a cloud she found drifting over Ponyville. She'd spent most of the morning practicing her stunts and was just about to take a much deserved early afternoon nap. As her eyes started to get heavy, she thought about how things around town had changed recently.
Apparently, Pinkie managed to nab one of the visiting Princes and Fluttershy somehow tamed a Princess that wanted to kill Twilight. She never got the full story, but supposedly the huge shockwave that wrecked the town a few weeks ago was somehow related. Rumor was that Derpy's been spending a lot of time with a red Alicorn stallion, but it seemed he was there more for damage control then anything else. Some of Berry's regulars have been talking about a green Alicorn stopping by every now and then to talk business with the infamous Bartender. At one occasion, when she was walking through town square, she heard two depressed mares groaning about how Big Mac was off the market because an Alicorn mare was making moves on him.
Rainbow closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
It wasn't that she wasn't curious about Ponyville's new guests, she just didn't know how work with nobles. Even with Princess' Celestia and Luna Rainbow felt awkward. They're eyes and poise always had this weight to them that just put her on edge. Cadence and Twilight didn't have this heavy presence which made them easier to deal with but she wasn't so sure about the others.
If only they weren't so uptight, she thought letting out another yawn.
Suddenly, something shot over her cloud, a loud whistling and torrent of wind blasting Rainbow out of her near sleep state.
"What the hay?!" she growled, as she jumped to her hooves and scanned her surroundings.
Immediately, a silver blur caught her attention as it zipped through the air. Rainbow's anger turned into intrigue as she watched it barrel through the sky, moving at speeds that even her trained eyes had a hard time keeping track of.
What the hay is that?
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the blur broke away from its original course and bolted towards her. Rainbow shut her eyes and braced herself for impact, but nothing happened. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Hovering a foot away from her cloud was a bright silver Pegasus stallion.
"Hey," he grinned. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?"
"The one and only," she boasted, puffing out her chest.
"Awesome!" he cheered. "I'm Platinum Blitz."
As he said this he held out a hoof.
"Nice ta meet ya Platinum Blitz," she grinned, shaking his hoof.
Huh, why do I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before? she thought as she let go of his hoof.
"So," Platinum smirked, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts. "I hear your the fastest Pegasus around here."
Rainbow raised a brow.
"Around here? Buddy, I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria," she said, puffing out her chest again.
"Oh really?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "Wanna prove that?"
A cocky grin crossed Rainbow's muzzle as she locked eyes with him.
"What'd ya have in mind?"
"Just a little race," he shrugged. "No big deal."
"How far?"
Platinum thought about it for a minute then said, "From here to the top of Canterlot Castle and back."
Rainbow laughed.
"That's it?" she asked, hovering off of her cloud. "No sweat! I can do that in ten seconds flat!"
Platinum raised a brow.
"It takes you that long? HA! Then this'll be a cakewalk."
"Yeah right," Rainbow chuckled.
The two flyers hovered side by side, looks of determination on their faces as the aimed themselves at the massive marble castle in the distance.
"Ready?" Platinum asked, eyes locked on the castle.
"Yeah," Rainbow smirked.
"On three then. One. Two. Three!"
In less than a second, Rainbow shot forward, her body strait as an arrow for maximum thrust. After about three seconds she looked back and saw that Platinum was still at the starting line.
Ha! Probably too stunned by my awesomeness!
Meanwhile, Platinum watched her fly, all the while smiling as he mumbled, "Seven. Eight. Nine......TEN!"
As soon as he reached ten, Platinum blasted himself forward, shooting past Rainbow Dash like a shooting star. Rainbow watched him pass her with a slack jaw.
What the!?!
Shaking her head, Rainbow focused on catching up to the silver Pegasus, but as she felt herself getting closer to her maximum speed, she noticed that instead of getting closer to him, she was starting to lag behind. Frustrated, Rainbow flapped her wings harder, almost desperate to match her opponent at the very least. Risking a glance past him to see how close they were to the castle, Rainbow spotted some large clouds that drifted into their flight path. A slight grin crossed her muzzle, because she knew that if Platinum wanted to maintain his speed, he would need to pass through them, a move that would distract him long enough to give her the time she needed to pass him. Her confidence turned to shock for the second time as she watched him tuck his forelegs in and did a close-winged barrel role through the clouds, completely destroying them from the inside out with the wind pressure.
That's the Sky Cutter! Only three Wonderbolts in history ever managed to pull that off! How the hay did he do that?!
Deciding to worry about that later, Rainbow did everything she could to close the growing gap between Platinum and herself. Eventually, they started to close in on Canterlot Castle with Platinum maintaining a ten and a half foot lead. Rainbow growled as she saw him shift into a glide as he moved closer to the top of the highest tower to make it easier for him to orbit around it. Panting, Rainbow pushed her already strained body even harder, determined to win this contest. In a flash, Platinum soared past the top of the tower and u-turned , passing Dash with a wink before returning to his original speed. Fuming, Rainbow maintained her speed as she pulled a risky high speed u-turn and bolted after him. It had been years since Rainbow Dash had been pushed to this degree. Her wings were sore, her breathing was ragged, and every muscle in her body felt like they were being crushed by the air pressure she was forcing them to endure. She could tell that she was almost at her limit, that if she tried to go any further she could seriously hurt herself, but her pride just wouldn't let her quit.
C'mon damn it! Move! MOVE FASTER!!!
At that moment, everything seemed to stop as all the strength and feeling in Rainbow Dash's wings disappeared. The rest of her body started to fallow as she was barely conscious of her surroundings, only able to tell before her vision started to fade that she was falling.
Damn it......
***
A groan crept out of Rainbow's mouth as her eyes opened a crack, all required strength to open them further nonexistent. Her whole body screamed in agony, more so whenever it moved. Though groggy and drained, Rainbow could tell she was moving, or at least being carried by something. The sounds of trees and crunching leaves told her she was in a forest while the chill she felt in the air was enough to tell her that it was most likely evening. A set of hoofsteps to her left let her know she wasn't alone, which only gave her a small amount of relief. A strong gust of air passed over her, causing a chill to shoot down her spine. As she curled deeper into her soft transport, a warm material draped over her, chasing the cold away. As she let the new blanket wrap around her, the sweet scent of morning dew and ozone lulled her back to sleep, a content smile on her face.
When Rainbow returned to the waking world, she found herself laying on her back in a comfortable lavender bed staring at the familiar crystal ceiling of one of Twilight's guest rooms. Confused, she tried to sit up, but was stopped by a massive wave of pain. As she let out the briefest of agonized whimpers she noticed a slight weight on her side. Carefully, she turned her head and what she saw made her eyes widen in shock. Sitting with his top half sprawled out on top of the covers was Platinum Blitz. A Platinum Blitz with a bigger body and a horn sticking out of his head!
Rainbow's brain shut down. Not only had she raced a mother-bucking Alicorn, but now she was stuck in a room with one! The last bit of info made her face turn bright red as all kinds of provocative thoughts started to run through her head.
Just then, Platinum's eyes started to flutter open and with a loud yawn, pulled himself into a full sitting position. After a minute of blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked towards Rainbow Dash and said, "Ah, good, yer up. How are you feeling?"
Rainbow just stared at him with wide eyes for a solid three minutes before shouting, "YOUR AN ALICORN?!"