Hello. It's a very nice Friday here in my corner of the world, and I hope everyone else is having a nice day too.

This is a prompt thread, not unlike the one I set up last Sunday (which you can find here, and is still open until Sunday the 26th). Unlike that thread, this one (and the ones that will follow) focus not on a word prompt, but rather on a specific character.

We all have characters we like more than others, or characters that we have more difficulty writing. These threads are to give people opportunities to write little 1.5K word stories about that character. These Character Prompts will only come once every two weeks (meaning the next one is on the seventh of August), but in every other regard is exactly the same as the weekly prompt threads.

This week, we have my personal favourite, Rainbow Dash.

There are a lot of aspects of Rainbow Dash to write about, really. Out of all the Mane Six, she strikes me as the one who wants the most. She wants to be the fastest, be a Wonderbolt, be famous, do nothing all day, spend time with her pet, drink cider, show off... And for me, the funnest bit is that some of these things are pretty exclusive, meaning Rainbow has to pick and choose out of the many, many things she wants for herself.

So what could you write about in a Character Prompt thread? Well, maybe a short discussion between her and Twilight? Maybe you could have a small scene with her and her idol, Scootaloo? Maybe she's out flying and is struck by a sudden desire to have a mug of cider (I know I have one right know). There are so many things to write about her I'd have difficulty choosing, but if you have a short idea that's too tiny to make into a proper story, this is a great place to show it off.

You could even combine Rainbow Dash with the weekly prompt, Example, if you wanted. In any case, this is where I stop rambling, and wait for people to write something. I can't wait.

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She crashed the party. Then she went to the hospital. Typical.

Well, might as well be the first, right?

Twilight let out her breath, her face falling slightly as Rainbow stomped her hoof on the ground once again. Her horn was still smoking gently from the after effects of the spell, and she shook it around, cooling it down before Rainbow demanded the same thing she had demanded each time before.

"Again!" she exclaimed. "Rematch!"

Twilight bit her lip. "Rainbow, it's not that I don't want you to manage..." she began. Rainbow cut her of as she flared her wings.

"Rematch!"

Twilight ran her hoof through her mane. "Listen, it's been four tries..."

"I don't care. C'mon! You gotta' let me try again."

Applejack watched quietly from the sidelines. Twilight looked to her for help, but the farmpony gave her none. "Give her another shot, 'Twi. Else she'll never quit pesterin'."

Twilight groaned. "Fine," she grunted. "One more time. To the big oak tree?"

Rainbow looked over to her left. The oak tree sat on top of a hill, a good distance away. It'd take her a short canter to get to... but she wouldn't be cantering. Not this time. Neither would Twilight.

Rainbow stretched her wings out. Twilight shook her mane out of her eyes. One more teleportation spell, she thought. It wouldn't be hard. In fact, it'd probably be easy. She wasn't even feeling the effects of exhaustion... magic was helpful like that. Rainbow, on the other hand...

She looked a little worse for wear. Sprinting was difficult when you went all out, and Rainbow had pushed herself to her limit four times. Each time she had gone a little faster... but you couldn't be faster than that which was instantaneous.

What looked most painful, however, was the fact that Rainbow was coming to grips that she wasn't, in fact, the fastest pony in Equestria. To most ponies, teleporting would be cheating. Rainbow was not most ponies.

"Ready?" Twilight asked Applejack. The farmpony nodded.

"On your marks!"

Rainbow lowered her body.

"Get set!"

Twilight ran through the incantation in her head.

"Go!"

The oak tree was suddenly next to Twilight, inches away. The spell was remarkably anticlimactic, like it had never even happened... which was true. No time had passed, and for all intents and purposes no spell had ever been cast. That was the beauty of it.

Her hoof was already perfectly outstretched, and not a moment later she felt the bark against her horseshoe. She didn't feel much satisfaction from the victory, though. It took one more moment for the sonic boom to hit her, and her mane blew all over the place, just like it had each and every other time.

She heard Rainbow panting next to her.

Twilight looked over to Applejack, leaning on the fence.

"This round goes to Rainbow," she said.

Twilight smiled before the words properly registered. Then her eyes widened.

"Sorry?"

"Rainbow got there first. Just a 'sec before you did," Applejack replied, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

But that's not possible...

Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus grinned.

"Best out of nine?"

Listening to Beat City by the Raveonettes is recommended for a fuller experience.
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Rainbow's New Obsession

"You must be kidding me!" Rainbow Dash said, looking critically at the headphones.

"Come on, Dashie." Vinyl Scratch tapped the headphones gently. "All the cool ponies are doing it. Besides you've been eyeing them for ten minutes."

"Only because of how lame they are!" The blue pegasus crossed her forehooves. "Just look at the size of those things! How do you expect me to be fast with that on my head?!"

"Derpy doesn't seem to mind."

"Oh, please!" Rainbow roller her eyes. "Derpy is hardly a good example..."

"Cloudchaser even has three pairs," Vinyl interrupted. "One for daytime, one for nighttime, and one for storm time."

"Well, Cloudchaser is still less awesome than me!" Rainbow grumbled. She was still slightly resentful by the fact the Wonderbolts had chosen Cloudchaser over her for active duty.

"Spitfire also ordered a pair," Vinyl had no intention of giving up. "But hey, if you want to be a square, that's cool."

The remark caused Rainbow to glare at the unicorn. If the captain of the Wanderbolts had indeed gotten into this crazy trend, it would be treasonous for her not to. And yet they looked so... uncool! With those huge things on her head, she would look like Tank! Not to mention that listening to music while flying went against everything she had been taught. It took all senses to be a good flyer, and Rainbow would never settle for good - it was awesome or bust. Reluctantly she took a pair of headphones and started examining them.

"So I just put this on and fly about?" she asked.

"Heck, yea!" Vinyl rubbed her hooves. "Put those babies on and let the music drive you! Just stay clear from other ponies the first few times. When it comes to sound-flying, you are still a newbie."

"Please!" Rainbow waved a hoof confidently. "Best flyer in Equestria, remember? How hard could it be?"

"I don't know, Dashie..."

"Just give me the headphones!"

The pegasus shoved a bag of bits into Vinyl's hooves, then, before the unicorn could even protest, she dashed into the sky, headphones and all.

"Stupid headphones!" she said as she went even faster. "Stupid sound-flying!"

What was wrong with normal fast flying? At the end of the day that was what mattered. Why was everypony obsessed with this craze? Derpy, Rainbow could understand. The accident-prone pegasus had always been a bit off, but Cloudchaser and Spitfire? Both should know better. What really made Rainbow Dash fume with anger, was that she herself had become curious.

Several miles from Ponyville, Rainbow slowed down. With all the bits she had spent on the stupid contraption she might as well check it out. From what Vinyl had explained, it was fairly easy to use - place the headphones comfortably over her ears, tap the side of the left one to start or stop the music. There had also been something about changing the volume, but Rainbow had become bored by then. What she did remember, was the name of the song Vinyl had installed on the headphones - Cloud City by the Ravenettes. The name, at least, had promise.

"Here goes," the pegasus said and started the music.

Wanna fly in Cloud City, go, go, go! boomed in her ears. Unprepared for such an experience, Rainbow darted uncontrollably forward, screaming as she did. As quickly as possible, she took off the headphones.

"What the buck was that?!" she asked as music kept on pouring out of them. How could anypony fly like this? Rainbow had half a mind to throw the headphones away right there and then. She didn't have to join the sound-flying scene. After all, she was perfectly happy the way she was - best flyer in Equestria, lead pony of the Wanderbolt cadets, the only pegasus that could perform a sonic rainboom. And yet, there was something strangely alluring in the music. Guiltily, she approached them to hear ear again.

You can't come with me, 'cause you're just too slow! the song went. Actually that didn't sound half bad. Any song about speed had to be good in some way. The music was also catchy - just the right amounts of wild and edgy to be cool, but without overdoing it. Maybe there was something about this sound-flying after all?

Rainbow turned off the music. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it right. Carefully adjusting the headphones so they fit perfectly, she took a deep breath and tapped the start button. The music started flowing once more, only this time she was ready for it. Like a dose of adrenalin, it shot in through her ears, filling her with more energy she thought possible. For a split second her entire body shook. Her wings suddenly developed a mind of their own, thrusting forward and taking her for the ride. The feeling was scary, terrifying, but also completely out of this world.

"This is awesome!" Rainbow screamed as she zig-zagged wildly through the sky. This was powerful stuff! She could not only hear the music, she could see it! She imagined herself catching the rays of the sun, then throwing them behind her, as she sped onward.

In her mind the clouds nearby transformed into a swarm of changelings, itching for a fight. Of course, she was only too glad to indulge them. And it didn't stop there! With every instance of the song, things became wilder and wilder. Before she knew it Rainbow was chasing stars in the evening sky. At that point she decided to stop and take a rest.

Breathing heavily, the pegasus went to the nearest cloud. Never before, since Wonderbolt Academy, had she pushed herself so far. Her entire body was shaking with pain and fatigue. The weird thing, though, was that she hadn't felt it. What was more, she had enjoyed every moment of it.

"How could I have lived without this?" she asked glancing up at the sky. No wonder the other pegasi were doing it. The rush was that good!

First thing tomorrow, Rainbow was going to pass by Vinyl again and learn more about this phenomenon. She might even organize a race around it. If sound-flying was so awesome, sound-racing had to be absolutely unbelievable! Maybe even the Wonderbolts would notice and add it to their routine? One could only hope. That, however, was for tomorrow. Right now, Rainbow only wanted to enjoy the music.

"Drink and fly, and have some fun," she sang along, as she dozed off into sleep.

Expect something from me for this contest, it's on its way.

Written in about a day and self-edited to the best of my ability, here it is: Her Father's Daughter

4573871 Well, do you want to make things more interesting?

How about a little short where you can neither type the words 'pegasus', 'Rainbow', or 'Dash'. That should make things a tad more unorthodox, right?

If you're up for it, I am too. I'll even write a blog post about it if yours is any good.

4574935 Sweet. Give me 24 hours and you'll have my own entry.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

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Making a fic out of this prompt. Just wait.

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The flimsy wooden bench creaked as Gush leaned forwards, straining to observe the race below her. He felt excited... more excited than he had felt in a long time. The racer weaved between the barrels, slaloming from left to right, only barely avoiding touching them, but going much faster for it. Gush gave a whoop of encouragement. Whoever it was was great, he thought.

"Yeah! Go get 'em!" screamed the mare next to him, stomping her hooves, just failing to snap the fragile bench in two. The crowd was just as unruly as her, bellowing at the top of their lungs and shouting what Gush would describe as 'southernisms' on a regular basis.

Rodeos were fun.

The racer finished the course and slowed to a halt, flicking her mane proudly. She didn't look surprised at all to see her time, which was a good twelve seconds ahead of the next fastest pony. Gush whistled. It'd be unlikely anypony would beat her in this event, he thought.

"Hah!" grunted the mare next to me. "Three seconds slower than her best. Now I know where all the oats went on the train."

Gush hesitated. The mare folded her hooves and went silent, no doubt waiting for the next contestant.

"I'm sorry..." he began, "but do you know that racer?"

"Yup. We came here together, y'know," she said, gesturing towards the Earth Pony below. "She's Applejack. She's awesome."

Gush had to agree. "She looks like she practices a lot."

"She does," my neighbour answered. "Well... she works a lot, which kind of ends up being practice anyway, if you get it."

Gush thought he did. "I really like the rodeo," he confessed. "It's so different from what I usually go to."

"Oh yeah? What'd that be?"

"Flying contests, mostly," Gush said, pointing to his wings. "I love the Wonderbolts."

He almost regretted saying that. It felt so obvious, like everypony alive would roll their eyes and say 'doesn't everyone?' Instead, the mare laughed.

"Yeah, I fly in contests a whole lot. Cool meeting another Wonder-fan," she added. "Do you like it?"

"Flying is great," Gush went on. "It's like... I guess it's like running in three dimensions. Down here, you can only follow the ground," he said.

"Yup. But that's what's cool about rodeos, right? They do all these things that involve not flying." She folded her hooves. "I like 'em."

Gush nodded. "Yeah, me too," he said. He tilted his head to the side. "Say, I've heard the name Applejack before..."

"Probably. She's, an Element. Y'know, of Harmony."

Gush widened his eyes again as the memory of a dozen or so news articles flooded back to him. Yeah, he remembered the name. It was often between the names 'Rarity' and 'Fluttershy'. The gears in his head turned some more.

"Wait, you came here with an Element?"

"Yup," the mare said with a smile. "But hey, loads of ponies don't recognize me these days. I wear a Wonderbolts uniform most of the time, you know, and I kinda' dyed my mane a bit... got rid of the red bits," she said. She held out her hoof. "Pleased to meet you. Won't you guess my name?"

I'll link to this thread in a blog post later. If ever something looks too easy, tell me: I'll be sure to find something that makes it a bit harder.

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Here's something I did for the prompt.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/256158/one-morning

4582354 Adding your little story to the relevant folder.

Today, however, we move on from bestpony... to partypony. New Character Prompt is here.