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Chapter 1: Relaying Memories4,427 words
Chapter 2: A Dash to the Finish3,788 words
Chapter 3: Picking Up the Fallen3,084 words
Chapter 4: Recovery4,129 words
Chapter 5: Remembering Yesterday, Anticipating Tomorrow3,643 words
Chapter 6: Soarin to Victory4,243 words

Chapter 6: Soarin to Victory

Rainbow Dash tossed and turned as she battled her tired body while trying to wake up and shut off the annoying screams of her alarm clock. After a few seconds of struggling, Dash was able to open her eyes fully and she swung her hoof out, shutting off her nagging alarm.

"Well, today's the day," she said aloud as she continued to lay on her back. It was now morning and the cross-country race, her final event, was a few hours away.

So far the mare had an up-and-down experience at the Equestria Games. Rainbow had hurt her wing and leg in a slip up, not even getting on the podium in her second event. However, her friends and coltfriend picked her up when she fell, raising her spirits. She also had won a bronze medal in the first event, but that was just a consolation prize for the mare. The medal was just laying there on her dresser in her cabin.

Soarin had taken Rainbow out the day before so that she could get some practice while at the same time checking her two injuries to see if she'd be able to compete in the last event. Everything felt good. The good night's rest she just woke up from left her feeling healthy enough to go.

Ignoring her usual inclination to sleep in, Dash picked herself out of bed, took a shower, and got into her uniform that Rarity had designed with the Ponyville name proudly on it. Her wing and her leg felt good as she slipped on the perfect-fitting outfit. She still had a very slight limp, but it was nowhere near as painful as it was before. In fact, it was barely noticeable anymore. There was no reason for the mare to worry.

But even though she had no reason to worry, she still did. Rainbow Dash's big day was here and she needed to make the most of it. Not only was it her own last chance to get a medal, it was also the last good chance that Ponyville had as a whole to be represented at the podium. The other competitors of the Games representing the town she called home had not done so well. Bulk Biceps got bronze in weightlifting. Thunderlane finished in second, third, fifth, and eighth in the four ground races he qualified to compete in. The Ponyville synchronized flying, water polo, and hoofball teams didn't even make the final four in their own tournaments. Needless to say, the small town needed something to lift their spirits.

Who else would do a better job than Rainbow Dash? The pegasus was a local hero in Ponyville. She was the best flyer in the land.

The pegasus didn't win a gold medal yet simply because of reasons out of her control. She couldn't control her teammates in the relay race, and it's not like she wanted to get injured and fall in the second race. But she still had her worries as she went through her morning routine. Nagging thoughts plagued her mind. The thought of failing once again in front of her fans, her friends, her parents, and her new love. It's not something that she wanted to happen again.

Dash had a few minutes to spare before the time when Soarin was going to come pick her up. She trotted over to her mirror.

"All right, Dash, this is the day you've waited for," she said to her reflection. "No more failure. No more being a loser. Today you're going to own it and show the world what you've got." But she paused for a second, almost pouting at her reflection. She felt a deep pit in her stomach as her mind quickly brought back the memory of her slamming into the wall in the previous event.

Dash quickly gave her head a shake and turned around, heading to the area in front of her bed. She laid her front half down low and started to do some push-ups, hoping it could rev up her engine a little and get her mind focused on winning.

"One. Two. Three."

Knock knock knock.

"Come in," Dash said as she continued to exercise. The door was pushed open, revealing Soarin. Rainbow quickly picked up the pace of her push-ups and continued counting out loud at the sight of her coltfriend. "Two ninety-nine. Three hundred," she said as she pushed herself up for only the eighth or ninth time.

"Wow, three hundred push-ups in the morning?" Soarin asked with a smile.

"Um, yeah, I do three hundred every morning," Rainbow said while not making eye contact, keeping her pace up.

"That's weird," Soarin said while trotting around the mare, "because I'm pretty sure you just started counting right before I knocked. These houses aren't necessarily built very thick. And besides, you haven't even broken a sweat."

Rainbow instantly went red as she stopped pushing and stood up tall. "Oh, you know, um, well-"

"You don't have to try to impress me, Rainbow," Soarin reassured with a smile. "I already know what you're capable of," he said as the mare bit her lip and looked aside, hoping he'd forget about it. To change the subject, Soarin asked, "So, you ready for the big race?"

Rainbow opened her mouth with wide eyes as if she was ready to shout in excitement, but she paused for a moment instead. "Soarin, I'd like to say something really confident right now, but I can't. I'm not gonna lie- I'm really scared. I feel good and all, but what if a fail? I may never get a second chance."

"Are you kidding? Of course you'll get a second chance," Soarin said confidently. "You're still young. You can compete a few more Games before you retire. But that doesn't matter, after all, because you'll win today."

"Soar, I'd love to say I believe you, but I just can't," Rainbow said while looking down. "I'm not sore anymore, I'm well rested. Still, I just know that something's going to go wrong. With so many ponies watching me, and knowing a failed before, I just-"

"Hey," Soarin interrupted as he pushed Rainbow's chin up with his hoof, "don't talk like that. I know we all feel down at times and we lose confidence in ourselves, but talking like you're talking now will end up making you lose. Have some confidence and believe in yourself. I mean, I believe in you."

"But Soarin, every time I have too much confidence in myself I end up falling even harder. I want to be happy and confident in myself, but I'm scared. I'm nervous. Something bad will happen."

"That's the case with overconfidence. If you know what you're capable of, you can be proud of it. I believe in you. Your parents believe in you. Heck, your entire town believes in you. I won my medal even though nopony expected it." Soarin raised his hoof and touched Dash's chest with the tip of it. "Now it's your turn. You have what it takes to win, and if you're determined to do it, there's no reason why you can't."

Rainbow Dash just couldn't hold in her smile. Nopony had ever given her a pep talk quite like that before.

"I, um, I don't really know what to say, Soar," Rainbow replied as she continued to smile.

"How about, 'Thank you, Soarin. You helped me out a lot and you're the best coltfriend ever and you're so sexy and smart and-'"

"Um, no," Rainbow interrupted. "I'll just say 'thank you' for now. You've helped me feel a little better."

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There she stood in the tunnel of the stadium, ready to go in front of the large crowd on hand. She could hear the fracas of tens of thousands of ponies anticipating the final aerial race. Rainbow looked around the hallway, eyeing the other competitors. The competition was fierce for this event, but there was one face that stood out amongst Dash's competitors. It was Soarin, her caring coltfriend. As everypony put on their war faces, Soarin turned around and smiled to his mare. Rainbow smiled back as she awaited the announcement to come out.

Soon came the words that she knew she would never get tired of.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the final aerial race," said the stallion announcer in the stadium. The start of the announcement was met by the roar of the anticipating crowd.

Rainbow Dash held her breath as she tried to control the butterflies in her stomach. As the second place finisher in the qualification race, she was second to come out of the tunnel, only behind Soarin himself. Soarin turned around and smiled at his mare. "This is it, Dashie. This is your time to shine. I'll see you on the track," he said as his name was announced around the stadium. Dash could hear the roar of the crowd as he was welcomed.

Rainbow prepared herself. She bounced up and down a few times, moving her wings and hooves, trying to lighten up a little bit, awaiting her own announcement.

"Representing Ponyville, wearing number two, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash took her first few steps into the sun-lit stadium. The crowd roared, setting the tone for the exciting race to follow shortly. Rainbow trotted her way around the track towards the starting line. She looked out to the crowd, spotting her parents. She gave them a quick salute and a smile as she trotted by. Just in front of them were her five closest friends, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She was able to spot and focus on Scootaloo as she made her way by. The filly was decked out in her Rainbow Dash fan gear. The smile on Scootaloo's face brought happiness to the mare in the spotlight. With a wink to her biggest fan, Rainbow kept going to her starting position, right beside Soarin.

The pegasus watched as, one by one, the other eighteen competitors came into the arena. The last competitor finally made her way out of the tunnel and into the last row of racers on the track.

Rainbow bent down with the others to ready herself for the gunshot to go off.

"You'll be fine, Dashie," she heard Soarin say from beside her. "I believe in you."

Rainbow looked over to him. "I just hope I have enough belief in myself," she muttered.

"Well, in case you lose, just remember- winning isn't everything," Soarin told her.

"But it's the only thing I want right now," Rainbow replied boldly as she put her goggles over her eyes.

"Competitors, on your marks."

Rainbow arched her back.

"Get set."

She extended her wings behind her.

Bang!

With the sound of the gunshot, Rainbow took off like a bullet. She ascended with the other racers up and out of the stadium, over all of their cheering fans.

Small clouds were set up around the Crystal Empire with flags on them to mark the course, which was four times larger than the course for the qualification race. Rainbow Dash and Soarin knew how tough of a race this would be. It was more a test of endurance than speed. Rainbow had practiced for months on her endurance in hopes that she would be able to last for the entire race.

Minutes passed as the competitors moved well out of the stadium and into the farmland around the Crystal Empire. Everything felt good. Rainbow Dash loved the feeling of the wind in her mane. She never got tired of it. The pain of her injury from the race before was now a distant memory in her mind. The only thing she was focused on was winning.

Rainbow led the pack for the first quarter of the race, over the farmland and plains. They made their way to the mountain range around the empire with the burning summer sun beaming down on them.

The light blue mare could feel the sweat drop from her hair and down her furry cheek. Her breaths became more shallow and faster. She turned her head quickly behind her, noticing that Soarin was only a few metres away.

"S-Soar?" she called out.

Soarin flapped harder to quicken his pace, eventually catching up to Dash and flying right beside her. The two of them were now tied for the lead in the race as they continued to fly in between the floating flags.

"How you holding up, Dashie?" Soarin asked as he hadn't even broken a sweat. Even though he wasn't as fast, his hard Wonderbolt training made his endurance much better.

"Not too well," Rainbow replied.

"Uh oh," Soarin muttered as he turned his face away from a quick gust of wind. "Is it your wing?"

"No, the wing's fine," Dash responded. "I... I'm slowing down. I can't handle this heat."

"Get behind me," Soarin said as he flapped hard to pull ahead.

"All right," Rainbow responded.

Soarin pulled up ahead into first place. But that allowed him to block the wind from his marefriend so that she wouldn't get as tired.

Spitfire soon pulled up right beside Rainbow. "Already tired, eh Rainbow Dash? I thought you were better than that."

"Hey, I'm a way better flier than you will ever be!" Rainbow yelled back. Soarin grinned and nodded his head with pride at his mare showing some confidence as he flew ahead towards the approaching mountains.

"Well, prove it, Rainbow!" Spitfire yelled back. "I'll tell ya what. If you win the gold medal, you'll automatically be accepted into the Wonderbolts."

"Wait, are you serious?" Rainbow asked in shock.

"Sure, rookie! You've proven to us that you have what it takes," Spitfire replied. "Now all you need to do is win and you'll have the fans on your side as well."

Instantly, Rainbow felt a serge through her body. Her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt could be reached in only a few more hours of endurance. Even though that organization was well below her skill level and attitude, it was still her dream to put on that Wonderbolt suit for good.

"Go faster, Soarin," Rainbow called out.

"What?" Soarin yelled back as he couldn't hear his mare over the sound of the wind.

"Faster!"

"You got it!" Soarin yelled back as he sped up with Rainbow closely following. They pulled well ahead of Spitfire with ease.

Now flying over the mountain range, Rainbow Dash's focus was solely on holding up in order to win, rather than how tired she truly was. She flew up beside Soarin.

"Hey, thanks for blocking the wind for me," Rainbow said as she looked at him.

"Come on, Dashie, get behind me again. Don't tire out."

"Thanks, but I'm not tired anymore," she said proudly. "I now have an even bigger reason to win."

"Don't strain yourself, Dashie. You don't want to get permanently injured," Soarin warned.

"The wing feels fine, Soar. I got this," Dash said confidently.

"If you say so," Soarin replied.

"I'll see you at the finish line," Rainbow said with a salute as she shot ahead, ignoring her tired body. There was still a long way to go.

"Wait!" Soarin said while reaching a hoof out, but it was far too late. The stallion watched with a cringe as Rainbow shot ahead with all her might, ignoring her fatigue.

Rainbow pushed on, flying over the Crystal Mountains. Up there was a gentle breeze, and the temperature was quite a bit lower. It was pleasant compared to the burning hot summer temperature down on the ground. Rainbow wove her way through the flags as she continued in the course, pulling far ahead of the competition.

The rainbow-maned pegasus descended into the mountains as the clouds with the flags were placed lower. The course now took her through two large mountains, and eventually away from the range and back into the open plains of the area. Rainbow looked off into the distance, trying to locate the flags. She remembered from the pre-race instructions that the course went around the entire Crystal Empire.

With about halfway to go, Rainbow could see the city in the middle of the plains to her left. It was truly a spectacular sight. The Crystal Empire city, the plains around it, and then the mountain range, which she just passed. If she wasn't in the biggest race of her life, then she probably would have stopped to take in the sights.

But Rainbow Dash knew her task at hoof. She had built quite a big lead, and now all she had to do was finish the second half of the course with ease in order to pick up her gold medal and finally get accepted to the Wonderbolts.

It was almost too good to be true. Almost as if it was a dream.

But it wasn't. This was the real life, and it wasn't fantasy.

Rainbow continually pondered her future as she kept up a moderate pace. She had a big enough lead to not stress too hard, and because of her focus on her goal, she didn't care about her tired body. In fact, she didn't even feel it. The adrenaline kept her going.

I waited my whole life for this, Rainbow pondered as she continued to fly the course. The fame, the bits, the suit. All my work has finally paid off. Just finish the race. Just finish the race...

"See you later, Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire quickly said as she interrupted the younger mare's thoughts.

"What?" Rainbow Dash yelled out as she fell into second place in an instant. She looked back and Soarin was now just behind her.

"Hey, what happened?" the stallion asked as he quickly caught up. "You pushed too hard, didn't you?"

"No! Not at all," Rainbow defended. "I guess I just got too comfortable with my lead."

"It's okay, we'll get her back," Soarin assured his mare as he flew beside her. The fiery pegasus did not pull too far ahead, and there was still about a quarter of the course to go. "Hey Dashie," Soarin continued.

"Yeah?"

"Spitfire didn't want me to tell you this, but I'll do it anyway," he began. Rainbow quickly turned her focus to her coltfriend while glancing every few seconds at the course ahead. "She said that you have incredible potential, and sometimes she even worries that you could become the best Wonderbolt ever."

"She really said that?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"She sure did!" Soarin replied cheerfully.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" Dash asked. "Let's go beat her!`

"No!" Soarin quickly said as he grabbed her hoof. "You have to be careful. You don't want your wing to cramp up." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and groaned. "But you know I'm right!" Soarin defended.

"Fine," Rainbow replied. "We'll do it your way. What's the plan?"

"Keep a steady pace until the final lap inside the stadium. Then give it a final push. You can beat her."

Rainbow looked up ahead, noticing that Spitfire was not that far away. She wasn't unbeatable. "Okay, we'll do that," Rainbow agreed.

"That's my mare," Soarin said while patting her on the head with his hoof as their manes continued to be blown by the breeze.

Soarin and Rainbow Dash trailed just behind the captain of the Wonderbolts as Spitfire made the course's final aerial curve. The flags then directed them downwards towards the city.

"You feeling up to a final burst?" Soarin asked Rainbow.

Rainbow looked to her injured wing, hoping not to feel any pain. However, with fatigue starting to creep in, she could start to feel the pain coming back. She swallowed with a little bit of nerves, and still replied, "Yeah, I think I can do it."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt again."

"I can do it, Soarin!" Rainbow barked back as they continually made their descent.

"All right. I'll be right behind you the whole way. I know you can win."

The couple quickened up their pace as the decline came near an end. The stadium was just ahead. They could hear the crowd's noise, and Spitfire was not too far away.

Just as they were above the stadium, about to enter back in, Soarin yelled out, "Go, Dashie, go!"

Like a bullet, Rainbow shot ahead. She was too tired to reach enough speed to create a sonic rainboom, but the mare grinned proudly as she shot passed the shocked Spitfire. Rainbow ended her descent as she reached the running track in the stadium. The crowd roared as the three finalists made it into the arena.

All Rainbow Dash had to do was finish the one lap around the track and her life would be complete.

The finish line was so close she could almost taste it. The sweet taste of victory was just a few moments away.

The young mare made her way around the final curve, and the finish line was just one hundred metres away. Rainbow knew that Spitfire would be right behind her, and her coltfriend would bring home the bronze medal. Dash looked out to the cheering crowd as she approached the finish line.

But at about fifty metres away, the mare felt another sharp pain, just like she felt in the last race.

"No..." she said quietly as the finish line came close.

In almost an instant, her entire wing cramped up, making it impossible to flap. With a shriek, the mare toppled over onto the ground. She tucked her head in to protect herself from the impact, and somersaulted three times, eventually stopping on her chest about twenty-five metres away from the finish line.

She felt the sharp pain in her wing, but even worse, she felt the sharp pain of defeat. The crowd instantly went quiet after a collective gasp.

"I can't believe I failed agai-" the mare started to say as she closed her eyes. But she was cut off. "Soarin?" Rainbow squinted as she looked up to see that the stallion she loved was now holding her entire body in his hooves. "What're you doing?!"

"You deserve this, Dashie," Soarin said as he carried her towards the finish.

With a grin from ear to ear, she watched the crowd's reaction as Soarin carried her in front of him, allowing her to finish in first place. Spitfire trailed a little bit behind, finishing in third. The captain's attempt to finish strong tired her out, and Soarin was allowed to swoop in and pick up the mare he loved dearly.

Soarin landed lightly and placed the mare back on all fours.

"I-I can't believe you just did that... for me," Rainbow Dash said while nearly dropping a tear from her eyes.

"Hey, you've had a great Games. You deserved this. I'm not going to let a stupid injury halt you from living your dream," Soarin replied with a smile. "Besides, you've saved me before!"

"Yeah, well, I think I have a new dream now," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Soarin asked with anticipation.

"To live the rest of my life with you!" Rainbow replied as she planted a passionate kiss on her coltfriend.

Rainbow Dash was given the gold medal, something she always coveted, by her coltfriend, Soarin. She was given a chance to live her dream by the stallion who made her dreams come true.

But she not only won the prize she had always dreamed of winning, she also won an even better reward: a stallion worth keeping.

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