My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic--One Last Race.

by Godzilla313

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The princess arrived in Mareginia, and because of her status, it was found out long before that she would be arriving, and the paparazzi was there in force. She came off, shocked at all the flash bulbs and activity, and then remembering that she now had celebrity status: something she had yet to get used to by this point. She sadly remembered that she should have called ahead to make sure she could slip in under the radar. The questions were flying like crazy, but mainly oriented to why she was there and to what honor they owed her that she would grace them with her presence. When she mentioned the book, the place was now flooded with all kinds of questions. Yet, before she could answer, the police arrived to escort her to the center of town where a reception committee would be waiting to thank her for coming and to welcome her to town and to Mareginia. When she arrived, the mare and the governor of Mareginia were both there to welcome her. She sighed and shook her head, thinking, "Okay, lesson learned: make sure to be discreet when traveling to avoid this mess!"

After greeting and saying a few things, she was taken to a state dinner and was met by a press conference in that. She started to eat in her normal way, and then, after a few moments, remembered that cameras were on her, and quickly refined herself. With all eyes on her like this, she had to watch her P's and Q's. After talking about a few world events, questions about being a princess, she was finally asked why she was there. It was then she said she was there for research for a book she was writing—a biography. When she mentioned on who, all those of Mareginia perked up, excited that their first son was being remembered and honored. Of course, that led to the question of if she was going to visit Mrs. Sweedly, (who was still training after all this time,) and she answered, "Well, I really wanted a nice and quiet meeting," she said, afraid of this entourage following her and pestering her work. However, the governor stepped in and mentioned she would post some troopers around the school grounds for security and to allow her visit without interruption. The governor then whispered, saying, "Though, I only wished I had had more time to prepare for your coming."

"I'll make sure to send better warning next time," she said, "And I am sorry if I caused any problems."

"Oh, think nothing of it," he answered, "We thank you for coming."

With that, she thanked them and, once the dinner was done, was escorted to the nicest hotel in town, which was nothing more than a bed-and-breakfast, but it was a very nice place nonetheless. She went to bed, hoping for a good day of discovery.

Earlier, back at the track, the second round of the dressage was about to begin, and Rarity was eager to show that she really could handle the challenge. By this point, a semi-recovered Fluttershy finally arrived to root on Rainbow Dash, and saw the bandage on Rarity. "Oh my!" said Fluttershy, all worried, "Did you hurt yourself?"

Rarity sighed, frustrated, and then said, "It felt like something bit me."

"May I see?" asked Fluttershy, and looking at it, she said, "Uh oh, a deer fly bite."

"Deer fly?" said a confused Rarity, "Shouldn't they prefer deer?"

"Well, they take on anything that can provide a meal," answered Fluttershy, "I wonder if he is around?"

Rarity looked at her odd and then said, "Darling, you cannot be serious."

"Well, I have to be sure he didn't overeat," she answered, all concerned.

"I probably bucked him into the next county!" answered a frustrated Rarity.

"Oh no!" responded a now surprised Fluttershy, "I hope he wasn't hurt."

Rarity just stared as she watched Fluttershy begin to look for a fly of all things! After some searching, a barely flying deer fly spotted Fluttershy and came up to her, all forlorn. "Oh, hello," said Fluttershy, all in her gentle manner, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

He squeaked that he wasn't hurt, but he sure wished he hadn't overdone it. He was also angry that he had been so rudely ejected from his meal. "Now, now," said Fluttershy, "You cannot blame Rarity for what she did. She was caught by surprise, and was trying to compete. You must have interrupted her badly for her to have done that. You have to be careful on choosing your meals."

Now the deer fly looked down, and sighed that he had done this, and Fluttershy just gently smiled, saying, "It's okay. You didn't know what was going on. Come on, and you can say you're sorry, okay?"

He nodded and landed on her muzzle. She carried him over to Rarity, who now began to back up in a bit of fear for what was on Fluttershy's nose. It then took to the air with a touch of struggle as Fluttershy said, "He has something to say to you."

He came up between her eyes, all sorry, and squeaked, "I'm sorry," petting her on the muzzle. Rarity then said, "Well, it's okay this time, but please: be more careful."

He smiled and nodded as he went his way, and then Rarity said, "Wait, did I just have a conversation with a fly?"

After this, the second round of the dressage began, and Diamond Tiara snuffed at Sweetie Belle and said, "Ready to see your sister humiliate herself again?"

Sweetie Belle just glowered at Diamond Tiara, not really sure what to say. "I thought so," snuffed Diamond Tiara, with an evil and snobbish look on her face that seemed to say, "Know your place, underling."

With that, Diamond Tiara took her place on the calling stand and began to call the moves as subtly as she could. As she did, she then said, "A blank flank like her is a nopony! She doesn't have half the…um…the…hmm…half the whatever it is I have. She doesn't even come close! I'll show her!"

However, as she began to ponder this, she started to get excited, and as she did, she started to call out the moves a bit faster than her father would have cared for at that moment. Yet, there was no way to signal her to slow down, and had to do the best he could, speeding up as well. Yet, because of this, he was not as precise as he could have been, and was losing a bit of composure. She had learned the moves so well that she was almost doing it unconsciously, but as a result, it was connecting to her actual thoughts and making things not so good! She had finished and not realized it, and was jolted back to reality when her father said, "Diamond Tiara! We are done!"

She shook her head as if coming out of a trance, and her father trotted up, saying, "What was that all about?"

"What do you mean, father?" she asked, not sure what he meant. As an answer, the scores were coming up well, but less than perfect, and not what she would have expected at all. He then said, "You were going through it so fast, I had to speed up to keep up. What did I tell you about pacing?"

She was shocked. She had not realized she was doing it, and said, "But father, I, well, um, you see…"

He sighed and said, "Honey you have to keep focused…" and began to coach her as he led her away. As she went, she passed by Sweetie Belle, who did not even look at her, but just stood there with eyes closed and with a contented grin. "Rarity," came the call over the PA system, and Spike hopped up, sighing, but Rarity then said, "Oh, don't worry yourself, Spikey. I think we have this one in the bag, especially since I have your help."

His chest puffed up, and he was suddenly filled with all kinds of confidence. With that, they took to the ring, ready to go. His confidence was riding sky high, and it showed, as the two seemed to maneuver around the arena with precision and grace to the point where they seemed to be as one entity. Spike with his proud stance, and Rarity with her beauty and grace seemed the ideal pair. They worked through with ease to the point where it didn't even seem like a competition anymore, but a show to please the masses. Once they were back in the middle at the end of the routine, those who were fans of the form and watching applauded greatly. The scores came up, and they were all tens, save for the last, which was a 9.8, but it did not matter. She had won, and both she and Filthy Rich were on the starting squad. "Fantastic run, Miss Rarity," said Filthy Rich, with genuine compliments, "I would say, you did show some skill, especially with a rider."

"Well, you did well yourself, considering how fast you did that," she answered back, "It surprised me how fast you were working that."

"Well," he sighed, "My caller got herself lost in thought and forgot where she was, but no matter. The important part was, we both did well enough to be the starters when we go to actual events."

Diamond Tiara was embarrassed, and worse, because of the boasting she had done. She had caused her father to lose, and because she was so zealous to outdo Sweetie Belle or anything connected to her, she had caused what she was trying to prevent. Sweetie Belle was beaming as she stood by her sister, and looked dead at Diamond Tiara, who could not even bring herself to look at Sweetie Belle. She just snuffed and walked away, as both elders were completely oblivious to the status battle their kin were having at the moment.

Soon, it was time for the second round of the stadium jump, and both Applejack and Rainbow Dash got ready. This, of course was taking place as all the other events were happening. Big Macintosh once again showed his prowess in the weight pull, sheave toss, hammer throw, and weight toss, while the running events were taking place. This was the one Clark was taking the most interest in, and was yelling encouragement and advice as the ponies lined up for each distance to be run. Of all the events, this was the one he became the most energetic with, and his southern demeanor went to the wayside some as he now became a bit more vocal, louder, and confident. He truly looked like a pony in command, and in his element. Miss Cheerilee came up and said, "Well, I see why you wanted to teach. You seem such a natural."

"Well, that's because I had a good model t'fallah," he answered, "Mrs. Sweedly taught me all I ever knew, and she always was like this. I guess I just copied her."

"You certainly seem to put some of you into it as well," she responded, "I mean, being a teacher myself, I know how that is."

"I just hope I'm up to th'task," he admitted, "I mean, these is grown-up ponies. You've got young'uns. I halfta think they'll be much different."

"Oh, don't worry about that," she assured him, "I'll be right there to help."

He smiled at this, and it could be seen that a friendship was forming between the two. However, Miss Cheerilee was beginning to feel her heart beat a bit more, but shook it off as she thought, "Slow down, Cheerilee. You just met, and you are colleagues…professionals. It's not good to mix work and social."

She sighed, and just continued to watch the events, wondering why she was feeling the way she was.

Soon, the timed portion of the jumping began, and both Applejack and Rainbow Dash had only made four faults, while everyone else had better times but more faults. The field was narrowed down a bit more, and then came the last run. First up was Rainbow Dash. She became focused as she normally would for any competition, and got lost in her own world. With that, she took off. She took the tall ones with no problem, the hedge jumps, hit the doubles with ease, cleared the water without so much as a hoof brushing it, strained at, but cleared the gate, hit the oxer and barely cleared it but was clean. She accelerated and hit the triple bar, sensing how close she was, and became a bit nervous. She knew she had to go fast, but not so fast as to be careless. It got easier again, hitting hogsback and then a wall, and then accelerating to hit the combination to finish, and this one consisted of a vertical jump, then a fan, followed by an offset oxer, with no more than two strides between them. She cleared the wall, made the fan, and then lost her pace a touch and brushed the lower bar on the back end of the oxer as she went. The bar bounced, but stayed put. The announced the run: "Clean run, and a time of 2 minutes 37 seconds."

Rainbow Dash immediately removed her garb and flexed her wings a few times to get out the stiffness. She sighed, knowing that she would indeed be one of the starters, but knew she had to find a better way than binding her wings to do this. Applejack said, "Well, that was pretty good. But just sit down on that stool right there and let me show you how a rodeo champ does it."

"I bet without the awesomeness I just showed," she said, trying a bit of gamesponyship, but at the same time hoping her friend did as well, just not as awesome. Applejack then said, "I don't need t'be awesome, I just need t'win."

She nodded and watched Applejack take the starting line. She did want AJ to do well, but she had a rep to protect.

Applejack looked things over and finally realized, "Hey, this ain't no different than jumpin' at the rodeo. They is the same kind of jumps; they just look all fancy, that's all."

She then got her game face on, just as she would at any rodeo, and took off. Though she was a rustic country filly, she was brimming with confidence about something she had done many times before. Because of this brimming confidence, she was hitting the jumps hard, high, and with a poise and grace that seemed to accent her simple beauty. Even the stallions around looked at her a touch differently because of what she was doing. One said, "Wow, she sure is taming that course!"

"Yeah," said his friend, "But who could ever tame her!"

Rainbow Dash watched in awe. She had to admit it. Applejack looked, well, awesome! Yet, this was a different kind of awesome than she had ever seen before. "Gee," she muttered, "I guess there are different kinds of awesomeness. I'm going to have to pick her mind to see just how she's doing it. That's an awesome that I have yet to experience!"

Finally, she came to the triple combo, but she was so amped up by the run through that she popped over each one as if they were kiddie level jumps, taking it in a gait that looked like she was taking a stroll, but a fast stroll. She charged the line, and the hooves of the spectators and her teammates could be heard stomping all over the place by her run. The announcer then spoke: "Clean run, with a time of 2 minutes 30 seconds."

"Alright!" shouted Applejack, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Rainbow Dash, acting like it was nothing, but secretly thinking, "That was the best run ever! You rock, girl!" said, "Yeah, yeah…but I'll get you next time."

Applejack then said, "I do believe this makes us tied again?"

"Yeah, it does, come to think of it," said Rainbow Dash, as the groundskeepers were quickly clearing the infield of everything that had been there and reshaping the whole thing for the steeplechase. This would crisscross all of Ponyville Downs, and because some was dirt, hard ground, and turf, it would truly put the runners to the test. It was also a race that the pair were both entered into, and Rainbow Dash then said, "Okay, this is to break the tie!"

However, Clark had come up behind them, overhearing things, and said, "Okay, just be sure you don't break your legs."

They both turned and said, "Huh?"

"Did I mention," he then said, "That this happens t'be the most dangerous event? One wrong move and y'all will end up in the hospital."

He walked away, leaving them both with mouths agape and wide eyes, wondering if their rivalry had gotten them in a bit too deep.

They were now at the starting gates, looking over the hedge jumps they would have to clear, some with water on the other side, and all tall enough to where their shins would be brushing them as they went over. This was going to be a muddy, messy, and treacherous race. They were now wearing helmets, racing silks, knee pads, and there was not going to be any worries about trying to stay neat. This was a no-holds-barred event. They both took a deep swallow and a deep breath to try to focus. The bell sounded and the gates slammed open. They tore down the track, and were shocked to see just how much pushing and bumping was going on. It was not being done in the sense of trying to hurt one another or cheat, but at the same time, they were fighting hard as they jockeyed for position. Soon, they were getting bumped around and practically smashing through the jumps rather than over them, and soon found themselves last. As they went, AJ shouted to Dash, "Okay, so I don't think this is really our thing. So, let's just try to concern ourselves with our competition."

Rainbow Dash then just nodded, and they went along. However, over a megaphone, they could hear, "Dash! Applejack! Y'all wanted t'do this! Get th'lead out and get into this thing!"

It was Clark, acting as a coach would, and now wanting them to actually try to win. They both groaned and picked up the pace.

The course was long and serpentine. It wound this way and that, challenging every part of them to stay in it. Because they were working so hard to race one another, they were now catching and passing the rest of the pack, chasing the leaders. However, the leaders were obviously well groomed for this kind of event, as they knew best how to attack such a course. Therefore, they were going to try, but knew they had no chance. The best they could hope for was alternates as the top three were making distance. They hit the next water jump, but found themselves right in the muddy water, filthy and wet, but they kept on. They cut around the last turn and barreled down the last 300 yards, neither one looking at the other, as the three winners crossed the line. Then was their turn, just as the rest of the pack was coming behind them. This pushed them on, and they both charged under the wire, the cameras clicking with each crossing. They then both collapsed, exhausted, and Rainbow Dash gasped, "Did…I…beat you?"

"Not…sure," gasped Applejack in return, "Wasn't really…watchin'"

"Neither was…I," rasped Rainbow Dash. It was at this point that Clark came up and said, "Well, y'all both made the alternates. That means that if one of the starters gets hurt, yer it."

They groaned, and Clark then said, "That means y'all are gonna halfta do a lot a conditionin' work, but I think y'all be better fer it."

"Okay," said Rainbow Dash, "I get it, already. But, who won?"

He smiled as he produced a photo with the two of them so close they might as well have been a mirror image of each other, nose for nose, body for body, and step for step. They both just sighed, knowing that, once again, the title of iron pony would have to wait for another day to be settled.

After it was over, Applejack and Rainbow Dash both looked sore and tired. Rarity then said, "Ah, I think this calls for a trip to the day spa. By the looks of the two of you, you could use it."

They both groaned in agreement, and as they entered, the workers saw the pair, sounded the alarm, and said, "Uh-oh! Code blue: two ponies in need of strong pampering, stat!"

They both called out, "Waaaaah!" as they were swept away, and Rarity looked at Spike, saying, "Coming in?"

"Nah," he answered, "I'm going back to the library. I'm going to get some rest and then hit those magazines Mr. O'Leary left me. While Twilight is getting her information, I'll be getting some for her myself. I've watched her do research a bunch of times before, so this should be a piece of cake."

"Cake?" said Pinkie Pie, appearing out of nowhere, "That's a great idea! We'll have a 'we all made the team' party tomorrow night! Oh, I can't wait!"

She bounced off, already calculating what she was going to get ready, and leaving everyone, once again, with a "How does she do that," simultaneous thought. Meanwhile, Spike said, "Well, I just want Twilight to know I can be useful to her, even if she's not here. I have a rep as her #1 assistant to protect, you know!"

Rarity giggled and said, "Well, good luck to you, Spike, and thank you for all your help. We make quite a team!"

With that, she gave him a peck on the cheek and went in. Spike was on cloud nine again, practically dancing his way back to the library. Yeah, he'd get on it the next day. Right now, he wanted to remember this moment, and the victory they had shared together.