What do I win?

by HapHazred

Chapter Four: Rarity's Challenge

Eyes open, sheet thrown into the air. Rainbow Dash was flying in less than a second after waking up, already ploughing through the skies. She wasn't angry per-se, but she wasn't quite happy either: she hated losing, and she knew, she just knew it was because she had slacked off her training. Sometimes, she hated being lazy, although those feelings came most often after the fact.

Who's house was she going to today? Ah, of course. Rarity: she had been boasting about it more than enough after Applejack had been given a pat on the back for scooping up the most rabbits.

Rainbow Dash swerved towards the Carousel Boutique, turning sharply around it's central tower... thing. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what it was called exactly, and didn't really care. She threw herself through the door with a loud 'whoosh', and then took a look around to see who was already there.

Apparently it was just Rarity. Of course, she had an unfair advantage: she lived there.

"Rainbow Dash, you're here early?" she asked. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Not much of a question, Rares." she commented. Rarity chuckled. She pranced around a large table, covered with a light, opaque cloth, hiding whatever uneven items were underneath. Rainbow tried peeking underneath, but her hoof was slapped away by Rarity in a businesslike manner.

"No! No looking! We're going to wait for everypony to get here." she said. She pointed towards one of her fainting couches. "If you want to nap, or do whatever it is you do when you're not working, go do it over there. I'll go and make some tea."

Rainbow Dash frowned.

"Hey, I do lots of stuff when I'm off work! I fly, I practice, I read..."

Rarity snorted.

"Oh, yes, we all saw how active you've been this past week. Just sit down, don't touch anything, and wait for your tea."

Rainbow Dash winced, just a little, at that last comment: she knew she hadn't been as busy as she used to be, but, well, it was hard when there was nothing going on. Thank Celestia this whole challenge business came up.

Come to think of it, why did Applejack challenge her all of a sudden?

The doorbell rang. Rainbow Dash snapped her head around to face Twilight, punctual as usual, and as surprised as Rarity to see Rainbow Dash up early too.

"Wow. When you're motivated, nothing stops you, huh?" Twilight asked. Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

"What's with everypony talking about my motivation all of a sudden? If I want to lounge around, I can! I'm a grown mare, for Celestia's sake!"

Twilight backed off a little, her hooves thrown up in surrender.

"Okay! I wasn't... trying to be rude." she said, before trotting off to find Rarity. "Jeez, what did Rarity tell her?"

Rainbow Dash sat down, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable. She had come here to crush Applejack to a pulp, not wait around all day... it was getting on her nerves.

Rarity and Twilight re-entered the room, this time with a pot of tea. They each had a glass, and Twilight and Rarity conversed as Rainbow Dash looked out the window, waiting anxiously for the other three. After half an hour of gruelling waiting, everypony was there, and everypony was exited. Rainbow Dash finally let out her breath and flew around the room.

"Great! Now we can finally get started!" she exclaimed. Applejack, who had arrived just before Fluttershy, adjusted her hat.

"I agree. Rarity... what do you have in store for us?"

All eyes were on Rarity as she threw the sheet off the table dramatically, revealing, to everypony's surprise, a wide variety of tools. All of them artistic. There were brushes, wide and thin, brittle and soft, pencils both dark and light, paints, inks, pastels and crayons, paper and clay, canvasses and sprinkles. Rarity grinned.

"You two are going to have an art-off!" she declared.

Rainbow gaped.

"Uh... I thought these were going to be... well, physical challenges?" she asked. Rarity chuckled.

"Nonsense... who told you that? Us four are going to be the judges, and we'll decide who wins based on skill, originality, etcetera, etcetera."

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all squealed in delight: for a change, this was going to be something they could really get invested in. As much as they enjoyed racing and lifting and all things physical, they were looking forward to seeing who, out of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, could produce something truly beautiful.

Rainbow Dash was not convinced. Applejack just smirked.

"I think ya'll don't often do this sort of thing every day, huh?" Applejack said. Rarity strode between the two.

"Now, I understand that I don't have everything here in my boutique... although I do consider myself very well stocked. But if you want to get anything from your homes, or even the art store down the street, feel free."

Rainbow Dash sighed, then turned to Applejack.

"Well... sorry, AJ, but you're going down."

Applejack picked up one of the pencils and twirled it around her hoof. "Thanks for the warnin', sugarcube, but Ah fancy mahself a bit of a sketch artist." she replied, before tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Ah just need to figure out what to draw..."

Rainbow Dash shrugged and turned to Rarity.

"Well... whatever. Rares, I need to get some materials from my house... mind if I head there now?" she asked. Rarity nodded.

"Of course. You have until... say, three in the afternoon."

Rainbow grinned.

"Okay! Thanks."

"No deadline extensions though!"

"Okay, okay!"

---

Rainbow Dash was working outside, playing around with whatever things she had brought back from her home. Applejack sighed as she stared at her vibrant mane, the yellow sun dripping through her mane like honey, and her perfect, sky blue coat...

Whilst she couldn't think of anything to draw.

With a grunt, she hit her head on the table, as if the wood could force an idea into her head. It turned out that wood had many fascinating properties, but thought transmission was not one of them. She almost missed the soft tap on her shoulder. She looked around and saw none other than Rarity, who was leaning in conspiratorially.

"Applejack... I know that, as a judge, it's not my place to interfere... but if I might suggest you choosing to draw whatever it is you think is most beautiful, and that'll be a sure place to start."

Applejack frowned.

"The orchard at sunrise?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "If that's the most gorgeous, most mind-numbingly perfect thing you can think of... then certainly, go ahead." she said, and then trotted off to see how Rainbow Dash was faring. All Applejack heard, before the door closed, was:

"Oh, by Celestia's bountiful hair products, that's absolutely divine!"

The door closed loudly. Applejack was alone with Fluttershy, and after failing to figure out what it was Rarity had meant, she continued staring out the window. With a blue flash, Rainbow Dash appeared in front of the window, carrying a handful of white clay in her hooves. Applejack smiled as inspiration hit her.

---

Both ponies were finished before three o'clock, so the challenge stopped. Rainbow Dash threw the cover Rarity had used to hide the table over her creation, and carefully moved it inside. Rarity was helping her stabilize it, as it was surprisingly heavy and delicate.

"Oh, you simply must let me keep it in the store! It'll be absolutely marvellous!" she said. Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Yeah, sure... I don't have enough space at home anyway." she said. "I'll need to make extra room for my hat rack."

Twilight was quite impressed too, although she wasn't nearly as vocal about it as Rarity. When everypony was inside, they placed the object down, and everypony gathered around to see what Rainbow had made.

"I'm sorry, AJ... but this is actually something I used to do a lot." she said, as she unveiled a magnificent sculpture, made entirely out of clouds. It represented a pony, a pegasus in flight, streamlined to give the aspect of speed and simplified to remove all features. The whole thing was a masterpiece of art: smoother than marble and twice as pristine. Applejack gaped.

"Oh..."

Pinkie's eyes seemed to widen beyond the normal limits of pony physiology. "Oh my gosh! What is it?"

Rainbow shrugged.

"It started out as a Wonderbolt, but I guess I made it into something more like an embodiment of speed. I dunno'. I just thought it looked cool."

After a long moment of admiring Rainbow Dash's sculpture, everypony turned towards Applejack. Applejack swallowed nervously.

"I, uh, drew a picture."

Everypony was silent as Applejack showed the ponies assembled what she had drawn. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"The shading's a bit off..."

"Um, well... the hooves are-" Fluttershy began, but before either could continue condemning the piece, Rarity stopped both of them.

"Well, well... commenting on the technique first instead of the subject. Have you never appraised art before?" she asked, appalled. She pointed at the picture. Rainbow Dash looked at it from above, not wanting to push her friends out of the way, even if she was curious.

It was a picture of her. She was flying, and she looked as graceful as could be: there was no colour, but that didn't make it any less special. Rainbow looked at Applejack, who was shifting nervously on the spot.

She had drawn her as if she were beautiful, Rainbow realized with a small intake of breath. Rainbow landed, suddenly feeling as awkward as Applejack did, if not more.

"We'll give our votes in the kitchen. Girls, forward march!" Rarity declared, and the four ponies left Applejack and Rainbow alone. Rainbow Dash coughed, breaking the silence.

"Nice picture." she attempted, trying desperately to ease the atmosphere. Applejack chuckled.

"I, uh, figured I wanted to draw something flyin'." she lied. Rainbow nodded.

"Well, I do fly." she replied helpfully.

The silence endured until Applejack spoke again.

"Nice sculpture." she said.

"Yes, it was."

The door to the kitchen opened again.

"Well, we've made our decision. Rainbow Dash wins." Rarity said. "With a vote of three to one."

Applejack sighed. She had to admit, she hadn't expected her sketch to win... not against a sculpture made of clouds. Rarity looked over at Applejack. It was obvious for all to see that it had been Rarity who was the only one to vote for Applejack's simple drawing, despite it not being nearly as perfected as Rainbow Dash's own sculpture.

Rainbow forgot all the previous awkwardness in an instant and flew up into the sky.

"Aw, yeah! Hope you enjoy your hat whilst you had it, Apples!" she shouted. Applejack remembered herself quickly, falling back into the role of the competitive rival.

"Well, ya'll just better head home to your fancy house whilst it's still yours." she retorted. Rainbow Dash chuckled, letting herself be lost in the competition once again.

---

Comments

[survivor]

... good.