Soarin's Pet Rock

by Beware The Carpenter

6 - Fire...

There were two teams left in the grand finals, The Wonderbolts and The Rocketeers; and each had three opportunities to prove themselves. There was a race, where three members of each team would compete in five, ten and twenty lap races around the stadium; with the team winning at least two rounds scoring a point. Second, there was a maze-like obstacle course with puzzles where four pegasi from each team worked together to unlock the orb, worth two points. Finally, the teams went head to head in three-rounds of freeform performances, with no limit; the first two rounds each being worth one point each, and the final round worth another two.

Rainbow Dash had chosen herself to be the sprinter in the five-lap race, and Spitfire for the ten, and Soarin to take the marathon twenty; given that Wave Chill was down with a sprained wing. Stoner was worried about him; he hadn’t slept or eaten since putting on the amulet, and yet he surged on with confidence and no hint of weariness.

The thing that really worried Stoner though, was that Soarin hadn’t spoken a word to him since he put that amulet around his neck. Normally before a show, Stoner would have a long conversation with Soarin to help him get his mind into the groove, and then Soarin would make sure that Stoner was comfortable on his pedestal in the Wonderbolt viewing box before heading out to perform. Today, he simply clunked him down like an empty bowl and headed for his station; not even caring that Stoner was at an angle and couldn’t see the whole stadium!

“Oi, Rainbow Dash, over here!” Stoner tried waving down the captain on her way back from the restrooms; she was smart, and suspicious that something was different about Soarin, but she walked right past him without giving him a second glance. Stoner cursed under his breath, but knew it had been a long shot; Rainbow Dash had never really liked him, and had only spoken to him a couple times when Soarin was there.

The races started.

Rainbow Dash obliterated her competition in the five-lap dash. Spitfire… not so much; her speed was good, but when she turned a tight corner her competitor launched past her leaving a wake that threw her off balance and skidding out of her lane. Everything rested of Soarin now; if he failed the first point would go to The Rocketeers. His face didn’t show it; he didn’t even sweat, he just strode casually up to the starting line, gave The Rocketeer a ten second head start, and then lapped him on the final round.

The crowd went wild.

For the obstacle course, Rainbow Dash had chosen Fleetfoot, Lightning Streak, Surprise and Silver Lining to represent the Wonderbolts, which was unfortunate because they all sucked. They made the first round of the obstacle course faster than the Rocketeers, but when they needed to stop and figure out some puzzles to get the keys for the orb, Surprise and Fleetfoot tried working on the same puzzle together, both reached for the same piece at the same time and knocked it out of each other’s hooves. Silver Lining left his post to try and catch it and by the time everyone was back where they were supposed to be, the Rocketeers were too far ahead for the Wonderbolts to catch up. Rainbow Dash swore quietly under her breath, but didn’t let it phase her.

Soarin just stared at his teammates failure with a maniacal grin; rubbing his hooves together slowly. He never said anything, but Stoner could still hear his evil laughter from earlier ringing through his ears. “Soarin…” he said evenly, “I know you’re excited about your new necklace, but you’re really starting to scare me. Could you just… do something that makes me think you’re still yourself.” Soarin didn’t respond, “I know; what if we go out to get some pie after the show, after that we can go to the movies, and I can hide in the popcorn whenever things get scary.”

Still silence, “… Can you at least turn me around so I can see the whole stadium?” Soarin finally looked at him with cold, unfeeling eyes, and then roughly shoved him so he was more centered, scraping Stoner’s butt on the pedestal in the process, “Oi! Watch it!”

Rainbow Dash called the team together for last minute review, and Soarin left without saying goodbye. The plan for the first round was an oldie but a goodie; it had been a crowd favorite a few years back, but when Zipper retired after his accident, there wasn’t anyone else who could take his spot, and so it hadn’t been done for a few years. Wave Chill had been practicing to replace him, however, and today would be the first time the routine had appeared in public in almost three years.

The second routine was a bit of a curve ball; it began as an exact replay of their show at the last Summer Sun Celebration, but then half-way through it transformed into something totally new, hopefully adding surprise to delight and winning a point. The finale would begin with the whole team, but quickly splintered away to just Rainbow Dash and Spitfire flying a duet, and would end in Dash’s Sonicrainboom. Hopefully the originality of Dash’s signature move hadn’t worn off yet.

The Rocketeers began off the first round of the shows; showing off this neat trick they had of hiding in dozens of little fireworks under their wings and in their uniforms, with speakers in them that played music before blowing up. Stoner knew he was meant to be rooting for the Wonderbolts as always, but he had to admit that these guys were good!

The Wonderbolts came in and took their turn, and they were good too, fast, tight strong; smashing through clouds that exploded on impact, raining thousands of tiny diamonds onto the crowds below. The panel of judges gave their scores to each team: The Rocketeers, thirty-five point five out of forty. The Wonderbolts, thirty-six!

The Rocketeers began off the second round; this time with freakishly big rockets, shaped like giant insects, fired from a central platform floating in the middle of the stadium and controlled by a team of very talented unicorns. The Rocketeers swerved every this way and that to try and avoid their pursuers, but for everyone they dodged, two more would pick up the chase.

The Rocketeers began fighting back, shooting live crossbows into the jet-propelled insects, which proved impotent against their thick carapaces until The Rocketeers learned that the only way to defeat them was to use their own speed against them. One Rocketeer with a pyro insect hot on his tail skidded between two pillars that were in front of the Wonderbolt viewing box; the pillars left just enough room for him, but the insect snagged and exploded, sending a tidal wave of sparks flashing in front of Stoner. Two more Rocketeers sped straight towards each other, fiery determined monsters chasing them. At the last possible instant the two Rocketeers pulled up and the monsters ran into each other, exploding in grand fashion. Stoner had never seen anything like this before!

By the time The Rocketeers had cleared the skies, several of them were singed from close calls, none the worse for their efforts, and the crowds were amazing, giving a standing ovation. Rainbow Dash was sweating hard, but put on a cool face all the same and led the Wonderbolts out for their counter-attack. It was good… but not as awesome as the Rocketeers, and Stoner wondered if Rainbow Dash’s sonicrainboom would be enough to counter whatever finale The Rocketeers had planne - HEY!

Stoner couldn’t believe his eyes, and the routine had just gotten to the point where the new stuff came in. Soarin and Spitfire were flying side by side when Soarin swerved to his right and knocked Spitfire’s wing with his own. To anyone else, it might have just seemed like a screw-up, but Stoner was sure it was intentional because in the split second he touched her wing, Soarin grabbed two of Spitfire’s primary feathers, twisted, and pulled them out!

Spitfire squeaked in pain, swerved to the left, and would have crashed straight into him if he hadn’t gained altitude with a quick flap and let her pass under him. Spitfire tried to regain control, but crashed through a thin piece of cloud and nearly smashed into the stone base of the stadium before Soarin swooped in and saved her.

By now the act was ruined; with Rainbow Dash turning around her head just in time to see Soarin catch Spitfire. The rest of the Wonderbolts ground to a halt when they saw what was going on; one of the referees flew up to take a closer look and then blew his whistle, ending the round.

“What happened!?” hissed Rainbow Dash, once everyone was back in the box.

“I don’t know.” Breathed Spitfire, turning red in shame.

“You almost crashed into me, and I saved your butt is what happened.” Spouted Soarin.

Spitfire shook her head; “Something hit me, I’m sure of it.”

“I was flying two wing lengths away from you” muttered Soarin, “I didn’t see anything.”

“It doesn’t matter!” growled Rainbow Dash, fireworks already exploding outside as The Rocketeers began their finale, “Spitfire, you’re my second for the last act; can you still do it?”

Spitfire extended her left wing, several of her primary feathers were gone, more were crumpled; even if she had time to preen the damaged ones, they would have to pull out a couple feathers on her right side to get them even. The difference wouldn't be enough to keep her from flying but it would cost her speed and accuracy in an already tight competition.

Rainbow Dash swore louder.

“What about me?” Offered Soarin, “I could take her place.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, “You’re not fast enough.”

Soarin almost laughed evilly, “I can do it, I’m on fire today; remember what I did in the races?”

“You haven’t practiced this routine.”

“Yes I have,” lied Soarin, “I thought Spitfire’s routine sounded fun, so I’ve been practicing it in my own time, have every part of it down pat.”

“Really?” Dash’s eyes sparked in surprise for a moment, then turned cynical, “No, you still haven’t practiced it with the rest of the team.”

Outside the box, the sky went dark. Rainbow Dash moved out of the way, and Stoner could see an enormous airship had flown over the stadium and was blotting out the sun, and on the central platform was now one MASSIVE rocket. It took off, sending waves of heat that could be felt across the stadium, climbed into the air and exploded; for a moment it seemed anti-climactic, but only the outside layer was gone, while the core had unfolded into the shape of a flaming dragon which hurled towards the stadium snapping just above the heads of spectators, and was met in heroic fashion by The Rocketeers.

They attacked it like bees to a pegasus, but they couldn’t hurt something that big, and they knew it, but their attacks were enough to draw its attention away from the audience and onto themselves. With its focus won, The Rocketeers shot off, drawing the dragon ever higher until somewhere close to a thousand feet above the stadium it exploded causing a ball of fire big enough that for a moment it replaced the sun.

The dragon was gone, but from the wreckage fell ten flaming comets; when they were half way down, Stoner realized that they were The Rocketeers, lifeless, burning. The crowd watched in awed terror, Stoner held his breath, this might be the most amazing show he’d ever seen, but The Rocketeers had gone too far, and paid for it with their lives.

Even in death they were graceful, falling eyes closed with their legs and wings pointed to the air; unflinching as their uniforms burned around them until they crashed head first in unison into the soggy wet cloud they had launched their fireworks from. The clouds rippled and choked on the flaming morsels it had caught, melting away rapidly as a tear rolled down Stoner’s cheek. It was just a game, no one was supposed to… wait.

The clouds were now too soft to hold weight, but no charred corpses fell through. A series of fans around the stadium activated, drawing the gas cloud away, and in its place were twelve brave pegasi, flapping serenely in new, colorful, fireproof uniforms they must have been wearing underneath their other ones.

The crowd went nuts; even Stoner couldn’t contain himself anymore and blew a whistle to a scorching hot mare who was smiling smugly in the Wonderbolt direction. Rainbow Dash swore loudly.

“Well” muttered Soarin, “I guess so long as Spitfire can’t play I might as well go and tell the judges that we forefi-”

“Wait!” Rainbow Dash swallowed hard, “Are you sure you can take Spitfire’s place?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then let’s go.”

Comments

[the other sans]

Stoner knew he was meant to be routing for the Wonderbolts as always
With its focus won, The Rocketeers shot off, draying the dragon ever higher
The cloud went nuts; even Stoner couldn’t contain himself anymore

1. Rooting. Routing means to divert.
2. Err... Draying? What? You lost me here.
3. Crowd.