At the Edge of the Rainboom.

by PonyBlue

Controversies

Chapter 3
Controversies.

“Summer, I see a large number of balloons, right across from where you are hovering.”

“That’s right. This year’s race has attracted an unusually large number of ground ponies. Race organizers had to, pardon my pun, race to find enough space to accommodate the forty extra balloons. They did so by removing the standing cloud pens, a very unpopular move among fans. Those clouds used to provide the best and closest view of the race track.”

“That maybe so, Summer. However Race Festival President, Morning Sunshine has stated that that all standing accommodations were to be removed in accordance to the new safety rules by CloudsDale Safety Inspectors. CloudsDale Race Course is now an all sitting course. These new rules were brought in on the tail of the last year’s mishap when the weight of cheering, hoof stomping pegasi fans caused the cloud they were standing on to break into a late afternoon shower. Hundreds of ponies where thrown into open sky. No ponies were hurt, although it was a scare for mares with foals who were too young to fly. The unexpected shower did cause a complaint to be filed by a prune farm on the ground below.”

“I am not sure if the two newly built cloud decks are fair compensation,” Summer Bubble’s tone was sorrowful. “But I do have an idea. Hire a balloon. Yes, I am telling you my fellow pegasi, hire a balloon. I wouldn’t be surprise if next years race will see fans sitting in balloons whether they are ground ponies or pegasi. Balloons now offer the best seats in the CloudsDale Race Course and while we are talking about views, what is the view on this year’s athletes, Winter?”

“In fifty years, five ponies have managed to split the light barrier. Two of them are here in this race, Midnight Magic and Sea Biscuit. Both mares are experience speed racers. Over the past three years, their rivalry has become the thing of legends. If we look at their statistic both mares are…”

“Perhaps,” Summer Bubble cut in. “You should add another pony to that round up and call it six ponies. I have word from a reliable source that Rainbow Lighting has split the light barrier whilst in training at Filidephia.”

“You know the kind of mare I am, Summer. Only the facts please and the fact is Rainbow Lightning has yet to perform a Sonic Rainboom in an event officiated by the Race Commission.”

“Facts aside, I wish you were here with me at the warm up line. For the past half an hour, these athletes have been warming up their wing muscles. The noise of their wing beats is amazing. You can actually feel the heat radiating from the feathers of these top athletes. Professional speed racers can bet their wings twice as fast as the average pegasus and in a sprint the best athlete can actually beat her wings almost three times as fast.”

“Speaking of wing beat speed, it brings us to the controversy that has surrounded this year’s CloudsDale Pegasus Race. The pony at the heart of this storm is none other than Rainbow Lightning.”

“Quite right, Winter.” Summer Bubble continued. “This controversy began at the weigh-in just two months ago. Competitors cried foul when Rainbow Lightning clocked a wing beat that was four times pegasi norm. Yes, you heard me right, four times. I would hold up my hooves to show the number four, but I won’t have anything to stand on. And yes, Winter, I do know I have wings. You don’t need to point that out. This impossible wing speed has seen accusation of illegal drug use and magical enhancements thrown at the young mare, especially when it was later found that her body weight was only two thirds of an average pegasi mare. So intense were these accusations that that the Canterlot University of Gifted Unicorns was brought in to do a full arcanophysical test on Rainbow Lightning. Their findings have since cleared her of any use of illegal performance enhancing magic or drugs. So what we have here everypony is good old natural ability, a once in a millennia athlete, born from one of the fastest pegasi families in Equestria.”

Summer Bubble continued. “However that was when the controversy skipped tracks and heading. Unhappy competitors next began to question if Rainbow Lightning could actually compete in the CloudsDale Pegasus Race, the emphasis being ‘Pegasus’. Is Rainbow Lightning pegasus enough to fall under the definition of pegasus? I personally must say, what a sad day that was in Equestrian sports. Never have I imagined a day went I have seen so much unpony like behaviour. We are here to race and see Sonic Rainbooms! Not fiddly around with questions that do not involve speed and weather conditions.”

“Many ponies would agree with you, Summer.” Winter Flake replied. “For many a pony, this controversy is a storm in a teacup. If a pony has feathered wings, she is a pegasus, plain and simple. But not all ponies agree. And on closer inspection it is not hard to see why. Listeners at home, in front of me are several photographs of Rainbow Lightning taken two months ago at the weigh-in. It is obvious to me that Rainbow Lightning looks nowhere near the average pegasus mare. Her body is slimmer. Her legs are thinner. Her face has an exotic narrowness along the lines of her snout. Even the arrangement of her primary feathers is odd. The cross section of her wing is narrower than a pony would expect. This controversy only worsened during the latter part of the weigh-in when Rainbow Lightning bench pressed another impossibility. Pound per pound, this young mare is actually as strong as an Earth pony.

“Awesome!” Summer Bubble exclaimed. “The average earth pony is nearly twice as strong as the average pegasus.”

“If you are wondering where all these feature came from, a pony only needs to look at Rainbow Lightning’s pedigree. While both her grandmothers have been pegasi, this has not been true for her grandsires. Let us begin with her maternal grandmother, the famed Rainbow Dash. Her mate was Macintosh of Ponyville.” Winter Flake said.

“That is a rather odd name for a pegasus.” Summer Bubble added.

“Indeed it is.” Winter Flake said in agreement. “As I have said, the reason is simplicity in itself. Macintosh was not a pegasus. He was an Earth pony stallion. On her paternal line, her grandmare was Thorny Surprise, a former Wonderbolt, while her parental grandsire was a flutter pony stallion named Dust from Flutter Valley.”

“So it all makes sense now!” Summer Bubble exclaimed “In Rainbow Lightning, we have the enormous strength of earth pony muscle powering the swift wings of a pegasus, which were then bolted onto the agile body of a flutter pony by the engineer of birth. I am speechless. What we have here is a flying machine. It really is true that picking your parents and grandparents is the way to winning a Triple Tiara! Where can I go to trade in mine?” Summer Bubble asked in despair.

“Summer, I don’t know. But I believe you may be getting a fire letter from your mother in the nearest future. And there you have it folks, the controversy surrounding Rainbow Lightning in a nutshell. What constitute a pegasus? Is it form, lineage, or ability? In the end, race officials of the CloudsDale Pegasus Race turned to their rule book to determine Rainbow Lightning’s eligibility. What they found was one word ‘Pony’, the CloudsDale Pegasus race is open to any breed of pony, provided they do not use magically enhanced wings.”

“There goes the first sounding of the air horn ending the warming up session.” Summer Bubble interrupted.

GENTLE COLTS AND MARES, THE, 50th ANNUAL CLOUDSDALE PEGASUS RACE SHALL BEGIN SHORTLY.

“That was the Royal Canterlot Voice of her Her Royal Highness Princess Luna.” Summer Bubble yelled over the deafening royal announcement. “Below, I can see young Prince Abacus climbing up onto a platform with the starting flag in mouth. The competitors are making the rounds of the cloud field now, waving to what has to be a packed audience of thousands of cheering ponies! Oh, you can just feel the roar of the crowd, literally feel the clamour of a thousand hooves, from your ankles to the tips of your ears, ladies and gentle stallions! Competitors are taking their places.”

“How is the line up?” Winter Flake asked Summer Bubble.

“I see the reigning champion Sea Biscuit in pole position followed by Midnight Magic in second place.” Summer Bubble answered in a more even tone. “For nearly five years this has been the norm. These two mares have been competing neck and neck for every trophy on the racer circuit. The pony I don’t see is Rainbow Lightning.”

“Where is she?” Winter Flake asked.

“Where is she indeed?” Summer Bubble replied. “That is indeed the question. Despite our high hopes throughout the program this morning, Rainbow Lightning, the candidate for a Triple Tiara has actually take last place in the grid position. In the time trial last week, Rainbow Lightning literality trotted over the finishing line, taking an amazing 19 minutes and 46 seconds to complete the course. That in itself is record as it was one of the slowest qualifying time trials in CloudsDale Race Course history.

“Has Rainbow Lightning suffered an injury of some kind?” Winter Flake asked.

“Again I can not say.” Summer Bubble answered. “Speculations have been rife in and around the racing circuit for the past few days. However the most common belief is that this is some sort of strategy on the part of Rainbow Lightning.”

“If it is, I for one can not see what she is planning. The only tactical advantage to be had from such a position is to ride the slip stream of the leading ponies. The more pegasi are ahead of you, the strong the slip stream and the greater the energy savings. However this tactic is rarely useful outside marathons. What place it has on today’s fast paced race is questionable.” Winter Flake finished.

“That was why I tried to interview Rainbow Lightning to get her thoughts straight horse’s mouth. Unfortunately Rainbow Lightning continues to refuse any and all attempts for an interview. I was however able to arrange with another of pony of interest. I was leafing through the pedigree of our various racers when I chanced upon a fact of interest. Rainbow Lightning will be racing against one of her cousins, Apple Shop.”

“Well, as we have a few minutes before the race begins. Let us hear this interview.

** *** **

“Hello, does this work?” the recording gave three loud beats of a pony tapping the head of the microphone.

“I am sure it does, Miss Apple Shop. Please stop that.”

“Beg your pardon. Ah’m not too familiar with all these new fangled gizmos.”

“Could you tell me a little about your family history?”

“Well that’s not much to say. Ah have three sisters, but am the only one with wings. My sire was a pegasus and that was how ah got mah wing. His name was Sorin’. Ah guess you already know that, seeing that he was a bit famous in his day. He was a Wonderbolt, vice captain for 9 years before he retired. My ma was an Earth pony of good stock from the old Apple clan. Apple Jack was her name. She died back in 46. Stress took her health and her heart finally gave out. Father didn’t live much longer after that. Ah guess he couldn’t live without my ma or her apple pies.”

“I am sorry to hear that, Miss Apple.”

“Think nothing of it. It’s old history now. My Pa never learned to bake but he sure loved to eat. Mah aunt Apple Bloom took us in after that but we were pretty much grown up by then. Mah three sisters run a tavern in Ponyville.”

“I’ve noticed that you are a rather large pegasus.”

“Are ya’ calling me big boned?”

“Not at all, but you must admit that you aren’t the usual type. What do you think of your chances at today’s race?”

“Ah can be pretty fast if ah want too. Maybe not as fast as these young mares, but ah believe ah can give as good as ah get.”

“Quite a boast, considering that three ponies in this year’s race are able split the light spectrum.”

“Well, that just means ah won’t be the first, second or third. But ah’m sure as Celestia’s sun will rise, ah will try mah very best and it won’t be last place.”

“You are referring to your competition with Window Cloud.”

“Yes.” Apple Shop answered hastily. “You see, we are kind of neighbours in the professional sense. Although we aren’t all that neighbourly given that her shop is opposite mine and we compete for the same customers. I sell apples confectionaries, mostly pies at my shop while she sells those light and fluffy cloud cakes. I know what’ you are thinking, the heat needed to bake a pie would evaporate the cloud right under me. Well, ah fly up mah baked apple goods from my sister’s down in Ponyville and sale em’ here in CouldsDale.”

“You commute daily from Ponyville?”

“Sure do. It is a two and a half hour flight, sometimes even four depending on where CloudsDale is in its drift cycle. You might call me an amateur marathon racer. Ah got some endurance. Where was I... about four months ago Window and ah got into a mighty big disagreement. So we thought we would settle our difference in a grand old race. And just around that time, we saw a flyer for CloudsDale pegasus race.”

“I am sure you have heard the bright and upcoming star Rainbow Lightning. I understand that she is one of your cousins.”

“Apples are a mighty big clan. Ah have cousins from Seaddle right the way up to Appaloosa.”

“She is a lot closer that a distant cousin. Her grandsire is your mother’s older brother.” Summer Bubble paused. “Are you two close?”

“No,” Apple Shop answered reluctantly. “The Apples and Rainbows are not on speaking terms. The relationship between the two herds is pretty much soured. Been that way since after the big accident.”

“What happened?”

Apple Shop sighed. “Old history. From what ah heard, after the big accident the settlement took pretty much everything the Rainbows had and then some. That some was a third of the Sweet Apple Acres which mah uncle inherited from mah grandma. We couldn’t afford to lose so much of the farm, so my ma tried to cut the Rainbows off. Things just went down hill from there. We still lost a third of the farm and after that we couldn’t make ends meet no more.”

Apple Shop signed again. “Selling off Sweet Apple Acres piecemeal killed my ma, one sale at a time. Ah –“

** *** **

“I am afraid this is all the time we have for this interview, the race is about to begin.” Winter Flake interrupted.

Comments

[BrackMadar]

uuuuuuu spoilers for "unexpected" maybe i can smell it, its the smell of a grand plan, a scheme so weaved that it would hunt over my mind for as long as it takes to be revealed

i knew that i wasn't wrong at following you after reading "unexpected"

also Soarin being with Apple Jack is one of my new favorites ships, ever since i read "Earth & Sky" recently

i´m tired so its enough reading for me today, i´ll continue to read your stories tomorrow, scratch that, make that in a couple of hours seeing as it is 4 am for me

[HeartsWarmth]

[Archy the Hobo]

and we'll never know who wins the race