• Member Since 31st May, 2020
  • offline last seen 4 hours ago

Shaslan


I make both fanart and fanfic. I draw all my cover images myself, and I take art and writing commissions!

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Rainbow Dash is still competing, but she is not the racer she used to be. After her sixth consecutive loss to an old rival, she faces an unthinkable choice. Her old strength is within reach - but at what cost?

Written hr for the Psychedelics Contest, for the prompt ‘The only option left’. Came in third.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 11 )

got to admit you subverted my expectations by having spitfire be the bad pony

This was really good. A very smart use of the premise and the characters.

Pegasi aren't meant to get old. They're supposed to die in battle and stay forever young in memory. Poor Spitfire. And Rainbow. And even Lightning, sooner or later.

The future of rainbow dash making it's last Sonic Rainboom.

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Pegasi aren't meant to get old. They're supposed to die in battle and stay forever young in memory.

I suppose in peacetime, drugs are a reasonably efficient method for achieving that.

I'm surprised Lightning Dust is in such good shape, after a life of risky stunt tricks.

The real answer is to quit racing -- or better to have quit while she was still barely winning. As for pills, she shouldn't race with them, but she could FLY with them assuming they didn't have bad side effects. She has nothing to prove, just a reputation to ruin should she compete with them. Might as well dye her mane at that point.

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It's certainly odd that Lightning would be in much better shape than Rainbow, given that they appeared to be pretty much the same age.

Edit: Unless, of course, she's using the same drugs Spitfire was offering.

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Exactly! This story is intended as a spiritual prequel to my story Going Out With a Boom

Ohh, now this, this is the Good Stuff.

I'm a big fan of stories that explore those kinda "what would happen if this pony were put into a situation where they feel their only options are morally questionable".

It's also a pretty spot on depiction of the kinds of situations that make folks turn to drug use in the first place. I think Rainbow's life could go a lot of ways from this point on, but I have a feeling Spitfire is the embodiment of the most probable outcome here. Wouldn't be surprised if the shakes were more from the abuse of what I assume to be stimulants rather than pain and age. But that's just kinda how I read it.

I also just generally enjoyed the characterization, felt very grounded and accurate. Right now I'm going after Alex but if it makes you feel nice one of my other buddies always goes for your counterpart :joy:a

This is new for me, but uh, inspiration struck, I guess.

Rainbow... didn't, take the pills. Well, she took them- stuffed them in a pocket, thanked Spitfire, and turned to face the open skies and the finish line between them and her... but she didn't ingest any of them.

And of course, again, she lost the race. Lightning Dust was faster, now. That mare had done a much better job of holding herself together somehow, and Rainbow just couldn't keep up anymore. She tried, and her wings ached by the end, but as she sat there, sagging into Applejack's embrace, she could only offer Lightning a weak little smile as she held out a hoof to shake with the winner.

Sportsmanship. Her loyalty- loyalty to the sport, and the spirit of it. She wouldn't forget Spitfire's expression, a smile, somewhat filled wih pride that Rainbow was stronger than she had ever been.

However, after the sun had sank below the horizon and rose once again, Rainbow found herself standing out in the open, wings spread, nothing but blue sky above her and green grass below her. Here, there were no rules to break. No ponies to be disappointed. Fishing a capsule from her pocket, Rainbow popped it into her mouth, and an uncontrollable grin broke her neutral expression as she felt the glimmers of warmth bloom inside of her.

She crouched, jumped into the air, flapped her wings, and took off into the skies.

Couldn't stop thinkin about how Rainbow wouldn't want to use them in the race, but... she would want to use them by herself, just to fly, fly like she was young again. Ya know...?

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