R.A.C.E.S.

by jarmari

On Your Marks, Get Set...

“Mares and Gentlecolts! Fillies and Bucks! Zebras and Griffons! Welcome to the 700th Royal Arial Celestial Equatorial Social, or as it’s called from the first letter of each word the 700th RACES!” Spike’s voice echoed across the massive field, hundreds of ponies and zebras and gryphons filled the stands to watch the race. He sat in the announcers booth, dozens of monitors all around the room to give a full view of the track.

“That’s right Spike.” Pinkie Pie said from her spot beside him. “RACES because if we used the last letter of each word it would be called the LLLLL and that’s just silly.”

“Uhh right. Thanks Pinkie Pie, anyway we’re just a few short hours from the start of the RACES. For anyone new to the race we have 9 teams who have spent the last 6 months building sky wagon racers and who are going to race all the way around the world! They have 24 hours to go all the way around and cross the finish line…”

“They have to stay in the sun too Spike.” Pinkie Pie interrupted.

“I know I was getting to that. Racers have to stay in the day light the whole time, if they are overtaken by the night they are disqualified.”

“The RACES was started almost a thousand years ago after Princess Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon and raised the sun again for the first time. Pegasi who were worried that when the night came again the sun would stay gone for too long again so they hitched up their wagons and chased the sun. They went all the way around the world and ended up right back where they started, and while they might have felt silly Princess Celestia was so impressed with their skill and bravery that she threw them a party! Boy that’s a party I wish I could have been at. I bet it’s the super awesomest best party ever if Princess Celestia threw it! I bet she didn’t even need party cannons or anything. It used to be that every year they had a party and a memorial race, now though we hold the RACES every four years to coincide with the Summer Sun Celebration, the raising of the Sun by Princess Celestia also being used as the starting flag for the race and speaking of Nightmare Moon and Celestia…HI PRINCESSES!” Pinkie Pie yelled, leaning way out of the booth, Spike grabbing her tail to keep her from falling out of the booth, waving to the three Alicorns who were making their way into the judging booth below the announcer’s booth, similarly equipped for the race. “Princess Cadence! Do you have anything you want to say to everybody?” Pinkie asked, grabbing a microphone with her mane and pulling it down to hold in front of the surprised pony’s face.
“Uhh…Good Luck everybody.” She said dumbly.

“And what about you Princess Luna?” Pinkie spun around, Spike still trying desperately to keep her from falling on her face into the booth below.

“I never want to miss a chance to enjoy a day with the people and have some fun.”

“Princess Celestia?” Pinkie asked finally.

“Oh I’m always excited to see the RACES.” She said simply.

“PINKIE!” Spike cried from the booth, both feet planted against he wall trying desperately to keep her up.

“Oh right!” She lifted herself up and back into the booth like it was nothing, Spike falling back into his chair, panting hard. “Geeze Spike what happened to you?”

“W-warn me next t-time you do that…” Spike wheezed.

“Alright everybody!” Pinkie said, resuming her spot on her chair while Spike just lay on the ground recovering. “We're in for a great race today, now introducing the teams! Team one is...THE ELEMENTS OF AWESOME!” Down on the track a pair of doors in the ground swung open and a massive elevator rose to the surface with the first team. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack sat in the cockpit, waving to the crowd. Their cart looked amazing. Clearly the body was modeled after Twilight’s hot air balloon. On the front were a pair of harnesses, one with a treadmill underneath it, the other just the harness. It had very ornate patterning and meticulous detailing to it, Rarity’s hoof mark to be sure.

“Next up, team two, THE WONDERBOLTS!” Pinkie yelled, the spot beside the three mares down on the track sprang open and the Wonderbolts wagon emerged with a hiss of smoke and magical explosions, the three leapt into the air, twisting around and leaving a smoke trail in the air, a massive 'W' with a lightening bolt through it. Their wagon was the same colour as their uniforms and had racing stripes along the sides, one for each member of the Wonderbolts, matching their manes.

“Team three.” Spike called, having finally caught his breath and resumed his spot beside Pinkie. “The White Stripes!” Beside the Wonderbolts rose the third racer. Zecora and two other Zebras who waved demurely to the crowd. Their craft was a simple bowl shape, made of what looked like dried grass and stone, large enough to hold 9 or 10 bodies, but most of the space was filled with bottles of potions and bags of herbs, the whole center of the vehicle was filled with an already bubbling cauldron.

“Team four. The Super Speedy Quick and Flashy 7000s!” Spike called.

“Boy that's a mouthful.” Pinkie added as the next team appeared.

Flim and Flam stood on top of what looked like the Cider Squeezy 6000, but a ton of the parts had been removed and replaced with engine parts and smoke stacks. Their pilot, a griffon, was wearing an elaborate flight suit, really not needed for any creature that was used to flying at high speeds, but the griffon still wore it. Flim and Flam waved happily to the crowds, spinning their hats and moving back and fourth, crossing each other to wave in different directions.

“Team five. The Hoof Beats!” Pinkie announced. The next vehicle looked like a flying stage with massive wings, currently bent straight up along the sides of it, shaped like harps. Vinyl Scratch stood behind a pair of turn tables that had been changed into controls waving furiously at the crowds, Octavia stood at the front, her contra-bass, or at least a contra-bass, built into the floor beside her to act as the steering wheel. Lyra stood beside Vinyl Scratch, her lyre on a stand in front of her. She wore massive foam hands and was waving happily to the crowds.

“Team six. The Time Lords!” The next opened and a blue box popped up. It looked nothing like a sky wagon.

“What is that? A Telephone booth? That's not any kind of wagon I've ever seen.” Pinkie said. “What about you Spike?”

“No I certainly haven't. I don't know how it's supposed to fly but if the Princesses allow it who are we to say no?”

The doors opened and three ponies stepped out to wave humbly at the crowd. One was a brown earth pony with a darker brown mane and tail. The second was a grey-ish brown with a dark grey mane and tail as well as a collar with a bow tie and a red fez on his head. The third was brown too, he wore a big multicoloured scarf wrapped around his neck twice and even around his forelegs, how he managed to keep from tripping over it was anyone's guess. All three had hourglass cutie marks on their flanks, and all three were Earth Ponies.

“I don't even understand how they all fit inside such a small box...Well it'll be interesting to see how they do.” Spike said as the three got back into the box, closing the door.

“Team seven. The Great and Powerful Team!” Spike called, the next platform billowing with purple smoke as the wagon rose up. Trixie stood on the roof of the wagon, which was actually just a rebuilt version of the wagon she'd had in Ponyville. Snips and Snails waved to the crowd from the windows.

“Team eight...The Family Do!” The wagon rose up from the ground, it was modeled after an ancient Tiki of some kind. Daring Do stood on top, holding a valiant hero pose, such as the fans really seemed to enjoy since the cheering got louder than it had been all along. Derpy stood beside her, waving both forelegs happily to the crowd only to lose her balance and tumble backwards, a carving of a feather in the Tiki's band snapped loudly and broke off as Derpy fell against it, the feather dropping to the ground below. Derpy sat up and grinned sheepishly, Daring slumping down in embarrassment as mechanics ran out and floated the broken piece up and off the field. A young grey Pegasus filly sat between the two of them, already completely embarrassed by their display as they arrived she appeared even more mortified by the damaging of the craft and sank down, trying to hide herself from the crowd.

“Finally, Team nine..” Spike trailed off as he looked down at the information. “Wait...this can't be right...” He looked at Pinkie but she just shrugged. “Uhh Princess Celestia?” Spike asked, leaning over the side of the podium.

“Oh it's right Spike, we're calling it an attempt at reconciliation, they've promised to behave, and if they don't Cadance will deal with them.” She said, smiling simply.

“Alright.” He pulled back and took up the microphone. “Team Nine...The Changlings!” The gate opened and a black wagon rose up, leather bat like wings adorned the sides and it shimmered with a green aura. Inside sat three changlings. Everyone in the stands booed loudly but the creatures seemed to pay it no mind.

“Alright and that's all the...” Spike trailed off and belched loudly, the sound echoing across the field, clearly not impressing the crowd.

“Oh Spike gross!” Pinkie said, then giggled. “That was only a 4 tops.” But Spike ignored her as a scroll appeared and landed in front of him. “Uhh...” He leaned over the edge and looked down at Celestia again. The small portal of green fire she used to send notes to Spike was still closing in front of her but she was still just watching the racers below.

Spike rolled open the scroll. “We have a last minute addition to the race!” He announced, which seemed to catch the other racers by surprise. “Team Ten..The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Since there were no launches left on the field a side door opened and the team shot out, Scootaloo on her scooter, pulling Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in the wagon behind her. Dozens of strings lay inside the wagon and as Scootaloo slid to a stop at the starting line Sweetie Belle's horn lit up and the strings rose into the air, filling magically until the wagon lifted off the ground and floated above the starting line. The crowd meanwhile were going totally crazy for the arrival of the fillies. Apple Jack was fuming and trying to make her way towards them but Twilight and Rainbow Dash held her back, talking and gesturing from the wagon to the starting line and back, whatever she said made AJ just nod and get back onto the wagon. The other wagons slowly spread out along the massive starting line, some deploying their wings, some starting to glow magically, the blue box seemed to just rise into the air and spin lazily over to the starting line, no visible magic field around it. Zecora and the other zebras starting throwing ingredients into the cauldron and it floated in to the air and made it's way over to the stating line as well.

Finally Princess Celestia stood and the lights and the stadium dimmed, plunging the area into mostly darkness as a single beam of light came from her horn and lit her up, her voice magically amplified as well so everyone in the area could hear clearly.

“Racers!” She called lifting her head, the sun rising above the horizon, light slowly starting to fill the stadium again.. “ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...”

(Welcome to part one of what I hope to be a long and eventful story. If you enjoyed this be sure to check out our other stories. Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes (Mine) and MLP:FIM Off the record (The King of Hearts) Please leave any questions or comments/complaints in the comments section and let us know what you think so far :) )