The Race to End it All...
Celestia sat in the noon sun accompanied by her sister, Luna, plus Twilight and her friends. They sat on a picnic blanket covered with plates that were previously piled high with food.
“Thank you all for inviting me and Luna. It's nice to get out of the Castle every now and then.” Celestia lowered her tea with her horn.
“Yes, sister, it is nice.” Luna agreed.
“Thank you princesses. It was nice of you to drop by” Twilight said with an appreciative smile. Celestia looked to her sun and sighed.
“You know, it's hard to appreciate the finer things in life when you are tasked with so much responsibility, right, Twilight?” Twilight shook her head and agreed nervously.
“Yeah, got all these responsibilities. Honestly I don’t know how I have time for anything.” Celestia giggled at her former student.
“It's nice to see that the pressures of the crown haven't changed you at all.” Blissful silence soon fell upon the group as they bathed in the warmth of the sun.
Rainbow Dash jumped to her hooves. “I'm boooored,” she shot into the air “c'mon, let's play a game or something."
“Can't... too full...” Pinkie Pie groaned.
“Aww, but Pinkie, you never get full," whined Rainbow Dash.
“Ugh, let me go walk it off." The pink pony rose slowly to her hooves and walked off.
“Doesn't anypony want to do something other than lounge all day?”
“Ah thought that your whole thing was eat, sleep, fly, and be awesome.” Applejack kicked back on Fluttershy, tilting her hat down.
“I've eaten, and I've slept. I wanna fly and be awesome right now!”
“Rainbow, please. Today is such a beautiful day. Come down and enjoy it,” Rarity pleaded.
“I'm back!” They all turned their attention to a mountain of outdoor toys and activities. In an instant the cumbersome heap was neatly organized.
“Alrighty. What do you guys wanna play? Soccer, tag, ooh, ooh. What about hide and seek?”
“Settle down, you two,” Celestia lightly giggled. “Like Rarity said, today is a beautiful day. Please relax." She stretched her massive wings and settled down on the quilt. As she did so Rainbow Dash examined her wings, developing a deviously clever plan.
“Princess Celestia?”
“Yes?" She lifted her head curiously.
“Do you ever fly?” Rainbow Dash landed, nearly stepping on a sleeping Spike.
“Yes, why do you ask?”
Rainbow Dash approached her. “I've noticed your wings are bigger than mine,” she pointed a hoof to Celestia's folded wing.
Celestia looked to her wing and unfurled it, revealing the bright white feathers that lay hidden beneath. “That they are."
“They must be really heavy."
Celestia flexed her wing some. “I suppose they look quite heavy to you. I've had these all my life."
“Bet they don't get you much speed...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.
“What was that now?”
“I said that I bet they slow you down,” Rainbow spoke up.
“Oh no, not in the least."
“Would you like to prove that?”
“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” Twilight peeked up at her.
“What I’m doing is challenging the princess to a race." All who weren’t napping gasped.
“Huh, wha-” Spike groggily lifted his head.
“Rainbow Dash, I don’t think you can do that.” Rarity turned to Twilight “can she do that?”
“I-I don’t know-" Twilight turned to Celestia- "can she?”
Celestia rose to her hooves. “She can, but it was not a wise decision."
“Are you going to banish her?!” Pinkie Pie hugged her sky-blue friend tightly.
“What? No, no, not at all."
“Then why did you say it wasn’t a wise decision?” Rainbow Dash freed herself from Pinkie’s grasp.
“Who do you think did the first sonic rainboom?" Rainbow Dash stared at her, mouth agape. “I’ll accept your challenge, just know that you will not win.”
“We’ll see about that." Rainbow Dash crouched, readying herself for takeoff while Celestia elegantly stretched her wings.
“Wait, are you two going to do this now becau-” Twilight was cut short by Rainbow Dash rocketing into the sky, becoming nothing but a blur. She looked to Celestia who stood with her wings outstretched.
“Uuh, princess?” Then with one powerful downbeat of her massive wings Celestia was gone in a flash.
Luna stood besides Twilight. “My sister has never been one to shy away from a challenge. I do hope that your friend will walk away unharmed."
Rainbow Dash took the lead, soaring through the skies cockily. “Ha, beating her will be a breeze." Confident that Celestia was lumbering behind her, she decided to slow down and practice one of her favourite tricks: flying backwards. “No worries,” sighed an arrogant Rainbow Dash. Cutting her eyes open for less than a second, she noticed a small glint of bright light approaching her. “What the-” There Celestia appeared.
“Hello,” she smiled smugly.
“What! Wait, how did you ju-”
“We never discussed where we were racing to,” Celestia poked, copying Rainbow Dash’s previous trick.
“I- I, uh…”
“How about Canterlot? We’re already a considerable distance from Ponyville.”
Rainbow Dash blinked some more and shook her head with a scowl. “You’re on!”
“May the best pony win.”
They readied themselves. “How did she fly so fast? She must’ve done at least three sonic rainbooms before catching up with me! There's no way I'm gonna be able to beat her!” She shook her head. “No! She is not going to beat me. I'm the fastest ever!”
“Are you ready?”
Rainbow Dash nodded.
“... Go!”
Silence filled the thick air, gravity seemed to fail, and every second felt like an eternity as two of the fastest beings in Equestria shot off in twin spectral trails on route to the royal city.
Back in Ponyville, everyone was conversing where the two speedsters left them. Well, everyone except for Spike.
“Everypony, everypony!” A twitchy Pinkie Pie came bounding around in circles.
“Oh, what now?” Spike buried his face in the quilt.
“We need to find somewhere to hide!”
Twilight looked at her hyperactive friend with confusion. “Why-”
“Because-" There was a low thunder-like rumble.
“That's odd, the pegasi said that the weather would be clear today,” Rarity stated.
“That's no storm. It's-"
“Look,” Spike mumbled, pointing a stubby claw to the sky, following two rapidly moving streams of light.
“Everypony hide!” Pinkie burrowed into the ground. The duo sped by in an instant. Silence followed their passing, but that didn't last. Seconds later, a powerful shockwave ripped through the land tossing everything about like toys. Luna fought against the wave, encasing Twilight and her friends in a protective shield. She lowered the shield once the worst of the shock passed.
“Is everypony unharmed?” A mismatched cacophony of whines and groans followed.
“We're okay, princess.” Twilight sighed.
“Thank the stars.”
“Was that them?”
“I'm afraid so.” she opened her wings. “Excuse me, Twilight Sparkle, I have business with my sister." With that, she took to the sky, leaving Twilight with her friends.
Pinkie Pie sprouted up from the ground. “Told ya so!"
Rainbow Dash and Celestia were neck and neck, constantly trading positions. Celestia looked to Rainbow Dash, a malicious grin growing across her face.
“Thank you for the challenge, but I believe it is time for me to take my leave!”
“W- what?!"
Celestia, with one powerful stroke of her wings, disappeared in a blur, as Rainbow Dash's face went from strained to pure horror. Seeing her chances for winning slipping away, she began to rapidly gain altitude. Fighting the air pressure and gravity, she pressed on until she was above the clouds, looking down over a curving Equestria.
“It's now or never...”
She closed her eyes and focused on her heart-beat. Slowly, she began falling faster and faster, cutting through the air like a knife. Moments later, her signature shock cone appeared in front of her. Then boom! An explosion of rainbow erupted behind her as she left a blazing spectral trail across the sky. Canterlot was nearing and so was Celestia. Growing a devious smirk of her own she swooped down, trailing the princess.
“Bye, Princess Slow-poke!” she taunted as she began to overtake Celestia.
“Rainbow Dash! Please, don't overexert yourself!”
“What's that? I don't speak second place!”
Rainbow Dash pushed ahead, finally gaining lead over Celestia, which didn't last long. From the initial sprint to now, Rainbow Dash had been losing a lot of strength. Now, in the final stretch, her worn-out body couldn't take much more. Her wings stiffened, spots dominated her vision, and her breaths grew shallow and faint.
Then, just like that, she lost consciousness. Celestia noticed that her trail was slowly dropping to the ground.
“Oh no!” In one final burst of speed, Celestia caught Rainbow Dash before it was too late, but she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Unable to come to a sudden halt in fear of harming Rainbow Dash, she came crashing through her own bedroom window. She slid on her back across the glass strewn floor, stopping at her door.
“Oh... my... me,” she gasped, sprawled out with Rainbow Dash on her belly. Suddenly the door flew open, striking her in the head.
“Sister, there thou are! We need to talk!”
Rainbow Dash woke up in a daze. She was in a white room, lying on her back. The moment her vision focused, she knew exactly where she lay. Sitting up she looked around the room finding her bed crowded by all her friends.
“Oh, what happened?” she looked around the room.
“You're in the hospital," Twilight started.
“I know that much.”
“Celestia told us that you pushed yourself too hard."
“Ah hope it was worth it...” Applejack crossed her hooves.
“Why do you say that?”
“Well...” Twilight paused, “you and Celestia kinda caused extensive damage over fifty square miles of land.”
“Including some parts of mah orchard...”
“Sorry guys, I guess I got carried away...”
“We both did.” Celestia stood in the doorway.
“Princess, what're you doin' here?”
“I'm overseeing and helping out with any repairs. It’s a form of punishment from Luna. "She walked up to Rainbow Dash. “I'm sorry. I let my competitive edge get the better of me, and I shouldn't have made you push past your limit."
“No problem, Princess."
“If it's any consolation, you are the fastest mare I've seen in centuries. Not many can hold their own against me."
“Did you guys hear that? I'm awesome enough to go hoof to hoof against Princess Celestia!”
Celestia warmly smiled. “Well, I best be off; there's a lot of work to be done.” She left the room.
“You're fixin' mah orchard,” Applejack frowned, causing her friends to burst into laughter.
“I'm serious."