Fight With Flight
Prism Bolt, proud son of legendary Wonderbolts Rainbow Dash and Soarin, flew high through the sky. Being under the wings of such amazing flyers for parents, he had been taught just about everything that they knew about pro flying.
That, and also being accepted into the Wonderbolts academy to help him become even better. Yes sir, Prism was on the path to become the next Wonderbolt legend.
However, if it was something that Prism Bolt always enjoyed, it was competition. Though, for quite the number of years, his greatest challenges were up against his own parents. Nopony else stood that much of a chance against his great speed.
At least, nopony he has actually challenged.
Prism Bolt has a friend, and quite a special friend at that. His friend Starburst, the daughter of Princess Twilight, was born with quite an unusual perk. She was born, despite being a pegasus, with alicorn wings, and from what he knew, those kinds of wings were pretty darn strong.
He has battled with the idea in the past, not because he's scared or anything like that, but now he feels as though he's ready to challenge Starburst and her wings.
Now, if only he knew where she was...
The daughters of the Elements of Harmony, Starburst (the pegasus with a perk), Crystal Clarity (the half pony half dragon), Cotton Candy (the perhaps a little too joyful earth pony) and Anthea (the blind unicorn), were having a girls day out, starting off the lovely day with a nice cold milkshake from SugarCube Corner.
"So, Starburst, how's the guard life treatin' ya?" Cotton Candy asked, holding her head in her hooves as she leaned on the table.
Starburst moaned. "Don't get me started. What with mom practically achieving 'world peace', I'm always finding myself sitting around and drawing circles in the floor. Then again, that's what I chose to do so..."
"Why did you want to become a guard rather than the next princess?" Anthea asked, having the straw to her glass close to her mouth.
Starburst shrugged. "I just don't find it that interesting. I always thought protecting the princess and other ponies was a better suit for me."
"Some of the guards are quite ravishing, though," Crystal Clarity giggled. "Anyone catch the eyes of the 'oh so strong' Starburst?"
Starburst blushed. "Wh-?! I-! Sh-Shut up, Claire. I told you, I'm not interested in that stuff right now."
"Uh-huh." Clarity gasped and pointed behind Starburst. "Look! It's Platinum Shield!"
Starburst's head quickly turned to see an empty street apart from a flower stand. Her redness of her face increased tenfold as she slowly turned back.
Cotton Candy began laughing like a hyena, pounding the table with her hooves as Anthea giggled along and Clarity flipped her mane with her claws, bearing a proud of her work grin.
"Remind me to hit you in the face later," Starburst grumbled as she laid her face on the table.
Crystal Clarity ran her claws through Starburst's mane, leaving it a bit of a mess. "Oh, lighten up, Star, I'm only teasing."
Starburst fixed her mane, sat upright and sighed with grief.
"If it makes you feel any better, Starburst, I think that Platinum and you would be great together," Anthea attempted to raise her pegasus friend's spirits.
"Have you even met the guy, Anthea?" Starburst asked despite knowing she certainly hasn't.
"I've... heard things," she added. "And from what I've heard, he seems nice."
While slurping down her milkshake, Cotton Candy managed to catch a glimpse of Prism Bolt in the distance behind Starburst. She drank like there was no tomorrow and pointed towards him.
"Look! There's Prism Bolt!" she announced excitedly.
Starburst let out a humph. "Nice try, Cotton, but you're not going to make me fall for it twice." She crossed her hooves and threw her nose up.
"She's being genuine, Dear, there he is," Clarity confirmed, pointing in the same direction.
"Oh, ha-ha, I get it, let's all make fun of Starburst because she works with pretty colts!" Starburst clapped sarcastically.
Clarity frowned at the response. "I was just messing around! Sweet Celestia! Just look, it's really Prism Bolt!"
"Not gonna happen, Claire. You know, I'm all down for pranks here and there, but now you're all giving me what is, quite possibly, the worst one to date." She paused to stare deeply into her friends' eyes. "I'm not gonna turn around because I know, for an absolute fact, that Prism Bolt-"
"Yo, Starburst!" Prism Bolt appeared behind her.
"-is really behind me." Starburst quickly spun around on her chair to look at the new arrival. "Hey, Prism!" she greeted with a forced, embarrassed smile. "What are you doing here?"
"I want to challenge you to a flight race." Prism Bolt moved right to the point.
"No." Starburst was just as quick with the answer. She turned back around to her girl friends.
"Wait, what?" Prism found himself to be quite surprised. "Why not?"
Starburst moaned and turned back to him. "Because I don't want to." She made sure to properly emphasise the last few words to make it easy for him.
Prism shook his head and sat down on the ground. "That isn't a good reason. C'mon, Star, race me!"
"Why do you want me to race you?" she asked him.
He took a few seconds to respond to formulate a better excuse than wanting to prove he was the fastest. "Because I want you to." He then realised that one was worse. Prism then tried to pout, see of that would win her over.
Starburst raised her lip at the begging pony in front of her. "That's awfully sweet that you want me to." She turned back to the table. "But it's still a no."
"Oh, come on!" He then turned to the others that were there. "Girls, help a guy out. Wouldn't it be awesome if Star raced me?"
Clarity just gave a shrug. "Races aren't exactly my sort of thing."
"Yeah, and there's no convincing Star to do something that she doesn't wanna do," Cotton Candy added.
Prism then looked at Anthea pleadingly, like that was going to do anything to help him.
"If she doesn't want to do it, then it's not right to try and force her." Anthea gave him the exact opposite answer he was looking for.
Prism's face fell. It then came back up with a scowl. "Fine. You win this time, Star, but I'll get you next time!" He turned around, spread his wings and began flying away. "Next time!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"I was afraid of a 'next time' coming," Starburst mumbled with a very unexcited expression.
The table fell silent for a minute. Then Cotton Candy broke the awkwardness. "Why won't you race him, though?" she asked.
"Can't a mare just decide not to? What's the big deal anyway?" Starburst responded, facing away from the table.
The girls could all sense that something was wrong.
"Starburst, for the love of Celestia, just tell us what's wrong," Clarity urgently requested, spinning Starburst's chair around so Star could see the half dragon/pony's terrifying glare.
"Alright, fine," Starburst moaned. She sighed as she tried to collect her words. "Throughout the years we've all known eachother, what's the fastest you've ever seen me fly?"
Crystal Clarity and Cotton Candy looked up and began to think. It took them both a while to look back at a time she really ever flew fast.
"I don't I've ever seen you go passed a regular running pace," was Clarity's answer. Cotton Candy nodded to tell that her answer was the same.
"I mean, I've never managed to lose you whenever we're walking together, so I don't think it was ever really that fast," Anthea then explained for herself.
"Of course I'd never let you lose where I am, Anthea. But yeah, pretty much my whole life, I've kept my flying speed to pretty much a minimum, and it's all because of these." Starburst stretched out her large wings, looking downwards with a hint of shame.
Everyone just stared at her confusingly.
"You don't fly fast because you have wings?" Cotton asked.
Starburst's head snapped back up and stared at Cotton Candy. "What? No! It's because my wings are too big for a regular pegasus," she continued to explain.
"How come?" Anthea added to the list of questions while tilting her head slightly.
"It isn't normal for a pegasus to have alicorn wings, like, at all, and because of that, I can fly faster than any pegasus very easily. My mom always told me when I was a filly that if I flew too fast, which is easy to do, my wings would get severely cramped and I would crash uncontrollably.
"At first I thought that all pegasi had to beware of something like this, but since my wings are capable of so much more and the fact that they are very heavy, pushing them to their limit would need a dangerous amount of strength from the rest of my body. So, I've reeled myself back pretty much my whole life.
"She did tell me that I should be strong enough to carry myself further by the time I'm grown up. For now though, I'm just gonna stay on the slower end."
"Why didn't you just tell Prism that?" Anthea asked.
"Because that would just be another opportunity for him to mock me over something out of my control. First it was the whole 'short' thing, now it would be a 'snail' thing." Starburst reached out grab her milkshake. She took a sip and let out a satisfied sigh. "Besides, he'll get tired of asking eventually. He can't keep it up forever."
Needless to say, Starburst did not think about if she could keep up with what was to come forever.
Starburst laid against a tree in a field outside of Ponyville. She had a smile on her face as she sat in the shade and the cool summer breeze brushed against her fur. Nothing could ruin such a calm moment.
Suddenly, she heard a loud thud nearby. She tried to ignore it and kept her eyes shut. Whatever was there would probably just go away. Then, Starburst heard shuffling directly to her right.
She took a peak and was gazing into huge cyan eyes. She yelped and flew upwards, latching onto a tree branch. It was at this moment that Starbust realised who intruded on her moment of peace.
"Hey, Star!" Prism Bolt greeted, resting his head against the tree. "Lovely day today!"
Starburst floated back down, not laying back down on her spot. "I... I guess it is." She looked outwards toward the town.
"In fact, this weather is so great it just makes you want to spread your wings and fly."
Starburst's head snapped towards Prism with a scowl. "I'm not gonna race you!"
Prism Bolt quickly got back on his hooves with a frown of his own. "Oh come on! It won't even take that long!" He got down on the ground and latched himself onto Star's foreleg. He looked up at her pleadingly. "Just one quick race, pleeeaaase!"
"Get off of me, you big baby!" Starburst shook him off and walked off. She spread her wings and began flying elsewhere.
Prism Bolt just watched her get away and punched the ground. "Next time, for sure," he said to himself.
Prism Bolt was determined to make her say yes. He'll get it out of her, if it's the last thing he does.
Prism Bolt was currently hiding on the roof of a random pony's house in Ponyville. He was on the look out for orange coated pegasi, which is not in any way creepy at all.
He looked left, then right, then left again. He saw something. He quickly ducked down, preventing anypony from seeing him apart from behind, which his target wasn't.
Starburst was walking down the street with Golden Delicious, a strong, orange stallion with a red scarf. He was carrying a cart full of apples, likely to be sold to a supermarket, but Prism didn't care about that, because Starburst.
Prism Bolt raised his flank in the air, readying himself before he pounces into action. He jumped and glided slowly to the ground, making as little noise as possible. His target was in sight: the apple cart. As he was now directly on top of it, he closed his wings and dropped into the pile of popular red fruits that weren't strawberries or tomatoes.
Starburst and Golden Delicious stopped and looked behind them. Prism forgot to ensure that his drop was not very obvious. He could feel the cart moving again, so they must not have noticed him.
Now under the pile of apples, Prism Bolt crawled forward until he reached the wall of the cart. He looked through the gaps of the wooden planks and saw that Star was whispering something to Golden Delicious. He was too far away, so he couldn't hear what she was saying.
All of a sudden, Golden Delicious made a right turn and walked down a alleyway, without Starburst. After walking a fair bit into the alley, Goldy stopped and unlatched himself from the cart. He then went to the side of the cart.
Prism remained completely still to not compromise the mission at hand.
"Starburst told me to tell you 'No'," Golden Delicious suddenly said.
Prism shot out of the pile of apples and stared at Goldy with an enraged stare.
"Don't know what she meant with that, though," Goldy added with a shrug.
Needless to say, the persistent pegasus was very unhappy. He had failed once again, third time in a row. But was he willing to give up? No. He was mad now, but that won't get in the way of him getting a yes, because he needed it.
"Come on."
"No."
"Do it."
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
Nine days. Prism Bolt has tried to get a yes for nine days. He has asked the same question what felt like a million times, and he had the same million answers.
"What have you got to lose?" Prism asked. He sat next to Starburst with a slouch and a very tired expression.
"My time," Starburst nonchalantly responded, flipping to the next page of a book she was reading.
"Time for what? What are you even doing that takes up so much time?" Prism began to whine.
"Guard training, reading, hanging out with our friends... list goes on, man." Starburst didn't look away from her book.
Prism humphed. "Or maybe it's because you're just a big chicken. Perhaps you think you'll lose to me." His face now sported a sly grin.
For the first time ever since this began, Starburst actually felt something inside of her. Unwillingly, Star's breathing got slightly heavier as she began to breath through her nose.
Prism Bolt noticed this and knew he could take the advantage. He dragged himself closer to Star. "Perhaps little ol' chicken here is scared that she can't compare to the perigrine falcon that's me," he continued.
Starburst's left eye twitched. Anger began to fill up her body, and it did it at an alarming rate.
He was almost there, he could feel it. He rested a hoof on his forehead as he faced away with his eyes closed. "Oh, what would everyone think about the 'tough girl' on the Royal Guard team being too scared to race a regular pegasus like me? 'There's Starburst, the chicken who can't even muster up the courage to accept a friendly challenge'."
"Fine!!" Starburst roared. Her wings spread out as far as they could go as she stood with her legs spread out straight and her head hanging low, staring up deeply into Prism's soul with enough fury to rip it out of his body. "You want a race?! You got one! And I swear, I will make you regret ever trying to face against me!!"
Prism Bolt punched the air while flying slightly upwards. "Haha! Yes!" he cheered. He stood on the ground once again and looked into Star's stare of death with a competitive look on his face. "Tomorrow. Noon. We race from SugarCube Corner to the Canterlot train station, over Canterlot Mountain and down the back, go around the Everfree Forest and back to the start."
"You'll lose before you're halfway up that mountain!" Star growled.
Prism let out a cocky humph before walking away. "See you there."
The next day came at almost a flash. Before anyone could realise, Starburst and Prism Bolt were at the starting line. They both did a series of stretches with their legs and wings.
"You really don't have to do this, Star," Anthea stated, trying to persuade Star out of it.
"Maybe not, but if he wants a butt-whooping that badly, then I should just get it over and done with just to quit his crying," Starburst said, still doing her stretches. She proceeded to do a cat stretch.
"But what about your wings?" Anthea extended Starburst's wings with her magic to turn her attention to them.
"They'll be fine. I could still wipe the floor with him without pushing myself. Don't worry so much, Annie." Starburst placed a reassuring hoof on Anthea's shoulder.
The blind unicorn gave a suspicious hum. "If you're sure, but for the time being, I'm placing a heart monitoring spell on you." She pointed her horn towards Star and a little spark of light flew from her horn into Star's body. "If anything happens, I will the change in your heartbeat and send Turquoise to come and help you."
Anthea attempted to point Star left towards a tall dragon/pony hybrid with green scales, the older brother of Crystal Clarity, who he was also with, Turquoise.
Starburst turned back to her caring friend and casted her a sweet smile. "Thanks, Annie." She turned and walked away. "I gotta go now, the race is starting soon."
Anthea waved her off with a smile, but when she thought Starburst was far enough, her look turned worried. Suddenly, someone had placed their claws on her shoulder. She turned towards whoever approached her and used her horn, which emitted a glow.
"Oh, hey, Turquoise," she greeted, putting on a happy face for her dragon/pony friend.
"Something bothering you, Annie?" Turquoise asked. "You looked down just there."
Anthea didn't bother keeping up with the happy act. She sighed and began drooping again. "I'm worried about Star. I'm scared she's going to hurt herself out there. But I couldn't talk her out of it. Whatever Prism did, it made her dead set on beating him."
Turquoise wrapped his wing around her, embracing her. "It's a stupid thing she's doing, but I don't think she would push herself that hard for a race."
"You really think so?" Anthea asked.
Turquoise paused for a moment. "... Hopefully."
Starburst and Prism Bolt approached the starting line. Cotton Candy stood in front of them both, holding up a chequered flag. The racers got into ready positions and spread their wings out. Candy through down the flag and immediately Prism was out at an incredible speed. Starburst began a little later, being sidetracked by Prism's boost start, but she then blazed off after him.
The race was on.
In a matter of seconds, the pegasi had left the small town and were racing towards the mountain that held up Canterlot.
Prism Bolt was fast. He flew with the confident feeling that he knew who was going to win. He then peeked behind him and that feeling of confidence had turned into fear. Starburst, despite being left behind for a moment, was catching up.
Starburst came up beside her competitor and casted a cheeky smirk. "Having trouble keeping away, Bolt?"
"Ha! This is only the beginning, Starburst!" Prism announced. "Let me show you how fast I really am!"
They reached the mountain wall and while Starburst continued to fly, now going up the mountain, Prism Bolt dropped to the ground. He knelt down on all fours and rocketed upwards, passing by Starburst in a flash. She covered her eyes with her hoof.
Starburst couldn't comprehend what had just happened until she let herself see again. She saw that Prism was already a good chunk up the mountain, way ahead of her. She was not going to let this stand. He wanted a race, Starburst was about to give him the race of his life. She let out a harsh snort and began to pick up the pace.
The gap between them was closing, but not fast enough. Starburst flapped harder, but she was feeling a bit of strain in her wing joints.
Prism Bolt was finally up the mountain. He raced through the train station and the streets of Canterlot, narrowly avoiding the town's citizens. Starburst trailed on behind him. He bypassed through different alleyways at great speed and was about to approach another will of mountain. He turned upwards and began flying higher to the mountain's peak.
They flew higher and higher. They were almost above the clouds before they finally reached the top.
They tilted downwards, flying back down the mountain. Starburst flapped on, but she turned her head to see that Prism Bolt had closed his wings. He was freefalling.
Was he nuts?! He could kill himself!
But then, Starburst noticed that he was gaining speed. He was slowly moving ahead of her.
Starburst had an idea. She brought her wings in front of her and then did one more forceful flap. She then closed her wings just like Prism Bolt. Now, she was the one racing ahead. Although, that flap did hurt her quite a bit.
They both gained more and more momentum as they rocketed towards the ground. Then, when the time was right, they opened their wings again to slow their descent.
Now being around the back of the Everfree Forest, the pegasi raced on around the perimeter, Starburst being in the lead. She planned on keeping that, but she was struggling to keep the speed up.
Prism Bolt wasn't liking the looks of this. Starburst was way ahead of him and they weren't that far from the finish line. If he was going to win this, he needed another plan. His eyes caught an opening into the forest. He quickly turned to take a detour through the forest.
Trees and plants stood in his path along the way. He flipped, twisted and turned at the cost of a few scratches against sticks he wasn't fast enough to avoid. A devious smile crawled onto his face. He could already smell victory.
Starburst had a good feeling that this race was as good as her's. She took time to look behind her to see her competitor struggle to keep up, but she was left with nothing. She stopped and hung in the air, looking around for her friend.
There was no sign of him, Prism Bolt was gone. But where to? She looked around and her eyes stopped on the Everfree Forest. An idea crossed her mind.
He wouldn't.
"Hey, Starburst!" someone shouted her name.
She turned back forward to see Prism Bolt in the distance. Her eyes went wide and her breathing almost stopped.
He did.
Prism gave her a salute. "See you at the finish line, slow poke!" And he was back to racing.
That was the breaking point for her. Her rage boiled up into something unspeakable. Her pupils were the size of ants, her nose was so scrunched up she was in danger of the bridge of her nose wrinkling and her heartbeat had reached unnatural speeds.
She let out an enraged shout and flew faster than ever in her entire life. Prism was not going to win this, Starburst wasn't going to let him.
Starburst flapped and flapped. She wasn't thinking anymore. There was fire in her eyes. She was determined to win. She had to finally put Prism in his place.
Suddenly, a sharp pain rushed through her entire body and into her wings. Time felt like it slowed to a crawl. She felt like she no longer had control of her wings. With her speed still maintained, Starburst fell with her right foreleg colliding with the ground. It made a horrible crunching sound as her body continuously rolled through the field.
She eventually slowed down, but she just laid where she stopped, crying in pain.
"Help! Somepony help me!" she cried out, holding onto her broken leg.
The audience back at the starting line were looking where the racers should be coming.
"Look! It's Prism Bolt!" Golden Delicious announced, pointing his hoof towards the black speck that was flying towards then at great speed.
"Prism Bolt...?" Anthea asked to herself. "But... where's Starburst?"
She used her magic to check on the heart monitor spell she gave to Starburst. Her heartbeat was... different than before. It was going very fast. It... was getting faster. And faster. It was going too fast!
"I think something happened to Starburst!" she shouted worryingly. "Somepony has to go find her!"
"What?" Turquoise asked, genuinely confused.
"Starburst's heartbeat is fast, way too fast! She must be hurt. You have to go find her!" she commanded in a hurry.
"Okay. I'll find her." Turquoise spread out his wings. "I'll be right back." He took off, doing the race backwards.
Turquoise raced passed Prism Bolt, who just looked back confused. Prism approached the finish line and landed back onto the ground. The traction from his speed kept him going for a few metres.
"And the winner is I!" Prism Bolt announced, straightening his stance with pride. "I have proven, once and for all, that I am the new fastest of Ponyville."
Everyone just stared at him in silence.
"Uhh... did I miss anything?" he asked in confusion.
"Starburst's hurt and Turquoise went out to find her!" Anthea explained, worry still clearly present in her voice.
"What?!"
Turquoise flew through the fields, keeping an eye out for Starburst. Hiding behind a small hill, he saw a yellow body staying still. That was her.
"Starburst!" Turquoise called to get her attention.
Starburst looked up and immediately began pleading for help again. "Turquoise! Help me!" Her voice was croaky from her crying.
Turquoise landed beside her and lifted her onto his back. "It's going to be okay, Star. I'm here." He began flying back.
"I really screwed up," Starburst said sadly.
"It's alright," Turquoise replied reassuringly. "We're going to get help and you'll be fine." He flew passed everyone at the finish line and continued on forward to the town's hospital.
Prism watched Turquoise fly by in pure shock as he saw a badly beaten up Starburst laying on his back. "What have I done...?" he quietly asked to himself.
A few hours later, Prism Bolt and Anthea entered the hospital. They asked a white mare with a pink mane at the front desk, who turned out to be the nurse, where they were holding their friend. The nurse stood up and took the two of them there herself.
They approached a door and the nurse opened it for them to enter. Sitting on the bed in front of them, reading a book, only Prism Bolt could see a Starburst with a bandage around her leg and forehead. She looked up and smiled when she saw Anthea, but then she saw Prism and her smile faded away. This caused Prism to look down with shame.
"How are you doing, Starburst?" Anthea calmingly.
"Alright, I guess," Starburst replied quietly. "Leg hurts a lot, I've got a pounding headache and my wings are still aching a bit. Other than that, I was told I could leave tomorrow morning."
Prism Bolt hanged his head lower and remained silent.
Anthea cleared her throat, hoping to get Prism's attention. "I think somepony has something he'd like to say to you." When Prism Bolt didn't respond, Anthea sighed with annoyance and hovered her hoof over his body, trying to find his shoulder. When she did, she nudged it.
That finally broke him out of his guilty trance. "Uhh, yeah. I'd just like to say that-"
"It's alright. I forgive you," Starburst interrupted. "It's my fault anyway."
"Good," Prism replied with a breath of relief. Then he processed what Starburst said. "Wait, what? No, it's my fault."
"Uh, no. I was a big enough idiot to let you push me instead of telling you why I couldn't race. So, I'm sorry."
"Well, I was the one who wouldn't stop asking until you said yes, so it's my fault. So, I'm sorry."
Starburst wasn't going to let him win this apologetic battle. "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I was the one who went into the race knowing the dangers. So, the fault is all mine."
As if Prism Bolt was losing this. "Well I cheated, which made you so angry that you pushed yourself-"
"You're both were really stupid and the fault is on both of you!" Anthea interrupted, having enough of hearing this worthless quarrel.
"Sorry, Annie," both the pegasi said in unison.
Anthea heavily sighed through her nose. "It's fine. Just say sorry, shake hooves and never do it again."
Star and Prism followed Anthea's advice with an apology and a shake of the hooves.
"I won't constantly ask you to race me again," Prism Bolt sentenced to himself. "No means no."
"And I won't fall into your trap of constantly asking ever again," Starburst said about herself. "However, even if nothing had gone wrong and you didn't cheat... I totally would have won," she finished with a cheeky smirk.
Prism was about to argue, but then refused against it and sported a grin of his own. "You know what, you're right. Though, I now have the title of 'fastest flier who can carry himself at an incredible speed for more than two minutes'."
"Not the same as 'overall fastest', though," Starburst quietly added.
"You wanna have a go with me little lady." Prism approached her. "I wouldn't use such big words for a mare with only three good legs."
"Hah! Please! I could beat you in a fight regardless of my legs!"
Anthea sighed with disappointment. "You two are going to be the death of eachother, I just know it."