A Dashing Transformation
Manteo, North Carolina. Men, women and children were getting together at one side of the town for watching the next event: a roller skating race. A few young people were beside the starting lane, waiting for the race to start as they made some movements on their roller skates. Among those runners, there was Jimmy, feeling a bit nervous, although he had practiced some days before.
The race organizers had already told them everything: the main objective was to take the route described on a map, until reaching the end. There wouldn't be any problems since some fences were placed on the different streets so the runners didn't go off limits.
As everyone stood in place, the announcer finally spoke.
"Attention, runners! You better get ready because the race is about to start! May the best one win!" he said over a microphone.
Jimmy exchanged defying glances with the other participants as he got himself prepared. Not feeling nervous anymore, he stared at the lane in front of his feet.
"On your marks!"
The runners got one leg behind them to get some starting impulse.
"Get set!"
Every single sound around Jimmy seemed to fade away as he focused, a grin showing on his face.
"Bring it on..." he said to himself.
"GO!"
Somewhere else, a group of girls were having a conversation, until one of them put a hand on her head.
"What happens, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked.
"I sensed something... I think I may know where our friend is," Sunset answered.
"And where would that be, darling?" Rarity asked.
The answer came in the form of some guys and girls rolling down the street. One of them got their attention, and Sunset pointed at him.
"There. Now, who wants to watch the race?" Sunset said with a smile.
"I have some popcorn!" Pinkie exclaimed, shaking a few boxes of popcorn.
As they moved away, Applejack stared at the sky.
"I think I heard some thunder..."
Jimmy failed to notice one detail: the closer he was getting to the finishing lane, the darker the sky seemed to turn, because some clouds were moving together, their gray scale going a bit darker each second.
"We may be under the weather right now, ladies and gentlemen, but I can tell you it only makes this event even more interesting! I don't think our runners want to give up yet!" the announcer said over his microphone as he watched the race with a few cameras installed through the route. The rest of the audience watched it through a bigger screen.
However, he talked a bit soon because, as the race kept going, he noticed a lightning bolt making contact with the floor in one of the cameras, making one runner fall down. The audience lamented that while the announcer spoke again.
"Oof... Now, that was really unfortunate. The medics are going to attend her as soon as they can. In the meantime, the rest of the runners are getting close to the end!"
The other runners were rolling as fast as they could while avoiding some other lightning bolts which were touching the floor and forced a few other runners to abandon. For them, that had transformed into the most dangerous race ever.
When they made the last turn, they finally saw it: the finishing lane, at the other end of the street, waiting for them. So they kept running while avoiding the storm.
Unfortunately, one lightning bolt descended from the sky and made contact with one of them. Even worse, that runner was Jimmy. Sunset and her friends had arrived there, and they gasped loudly after seeing what had happened.
The other participants stopped in their tracks to try and help Jimmy, although the storm wouldn't let them do anything. And it was getting even more powerful, so they moved away.
"This is insane, ladies and gentlemen! This is the very first time these kind of events take control of one race! That is, of course, if we ignore the last time, when a flood forced us to evacuate the stadium! Simply horrible!" the announcer exclaimed through the microphone, watching as some of the cameras got broken by the storm, "Hold on! What is happening now?"
Along with the audience and everyone else, the announcer were staring as Jimmy, affected by the lightning bolt, managed to get hold of himself, screaming before suddenly running away in a flash, surrounded by what looked like a rainbow, and crossing the finishing lane. The rest of the people cheered loudly.
"Aaaaaaand there we go! Fighting against the elements, Jimmy has managed to complete the race! We're proud to say it has b-" the announcer interrupted himself as he kept watching, and the others also got in silence, "Wow..."
Everyone were now staring at a cyan-colored girl with red eyes and rainbow-colored long hair with a red hairtie. She was wearing a red and blue dress with a few stripes of color at both sides, and a simbol of a cloud and a rainbow thunder on her chest. Her leggings were painted in a darker blue, and she also had one pair of small wings on each one of her shoes. But the most curious trait were a pair of bigger wings which had appeared on her back.
"Ok, what am I doing here? What's this place?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking around.
"Rainbow!!"
The speedster noticed her friends running towards her, enveloping her in a nice group hug.
"Ah! I'm also happy to see you, girls! Although maybe not as much as you!" she said, a bit constricted by them. They let go as the citizens of Manteo reunited together, the announcer coming beside the girls.
"Well, I admit this has been a strange chain of events. Either way, you have won the race, so the prize is yours!" he said, showing Rainbow a suitcase full of money.
"It wouldn't exactly be fair, you know? I have appeared right at the end of the race, so winning the prize wouldn't be a good thing for the others. But I think they would like to share it," Rainbow said, grinning.
The announcer and the runners simply smiled while Rainbow got back with her friends.
Finally, they were all together.