Two Sides of the Coin

It was another ordinary spring day in the city of Cloudsdale and all of the Pegasus ponies were released from their school early due to the weather being so nice. It was once every few years the weather was 100% perfect and why spend the whole day inside? The sun shone healthy bright and there were very few clouds in the sky, thanks to the weather ponies who were on cloud duty. Many teachers told their students to leave the premises but the students refused and continued to linger around.  Today was a very big, very exciting event in Cloudsdale: the race against Rainbow Dash.

Every few weeks Rainbow Dash would start a race that consisted of ponies flying against her around Cloudsdale. Which ever pony won would get, 'the time of their life'. No pony knew what that meant since no pony ever won. But that made them even more determined. The pegasi would gather in rather large groups of their own and constant chatter about the race would flow around causing a loud buzz in the air. After awhile the usual betting would start but it would quickly get out of hoof.

"If Derpy wins I'll give you all of my limited edition Princess Celestia cards!"

"Psh, Derpy? If Blossomforth wins I will give you my house!"

"You've got a deal!"

When the betting had finished, two lines would be set up on either side of Rainbow Dash. The oldest Pegasus ponies would be on the right side of Rainbow Dash while the younger ones were on her left side. There would always be a ref in front of the ponies to tell them what they could and could not do; no pushing, no kicking, no tackling, no biting, no scratching, no grabbing another pony's wings, no hitting, no damaging another pony's wings and no cheating. There was no rule about no cussing because every pony knew that RD had the worst mouth in all of Equestria. At the sound of the ref's whistle, the three would fly off from the starting line and everyone would wait to see who would circle Cloudsdale first and make it to the finish line before Rainbow Dash. As expected, Rainbow Dash would be the first to the finish line and the other two would show up minutes later with disappointment and exhaustion in their eyes. By the time the line came to an end, it was already almost sundown and there were only two ponies left. Cloudkicker was on the right side of Rainbow Dash, her hooves kneading the cloud under her.

"Do you really think you can beat me Cloudkicker?" asked Rainbow Dash in a mocking voice. The purple grey Pegasus outstretched her wings and flipped her golden mane before meeting Rainbow Dash's eyes and giving her the same tone.

"Any day!"

Kat, who was a white Pegasus pony with black and purple mane on the left side of Rainbow Dash, wasn't paying any kind of attention, for she was simply staring at the cloud under her. Her red eyes were darkened as she was lost in thought about the race. She had no idea why she was in the race, flying for fun or racing wasn't her thing. She was an artist for Celestia's sake, not an athlete! But she had heard from everyone else even if you didn't win, it was still fun. A sharp nudge made Kat jumped and she turned her head to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her.

"You look like a good flyer, Kat!" she said. "I bet you're even a better flyer than Thunderlane. How about this, you win and I'll give you the best night of your life!" she said and her eyelids dropped halfway. Kat had a very puzzled expression and since she had no idea what Rainbow Dash meant, she only replied saying, "um".

"Wings ready!"

The referees words made Kat jumped and flap her wings nervously. She heard Cloudkicker harsh laugh and Rainbow Dash blowing out a snort before saying a few negative sentences that had the words 'pathetic' and 'loser'. The female Pegasus sighed and spread out her wings, leaning herself forward to ready herself. From the corner of her eye Kat saw Rainbow Dash crack her neck while Cloudkicker stretched out her legs. Maybe I should stretch before we get started? she thought but realized she wouldn't have time when the ref stood in front of them.

"Alright, everypony, we all know the rules.  No pushing, no kicking, no tackling, no biting, no scratching, no -"

"Can you just blow the whistle already?" shouted RD and the ref glared at her before putting the whistle to his mouth.

"Alright everypony. One... two..."

At the sound of the whistle, Rainbow Dash took off with such force that the wind knocked Cloudkicker and Kat into the crowd of pegasi behind them. Kat had rolled a few times and ended up hitting her head against Derpy and of course Derpy being the way she was, she tried helping her up which resulted in a lot of wing pulling and kicking in the face. By the time Kat was up on her hooves and ready to fly, she saw Cloudkicker had managed to get by a few yards and Rainbow Dash was no where to be seen. She ran as fast as she could towards the edge and jumped off, spreading her long white wings and soared into the sky. The wind flew through her hair naturally and Kat was thankful that it wasn't too windy. But now wasn't the time to fly gracefully and enjoy this day, now was the time to fly as fast and hard as she could and catch up to Cloudkicker, maybe even pass her if she was that lucky. Kat flapped her wings as hard as she could and she felt herself gaining speed. She swerved against every cloud the appeared before her and every stray bird or hawk that tried to get in her way. After several moments of doing this she eventually caught up with Cloudkicker. Sweat was pouring down the Pegasus's face and she turned to look at Kat, her blue gaze tired.

"Wow! It seems like you finally caught up with me!" she exclaimed tiredly and Kat smiled while nodding her head.

"Yup, I sure did! It took me awhile but I eventually got here." Suddenly, Cloudkicker's expression changed from tired and cheerful, to angry and menacing.

"You think you can just fly up by me and act like everything is all peachy keen? You think you can take this race as some kind of a joke!" Cloudkicker yelled. Kat's ears flattened against her skull and she looked down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I'm not finished yet!" screamed Cloudkicker. Her eyes were now ablaze and Kat felt her heart racing in her chest. "Don't you realize, Kat? If I were to beat Rainbow Dash not only would I be the most popular pony in all of Equestria but Rainbow Dash would also give me the best day of my life! I would no longer be ignored or seen as some kind of regular Pegasus, every pony would actually know who I was!" Kat stared at her, jaw dropped. All her life she thought Cloudkicker was a fairly popular pony. Cloudkicker was a very nice, very helpful pony to have around and everypony talked to her. Even Fluttershy talked to her!

Cloudkicker seemed to read her thoughts. "Ooo, Fluttershy talks to me," she said in a high sarcastic voice. "She isn't as good as the rest. She just as much of a low life as you are, dear. No pony can brag about talking to Fluttershy."

Kat was now furious and full of rage. "Shut up! You have no right to talk bad about Fluttershy like that! She's a very nice pony, she didn't do anything to you! Maybe the reason why no pony actually ever talks to you is because you're mean to all of them!" yelled Kat. Her red eyes were merely slits now and she gritted her teeth with such force she felt her jaw throbbing. Cloudkicker growled and rammed herself into Kat, making her steer off the course they were supposed to be on. Kat fell several feet in the air and she had to frantically flap her wings to raise herself back up again. Once again she was on Cloudkicker's side and when the Pegasus noticed she tried ramming into her again. But this time Kat was ready. When Cloudkicker tried to hit her Kat stopped flapping and dropped down a few yards before flying back up and hitting Cloudkicker in the stomach. Kat thought she heard a small crack and Cloudkicker let out a yell. The grey Pegasus tumbled forward and had her wings wrapped around her body like some sort of blanket. Cloudkicker then snapped her wings open and glared at Kat.

"You're going to pay for that you son of a bitch!" yelled Cloudkicker and she shot forward, ramming into Kat's chest. All the air escaped Kat's lung and she felt herself dropping from the sky. Quickly she wrapped her front legs around Cloudkicker's neck and forced a tight grip on her. Cloudkicker let out a gasp and tried to pull away but only ended up failing.

"Let me go!" Cloudkicker wailed but Kat just held on tighter. Kat could tell they were getting closer to the ground because they were now falling through thick blankets of clouds. Cloudkicker saw this as a perfect opportunity. Opening her mouth wide Cloudkicker clamped her mouth over Kat's eye and bit down. Pain surged through Kat's body and she let out a wail. The white Pegasus tried pushing Cloudkicker away but every time she did, Cloudkicker would just hit her in the gut or sides with her hooves. Kat even tried hitting her with her wings but Cloudkicker grabbed them and pulled them as hard as she could, popping them out of place. Kat now felt like a baby bird who didn't know how to fly falling out of the nest. Kat's eyes were filled with blood and she could no longer use her wings. Cloudkicker's eyes showed no mercy to her former classmate and she beat her over and over again.

The clouds started getting thicker and turning into a dark grey, almost a black. It seemed as if they were getting very close to the ground with a storm that was starting. Kat slowly slipped into unconsciousness, too tired and beaten to do anything.  Cloudkicker saw and felt Kat's body go limp and a twisted laugh escaping her lips.

"Ha ha! I've done it! I've taken her down. Now I have no one to compete with me and I can finally beat Rainbow Dash!' yelled Cloudkicker and she brought her mouth to Kat's ear. "No one will know you're missing Kat…They won't know it was I who killed you…" Cloudkicker let go of Kat's body, smiling wickedly as she saw her white body disappear from her sight. Suddenly, the was a loud, menacing growl and Cloudkicker froze.

"Wh-what's going on?"

The growl became louder and Cloudkicker was face to face with a red eyed monster. Her eyes shrunk into mere dots and tried to let go of Kat's body to escape the monster but it already had her in its grasp. She screamed as she felt her flesh being torn apart and cuts becoming visible on her flank. Tears flowed down her face as she saw blood gush out of her body and began to feel herself growing weak. Her wails began to grow louder as the monster tried rip off her legs and tear out her wings.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Please stop!"

Suddenly, everything stopped and Cloudkicker, through lots of wailing and cussing, was able to open her wings and stop herself in the middle of the fall. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in the middle of some pitch black clouds. The sounds of thunder surrounded her and Cloudkicker's heart began to race. What are you afraid of? It's just a little thunder, right? That...thatthing stopped. Maybe the race wasn't such a good idea. Hurry and fly back to get some help. You can say you got attacked by a hawk or something. As Cloudkicker turned herself around and gazed upward to fly out of the clouds she saw the red eyes staring at her again. The only thing that prevented all of the ponies to hear Cloudkicker's scream was the sound of thunder.