My Morning Sun
By Slate Sadpony
“Win your chance to join the Wonderbolts!”
The recruiter could hardly have attracted Rainbow Dash more quickly. Shoving her way to the front of the small crowd, she raised a hoof. “Sign me up! Now!”
“Well hold on there, little pony!” said the recruiter, pushing Rainbow Dash back into the crowd and stepping back to his portable display. It was coated in pictures and paintings of various Wonderbolts and Wonderbolts Trainees performing tricks in a field. It was all very exciting, but rather typical of the sort of promotional materials the Wonderbolts normally handed out. “This isn’t some sort of raffle or poetry contest. It’s a contest of strength, speed and agility! And only those pegasi that I, Rapidfire, deem worthy!”
“Psh, I could complete that silly obstacle course in ten seconds flat!” said Rainbow Dash, huffing.
“Sure you could,” said Rapidfire, his voice full of disbelief. “But that’s not how you win in Timed Aerobatics. The objective is not to set the quickest time overall, but to match a par time set by a member of the Wonderbolts themselves. The tricks are ones any pegasi could do. What you’re being tested on is your ability to understand and emulate the moves of others.”
“What’s the point in that?” said Rainbow Dash, huffing. Several of the other pegasi were bemused by her obstinacy and lack of comprehension, which only made her want to boast and assert herself all the more. “Slowing down is for tortoises and trains, not the Wonderbolts!”
“It’s exactly that sort of attitude that made us institute this competition in the first place!” said Rapidfire, pointing an accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash. “The whole point of being a wonderbolt is to perform as a team. The group flies exactly as fast as its slowest member, and turns exactly as widely as its least agile member. It’s show-offs like you that lead to disasters like what we had at Ram’s Stein Mountain!”
The audience shuddered, the memory of the air disaster fresh in their minds. None of them wanted to talk about it, but that disaster was the whole reason there was an “opening” in the ranks of the Wonderbolts in the first place. It was also why the Wonderbolts had not performed for a full six months, and were still grounded pending a complete re-evaluation of their stunts and
“Well I, for one, am honored to get to try and match the moves and times of a wonderbolt like Soarin!” said Thunderlane, who came up to the front and signed. He smirked at Rainbow Dash, brimming with snide confidence. Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash had been uncomfortable rivals ever since the incident with the tornado. Rainbow Dash’s decision to force Thunderlane to train while he was sick had enabled his flu to spread to others, and when this was found out, Dash had been formally reprimanded. Thunderlane, meanwhile, had received a formal visit from the Wonderbolts at the hospital where he was being treated. Rainbow Dash had never forgiven him for that, and Thunderlane had never stopped rubbing her nose in it.
“Haysucker,” whispered Rainbow Dash under her breath. She moved up behind Thunderlane and signed her own name beneath his in her usual, scrawling script.
“Competitors will need to report at 8 AM tomorrow for tryouts,” said Rapidfire. “So get a good night’s sleep, and be ready for the competition in three days!”
***
Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and smiled haughtily to the crowd, soaking in the cheers and applause. Though it had taken her a couple of tries to produce a time similar enough to the par time in order for her to qualify, she had been practicing non-stop ever since, and she was now able to get within two or three seconds with each run. Twilight’s obsessive attention to detail had helped her to get used to counting out the seconds as she flew, enabling her to speed up or slow down in order to meet the deliberately slow par time almost exactly. Combine that with a new faux-Wonderbolts uniform from Rarity and a delicious high-carb diet from Pinkie and Applejack and she knew that this competition was going to be a breeze. Especially when all the competitors before her had been landing somewhere between eight and ten seconds off the mark - significantly too fast or too slow compared to Rainbow Dash’s usual times.
Stepping up to the finish line, she twitched her ears as she waited for the crack of the starter pistol. Mentally she reviewed her routine. Fire Streak had set it at the beginning of the competition, setting a par time of ninety-three seconds flat. The routine started out simple enough, zig-zagging through the columns at a moderate pace before doing loops through the hoops and finishing with a pair of Immelmann turns into an inverted spiral before swooping down and crossing the finish line. It was this last swoop where she could speed up or slow down to match the time exactly, and it was just this sort of leeway that ensured she could flub a bit when it came to the actual maneuvers. She might lose a point here or there for veering too far off of style, but so long as her time was good, she was a shoo-in for the victory.
As soon as the starter pistol went off, Rainbow Dash charged into the columns, taking care to keep her speed down as she dipped quickly from one side to the other. As she exited them she realized that she’d cut in much closer than Fire Streak had done when he was setting the par time. Cursing under her breath at the mistake, she nonetheless proceeded into the loops, now trying all the harder to focus on the deliberately difficult maneuvers that Fire Streak had placed into the par time. The loops completed, she shifted into the Immelmann turns, taking her time rather than flipping immediately as she was used to. Mentally counting down the remaining seconds, she ascended the spiral quickly and came down in a slow loop counting down as she dove. “Eighty-nine, ninety, ninety one,” she mumbled aloud, slowing her flight almost to a stall as she came closer and closer to the finish. “Ninety two, ninety three, FINISH!”
Her flight completed, she immediately turned up to look at her actual time. She had been counting a little fast - her time was eighty nine seconds, giving her a score of -4, which combined with a penalty of -2 for her excessively narrow column weave, placed her in the lead by a full two points. With all but two of the competitors having finished their run, Rainbow Dash seemed to be a shoo-in for the medal, and she wasted no time mugging to the crowd or soaking up their cheers. Those of her friends especially.
“-6 isn’t bad, for somepony who flies as well as her pet tortoise!” came a voice from behind. Rainbow Dash turned around to find herself face to face with Thunderlane and, to her surprise, Lightning Dust. It was Lightning Dust who’d spoken, her face smug and confident.
“I thought they banned you from competition after you got kicked out of the academy,” said Rainbow, grinning. She didn’t show it, but she was actually more than a little nervous. Lightning Dust had always one-upped her in the Academy, and it was only her callous disregard for safety that enabled Rainbow Dash to finish ahead of her in class. If there was anypony who could beat Rainbow Dash in this competition, it was Lightning Dust.
“Just because I was banned from that glorified summer camp doesn’t mean I can’t be a wonderbolt,” said Lighting Dust, haughtily pushing back her mane and slapping on her flight goggles. “Thunderlane, get up there and show this barely-fledged filly how it’s done!”
Slapping on his own flight goggles and adjusting his dark blue uniform, Thunderlane took to the air with the starter pistol, flying at an astonishingly slow rate. He dipped through the columns lazily and slowly, and as he flew, Rainbow Dash realized that Thunderlane was following Fire Streak’s line almost exactly. Though she knew Thunderlane normally favored the sort of fast, aggressive style of flying that she preferred, he seemed to have no trouble slowing down and adapting himself to fit what he’d seen before. Rainbow Dash could also tell by the movement of his lips that he was counting out the seconds, and from the look of it, he was exactly in line with the large clock setup for the audience to use in tracking the performance. As he touched down, the announcer shouted out that, with a score of a mere -3, Thunderlane had beaten Rainbow Dash and ascended to first place.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it. Thunderlane? Better than her? This wasn’t just surprising, it was insulting. Rainbow Dash had done nothing but practice for the past three days, and she knew for a fact that Thunderlane had only been through the course a half dozen times, and all of them this morning. Though she knew that she tended to be lazy at times, she had taken her training seriously, and the fact that she got a score of -6 at her first competition just reinforced how good she was. So how could she lose to the lazy, training-abhorring Thunderlane?
“Nice Job, Thunderlane,” said Lighting Dust, giving him a congratulatory hoof bump. “But they saved the best for last. Just watch!”
Rainbow Dash could hardly bear to do so. Even before the announcer called out Lightning Dust’s score of -2, she knew that she’d be going home with a bronze medal today. She hung her head and walked slowly towards the Winner’s Circle, filled with disappointment.
***
“It’s not bucking fair!” said Rainbow Dash, slamming her locker door shut. “Those filthy haysuckers are nowhere near as good as me! How could I lose? How?”
“Maybe it’s because you lose your temper,” said Lightning Dust, smugly pointing to the hoof-shaped imprint Dash had left on the locker door. “Or maybe it’s just because you make Fluttershy look like Spitfire.
“You leave Fluttershy out of this!” said Rainbow Dash.
“And what if I don’t?” said Lighting Dust, adjusting her gold medal with her hoof. “You couldn’t catch a cold, not with those moves.”
“C’mon, put up your hooves, and we’ll see who catches what, coward!” said Rainbow Dash, taking a fighting stance.
Lightning Dust just grinned. “Jeez, I heard you were a sore loser, but picking a fight? What are you, twelve?”
Rainbow Dash huffed, picking up her uniform and bronze medal and moving towards the door. As she did so, though, she saw in the mirror that both Lightning Dust and Thunderlane had more than just their uniforms in their duffel bags. Each one contained a bottle with a strange label on it that she could only just barely make out. “NUS GNINROM?” she mumbled to herself, attempting to read the label in the mirror.
“First you’re a sore loser, then you’re trying to peek into my bag?” said Lighting Dust, zipping it up and scowling at Rainbow Dash. “Jeez, you’re a real piece of work, Rainbow. You know that?”
***
“One hundred and twenty three seconds!” said Twilight, clicking down her stopwatch as Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop.
“What was the target time again?” said Rainbow, panting and lifting up her flight goggles. Her flight suit was stained with dirt and sweat, and a small tear was slowly growing around the left wing hole. Though she was visibly exhausted, she seemed focused only on her score, and she was practically ripping the clipboard out of Fluttershy’s hooves to get a look at it.
“Um, the time I set was one hundred and twenty eight seconds,” said Fluttershy. “But if you want, I could try to set another, faster one, if that’s what you want.”
Rainbow Dash kicked the clipboard to the ground in frustration. “What I WANT is to be able to get a score of better than -5 at this stupid sport!” said Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, you’re setting really great scores here,” said Twilight, recovering the clipboard and dusting it off. “A score of -5 is really amazing, considering it’s me and Fluttershy’s times and flights you’re trying to match, not the experienced and skilled sort that would be set by a member of the Wonderbolts.”
“It’s not good enough!” said Rainbow Dash, stamping her hooves. “If Thunderlane and Lightning Dust can get scores of -2, then so should I!”
Twilight put a hoof around Rainbow’s shoulder and lifted a water bottle to her lips. “Rainbow Dash, you don’t have to be the best at everything, and between the Best Young Flyer Competition and your Wonderbolt Academy records, the only thing holding you back from membership in the Wonderbolts is for a space to open up. Maybe you should just -”
“A space did open up,” said Rainbow Dash. “And this stupid competition is how they’re going to fill it! I don’t like it, but what else am I going to do? This is the only way I’m going to get that spot, and who knows when another one will open up? The only reason there’s an opening at all is because -”
“Um, can we please not talk about that?” said Fluttershy, gently burying her face in her mane. “Last time you described what happened I fainted, and had nightmares about flying for a week.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, hugging her friend a bit and slowly removing her goggles and tattered flight suit. “And I appreciate you coming out here and setting par times for me, Fluttershy,” she said. “I’m just frustrated that here’s my one chance and I’m going to lose it to Lightning Dust! Oh, if she was here, I’d show her where that ‘dust’ in her name came from!” Rainbow Dash stamped her hooves in frustration, almost growling in her anger.
“Getting mad at Lightning Dust isn’t going to help you win,” said Twilight, using her magic to help Rainbow Dash remove the dust from her mane.
“But these will!” said Pinkie, emerging from nowhere as usual. She was balancing a plate of bran muffins on her hoof, offering them to Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow took one and stuffed it into her mouth, trying to choke it down without tasting it. Most of the food she ate as part of her training regimen was pretty disgusting, intended to provide her with ample protein and carbohydrates, not flavor. These muffins, however, were surprisingly pleasant.
“Thanks Pinkie,” said Rainbow Dash. “Your cooking always cheers me up.”
“I knew you were training hard,” said Pinkie. “So when Derpy came in for her usual morning muffin order, I just got inspired! These little beauties are a mixture of wheat, soy and egg protein, and just enough sugar and fresh fruit to make them taste good - not a spoonful more! Well, maybe one or two. But they’re good for you! Mostly. If you work out all the time.”
“They’re great, Pinkie!” said Twilight, enjoying hers immensely.
As they ate the muffins, Rainbow Dash’s mind wandered a bit. Maybe it was her diet that was holding her back? It couldn’t be - she had asked several doctors about what to eat, and they all agreed. She even had friends like Applejack and Pinkie willing to procure and prepare meals for her, keeping her from having to rely on her own less than desirable cooking skills. Her training regimen was likewise perfect, exactly in line with the one developed by Spitfire and rigorously drilled into her at the Wonderbolts Academy. But how come Thunderlane and Lightning Dust had defeated her when they didn’t have such a dedicated diet or intense training regimen. That’s when it hit her - the answer had to be that “secret ingredient,” whatever was in those “NUS GNINROM” bottles.
“Hey Twilight, lemme ask you something,” said Rainbow, finishing her muffin and then helping herself to a second. “Have you ever heard of, like, a potion or something called ‘Nus Gninrom’?”
Twilight tapped her hoof against her chin, thinking hard. “Well, I’ve been studying exotic potions with Zecora for quite some time now, but I’ve never heard of anything like that. Can you spell it out?”
Rainbow nodded, writing the characters in the dust with her hoof. Twilight stared at the letters quizzically, not understanding.
“Oooh, it’s a riddle!” said Pinkie, bouncing up on top of Twilight and then running around the letters in a circle. “I love riddles!”
“Pinkie, no it -” said Twilight, suddenly realizing that Pinkie was correct. “No, wait, it is a riddle - the letters are just reversed. It says ‘Morning Sun’.”
“Yay, we solved it!” said Pinkie, bouncing up and down on the letters and then beginning to scribble her own. “Now here’s one of mine. See if you can guess it!”
“This is no joke, Pinkie,” said Twilight, her face suddenly even more serious than usual. “Morning Sun was developed a long time ago to enable ponies to work through the night until morning, yet feel every bit as rested as though they had slept. Hence the name - it was supposed to have the same waking effects as Celestia’s sun rising. But it turned out to have horrible side effects. Ponies who take it can’t sleep, they hallucinate, and over time they go totally crazy.”
“You mean like Pinkie Pie?” said Rainbow Dash, finishing her muffin and smirking. Pinkie was already completely distracted, playing word games with Fluttershy.
Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash, her face filled with anger and concern. “I mean like dangerous,” said Twilight. “Look, I’m guessing you found out about Morning Sun from some other athlete, and I know you won’t tell me who. I know a lot of athletes take it to improve their performance. But I’m telling you, Rainbow, that stuff is dangerous. No, it’s deadly. And if it doesn’t kill you, if they find out you’ve been taking it, they’ll ban you from competing. Maybe forever!”
“So it makes you win,” said Rainbow, trying to hide the fact that she was trying to mentally weigh the consequences. “But if you take it, you’ll be banned from competing.”
“If you take it, you might get sick and die,” said Twilight.
“But I’ll win, right?”
***
Rainbow Dash stared intently at the bottle in front of her. Obtaining it had been no small task. She was fortunate in that some of her more rebellious friends from Flight School had stayed rebellious, and through their various shadow networks they had no trouble in obtaining it for her. They did, however, charge an outrageous fee for their services, even after applying a “friend from Flight School” discount. As she slowly opened the bottle, she just hoped it would all be worth it.
Taking the pill was surprisingly undramatic, considering all of the build-up and warning that had come to her over the past few days. Even though she had never mentioned Morning Sun again, Twilight seemed convinced that Rainbow Dash must already be a raging addict, and had bombarded her with books, newspaper articles and warning pamphlets concerning the drug. Like all such things they were filled with lies and exaggerations, hoping to scare ponies into the drug-free lifestyle. How bad could this stuff be if so many pony athletes supposedly took it on a regular basis, without problems?
Rainbow Dash laid back on her cloud couch, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for the drug to take effect. A lifetime of bumps, bruises and emergency room visits meant that she was very familiar with how drugs were oversold and underplayed, but still - she expected something noticeable and dramatic to happen. Instead, all she felt was restless and slightly bemused. Clearly, Twilight had been wrong about this stuff, as she so often was when it came to things other than magic. She just worried too much, and was all too eager to believe the worst case scenario.
“C’mon Tank,” said Rainbow Dash, pushing her hovering turtle towards the door. “Let’s go out to the park.” As usual, Dash had to push Tank most of the way to ensure he kept up with her, but as she pushed, she found Tank to feel surprisingly light. “Hmm,” she said, examining his helicopter blade as she set him down on the grass. “I guess that new levitation gem really was worth the extra ten bits!”
The sun was setting and most of the other ponies were heading towards home, with a few of the night lights being lit during that period between Celestia’s sunset and Luna’s moonrise. This was Dash’s favorite time to practice, since it not only meant that she usually had the place to herself, but the cool, dense air was free of wind currents. It also felt excellent across her face.
“All right, Tank, time me!” she said, tossing her stopwatch to the tortoise and pulling her flight goggles down over her eyes. Leaping up into the air, she brought her wings down hard, pushing herself firmly up in the air. Though she was flapping her wings as hard as she could, she seemed to be traveling slower than usual. Maybe she was just tired? That couldn’t be the case, since she’d not only gotten a full night’s sleep the previous evening, she’d taken several naps throughout the day, as usual. Besides, she didn’t feel tired.
As she continued zooming around through the hoops and performing standard maneuvers, she realized that she wasn’t going slow, she was just more acutely aware of what was going on around her. The ripples of the air currents across her body were not the soft, gentle brushing she was used to, instead they were firm touches, easily read and responded to. The obstacles and ground were likewise all the more noticeable. It was as if someone had sprayed them with that special glowing paint that Pinkie Pie used to decorate for Nightmare Night.
When she came to the ground and looked at her time, her jaw dropped in amazement. She had been aiming for a time of seventy-eight seconds, and her run had taken her exactly seventy-six seconds. This without even trying to focus on her speed or count the seconds! Indeed, it was as if she had been able to pay attention to everything at once, all without even thinking about it. She grinned. “No wonder Lightning Dust was able to keep up with me!” she said, re-setting the stopwatch and handing it back to Tank. “Well, I’ll just have to show that witch that two can play at that game!”
***
“And the winner is Rainbow Dash, with an unprecedented score of 0!” said the announcer.
Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, quickly whizzing back and forth in front of the stands, kicking up hats and overturning boxes of popcorn. She couldn’t believe she’d finally done it! While she would still need to win several more competitions by the end of the month, her third place showing in the initial bracket, combined with her first-place in this later one, all but assured her a place in the semi-finals.
Coming back down to the fliers dugout after her brief “victory lap,” she beamed with swaggering pride at Thunderlane and Lightning Dust. Though their second and third places ensured they would continue on to the next tier, their scores - -3 and -4, respectively - ensured that they could not hope to out-place Rainbow Dash in the semi-finals. She gave them her biggest grin, soaking up their disgust.
“Let’s go, Thunderlane,” said Lightning Dust, walking off with him in a huff. “Little miss prancy-pants wants to go wallow in her victory.”
“Yeah, buck her,” said Thunderlane, using anger to hide his disappointment. “Let’s go have a beer.”
“Or three,” said Lightning Dust.
“Yeah yeah, go crawl into a bottle,” said Rainbow Dash, bouncing up and down on her hooves in delight. She couldn’t believe how much energy she had, especially after paying such close attention to, and replicating, an acrobatic performance that took a full three minutes and included both a power climb and a power dive. Even the coffee Twilight brewed when she needed to study for an exam had never given her this much energy.
“Y’all were amazin’!” said Applejack, coming down to the dugout from the stands. She was accompanied by numerous other ponies, including fans and friends. All of them crowded around her, oohing and awwing at her presence.
Somepony tossed Rainbow Dash a marker and she deftly caught it in her mouth, preparing to sign autographs. She hadn’t gotten this much attention since before the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well incident. Mostly she signed posters, but a few came forward with more exotic things, including a rainbow scarf and a hand-made action figure. She was hoping some cute stallion (or even a cute mare) might come up and ask her to sign a plot or two. She had been feeling her urges more strongly than usual lately, and the juicy rumors about Wonderbolts groupies were not helping.
“You were amazing out there!” said a familiar voice. Rainbow Dash looked down to see Scootaloo staring up at her, beaming with amazement. “No, you were awesome! No, incredible! No, wonderiffic! No, Super-Ultra-Awesome-Extreme-Amazing!” The little pegasus bounced up and down in excitement, threatening to knock off her faux-Rainbow-colored mane.
Rainbow smirked, picking her up with one hoof and lifting her up high. Finding her surprisingly light, she idly tossed the little filly up into the air, sending her flightless wings buzzing until she caught her effortlessly. “I know, I’m good aren’t I?” said Rainbow Dash. “So, are you coming to my victory party down at Tapper’s Tavern?”
“Um, I don’t think that’s a very good place to take little fillies,” said Fluttershy, barely noticeable over the push and noise of the crowd. “Scootaloo, why don’t you come with me back to my place? You um, you promised me awhile back that you’d help me with the chickens, and um, I know you’re busy, but it isn’t a school day, and -”
“Nonsense!” said Rainbow Dash, cutting Fluttershy short. “Scootaloo is my biggest fan, and she deserves to be at the party as much as anypony else. She’ll just have to stick to the soft cider till she can get a fake ID like her hero!”
“Rainbow, using a fake ID to get hard cider is not a joke,” said Twilight. She was the only pony in the crowd who seemed suspicious and unexcited about Rainbow’s smashing victory. “You haven’t been lying to everypony about your age, have you?”
“Psh, not since Flight School,” said Rainbow, tossing her mane and setting Scootaloo down.
“And you never explained to me how you got so good so fast,” asked Twilight.
Rainbow suddenly found herself filled with paranoia. Did Twilight know? Probably. She, more than any pony, had been meticulously following Rainbow, observing and documenting her performance. She was also the only one who truly understood what Rainbow had been talking about when she had mentioned Morning Sun, and the only one who had insistently warned her against it. She must, at the very least, suspect something.
“I...I started getting up earlier!” said Rainbow Dash, smiling nervously.
“She sure did!” said Applejack, patting Rainbow with a hoof. “Heck, she was up before Bic Mac an’ me most mornings! I don’t know how she done it, but she sure showed that she can work hard when she wants to!”
The impact was hard, and Rainbow momentarily felt herself filled with anger at the unwanted touch, but she was determined to keep her cool. She had to put on a good show. And also not reveal that she was not getting up early, but rather staying up late. Indeed, staying up late to train had become the norm for her, as had skipping naps and even the occasional meal. After all, how was she supposed to win if eating and sleeping didn’t take a back seat to training?
“Enough talk already!” said Pinkie, bouncing on her hooves. “I had a totally awesome ice cream cake delivered to Tapper’s, and if we don’t hurry, it’ll be all melted and soggy by the time we arrive!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” said Rainbow, leaping high into the air and flapping her wings hard. “I bet I can beat every last one of you haysuckers there! Last one there has to pay my bar tab!” said Rainbow, taking off at an amazing pace. The ground seemed to roll by evenly under her, and, feeling supremely confident, she began to buzz lower and lower. She had been reprimanded by safety officials for getting within ten feet of an occupied structure before, and getting within five feet had previously resulted in accidents. Now, though, she felt like she could practically fly in one window and out another, provided there was no wall separating the two. She buzzed some of the roofs so close she could feel the rush of compressed air across her hooves as she almost clipped them. It was invigorating, putting herself so close to the danger.
As expected she arrived at Tapper’s well before anypony else, although Tapper himself had been informed and was already lining up beers on the counter. In order to ensure the beer stayed cold as long as possible, he kept the mugs in an ice-filled freezer until they were needed. As such, they were dripping with icy condensation even as the foam heads threatened to spill over onto the counter.
Without even asking, Rainbow Dash helped herself to two mugs, jamming a hoof into the handle of each and then draining them in succession. She didn’t realize how incredibly thirsty she was until just now, and while draining the two liters took some doing, she chugged them with ease, the icy coldness filling her throat. When she set them down, she was surprised to see Tapper slack-jawed behind his mustache. “What?” she said, slightly bemused. “You’ve never seen a Regional Timed Aerobatics Gold Medalist before?”
“Those beers were as cold as I can make them,” said Tapper, quickly taking the empties and sliding them into the back to be cleaned, dried and placed back in the freezer. “How do you not have a brain freeze? And how did you drink them so fast?”
“I’m awesome,” said Rainbow, leaning back. “Isn’t there a victory cake around here somewhere?” She looked around, and found that the side area pool table had been slabbed and covered, making it a party table. Pinkie had done her usual best, coating the place in balloons, congratulatory banners and inordinate amounts of food. Rainbow didn’t feel very hungry, but still, she eagerly moved in and helped herself to a slice of cake. It was hoof-made by Pinkie Pie and thus supremely delicious. Hunger was unnecessary when something tasted this good.
Ponies slowly began to trickle in as Rainbow Dash nursed both a melting slice of ice-cream cake and a beer. They all came in their turn to thank her and help themselves to some food and drink, every one of them thrilled with Rainbow’s success and delighted to see her. Rainbow herself climbed up onto the bar and basked in the glory, ignoring the fact that Tapper and others were forced to go around her. She was the center of attention, and she should be allowed to act like it. Everypony came to talk to her, and she talked to everypony, her jaw flapping until she could feel the dryness of her tongue rasping against the top of her mouth.
“Rainbow, I really need to talk to you,” said Twilight.
Rainbow blinked, only now realizing that the party had been going on for hours. Her cake piece had melted in her hoof, and judging by the warm flatness of the beer in her other hoof, she had been ignoring that as well. Where had the time gone? Had she really been prattling on like Pinkie Pie for several hours?
“Please, get down off the counter,” said Twilight. “This isn’t something I wanna discuss in front of everypony.”
Rainbow took a sip of the beer, trying to ignore how the taste had been destroyed by heat and time. Her throat was amazingly dry, and she found herself finishing the beer more to quench her thirst than to enjoy the taste of the beverage or the pleasant buzz that followed. Indeed, the buzz seemed to be somewhat dampened, replaced instead by a slight headache and unpleasant warm feeling in her temples. Confused but still thirsty, she picked up another beer and began taking long, thick sips as she followed Twilight into one of the booths. “What is this about?” said Rainbow, smirking. “Come to finally confess your love for my plot? I always knew you eggheads were secret perverts.”
“Rainbow, that’s not you talking, and I know it,” said Twilight. She was clearly nervous. She was angry and upset, but afraid as well, clearly intimidated by Rainbow Dash, yet wanting to confront her. “I know what you’re doing. I know how you won, and I know that you cheated.”
“Cheated?” said Rainbow, indignant. She slammed her mug on the table, sending a shower of foam up into the air. Heads turned, voices grew quiet, and Rainbow’s own shouting seemed all the louder in the quiet. “You bucking haysucker! I thought you supported me! Now you’re accusing me of cheating?”
“Rainbow, please,” said Twilight. She was pleading now, cowering down in her seat but looking up at Rainbow with terror in her eyes. “I know what you did to win, and you’re just hurting yourself. It’s not worth it, Rainbow! It’s not worth it!”
“Buck you!” said Rainbow Dash, mounting the table and waving her glass around wildly. She felt herself suddenly overwhelmed with anger. How dare Twilight Sparkle, whose weakness and lack of athleticism was only exceeded by her pretentiousness, criticize Rainbow Dash and call her a cheater! She roared with anger, swinging her mug down hard, intending to crack it over Twilight’s big fat head.
“Get her!” shouted Tapper from behind the bar.
Out of nowhere came a lasso which deftly grabbed Rainbow’s swinging arm, keeping it from coming crashing down on the terrified Twilight. Within seconds Rainbow found herself battered from all sides by hooves, Applejack and Tapper chief among them. Rainbow Dash found herself restrained by ropes, but only barely so. She pushed back hard against her restraints, the ponies struggling to keep her under control. “Let go of me!” she shouted, momentarily breaking free.
“Get her out of here!” shouted Tapper. “Now!” Applejack and Tapper gave way to a pair of massive bouncers, the huge stallions pushing with all their might. Though Rainbow struggled mightily, she couldn’t overcome them and get back inside.
“Buck all you haysuckers and neigh-sayers!” said Rainbow, huffing indignantly as she found herself rolling in the dirt. She had half a mind to charge at the bouncers and take her chances, but even in her anger she knew it was pointless. Those ungrateful idiots had thrown her out of her own party, when all she was doing was defending herself from accusations of cheating. “Your mothers had sway backs, and your fathers were all lame!” She dusted herself off and took to the air, her speed making the night itself crackle and boom in her frustration.
***
Rainbow growled, adjusting her flight suit yet again. The damn thing just didn’t fit anymore. It was much too tight in the legs and too soft in the stomach. Where the fabric wasn’t ripping it was hanging loose, the empty flaps of fabric threatening to create drag and suck down her time in performance maneuvers. Since when did Rarity star using such cheap, crappy fabrics? She probably just didn’t want Rainbow Dash to succeed - same as all the others!
After the incident at Tapper’s, Rainbow had taken to training by herself, day and night. Clearly her so-called friends were no longer interested in seeing her succeed, no doubt jealous that her dream would finally be achieved in just two more matches. Pinkie’s cupcakes had been becoming less and less tasty, Fluttershy’s cheering had become truly pathetic, and even Applejack’s early-morning enthusiasm was now clearly tinged with sarcasm. “Mornin’ sugarcube” - feh! She wasn’t fooling anypony.
Rainbow ground her teeth in frustration as she tried to tighten the loose folds across her stomach. She had been grinding her teeth a lot lately, and even though it made her gums ache, she couldn’t help but keep at it. She’d even lost a tooth the other day to the grinding, the molar suddenly breaking free and popping out after she was growling her frustration over a disappointing score of -5. Though Rainbow Dash’s oral hygiene had never been particularly good, losing a tooth was disconcerting. Clearly, even her own teeth were plotting against her success.
After giving up and resolving to simply fly with her uniform torn in some places and loose in others, she looked up, finding herself face to face with Twilight Sparkle. She was startled, and took several steps back. She had been so focused on her uniform that she hadn’t even heard Twilight come into the locker room. And how had she gotten in anyway? The locker room was locked, and off-limits to everyone but the racers and race officials. “What are you here for?” she asked, her anger rising. Something about Twilight just set her off. “Here to call me a cheater again?”
“I’m here to rescue you,” said Twilight. She was clearly afraid, but stood there bravely, bracing her hooves and putting on her best regal face. “Rainbow Dash, you are hereby under arrest for suspicion of the use of the banned substance Morning Sun.”
“What the buck?” said Rainbow, backing up in terror. Out of nowhere, two royal guards, dressed in heavy riot gear, pressed their legs around her. She tried to free herself, flailing and beating her wings wildly, but it was no use. She suddenly realized that, not only was she completely exhausted, but her body felt surprisingly weak, her legs and wings giving out after only the briefest of firm pushes. “You bucking backstabbing haysucker! You sway-backed, wrinkly-faced little prude! You...You...Lame...Egghead!”
“Dammit Rainbow, can’t you see I’m trying to help?” said Twilight. There were tears in her eyes, and though she kept her distance, she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Rainbow Dash. She was in agony.
“You betrayed me!” said Rainbow, her struggles dying out suddenly as she felt herself overwhelmed by exhaustion. She had never been so tired before. Days of sleeplessness hit her all at once, putting her down harder than anything she’d ever experienced. Even before they dragged her out of the locker room she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness.
“No,” said Twilight Sparkle, staring at the floor and letting out a deep sigh. “You betrayed yourself.”
***
Rainbow Dash buried her face into her pillow, sobbing uncontrollably. She had cried more over the past month than she had in her entire life, and she didn’t even know why. Not to say that things had been pleasant for her since her arrest. Though no criminal charges had been filed, she nonetheless had to go through an agonizing series of detoxification treatments. Even worse, she had been forced to return her Timed Aerobatics medals, even those she had earned before she had begun cheating. She had also been put on unpaid leave from her weather management job, as well as banned from competing in any Wonderbolts-sanctioned events or performances for one year.
As such, Rainbow Dash’s life had devolved into a long series of agonizing waits. Waiting for her unemployment check to come. Waiting for her next doctor’s visit. Waiting for it to be time to eat. Waiting for it to be time to sleep. It was all this waiting that grated the most on Rainbow Dash. It made her feel helpless, since there was nothing she could do to make things come sooner or end better.
Slowly, she got off the bed, wiping away her tears and turning the pillow over to hide the wet splotches. She moved towards the kitchen, opening her fridge and examining the contents. With nothing to do, she had been eating excessively lately, and the weight she had lost while consuming Morning Sun had quickly returned, along with much more. The extra weight made her feel sluggish and bloated, which only increased the impetus to remain still and do nothing.
Helping herself to a rather sad-looking cupcake Pinkie had given her an indeterminate time ago, she sighed and stared at the pile of newspapers on the table. Her usually lackluster cleaning habits had gone out the window during her long period of depression and the garbage had begun to pile up, but she simply couldn’t find the effort to remove it. She’d start from time to time, usually in an effort to extract Tank from underneath some pile of garbage, but within a few minutes she’d find herself exhausted. She just didn’t have any energy, and no amount of eating, sleeping and resting seemed able to rejuvenate her.
As Rainbow Dash sat chewing on her stale, flavorless cupcake, there was a knock at the door. Rainbow almost fell out of her chair, startled by the noise. She’d had almost no visitors in the past few weeks, and the mail mare simply shoved the mail through the door slot. Curious, she went to the door and opened it, finding herself face-to-face with Twilight.
“What do you want?” growled Rainbow. Though she now knew that Twilight had only been trying to help, she was still more than a little bitter about the whole affair.
“You,” said Twilight, pushing her way into Rainbow’s house. “Dashie, I haven’t seen you in weeks. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie - we all miss you very much.”
“Buck you,” said Rainbow Dash, her anger half-hearted at best. “Why do you care? I’m just another failure. Just stop bothering me and I’ll go away eventually.”
“Because you’re our friend,” said Twilight. Reflexively she began to tidy up around the place, putting Daring Do books back on the shelves and shoveling empty candy wrappers towards the overflowing garbage can. “And you’re not a bad pony. You just made some bad decisions because you wanted to win.”
“That’s right, I WANTED to win,” said Rainbow, collapsing onto a couch. It was odd to see a pony who was crowned as a Royal Princess picking up her garbage and dusting her furniture. “And now I am a loser, just like everypony else.”
“You’re not a loser,” said Twilight. “You got third place in your first competition, you graduated from the Wonderbolt academy with honors and several records which remain unbroken, and you won the Best Young Flyer competition in the one year you managed to compete.”
“That was then, this is now,” said Rainbow, rolling over to face away from Twilight. “Now I’m a loser. Not only can I not join the Wonderbolts, I can’t even try to join the Wonderbolts.”
“That’s only true for eleven more months,” said Twilight, moving over to her friend and working to get her back on her hooves. “And think of it this way: that’s eleven more months of training than anyone still in the league will have.”
Rainbow Dash looked down at her sagging gut, which was larger than she’d ever remembered it being. She wagged her wings a little. They felt heavy and useless. “What’s the point?” she said. “I’ll lose anyway.”
“The only way you’re going to lose is if you stay in here moping all the time,” said Twilight. “Now, Applejack made some peanut butter and zap apple jam sandwiches for you, but you have to come to the park to get them.”
“Big deal,” said Rainbow Dash, trying to play down how much she realized she wanted those sandwiches. Zap apple jam was her favorite sort by far, and ever since she’d stopped mooching off of Pinkie Pie and Applejack for meals, her food had varied between depressing and disgusting.
“Oh come on,” said Twilight, opening the front door. “I’ll race ya!”
Rainbow hardly needed encouragement, her old competitive spirit quickly rising to the fore. She charged out the front door, leaping over Twilight and barely clearing the Princess as she took to the air. Though her wing beats were heavy and she found herself having surprising trouble climbing and turning, her body nonetheless lit up with the activity. Twilight caught up with her, but Rainbow Dash was determined not to give in, pushing herself hard, beating her wings furiously and letting gravity and momentum drive her forward.
She was exhausted when she arrived in the park, but she arrived with a significant lead over Twilight, and she could tell by Twilight’s panting that it was a win well earned. The thrill of victory, even in an event so minor and irrelevant, was invigorating. Even though she felt surprisingly tired, even though part of her wanted to crawl back up into bed, the potential of further victory drove her forward. It was a rush she’d forgotten how much she loved. And she wanted more.
“Hey Applejack,” she said, turning to her friend and grinning. “I bet I can complete the standard course run in ten seconds flat!”
“What you wanna bet?” said Applejack, grinning. She had set up a small table with apple juice and zap apple jam sandwiches in front of her.
“How about your zap apple jam sandwich?” said Rainbow Dash. “Winner gets two, loser gets nothing!”
“I’ll see your bet,” said Pinkie “And raise you a Lemon Surprise muffin!” She grinned and put a few of the tasty treats on the table, arranging them in a small pile like poker chips. The others snickered.
“Take that bet, Dashie!” said Fluttershy, waving some pom poms from her spot on the sidelines. “You can do it! Woo hoo!”
“Here, take these,” said Rarity, tossing Rainbow Dash a pair of flight goggles from her spot under a sun umbrella. “I made them myself. The lenses are real crystal, Spike helped me find and shape them for you!”
“Thanks,” said Rainbow Dash. “Now, watch me fly!”
***
Rainbow Dash rubbed her silver medal lightly with her hoof, sighing as she left the victory podium to meet with her friends in the audience. She knew that she had made great improvements in the past eleven months, and that her score of -3 was very respectable. But still, it was very disappointing to place second. Especially since the new drug testing policies ensured no pony was cheating using Morning Sun or any one of another thirty performance enhancing drugs and potions known to be out there. At least Thunderlane and Lightning Dust weren’t there to rub it in her face. They had both been banned from competing shortly after Rainbow Dash’s arrest had scandalized the sport and made drug testing mandatory. At least she had a silver medal. Thunderlane, Lightning Dust and several dozen others were lucky to have a job.
“That was so cool how you did that loop!” said Scootaloo, dashing out in front of Rainbow Dash’s friends to bask in awe at her idol. Rainbow Dash smiled. Scootaloo had been anxious to help Rainbow Dash during her extended training regimen, and the two had bonded over high speed passes and perfectly timed maneuvers.
“Thanks squirt,” said Rainbow Dash, rubbing the little pegasus’s hair with her hoof. “I just wish I’d paid better attention on that pylon turn. I had a better time than Mr. Gold Medal over there, but points lost due to bad maneuvers are worse than points lost by seconds. Oh well, at least I didn’t fall flat on my face like Snowball did. He’s okay, right?”
“YEEEAAHHH!” shouted Snowball as he passed, trying to cover the bruise over his face. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both snickered.
“I’m right proud of y’all!” said Applejack, putting a hoof around Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Ya really bounced back and showed ‘em what-for! I bet you’ll get the gold in regionals next week!”
“You know, Dashie, your consistently -5 or less scores put you in the top 1% of competitors,” said Twilight, fiddling with a clipbook and smiling. “I’ve been tracking your progress, and if my numbers are correct, you’ve got a 65% chance of sweeping the semi-finals and a one in three chance of winning the finals in two months.”
“Sixty five? One in three?” huffed Rainbow, filled with mock indignation. “Sounds like I’ve got a lot of training to do!”
“Is the suit holding up, darling?” said Rarity, coming over to inspect it for rips and tears. “I tried experimenting with a new, lighter fabric to help cut down on weight.”
“Hey now, don’t mention ‘weight’ around me, I’m still on a diet,” said Rainbow, looking down at her hooves. She was back to her optimal flying weight, but still, her brief foray into obesity had made her very conscious of her weight and its effect on her flight performance.
“I thought you were wonderful!” said Fluttershy, waving her pom-poms in the most quiet and polite manner possible. “I was cheering for you the whole time!”
“I know,” said Rainbow Dash. “I could see you when I was in the column weave.”
“Enough chatter!” said Pinkie, bouncing through the crowd. “We’ve got a victory party to celebrate, right down at sugar cube corner. I made enough low-calorie bran muffins for everyone!”
“Ugh, those things taste like cardboard,” said Rainbow Dash, acting much more disgusted and disappointed than she actually was.
“Oh, fine, I guess I’ll just have to bust out the ‘Congratulations Dashie’ rainbow-colored cake I baked this morning,” said Pinkie, sniggering. “And I suppose I could open a bottle or three of that soft fizzy cider I was totally not saving for your party.”
“Now you’re talking!” said Rainbow Dash, pulling her goggled down over her eyes and grinning. “I’ll race ya! Last one there has to eat three bran muffins while standing on their head and singing ‘I’m A Slow Silly Snail’!”
With that, Rainbow Dash took to the air in a burst of speed, her friends running along behind, following and supporting her all the way.
Author's Note
This was intended to be my first 10k+ story, but it didn't work out that way. Still, 8k is an awful lot for me, and it's almost double the size of most of my stories.
This is also my first truly dark story. Not exactly unexpected, since it has Rainbow Dash doing drugs in it, but still. I'm hoping I didn't make it too dark or too depression, nor that I made it not depressing and dark enough.
In any case, I really wanted to delve into the lengths Rainbow Dash would go to for victory, and how her obsession with victory defines her. It could very easily lead her to turn on her friends or hurt herself, and having victory denied to her can easily lead to her losing much of her identity and feeling worthless.
Also Twilight is a total narc. You all know this.
Those of you paying attention will have no trouble figuring out that "Morning Sun" is an amphetamine and that Dashie shows the full suite of symptoms both in terms of her addiction and her withdrawal. Yay brief and disastrous foray into med school!
And yes, "Morning Sun" is the name of the drug used by the singer in New Order's "True Faith," and I know that the drug in that song is heroin, not methamphetamine, but heroin doesn't make you win races. I had originally thought of being clever and slipping the song's lyrics into the fic, but decided against it because they felt forced.
10/14/2013 - Minor corrections made
