The Universal Race

Rainbow Dash slowly flicked her eyes open and slowly rose from her bed. She viewed the window from her bed. A nearby planet floated slowly by, with the sun creeping behind the top left corner of it. It was a beautiful sight to Rainbow Dash, almost hypnotizing. She sat there and watched it slowly float by for a few minutes. After a few minutes of staring at it, she got up from her bed and got ready for the morning. She turned and didn't see her room mate anywhere. She must've left early to warm up for tryouts, Rainbow Dash thought.

Rainbow Dash got up and did her morning routine before grabbing her workout equipment and putting it into her saddle. She got all of her stuff and ran downstairs to meet her friends for breakfast.

After breakfast and catching up with her friends and listening to some of Eddy's "success" tips in life, Rainbow Dash left the cafeteria and headed to the try out rooms. Rainbow Dash walked down the halls, seeing many people going into the same direction. She then heard very fast footsteps followed by a skid, next to her. She looked up to her left and felt her face getting warm again. It was that same blue spiked fella from the other day.

"So, you ready?", Sonic asked with a confident smile, looking down to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash smiled back, she was glad to see him again.

"Y-Yeah! I'm going to give it all I've got!", Rainbow Dash said with confidence, even though her voice cracked a little at the beginning. Sonic grinned. They continued to walk down the halls, they chatted about the different life they lived in their world.

"So, you're job is to make sure you clear the clouds in the morning? That's pretty cool.", Sonic said giving Rainbow Dash a wink. She blushed brighter and turned for a brief second before turning back around.

"So, what do you do?", Rainbow Dash asked. Sonic opened his mouth to reply, he stopped. He realized he didn't really have a particular job. All he did really was hang out with his friends and stopped Robotnic from his plans. Other than that he couldn't really think of anything. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Well...", He said before stopping in his tracks. Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks too. They both stopped and overlooked ahead of them. They were one floor overhead looking down into the massive room in front of them. It was built in similar style to the cafeteria, except it was only one floor up, and was looking down into the floor below them. There were many square rooms lined up below, with lines waiting out in front. Rainbow Dash and Sonic looked over and saw the thousands of figures that were walking by and were getting in line.

"You two going to get your ticket or what?", A annoyed voice said to their left. They turned and saw a figure standing there with a water helmet on his head and tentacles on his hips. He had one eye brow raised, waiting for their reply. Sonic ran up to the desk. The figure at the desk brought out a clip board.

"Name, please?", the figure asked in a sigh.

"Sonic the hedgehog, Mr.. uh...", Sonic leaned his head left and squinted to look at the name tag on the figures shirt. The figure responded.

"Tentacles... Squidward.. Tentacles.", he said with his continued bored voice. He brought out a ticket and handed it to Sonic. Sonic turned to Rainbow Dash and gave a quick wave to Dash before speeding off downstairs to his right. Rainbow Dash gave a chuckle. Squidward gave another sigh.

"Next." He asked. Rainbow Dash turned her view to the desk and walked up. She stood on her back legs and put her hoofs on the desk.

"Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria!", She said with a confident smile. Squidward stood there, eye brow raised again.

"Right..", He said. Squidward flipped through his clip board and reached under his desk for her ticket. He pulled out the ticket and put it on the desk. Rainbow Dash leaned in to grab it with her teeth. She gave a smile and a nod before trotting away downstairs.

She trotted downstairs, and looked at the end of the room and saw a giant screen. On the top of the screen it labeled, "QUALIFIERS". Under it had rows of icons and names next to them, as well as which world they came from. She saw many different names of different worlds. She finally found her world, Equestria. She looked at it and saw that some have already qualified.

The names listed were: Spitfire, Derpy Hooves, Lightning Dust, Soarin, Fluttershy, and Princess Celestia. Wait.. What!? She reread it over and over. It still remained the same. She knew Spitfire was obviously going to qualify, but Fluttershy?? But that wasn't what she focused entirely on. Princess Celestia was going to compete as well. She knew the Princess well, but she has no clue as to how fast she can really be. She never really displayed her speed in public to anyone. The princess is thousands of years old and is incredibly powerful, she could be prove to be a very difficult challenge, Rainbow Dash thought.

Rainbow Dash shook it off, and walked around to find the room she had to go to. She looked at her ticket. Simulator room #23. After a short walk she found the room she was supposed to go to. Rainbow Dash walked to the back of the line. She stood behind a strange levitating figure. It stood about 6 foot 7 inches. It had a purple tail wrapped underneath its legs that wrapped about to its belly and back as a tail. It levitated in place with its eyes closed and arms crossed. Whenever the line moved, somehow it detected it with it's eyes still closed and slowly floated forward. Rainbow Dash decided not to greet herself to this being. She felt a concentrated energy around it, and decided to leave it alone.

Slowly but surely, the line moved forward. Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours. Rainbow Dash was starting to get really bored. Rainbow Dash stared at the big screen in the back of the huge gym-like room they were in. She watched as the many names start to fill the screen, and flick into another screen to show more names. Eventually after what felt like an eternity, she was next. Rainbow Dash witnessed quite a bit of the people coming out of the door were qualified. She heard a door to the left of her's open. A bird-like creature walked out with a paper in its mouth that said, "Qualified". The bird-like creature gave a "Meep-Meep!", sound before dashing off.

Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself. "This is going to be a piece of cake!", Rainbow Dash said to herself, with a smirk. She heard the door open in front of her. She saw the being that was in front of her earlier for a split second, before it teleported away. Rainbow Dash walked in, there were no lights. The door slammed behind her. Suddenly, a dim light flicks on. She turned to her right and saw someone holding a clip board.

"Miss, Rainbow Dash? Correct?", The figure said, he had yellow shoes, gloves and red pants. He seemed to be in a happy, cheerful mood. This made Rainbow Dash feel a lot more comfortable, from the previous attitude of a certain squid at a desk.

"It's Rainbow Dash, what's your name?", She asked. The figure put down the clipboard he was hold onto the desk. He flicked on a switch. The room next to them lit up in a bright white light. Rainbow Dash flinched, unexpecting the bright light to suddenly flash. She looked through the glass in the current room she was in to look into the next room. The room was just an empty white squared room.

"You can just call me, Mickey.", He said with a chuckle. He had been doing this all day, he still got a little laugh every time he flicked the switch and saw the many different reactions to the light. Rainbow Dash turned to Mickey.

"So, how does this work? The room looks empty? What am I going to do? Just go in circles?", She asked with confusion. Mickey gave a quick chuckle before he picked up his clip board off a desk.

"We'll get to that, first I am going to ask a few questions and go over a few rules before we begin. Answer the questions as truthfully as you can, okay?" Mickey said. Rainbow Dash gave a smile and a nod. Mickey smiled back. "Okay. Based off of what I'm seeing, I'm guessing you are a fly racer? Correct?", He asked. Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings

"Yup, why does that matter?", She asked quizzically. Mickey wrote down on the clipboard while answering.

"Well, during the race there are two types of racers. There are the ones on the ground racing, and there are the ones in the air. The Fly Racers we call them. Both racers have their own advantage and disadvantage. They will both be racing on indoor course, to make sure the racers that are flying obviously don't have that huge of an advantage. The racers on the ground will have obstacles. Same goes with the racers in the air, they will also have obstacles such as flying through rings, and dodging various objects." Mickey said. Rainbow Dash gave an approving nod. It reminded her a lot of the Wonderbolts.

Mickey spoke up again, "Alright. Next question, will you be using any type of machinery during the race?", He asked. Rainbow Dash gave a confused look. Mickey gave a short laugh. "I'm guessing that's a no. The reason I asked is because sometimes people will ride their vehicles for a majority of the race, and right at the end of the race when their vehicle is about to break down, they try to run to the finish. This gives them a highly unfair advantage, since they rode the entire race. If you are going to be using a vehicle or any type of machinery, make sure you stay inside of it for the entirety of the race. If you leave your vehicle, it will count as a disqualification.", Mickey said. Rainbow Dash sat there still confused, but eventually gave an approving nod. Mickey went continued

"Alright, also make sure, you do not inject yourself with any type of race enhancers. We can detect them, and you will be disqualified automatically when detected. However, you are allowed to use internal ways of boosting yourself faster. Such as: increasing your power level, shape shifting, etc... But!", Mickey said pointing a finger up. "You can not use any 'jumping', 'teleporting', 'instant transmissioning', or any other methods like that. If you are detected using any of those techniques, it will count as a disqualification. So let's not do any of that.", Mickey said with a swing of his fist and a comforting smile. Rainbow Dash gave a smile and nodded once more.

"Alrighty! So, this is how tryout is going to work.", He walked over to the desk and put down the clip board. He beckoned Rainbow Dash next to him and pointed in the window to the empty white room in front of them. Rainbow Dash stood on her hind legs as she put her front hoofs on the desk to look into the room. "You will walk into that room, and it will start to shapeshift and change forms into a simulated race course. You will have 30 seconds after I close the door behind you. Make sure you have stretched, powered up, drank your water, or whatever you will need to do to prepare. After 25 seconds have passed you will hear a voice calling the last 5 seconds before the simulation starts.", Mickey said, he looked up to Rainbow Dash. "Any questions before you begin?", He asked.

Rainbow Dash continued to stare into the room, she put a hoof up against her chin. Rainbow Dash turned to Mickey. "Soo.. How long is the course? How much time do I have?", Rainbow Dash asked

Mickey a hand under his chin, as if trying to figure out how to answer this question. "Well. I'm not allowed to tell you how long the course is.. But I can tell you that you will have 60 seconds. You have to go as fast as you can. Do not worry about the time, and just do your best!", He said with a very cheery attitude. Rainbow Dash looked back into the empty white room and gave a smirk.

"I'm ready.", She said. She was starting to feel slightly nervous. She quickly snapped out of it and back into her confidence. If Fluttershy, heck, if Derpy Freaking Hooves can do it, then why can't she? Her confidence rose back up again. She turned to her left and saw Mickey holding the door open for her to enter. She got on all fours again and walked in.

"Good luck, Dash! Remember to do your best!", She heard Mickey's voice behind her. She didn't reply, she took deep breaths, preparing. She stood in the center of the room and heard a door slam behind her, followed by a click.

The room around her did exactly what Mickey said it would. Slowly the walls pixelated away, changing into a new wider area. Rainbow Dash stood in position, ready to rocket off. She put the saddle off her back and noticed the ground turned into a chainy metal. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hoofs and saw through the holes of the metal. She noticed that this course was in the sky, the clouds floated beneath her. She looked up and around, it was an indoor race course, just like Mickey said. Even though it was an indoor race, she was still able to see outside since the walls covering the course, were actually glass. She could see through them, and look out at the clouds that gently floated by. She looked around as if distracted. She then snapped back into position when she heard the booming voice.

5

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, preparing.

4

Dash started to focus on taking deep breaths, making sure that her heart rate is calm.

3

She deepened her position

2

She lifted her wings open

1

She shot her eyes open

GO!!!

Within less than 1/50th of a second, she was off. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could, barely seeing what's in front of her at first. Dash wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes due to the wind. She saw the first turn coming quick. It was a very sharp 90 degree turn to the left. Rainbow Dash was going far too fast to turn in time, she had to slow down or slam into the wall of the first turn. She opened her wings up to slow down, and managed to slow down and prepare for the impact. She turned her body left and planted her hoofs onto the wall, pushing herself forward to regain her speed again, back into the course. Her tryouts could've ended fast, she knew she had to be more careful.

For the most part the course was incredibly easy. There were no obstacles or hills to climb. The only difficult part of the course, was that it had disgustingly sharp turns, which Rainbow Dash had a few close calls. She continued on, turning the sharp turns at the right time. She heard the voice from the beginning of the race.

10

WHAT!? There was 10 seconds left already!?

9

Rainbow Dash started to panic. She couldn't find the end of the course anywhere.

8

No! This can't be happening!

7

She started to flap her wings even harder

6

She was starting to lose control

5

Am I seriously going to lose to FlutterShy!?, Rainbow Dash thought to herself.

4

That's it! I have no choice!, Rainbow Dash thought to herself once more. She pushed her hoofs forward and prepared for a sonic rainboom.

3

Rainbow Dash felt the pressure of the sonic rainboom and launched forward at intense speed. She closed her eyes unaware of what might be in front of her.

2

Come on! Damn it! Move, Dash! Move!!, She thought to herself.

1

NO!!!

0

"TIME UP!" The voice echoed.

Rainbow Dash immediately fell onto the ground. The course started to shape shift back into the white room. Still.. The finish line was no where in sight.. Rainbow Dash wrapped her hoofs over her face. She started to sniffle, holding back her tears. How did she not make it?? What happened?? She heard the door behind her open with a click. She still lay there, with her hoofs over her face. She didn't want to hear it..

"Rainbow Dash...", She heard Mickey's voice behind her. She took in a deep breath, and wiped away a few tears before she got up and turned around. When she turned though she saw a pair of cheerful eyes. He was carrying a paper in his right hand, with the stamp that said, "Qualified" on it. "Congrats!", Mickey said.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the paper he was holding, and back to him. Back to the paper and back to him. She couldn't believe her eyes. Rainbow Dash jumped at Mickey and wrapped her hoofs around him. After a few seconds she let go and looked back at Mickey.

"But... How? I didn't complete the course.", She asked confused.

Mickey chuckled, "Oh, the whole point of the simulation was to see how far you could go within the time limit. No one's actually made it to the finish before.. Well... except one..." He put a hand on his chin, as if trying to remember something. "Oh, but that doesn't matter. The point is, you qualified! And you will be participating in the first race in 3 days!", Mickey said.

Rainbow Dash finally couldn't hold it.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!", Rainbow Dash said to herself before jumping in the air to cheer. "Awww yeah!!". She yelled in a triumphant victory. She did a few 360 spins, and a few tricks before finally calming down. Mickey laughed, he was happy to see her so excited. Rainbow Dash finally landed next to him and grabbed the paper off his hand and put it in her saddle that she left on the floor before the race.

"I'm so excited!!", Rainbow Dash said to herself. She stopped. She turned back to Mickey again. "Soo... What now..?", Rainbow Dash asked. Mickey put his hands in his pockets and motioned her to follow out of the white room. Rainbow Dash closed the door behind her to meet Mickey back at the room before she entered the race simulator. Mickey opened a filing cabinet at a corner of the room and pulled out something. Mickey put the small object on to the desk. Rainbow Dash looked at it confused.

"What is it?", She asked, studying the object on the desk before her. Mickey got another on out of the filing cabinet and placed it on the right side his face. It looked like glasses, except it only covered one eye, and it was colored green. Mickey pointed to the object on his face.

"This, is a race scouter.", He said. He pushed a button of the right side of the race scouter, small symbols and icons started flickering all over the glasses. "It allows you to see which position you are in, as well as your heart rate, who is nearby you, and who is currently in the top ten of the race at the moment. You can also personalize it to focus on one target during the race, and you can compare yourself as to how far ahead or behind them you are.", Mickey said. Rainbow Dash looked at him with shock.

"Really?? That's so cool! Let me try!", She said, grabbing the scouter off the desk next to her.  After a few frustrating adjustments, she managed to get it in a comfortable position. She pressed the button. It showed a screen, it was the same screen as the screen outside of the room, where it listed all the names of the qualifiers. "Hey.. What gives.. I think this one is broken..", Rainbow Dash said, pulling the scouter off her face.

"Nope! It's because you're currently not in a race.", Mickey said. Rainbow Dash realized her mistake and face-hoofed. "Don't worry, it's not at all broken. Whenever you are outside of a race it will display the names of those who are currently qualified to do the next race. Go ahead, put it back on and tell me how many are currently qualified for the next race.", Mickey said, pushing the button on his scouter. Rainbow Dash looked down at her scouter and adjusted it onto her face again. She pushed the button again and looked at the top left.

"It says.. 136,278.. Holy crap, that's a lot..", Rainbow Dash said pulling the scouter off her face and placing it into her saddle. Mickey nodded.

"Yup, your scouter is working fine alright! It's doing what it needs to do.", He said, continuing with his nod. He looked at Dash with a serious face this time. "I recommend you keep a hold of that, it's very, very, very, very helpful during races. Make sure you take good care of it, okay?", Mickey asked. Rainbow Dash gave an approving nod. She walked to leave out the door.

"So, is there anything else I need to know?", Rainbow Dash asked, eager to leave and brag to her friends. Mickey gave one last smile and shook his head.

"Nope! You're all set, Miss Dash!', He said.

Rainbow Dash smiled back, and turned to the door in front of her.

And after a huge sigh of relief, she opened it.

-END OF CHAPTER 4-