The Universal Race

The next two days flew by uneventfully. Rainbow Dash hung out with her friends as they walked around, viewing everything they have not viewed yet. They even encountered Princess Celestia a few times. It was weird seeing Celestia walking about, taking in her new surroundings. Celestia felt like she was in a whole other world. The girls talked to Celestia a few times, referring her as Princess as usual. Celestia told them that she didn't need to be called, "Princess" at the moment, since her title didn't quite matter now, since she didn't technically rule anything here. She just wanted to be called Celestia, and be treated more of a friend, rather than a ruler. The girls laughed as they walked around and talked with Celestia.

Two days had passed, and it was time for the first race. Rainbow Dash got up from her bed and prepared for the day. She looked around and saw Buttercup nowhere. She shrugged it off, she must have gotten up to get to the race early. Rainbow Dash got her belongings and went out the door. She scarfed down her breakfast, barely looking up to her friends to talk. The second she finished her breakfast she immediately flew off to where the race was going to start. She knew where to go, since she had the papers of qualification that said where it was going to take place. Plus she had to turn the papers in, in order to actually partake in the race.

Rainbow Dash flew through the halls quickly. She came to a halt at a desk that had a portal right next to it. Rainbow Dash turned to her saddle and grabbed the qualification papers with her teeth, she placed it onto the desk with a smile on her face. The same annoyed squid from earlier gave her a look of boredom and finally sighed out.

"You're in portal room #45. You know what to do.. right?.. Just step into the portal and think of the number 45 and you'll be in that room. No other room number will work, you will just stand there if you don't think of the right number.. Got it?..", Squidward said, looking of into the distance with a bored gaze, not even looking down at Rainbow Dash.

"Got it!", Rainbow Dash said with a smile. She stepped into the portal and thought of her number. The scene in front of her immediately changed. Rainbow Dash was in a small square room with about 40 other people. Rainbow Dash looked around confused, she thought there would be more people there. Many people in the room were chatting with each other. Rainbow Dash didn't recognize anyone in the room. She started to feel awkward with nobody or nopony to talk to.

"Such a glorious day to race! Is it not Raven?", Someone said right next to Rainbow Dash. She had a purple outfit and red hair. Her eyes glowed green with excitement. She was floating in place with her hands held together, she had a look of excitement. The other figure next to her also floated in place. She was wearing a black outfit with blue robes. The hood covered her eyes. She seemed less interested than the girl next to her.

"Yeah.. Woo..", Raven said with much less enthusiasm than the girl next to her. She waved a flag hat had the letter, "T" on it, with little to no enthusiasm. Raven turned to the girl next to her. "Starfire, didn't you say your room mate was participating too?.."

Starfire turned to her with a look of confusion and then finally remembered. "Ah, yes! Fluttershy said she will be participating in the competition that we are competing in. I heard from other beings that she's actually pretty fast.", Starfire said to Raven. Rainbow Dash started to chuckle, she was holding in her laughter after what she just heard. She couldn't hold it.

"Bahahaha! Fluttershy? Fast? Yeah right!", Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to the girls. "That's a good one.", Rainbow Dash said wiping away a tear with her hoof. Raven looked at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked back and jumped back a little. She had an extremely intimidating aura about her.

"And.. You're supposed to be?..", Raven asked. Rainbow Dash fixed her composure and stood with confidence.

"Rainbow Dash! Fastest flier in all of Equestria!", Rainbow Dash said with her usual confidence. Raven just moaned, not at all amused. Starfire got on her knees and up to Rainbow Dash's face, uncomfortably close to her face.

"Equestria, I've heard of it. Is it perhaps nearby my home planet, Tamaran?", Starfire asked with a huge smile. Rainbow Dash took a step back.

"Uhhm... I-", She stopped when she heard the only door in the room open. The room became silent as the figure walked in. A red figure walked in. He was wearing a drill instructor outfit and hat, the pants seemed to ride up his backside. He walked in with a smile.

"Oh, why hello YOU FILTHY MAGGOTS.", His voice suddenly changed in the middle of his sentence. "I am Major Wedgie, and I will be-", He started, he then heard a few snickers within the crowd. He shot his head to where the snickering took place. He saw a boy in a an orange and black outfit, with yellow hair and a headband. The boy was holding his mouth to contain his laughter. The red figure walked up to him.

"And who might you be..?", He asked in a soft tone. The boy looked up, still trying to hold in his laughter.

"Narut-", He started saying.

"YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT?? Now why don't you get down and do some push ups for me.", He said, he turned around as the boy started doing pushups. The boy got back up after doing 5 fast pushups. The red figure turned back around after starting to walk away. "What the unholy fuck?!", The red figure said.

"You said to do 'some' push ups." The boy replied with a goofy smile.

The red figure started gritting his teeth. "You.. smug little shit..", He started saying, He got up into the boys face, "YOU ARE GOING TO STAY DOWN THERE AND PUSH UNTIL YOUR FEEBLE LITTLE ARMS SHOVES THIS SHIP OFF ITS AXIS AND SEND US SPIRALING TO THE FUCKING SUN, KILLING US ALL. NOW GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN OR I'LL HAVE YOU REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION", The red figure said in a loud yell. The boy moaned and got down to doing push ups. The red figure groaned to himself putting a hand to his face. "I swear this group is going to be worse than a bathtub full of abortions..", He grumbled. He walked up to the front of the room.

"Now listen up!", The red figure started. He went over the rules of the race, most of which Rainbow Dash had already heard. No leaving vehicles if using any, no injecting speed enhancers, powering up is allowed, you can not attack other racers, etc. Rainbow Dash tuned him out, she was too excited about the race. She was thinking about how many will be there, and how long it will be. Rainbow Dash snapped back to reality when she heard the Red figure speak up again.

"NOW THEN. Any questions?", The red figure said. A small hand waved out from the crowd, she was jumping up and down to get his attention. She had a blue shirt and blond ponytails. The red figure finally saw it after scanning the crowd. He walked up to find where the small hand came from. He looked down.

"Ohohoo aww.. Yes dear?", He asked as he got on his knees. The little girl spoke up.

"So, how many spots are there for qualifications to the next race?", She asked in a small cute voice. The red figure got up and placed his hands on his cheeks.

"Oh, you are just adorable!", He said. He finally stood up and answered. "10,000 will qualify for the next race." He brought out a clipboard, seemingly out of nowhere. "Let's see now...", He put some glasses on as he looked on his clipboard. "There are 195,675 competing.. So the chances of you qualifying are.... about.. Zero to none!", He said leaning into the small girls face, before he turned away to laugh. The little girl didn't seem to mind, she still put on a smile to her face. He turned back around wiped away a tear from his face from laughing. "Anyways.. Step through this door and into the portal to the gates of the race. Simply walk, or fly through the gate. It will let you through if you're qualified. If not, THEN GET THE HECK OUT, WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!", He suddenly yelled. He fixed his composure as the crowd all looked at him with confusion. "Once inside, you will have ten minutes to prepare, make sure you find a good spot in front. Otherwise you could be stuck in the back for the whole race.", The red figure said. "Bye bye now.", He finished as he stepped through the portal behind the door.

One by one, everyone in the room stepped into the portal.

Pinkie Pie was hopping around her friends as they walked up to the spectator arena. They were going to watch Rainbow Dash at the race, each of them needed a ticket to watch their friend compete. Fortunately for them, they got tickets earlier, they just had to present their tickets to the gate keeper to go in. They all got to the gate entrance after waiting in line for over half an hour. Twilight put her hoofs on the gate keepers window.

"Hello?", She asked. She put her head inside, to look around and see if anyone was there. A voice yelled behind them.

"What do you think you're doing!?", The voice yelled. The four ponies turned around and saw red figure wearing an officers outfit. He had a cup in his hand and was drinking out of it. He stopped drinking and and walked inside the small room outside the gate. He slammed his cup on the table and stuck his head outside the window. "Yes?", He asked. Twilight stood back a little and regained her composure.

"Yes.. Well, we're just here to watch the race. Mr.. uh..", Twilight asked trying to find the name tag.

"Officer Pantsoffski", he said. "Now.. Tickets?", He asked. Twilight put the tickets on the windowsill where the red figure was it. He snatched them and opened the gate for the ponies. They walked in and saw the spectacle before them.

"Ah, ain't seen anythin' like it...", Applejack said. They walked in and looked at the Colosseum before them. The stands stretched out for miles, as they saw the many figures sitting eagerly for the race to start. In the middle of the Colosseum was the race track starting area. It was an indoor course, so none of the racers could leave the track and somehow interact with anyone in the audience, and vice versa with the audience. They could still see inside the race course, since the barrier seemed to be see through. The four ponies looked at the end of the Colosseum and saw a screen that was recording a door, probably where the racers will come out. On left hand side of the screen were some numbers. It went from top to bottom, listing the numbers 1 through 10 with an empty circle and a line next to it.

"Ah'm assumin' that'll display who's in the top ten, as well as what they look like.", Applejack pondered as she looked at the screen. The four ponies found a seat in the huge crowded audience, and sat down. Pinkie Pie pulled some snacks out of her hair, the girls looked at her, with confusion. They had no clue Pinkie was hiding any food in her mane.

"What?", Pinkie asked mouthful of candy as she looked back at the girls. The girls shook their head and laughed with each other. Typical, random Pinkie Pie. Suddenly the crowd cheered. The girls looked at the screen and saw thousand of different figures walk out of the door and to the entrance of the race.

"Oooo! Oooo! Look! There's Fluttershy!", Pinkie said pointing at the screen.

"Yeah.. and Spitfire, Soarin, and.. Wait..", Twilight said, she squinted at the screen to clarify if what she was seeing was correct. "Is that.. Princess Celestia??", Twilight said with amazement. Her jaw dropped, as well as the other ponies. Pinkie snapped out of it first when she saw Rainbow Dash enter on screen.

"There's Rainbow Dash!", She pointed a hoof, as remains of chewed candy flew out her mouth. The four ponies cheered as Rainbow Dash entered

The door slowly opened as a bright light entered. Rainbow Dash put a hoof up to block some of the light. She walked with the massive crowd out to the starting line. The starting line was huge, it stretched out wide. It was as wide as a few football fields. She looked around and saw everyone stretching, drinking water, etc. She then caught her to Celestia. Celestia was talking to another figure, the figure was a pink whippet dog. She was wearing a purple necklace with a red heart on it, and was wearing pinkish-red ribbon on her pink hair. Rainbow Dash trotted up to Celestia.

"That's a fascinating story!", The pink dog said with a smile. "This Nightmare Moon, she reminds me a lot of my cousin.. She-", She ccontinued, before Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"Hey Celestia! You ready for the race??", Rainbow Dash asked with excitement. Celestia had a serious face when she was telling her new pink friend about her sister's troubling past, she looked down at Rainbow Dash as a smile formed on her face.

"Rainbow Dash.", Celestia said in a soft voice. "I was just telling my room mate here, Annabelle, about how you and the other elements of harmony defeated Nightmare Moon.", Celestia said. Rainbow Dash grinned

"Yeah, she was a piece of cake.", Rainbow Dash said confidently. Suddenly a voice boomed out from the ceiling.

"1 MINUTE REMAINING, PLEASE GET IN YOUR PLACES", the voice boomed out.

Rainbow Dash got in position, ready to launch out like a rocket. She looked around her, as many other figures stood in position, others got into their vehicles, while some others started to flap their wings. Rainbow Dash wanted to start from the ground and launch up, with a push. The voice boomed out again.

"ON YOUR MARKS"

"GET SET"

"GO!!"

-END OF CHAPTER 6-