A Night To Remember

“Man it sure is cloudy today,” Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself as she dashed through the sky.  She was off to the park to practice for the annual running of the leaves as she would need all of the practice she could get this year to beat Applejack.  “That medal is mine this year!” she cheered herself on as she reared back and shot forward like a bullet, eager to get the training going; it was her fourth week of straight training and now it looked like there was no way even Applejack could beat her.

After a few more minutes of flying, she eventually pulled off her perfect landing on the terrace of the park.  She looked about the park and observed the path for ponies that might be caught in the crossfire.  Sure, Rainbow Dash was eager to show off her speed and skill as much as the next mare, but what good was your admirer if they were pancaked by your speeding body?  Luckily enough though, the park seemed to be deserted except for a few groups scattered here and there that were well clear of the path.  Rainbow took one more glance at the path, merely to scope it out this time, and then proceeded to her usual start spot, a wooden bench that was conveniently located just off the park’s dirt path in the grass.  Once there, Rainbow Dash did her usual warm up routine which consisted of ten wing flexes, five push-ups, and forty-five seconds of speed-varied running in place.  Now was the time, now she was ready to run, and most importantly, beat her previous record.

She crouched down in a starting position beside the bench and took a deep breath.  “Alright Rainbow, same as always: Start off slow and then race your heart out,” she whispered to herself and then took one more breath.  With that, she was off, starting out her run in a graceful canter.  Every good athlete knew the track as well as they knew themselves, and even though Rainbow Dash knew this park path like the feathers on her wings by now, it always paid to refresh her memory.  Running in this way, slow to fast, allowed her to conserve energy while she got the layout of the track in her mind.  Rainbow didn’t have much to do other than think to herself and make notes while she practiced, so she pondered on her current strategy for winning this year’s competition.  “What if I start off slow,” she thought to herself, “and save my real speed for the end?  That way, when the lead ponies are all tired out, all I’ve gotta do is squeeze out the last of my energy and show off my real speed… and then I can toast Applejack.” She smirked to herself at the thought of beating Applejack, but abruptly changed over to a bright smile as she passed the picnicking ponies and waved at them, only to receive smiles and waves in return.  “Just think Rainbow,” she said to herself quietly, “win this thing and you’ll have whole groups of ponies waving and smiling at you.”

“Now back to that idea,” she went back to thinking, “I guess it’s a good idea, but then again, all the ponies come to see speed and Rainbow Dash has never failed to deliver, but then again, hm…” she hummed aloud to herself, “Twilight did beat us last year by saving her energy up until the end.  Speaking of the ol’ egghead, I wonder if she’s going to run this year?”  She wondered until she reached the halfway point and then glanced at the clock hanging around her neck.  She frowned at the time as it seemed she was behind schedule.  Maybe this strategy wasn’t going to work.  True though, she had started off slower than usual this time, in a canter, instead of a gallop for she planned to use her conserved energy on her final lap to run as hard and as fast as she could to see if she could beat her time with what seconds, if any, remained on the final lap.  Still though, Rainbow Dash was the type that worried about things if it didn’t seem like it was going to work out, even though she rarely if ever showed this trait outwardly.

She exhaled and dropped the clock.  Even if she didn’t beat her time today, that was OK.  She would always have tomorrow and would be sure to enter this strategy into her sports journal as one that she wouldn’t need.  She was coming close on the three-quarters mark now, so even though she wasn’t making good time for her speed, and even though she was behind where she technically should be, she was making respectable time.  Now out of things to think about and look at, Rainbow Dash succumbed to her ability to become easily bored.  It didn’t help that none of her friends were here either; even Applejack would have been welcome company.  Rainbow Dash sighed to herself as she spotted the outline of the bench in the distance.  That’s what she hated most about boredom, the lonesomeness it often brought about.  She glanced over at a couple who were relaxing in the sun on top of a blanket, all snuggled up to each other.  For her friends for the public, Rainbow would have usually gagged and ushered everypony along on whatever adventure they were on, but while all by herself she could only look on longingly.  She wondered if she would ever have a special somepony one day?  Sometimes she even wondered if she was loveable.

Immersed in her thoughts, Rainbow Dash failed to notice herself straying from the path, placing herself back on course when she eventually noticed.  She shook those thoughts from her head and checked her clock as she passed the bench and instantaneously shifted into a gallop.  Perhaps she wasn’t making the bad time she thought she was.  She kept on down the path and saw that the family who had been picnicking were packing up and preparing to leave out.  A thought popped into her head and she wondered if she would ever have a family one day.  She shook her head quickly a few times.  Now wasn’t the appropriate time for all of these girly thoughts and hopes, now was the time to do some intense training.  But, in one of those moments that Rainbow Dash hated most, her brain overpowered her brawn and the thought found its way back into her head.  It was a more of a mental image this time though, a mental image of her walking along this same path in a beautiful white dress, with an unknown handsome stallion and two wonderful looking colts, “Oh, I knew I hit my head on the headboard harder than usual last night,” she cursed as she tried feebly to toss the thoughts out of her mind.  For one, she could never imagine herself wearing a dress, and for two, if any of this ever became a reality, she would flip out if she had two males, three counting whoever her special somepony was.

She glanced down at the clock and increased her speed just slightly as she saw the halfway point ahead, though careful to maintain a gallop.  “Oh, I’ve got to stop thinking about all of this,” Rainbow Dash said and smacked the side of her head a few times, “Gotta focus.”  Finally, it seemed that Rainbow Dash got what she wanted and was granted her peace and focus.  That is, until she got back around to the couple snuggled up each other.  Rainbow Dash watched as the stallion, a very cute and obviously gentle one, craned his head down and gently kissed his mare on the lips.  The two smiled at each other and the mare jumped the stallion and rolled atop him playfully so she could kiss him; they laughed simultaneously afterwards, only to silence that laughter with more kissing.  Rainbow Dash frowned and pulled her eyes away from the scene and then sped up into a near run to get past them.  “Just one more lap Rainbow, and you don’t have to see it.  Yeah, it’ll be just like getting a shot at the Doctor.  I… I won’t even have to see it I’ll be going so fast.”  It was like breath of fresh air to her as she finally reached the park bench.  She slowed herself to a near stop and braced herself for the run.  “Three, two, one,” she counted down and then shot off like a bullet, traveling so fast that the colored hues of her mane and tail remained where she had been.

She shot around the track faster than a bullet, some who were there that day might even say faster than light, but still as she approached the three-quarters mark in what seemed like mere seconds, the sight of those two young lovers still found its way to her eyes.  At this point, Rainbow Dash began to grow angry, very angry with herself.  It wasn’t her fault she had a special talent that nopony looked for or liked.  It wasn’t her fault that all the stallions liked the pretty mares like Rarity or the cute, quiet ones like Fluttershy and not the fast-paced and somewhat intimidating ones like her.  Tears began to well in her eyes and she grit her teeth as she began to travel so fast that she eventually lifted herself up off the ground and continued to circle around the track faster than she had ever gone before, though she would never notice, too caught up in her rage.  This had happened before, a sense of hopelessness turned to inward anger, but it had never been this bad before.  Eventually, Rainbow Dash’s anger grew so intense that she no longer had any sense of where she was traveling.  That overwhelming anger and lost sense of direction paired with her speed, near sonic now, made for a dangerous combination both for her and for the pony that she was about to crash into.

Caught up in this unstable mix of emotion and speed, Rainbow Dash failed to notice the curious Twilight Sparkle wander into her hover path.  Twilight could have never known that she would be in danger, for Rainbow Dash seemed to be extending out in every which way she was going so fast.  The lighting effects could be seen from the other end of the park, and knowing that it was her dear friend Rainbow Dash, Twilight knew that she just had to investigate.  In what seemed like an instant, before Twilight could even put her hoof down to take her final step, Rainbow Dash came shooting around and plowed right into her at breakneck speeds.  The two of them went flying and rolling throughout the park terrace a few good times before coming to a standstill in the soft grass.

The collision all but stole the culprit thoughts from Rainbow’s mind and simmered her anger down in an instant.  All she was concerned about now was what her time was and apologizing to whatever or whoever she crashed into.  She sat up and dusted herself off while she flexed her wings and stretched her legs out since the collision temporarily knocked most of the feeling out of her body.  She looked over in front of her and instantly shot over to the pony’s assistance when she saw who she hit.  “Oh my gosh Twilight, I’m so sorry!” she apologized as she helped Twilight sit up and then helped dust her off.  “Are you OK?” she asked and began to check Twilight over.

Twilight Sparkle but on a brave face and smiled as brightly as she could, attempting to mask the fact that it had been a pretty painful collision for her.  “Yeah,” she said with a dazed tone, “I’m fine Rainbow Dash.  What er…” she tried to stand up, “What er…” she repeated as Rainbow Dash helped her up, “What was all that?”  She almost fell over, but Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed her and righted her.  Twilight was dizzy and was actually seeing double of the blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash blushed and looked down at the ground as she hovered in midair.  She put her forelegs behind her back in a shameful kind of way as she wondered if she should tell the whole story to Twilight or not, love troubles and all.  “I… I was practicing for the Running of the Leaves.”

“Oh,” Twilight groaned as she rubbed her head, “Rainbow?  Isn’t that an actual running marathon?  As in, you don’t use your wings?”

Rainbow Dash blushed just a little more and eventually landed on the ground next to Twilight.  “Hehe,” she let out an embarrassed chuckle, “Yeah, something like that.”  She waited a few moments and checked Twilight over just one more time.  “I really am sorry Twilight.  I just… I don’t know what came over me.  It’s like, one moment I was running and practicing, and the next I was hovering up off the ground going around and around.”

“Hm,” Twilight cocked an eyebrow, curious as ever to solve the mystery.  She shook her head once more.  Where were her manners?  “It’s OK Rainbow Dash, I understand.  I’m fine anyway.  Let me collect my scrolls here and we can talk.”  She used her magic to collect several of the scrolls that had been thrown out of her saddlebags and scattered around.  Rainbow Dash helped also, gathering a few in her hooves and carrying them over to Twilight.

“What is all of this stuff?” Rainbow Dash asked as she dropped the scrolls one by one into Twilight’s saddlebags.

“Mainly just notes, but a few commentaries and this book,” she waved the book in front of Rainbow Dash, too quick for her to read the title, and then dropped it back into her saddlebag.

Feeling that they got off to a bad enough start, Rainbow Dash asked, “So what brings you here to the park?”

Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash as she finished buckling her saddlebags and replied, “I wanted to get out and get some sun.  It is one of the final days of warmth before the Fall,” she pointed out.

“So why do you have all of these scrolls and stuff?” Rainbow Dash asked as she walked over and helped Twilight buckle the left side of the bag.

“Thanks Rainbow,” Twilight said as she stood still for Rainbow Dash to work the buckle, “I wanted something to read while I came here.  I figured that since I was going to be out in nature that it wouldn’t hurt to bring along some notes on an experiment that I’ve been working on.”

Rainbow Dash buckled Twilight’s bag good and then backed a few paces away from her.  “What experiment is that?” she asked, more out of consideration than genuine curiosity.

Twilight beamed brightly at Rainbow Dash.  “It’s an experiment to test the growth patterns of common graminoid… or, er… grass.” She blushed and smiled cutely, silently apologizing for getting carried away with herself once more.

Rainbow Dash cocked and eyebrow.  “So you basically came to the park to watch the grass grow?”

Twilight beamed even brighter, “Yep!” she replied enthusiastically.  “You wanna see some of the notes I’ve taken?  They’re very interesting, very interesting indeed.”  She used her magic and began to fiddle around with the buckles.

Rainbow chuckled nervously a few times and dashed forward to place her hooves over the buckles on the bag.  “That’s OK Twilight,” she tried to turn down the unicorn’s offer politely, “that’s OK.  Er… thanks for the offer though.”

“Anytime Rainbow Dash,” Twilight smiled at her.  Rainbow Dash heaved a sigh of relief; it would seem that she had averted yet another lecture from Twilight.  “Anyway,” Twilight spoke up, “enough about me.  What were you doing up here?”

“Like I told you, I was up here practicing for the running of the leaves.  I’ve got to train hard if I want to take the medal from Applejack,” she said proudly.  She was about to reveal the strategy she was using until she remembered that Twilight may or may not be running this year, so just to be on the safe side, she kept it to herself.

“Oh,” Twilight cocked her head, “then why were you flying around?”

Rainbow Dash’s blush returned and it didn’t help that there were still a few ponies standing around, shooting quick glances in their direction, who had been witnesses to the crash.  “Come on,” she said under her breath as she grabbed Twilight with her hoof and walked her over to a tree so that they could have a little more privacy.  “That’s… not important,” she dodged, “How did I do?  Did you see?”

“I sure did.  You could see the lights clear across the park.  It looked kind of like you pulling of sonic rainboom after sonic rainboom.  When I came up over that hill,” she pointed over to a rather tall hill in the distance, “I looked down and I saw your colors flying around and around the path.  Rainbow, I’ve never seen you go that fast!  It was amazing!  You’re just lucky you didn’t slam into anypony else though.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rainbow Dash said, concerned more about how her time had been.  At that point she remembered that she had her clock with her and that she had never stopped it.  She picked it up off her chest and stopped it and then brought it up to her face to check the time.  “Great,” she thought silently, “I hate math.”  She ran the calculations through her head and tried to figure out the time that she had originally, minus her collision and current conversation up to this point with Twilight.  She blinked in amazement several times once she finished her calculations.  Either she did her math wrong or she had just created a new record that would be unbeatable, no matter how hard she tried.  “Hey Twilight,” she asked her smart friend, “you’re good with numbers right?”

Twilight nodded her head and smiled.  “You know it.  What do you need me to do?”

“Check this time out and minus the time that I flew into you and up to the point of where I stopped it.  What do you get?”

Twilight used her magic to lift the clock up so that she could get a good look at the time.  “Let’s see here,” she mumbled, mainly to herself as she did the math in her head, “that would be four minutes and five seconds.”  The same number that Rainbow Dash came up with; so she really had created an unbreakable record! That meant that she had run three laps around a track that was nearly one mile long in four minutes!

“That’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in excitement.  Time like this meant that that medal was hers this year!  “You saw me, I did three laps right?” she asked Twilight, apparently forgetting that Twilight hadn’t been there to notice her first two laps.

“Th- three?” Twilight laughed a few times, “didn’t you have any sense about you?  Rainbow Dash, you must have gone five or six times around the track by the time I got up here.  Maybe more if that’s what all of the flashing light was indicating.

Rainbow’s eyes got real wide.  She couldn’t believe it.  Now had been one of those rare times in which she had created a new record that she herself couldn’t even beat, now that was special.  “I can’t believe it,” she beamed with pride, “I beat my record.  Hey, I wasn’t completely flying was I, just gliding a little off the ground with my wings out but my legs still running, right?”

“Looked like it,” Twilight replied.

“So that means that I didn’t actually fly,” Rainbow Dash deduced.  “How did I do that?” she mumbled to herself.  A strategy like the one she just used could be invaluable to her during the running.

“I’m happy for you Rainbow Dash,” Twilight smiled and turned slightly, “I hope that you win this year. Say, like I said, I’ve never seen you run so fast?  How did you do that?”

Rainbow Dash thought a moment.  She just remembered doing her laps, thinking about a few random, silly things, and then it was all a blur after that.  “I don’t know,” she said quietly and looked down at the ground with an expression of hard determination on her face.  Then, suddenly, she remembered it.  It was those two young lovers just off the path.  It was the happiness that they shared and the jealousy in her heart that had caused it.  She frowned and looked away from Twilight.  “I guess… I guess I gotta get going Twilight.  I think I wanna go home and just take a bath and lay down.  Again, I’m sorry I ran into you.”  She smiled weakly at Twilight and took a few steps away from her.  “Yeah, she thought to herself, go home and take a bath alone, and then lay down… alone.”  She sighed and walked on.

Twilight was surprised at this behavior.  It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash to be this down and out, and it definitely wasn’t like her to just “go home and take a bath and lay down.”  Rainbow was known to stay out until the sun went down every night.  Often times, she wouldn’t return home until it was too dark to fly.  Maybe she was just worn out from her exercise, more so since she seemed to have done something which caused an insane increase in speed and probably stamina.  Then again, maybe she hit her head or something really hard during the collision and was trying to put on a brave face until she got away.  Whatever the cause, Rainbow Dash was her friend and it was Twilight’s obligation to find out what was wrong with her.  “Hey Rainbow!” Twilight called out, “Wait up!”

Rainbow Dash looked back at Twilight as she came trotting up to her side.  “What’s up?” she asked and cocked her head and her friend.  They started to walk together.

“I’ll come right out with it Rainbow,” Twilight began, “You don’t seem like yourself.  Is something the matter?  Are you hurt?  You can tell me if you are.  I won’t tell anypony, and I know a few spells that can ease the pain,” she finished and then gave a friendly smile to Rainbow Dash.

“It… It’s nothing Twilight,” Rainbow Dash persisted as she looked away from her friend.  “I’m fine,” she continued, “I’m not hurt.  See?”  She flexed her wings a few times, popped her neck once or twice, and then jumped up and down in place a few times.

“OK, OK, I get it,” Twilight said, “So what’s the matter?”  She was quiet for a time as she waited for Rainbow Dash to respond.  “I’m a good listener, you know?”

“I swear Twilight, it’s nothing,” Rainbow Dash persisted.

Twilight cocked an eye; time to get aggressive.  “Alright then, fine by me,” she began with a challenging tone, “I’ll just use my magic to read your mind.”  Of course, she was only bluffing.  No spell existed that would allow a unicorn to read another pony’s mind, but what Rainbow didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

“You wouldn’t,” Rainbow Dash said with a defiant though nervous tone.  She began to sweat.

“Wanna bet?” Twilight asked with a cocky tone as she added the icing on the cake by casting a simple light spell which caused her horn to dramatically light up as if she was preparing to cast a spell. Rainbow Dash opened her wings, obviously going to try for an escape.  “Don’t even think about it!” Twilight warned, “I know whose mind I want to read, so it won’t matter if you’re here or a thousand miles away.”  The bluff got to Rainbow Dash and she closed her wings.

“Come on now Twilight, don’t.”  Rainbow Dash circled around Twilight as if she was having a dangerous weapon pointed at her.

“Alright,” Twilight replied, “I won’t. Not unless you tell me what’s wrong.”

“Why can’t you just leave it alone?” Rainbow Dash asked, still circling.  She wanted to get mad at Twilight, but she just couldn’t.  After all, it was apparent that Twilight only wanted to help.

“Alright, have it your way,” Twilight said and then cast the light spell once more.

“Alright, alright, alright,” Rainbow Dash said with a quick tone, “Fine.  If you really want to know what’s wrong, I’ll tell you.  Just… don’t read my mind or anything, and also, I don’t want to tell you here, so let’s go to the library.”

“I knew you’d come around,” Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash and acted as if nothing had happened, “Let’s go.  I’ll give you something to eat and drink when we get back to library.  I had to skip breakfast this morning myself,” she chuckled and they continued to walk on.

Right before they got to the big gates of the park though, Rainbow Dash stopped.  “Wait,” she said, “What about Spike?”

“What about him?” Twilight stopped and turned towards Rainbow Dash.

“Is he there, at the library I mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Nope,” came the reply, “he went off with Rarity somewhere earlier this morning.  Off to help her collect gems I think.  Why?  Furthermore, why can’t you just tell me now or on the way there?”

“Because, well… I just want us to be somewhere private when I tell you.  I don’t want anypony to hear,” Rainbow Dash replied with an embarrassed tone.

“Oh…” Twilight began, “I guess I understand.  We can do that Rainbow Dash.  Now come on, let’s go.”  Rainbow Dash nodded and then walked ahead with her.  As they walked out of the park and through town towards the library, Twilight Sparkle’s curiosity couldn’t help but grow.  She wondered what could be troubling her dear friend?  Why the pegasus acting so out of character?  She wondered silently to herself as they walked, pondering whether or not it had something to do with the upcoming competition or perhaps some feud between her and Applejack.  Maybe all of this would lead to a very interesting letter to Princess Celestia?