The Path of a Champion

by ChaotixSpark

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Romance, Adventure
Length: 7367

Fire Fallen is a white pegasus with a knack for never caring about limitation. To be announced as the Fastest Flier in Equestria is no small feat and every winged creature wants in. Fire knows it's going to be a tough path, but he can't do

Fire Fallen has a knack for chasing after the impossible. And to be titled the Fastest Flier in Equestria has just became number one priority on his to do list.

But there is more to races than just checkered flags and fast wings. It takes Training, Style, Connections, Fashion, and oddly enough, some Friends. But Fire isn't too sure of any of that when his buddy from forever ago, Cinnamon Whiff, tells him that he needs more friends to help him become the best.

But when his path becomes filled with obstacles like bad puns, a questionably handsome rivals, and a really tasty apple pie, maybe a few friends wouldn't be so bad?

(Teen: The story contains themes of Colt Cuddling)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-25 14:46:58 UTC

0 - True Story

It was something of true magic. Really. The process of creating clouds with nothing but your hoof was quite spectacular. It was peculiar why Earth Ponies and Unicorns couldn't truly grasp a cloud without it dissolving in front of them. Perhaps they were clumsy with their hooves? They truly didn't know how to use their hooves with finesse?

Fire Fallen, fastest Pegasus in Equestria (to himself really), didn't envy them one bit. "Get set!" Oh right. He was in about to begin a 1600 meter sprint to the planet below.

He smirked, narrowing his eyes to the ground below where hundreds of ponies stood, cheering on the four crazies about to land face first into their coffin. Fire didn't even know why he was up here. Race? Sounds fun. A sprint? Ah, his specialty. A free fall sprint of chicken into the hard, unforgiving for-an-inch-of-mistake ground? Ok, that sounds a little stupid to take on. But his best friend since Flight Academy, Cinnamon Whiff, who also entered the race told him that he needed popularity and first place in this race was going to give him just that. Man, the starter was taking an awfully long time to say 'Go!'.

Fire looked at his fellow racers and sighed. The three of them, including Cinnamond, all stood trembling on their respective cloud. He took a look at the starter, a unicorn with a pop gun held in the air with magic. He looked unsure of the race himself. It was dangerous and letting four young ponies duke it out where anything could go wrong and any pony could make a mistake and end their flying career as well as their life this very race.

"Rest." The unicorn said, lowering his pop gun, the string behind the contraption no longer taught. Ugh. He had to get up, early mind you, in the freezing cold before the sun truly graced the land with its light. Had to wait for stupid pegasi in this region to get their apples together and clear the mischeduled rain, and then, had to wait two hours for the rest of the racers to get their cow behinds in gear.

"Hey! Unidork! Toss over that gun!" Fire called over with a snide remark. The unicorn, annoyed already that he had to go tell his employer  that he couldn't send the racers to their death and was probably going to get fired for this, tossed over the noise maker shouting back an even snider remark.

"I don't know about you ponies, but I got up this morning to race." Fire put his black, mischievous hooves to use, catching the pop gun and pulling the string taught. The unicorn's eyes widened. "So, three-two-one!" He quickly screamed the wonderful three numbers that all pegasi loved to hear before a race, and popped the gun.

Pop!

Fire threw the pop gun behind him and dived through the cloud and aimed for the 'soft' target below. He tested the target before. That thing could not catch something dropped from eye level to the floor without it breaking. So he did need to be careful. But it wasn't like anypony was following him anyways for him to worry about second place...

In an instant, he ate his words and some dust as a crimson colored pony with a short chocolate colored mane whizzed past him. Fire grinned, some competition was always nice. He recognized her as one of his class mates. Cinnamon Whiff.

"Not this time Whiff!" Fire screamed after his friend, shooting after her. He was hot on her tail, something Whiff was not too pleased with.  Fire threw his hooves behind him, trying to increase his momentum and velocity.

Fire moved to the side of Whiff, noticing that he was slightly gaining. They were half way to the ground, and it was slowly getting bigger, and bigger. It was an odd feeling from Fire's stand point. It felt as if the earth was drawing the two pegasi in, as if the earth was a single entity about to devour two small beings for lunch.

Cinnamon did a front flip and threw her hooves down, slowing her descent with her wings. Fire grinned. He won. But a little bit further wouldn't hurt. His descent continue to increase in speed and from another pony's perspective, he didn't like he had any intention of stopping.

Fire felt a burning sensation around his entire body. It didn't feel too hot and it didn't feel bad or painful in any way. It was like he was, for once, in full control of his life. Nothing to root him down, nothing to stop what was about to happen. He felt as if he was a true unstoppable force.

Now any pegasus professor would tell you that about a quarter mile from the ground, you need to slam on the brakes and you might be okay, the worst being that you break all your legs and cripple yourself for the rest of your life. All pegasus professors would not advise you to increase speed and ram the earth with your head.

Good thing Fire wasn't a pegasus professor.

No pony could have predicted what happened next.  A literal earth shattering boom exploded the soundscape, a bright mixture of orange and white light emerged across the spectrum of light, and the one known as Fire Fallen disappeared into the earth. The hundred of ponies panicked and ran from the point of impact. It felt as if chaos was raining around them as chunks of the earth fell with loud crashes.

The dust cleared and it seemed no pony was hurt. But the red and white target that took up the field was gone, replaced with a giant crater the size of a typical pony abode. Cinnamon was the first to rush to the scene, tears in her eyes and her mind filled with worry. "Fallen! Fallen you there?!" But no response was given. Cinnamon quickly rushed into the hole and flew to the middle.

Fire Fallen was there alright. His wings unfurled, covering his entire body. Cinnamon drew closer to Fire, and could see him smiling, and with a quick motion, Fire stood up stretching his back as well as giving his wings a good flap. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" Fire turned around with a face of jubilation and turned to give Cinnamon a high hoof.

Cinnamon was flabbergasted. She had no idea what to do first. Choke or hug Fire? She went with the first option.

After a small scuffle of hooves and insults that rooted from worry, she stopped and saw something sparkle on Fire's behind. She pushed herself away from the white pegasus and saw the promised mark that filly and foal dreamed of getting. "Fire..." She whispered.

He dusted himself off with his wings and also looked upon his newly appeared mark. "Oh. Well look at that, it's a... star?"

"With wings to boot." Cinnamon added, motioning her hoof to the extended feathery wing from the right side of the star, towards Fire's head.

"I guess I am kind of a super star huh?" Fire smirked at Cinnamon while making macho poses. Cinnamon giggled and then frowned, punching him in the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?" Fire flinched, rubbing his shoulder with a hoof.

"That's what you get for making me worry!" Cinnamon growled. "I mean, what were you thinking?! Diving straight into the earth. That's mad! That's crazy, it's..."

"Exactly my style." Fire said with full confidence, not missing a beat. Cinnamon sighed. He had a point there.

"FIRE J FALLEN!!!" A high pitched feminine voice cracked the friendship forever atmosphere.

Cinnamon's eyes shot straight to the panicked looking Pegasus. "You didn't tell your mother?"

"Yeah. Because YOUR mother would let you dive head first at the earth at blinding..."

"GET YOUR FLANK OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!!!" Oh boy. She was really fumed. He was probably going to be grounded forever. If he was lucky.

Rainbow Races and Cute Faces

It was morning. And Fire Fallen knew that for several reasons. One, his black mane with streaks of red was disheveled; two, his clock's hour hand slowly pushed towards the nine mark on his alarm clock; three, the sun was barely peaking out over his window sill as if Celestia had the same issue that of, 'Don't wake me up' syndrome that he had.

Either way, today was no day to sleep in. Because today was the end of forever. Three years. Three very long years of working, school, coming home, and then sleep. The simple monotony of absolutely nothing. A void of depressing nothingness that slowly became more nothingness. Being grounded for a whooping three years and looking at the same cloud ceiling fan and inspecting every single intricate detail of his room to make the weeks go by.

If he was ever banished to the moon for one thousand years, he was pretty sure insanity would take hold after year five.

But all that was about to change. Today was saturday, a full three years of boredom and misery and bored misery has taken place, all leading up to the climax of his life. He leaped from his bed, tying the blanket to his neck as he wooshed downstairs. And what do you know? His parents were waiting with a cake. It was a simple cake of red velvet mix and vanilla frosting. Eighteen candles stuck out from the mound of sugar.

Everything was perfect.

Fire leaped in to give his parents a well deserved hug. Sure they were still mad about the incident three years ago, sure they might have been a little harsh. But they were certainly more fair than most parents. The three years weren't as bad Fire made out to be, they still went on vacations and Fire still got to hang out with his friends at important school functions.

To punish Fire any further than they agreed to would be unjust, and in all honesty, they entire stunt did get him his cutie mark and there was not a scratch on him as they rushed him to the Pegasus Emergency Room for inspection.

Their son was safe, and really the main reason for the punishment was for the illegal happenings of 'lying about his age' that happened so he could register for the crazy stupid event.

There was a rapt knock on the door. Fire untied his blanket cape and trotted over, making sure his mane was nice and neat. It was probably Cinnamon, here to have some awesome cake like they always do on his B-Day. They already planned ahead, they were going to the Cloudsdale Spa, going to go watch a movie, and have a night on the town, celebrating his special 18th. The day was theirs and they could do whatever they wanted.

He opened the door and saw a very, very depressed looking Cinnamon Whiff, her different colored contact lenses were shaking loose from the tears. Fire, immediately swooped to her in concern, but she backed away immediately. It was very unlike Cinnamon to cry about anything, so this must be bad.

"What happened Whiffy?" Fire asked, trying to call her a nick name in a soothing voice to calm her down.

"It is just awful!"

"What? Did you and Pickle break up?" Whiff shook her head. "Did the Wonderbolts Academy deny your application?" Whiff shook her head, tears subsiding, but she was still shaking.

"Closer," She whispered, repeating in a soft mantra of a mad mare that has gone crazy.

Fire trotted closer, leery of her friend. It was a moment too late when he saw her frown turn into a wide grin. "NOW!" Whiff yelled at something right above Fire's head.

His eyes shot up as he saw a dark cloud, filled up with water that has been sitting in Whiff's freezer for months. Of course, he didn't know that. So when a lime green stallion and a yellow sparkly mare bucked the cloud and totally drenched him from mane to hoof, the shock of cold water literally froze him in place as he withstood the entirety of the flood.

The three ponies hoof bumped and began to laugh their flanks off at the sight of a dripping wet Fire. "Thanks Star, Pickle, and Whiff. A cloud full of freezing rain is exactly what I wanted for my birthday."  But couldn't help but grin happily at the two ponies.

"Oh my stars and gardens. Swift, deary! Get some towels!" Fire heard his mom cry out in panic. This caused more laughs to erupt from Fire and his friends.

After a quick dry session and some delicious cake, it was officially present time. Two boxes and one envelope. Pickle got him a scarf stitched with a really big meteor. This deserved a nice ole punch in the face, Pickle and his fat jokes were always to abstract that only Fire, the target of the joke got the punch line. Star got him a wonderful bag of nick nacks and trinkets. She was an inventor and Fire actually kept a few for daily use. Some were one time things like that mini lightning bolt fireworks show that would have started an actual fire if their house wasn't made of clouds. Others were just silly, like the time when Star gave Fire a pair of glasses that gave everyone in the room a mustache. But one pair of special Star glasses actually helped keep his eyes clear of fog and rain whenever he would go on storm clearing patrol, and that was amazingly useful.  So having an inventor was more than just shannenigans and hoot a nannies.

Lastly was Cinnamon who had a wax sealed envelope of that smelled just like her namesake. "Oh boy. I can't wait for another picture of my face glued onto a hippopotamus."

"Oh just ruin all the fun why don't ya."

Fire stuck his tongue out at Whiff and opened the envelope.

No way.

He began to fly into the air, doing loops and corkscrews.

No way. No way. No way.

These were sold out the moment the news hit the streets. The Pegasus Races featuring the newbie that was showing the Wonderbolts how to be the underdog of underdogs, Rainbow Dash! No way. No way.

No way.

"NO WAY!!!" Fire exclaimed in excitement while his parents and friends just watched, happy for the stallion to be. There were three tickets and one VIP pass. "But... mom, dad..."

But they both threw a hoof forward, "Oh go on you four. We'd rather just enjoy a quiet evening without having to worry about some troublesome colt for a change." The mother winked slyly at Fire. Fire smiled back and hugged both of his parents tightly.

"I'll be back later tonight."

"Well c'mon slow poke! We gotta get there before the line starts!" Pickle called over as Cinnamon and Star got a head start without them. Fire looked at his parents one last time and then flied out the door.

His mother then thought of one last thing to shout of his disappearing son into the city, "And don't do anymore nose dives into the ground this time!"  But it was too late as the four pegasi dashed off to be the first in line for the big race.

Fire swerved in and out of common day traffic. Even before he got his cutie mark for achieving the speed of the meteor, he loved the idea of going to a race. He loved the idea of racing by itself in all honesty. The speed, the adrenaline, the crazy crowds and ruthless competitors. The drive to push the envelope and achieve first place.

Every day he was allowed to step outside after realizing his limits were close to being space bound, he made it a point to himself to pass everypony that he was in the skies, to time himself from certain points to certain points. He looped around cloud posts, mail mares, and always flew in and out of construction sites like it was a common playground. A few close calls for sure, but nothing he couldn't handle.

He spread his wings to catch the next updraft, relaxing into a soft trot in the air. The colliseum for the race was just over the next patch of clouds and he didn't want to cause a ruckus flying in at top speed. But as if always to remind him that he was always in a race, no matter where he was,  Star passed him up on his left side and Cinnamon passed him on his right. "C'mon slow poke! Slowing down now? You getting old?" Fire smirked in rebellion and blasted forward after the two mares, feeling a familiar ruffle of feathers get caught in the turbulence behind him.

"Sorry Pickle!" Fire called out behind him as he glided over the patch of cumulus clouds and into the bowl where the giant cloud colliseum stood with stands and tents of all sorts cropped up all around it. Fire skimmed the crowds of ponies floating around or sitting on patches of clouds, and then spotted Star and Whiff who were flying towards the entrance. It looked like they were going to make it before he was.

"Not if I could help it." Fire pushed off a nearest cloud with all his might and rocketed towards Star and Whiff. The distance between them closed as clear fatigue was shown through the messy wing flaps that Star and Whiff were attempting to get to the entrance. Fire tucked in his wings and dived for the entrance.

He passed the two exhausted ponies with ease as if they were standing still. He did a backwards loop and rolled onto his hooves. There were a few whistles and hoof stomps in approval. Fire puffed out his chest and tried to cover his panting as he did a little dance with his hooves, jogging in place.

"Nice moves, kid," A medium pitched voice broke the round of applause and caused all surrounding ponies to immediately be rendered silent. Fire stopped jogging and closed his eyes tightly. No way. "But leave the showing off to the professionals, ok? Wouldn't want any of you getting hurt, you might miss my awesome race!" Fire opened his eyes just fast enough to see the rainbow colored athlete that originated from Cloudsdale, the prima of cool, the fashion of speed, the epitome of awesomeness, Rainbow Dash, zip past him and into the stadium. Fire was about to follow suit when he was stopped by a bulky chalky colored pegasus who looked as big as the colliseum up close.

"VIP pass please?" The security guard's voice sounding as menacing as his size would imply. Fire nodded.

"Hold on, my friends got it," Fire made a hoof gesture to behind him. On cue, Cinnamon Whiff and Star Bash joined him.

"Was that who we thought it was?" Star asked with wide eyes. Fire nodded like an excited little kid. Cinnamon quickly took out a bright flabby piece of golden plastic and hoofed it to Fire. In bright blue letters, it read across the ticket, "V.I.P." Fire took it with great haste that Cinnamon almost was carried along with the ticket.

Fire shoved it into the security guard's view and he nodded in confirmation before returning his attention to the rest of the crowd gathering around the backstage entrance, seeing if Rainbow Dash or a Wonderbolt would make another appearance. Fire squee'd with glee and turned around to hug Cinnamon one last time. "Thank you thank you thank you! You are the best friend a pony could have!" Fire cheered on his best friend, who just blushed in the midst of all the praise.

"Oh, I'm sure you will find some way to repay me," Cinnamon smiled back at her friend with a sly wink.

"Stop wasting Cinnamon's hard earned bits and get in there already!" Pickle encouraged this with a head nudge towards the entrance. Cinnamon and Star ushered him in as well, waving him off and wishing him luck. Fire grinned and zipped into the tunnel.

After a short tunnel, he appeared in what seemed like a giant locker room that was filled with lockers that lined the entire wall. Several ponies were getting dressed and prepped for the race. The ceiling was almost out of sight above him, allowing plenty of room for several pegasi to warm up their wings and stretch out their hooves. Seems like the Wonderbolts were on one side of the room with their preparatory crew giving them the full package of massage and pamper that the stars of Cloudsdale deserved. On the direct opposite of the room was the underdog of underdogs, the rainbow winner, the surprise racer with nothing to lose and everything to win, Rainbow Dash. Whom was sitting with five other ponies, and only one of them was a pegasus, a yellow mare with pink butterflies as her cutie mark. Odd, perhaps they were Rainbow's prep team? Although it seemed like they were just talking casually as if this wasn't the hypest race that was about grace Cloudsdale's very eyes.

Fire took a few steps towards Rainbow Dash but was then cut off by a flash of blue and yellow. "Yo there! The winner's circle is over here newbie," A light aqua blue colored pony cut him off from sight of Rainbow Dash. "Fleetfoot is my name cute stuff," She ran a hoof through her cloud like mane and struck a pose. "And welcome to the Wonderbolt's..." But when she turned to the VIP guess, he was gone.

"It is such such such a pleasure to meet you Rainbow Dash!" A voice of such delight and joy drew the attention of every pair of eyes to Rainbow Dash's side of the locker room.

"Out maneuvered again, eh double 'F?"

"Shut up Spitfire." A slightly annoyed Fleetfoot pushed her way past the leader of the Wonderbolts, back to their side of the room.

Rainbow Dash made a strut and struck an even cooler and awesome-r pose than Fleetfoot, reaching her hoof out towards to the white pegasus, "Yeah, I know."

Fire Fallen shook her hoof like it was a sacred object. "And are these ponies your prep team?" Fire asked gesturing to the other five ponies.

"I guess prep team is one way to put a spin on things," The orange earth pony said with a country twang.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! We gotta make sure Dashie is all fit and raring to go to kick the Wonderbolt's flank out there," The pink earth pony bounced all around, and then vanished right before Fire's eyes. Erm, where did she go?

The purple alicorn among them... wait, purple alicorn?! "Wait. Rainbow Dash? You know the newest Princess? Princess Twilight Sparkle?!?" Fire asked, double shocked since meeting one of his favorite racers also knew the incredibly powerful Twilight Sparkle who rescued the Princess Luna, banished the god of Chaos, and saved a kingdom of crystals.

Rainbow Dash nodded and threw a hoof around the Princess, who was blushing from the attention, "Of course. This egghead and I have been on countless of adventures throughout Equestria," And before the 'egghead' could refute or Rainbow Dash could boast about accomplishments in the past, a loud voice was heard throughout the stadium.

"Attention race fans! You gonna wanna head down to your seats! The race of a lifetime is about to start!" Rainbow Dash cheered with a big whoop while the Wonderbolts on the other side of the room stood up from their spots, prepped, clean, and ready to fly. The rainbow racer gave her friends a hug while they wished her words of encouragement and luck. She passed by Fire who could only grin wide at her. Rainbow quickly gave him a hoof bump.

"That was some impressive stuff out there newbie. Keep working at it," Rainbow Dash's tone got deep, letting Fire know that she was totally serious. Horsewhinny or something or other would have been proud. Fire shook with admiration.

"C'mon dearie. As VIP's we get to sit in the skybox!" A shrill, pampered voice called to Fire.

"But that's boring. With a capital snooze." Fire answered back with enough wit to make the white unicorn red in the face. Fire trotted on after the racers, hoping to get a little closer to the action.

-

"Well obviously you don't see him down there! Just because he's VIP doesn't mean he's in the race." Cinnamon almost whacked her colt friend upside the head.

"Then what's the point of paying all those bits?!"

"To meet Rainbow Dash! The fastest flier in all of..."

"Whoa. Hold on." Pickle made a timeout gesture with his hooves. "Rainbow Dash is not the fastest flier in all of Equestria."

"Really? Then who is?"

"Obviously Fleetfoot. Or even Spitfire. So what if Dash performed a sonic rainboom once? She's only done it once. Can she do it at will? And what's the point of doing it? You broke the light barrier, how can you apply it to a race?"

"Doesn't matter! The fact Rainbow Dash can achieve those speeds at all means she can fly more optimally than Fleetfoot and Spitfire combined! But, let's say we're arguing just about Wonderbolt standards. Why Fleetfoot? Surprise has a cleaner record than Fleet,"

"But only because Surprise has no races under her belt. You know why Fleetfoot has an equal amount of wins to loss ratio? Because she races all the time. How Surprise doesn't race as much as Fleetfoot?"

"Maybe she's busy protecting Equestria? Or having more fun with foals and fillies who can't fly yet?"

"And that's neglecting her racing career. Admit it, Fleetfoot is going to wipe the floor with Rainbow Dash today."

"The only one who is getting wiped is Fleetfoot, Pickle!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!" Both ponies were steaming and ready to get into a major brawl, standing from their seats, when Starbash interrupted with,

"Hey, I think I see Fire on the race track. Weird." She then took a big sip from her Gulp sized cup. "And he's wearing a pink flight suit from the 90's,"

The two arguing ponies forgot their argument completely as they turned their attention to the race tract, in fact seeing a white pegasus getting ushered onto the starting line. All the while, the announcer who was introducing the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash stumbled upon his words of the new comer. This was history in the making. Was this newcomer coming to upsurp both the current challenger and the Wonderbolts? They were in for a truly interesting race.

-

~Ten minutes earlier~

Fire followed Rainbow and the Wonderbolts up to the side lines. He waved Rainbow Dash off to the race and sighed, taking a seat on a nearby lump of cloud. "Ugh, look at all those gaudy costumes enter the race way." Fire jumped up, a little spooked at the sudden voice. He looked down to his left to see a brown unicorn head. A jet black mane flowed from the top of her head, a giant pink bow resting squarely behind her ears. She adjusted her black framed glasses accordingly, continuing to make looks of disgust at the race track. The sight was sureal at best and hallucinatory at worst.

"I... what... how are you... who are you?" Fire couldn't decide on what question he should ask first.

"Ah, my apologies. How rude of me. Chocolate Pages," A hoof came from beside the head, reaching towards the very confused white pegasus. "Next prime time fashionista bent on taking Canterlot by storm!"

"Um, hi. Fire Fallen." Fire shook the hoof uneasily. "Do you have a body?"

Chocolate Pages laughed heartily, "A comedian I see. I do in fact have a body, oh! No wonder. I apologize but my extended platform can only reach so high." She commented her situation.  "It also does wonders to sneak in from the bottom, no one ever expects a unicorn to appear in Cloudsdale, especially from below!"

Fire nodded in agreement. The entire thing was hard to believe even as he saw it before his eyes.

"Anyways, who are you? Generally speaking, you don't seem to be a racer nor do you seem to be part of the security detail."

"Yeah. My friends got my a VIP pass to this event for my birthday." Fire flashed his golden ticket from behind his wings. "Allows me to get up close and personal with the racers."

"Oh! How exciting! Happy Birthday to you then..."

"For our first racer, we have the fireball of fury, the master of the skies, Spitfire!" An announcer interrupted the two. It was apparent that Fire missed the intro ceremony and they were introducing the racers before the race began.

"Well, seems like they are about to start the race then."

"Seems that way," Fire sighed.

"What's the matter hun?" The unicorn asked,

"I just... love racing. And my dream is to be on this race track someday. I'm so close to it, yet I'm so far from it."

"Ah. I see." Chocolate said thoughtfully.

It was a odd moment of silence. Fire just shared his very inner thoughts with a unicorn head he was still questioning was real or not.

"Well, it seems you have the passion for it, you will make it there one day. This I am sure of," The unicorn said confidently.

"You... you really think so?"

"I sure do. Here, in fact!" The unicorn exclaimed which surprised Fire for a moment as she disappeared into the confines of the cloud floor. Fire blinked and was about to edge forward to investigate when a piece of clothing sprung up from the floor and onto Fire's head. Chocolate reappeared and pointed to him, "That my fine fellow is a old design of mine for pegasi racers. You may not know this but I am a bit of a fan of racing myself," She said slyly, as if she was intently breaking the law because of this, "And I would watch more races if I simply had time. Your dream has inspired me! Come meet me in Canterlot if you ever need a stichtress to make you a lovely array of pegasi racing gear!"

Fire stood stunned. "Really?"

"Well why not? It has to be simple fate that we met at such an occasion! And if my mentor saw that I passed up such an opportunity, he would be simply furious with me."

"The rainbow warrior, born from Cloudsdale, stomp your hooves down for RAINBOW DASH!"

"Ah, the race is about to start. Put on that outfit and cheer for your fellow racers! You will achieve your dreams sooner than later, I believe in you!" The brown unicorn announced as dramatic as a unicorn's head in the clouds could be. Fire smiled at his new found friend and connection in Canterlot.

"I'll keep you in mind if I ever need a new set of duds," Fire promised.

"Excellent! Now I must depart! A busy schedule is at hoof and my little dream session has caused me to be late!" And with one final zip back into the cloud floor, she was gone.

Well, time to try out this outfit. Fire slipped into it with ease, it seemed a little big, but nothing to worry about in terms of just trotting around this place. It definitely felt authentic, as in felt like nothing at all. Fire wondered who this was originally for, and was it appropriate race attire? It was nothing too fancy, a simple pink and white jumpsuit with different lengths of yarn trailing along the legs. It would definitely be a sight to see this thing in the air, probably add a different color streak behind him. He would have to ask Whiff to take a look next time. Not the most masculine of colors, but he wasn't too picky. It wasn't about what you wore, it was about how fast you were.

"Hey! You! What are you doing on the sidelines? The race is about to start in a thirty!" Fire whipped his head around to see a security pony headed his way, and with a forceful nudge, shoved Fire onto the last remaining cloud.

-

"Hang on a second folks! A late entry has just been accepted! We have no name for this mysterious racer, but let's hope he can keep up with Equestria's best!" The announcer began to hype up this mysterious racer as the entire crowd, save for three ponies instantly recognized the mug on the line.

"So. That VIP ticket does get him into the race. I was right!" Cinnamon quickly whacked Pickle.

-

Fire blinked and found himself right next to Fleetfoot. She looked directly into his eyes and smirked. "You were my competition the entire time? Well, I will very much enjoy crushing you then," She said with an evil snicker. Fire gulped. This was a big, big misunderstanding.  Was there perhaps a way to get off the track?

He looked to his left. Nope, they shut the entryway onto the track with a thick cloud wall. Cushiony, yet firm. I mean, he could always fly over it right?

"Racers! Get ready!" A starter pony dress in black and white stripes

Wait, what was he thinking? This was his moment! This was what he dreamed of! What he told Chocolate Pages! Did she know this costume could potentially get in?

"On your marks!"

Probably not, that security guard just appeared out of nowhere. But at any rate, this was his time to shine! Okay, there are five racers. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Soarin', and himself. What was his plan?

"Get set!"

Eek! No time! He had to get in postition...

"GO!"

He was immediately left in the dust as four ponies made a mad dash for the first turn. Fire shook his head jumped off his cloud, on Soarin's tail.

The entire audience cheered like maniacs, but Fire could barely hear them. Just the flapping of his own wings combined with the buzz in his head to catch Soarin'.

They approached the first turn and Soarin' hugged the wall of the turn like there was no tomorrow. Fire tried to circumvent him, but it took too much time and they were finished with the turn, Soarin' working hard on preventing him from passing. Fire tried to look ahead of his first competitor, but it proved impossible going at breakneck speeds.

He flapped his wings harder, trying to gain some altitude, perhaps he could pass over Soarin'? No go either, as Soarin' easily matched Fire's pace and blocked off his path again. Fire immediately dropped down, not wanting to burn too much energy, but it was then that he noticed that Soarin' had a bit more trouble with the descent to block him off.

They were approaching the second turn in the oval, almost finished with the first lap. He had no idea where the other three were in the race, and maybe they were too far ahead for him to even make the distance in time, but he had to try.

The approached the turn and Fire hung onto Soarin's metaphorical tail, flapping his wings rapidly to keep up with the sudden acceleration Soarin' intiated. It was now or never.

Fire made a move to pass over Soarin' over head. He gritted his teeth as he was cut off again, perfect. He then tucked his wings in slightly and dived underneath the Wonderbolt with grace and elegance. He heard the entire crowd whoop in surprise, but it was impossible to tell if it was him or something that happened ahead of him. Either way, the battle with Soarin' wasn't done yet.

Fire gave his wings a major flap to thrust him forward enough to propel past Soarin'. The problem was that Soarin' was doing the exact same thing to keep up with him. There was no way he was going to let this newbie take his spot.

"LAP ONE DONE! TWO MORE TO GO!"

Fire took note of this as he looked ahead. He saw Fleetfoot and Spitfire knocking heads. This means that Rainbow was in first! Yes! If she could pass the Wonderbolts, then he could too!

With new found energy of underdogs uniting, he flew forward, past Soarin' to try and catch up with the two mares who were battling for second. Soarin' gave a fierce face and chased Fire towards the two mares as well.

"Oh, this just in folks, the new comer and Soarin' are re-entering the race! They seem to be approaching their flanks on the first turn! Oh no! Spitfire tripped on something in the air and she is sent backwards, leaving Fleetfoot to spring ahead after Rainbow Dash! Soarin' easily takes the air from Spitfire's stumble to jet himself forward! But the newbie has no idea of the current airflow development, allow Spitfire to be his new opponent! The first turn is over, but it can still be anypony's race!"

Fire grunted. What the hay was that?! Did Fleetfoot just trip Spitfire? No way.

But as if to answer his question, Spitfire gave Fire a quick body check, shoving him out of the way. Fire grunted harder and flew up to Spitfire and shoved her back. Two can play at that game! Fire thought loudly. Spitfire smirked and whooshed forward, leaving Fire in the dust, but he felt a sudden burst in speed. Little knowledge to him, Spitfire has created an upcurrent, allowing easier flight for the racers who flew close to Spitfire's backside, but too much upcurrent could send a pony going up instead of straight. Spitfire, being a master of the skies knew this and left the strong yet stead up current on purpose. Any veteran racer or even weather pony could see this, but to the audience, it was as if Fire suddenly became a shooting star and chased after the pack.

The second turn was longer than Fire could remember, but he continued to push on. He threw his body forward as he saw Spitfire pass Soarin' with ease, and towards the now dueling duet of Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash.

Fire growled. Right back where he started, but passing Soarin' was easier than before, almost too easy. But Fire knew better than to over analyze it. Just flap your wings faster Fire, that should get the job done. He continued to dash after Spitfire, feeling that wonderful boost of energy behind him fade into the clouds.

"FINAL LAP! This is it folks! Time for the pegasi to show their true stuff!"

True stuff? Was the last two laps just a joke?! Fire gritted his teeth with rage, letting the announcer's words unintentionally goad him to push harder than before. The first turn and he tried catching Spitfire who was just on Fleetfoot's tail. Where did Rainbow go?

Upon examination, he found Rainbow at his side, her tongue hanging out panting hard. They've been sprinting for a good ten minutes, it was fully understandable why a pegasus, even an incredible athlete like Rainbow Dash would be tired. But Fire couldn't be tired, this was his moment to shine, as it was Rainbow's as well.

Fire felt a presence behind him, and a rapid flap of wings behind him confirmed it. He nudged Rainbow Dash whose eyes could just glance in his direction. "We gotta catch up!" He managed to gasp out. Fire then tried to break away from Rainbow who then tried to stay on Fire's tail. The first turn was over, but by Celestia's beard, it felt like it was taking forever.

Spitfire did a corkscrew up and over Fleetfoot, trying to throw her wind flow off. Fleetfoot growled and slammed Spitfire into the cloud wall. Spitfire barely held her posture and decided to throw her wings up and slam on the brakes, allowing Fleetfoot to overexert and slam into the cloud wall. Spitfire guffawed at the display and easily overtook Fleetfoot, flying into the last turn of the race.

Fire saw Rainbow Dash slowly pass him and he couldn't say that he didn't try to cut her off, but the better flier won out and she passed Fire. His wings felt as if they burned passionately, like a phoenix's burning ceremony. But he was so close. He caught up with Fleetfoot who just took a single glance at Fire and bolted immediately to top speed, leaving him in the dust. Fire didn't dare look behind him to learn what he already knew.

Soarin' was on his tail and it was only a matter of time before he was caught. He pushed down on the acceleration, hoping to end the race before he was caught. He ascended slightly, throwing out one last gambit. He could feel the tension from his opponent as both raced for fourth. The last turn of the race was done and he could hear the audience erupt in applause while sounds of guns were heard, showers of confetti showering the racers a second later. Fire felt Soarin' truly give it his all this time as he could feel the sudden draft pushing him higher towards the sky. Fire relaxed for a second and tucked his wings in.

It seemed that rough housing was allowed and he wasn't going to just let fourth place go. He threw his hooves forward and dived towards the finishing line, but not before literally being caught by Soarin'. The final two racers grunted. How did Soarin' keep his own weight as well as Fire's weight? He was a Wonderbolt, and thusly an incredible flier, but from the way Spitfire and Fleetfoot raced he didn't think there was a chance in Tautarus that either mare could hold him up.

Fire thought back to earlier parts of the race. It was easier for Soarin' to keep up if Fire was to ascend, but it took him more effort to descend. Could his talent for flying be to- unironically enough in this pony world- soar?

Both Fire and Soarin' yelled out fiercely as they were now doing what they did best. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

It was only a twenty meters or so away and Fire's mind was the first to react fast to the conclusion that they were evenly matched. Fire instantly did the unthinkable in a race and threw his hooves down, causing more weight to push down on the Wonderbolt, who yelped in surprise and pain. He then pushed off of him, throwing himself ahead as well as a hoof for good measure. Fire closed his eyes, knowing that he would have to let gravity do the rest of the work. Through his closed eyes, he saw a flash of blinding light that was accompanied by a bang. Before he could restablish control of his body, he landed on something soft.

He opened his eyes and immediately took note that the staff of the race lined up clouds along the finish line for racers to race into. He didn't even realize it during the race, he had no intention of letting up regardless of a safety net, but thank Celestia for the blessed idea. He saw Soarin' on the cloud next to him, exhausted and in a heap of feathers. He immediately threw off his mask and looked at Fire, a gleam in his eye. Fire gulped nervously, knowing that it was kind of a low blow to push someone down to get ahead, but was surprised by an extended hoof.

While gasping for air, Soarin' looked directly at Fire and spoke, "You got it. Next time. I will beat you." Soarin' smiled and Fire smiled back meeting his hoof with Soarin's. As much as he would have loved to get up and stretch, it seemed he lost control of his entire body, feeling like a limp noodle. He just relaxed on the cloud and slowly felt his eyes close from exhaustion.

He blames his fatigue for the thought to this day, but it dawned on him before he went to dreamland: Soarin' was cute.