My, Daughter, Maree

When they faced each other in the precision flying race, things were very different between them.

Quieter, but also much more aggressive. He shoved her as he walked by, and Dash wanted to knock him flat on

his back right there. She bit down the urge, and got into position. In this race, at least, they did not have

to stand next to each other.

The goal of precision flying was to successfully pass through several specifically shaped obstacles

and still make the best time possible. Anyone who touches the obstacle in any way would get disqualified. Dash

felt better about this than the previous race, since her small frame made it much easier to fit in small

areas, whereas Paragon would have much more difficulty. Celestia conjured up a track suspended on clouds about

60 feet over the ground, and all the racers took up a new position on the levitating course. At another

discharge of light, they were all off again. Dash easily made her way through each obstacle, and to her

surprise, Paragon kept up pretty well. She could tell though that it wasn't nearly as easy for him. The race

stayed close together until the very last obstacle, when Paragon's right wing just slightly nudged the frame,

giving the first place finish to Dash.

When they returned to the ground, Dash couldn't help but smirk at Paragon, who's cocky grin had given way to an agitated glare. It brought her much joy to see his confidence fading.

"Not bad, eh Paragon?" She taunted.

"Don't fool yourself. There's still two more events, that's plenty of time to humiliate you." Paragon replied, trying (and failing) to hide his contempt.

Finally moving onto the agility race, Celestia dismissed the precision course set up, conjuring up an

new course that was earthbound, consisting of numerous sharp, narrows turns and random obstacles to move

around. The goal was to move through this course without going above the maximum height of below the minimum

height. The penalty for touching an obstacle was only as severe as the time it takes to come to your senses and

move around it, but at the speeds they were intended to move at, that collision could be devastating. Each

racing cell did it's own respective race, and before long the finals came around. Paragon and Dash were again

beside each other initially, but in this race it didn't much matter; it was more freestyle than the other

courses, and racers were free to move their own way, unrestrained by tracks or lanes. Each racer had now

witnessed their own imperfections, and more importantly they saw their opponents' weaknesses; they knew that

they could win, and that their opponent wasn't unbeatable, and they knew they had to give it their all to win

Gold.

Not even hearing the countdown, they were both focused intensely on the course ahead of them, and

took off almost automatically when they saw Celestia's start signal. Paragon took an early lead, his powerful

flaps propelling him forward through the course. Dash knew that a large stallion like himself couldn't handle

turns as well as she could, and so she wasn't worried initially. Just as she had predicted, Paragon slowed

down considerably at the numerous sharp turns throughout the course, allowing Dash to take the lead. As she

distanced herself from Paragon, her mind began to wander, searching again for the White Maned Mare from her

dreams, since this was basically where it happened in her dreams, but didn't see her. She noticed her friends,

who she glanced from the corner of her eye; the course's turns took her right near the edge of the arena, and

they had front row seats. They were so close in fact, she could make out their voices clearly among the crowd,

and it encouraged her more. She then thought about Pinkie, who couldn't be there because of her; because of

Maree; and how things must be going at home. She worried for Maree's sake; she had no idea what to expect from

Pinkie. What if Pinkie tried to feed her a cupcake? She couldn't eat solids yet, and she might choke! And what

if Pinkie tried to play with her too rough? She might hurt her, or-

"DASH LOOK OUT!" Twilight's voice came from the crowd. Dash realized she wasn't paying attention, and

refocused just in time to narrowly dodge a short pillar which had been place in the way of the course as an

obstacle. Obviously with no time for thanks, Dash continued on her way. She was close to the end now, and to

her disappointment, found that Paragon was gradually catching up, as he began to adjust to the sharp turns and

now handled them with almost as much ease as herself. The last 100 feet or so was a straight away, with no

turns or obstacles in her way. This was Paragon's chance. He seemed to come from no where, his thunderous

wing beats almost twice as loud as the wind rushing passed Dash's ears. She knew she couldn't just let him have

the win. She had led him the entire course until now. This race was HERS! She closed her eyes and pushed

herself to the max. When she opened her eyes again, she and Paragon were both over the finish line.

The judges had to re-watch the final moment of the race several times over. It had been close; to the

naked, untrained eye, they appeared to have crossed at the same time. They slowed the image down until they

could clearly make it out, and eventually ruled in favor of a tie. Paragon was outraged.

"A TIE?!" He exclaimed when he heard the news. "I am no equal to this-!" A thousand filthy curse words came to

his mind before he finally settled on, "-child!" He spat the last words out through a locked jaw and tight lips.

"Look who's calling who a child! Who's the one throwing an tantrum over a little tie when there's still one event left!" Dash threw back at Paragon, obviously reveling in his increasing frustration.

"Official Pegalympic rulings state that if two racers cross the finish line within 20 milliseconds of each other, it is to be ruled as a tie. There was a difference of only 13.6 milliseconds between your finish times,  so it's a tie." The judge explained.

"Well, just for argument's sake, who had the faster time at the end of the day?" Dash asked out of curiosity.

"We're not allowed to disclose that. Besides, since you're getting an equal number of points for your finish times, it's irrelevant." The judge replied.

"I'll bet I won, and they just seek to restrain me from my inevitable success!" Paragon said accusingly, before stomping away.

Now crunch time was really upon Rainbow Dash. This final event, which combined elements from all 3

previous courses, would decide the real winner was. Despite 4 other ponies being in the finals, it was clear

that this battle was truly between Paragon and Rainbow Dash now. Even the crowd was divided; some rooted for

Paragon, others for Dash. It was, for all intents and purposes, a one on one face off between the two finest

flyers in Equestria. Celestia formed the large, final course before them. Rainbow Dash and Paragon glared at

each other fiercely. They were both capable flyers, and they both knew that neither was unbeatable. Neither of

them could accept anything less than first place. It was all or nothing.

When Celestia counted down to take off, it seemed to take forever, yet when she finally allowed the

competitors to go, it seemed to catch her off guard. She felt herself moving with greater speed and intensity

than she ever had before, as she was essentially sprinting throughout the course. She was perhaps the only

flyer in the whole stadium who could maintain those speeds for the length of the course, and she intended to

make use of that advantage. The first section of the course returned to the precision flying course, which

took them in a generally upward direction, ending at the highest point of the stadium. Dash navigated through

this very well, taking an early lead. Paragon was careful not to hit any of the obstacles, and also made it

through without a hitch, taking a strong second. Already, the remaining 4 pegasi were fading into the

background, and it was just Dash and Paragon.

The middle section was focused on the agility section, which took them back down again to a point

where it would inevitably loop back around to the sprint track. Dash kept up her lead all throughout the

course, only widening her lead as she completed the agility section and moved onto the final section. Now only

seconds from winning, her victory was assured.

Paragon saw this impending defeat, and it made him flash with frustration, but he knew he was not

ultimately in danger. I've got no choice now, he said to himself. I'll have to use that. Damn... and on a mere

child like her.

Dash was halfway through the sprint section. She was just seconds from her ultimate dream being

realized. The crowd was going wild, cheering, screaming her name, and she was finally and the epicenter of

one of Equestria's most coveted events. This was her moment at last, the culmination of years of dreaming just

a couple hundred feet away from her...

What she saw next she wasn't sure of at first. It was a great big blur, moving at such blistering

speeds that it generated enough wind to actually knock Dash off balanced, stopping her in her tracks as she stumbled

in the air trying to right herself. When she was steady again, Paragon was already passed the finish line. For

a moment, the crowd went dead silent. They were stunned, but not nearly as much as Dash. A moment later, most

of them started cheering again, only this time a new name formed their chant.

"Paragon! Paragon! Paragon!" They cheered. Dash Was overwhelmed by what had just happened. For the first time

in many years, she felt like she might just collapse to the ground and start crying. Everything she'd been

building up to, everything she had trained for. Everything she aspired to was swept away in a swift, almost

undetectable movement. She had failed.

Rainbow Dash managed to compose herself, not wanting anyone, ESPECIALLY Paragon, to see her shed

tears. The two of them, along with another pegasus that Dash didn't know who had come in third, stepped up to

the podium to be given their medals. The unknown pegasus was given the bronze, and Dash received a silver

medal. Silver. They might as well have just kicked her in the cannon and sent her on her way. Paragon proudly

received the gold medal, and he immediately began showing off, displaying in very flashy, arrogant ways.

Dash's urge to punch him was skyrocketing, and considered it a miracle she managed to hold herself back.

After congratulations were completed and the pegasi were dismissed, Dash decided to simply walk away,

trying not to talk to or look at anyone. She found that her urge to cry grew exponentially as she walked

away.It meant that if was official. The event was over, and it wouldn't be back for another few years. Would

she even be there? What if he came back? She'd never be able to live down losing to him a second time.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash looked at the source of the voice, and rolled her eyes angrily. It was Paragon, here to gloat. "You look so sullen, little girl. Cheer up! Silver isn't so bad. I've known lots of silver medals before. I've never BEEN one of course, but I've met plenty of them!" He laughed at his own stupid sense of humor, and Dash just ignored him, walking faster now, her rage very nearly out of control. If she stayed much longer, somepony was going to get beat.

As Dash tried to storm out of the stadium, she saw the Wonderbolts walking in her direction. She

briefly felt very excited, but they continued to walk by, hardly even noticing her. Dash watched as the

representatives of the Wonderbolts, Captain Spitfire and Soarin' amongst them, all crowded around Paragon,

aghast with excitement. Dash couldn't bear to watch, but she forced herself anyway.

"Whoa, that was crazy! I've never seen anyone move like that!" An unknown Wonderbolt gushed.

"Stupendous! You completely blew that last round away!" Soarin' added.

"And those wings! I've never seen anything like it before, so... big, and... powerful.." Spitfire eyed

Paragon's wings for prolonged periods of time, hardly even looking him in the eye.

Did that just happen?! Is she HITTING on him? Spitfire, of all ponies, is falling for this jerk?!

"So... Paragon, was it? As captain of the Wonderbolts, I speak for my whole team when I say we'd LOVE to have you with us, it would be be an honor, really!" Spitfire was completely entranced by this pegasus before her.

Paragon seemed to think for a second, and didn't reply for a few seconds. Then suddenly, he burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Is that supposed to make you look good, or is it supposed to make me look bad?" He asked rhetorically.

Spitfire abruptly snapped out of her trance. "W-what?!"

"Do you really think I'd fly for your team? Really, what am I, some sort of jester? To join a 'team' I would

be taking orders, and that would simply be impossible. I'm the type who gives out orders, rather than taking

them. I'm not out to be an icon, I'm out to be a SYMBOL. A symbol of power. Do you think flying is some sport?

Some sort of amusing trick? The power of flight is no mere source of entertainment, dear kiddies. It

represents power. PRESTIGE. It's a means of establishing a pecking order, on which I am on top. To join YOUR

team is to willingly put myself below you, which is simply unacceptable. My destiny lies on a far greater level

than amusing a crowd like some sort of buffoonish aerial mascot." Dash was incredulous. The Wonderbolts weren't

just taking him on for an audition, they were giving him the position. Just handing it away for free. And HE

was turning THEM down! More than that, he was making FUN of them!

Spitfire was seething mad now. Any interest she had shown in him initially was long gone. "AERIAL MASCOTS?!" She screamed. "I'll have you know there's more to our job that just parading around, you pompous jerk! We represent what it means to be cool! We represent the sky itself, as masters of the aerial arts!"

"Get one thing straight, little girl, and that is that I am the only true master of the sky!" Paragon shot back. "I could beat any of you- in fact I could beat ALL of you- in one swift stroke if I so  chose. You don't have idea who you're comparing yourself to!" Paragon paced around the Wonderbolts, giving them all dirty looks.

"We'll take that challenge!" Soarin' spoke up now, just as angry as Spitfire. "What do you say, captain? Let's take him up on his offer and take him out of the sky!"

"With pleasure! Paragon, we accept your challenge!" Spitfire declared. "Tomorrow, at 12:00pm over Cloudsdale, you'll face each and every one of the Wonderbolts in a contest, loser doesn't show his face over Equestria's skies again!" Spitfire motioned for the Wonderbolts to follow as she too stormed out of the stadium. "If I were you, after making a statement like that, I'd BE there!" She said over her shoulders, not looking back.

"I wouldn't worry about that, if I were you. In fact, if I were you, I'd start looking for a new home!" Paragon called after them, but they didn't reply. He noticed Dash was watching them, and scoffed. "What are YOU looking at? Does this concern you somehow?" He took off with a loud *fwoom!* as his massive wings launched him into the air.

Dash was dumbfounded. Surely, what she had just witnessed was the most unbelievably grand display of

arrogance she had ever seen. The Great And Powerful Trixie looked like some sort of monk compared to him. She

did, inevitably, draw some satisfaction from the fact that she knew that the Wonderbolts would wipe him out.

She herself had, after all, ALMOST beaten him. Surely, 11 pegasi, just as good as her or better, would knock

him out of Equestria's skies for good. She wished she could do it, but at least he'll be gone. Dash finally

left the stadium, and was greeted by Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy, who all had sympathetic looks on

their faces. Dash sighed. She was about to get pitied. She hated to be pitied.

"Hey Dash, don't get so down!" Applejack started. Dash knew this old song so well, she could almost sing along, but that would be just a little bit too depressing.

"Second place in a big tournament like this is nothin' to spit at, girl! It's a major honor to get even half as far as you did!" Applejack put a hoof around Dash's shoulder to try to comfort her, but Dash just shook it off, not replying.

"Dash, don't be like that, it's not very nice..." Fluttershy was now contributing to the pity party, which

made things even worse. Applejack was a tough girl who could take a bit of rudeness, but treating Fluttershy

like that.. who knows how she'd take it. "If you act like that, everypony's going to think you're a sore

loser. N-not that I think that, I'm just saying, you ought to be careful about how you... project yourself." She shied away, having said her piece.

"It's not so much that I lost first place really, it's just..HIM.." Dash tipped her head back to the stadium, obviously talking about Paragon. "Just.. the way he acted.. the way he spoke.... it just makes me so MAD, I just wanna..." She didn't finish her sentence, but a frustrated grunt indicated that it wouldn't have ended well.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about him... something doesn't quite add up..." Twilight, with a hoof on her chin, seemed to be in thought. "Just who is he, for starters? I've never heard of anypony named 'Paragon', and with the level of talent he has; not to mention his intimidating physical appearance; you'd think he'd be a little more famous than not at all." Twilight now looked at the ring of friends. "I mean, have any of you ever even HEARD if this guy before?" Everyone shook their heads immediately. "Me neither! And that last challenge.. he was way far behind, and then all of a sudden he gets this tremendous boost of speed from nowhere, just in time to take first place. Why didn't he move like that the whole time? Is he hiding something? I suspect some sort of foul play."

Dash's eyes lit up at the sound of that. "You think he cheated?" She was thrilled at the possibility that she might be able to take this away from him. Proving this would be just as good as any medal.

"I can't prove anything now, but I'll look into it. For now, we'll just have to sit back and wait, until we know more about him." Twilight sighed slightly, apparently just as impatient to solve this as Dash.

"I guess so." Dash sighed, submissively. She felt a little better, but not much.

"I guess you'll probably be taking off, then?" Twilight said to Dash.

"Actually, I don't really feel like flying. I'm...tired. I'll just walk." So the 4 friends all walked home together.

The 4 ponies, after their long trek home, all went separate ways. The sun was just about set by the

time Dash finally got home. Dash had been bummed out and quiet the whole trip back, but now she was alert, and

worried. She she had left Pinkie alone with Maree all day, and she wondered just what she'd come home to. She

wasn't sure if Pinkie had ever foalsat for so long at a time before, and was worried maybe she'd crack under

the boredom. She was the kind of pony who could do that. Dash moved with increasing speed as she neared her

house, almost running up the first few steps and to her door. She opened the door, which had been left

unlocked, and walked inside. In the living room, she found Pinkie, reclining on a sofa on the far wall, half-asleep. She was alone.

"Pinkie? Where's Maree?" Dash hadn't meant to sound to frantic.

"Relax, Dashie, Maree's sound asleep in her crib. She has been for over an hour now. I check on her every 25 minutes, and the last time I checked was just 8 minutes ago. She's still just fine. Everything is just peachie!" Pinkie grinned proudly.

"And there was no trouble at all? No injuries, no random magic, no choking, or anything?"

"Not at all. Not one ounce of trouble to be seen. If fact, I had her out earlier, and she was crawling around, exploring the house. It was so exciting to watch her! I made certain she never got too far, or got into something that could hurt her, of course!"

Dash was surprised. "Crawling? Really?' She was disappointed she'd missed it.

"Yup! She was at it for hours! He little legs are stronger than you give her credit for! You outta let her out and about everyday from now on, give her a little exercise. You've got no idea how much she wants to be able to get up and at it!" Pinkie giggled a little and hopped up from her seat. "Well, I gotta get going. I'll see you around Dash!" Pinkie headed for the door.

"Wait, you don't wanna hear about what happened today or anything?" Dash called after her.

"Like it's any secret, Ms. Gold Medal! We can talk more about how to creamed them all in the morning!" Pinkie continued out of the house.

"Well that's just it.. I ... I didn't really..." Pinkie didn't hear her, and the door closed behind her

without a reply. Dash sighed again. She really didn't feel like going after her. She might as well just let

her go own her own merry way for now, and correct her tomorrow. She yawned suddenly. It wasn't really very

late, but Dash was very tired. She decided she'd go join Maree and pack it in early today.

As soon as Dash entered the bedroom, Maree's eyes opened, as if she had detected her presence.

"Mommy!" The tiny infant chirped.

"Yeah, it's mommy, she's home from her long day at work!" Dash said back to Maree. Maree tried to hold herself

up on he front legs, but her shaky legs and her getting caught up in the blankets all led her to falling over

clumsily in her crib. Dash chuckled at her little girls' shenanigans, and remarked at how close she had

gotten to pulling herself up that time. Dash had never realized that Maree was strong enough to do that.

"Well, kid I think we both ought to get to bed for now." Dash crawled in bed, just an arm's reach away from

Maree in her crib. Maree held out both her arms, reaching, for Dash's. It had become her new thing at night,

to want to hold onto Dash throughout the night. Dash didn't mind, as long as she was still, and she always

was. She gave her an arm, and Maree snuggled right on top of it, using it as a pillow. Dash found it

surprisingly easy to let today's troubles melt away as she felt Maree's warm cheek on her hoof. She quickly

began to drift off, and was asleep in just a few minutes. Maybe today wasn't all bad after all.

Pinkie had just left Dash's house, and was on her way back to Sugarcube Corner. She was proud of her

work that day, though she had to admit it wasn't hard. Maree was just so sweet and well behaved, the job

practically had done itself.! Just as she turned off Dash's street, something caught her eye. In a garbage

can, something very shiny caught her attention, and she walked up to it. She picked it out, and found that it

was in fact a brand new Pegalympic silver medal, that had been just discarded by some careless pony! Who who

throw away something like this? Surely, it must have been an accident, or some sick prank somepony was pulling

on somepony else. She decided to take it with her, and find it's true owner. She couldn't wait to see their

face when they saw their precious medal returned to them!

The next day seemed just like any other, strangely enough. Dash was more or less over herself and

Paragon. She puttered about her day, with a sort of self-satisfied attitude about her, comforted by the fact

that she knew somewhere, right now, Paragon was struggling to hold onto his own dignity. Around 3:00pm,

Fluttershy stopped by her house, which surprised her. She wasn't expecting anyone.

"Fluttershy? Hey, what's up?" Dash fixed her with a quizzical smile.

"Hello, Dash, um, may I come in?" Fluttershy asked ever so politely.

"Yeah, uh, sure come on in, I guess." Dash let her in, and they both went to sit on a couch. "What're you up to?"

"Oh, you know, just ordinary stuff... spending lots of time around the forest animals... just thinking... but actually, today I stopped by Cloudsdale to watch the Wonderbolts, going against Paragon." Fluttershy explained.

"Yeah, I bet that was fun! Poor guy got what he deserved." Dash took a long sip from a drink she had gotten herself just as Fluttershy had arrived.

"Well, actually Dash he..... well... he....won..."

Dash choked on her drink, coughing and spitting it everywhere. "WHAT?!"

Fluttershy flinched as Dash suddenly raised her voice. "Ah!.. Well, it's true I don't know how, but he did. He beat them all, one at a time."

Dash was completely bewildered. How could they have lost? They were the Wonderbolts! They were the best flyers

in the world! And there were 11 of them against Paragon, who stood alone. How could he beat all of them at

once?

"What was it like?"

Fluttershy's eyes wandered as she recalled the event. "Like nothing I'd ever seen before. He accepted every specific challenge they proposed to him; standard or otherwise; and one by one, he bested them all, with this unreal endurance and skill that didn't even seem possible. He was hardly even sweating at the end of it all. Sometimes he moved so quickly, he was hardly more than a blur. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him."

"He beat all of them? Even Spitfire?" Fluttershy nodded slowly. Dash was quiet for a long time. Many pegasi

looked up to and respected Dash as an inspiring, talented flyer. She was often seen as being on the top by her

peers. But if there was one pegasus that even Dash looked up to, it was Spitfire. And even she had been

defeated by the enigma that was Paragon.

"He's gotten awfully popular up there." Fluttershy continued, breaking the silence, which was quite unusual

for her. "He's got a small little fan club that flock around him, chanting his name, backing him up. They must have at least doubled in numbers after Paragon won that match up."

Dash sighed, and rolled her eyes a bit. "That's just what I need. To know that Cloudsdale thinks of that scumbag as some kind of hero."

"It's not so much that he's a 'hero', really. More like....a king." Fluttershy corrected.

Dash scoffed irritably. "What's the bucking difference?" She hadn't meant to sound so harsh, and regretted it

when Fluttershy shrank away at her raised voice again.

"Well, they would respect a hero. In his case, they WORSHIP him. They call him the 'Ruler Of The Skies', a title he himself picked out."

"Oh my gosh, that guy just cannot get enough of himself, Can he?!"

"I guess not.." Fluttershy became quiet again and there was another pause. After a moment or two, Fluttershy

stood up from the couch and started to leave. "Well, I should be going, I just wanted to tell you that..." She

didn't wait for any response, which was good since she didn't get one.

Dash was overwhelmed by this news. She had no idea what to do or say, and did nothing of either for a

long time. Dash's only redeeming light was that the Wonderbolts would take down Paragon, but now that he was

reining champion of Cloudsdale and an up and coming celebrity, what could she do now? Reluctantly,

unfortunately, all she really could do was accept the fact that she had lost. That hurt her, almost

physically, when she finally realized that. She had been beaten irrefutably. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. And

that was that. Then the memory hit her, light a great beam of light. She was wrong; there WAS a shadow of

doubt. Twilight said he might have been cheating, and that she might be able to prove it somehow. She still

had that hope to hold onto. For now she just had to wait. Dash finally snapped out of her thoughts when she

heard Maree's cries from the bedroom, having woken up from her nap. She probably needed food and/or a change.

For now, Dash thought, she had a life to get on with, and a child to raise.

The week progressed boringly average, nothing of much consequence happening the whole time. Dash had

taught Maree a few more words, and a couple small sentences like "Love you" and "Thank you". Dash's amazement

at Maree's vocabulary at such a young age never ceased to surprise her, and definitely never ceased to

surprise Twilight, who was taking an increasing amount of interest in her as time progressed. They were over

at her house one day, demonstrating Maree's newly expanded vocabulary.

"I just can't believe she can talk this well so young." Twilight said, shaking her head in disbelief. "It's definitely got to be an Alicorn thing, I've never heard of a pony that caught on this quickly."

"Yeah I'm real proud of her, she's a bright little girl." Dash chuckled, and ruffled Maree's mane a little, playfully.

"You know, when she's a little older, I could give her some tutoring. I'm just as good as any teacher, with all the books and resources in the library, and I'd do it for free, which I guarantee won't be the case for school." Twilight offered.

"Really? That'd actually be pretty cool, Twilight!"

"I'd love to, she seems just so ready to learn, even now, and I think we'd have a blast together, say when she's about 2 or 3."

Twilight looked over at Maree, who was busily crawling about on Twilight's carpet. She'd

gotten stronger in the last week or so actually quite suddenly. She couldn't walk proper yet, but she was

getting there. Twilight was perplexed that Maree could not use her magic at all. She could owe her lack of

flying to her disability, but she should have had at least one spurt of magic by now.

"Sounds great!' Dash picked Maree up, holding her up to her face. "Did ya hear that, Maree? Auntie Twilight's

gonna teach you how to be a smart little filly! Smarter, anyway, you're already a little genius, after all!"

Twilight smiled at the sweet scene. It reminded her of something she had wanted to talk to Dash about. "So, Dash, just thought I'd let you know, a little while ago I sent a message to Princess Celestia asking about Maree, and it turns out she doesn't know a thing about her."

"You what?" Dash put Maree down.

"Yeah, I sent her a message almost a whole week ago, but she just got back to me now. She's been rather sluggish lately with the mail, I often don't get responses from her for days at a time, it's really weird. Anyway, I just I'd let you know."

Dash wasn't sure what to think. What did she need to talk to Celestia about? What business of her's

was it anyway? Then She remembered; the very first day together, Twilight said she had a theory that Maree was

somehow related to the royal family, because of her status as an Alicorn. Then she got very scared. What if

Celestia had known Maree? What if she knew her real parents? Oh God, she thought, what if it really HAD been a

terribly accident afterall? She realized in one sudden, frightening epiphany that in that single stroke of

uncontrollable action which she had been totally ignorant to until just now, she could very easily have lost

custody of Maree altogether.

"Don't talk about that anymore." Dash said very firmly. "Not to Celestia or anyone."

"Relax Dash, I was just curious, you know, in case there'd been a mix up-"

"Twilight, I said stop! There was no mix up. I told you already: she was left there deliberately, and that was that. No one was going to help her. She's my responsibility now." Dash was very tense now, and speaking very strongly.

"Dash, I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted to make sure that-"

"Look, Twilight, I'm just not comfortable with you talking about Maree with Celestia anymore, alright?!" Dash was almost hysterical now, and Twilight was visibly upset. She stood on 2 legs, holding her front hoofs on her hips, glaring at Dash condescendingly.

"Rainbow Dash! You have NO right to tell me what I can and cannot talk about with my own Mentor, and I'm SHOCKED that you would think otherwise! She taught me almost everything I know, I share everything with her. She and I are practically of one mind, and what harm have I done anyway? I was only trying to do what is inevitably the right thing, and you cannot and WILL not tell me that you are not okay with me doing that!"

Rainbow Dash finally realized how crazy she sounded and calmed down. "Twilight, I'm... .I'm sorry, I'm just a little..."

Twilight interrupted her. "Never mind, Dash, it's okay. I know how you feel. I was pretty harsh just now, and I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." The two of them became quiet for a little while. Twilight decided it was probably best that she change the subject to one less sensitive.

"Hey Dash, have you seen Fluttershy around lately?" She asked out of the blue.

Dash thought for a moment. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Fluttershy in almost a week. She never really noted her absence in the past, but there was very rarely pauses of this size in their meetings. "No, now that I think of it, I haven't seen her around at all. Have you?"

"No, and that's what worries me. I don't necessarily talk to her every day, but I do usually see her just about everyday, just casually strolling this way or that."

"Well when was the last time you heard from her?" Dash asked.

"Let's see.... I'd say about 4 days ago, she said you had an errand of some sort to run in Cloudsdale, and then she just seemed to disappear."

Cloudsdale. Paragon had been prancing around Cloudsdale like some arrogant little prince- sorry, KING- and

causing quite a ruckus. She'd heard that lots of people were getting harassed and bullied up there, and not

even necessarily by Paragon; in a lot of cases, the harassers were people taking orders from Paragon. They all

seemed to flock beneath him to support him, and Dash couldn't possibly think why. All she knew is that if

Fluttershy was one of the victims, and she had been hurt somehow.... there was going to be trouble.

"I need to go, Twilight. I'm going to go check on her." Without another word, Dash collected little Maree and

headed straight for Sugarcube corner. She knocked on the door, and shortly after, Pinkie Pie answered.

"Hey Dash! What's up?"

"Pinkie, I need you to take Maree back to my place and watch her for a while. I'm going to go look for Fluttershy."

Dash arrived in Cloudsdale after a relatively brief flight. Dash suddenly remembered she hadn't been

up here in a long time. It was... nice, to be up in the clouds again, with the clouds beneath her hoofs soft

and cushiony. But she couldn't focus on that now. She went looking throughout all of Cloudsdale, and luckily

she did not encounter Paragon or his fanatics, which saved her some hassle for now. When she eventually did

find Fluttershy, she was concerned from from the first glance. She was simply sitting alone, her head hung

low, being very quiet.

"Fluttershy! There you are! We're worried about you down below! you haven't been around for days." Fluttershy didn't say anything. "Hey come on, you could at least say 'hi'!" Dash said, walking right up beside Fluttershy.

"Oh.. I didn't mean to seem rude, Rainbow Dash, I just... hi." Was her meek response.

"

Well if that's all then, why don't you come on down, show everyone you're okay? They were all worried about you. What've you been doing anyway? You hardly ever come up here."

"Oh well, you know, i just had a little errand to run and... it took a little longer than I expected, so that's that." Fluttershy didn't make eye contact.

"Well then, come on! Let's get moving!" Dash put an arm around Fluttershy to hurry her along, but Fluttershy

yelped like a frightened dog, and pulled back. The shock of the unusual sound made Dash pull back immediately,

almost giving her a heart attack. She finally noticed for the first time that Fluttershy's left wing, which

she was previous unable to see from her vantage point, was bandaged all the way up and down right to the point

where the wing met the back. Dash's fears were becoming a terrible reality very fast. Not even really needing

to ask, she asked anyway.

"Dash... your wing... it was Paragon, wasn't it?"

"well I... I don't know.. I mean it was dark.. I.. didn't necessarily see-"

"Fluttershy." Dash got right to Fluttershy's face now, and spoke very slowly. "Did. He. Hurt. you?!" She asked sternly.

Fluttershy paused for a long time, and she hung her head very slowly. Tears were forming in her eyes, which

broke Dash's heart, but she didn't show it. Slowly, Fluttershy nodded in response to Dash's question. Dash

knew that was hard for her. Fluttershy hated confrontation, and hated blaming her misfortunes on others, even

when it was wholly their fault. "I-it was late at night..." She began. "I was flying along, minding my own business, and then he... well he sort of... bumped into me, and I flew into a pillar, breaking my wing, and I haven't been able to get around since." She explained. "B-but, I'm sure he didn't mean to, there's no reason to- I mean, I'm sure it was just an accident-"

"The hell it was!" Dash snapped, grabbing one of Fluttershy's hooves. "Come on." She pulled her along, despite Fluttershy's resistance.

"Dash please, don't he's bigger and better than you, and he could do terrible things-"

"I'm not going to back away now! This time he's gone too far! I'm settling this once and for all!"

Paragon, when one was looking for him, was not difficult to find. He was spotted with several unknown

cronies bullying some other pegasi, and he was at the center of it all, overseeing the assaults with

contemptful pleasure. Dash breezed by all of his followers and went straight for Paragon, still dragging

Fluttershy, who had ceased to resist at last. Paragon noticed her approaching, and chuckled mockingly.

"Ah! If it isn't the words most colorful silver medal, how has life been treating you since you lost to me?" He asked casually.

Dash ignored the question entirely. "Alright, listen here you little BASTARD, I can put up with just about anything. I don't like what you've been up to lately; in fact, I hate it. But I WON'T  let you go around hurting my friends. Now I want to say what you have to say about yourself to my friend."

Paragon remained as calm and smooth as ever. "And who might that be?" He asked, not even looking at Dash.

Rainbow Dash was furious at his reckless indifference. "HER!!" She seethed, pointing at Fluttershy. Their

entrance hadn't exactly been subtle, he had to have noticed who was with her, and surely he recognized her as a

victim.

"Ah, right I recall her! From a few nights ago if I recall. A weak flyer. Hardly flies at all. She's slow, and she's frail. She gave up without any fight at all. How boring." He chuckled slightly to himself, but then became very serious, almost angry. "I hate weak flyers. They make me feel shame for the mere fact that we are one and the same race. They are beneath me, and if you think I'll take even a moment's time to look that far down just to apologize to someone I don't know or care about, then you're sorely mistaken." He continue to regard Dash with virtual indifference, even walking away slightly. Dash had official lost her col, and marched right up to Paragon's face, looking him dead in the eye so that he had to look back at him.

"That's it! we're settling this right now! You and me, let's do it!" She demanded.

"What are you proposing, little girl?"

"One last race. You and me. If I win, you leave Cloudsdale alone from now one, AND you apologize not only to Fluttershy over there, but to everyone you've beaten, hurt, or antagonized at all since you got here."

"And if I win?" Paragon cocked a particularly curious eyebrow.

Dash paused for a long time. She knew her answer, but resisted having to say it for as long as she could. "If you win... you can do whatever you want. I won't be able to stop you, and I'll give up trying." She said finally.

Paragon was amused by this proposition. "Very well Rainbow Dash, I accept your foolish challenge."

Paragon and Rainbow Dash flew to the edge of Cloudsdale, with Fluttershy and a crowd in tow. Lots of

murmurs of anticipation, as well as several muffled insults could be heard coming from the audience that had

gathered. Dash had officially made a scene, yet again, and there was no turning back now. The two contestants

stood right on the rim of Cloudsdale's clouds, and Dash looked over the edge, Ponyville visible on the ground

below.

"Alright this'll be the biggest test you've ever been put up to!" Dash announced, turning to Paragon. "None of that sissy stuff we did in the Pegalympics, this is a super-sprint race!" Paragon was unaffected by the prominence of this challenge's title.

"You and me will race in a straight sprint from here-" She pointed at Ponyville, "-To the roof of town hall in Ponyville!" Fluttershy, standing next to Dash, looked very concerned. "Are you sure you can even do that?" She asked.

"Yes, can you? After all, that's an awful lot of top-speed flying for a little filly like you to be doing all at once!" Paragon chuckled mockingly.

"As a matter of fact, Paragon, I HAVE done it, and I can do it again!" Dash shot back.

"Well if that's how it is, then I suppose we've nothing left to do but begin!" Paragon now stood right next to Dash, observing the distance for himself. "Let's see... Ponyville is about 1.9 miles down, and about 1.6 out that way, which leaves a total linear distance from here to there of about..."

"2.48 miles." Dash interjected. Both Paragon and Fluttershy fixed here with a look. Dash simply shrugged.

"Believe it or not, Trigonometry was the one part of math I was really good at."

"Whatever. Let's just get this silliness over with." He motioned for one of his groupies to come over and

count them in. This was it. This was Rainbow Dash's last chance to redeem herself. And this time, she raced

not only for herself, but for Fluttershy as well.

"Racers, on your marks!" The pegasus started. Paragon and Rainbow Dash crouched down in their place,

preparing to take off. "Get set..." The pause lasted centuries. It still seemed to end too abruptly. "GO!"

They both took of with awesome force. Dash angled her flight immediately, aiming for the straightest

route from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. She knew that this race was different. In a level race, Paragon had the

edge with his superior thrust gained by his supreme wings, but in a race against gravity and wind resistance,

she had the advantage. This race was set up in such a way that you couldn't flap the whole way there; that

would be impossibly exhausting. At the same time, you couldn't just fall there either, you would need your

wings in order to guide yourself to the target accurately. This is a theoretical worst case scenario for

Paragon, as he would need to have his wings extended, without actually using them very much, other than the

occasionally flap. His supreme wings did indeed have a single major flaw; they created vastly more drag than

Dash's average wings. This prohibited him from moving as fast as Dash, thus lending the advantage to her. All

Dash had to do was keep an eye out for Paragon, in case he would try to sprint off the last length of the

course to pull off a come-from-behind. As long as she stayed ahead of him and didn't lose focus, this was a

guaranteed win. Oddly enough, however, she found that Paragon was no where to be found. He wasn't ahead,

beside, or behind her. Had he even gone at all? Then she spotted him. He was only barely visible. He had been

flying straight overhead. He was going the long way around! Fine by me, Dash though, that just makes this even

easier.

Paragon had begun to formulate a plan. He couldn't beat Dash in the challenge she had proposed; even

he knew that. And so, he had decided on an alternate course of action. He continued to fly straight outwards

until he was directly over Ponyville, and then he simply dropped like a stone. He tucked himself in tight,

making his massive frame very small, and his speed began to skyrocket. Dash looked up again, now a little over

the halfway point, to see Paragon's spec of a body starting to catch up. Fast. And then it hit her. It was

actually FASTER for Paragon to take the long route! He may not be able to fly the full length of the course,

but he CAN fly the horizontal distance from Coudsdale to Ponyville. From, there, he can sheer dive right on

top of the town, moving at tremendous speeds, more than enough to compensate for the extra distance he

traveled. He was currently moving more than twice as fast as Dash was. Dash began to realize that if she

didn't hurry up and win now, not only was her chance of losing still very real, it was almost certain.

Rainbow Dash started flapping as quickly as she could to give herself all the speed she could muster.

Could she keep it up? She wasn't sure. She had bluffed earlier. She was already starting to feel the burn from

the effort. It wasn't going to be easy, one way or the other. She looked ahead of herself. There was only half

a mile to go. She couldn't look back at Paragon. She knew no matter how close or far he was, it didn't matter.

She was putting everything behind this effort, and she needed total focus. The gap continued to close between

the two. it looked like it was going to be awful close. The burn was intense now, and Dash thought she might

let up for just a minute. She closed her eyes to push herself through the pain. When she reopened them, she

saw she was just a few hundred feet from the ground now. Mere moments from victory. As she approached, numerous

ponies from Ponyville looked up at them to watch. Dash was so close now she could almost taste it. The closer

she got, the more hopeful she was. Town Hall was RIGHT THERE!

And then it was over. In a moment of dead silence and heart-shattering disappointment, Paragon flew by

at a blurry speed, extending his wings at the last possible moment like a grand parachute, and his speed

plummeted. A moment ago, he was falling with the might of a meteorite, and now he landed atop Town Hall with

the grace and gentleness of a feather.

Dash almost stopped dead when she saw Paragon pass. She lost all energy. It was a colossal blow to her

ego once again, and for the second time in less than 2 weeks, she felt like she might cry again. She forced

herself to stop, though. She could never let him see that. She couldn't let anyone see that. She had failed

again. And this time, she didn't just fail herself. She failed Fluttershy too. She had never felt so useless

in her life. When she finally arrived on the scene, Paragon was hovering casual in front of the Town Hall

building, an unbelievably smug look on his face.

"Well, it seems you've embarrassed yourself once again, Rainbow Dash." He chuckled to himself. "Maybe now

you'll acknowledge my clear superiority." Dash said nothing. What could she say? "You're all the same. You and

your little mouse friend. Compared to me, you're just peasants. Underlings. Why should I have to apologize to

a lesser being? You've no right to tell me how to play with my own toys."

That was it. That was the trigger. Dash's misery snapped into a flying rage. Her pride had been mortally

wounded, and it may never recover, but she still owed it to Fluttershy. If it was the last thing she did,

she'd give him a good, solid crack in the face. She charged at him all at once, hoofs extended, with the

intent to tackle him right out of the sky and pummel him good. Paragon was unimpressed and unsurprised. He

ducked out of the way last second, leaving only the face of Town Hall in Dash's way. She could never have

stopped in time. Dash collided with the wall face first with a loud crack and fell the the ground without

another word. It was lucky for her that the impact knocked her out, otherwise it might have been quite

painful.

Dash awoke several minutes later. She was dizzy and sore in several places, most notably the front and

back of her head. She tentatively raised herself to a sitting position. A small crowd had gathered around

since she hit herself, and most of it had dissipated by now. There was no sign of Paragon anywhere. Fluttershy

came into the picture now, limping on another unknown pegasus's side to get down from Cloudsdale. She thanked

the pegasus, and he was off. Fluttershy walked over to Dash, with a face of sympathy and concern on her face.

Dash hated that face. She knew it meant she was about to be pitied. She hated being pitied.

"Oh dear, Dash, your nose.." Dash raised a hoof to her nose, and immediately regretted touching it. It stung badly, and her hoof had a bit of blood on it. She hadn't even noticed she was bleeding.

"How bad does it look?" Dash asked.

"Well, it's not... it looks like it might be a little.... crooked? You might want to get that looked at, you know, just in case.."

A broken nose. That's just what today was missing in order to be complete. Dash sighed heavily. "Alright, come

on, let's just go already." She didn't feel the need to explain what had happened. By the look on Fluttershy's

face, she knew Fluttershy was aware that Dash had lost, and was thankful that she chose not to pursue it as a

conversational direction.

"Are you sue you can get there on your own? Do you want to maybe lean on my good side for a little extra support?" Fluttershy offered.

"It's just a busted nose. No biggie. I can walk by myself." Almost perfectly on cue, Dash's dizziness almost

caused her to fall over. Fluttershy jumped forward t catch her, but Dash caught her footing in time and

brushed Fluttershy aside. She was going to make it to that office without assistance, no matter how slow or

unsteady it would be.

"Yup, that nose is definitely broken. Pretty badly too, I might add." Dr. Leon was examining Dash, once again taking over someone else's shift, and was just finishing up. "I don't think it'll need any procedures, but I'll need to bandage it at least to keep it aligned."

Dash was quiet most of the way to the office, and had said only the bare minimum for the duration of her stay.

She was completely drained of her usual energy. She had lost to Paragon twice now. It would be forever before

she could work up the nerve to face him again. He hopes had been dashed not just once, but twice. How could

she ever recover from that?

"Are you feeling alright, Ms. Dash?" Dr. Leon asked. "You're not yourself. You're so quiet."

Dash didn't reply immediately. "...Well... I guess I just had a rough day. I don't really feel like talking about it." Dash didn't look at Dr. Leon as she spoke.

"Well you know what they say, tomorrow's a new day. Hopefully tomorrow'll turn things around!" He said, trying to cheer Dash up.

"They also say tomorrow never comes. It's always today." Dash replied.

"Ah, that's true as well.." Dr. Leon coughed. "Well, everything else checks out. Other than your nose, you've got some bruising, but that'll heal up in a matter of days. I just need to apply your bandage and we'll be done."

"Thanks Dr. Leon."

Dr. Leon starts to apply the bandage, but he can't seem to stand silence, so he continues to talk. "So, How's little Maree?" He inquired.

"She's doing fantastic, actually. She's started speaking recently, and she can crawl." Dash reported, her mood changing to that of a much brighter one now.

"Wonderful! She's coming along so much faster than I ever expected!" Dr. Leon exclaimed. "And how's the racing career?" He continued to ask.

Dash hesitated for a moment. "Not bad, I guess. Although, I've been thinking of quitting."

Dr. Leon was surprised by this. "Quitting? Why you're the finest racer in Equestria, surely the career could be no more satisfying!"

"It's great and all, I know, but it just leaves with a sort of... empty feeling." She lied.

"Well, if you think that's best.... Ah, there, all done!" Dr. Leon said, stepping away from Dash. Dash looked

at herself in a mirror, a white rectangle stretched across her face. She could see there was a faint red mark

where she had been bleeding earlier. She wasn't pretty, but she was at least functional.

"Thanks again, Dr. Leon. I outta get going to check on Maree and all. I'm sure I'll see you again soon!" Dash

said, leaving the office.

It was evening when Dash finally got home. She hadn't realized she had left so late in the day to

challenge Paragon. Or, maybe, she had been out of it longer than she originally thought. None of that really

mattered, though. She was home now, and that was all that mattered. She had nothing to look forward to now but

the smiling face of her daughter and her friend, Pinkie Pie. The moment Dash walked in the door, she heard

Pinkie's voice calling to her from the living room.

"DASH, COME HERE QUICK!" Dash's mind instantly thought up a worst case scenario, and her face turned pale. Too

impatient to run, she instead flew into the living room to look for Pinkie. What have you done, Pinkie?!

Dash got to the living room and scanned it for Pinkie.

"Pinkie! I'm right here! what.. what are you.." She went silent. Pinkie didn't look up at Rainbow Dash. She

was lying against the far wall, and a single tear was rolling down her eye. But she was... smiling. She was

happy. Rainbow Dash looked toward the middle of the room to meet where Pinkie was looking. Instantly, the

soreness in Rainbow Dash's head and face faded, and the trials and tribulations that she had dealt with hours

ago seemed to utterly diminish in significance. All the anger, sadness, frustration and misery in her body

melted away as she beheld the most beautiful sight she had ever laid her eyes on:

Her daughter Maree, was standing in the middle of the living room, beaming up proudly at her.