The Idea Bin

It was something to be relished, the feel of the steering wheel in her hooves, the rush of air blowing through her mane. Rainbow Dash would have given anything to be able to slam her hoof down on the accelerator and allow her custom made race car to reach its peak speed, to sit back and watch as the world around her became nothing more than a blur, until all that existed was the finish line and her ripping a crevice in the road behind her as she sped towards it.

She wanted to be able to do that, but she had learned the hard way what happened when she picked up too much speed on this particular course. The Manehattan track was notorious for its sharp corners and hairpin curves, and they had resulted in her most crushing defeat yet, one she may never be able to live down.

Not this time though, never let it be said that Rainbow Dash didn’t learn from her mistakes. What was the old saying? Slow and steady wins the race? She had never been a fan of that particular moral before, but she was taking it to heart this time as she carefully monitored her speed, rounding each corner with absolute precision. She allowed herself a grin, she had this one in the bag, at least she did until…

“Hey Dashie!” Pinkie Pie’s voice cried as she overtook Rainbow, speeding around the corner with ease and quickly accelerating ahead.

Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock for a fraction of a second. How could anypony make that turn so fast without crashing?

“Only Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow muttered darkly as her eyes flickered to the large red button to the right of her steering wheel.

She had picked up that crate a while back and had been saving what was inside for a moment just like this. Taking the wheel in one hoof, she moved her now free one across and slammed the button three times in quick succession. Three missiles fired from her car bonnet, jetting forward straight for Pinkie Pie’s candy themed car, or more specifically, her burning hot tail pipes.

Pinkie’s car was launched into the air from the impact of the first missile, before the next two collided with her keeping her cushioned in the air just long enough for Dash to speed past her. Her grin returning, she rounded the last corner onto the final stretch of mercifully straight road, the finish line shining like a beacon at the very end. With reckless abandon, she stomped down on the accelerator and sped straight to victory, that was the plan at least.

In retrospect, if she hadn’t been so focused on the finish line she might have noticed the trap Pinkie had left during the last lap. As it was however, she didn’t notice the puddle of soap, not until she had driven straight through it. She didn’t even have time to register that something was wrong before her car began spinning uncontrollably. All around her the world became a blur, but not like in her fantasy, she couldn’t even tell which way the finish line was now.

Dash gritted her teeth and swore internally, if she hadn’t been going so fast… If she had of looked at the road… Praying that Pinkie was still far enough behind that she could salvage this, Dash took her hoof away from the accelerator completely before slamming it onto the brake. Her car came to a screeching, spinning stop, and as Dash’s vision began to return to normal she made out the finish line mere inches ahead of where her car had stopped.

She was even pointing in the right direction, all she had to do was start up and drive forward one metre and she would have won. But in typically cruel fashion, the universe chose that moment to allow Pinkie Pie to return, overtaking Rainbow Dash once again and claiming victory for herself.

Dash’s head fell forward, slamming into her steering wheel causing her horn to blare out across the street. She was lucky this had only been a friendly match, if it was the real thing she’d be out of the running and she could kiss that trophy goodbye… as well as any hopes she had of winning back Scootaloo’s love from that snake Lightning Dust.