Rainbow arched her face upward, smiling as the warm rays of the sun bounced off her coat. Wind whipped through her hair, the air attempting to push her back down. Rainbow Dash promptly ignored it and climbed higher into the sky.
She reached the apex of her flight moments later, pausing to experience the weightlessness that came with being suspended in the air. Her eyes darted downward in that brief, not-even-half-second to Ponyville below her.
Or more accurately, the speck that represented Ponyville.
This definitely wasn’t the highest Dash had ever flown, evidenced by the fact that she could still see the town. In fact, she hadn’t even gotten to the upper atmosphere. The air around her was thin, but breathable.
Her weight finally caught up to her, as if gravity realized what she was doing was not supposed to be happening and shouted in a very scolding tone, “Hey, get your fat pony FLANK back down here this instant!”
Sure thing, gravity. Dash thought as she grinned. But just this once.
Her rainbow mane—pushed back by the vertical climb—now flew in the opposite direction as she fell. An array of colors obscured her vision, but blew back in their place as she whipped herself around, facing the incoming ground.
Adrenaline ignited within her body: every muscle exploded with the rush, her wings flaring, her legs tucking, her mouth tugging into a grin. The wind roared past her ears as she flapped once. Twice. Three times.
She was accelerating, each flap pushing her speed higher. The ground raced toward her, the buildings of Ponyville ballooning from a speck to visible larger forms.
The air before her hummed. Forcing her eyes down, she saw the beginnings of a shockwave cone forming—the premonition of the one and only Sonic Rainboom.
As tantalizing as it was to follow through and enhance the town with a taste of her awesomeness, it was also probably a very bad idea to set off an explosion so close to the buildings.
Everypony would probably hate me if I broke all their windows… again.
With the ground still running at her, she started to pull up. As she changed direction, Dash slowed down to dissipate the cone.
Still, she was rocketing forward. Finding a comfortable spot over the tops of the buildings, she swooped through town. Her eyes unconsciously scanned the ground below.
A bouncy pink figure caught her attention first: Pinkie Pie. She barely had time to wave to Rainbow Dash before she blew past her.
Already on the next street, Rainbow looked around some more and she spotted another one of her friends. Up ahead, Applejack was manning her apple stand, dealing with an unusually long line. Rainbow thought about stopping to say hi, but she wouldn’t have the chance seeing as how she was only fifty feet away.
Ten feet away.
Nope, she was already out of sight.
And the force of Rainbow’s flying undoubtedly knocked over most of the apples.
Her ears flicked as an angry southern accent shouted at her. Internally, she cringed.
Yeah, I’ll have to apologize for that… later.
She flapped harder, picking up speed and distancing herself from Applejack.
After a few more blocks, Rainbow decided that if her friend was running after her, she’d probably given up by now and gone back to her apple stand. Letting loose a relieved sigh, she saw the edge of Ponyville come into view. She switched gears from accelerating to braking, beating her wings against the wind to slow her body down.
As she came to a halt, something pink and fuzzy caught her eye. Focusing, she saw Pinkie Pie standing not too far away, her hoof waving back and forth in a blur.
“Hi, Dashie!”
“Pinkie?” Dash blinked and looked back toward town. How did she… no way. “Hey, Pinks, you weren’t hanging out at the Mirror Pool again were you? ’Cause I swear I just saw somepony who looked just like you back at Sugarcube Corner.”
Pinkie giggled. “Nope, silly, that was me. I saw you fly by and waved, but I didn’t know you saw me, so I rushed over here to make sure I could give you a super-duper hello wave!” She waved her hoof at triple strength.
“But… how? I must’ve been hitting sixteen wing power easy! How’d you even catch up to me?” She paused as the realization dawned on her. “How did you even beat me here?”
Pinkie lowered her hoof, giggling again. “I ran of course.”
Dash pinched her lips. “You sure? I mean, not that I like to brag or anything—”
Pinkie snorted.
“—But I am the fastest pony in Equestria. How could your running possibly been on that level?”
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin, apparently pondering the question within the depths of her mind. Two seconds later, she had an answer. “I guess it just is.”
Dash’s eyelid twitched. “But I’m the fastest! What could be faster than the fastest? Heck, what would you even call that?”
“Fasterest?” Pinkie tilted her head in thought. “Or fastester?”
With a wave of her hoof, Dash groaned. “Look, it doesn’t matter what you call it, because it shouldn’t exist. There’s no way you’re faster than me.”
“But you said it yourself, Dashie, I beat you here. Doesn’t that mean I… kinda am?”
The query was innocent enough; it was rooted in logic and asked without malice. Not to mention that it came straight from the mouth of Pinkie Pie, a mare who did her best to always keep the ponies around her smiling. With all this in mind, most wouldn’t take offense from it.
Most.
Rainbow Dash was not most ponies.
“Oh, so you do think you’re faster than me, huh?” Her eyelids narrowed and she took a step forward. Pinkie, in turn, stepped back. Rainbow’s pride meant a lot to her—in fact, if it was a physical thing, it would undoubtedly be worth its weight in gold, which would weigh a lot—so she couldn’t have it being dented by anypony. “Well, guess what, Pie, that wasn’t even close to my top speed!”
“Okay,” Pinkie replied, keeping her tone as level and calm as possible, likely hoping to defuse the tension.
Naturally this only made Dash more tense.
“Fine, if you really want to see what it’s like when I’m actually trying, I guess we’re just going to have a race.” Dash flared her wings and smugly glared down Pinkie, doubting she would rise to the challenge.
Pinkie looked over her friend, eyebrow rising. Knowing how stubborn Rainbow could be, she knew the subject wouldn’t be dropped easily. Not accepting the race would be almost as bad as accepting and winning.
But there’s no chance that would happen, Pinkie thought. There’s no way I’m faster than the Rainbow Dash.
“Okie dokie lokie! Let’s race, Dashie.”
Dash responded with a blink. “Uh… right.” Her mask of determination came back in at full force. She dug her hoof into the dirt, etching a line into the soil. “One lap around town. First pony to cross here wins.” Her wings flared again. “Ready, set, go!”
She shot into the air, kicking up some of the grass in the process. Her wings folded down and pushed her forward. Buildings on the outskirts of town flew by, wind hissed next to her ear as the air was forced out of her way.
Glancing back, she grinned as there wasn’t any sign of Pinkie Pie.
She slanted her wings and turned as she came across the halfway mark. Even though it was pretty much over at this point, Dash didn’t slow down and gave it her all.
She felt a breeze brush past her ears. Dash blinked, almost missing a pink streak burst past her.
“Huh?”
It was too late to question what had just happened, the finish line was approaching. And what was already across it: Pinkie Pie.
Wait… WHAT?
Rainbow cleared the last few yards to the line in the dirt, jutting to a stop when she crossed it.
“Pinkie… how… what?”
She smiled sheepishly, but genuinely. “I guess I was faster than you thought, Dashie.”
Rainbow shook her head, her brain latching onto denial. “Hold on a minute—”
Pinkie wrapped her hooves around herself. “Holding!”
“—There’s no way you beat me.”
Unraveling herself Pinkie pinched her lips. “I think I kind of did and by a couple of seconds too.”
Dash ground her teeth together. “I’m telling you there’s no way! I mean, did you even move?” She gave Pinkie a hard look as she tried to determine if she was still in the same spot as before.
“Well of course I did, silly. Didn’tcha see me? I pulled right next to you for like, a whole millisecond!”
Come to think of it, that pink blur...
“No!” Rainbow’s eyelid twitched like a caffeine abuser in the midst of snorting sugar. “I couldn’t have lost.” I don’t lose!
“Okay…” Pinkie scratched her head. “Uh… Sorry, but I really don’t see how you could’ve won either. And we didn’t tie…”
She shook her head violently. “You know what, that race didn’t count. It was just... a warm-up. Got it?”
“Sure.” Pinkie’s voice was back to chipper. “So does that mean you want to race again?”
“Yes,” Rainbow answered immediately. She took her position at start again, crouching into a ready stance. “I’m ready for you now. There’s no way you’ll beat me this time, Pinkie.”
“Aaaaannnnnnnd fifty-nine.” Pinkie marked a tally into the dirt to join its fifty-eight brethren under the monomer ‘Pinkie’s Wins’. She turned her head back to her friend. “Are we chalking this one up as another warm-up, Dashie?”
Rainbow sucked in a breath. Sweat rolled off of her in buckets, soaking her mane, tail and everything in between. It glistened off her shaking wings as they drooped next to her sides. She took two more deep breaths before being able to respond. “Of course we are! Don’t you see how warm I’m getting?”
Shaking the sweat from her body, she beat her chest with her hoof. “I’m so freaking warm right now!”
“Gotcha.” Pinkie grinned as she crossed out the tally, like she had done to the previous fifty-eight. “So it’s still zero to zero then.”
“And I thought I asked you to stop keeping score!”
“Oh, whoopsie. I guess I forgot.”
As Dash grumbled something unintelligible, Pinkie looked down at the makeshift scoreboard. The side bearing Dash’s name was as blank as dirt could get, which was saying something given what Pinkie had seen on her old rock farm.
She pulled her lips into her mouth and utter a lengthy “hmmmm…” before giving Rainbow another glance. Concern bubbled within her thinking her friend might be pushing herself too far with all of these ‘warm ups’.
“You wanna call it a day?” she asked suddenly.
Dash snapped to attention, the sweat already reforming on her brow. “Are you kidding? I told you I was just getting warmed up before I take you down.”
“Okie dokie lokie then,” Pinkie replied, feigning perkiness.
Rainbow stretched out, feeling the burn of her muscles as they cried out for relief. Her lungs begged for mercy too, heaving with each breath she took. However, the dictator that was Dash’s brain silenced the complaints of its lessers, feeling the pressure to keep going.
It was just too difficult to admit that Pinkie was faster than her, or at the very least, this much faster than her. Rainbow was Wonderbolt material; she couldn’t afford to let anypony, even a friend, take that away from her. Though she had to admit it was getting harder and harder to keep up with Pinkie. Not to mention that she barely seemed winded after all of this, as if her well of hyperactive energy was bottomless.
Actually that was probably true, but it didn’t make Rainbow feel any better. Either way, she needed to prove she was faster and she’d better do it soon. Pinkie was likely going to start doubting the ‘still warming up’ excuse if she used it too many more times.
“We can take a break if you want,” Pinkie Pie spoke up.
“No, I’m—”
“I’ve got chocolate cupcakes.” Pinkie’s tone was tantalizing as she held of two of the treats in question.
Rainbow cocked her head in confusion. ‘Where did you even get those?”
“Oh, I stopped by Sugarcube Corner during our last race and picked them up. So you want one?”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. Now she’s just showing off. Not cool.
About to decline, she felt her stomach rumble. “Yeah, sure.”
Pinkie handed her one with a smile, glad that the topic of racing was dropped for the moment. Before Dash could get a bite in, the sounding of clopping hooves grabbed her attention.
“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack angrily blazed up to them. “Ya got some nerve, ya know that?”
Rainbow blinked, still breathing heavily. “Uh… okay?”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Don’t go trying to play innocent with me, ya hear? Or have ya already forgotten knocking over mah apple stand earlier?”
“Oh that.” Rainbow took a bite from her cupcake. “Look, I’m sorry and all, but can you get mad at me later? I’m kinda in the middle of something.”
“What could be so important that ya want me to shelve mah anger for?”
“We’re in the middle of taking a break before we race again,” Pinkie filled in for her. “Also, hi, Applejack!”
“Hi, Pinkie. Wait…” Applejack glanced between them as they ripped into their eclairs again. “The two of ya are gonna race?”
“We’ve been racing, actually.”
“Warming up,” Rainbow corrected.
“Rightie-o!” Pinkie leaned in toward Applejack and whispered, “The first fifty-nine times didn’t count.”
Applejack raised her eyebrow, her line of sight falling on the scoreboard. She didn’t even try to contain her laughter.
“Hey!” Rainbow grumbled as Applejack doubled over. “It’s not funny.”
“Uh huh, sure.” Applejack rolled on the ground, caught up in her laughter as Rainbow fumed.
“It’s not!” Rainbow folded her forelegs.
Applejack continued rolling around in a laughing fit, likely prolonging it as a way of getting Rainbow back for the apple stand incident.
“Okay, you know what? I’m going to beat Pinkie Pie this next time, no matter what!” She crossed her heart and jabbed her hoof in her eye, wincing slightly. “And that’s a Pinkie Promise.”
“Oh boy…” Pinkie whispered.
Rainbow polished off the rest of her cupcake and grinned with determination. I’ve got one more shot at this. She glanced over at Pinkie Pie, buffeting away her own exhaustion I guess I’m just going to have to go for a Sonic Rainboom. It’s my only chance.
“You ready for another round, Pinkie? ‘Cause this time it’s for real.”
“Ah gotta see this.” Applejack sat up.
Dash bounded into her starting position, with Pinkie Pie lagging a little bit.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait on this? I mean, making a Pinkie Promise is a big deal and you’re really tired.”
“I’m not that tired,” Dash yawned out. “I’ve just missed my afternoon nap and spent that last hour flying at top speed. I’m fine.”
“If you say so.” Pinkie bit her lip. “But are you abso-posi-lutely-tively sure you wanna do this?”
Dash flashed her teeth. “Heh, you think you’re gonna win, Pinkie? Like I told you, those other times were just warm ups. I’m bringing it now.”
Pinkie allowed a smile to break through her doubt. “Yeah… okay then. Bring it on, Dashie.”
“Ah guess Ah’ll referee, ’cause apparently, Dash won’t let me be mad at her ‘til this is outta the way,” Applejack said. The two of them tensed there muscles as Applejack raised her hoof to mimic a racing flag. “On yer mark, get set, g—”
Rainbow tore from the ground, snapping her wings out and taking the high skies. A half-second behind Pinkie bounced along, humming a cheery tune.
Climbing a little higher, Rainbow pushed faster, knowing she couldn’t afford to waste too much time trying to get a high altitude. Her wings were sore, but she ignored them. This was her last chance to beat Pinkie and she wasn’t wasting it.
When the tip of her mane brushed against the clouds Rainbow knew she didn’t have any time to go higher. Her eyes caught a pink blur down below, already halfway around the town.
This should be high enough. She shot towards the ground. Though, so much for not breaking any windows.
Wind smack her face and her eyes instinctively narrowed. The shockwave cone formed instantly, growing larger as she dive-bombed. Squinting, Dash saw Pinkie Pie’s form become clearer as they neared the same speed.
The muscles in her wings burned, but she barely noticed. She watched as the cone slanted and finessed into a point. Time seemed to slow as she felt herself squeeze through.
This is it!
Her ears popped.
It was the Sonic Rainboom. She couldn’t see it, but she knew what it felt like. Her body was moving so fast that the wind didn’t even feel like it was there anymore. The air didn’t even feel like it was being pushed out of her way, it was more like she was moving through it.
She pulled up before becoming one with the ground, her cheeks flapping backward as she pulled up alongside Pinkie.
Wait…
Shifting her eyesight over, she saw Pinkie running right next to her, her brow creased, her breathing short and sharp.
Holy crap!
This was the first time she’d ever caught up to Pinkie. If she wasn’t currently flying at hypersonic speeds, she’d probably break out in a victory dance.
But she knew it wasn’t over yet. They still had a quarter of town left to race past. Or about three milliseconds, either measurement worked.
With this in mind, Rainbow narrowed her gaze and pushed harder. The strain on her wings seemed nonexistent as she was propelled forward. Flapping as much as possible, she felt her body inch forward. Then Pinkie. Then her.
She squeezed her eyes shut as they blew past the finish line, sending a cloud of dirt into the air and catapulting Applejack away.
Rainbow’s hooves skidded onto the dirt, digging in a trail as she attempted to slow herself down. Her adrenaline had spiked when she’d pulled off the Rainboom, but it now dropped to a more manageable level.
Once she was buried up to her chest, the skidding stop and she opened her eyes. She glanced around cautiously at first, expecting to see Pinkie in an equally long skid mark nearby. Then she remembered that it was Pinkie Pie and she shouldn’t expect anything.
“Congratulations, Rainbow Dash!” an enthusiastic shout rang out.
Rainbow turned to be greeted by the energetic wave of Pinkie. As she climbed out of her skid-hole, the realization of what just happened slapped her across the face.
“Wait… you mean I won?”
Pinkie grinned widely as she trotted up. “Yupperoni! It sure was a close one, but your Sonic Rainboom pushed you over the top... And gave the town a wonderful shattered glass collection.” She waved her hoof to indicate several now-windowless buildings.
It took a moment for the words to sink in.
“Whoohoo!” Rainbow pounced into the air with joy. “I did it! I knew I could beat you, Pinkie Pie! Nopony’s faster than Rainbow Dash!” Despite her sore wings, she lept into the air and began a victory lap around town.
Pinkie watched her take off, but was distracted by a muffled groan.
“Uh… Pinkie? Think ya could lend me a hoof?”
She shot a glance behind her, noticing Applejack lodged in a nearby tree. Her limbs were splayed about, hooked onto various branches in a contorted pretzel style. After a little struggle, it became apparent that Applejack couldn't free herself from the mess.
With a wince, Pinkie bounded over. “Well that doesn’t look too good, but on the plus side, I bet you’ll be super flexible when you get down!” She unraveled Applejack from the branches a limb at a time.
“So Rainbow actually beat ya?” Applejack wondered aloud, disentangling her midsection.
Pinkie nodded.
“Well shucks. Ah’ll be honest, Ah doubted she would. Sure is good Ah didn’t place a bet, or nuthin’.”
“Well, of course she was going to win, silly,” Pinkie said, halfway through freeing Applejack. “She Pinkie Promised she would and there was no way I was letting her break it.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes as she slowly lowered herself. “Wait… are ya sayin’ ya let Dash beat ya?”
Pinkie’s eyes darted to the left. “I’m not not saying that she may have, or may not have won, or not won by herself.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, born mostly from confusion instead of suspicion. “Uh… what?”
Pinkie sighed. “I… might’ve… let her… win.” She coughed.
Smiling, Applejack put her foreleg around Pinkie. “That was awfully nice of ya.”
“You can’t tell her!” Pinkie asserted. “She might go all loco in the coco again and push herself crazy hard wanting to beat me for realzies.”
“Ah won’t tell her, but Ah won’t lie if asked about it.”
Pinkie nodded in understanding. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my—” Applejack jabbed a hoof into her cornea. “AH! Consarnit that never gets easier.”
PInkie giggled. “No, it really doesn’t.”
At that moment, Rainbow completed her victory lap, with only twenty ponies complaining about the broken windows.
“Hey guys!” she yelled ecstatically. “What are you doing standing around? We have to celebrate my victory! Come on, let’s hit up Sugarcube Corner. Cake on me!”
“Ah’m down for it! It’ll begin to make up for knockin’ over mah cart earlier.” Applejack pinched her lips as she surveyed the array of cracked and broken windows back in town, along with the ponies who had come out in angry curiosity to inspect the damage. "In fact, ya might need to buy cake for everypony in town at this point."
Dash rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Heh... yeah."
“Cake sounds super yummy to me!” Pinkie interjected in an attempt to keep a more jovial mood.
“Race you there?” Dash asked, winking.
Pinkie laughed softly to herself. “Yeah… better not.”
