The life and times of Lafayette Ryder

I lunge forward and begin to sprint, to my left Rainbow does the same. She takes the lead and I let her, she gains twenty and then thirty feet on me and keeps it. I can see her plan already, she races like the hare; everything at the start and then she takes it slow when she has a lead that no one can catch up with.

Perfect.

My sprint slows to a fast jog and she gains even more distance. If I work this out just right.

Yes! Two hundred feet in front of me now I see Rainbow slow to a jog as well, now it’s time to show her why it pays to be like the tortoise.

I resume my sprint and concentrate. Soon my body falls into rhythm and my speed increases even more.

One, two, one, two.

Left, right, left, right.

My breathing synchronizes with my footsteps, my arms pump furiously and my stride space out. In under a minute I’m tied with Rainbow again, she hasn’t noticed me yet and now I’m in front of her. She sees me and catches up. I’m going almost all out now and I couldn’t stop if I wanted to. I know that she is right next to me but I don’t care, it’s not like she’s going to pass me up.

We pass Sweet Apple Acres but I pay it no mind, my eyes are on the ground in front of me and the blue Pegasus by my side. She starts to fall back and flaps her wings a bit. A bit of a rule breaker are we? I ain’t even mad.

It’s a long way from Fluttershy’s place to town, more than a mile I think, but Rainbow and I keep going, head to head and as fast as we can.

We enter Ponyville, both of us are winded but neither of us will refuse to slow down. My face turns a bit blue and I begin to breathe through my mouth. Rainbow’s wings are now fully extended and pumping along with her legs but she still can’t pass me.

I can see Sugercube Corner now, I can see the mare next to me and how desperate she is to win, what I don’t see is a rock on the ground.

With five feet to go I trip and face plant, Rainbow collides into the door of the bakery and begins to shout about her victory. Not being a sore loser I congratulate her once I’m standing again. Being sadistic is fun but seeing someone as happy as Dash is right now feels good too. I pat her on the back and we both walk into Sugercube Corner.

Twilight and Fluttershy are both already inside, Twilight tells me that she teleported the two of them here, and we all get a table. Rainbow and I both guzzle down a few gallons of water and she brags about her flawless victory, I just smile and nod. Pinkie comes over and tells us that my welcome party (Thank you God for her not going with a let’s bang party) will be tomorrow night. We all discus our group dinner plans tonight and what time it’ll be. Just before Twilight and I leave Rarity walks in to inform me that some of my clothes are done and that I should wear them tonight. Twilight and I accompany her to collect the clothes before we head back to the library.

We wave to everyone in the bakery as we leave. We follow Rarity towards her boutique and are halfway there when Twilight asks me a question.

“So how exactly did you lose the race anyway?”

“Oh, Rainbow thinks I tripped on a rock and fell.”

“Ahh. Wait, she ‘thinks’ you tripped?”

“Yeah, what you really thought a little pebble would trip me up? Naw, I just couldn’t stand to show her up. I wouldn’t want to make her cry or anything.”

Though I don’t make a point of looking at them I could tell that Rarity and Twilight both wear small smiles.

Hey, sometimes losing isn't all that bad.