Tears in their eyes

All eyes were on the Wonderbolts they lined up on the racing starting line. It wouldn't be that much of an exciting race eveypony knew who would win. She was the fastest mare in all of Equestria. The element of Loyalty herself, Rainbow Dash.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! When will they start the race! I want to see Dashie fly!" Pinkie said. The five other ponies including Starlight, looked at her. Twilight sighed. 'This again.' she had to explain to Pinkie every time they went to a Wonderbolt show.

"So do we, Pinkie. But ponies like to make bets." Twilight told her. Even though nopony knew, Twilight had placed her money on Rainbow, Prince Blue Blood thought that Fleetfoot would win. So Twilight made a bet with him. Come on, Rainbow! I have fifteen bits on you!' she thought silently to herself.

"Exactly!" Applejack said. She -also- made a bet. But against Granny Smith. Well technically it was against herself. Granny just nodded her head and said 'That's right, Sugarcube. Wait? What's right?'

"But still! I don't see why everypony else has to wait! I mean why can't you just bet after the race?!" She complained. None of them had seen Dash in a few days, she was to busy practicing and preparing for the race. She was kinda scary when she was in competition mode. She wouldn't eat, sleep, or rest until she was 120% sure she would win. Starlight stumbled a laugh.

"I don't think you know how to bet, Pinkie." She said. The others nodded. Pinkie looked more gloomy.

"Well, I don't know about you, but these seats do not match the Wonderbolts caps. I mean please can you believe how bad chose of colors? I mean a dark crimson and a light brown do not complement each other. I mean-" Rarity would of continued her rant, but she was interrupted by Pinkie.

"Oh! Would if colors could talk! I mean what would they even sound like!? I mean i think a greeny color would sound like a A.J because her eye color is a greeny color. White would be Rarity-ish. Purple Twilight! Oh! What would Fluttershy's color be?! Oh oh oh! What would Dashie's?! I mean she is Rainbow Dashie!? So what color would she be?! I mean-. Oh! What in all of Equestria! What would colors taste like? What would Dashie taste like? Applejack would most likely taste like apples! Twilight would probably be books. Oh! Never eat a book unless you want to know the book word-for-word. I mean, really. Beside that Cupcakes book is kinda creepy. But I thought it was was about cupcakes, but I couldn't read a book about cupcakes without having my mouth water. And then I saw the word cupcakes on it and well I got hungry! So-" Starlight magically made a zipper that went over Pinkie's mouth to stop her from talking because nopony was actually listening anymore. Or they tried and couldn't keep track. Whatever the case Pinkie kept talking.

"Hum. Okay." Fluttershy said. "Uhm... Pinkie? We should save our voices so we can cheer on Rainbow Dash when she is flying.... Oh, if that's okay with you." She told Pinkie. Pinkie stopped talking and nodded her head in understanding.

"Shush! The race is about to start!" Spike said. It was true, the racers were at there marks. They were mean to do five laps around this three mile round track. Intense, right?

"I got my bet on Sorain Skies. He is sure to bring down the house." A passing pegasus said to her friends.

"Ugh?! Him? He is no match for Spitfire." Said another pegasus.

"Well obviously, you two haven't done any history on the Wonderbolts. I'm betting on Rainbow Dash." The two other ponies looked at her than at each other.

"Okay, maybe I should of betted on Rainbow Dash." Said the first pegasi.

"Me too." The three one smiled.

"It's okay! We can all go to the Rainbow Dash fanclub meeting tomorrow!" She said.

"Oh my! A fanclub? My she has gotten popular." Rarity said, a little jealous. She also was a little bit envious of Rainbow Dash and her fanclubd and popularity. In fact why didn't she have a fanclub? Rarity was gorgeous, generous, and fabulous!

"Shh! Sorry, Rarity, but they're about to race!" Twilight told her. Rarity nodded her head. The announcer said some words, have a clean race, blah, blah, blah.

"And now! The moment we all have been waiting for! Ready.... Set...... GO!" The Wonderbolts took off with unimaginable speed and grace. Everypony hooted and hollered. But none as loud as Fluttershy.

The speed was so intense, that Rainbow Dash had to shut out everything. Every sound, every movement. Soon she didn't even know how fast she was going or how many laps she was in. She glanced over her shoulder. Like normal the other Wonderbolts were right on her tail. Now they knew how to race. They never let her have an easy victory. Unlike Twilight or Fluttershy. Suddenly she didn't notice, but a pillar was coming up, and it was coming up fast. Dash didn't notice it and and rammed her wing into it. Not wanting to be pulled out of the race she keep flying. It hurt like crazy, but she didn't want to bail out. She could tell she sprained it. She sprained it before and remembered the same pain. Slowly the other racers started to pass her. Well only two, but Rainbow wasn't going to let Spitfire and Sorain bet her! She is the fastest mare in Equestria! She forced her wings to go even faster. But they were tired out from days worth of practice and the sprain. So instead of speeding up, they gave out, and Rainbow Dash began to hurtle down toward the ground that was hundreds of feet below.

The girls watched in horror as Rainbow Dash began to fall. The other Wonderbolts stopped racing and began to dive down frantic to save their fallen teammate. The crowd inhaled. Holding their breath, they waited. Twilight was the first to shake out of it. She shook her head and nudged Fluttershy. They both opened their wings and began to dive downwards.

Rainbow Dash saw her life flash between her eyes. She saw herself get her Cutie Mark. When she moved to Ponyville, when she met her friends, the defeat of Nightmare Moon, Running of the Leaves, and every other time with her friends and family. But when she blinked again, she saw the Wonderbolts, Twilight, and Fluttershy diving towards her. But then she saw it. She saw the tears in their eyes. They were afraid. They were afraid that she might die.

"Don't worry," Rainbow tried to yell over the wind. "Death doesn't scare me." She told them. Then Rainbow closed her eyes and waited for death to come. But when she impacted the ground. She didn't feel pain. She already knew that she would die flying. Her only regret is that see never got to say goodbye properly to her friends. Or her family.

The pegasi and alicorn gathered around the broken, mangled body. Each one with tears in their eyes.

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy whispered as she buried her face into Twilight's chest

The End.