Broken Record
It was about beating the world. Not the time. Time was just the score. It was pumping those wings, pulling forward just right to cut drag, force the air beneath down just enough to keep airborne. Ride the thinnest of margins. Feel your heart hammering deep in your chest. Everything was trying to slow you down, pull you down, hold you back.
You just had to push... through...
And when you zipped through the ring of clouds... when you passed the magic sensor that told the world you were done... then you checked the time. Then you find out if the world had got you, or if you beat the world. Panting. Lathered. Exhausted. All to hear those five words: “Wow. That’s a new record.”
It’d been something Rainbow Dash used to hear a lot. Every year a new trial. Every year she’d find that something and push a few seconds further. And a few seconds further. And sure, the other bolts would get close. Sometimes they’d even nudge past her for a month or two. But she’d take it back.
Because she was Rainbow Dash. World record holder for air relay, tight slalom, loose slalom, 1km sprint, overland marathon record, oversea marathon record, and the land speed record. For six years, in all the record books, her name appeared over and over again.
Because she was Rainbow Dash.
But she knew it wouldn’t last forever. She knew that. Any little thing could throw you off. A stiff wing joint. Dragging a hoof an inch too low. These were the things that cost you seconds. Still, there was a part of her that couldn’t help but chuckle when she got to say ‘Ooooh, so close, but I’m still three seconds ahead.’ Two seconds. One second. Half a second.
Of course the air relay went first. It was a team score, averaged across the fliers. Naturally that one would be the one to fall off. She didn’t feel bad at all, grinning and proclaiming proudly that they’d finally beaten Rainbow Dash!
Still...
After the celebration, she’d gone out on the porch at Applejack’s, sipping a mug of hot cider. “Y’all okay?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, sure. It was a great race. Did you see Golden Sun slap that baton perfectly into Mistopheles’ hoof? It was like watching a pony pass it to themselves!” Rainbow Dash laughed, passing her mug from her left hoof to her right. And it was true. You usually lost a second or two in the passing. A second to get speeds matched and to pass it from one to the other. One mistake and a dropped baton was a lost race. But those three had been so synchronized from the outset that they just... beat her.
“And they beat yer record,” Applejack added. “You’re okay with that?”
“They didn’t beat me!” Rainbow snorted, rolling her eyes. “They beat me, Soarin, and Lighthoof. If we could pass batons that fast, we’d still have the record.”
“Uhuh,” Applejack said a moment, arching a brow as if she suspected a rotten apple somewhere in the barrel. “Well, glad you’re takin it so well. Comin to bed?”
“I’ll be along in a bit. Just need to unwind a little more. It was a good day,” she said as she settled back with a relaxed smile.
“Alright. Might be I can help with that unwindin,” she said and she moved in and kissed Rainbow’s cheek.
“Thanks. I’ll try to be in soon,” Rainbow said, nuzzling Applejack’s muzzle. The orange mare nodded and trotted into the farmhouse. Rainbow just set back, looking at the stars coming out as the sun set. It’d be a heck of an aerial relay. The kind you never imagined you’d see...
Like the sun, her smile disappeared slowly as well. It’d be a long time before she made it to bed.
Of course, she wasn’t really racing anymore. Exhibition flying, mostly. She wasn’t even doing the ‘flashy flying’ folks knew so well. She was still an amazing flyer. Better than most folks had ever seen. But putting 120% out there was harder than it used to be. The oversea marathon record fell to a hippogriff, Sea Gale. Well, no surprise there. Flying almost halfway around the world across ocean was something few managed. And they likely caught a tailwind or something. That was just something you did on marathon flights. If you caught the tailwind just right, it could carry you on and on. Heck, you could sleep if you could trust the wind and your wings.
She wasn’t upset about that one at all. Flying over the ocean was pretty simple! Now flying over land, with trees and mountains and the like... THAT was challenging!
Of course, she was the bar to beat. She heard folks in the gym flying against new fangled wind machines and ‘hydroflying’. She’d tried it, but all it did was leave her feeling beat up, not faster. Who ‘flew’ into a jet of water anyway? But she heard them laughingly say how they all planned on beating her. And she’d grin and taunt them to try.
And they did.
Loose Slalom went next. That wasn’t much of a surprise. It was all about rhythm, and these young colts and fillies seems to have it all down. Was it just her, or were they picking up exercises and moves faster than she did? She trained the very mare that snatched the record from her. Afterwards, Starblaze put one of her massive, muscles wings around Dash, crying as she told the world how much Rainbow Dash inspired her to overcome her weak wings. What could Rainbow do, besides grin and smile and say how proud she was? And she was proud! She was.
Still, she’d been proud of that record. Ten poles twenty meters apart. Back and forth and back again. Still, there was no way Starblaze was going to get the tight slalom record. Her wings were too wide for those tight maneuvers
No, that record was won by her brother, Moonbeam. And Rainbow had stood there, grinning and patting the sweaty stallion on the shoulder as he praised her and said how proud he was to be the new world record holder. And how did Rainbow Dash feel?
“Great! Just great! Couldn’t be prouder!” And she was proud.
She was.
It just didn’t seem fair. Why were there all these colts and mares with these long wings and stiffer pinions? And they were using magic to train too. Magic! It wasn’t like they were using magic to cheat... just to train. Still, she’d never used magic to create more drag to fight against. She hadn’t thought of it. But now people were talking about which young flier was going to overtake Dash next. Take her out. Tear her down.
Beat her.
“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, putting her hooves around Rainbow’s neck from behind and nuzzling her. “You been a mite sour. What’s twistin yer gut?”
“I’m fine, Applejack. I just... do you think it’s fair to use magic to train?”
“What’s that now?” Applejack asked with a start.
“Magic? Or fire hoses. Or giant rubber bands. Computers? What’s wrong with just being as fast as you can be?”
“Well... maybe they just got to do all that stuff to be as good as you natural like?” Applejack suggested. The appeal to her ego, normally a guaranteed weak spot, did little to break her from her funk.
“Maybe,” Rainbow muttered. “Still feels wrong though.”
And getting her overland marathon record shattered didn’t help either. Not just broken. Shattered. Cambion had exceeded her time by over three minutes, and was barely sweaty at the award ceremony, laughing about how easy it’d been. No smiles for the camera this time. It was all Rainbow could do to keep her mouth shut till after the awards.
No pony flew three thousand kilometers and called it easy. She called in a favor. Got a sample. Had it tested. Sure enough, thaumaturgical residue was detected. Of course he claimed the residue was just from his training, but on the retest, he’d fallen short of her record by eighty seconds. Rainbow felt a thrill of vindication...
“Is Rainbow Dash sabotaging the competition?!” Rainbow gasped as she read the headline aloud in the kitchen. “'Rainbow Dash called in Princess of Friendship to ensure her record!' He was the one cheating, not me!”
“Ehhh...” Applejack muttered from her jam jars.
“You don’t believe this, do you?” Rainbow demanded, smacking the article with her hoof.
“I’m not sayin what he did was right. I’m just not sure you should be gettin this worked up. I mean, you didn’t expect that you’d have the record forever, did ya?”
“No, but if I lose it, I want to lose it to a pony that deserves it! Not one that’s using an enchantment to beat me. If I wanted to compete against an alicorn, I’d challenge Flurry Heart to a race.”
“Yeah, don’t think ya can beat teleportin,” Applejack chuckled. “Just sayin that maybe you should just... relax. If it happens, it happens. Doesn’t make you any less.”
Rainbow took a deep breath and glared down at the picture of Cambion above the article. The stallion had been in tears, pleading that he hadn’t cheated. That his trainer had only told him it’d make him faster. That he’d just caught a headwind last time. Then she tossed the paper into the trash and trotted out.
Cambion hung himself a week later.
It was harder to be in the gym after that. Even Starblaze and Moonbeam were keeping their distances. She was glad to see they were using magic less, but somehow the looks that they gave her... like they were afraid she’d catch them at something. Had they cheated too? It was so hard to fake a smile. So hard to honestly tell them how to fly better, when that voice hissed ‘They’re going to beat your record. They’re going to beat you.’
Pretty soon, no one was asking to be trained by Rainbow Dash. People weren’t really all that interested in her exhibition flights either. Cambion’s suicide had twisted everything up. Had he really cheated? Had Rainbow Dash crossed a line getting Twilight to check him for magic? It made no sense. Why were the papers taking his side? Did they want to see her records beaten?
When Comet Blaze beat her 1km sprint, he didn’t smile. The orange pegasi stallion had wordlessly handed over three different samples, as if daring her to suggest that he’d done something to cheat. And she’d had all three tested, and even a fourth. No argument. He’d beaten her. It was his grim, determined face selling cereal and figurines. ‘The Stallion Who Beat Rainbow Dash.’ Even when she tried to honestly congratulate him, other athletes made ‘memes’ of her being drug along, holding his tail.
When Sunrise Song beat her overland marathon record, Rainbow didn’t even show up. And the papers talked about that too. She’d quietly retired from the Wonderbolts.
She’d always been a flier. A winner. A fighter. But now it was like she was stuck in a fog. No matter how fast she flew, she couldn’t catch up. No matter how hard she’d won back then, winning now was all that mattered. If she fought, it was just because she was jealous and bitter. It was Applejack who kept her together, but she couldn’t shield her from the truth: some one was going to beat her last record.
Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. It combined all the challenges of a sprint with the challenges of overland and distance flight. Time, divided by distance, divided by cumulative change in altitude. Most people used the Canterlot-Yakyakistan route, like Rainbow had two decades ago. Not enough up and down and you’d never get your numbers low enough. Too far, and you'd wear out and time would lag. Not far enough, and you wouldn’t have enough distance. It was a big deal.
And it seemed like every flyer wanted it.
Rainbow Dash tried to avoid the sports rags, hoping that her score would get beaten one day and that would be that. She couldn’t avoid the reporters though. Coming to the farm, asking her opinion about this flyer or that flyer. And she tried to smile and confess that she wasn’t following the training that closely anymore, but that she urged every flyer to play fair and try their hardest.
“Do you feel guilty about Cambion?” they’d eventually ask, and the interview would be over. And they’d report on that too.
No, because he was a cheater. And there were a lot of cheaters. It was getting hard to figure out where ‘cheating’ stopped and ‘training’ started. Were special high protein diets cheating? How about healing spells to accelerate recovery after matches? What about zebra potions? Pure oxygen tents? When had everyone decided that the means didn’t matter, so long as someone beat her record? And there were bonafied cheaters. Pegasi using a unicorn partner to juice their flight. Zebra magic. One clever pair of twins had used a unicorn to teleport one, then the other, down the flight path.
Just fly faster than her at her best. That’s it. That’s all you had to do. Not these... gimmicks.
Of course, she couldn’t say no to Scoot.
“I’d really love if you could show up to this party,” the instructor said as Rainbow relaxed on her porch. “There’s a lot of people who’d love to see you. Soarin and Spitfire both.”
Rainbow signed. “So it’s like a Wonderbolt reunion?”
“Yeah. Just a casual thing,” Scootaloo assured her.
“No reporters?” Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Well... I can’t guarantee–”
“Pass.”
“She’ll be glad to show up, Sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted as she brought lemonade out.
“Great!” the mare gushed. “You’re welcome too, Applejack.”
“Nah. This sounds more like a fliers sort of thing,” Applejack said with a lazy smile. When Scootaloo rode off on her new electro-scooter, Applejack faced Rainbow squarely. “You’re goin.”
“No, I’m not, Applejack,” Rainbow countered, putting on her best grumpyface.
“Then what are ya gonna do? Take a nap?” Applejack asked with an arched brow.
Rainbow sighed. “No one wants me there.”
“Scoot does. And I reckon Spitfire and Soarin will too,” Applejack countered. “Yer goin. I ain’t gonna watch you mope around here anymore.”
Rainbow shook her head, lips screwing up even tighter. “Not moping. Not going.”
“I’ll get the hose,” Applejack warned.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Rainbow growled back. Two very wet minutes later, Rainbow took to the skies, sputtering. “Okay! Okay! I’ll go!”
“And I’ll be askin Scoot if ya’ll showed up,” Applejack warned as Rainbow Dash flew off. If she was going to show, and now she had to, she wasn’t going to look like an idiot. She made sure she had her Wonderbolts jacket and glasses. Maybe if she was lucky she’d look cool enough people wouldn’t think she was a loser...
Sweet Celestia... was she still a filly, obsessed with others looking up to her?
“Okay. Relax. Be there for Scootloo, talk to Spitfire and Soarin. Have some snacks. Leave. If I can face the end of Equestria, multiple times, I can handle this.”
It’d been five years and Wonderbolt Academy hadn’t changed that much. A little easier for ground ponies to access with that elevator. Newer gadgets on the tower. Radios were a big thing now. Rainbow arrived, not sure which she was dreading more: reporters mobbing her about some up and coming flyer, or no one coming at all.
So she was pleasantly surprised when a bunch of old Bolts trotted out to meet her. “Hey! It’s Rainbow Crash!” Fleetfoot rasped with a grin.
“Hey, it’s Hoofinmouth!” Rainbow called back, almost reflexively. They all trotted inside, where a banner proclaimed the 1041th anniversary of the Wonderbolts. A crowd immediately stomped their hooves in greetings, and she spotted Scootaloo in the crowd. Flashes from reporter’s cameras lit the assembly, but no one was calling out about her land speed record or Cambion. Had they finally moved on?
After a few short speeches from the new Wonderbolt Captain, Vapor Trail, and the other captains, it was time to mingle. The crowd wasn’t too large. It wasn’t like this was a special anniversary. Just something for Wonderbolt and sports fans and their families.
“Hey Scootaloo,” she said as she located the mare by the punch bowl.
“Hey Rainbow!” she cheered, darting in for a quick, fierce hug. “I’m so glad you made it!”
“Yeah,” she said, noticing a mare standing right behind Scootaloo.
And what a mare...
Her whole body was gun metal gray, her midnight blue mane kept in a tight, aerodynamic sweep. Every muscle was almost perfectly defined under her hide. Rainbow doubted she had more than eight percent body fat. Her pinions stretched an extra six inches further beyond her back and she had to be at least three inches taller than Rainbow. It was a pegasi with alicorn wings. She fixed Rainbow with a level gaze. “Hey,” she muttered, casually, as if this was no big deal.
Rainbow’s smile slid away. This was what Scootaloo had brought her here for? To introduce her to a mare that was going to shatter the last bit of pride she had left. “Hi,” Rainbow said, feeling like she was going to toss her canapes.
“Oh, stop trying to be so cool!” Scootaloo laughed, throwing both hooves around the gray mare’s neck... she needed both to get all the way around... before turning to Rainbow. “Rainbow. This is Cannon Steel. Cannon. This is Rainbow.” She snickered and thumped Cannon’s shoulder with a hoof. “Like I need to tell you.”
Rainbow stared as the mare suddenly averted her eyes and was blushing! “Nice to meet you?” Rainbow offered, suddenly feeling as if she was trotting on cirrus clouds.
“Cannon’s Rumble’s little filly? Can you believe it? He married Wind Sprint and here’s the result!” Scootaloo said proudly. “She’s a student at the school of friendship, and she really, really wanted to meet you.”
“You did?” Rainbow murmured, not sure if the cloud she stood on was going to give out completely. Cannon wasn’t just amazing. She was the offspring of an amazing flyer and an amazing hoofball player. She recalled Quibble writing about the wedding ages ago, but hadn’t realized he now had a grandfoal... a grandfoal who was the same age as Rainbow when she’d started winning records...
Cannon suddenly lunged forward and took her hoof between hers. “Of course I did! You’re THE Rainbow Dash! You’re the most amazing athlete in modern history!”
“Not so amazing anymore,” Rainbow chuckled, but couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Of course you are. Did you know there are whole books about flying like you? Heck, I think there’s three ‘Rainbow Dash’ dietary training regimens out there. Carbo-loading, endurance cloud bucking, lightning sprints... I’ve done all three!” She danced on her hooves. “Oh I’m so excited to finally meet you!”
Rainbow gave a little ‘heh.’ “And let me guess, you’re after my land speed record?”
“Well, I’d like to nail the record for the one and five kilometer sprints, but come on, the RDLSR is like, the Mount Everhoof of flight records! There’s been, what, five hundred attempts to break it? It’s like, required, for every flyer that’s a serious flier.”
“It is?” Rainbow replied in bafflement.
“Of course it is. 0.019? Do you have any idea how low that time average is? It’s insanely crazy low, that’s what it is!” She gave a little laugh. “I wrote a paper on potential routes to beat it, but I’m not much of a geographer.
Yes. It was low. She knew it because she done it. She tried to keep her voice level. “Well, it wasn’t easy to beat windrider’s 0.022,” she said, feigning casually.
“Who?” Cannon cocked her head.
“Windrider? Stallion that had the record before me?”
“I’ve never heard of him,” Cannon said, and Rainbow felt ice grip her heart. The cloud gave way and she felt herself falling, and her wings couldn’t arrest her descent. She could just imagine someone trying to beat Cannon’s record, and her mentioning Rainbow Dash, and being told ‘Never heard of her.’ In which case, what was it all for? You got the record till someone bred or enchanted or trained someone to get a smaller number. A better number. Everyone else was trash.
Rainbow Trash.
“Excuse me. I think I should be going,” Rainbow muttered.
“Wait. I wanted to ask you a favor,” Cannon gushed, tapping her forehooves together as she looked aside. Rainbow just stared. She was trying to break her record and wanted a favor? “Could you verify my samples? I mean, the wonderbolts will too but I’d really like it to come from you.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked flatly.
“Well, yeah! You were the one that blew the whistle on cheating and illegal training methods!” Her smile faded a little, as if she was finally picking up Rainbow’s mood.
“You believe that Cambion was cheating?” Rainbow asked with an arch of her brow.
Cannon smile faded as her ears twitched back. “Yes, I think he did, but he probably didn’t mean to cheat. Mom told me about it when it was hitting buckball. Back then, no one really knew how all these new magic tricks to get faster worked. No one suspected that magical effects could linger in the body when used over and over again. Not in any way that would affect a race. But now we do, so race administrators now make sure every flyer is dispelled before they start their trial.”
“Cannon gets a lot of accusations of juicing,” Scootaloo said, patting Cannon again as the powerful mare’s ears drooped. She winced, as if Scootaloo had smacked her!
“But I don't. I don’t even like the taste of zebra potions, and they sure don’t help me fly!” Cannon insisted. “Please. I’ll just feel better knowing that you’ll back up that I’m not cheating if I make the record tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Rainbow murmured weakly.
“She’s going to try to beat your time on the Canterlot/ Yakyakistan route,” Scootaloo explained.
“Well, me and ten others. It’s an ideal route. Good elevation changes. Good distance. The ending’s a killer... I’m pretty sure I can make it there, but keep enough in the tank to get back smoothly. And like you, I’m not going to eat en route. Carbo load before. Dump weight. Go.”
“Ew,” Scootaloo murmured. “Details I do not need, Canny.”
Rainbow’s ears and eyes drooped. Did she have any idea what she was asking her? “You should probably ask Spitfire or Soarin,” she suggested.
“I would. I will! But I wanted to ask you first,” Cannon said as she chewed her lip. “You’ve always been an inspiration to me. Please?”
Rainbow thought back to when she’d met Windrider. So this is what it’s like to meet someone that loves you who’s going to destroy your legacy, she thought. “Sure,” she said as evenly as she could manage.
The next day, she got to stand here at Wonderbolt HQ and watch a screen. They’d gotten a lot better at monitoring the race, she admitted. Every cloud ring check point had a pony monitor, and there were cameras set up all along the route from Canterlot to Yakyakistan. A lot of the fliers had slinky suits that positively gleamed, like they were made for water. Cannon was no exception, but she was lacking the radios and earsets and watches designed to keep pace and help navigate from point to point. Miss just one and you were out. Rainbow had memorized each and every one. She assumed Cannon had done the same.
“I feel old and fat,” Spitfire grumbled as she sat next to Rainbow. “Do you see some of those kids? I swear, if I looked half that good when I was their age it’d be a miracle.”
“You know half of them are probably cheating.”
“That’s a pretty harsh word, Rainbow. They’re pushing the rules, maybe, but we’ve got samples to test. Of course, we can only test what we know about. There’s some zebra cocktails so crazy they’ll make a unicorn’s eyes cross,” Spitfire replied with a shrug. There were unicorns walking amid the racers as they prepared, hitting them at random with cancellation spells. “Got any favorites?”
Rainbow tried to hide her irritation. “Cannon, probably.” Not like she even knew the others.
“Oh, Juice bar?” Spitfire asked as she looked at the screen.
“Juice bar?” Rainbow asked in shock.
“Just a nickname I heard for her. I mean, have you looked at her? You can’t tell me she hasn’t used a little zebra voodoo in her training regime,” Spitfire said with a shrug. “Ah well, if you’re verifying the tests, and she’s clean, I imagine those nasty rumors should disappear too.”
Nine pegasi, and one ambitious griffon lined up. Fans cheered from the stands, waving pennants. She thought she spotted a white maned Quibble waving a banner with a cannon emblazoned upon it. She wondered if he helped Cannon Steel with her route. If anyone could crunch the numbers and shave a few hundreths of a second off their time, it was him.
A buzzer started to buzz, and a row of red lights started to turn yellow as they flashed. Every flyer was taut as a bowstring, and Rainbow felt her own body assume a similar position. “Heh, looks like you want to be in that race too,” Spitfire observed.
Rainbow chuckled. Okay, yes. That would be awesome. Impossible, but awesome.
The yellow lights replaced the red and then all of them flashed green. A cracker exploded, shooting fireworks into the air. But before the fireworks detonated, the fliers were in the air, streaking across the sky towards the north. In a few seconds, they disappeared from view all together. The screen changed to a magical diagram showing each flyer on the course and the numbers next to their name. Time. Distance. Elevation, and the final score that would determine if the last record with her name on it would disappear for all time.
Cameras placed periodically near the cloud gates the flyers would need to pass through caught dramatic footage of the flyers blasting through one after the next. “Sweet Celestia, they’re fast,” Rainbow murmured.
“Yup. Every year they seem to get faster. Better diet. Better exercise. Newer training. But hey, some of them must be cheating,” Spitfire said in that old, rusty needling tone.
“Okay. Maybe they’re not all cheating,” Rainbow admitted. Not even a sour mood though could prevent her from getting caught up in a race. “Come on,” she muttered as she watched Cannon barrel her way between two other beefy stallions. While the time was for the record, finishing first wouldn’t hurt either. “Don’t clip your wings,” she said as Cannon corkscrewed clear of the pair. “All right! Whoo hooo!” Rainbow cheered, then remembered her own stakes. “I mean... nice moves.”
And they were nice. Cannon Steel was a power flyer, not just a wing flyer. She used all of her muscles to maneuver, swinging her legs to twist and change the bite and orientation of her wings. Rainbow’d always won simply by getting ahead of other ponies and staying there, but every pony was so fast it was a challenge for any of them to stay in the lead. Even the griffon, who Rainbow had written off, was keeping up with the other nine.
“Finding out what you’ve been missing?” Spitfire asked with a brow arch.
“I didn’t miss it,” she said as she watched the numbers. None of the averages were below .03, but they were going into colder air and higher altitudes. Cannon and the others were probably just pacing, planning to sprint on the last leg back. “Nopony wanted me around.”
“Yeah, because you were an angry nag,” Spitfire commended, earning a well deserved glare. “What, you were. I get that the mess with Cambion hurt you bad. We all knew, but no one knew how to talk to you about it. You were always thinking anyone close to as fast as you was a cheater. Made it impossible for the new blood to talk to you, and the rest of us just thought if we gave you space long enough, you’d come back.”
“It just felt like everyone wanted me gone. My records. My everything,” she muttered.
“Eh. Records get broken. Even yours. Even mine. I held the one K sprint record for six months before somepony decided she’d break it,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Rainbow.
“Heh. Sorry,” Rainbow had completely forgotten about it.
“What are you apologizing for? It wasn’t a big thing. I had my work cut out managing the bolts, and you,” Spitfire said as she returned to watching the screen. “It happens.”
Rainbow tried to process that. It was one thing to know she was more than just her records, but still, having them was a kind of proof that she wasn’t just a racer, she was the best. What was wrong with that?
In half an hour the fliers blasted through the ring over Yakyakistan, the yaks stomping and blowing horns. Avalanches rolled as the fliers began the return leg. Already there was some spread. Fliers enervated by the cold and altitude were falling back. Others were pumping forward as if they were flying over tropical waters. Were these some kind of roboponies, or had she been just as driven when she set the record herself?
Cannon was in the middle of the pack, and Rainbow couldn’t count her out just yet. If this was a race, she could hang out here and then sprint to the finish, but if she wanted the record, she’d have to start sooner. The lead mare had the same powerful build, but Rainbow could see the sweat pouring off her. Cannon, in contrast, was all cool focus. Now she used her wings judiciously, recovering power. Smart move.
The fliers blasted out of the mountains and down across the Crystal Empire. Most ponies stayed high to avoid ice spray. It was the safer move.
Cannon didn’t play safe. She dropped down low. “Short flaps. Short flaps,” Rainbow chanted softly. It was like Cannon was reading her mind. There was a layer of warm air just a few feet above the snow. Drop low and you’d eat snow. Go high and you’d freeze up. Cannon, however, stayed right in the sweet spot and began to crawl forward.
Then they dropped below the snow line and into the trees. Flying higher would be safer. Hit a tree and you were done. Even bugs and loose leaves could throw a flyer off. Cannon stayed low, keeping out of the more turbulent higher air between the mountains. A cone of dust trailed behind her as she used streams to channel her flight down. She rose only to pass through the cloud rings. Rainbow’s eyes twitched over to her number. 0.0218.
“She’s beaten Wind Rider,” Rainbow breathed.
“Well, no surprise there,” Spitfire snorted.
Now they were out of the mountains and forests and into the lower elevations. While the sky was generally cleared, it was impossible to kick every last cloud out of the course. Some fliers just barreled right through them, blasting them to mist. That was fine once, but the water would soak your feathers and weaken their grip. Cannon adjusted her path to barely graze each one, and never with her wings. Within minutes she barrel rolled right past the leader, taking the front. 0.020.
“Did you see that? She didn’t even get a chance to block!” Rainbow Dash laughed.
0.017.
A icy spear lanced through her. Cannon’d beaten her. At this leg, she’d beaten Rainbow Dash’s time. But it wasn’t over. It was the average at the end of the race that counted, and the hardest part was coming up. Three cloud rings, one in the valley, the second horizontal, just off Canterlot, and the final right above it. Or rather, five kilometers above it. Even the ring at the bottom was a challenge, because you had to slow to avoid smashing into the ground. Unless...
Cannon didn’t slow down. She kept pace and turned tighter than Rainbow could have ever imagined. It was a vertical corkscrew, one of the most disorientating modes of flight. Even a little dizziness could fling a flyer randomly off. And yet Cannon wasn’t slowing. Cannon’s powerful wings were a blur as she used her legs to counter balance and she twirled ever higher, blasting past the second ring. The number flickered and jumped. 0.0201. 0.0192. 0.0179. 0.0198. But Rainbow ignored them, her eyes fixed on her as she flew ever higher. The change in elevation... the fatigue from the race... the corkscrew. Rainbow had been there. Right there. She hadn’t spun like that, but otherwise she knew that pain. That pressure. Those final desperate seconds as you climbed higher and higher, doing everything you could to pass through a cloud ring a mere twenty meters across.
“Come on... come on...” Rainbow prayed softly.
Cannon blasted through.
0.0158.
Almost instantly, Cannon went limp, wings splayed out as they tumbled out of the air. Pegasi rescue crews immediately moved to catch her and bring her to a cloud bank. A minute later the orange mare and the rest of the pack poured through the final ring. Some were able to glide to a cloud, but others simply went limp. They all had good numbers. The orange one was a respectable 0.025. The griffon's managed fourth with a 0.029.
Rainbow felt numb. 0.0158. She’d flown sonic rainboom fast, and hadn’t managed a 0.015. Cannon was barely moving. They were taking her to an ambulance.
“What’s happened?” Rainbow asked as her brain caught up.
“Tore up her wings. That’s what these kids do, trying to beat us,” Spitfire said. “They only get one real shot at the land speed record. That was her shot.”
Rainbow Dash stared. “You mean...”
“Oh, she’ll fly. She’ll probably compete too, with wings like those. But she’ll never make 0.0158 again. She’ll be closer to the others’ times. But hey, she did it. She broke your record.” Spitfire said, patting Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “I’m gonna smile for the cameras. They love getting a sound bite or two from us old farts.”
Rainbow just stared at the screen. The number was still frozen in place, but the cameras were now interviewing the runner up. The ticker below read ‘Blazing Dawn accuses Cannon Steel of restricted use of magic.’ A question in the corner asked ‘No sonic rainboom proof of cheating?’
“Miss Rainbow Dash?” A stallion said behind her. She turned to look at a lime green unicorn in glasses, wearing a lab coat and holding up a clipboard. “We have a problem.”
Three hours later, Rainbow sat in an office with eight unicorns comparing graphs and tables to each other. “arcanic residue 0.08%” read one. ‘Urine analysis before/ after.’ read another. They’d gotten more samples from the hospital. Reviewed footage. All because a machine somewhere had detected tiny amounts of magic in the blood prior and after the race. Had she eaten some kind of enchanted substance? Something that would fight disenchantment? Or was it a computational error? Was it a result of her mother’s unicorn lineage?
The debate was increasing in levels and it was making Rainbow’s head throb. “Enough!” she shouted, silencing the eggheads. “Look you tested and retested the samples. Yes or no, did she cheat?”
“Yes,” said four as the others shouted “No.” Rainbow groaned, rubbing her face hard.
“It’s inconclusive. There’s at least four enchantments that could have been cast on her as she left the gate. We’ve also determined that she uses at least one zebrinican supplement for wing strength that is on the watch list.” One unicorn pointed out.
“It’s not banned though, right?”
“It depends. The Zip berry is banned when it’s raw, but it can be processed to remove the magic. A lot of fliers mix it in with protein shakes,” another scientist pointed out.
“There’s no evidence unicorn ancestry provides any degree of magical advantage in flight,” one opined. “My grandfather was an Earth pony but I’m no good at gardening.”
“That’s racist, and you should be ashamed!”
“Just punt the test as inconclusive and let the racing federation work it out.”
“They’ll just ask her to race it again! She’s in surgery right now. She’ll never place 0.015 again!”
“The runner up is threatening legal action. We can’t leave this at ‘maybe’.”
“Well that’s what you get when million bit advertisement contracts are on the line.”
“You’re pretty friendly with Reebuck. Is that why you’re so sure she cheated?”
“I resent the accusation!”
“QUIET!” Rainbow screamed again. “Everypony out. Leave your papers and get out!”
“Miss Dash. You really should let us recommend,” one of the unicorns started to offer.
“I was asked to officiate these results,” Rainbow insisted. “Me. I will consider all your evidence and I will make the call by morning. Understand? Now out! If you’ve got anything new, slide it under the door. Otherwise, out!”
They shuffled out, leaving her alone in the conference room with piles of papers and notes before her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Just imagine it’s the most boring Daring Doo book. You got this.”
But the more she read, the more she came to the conclusion that there was no real accounting for 0.08 magic in her blood. It could have been as simple as she drank a healing potion before the race to deal with sore muscles to as nefarious as having corrupt race judges casting acceleration and endurance spells on her. Heck, those had been cheating back with Rainbow raced. She watched the race, following footage of Cannon frame by frame in some places, trying to see where she might have been enchanted or something somewhere. A person could have tossed a zip berry up in those low flights and she could have caught it. It was possible.
Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and the 0.08% meant absolutely nothing.
As the hours piled on, Rainbow stared at the papers before her. All the while, two numbers floated in her mind. 0.019, and 0.0158. It started to get dark.
You don’t have to say she cheated. Just say you can’t be sure she didn’t cheat.
Rainbow screwed up her face, clenching her jaw.
It’s your record. Your greatest record. You can’t let her take it from you.
Rainbow pressed her face into her hooves.
She’s young. She can just try again. She’ll be a great flyer, whether she breaks your record or not.
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut. 0.019 floated before her, only to be crushed by a 0.0158.
It’d be so easy. And it wasn’t about her record. It wasn’t about her at all. It was about the integrity of the race. If there was a chance... even the smallest chance... shouldn’t she throw it out? Wasn’t that the right thing to do?
She didn’t owe Cannon anything. She didn’t know her. Her granddad and teacher, sure, but not her. No reason to play favorites. All she had to do was say ‘inconclusive’. Just... inconclusive.
That wasn’t the same as cheating.
It wasn’t the same as Cambion...
It wasn’t the same as Wind Rider...
Rainbow rose and trotted to the corner to the phone. She dialed. A few seconds later.
“Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked.
“How’d you know?”
“Half of Equestria’s waitin for yer result,” she said evenly. “People are sayin that Cannon’s a cheater. That so?”
“I don’t know. I don’t! I can’t decide,” Rainbow said as she collapsed, sitting on the floor, cradling the phone. “There’s something in her blood, but it could be anything from ‘her grandma is a unicorn’ to ‘the entire racing federation’s corrupt’. I don’t think it’s the last one, but I can’t make up my mind.”
“Well, just say that,” Applejack replied. “If that’s the honest truth, that’s what you should say.”
“But I’m not sure it’s the honest truth,” Rainbow admitted. “She’ll probably never fly like that again. That was an amazing flight. If I say it’s inconclusive, she might never get that time again. They’ll throw it out.”
“Well shoot,” Applejack muttered. “I’m sorry love, but I’m not sure what you should do.”
Rainbow choked up a little. “But it’s not just that. It’s like... it’s my record. My last record.”
A pause. “Rainbow...”
“I can’t not think about it, Applejack!” Rainbow blurted. “I know it’s wrong but I can’t stop thinking about it. All I have to do is say no, and that’s it. My record’s safe...”
“But for how long?” Applejack countered. “You can’t expect it to stay forever.”
“I know,” she muttered, tears on her cheeks. “It’s just... it’s my last one. Once it’s gone I’ll only be second best. And second best is no body. No one remembers the last person to have the record. It’s the best or nothing.”
“Rainbow, if you think there’s something fishy, you gotta say so. But if you say there’s something wrong because you’re worried about yourself, then it won’t matter what’s in a book. You’ll always be last,” Applejack warned. Then her voice softened. “But I know you’re a good pony, Rainbow. I have faith that you’ll choose the right thing for the right reason.”
“That’s one of us,” Rainbow muttered.
“You’ll be fine. Call when it’s over,” Applejack replied. “Love ya.”
“Love you too,” Rainbow said with a smile and hung up.
She trotted back to the table with their diagrams and readouts, glanced at the white board with all the speculative causes of a 0.08% arcane contamination, and then her eyes landed on a bookshelf in the corner. A few folders were in it, but her eyes were drawn to the bottom shelf where someone had placed a few books. Probably for decoration. The tops were dusty.
She pulled out ‘Racing through the ages’ and leafed through it slowly. ‘Overland racing’. She gazed at the pegasi with handlebar mustaches, and mares trying to race in ridiculous petticoats. Cider runners in the old days. Even old Pegisopolian athletes that would eventually become the pegasi of the EUP.
And there, as a side bar, was a list of names, dates, and numbers.
Citrine Lightfeather 834. 0.92
Amber Waves 842 0.89
Purple Mountain 859 0.87
Majesty 864 0.51
Fruity Plains 879 0.49
Shining Sea 880 0.48
Dawn's Light 899 0.21
Rockets Glare 902 0.11
Free Land 905 0.10
Home Brave 906 0.08
Fireflight 924 0.072
Equinox 955 0.041
Wind Shear 959 0.039
Nimbus 962 0.029
Rainbow Dash 1007 0.019
She flipped back in the book. There they were. All of them. The people who had the record. Who achieved the best. It wasn’t a long list. She’d be in good company. There was her picture now, grinning like an idiot for breaking the...
Wait a minute.
She flipped through the whole chapter. Where was Wind Rider? Yeah, he’d been a pain. He’d nearly gotten her kicked out of the bolts. ‘You don’t understand,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you gotta play dirty if you want to be the best.’
She hadn’t understood then. She did now. How much it was to just have your name down as the best. How much it must have hurt him to see this young kid edging in on his record. The thing that confirmed he was one of a kind. A prodigy. The special one.
It was nice...
Rainbow Dash picked up a pen. It’d give Twilight kittens, but she wrote at the bottom.
Cannon Steel 1051 0.0158
Then she paused, drew a line between her name and Nimbus, and added.
Wind Rider 980 0.022
Because she did understand. Sometimes holding on to that was all that mattered, but it wasn’t about her anymore, and in spite of everything, she smiled.
Rainbow Dash closed the record book, put it on the bookshelf, and stepped out to make her announcement.
A few weeks later, Rainbow was back in the Wonderbolt’s gym. She greeted the young athletes with a smile and a wave, and got the same in return. She’d taken on Cannon as a personal project. Cannon Steel might never make 0.015 again, but there was no reason she couldn’t also pick up the record for sprints or loose slalom next year. Scootaloo, Quibble, and her mom were all watching her recovery closely.
“So you’re back?” Spitfire asked as the older mare trotted up. Vapor Trail was charming the next round of fliers to give their 120% outside the gym. Training the next generations was something to do. Something special.
“Yeah,” Rainbow said with a smile, watching Cannon flying against a fire hose. It still seemed crazy, but if it worked....
“You know, you were welcome any time. We just kinda felt, after Cambion, you didn’t want to be here.”
Rainbow sighed. There wasn’t anything she could do about the past, but she could work to clear up what was and wasn’t cheating. Too many ‘trainers’ were promising risky and dangerous advantages... but there were new techniques too. She had a responsibility to make sure that the next time a record was broken, no pony would cry ‘cheat’ and destroy another athlete.
“Also strange you wanted Wind Rider’s record restored. I mean, he tried to get you kicked out of the bolts,” Spitfire added, with that knowing little smirk.
“Yeah, he did, but I kinda get why he did. I got to admit, when I was looking at everything, I was tempted. I could have tossed her results out and preserved my own record... but how long? There could have been someone next year, or the year after that.” Rainbow sighed, “I shouldn’t have been the one in there making the call.”
Spitfire patting her. “I think if anypony else had been, they would have yanked her record. Better to keep legendary Rainbow Dash’s score. Get more kids chasing it. Sell more gear. More training crap. More supplements and spells and princesses know what. They could just say they were being ‘conservative’ and ‘playing it safe’.” She gave a little shrug. “Honestly, I probably would have pulled her too. You might have noticed that I'm a little bit bitchy in my old age,” she snickered.
“It ain’t the age, Spits,” somepony shouted.
Rainbow stared at Cannon flying against the water jets. If it hadn’t been for Applejack, she just might have made that wrong choice. “Anyway, it’s not about me. It’s about the team.”
Spitfire laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “Glad to hear it, Newbie.” Spitfire trotted off to probably yell at some young bolt to go do five hundred laps. Rainbow turned her eyes to a television where reporters were now talking about ‘False Accusations’ and ‘Is it equinely possible to beat a 0.0158 time?’
Probably. Someone would. Eventually. Because that was what records were for. They weren’t to glorify the holder. They were challenges to push again. To go ever higher, ever stronger, ever faster. They didn’t ‘matter’ in the big scheme of things, but you had to have them. It gave you something to strive for.
And when you lost it, you found something else. Otherwise, it wasn’t your record that broke. You did. Just like Windrider.
“Hey, Cannon!” Rainbow called out as she trotted towards the tank the mare hovered over. “Think you can handle a little more pressure?” she grinned, putting a hoof on the knob.
“Sure!” Cannon Steel cried out.
“Good answer, kid. Because there’s a lot more records out there to break.”
Author's Note
If you see errors, please let me know. I tried to catch them all, but... sigh... I wanted to write this years ago. Better late than never, I suppose.
