May The Best Pet Win...My Heart?

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Challenge
Chapter 2: Exercise Failures
Chapter 3: The Speed Test
Chapter 4: The Agility Test
Chapter 5: The Guts Test
Chapter 6: The Style Test

Chapter 1: The Challenge

After Twilight Sparkle took Owlowiscious home following her usual Pony Pet Play-Date with the rest of her friends and their pets, the lavender unicorn had wondered if Rainbow Dash would actually drop her standards a bit and manage to find the perfect pet over at Fluttershy’s place. Twilight was confident that, if any pony could find a pet for her stubborn cyan Pegasus friend, it was the kindhearted Fluttershy. Still, the thought of her rambunctious, hardheaded, overconfident, slightly arrogant, lazy braggart of a friend having a loving and caring animal to take care of caused Twilight to chuckle to herself.

Knowing her, she’s gonna pick something fast and…cool-looking…like a hawk or an eagle or something, Twilight thought, giving her pet owl a pat on the head and turning around to get back to her friends, I just hope that she sees the true point of owning a pet. From the way she acted earlier, it worries me that she’ll just be trying to get a pet simply so that she’ll fit in with the rest of us.

Twilight trotted back to the door of her library and pushed it open, eager to get back and see how this all turned out. Deep down, she knew that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be simply picking a pet and being happy with it. The unicorn knew the Pegasus like a book. Dash always had to stand out and be fancy with everything she made. No matter the decision, no matter the event, no matter the circumstance, Rainbow Dash always had to make a big showing of it. Twilight didn’t want to miss a minute of it.

Owlowiscious gave a friendly hoot goodbye as Twilight closed the door behind her back using her magic. Since Spike was off running some errands in town, hearing her pet’s little display of affection filled the unicorn’s heart with warmth. Sure, Owlowiscious couldn’t talk, nor could he use magic. He honestly couldn’t do much of anything, at least not to the naked eye. The owl was more special than just a pet, too. To Twilight, he was family, much like Spike, and she loved both of them dearly.

It was the little things that always made the biggest difference in her heart. As Twilight hurried back through Ponyville, trying to relocate her friends, the unicorn’s brain churned into motion as she processed just what Owlowiscious and Spike both meant to her. Yes, they were family, and yes, she loved both of them. But, it almost seemed like she was missing something in her life. First, Twilight got Spike when she was just a filly, and the two were closer than mother and son. Then, during her first year living in Ponyville, fate had brought the cute little owl into her library home. In her heart, Twilight was joyous at always coming home and seeing both of them, so long as Spike wasn’t out doing errands or tending to Rarity’s beck and call, and Owlowiscious wasn’t stretching his wings around the town. However, in a small part of her heart, there always seemed to be something missing.

It’s kinda weird, really… Twilight thought, a frown stretching across her face as she dipped her head low and continued to trot onward, When I stop to think about it, a pet is…a loved one…right? Yes, of course; a pet is something that you love and take care of. Something that will always be there for you, no matter what. A pet is your family…your life…the fact that it has the title of ‘pet’ doesn’t mean anything in the least. Owning a pet isn’t a privilege…it’s an honor. Only if both sides show love can the relationship of a pet-owner relationship coexist. I doubt that Rainbow understands this.

After turning around another corner, Twilight finally spotted her friends just at the edge of town. As she had expected, Rainbow Dash was there and a hoof-full of avian animals were lined up behind her. There was a butterfly, a bat, an eagle, a hawk, a different owl, a hummingbird, and a few more flying creatures that Twilight had been expecting to see. The purple unicorn couldn’t help but sigh. Already, it was going just as she had feared. She only hoped that the end result wouldn’t turn out to be one of Rainbow’s worst mistakes she had ever made.

“Applejack, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, stepping up beside the orange earth pony, “I’m gonna wager a guess and say that Rainbow can’t make up her mind, right?”

“Yup…nothin’ new there,” Applejack chuckled, rolling her eyes a bit, “She and Fluttershy took their time tryin’ to find the right critter, but ya’ll know how Dash is. She’s more stubborn than a mule when it comes to makin’ up her mind.”

“Yeah, so true,” Twilight agreed, turning away from Applejack to watch and listen to what Rainbow Dash was gonna do.

“Okay, listen up!” Rainbow Dash stated, flapping her wings and flying back and forth in front of the animals that she deemed worthiest of becoming her pet, “All of you have been chosen to POSSIBLY become my newest pet. But, I just can’t choose. Which one of you is better than the rest? I want a pet that is gonna be able to keep up with me. Do you all think you can handle that?”

A pet that is gonna be able to keep up with her? Twilight thought, sighing and giving herself a face-hoof out of exasperation, It’s just as I feared…she’s only looking for a pet that matches her own personality. That’s NOT what having a pet is all about! Who CARES what kind of animal you pick? As long as it loves you and you love it, why should anything else matter?

“So, I’ve thought up the most perfect way to decide which one of you will become my pet,” Rainbow Dash continued, crossing her forelegs across her chest and smirking down at the animals, “I’m gonna have each of you compete in some games to see if you’ve got what it takes! Remember, only ONE of you will be chosen and deemed the winner and thus receive the highest honor ever…becoming MY pet! Are there any questions?”

“Ah got one,” Applejack muttered, glancing sideways at Twilight, “Does she understand what a pet REALLY needs?”

“Yeah, like care and attention,” Twilight agreed, glancing up at the sky and tapping her chin, “And love and affection…and possibly some breath mints.” She hacked when Applejack’s dog, Winona, gave her a lick right on the cheek, resulting in the unicorn holding up a hoof to defend her sensitive nose. Rainbow Dash glanced over and snickered, but didn’t pay Twilight any mind. She was too focused and excited on seeing which of the flying animals would be able to fulfill all her requirements and become worthy enough to be hers.

Same Rainbow Dash as always…ugh, will she ever learn? Twilight thought again, shooing the pink flamingo away as she continued to listen to Rainbow’s talk about what her games would be like, All she cares about are those that are the same as her…or equal to her…or somewhat the same as her but not better. She doesn’t realize that…you have to feel that connection with your pet; it’s not something that can just be picked all willy-nilly. She’s SUCH an airhead.

“Alright, now these games will determine which one of you has the most important qualities I'm looking for in a pet,” Rainbow Dash said, putting on a sports cap and her black sunglasses while attaching a whistle around her neck, “Speed, agility, guts, and style. Then, there’s coolness, awesomeness, and most importantly radicalness. These are all the most important traits that my pet must have.”

“Aren’t those all the same thing?” Twilight asked, giving a frown as she stepped toward the Pegasus. The more she listened to Dash’s nonsense, the angrier she got. Dash just didn’t get it and it was really upsetting the unicorn. She had no idea why, but she was hoping that Dash would soon realize the error of her ways and simply pick a pet that her heart TOLD her to pick. Unfortunately, calling out the Pegasus for her limited vocabulary was not a good start.

“You would think that, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash snickered, reaching over and mockingly patting the unicorn on the head, “And that's why YOU would never qualify to be my pet.” As soon as she spoke these words, she turned and began flapping away. Twilight, however, had just about reached the end of her chain on Dash’s obliviousness to what having a pet truly meant. This was why she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind without really thinking about it.

“…how do YOU know that?” she snapped, instantly freezing Rainbow Dash in midflight simply from the challenging tone of her voice, “For all you know, I could easily qualify to become your pet! With your ridiculous standards and qualities, I’m sure that becoming your pet would be a cinch!”

Almost immediately, Twilight realized that she may have said the wrong thing. Applejack and Rarity were both looking at her like she was crazy, Pinkie looked amused, and Fluttershy had just suddenly shown up with a tortoise. Rainbow Dash very slowly turned back around and stared down at Twilight. The Pegasus looked both confused and amused at what the unicorn had just said. However, never one to back down from an argument or a challenge, Dash gave a little grin and flew right back down towards the unicorn. She was gonna enjoy this.

“Is that right, Twilight?” Rainbow smirked, clearly suppressing the amount of laughter that she was just begging to let out, “So…let me get this straight…YOU want to compete to try and become my pet?” Of course, the thought had never entered Twilight’s mind, but the way Rainbow was clearly mocking her and the closeness of the Pegasus’ face to her own was enough to drive anyone crazy. Once again, Twilight spoke without thinking about it logically.

“You know what? Yes, Rainbow, I do!” the unicorn snapped, pushing her face right back into Rainbow’s and not backing down, “The way you’re trying to find a pet is SO ridiculous and foolish that I want to show you the error of your ways. And…if competing in these stupid games will do that…then so be it.”

“Uh…sugar cube…are ya’ll even listenin’ to yerself?” Applejack said, slowly trotting up and tapping Twilight on the back.

“Yes, darling, just let Rainbow do what she wants,” Rarity shrugged, giving Twilight a weak smile, “There’s no point in…trying to show her otherwise.”

“Yeah, and you’re totally not pet material, Twilight!” Pinkie gasped, bouncing over and poking the unicorn on the horn, “You’re so much bigger than any normal pet, and you can talk, and you can use magic, and you’re…a pony! You totally cannot be qualified to be Dashie’s pet!”

“Um…I really hate to interrupt, but…Dash?” Fluttershy squeaked, still holding the tortoise, “This little guy would really like to…”

“In a moment, Fluttershy,” Dash chuckled, blindly shushing Fluttershy with her right hoof as she never took her eyes off Twilight, “This is hilarious…I can’t let this go. Girls, let me just hear this from Twilight…one final time. Twilight…are you saying…you want to compete to become my pet?” All five ponies held their breath while they looked at Twilight, wondering what in the world she was thinking and positive that she’d stop this foolishness and just let Dash have her fun.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. Of course, she realized how stupid she was acting. Just let Rainbow Dash learn her lesson the hard way. Why should SHE care what type of pet Rainbow wants? It’s not her life; it’s Rainbow’s. Why did this matter to her so much? Was it because she wanted Rainbow Dash to know what it REALLY meant to have a loving member of the family and not just someone who was picked for their personality traits? Was it because Rainbow Dash was continuing to give her a mocking grin and ready to laugh in her face? Or…was it for another reason? Whatever the case, the longer that Rainbow Dash continued to hover in front of her with that leering smirk on her face, the harder it was to back away from the challenge. She had already come too far.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash, I am saying that,” Twilight said confidently, standing up straight and giving Dash’s mocking grin a fierce glare of her own, “I, Twilight Sparkle, want to compete to become your pet. Why? To show you that ANYTHING can win some stupid games and it won’t make a difference. What WILL make a difference is what your HEART tells you to do.” However, her mini speech was mostly tuned out, as Rainbow Dash had been thrown into hysterics moments after Twilight finished saying the “I, Twilight Sparkle” part of her speech.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Rainbow Dash laughed, bellowing so loud that she was beginning to tear up, “T-T-T-TWILIGHT…Y-Y-YOU’RE A RIOT! Y-Y-YOU’RE SO HILARIOUS! OKAY…Y-Y-YOU WANT TO COMPETE? FINE…GO AHEAD…OH MAN, THIS IS RICH! T-T-THIS IS GONNA BE PRICELESS!” The Pegasus was now rolling around in the air, pointing a hoof at Twilight and continuing to laugh her head off. Tears soon began to fall from her eyes; this was the hardest she had ever laughed in her entire life, and she was keen at laughing at most things.

“Yes, well…um, Rainbow, about this tortoise…” Fluttershy was saying, trying to show the hysterical blue Pegasus the shelled animal she was holding. Once again, Dash quickly shushed her and continued her rowdy laughing session. Nothing was about to stop her from having a good laugh at the joke that Twilight was pulling on her. The unicorn had said and done a lot of things that made Dash snicker, but none as great as this. Twilight had really outdone herself this time.

“Twilight…dear…why exactly are you doing this again?” Rarity asked, giving Twilight looks that made one think she was seeing if Twilight was terminally ill, “Are you…are you in the right of mind? Are you maybe not getting enough sleep? Oh, I know, you need a trip to the spa!”

“Or a party!” Pinkie giggled, “A great big super-duper-fantastically-awesome party to show Twilight just how much we love her and how she doesn’t need to go crazy just to prove a point!”

“Not a bad idea, Pinkie,” Applejack agreed, also expressing her concern to Twilight, “Twi, ah don’t mean to go questionin’ yer logic and all, since yer one of the smartest mares ah know…but, really? This is DASH yer dealin’ with here! Don’t ya know not to mess with fire or ya’ll will get burned?”

“Yes…that’s right…” Fluttershy admitted, setting down the confused tortoise she was carrying and giving Twilight a worried expression of her own, “Dash is nice, but…she’ll take advantage of this…she’ll take advantage of YOU, Twilight. I know you’re trying to…um…prove a good point to her, but…are you sure this is the way? You’re…just gonna get hurt…like with what happened with Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense.”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, giving a deep sigh as she looked down at her hooves. What in the world WAS she thinking? She was literally gonna humiliate and degrade herself in front of her friends just so that Rainbow Dash could see just how foolish she was? Was she insane? Was she just a REALLY good friend who wanted her Pegasus pal to do the right thing? Was she…was she…wanting to prove a different kind of point that even SHE wasn’t figuring out at the moment? She didn’t know, but one thing was for certain. There was no way she was gonna let Dash have the last laugh.

“I don’t care, girls,” Twilight sniffed, giving her surrounding four friends a polite nod but not backing down from her decision, “Dash’s insensitivity towards others has gone on long enough. You all know what it means to have a pet, right? Rarity, even if Opal is crabby a lot of the time, you know she still loves you like you love her, right?”

“Well, yes, but…” Rarity began.

“You all KNOW what Dash is doing is wrong,” Twilight continued, “All those birds over there are only here because they can fly…and nothing else. Half of them probably don’t even LIKE Rainbow; they just want to prove that they’re better than the rest. Don’t you all see? If I can outplay all of them at Dash’s asinine games, it’ll prove…”

“It’ll prove…what?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow, “That…yer perfect to be Rainbow’s…pet?”

“W-w-what?!?! No!” Twilight gasped, a slight blush appearing on her face as she glared at Applejack, “That’s NOT why I’m doing this! Really, Applejack! Think about it; if I can win, it’ll prove that ANYTHING can win a few stupid games and that that’s NOT the way to pick a family member. When I win, Dash will finally understand just how dumb she’s acting and, hopefully, she’ll pick a pet that she can love and respect her and that she can love and respect back.”

“Well, I certainly can’t argue with that!” Pinkie smiled, “Gummy and I are closer than two peas in a pod, although we’re not vegetables, so I suppose saying that we’re closer than an alligator and a pony in a bed would be more accurate.”

“Uh…thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight blinked, shaking her head as she finally laid eyes on the tortoise, “Say, Fluttershy, what’s with the turtle?”

“He’s a tortoise,” Fluttershy corrected her, “And he’s always wanted to become a pet. Um…so, I was thinking of letting him compete…he really wanted to.”

Twilight stared down at the tortoise, who stared back up at Twilight. They were both very different creatures. One had a shell, one did not. One could talk, one could not. One was rather fast, one was rather slow. One was a pony, one was a tortoise. They were so far apart and not even close to being related. However, Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she gave the little creature a pat on the head.

“That’s a GREAT idea!” Twilight smiled, “Now there’s TWO non-flying creatures that are gonna be competing in Dash’s games, both of whom are not what she had expected! This can really work, Fluttershy; good thinking bringing this little guy here.” It almost looked like the tortoise was smiling up at Twilight as she said those words.

“Ah hope ya realize that Dash is just gonna humiliate the both of ya and play this for all it’s worth,” Applejack warned, glancing down at the tortoise and giving Twilight a frown, “Don’t say we didn’t warn ya, Twi; yer probably not gonna ever live this down, either.”

“I’m fine with that, AJ,” Twilight said, glaring up at Rainbow Dash, who was STILL laughing, “It’s worth it so that Dash can finally learn what love is.” When she said the word “love”, however, she blinked for a moment and tilted her head. Why did she have to say it like THAT? This wasn’t exactly teaching Dash about what “love” was…it was more about teaching Dash what really mattered in a pet. It was clearly just a slip of the tongue, since Twilight was so enhanced in the moment and ready to shut Dash up.

“…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…HAHA…HA…” Rainbow Dash cackled, eventually starting to calm down as her tired wings slowly began easing her down to the ground, “Oh…man…Twilight…you made me laugh so hard…my sides are ready to split…ha…say, what’s with…the turtle?”

“He’s a tortoise, and…um…can he please compete, too?” Fluttershy asked. In response, Dash groaned and covered her eyes with one hoof while using her other to rub her stomach.

“Fluttershy…not cool…why are you trying to make me laugh some more…when it already hurts to move?” the blue Pegasus grumbled, a sarcastic grin on her face, “But…sure, why not? This is gonna be hilarious enough…to watch Twilight get smoked by those flying animals…and I am NEVER gonna let her live this down…EVER. I suppose adding that turtle…will make this even better.”

“Tortoise!” Fluttershy huffed, becoming slightly annoyed with nopony ever getting it right.

“Yeah…sure…whatever,” Rainbow Dash wheezed, finally catching her breath and instantly leaping up and using the poor tortoise’s shell as a perch. She immediately went back to grinning right into Twilight’s face. “So…would-be pet…ready for the games to begin?”

“Ready when you are, Dash,” Twilight glared, trying not to show just how embarrassed she really was about hearing Dash call her a “would-be pet”. Giving one last snicker, Rainbow Dash slowly lifted up her black sunglasses so that she and Twilight were looking into each other’s eyes. Rosy eyes met lavender eyes, and the inner challenge already started between Dash wanting to humiliate Twilight and milk this for all it was worth and Twilight wanting to show Dash the true heart of a pet and what it meant to love such a creature. This was gonna be good.

Chapter 2: Exercise Failures

Twilight was already beginning to question her sanity, and Dash’s games hadn’t even started yet. Along with her new tortoise friend, Twilight and the rest of the flying animals that Dash had singled out to possibly become her pet were soon led away from the main streets of Ponyville to the training field where she and Applejack always enjoyed competing against each other. Twilight was trying to keep her head held high and stay proud to the lesson that she was trying to teach Rainbow Dash, which she sure Princess Celestia would be very proud of her for doing, but Dash wasn’t making it easy on the unicorn.

“So, would-be pet Twilight, how do you think you’re gonna do?” Rainbow Dash asked, personally flying alongside Twilight to further mock and torture her, “I’ll give you a fighting chance and say that you’ll make it halfway through…the first game. Actually…nah, halfway through seems more fitting for the turtle; for you, I’ll say more like a quarter of the way through.”

“He’s a tortoise…and ha-ha, very funny, Dash,” Twilight frowned, giving the Pegasus a piece of her mind while she still had the chance, “You just wait; I’m gonna surprise you. I’m gonna win your silly games and make you eat your mocking words. You’ll see just how foolish you’re being and you’ll go back to Fluttershy’s place to pick a PROPER pet. Even this tortoise seems to like you more than those flying animals do, but you haven’t even paid him any mind!”

Rainbow Dash glanced down at the tortoise that was barely keeping up with the group. In fact, to make sure he got to Dash’s games in time to compete, Twilight had cast a spell on him to levitate him along so he didn’t have to walk. When Twilight talked about him, he very slowly glanced up at Rainbow Dash and seemed to give her a weak smile. The smile took almost five seconds to actually form, at which point Dash slapped her forehead and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Man, this is REALLY gonna be embarrassing,” she chuckled, playfully flying over Twilight’s head to inflict more torture on her, “Just so you know, Twilight, you’re still my friend. Therefore, when you want to quit…you only have to bow to me and admit that you were nowhere near qualified to ever become my pet before you can leave. I was gonna make you give me a dorky speech on why I’m awesome, but since you’re my friend, I’ll let that slide. So, when you’re gonna quit…”

“I’m not gonna quit, Dash,” Twilight said calmly, “I don’t care what the challenge is, if those flying animals are gonna go through it just to prove they’re the best, then I can endure any level of pain as well. You just stand back and watch me.”

“Okay then…but, if you want to be treated like an animal, that’s exactly how I’m GONNA treat you,” Dash warned, reaching down and giving Twilight a little noogie with her hoof, “If you’re seriously gonna stick around to try and make a silly point, be my guest. But don’t expect any special treatment just because you’re a pony who happens to be Princess Celestia’s star pupil. Out here, baby, it’s all about survival and seeing just who the best is. The weak will fall and the strong will rise. You’ll learn that soon enough, Twilight.”

“We’ll just see who learns what, Rainbow,” Twilight concluded, trying to slap Dash’s hoof away and failing when the Pegasus simply continued to fly circles around her head.

Deep down, Twilight was already starting to have doubts about what she was doing. Sure, she was stubborn and would never quit after she stepped her hoof into the fire, but as she learned with Pinkie, sometimes she just couldn’t win. What was in store for her? Surely Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to REALLY humiliate her, right? No way would her Pegasus friend do that. Dash was simply using so much bravado just to look cool in front of her. In fact, Rainbow Dash always tried to look cool in front of Twilight. The more she thought about it, the more the lavender mare began to question it.

Why does Dash have to work so hard just to try and make herself look so amazing? Twilight wondered, frowning and glancing down at the ground as she trotted along, Didn’t Dash learn when Trixie was here that there’s no reason to show off in front of your peers? It doesn’t matter who or what she is; she’s my friend and that’s all that matters. It’s just like her picking a pet. Who cares which flying animal is the flashiest, coolest, fastest, or…most radical? Dash…why do you try so hard? Do you fear rejection? Do you fear failure? Do you…crave acceptance?

Twilight Sparkle eyed Rainbow Dash while they grew closer to the gaming grounds. The blue Pegasus was still wearing her whistle, her sports cap, and her black sunglasses, and didn’t seem to be lost in thought at all. She seemed so focused on her games and what was gonna transpire that she didn’t really care about anything else. The same smug, confident smile was always plastered to her face. Twilight wondered where her confidence came from. Was it because she was such a fast flyer? Because she could make a Sonic Rainboom? Because she was so popular?

Silly Twilight…ah, this is gonna be so much fun, Rainbow Dash thought, bobbing her head up and down as she envisioned herself listening to a hard rock song, I kinda feel bad at how pathetic she’s gonna look at these games. Why is she trying so hard anyway? Why does she care what kind of pet I have? It’s not like it’s gonna be living with her or anything. Why is she going through all this trouble? Probably because she’s just an egghead who loves to do tests and stuff. Heh, well, if it’s a test she wants to find out what it’s like to be the pet of the famous Rainbow Dash, she’s got it!

Upon reaching the gaming grounds, Twilight set the tortoise down and cast a look around the area. She had heard about Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s games they enjoyed playing here, but she had never actually envisioned that she herself would be participating in such games one day. The unicorn sighed when she saw a racing track and an obstacle course being admired and pinpointed by Rainbow Dash, knowing that those would obviously be games that she was soon gonna have to compete in. Even though she was dreading this, the feeling of wanting to make Dash succumb to her errors and become a humble Pegasus loomed brightly in her mind, and most of Twilight’s fear vanished for the moment.

Twilight glanced over at the flying animals that had tagged along for these ridiculous challenges. The falcon and the eagle both looked fiercely competitive and ready to show off their prowess. The bat seemed to be laughing while looking in Twilight’s direction. The owl, butterfly and hummingbird were all testing their wings and doing mini tricks in the air to prepare themselves. The pink flamingo seemed to be meditating while standing on one leg. The tortoise hadn’t moved from Twilight’s side and was staring up at her with a confused expression.

“Don’t worry, little guy,” Twilight chuckled, gently patting the animal on the head and realizing that she should be stretching and getting ready, too, “All those flying animals may have wings, but Dash will see the true heart of a champion before long. But, in the meantime…we probably SHOULD try stretching a bit…since I think this is gonna be a very tough test.”

Not really used to doing strenuous exercise, Twilight Sparkle didn’t really know what to do. Sure, she had studied a book here and there about how to stay in shape and not become fat, but she didn’t pay much attention to them; she already ate healthy and got plenty of exercise walking around her library every day going back and forth between new books. She really wasn’t too experienced in the art of sports, either. She HAD studied for the Running Of The Leaves event, but she had already seen it coming and therefore was more prepared. What she had gotten herself into right now left her no time to prepare and no chance to get better acquainted with Pegasi and competitive sports. She was gonna have to wing it.

While the tortoise awkwardly tried to stretch out his four tiny legs, which promptly resulted in him tumbling over and rolling onto his shelled backside, Twilight racked her brain for information on the body and what parts should be worked out before involving oneself in strenuous exercise that was possibly gonna end up in humiliation. Since she didn’t have wings, Twilight figured that her legs were probably the most important aspect to get worked out. Muttering to herself about physical incapacities and other random things, Twilight sat down on her rump and stuck her hind legs out in front of her.

“Okay, time to stretch these babies out!” she smiled, trying to psyche herself up, “I’ve seen Applejack do this plenty of times; this should be a cinch. So, I just sit with my back up straight…keep my hind legs stretched out as far as I can without bending up at my knees…and then I reach out with my forelegs and try to touch my hooves!” The unicorn took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes and locked in on her hooves on her hind legs, then began to reach out to touch them. She didn’t get very far.

Almost immediately, Twilight gasped in pain and reached under both of her hind legs to soothe the irritation that had arisen almost at once when she began to stretch. Was the pain in her calves? Another part of her hind legs? And why was her upper back hurting, too? She really needed to get a book and study up on this. To top off Twilight’s first time stretching out her hind legs, she had barely reached out even halfway down before the searing pain kicked in. The nearby tortoise was still struggling to get back onto his feet after all this time.

“Ya know, Twilight, you might want to try actually doing the workout RIGHT,” Rainbow Dash smirked, flapping over a moment later and teasing the unicorn, “What’s wrong? Not flexible enough?”

“Shut it, Dash,” Twilight grumbled, continuing to try and touch her hooves but failing drastically, “Ow! Is this SUPPOSED to hurt so badly?”

“That means it’s working, Twi,” Dash giggled, gently landing behind Twilight, “Here, let me help you…but just on your first one. I can’t do EVERYTHING for you.” The Pegasus gently propped herself up and placed her front hooves on Twilight’s upper back. She then softly eased Twilight forward, using her strength to help the unicorn inch forward to touch her hooves. Twilight winced, since the pain was still festering on her calves, but she found Dash’s help to really work.

“Ah…thanks, Dash…although I could’ve done this myself,” Twilight mused, giving a weak smile as she finally was able to touch her hooves without bending her knees up, “Yes! I did it! I completed an exercise assignment that I had never tried before!”

“WITH my help,” Rainbow snickered, leaning in a bit more to make sure Twilight stretched out as far as her body would allow, “I’m just doing this to make sure you don’t make a COMPLETE foal of yourself during my games. It just wouldn’t seem very sporty to let you humiliate yourself before letting you stretch out your body a bit first.”

“Humph…” Twilight muttered, rocking back and forth to fully work out the kinks in her calves and back. As Rainbow Dash pressed her body into Twilight’s backside even more, the unicorn felt the Pegasus breathing right at her ear. The warmth of Rainbow’s body could be felt by Twilight simultaneously with the burning going on in her legs, making her give a weak smile. For some reason, feeling Dash’s hooves pressing firmly on her upper back and feeling her body rubbing against her lower back made her feel good. Just the feeling of Rainbow Dash willing to help her so much made Twilight feel happy.

Why are my cheeks burning? Twilight pondered, realizing that her cheeks were turning red the longer that she stretched out, It’s probably this exercise. It’s so strenuous holding this position that it’s making blood rush to my head. Ugh, Dash, let me go already! Hey, wait…is Dash finally showing a little compassion? Ha, maybe she’s starting to come around to what it truly means to have a pet! Maybe she’s actually…

At that moment, Rainbow finally let Twilight go, laughing her head off when the unicorn squeaked and tipped over backwards onto her back. Oddly enough, Twilight had become so relaxed in Dash’s grasp that she had really been failing to push her forelegs at all and was letting Dash do all the work. Since the Pegasus was realizing this, she thought she’d give Twilight a reality check. Now, both the tortoise and Twilight found themselves on their backs and staring up at the giggling blue Pegasus flying overhead.

“Whoops! Aw, my poor would-be pet got too relaxed…sucks to be you, Twi!” Dash cackled, playfully shaking her butt down at Twilight, “You and that turtle have a better chance at winning a sleeping contest than any of my games. Oh, wait, I already own most sleeping contest records, so…you can’t even win at those!”

“Dash…you’re evil, you know that?” Twilight grumbled, weakly helping herself back up and finally using her magic to help the tortoise back up as well, “You purposely got me relaxed and overconfident just so you’d make me fall onto my back, didn’t you?”

“Mayyyyyyyyybe…but, then again, any pet of mine wouldn’t be so lame as to fall for such a trick!” Dash responded, “Plus, my pet would surely be able to hold that position WITHOUT my help. Now, why don’t you try doing some pushups and sit-ups instead? Surely even an egghead like you could do THOSE.”

Pushups and sit-ups? Twilight thought, racking her brain again for the proper information, Let me see now…oh, right! Pushups are where you push yourself up and down using only your forelegs, and sit-ups are where you lay on your back while using only your lower back to lift yourself up and down. Okay, Dash, you wanna see some pushups and sit-ups? Prepare to be stupefied!

The tortoise, listening to every word that Rainbow was saying, attempted to do some pushups as well. He stood up straight on his four small legs and glanced down at the ground. Very slowly, he tried to lower himself down using mainly his front legs, but they began to wobble almost immediately and before even moving an inch, the tortoise slammed down hard on his belly. To make matters worse, when he struggled a bit and tried to get back up, he ended up rolling right onto his shell yet again. Rainbow could only watch in both amusement and disgust.

After watching the tortoise’s horrible demonstration of how NOT to do a pushup, Twilight gulped and slowly got into position herself. The purple unicorn stretched her body out on all four legs and made sure that she had a sturdy foundation. Knowing that Dash was watching her closely, Twilight really wanted to perform well. Despite not even playing in a single game yet, Twilight didn’t want to get egg on her face so early in her lesson she was attempting to teach Dash. Plus, glancing over at the flying animals, Twilight was dismayed to see that even THEY were doing pushups and sit-ups without any trouble at all. How they were able to do such exercises, Twilight was clueless; she would have to ask Fluttershy about that later.

Okay, Twilight, let’s do some pushups! the unicorn said to herself, shaking her rump back and forth and getting ready to do her first one, Rainbow is still watching, so I can’t let her down! Um…wait, why do I care about what she thinks? I’m not doing this to win her approval; I’m doing this to prove a point! Ugh…well, whatever. Now, just focus your energy in your upper body and use your forelegs to push yourself up and down while getting as low to the ground as possible. You can do this, Twilight.

Her tail twitching with excitement at doing a pushup, Twilight took a deep breath and held it while she gently lowered the front half of her body towards the ground. She kept her hooves planted firmly into the ground and, despite her slight trembling at being watched by Rainbow Dash, the unicorn continued to push herself even lower. Since her legs weren’t that strong, she was already feeling the burn once again. However, something didn’t feel quite right; it was almost like she was forgetting to do something. When she managed to push herself so far that her chin was only an inch away from the ground, she gave a weak grin of satisfaction.

“Okay…this isn’t so bad…now, I just need to push myself back up and do a few more before I…” Twilight began, but upon hearing Rainbow’s sudden cackles of glee from up above, the unicorn frowned and raised her eyes to see what Dash was mocking her for THIS time.

“Hey…Twi?” Rainbow grinned, flapping her wings and hovering behind the unicorn, “You DO know that, when you do a pushup, you have to lower ALL your legs, right? Unless, of course, you enjoy mooning those who happen to be behind you.” It took Twilight a moment to realize what Dash was saying, and when it came to her, a deep blush broke out across her muzzle. She had completely forgotten to lower her hind legs, and since she had lowered herself so much, her butt was sticking right up in the air for all to see. Dash, of course, was getting a thrill out of this.

Emitting a little “eep” of embarrassment, Twilight tried to cover up her risen rump with her tail, but in doing so lost her balance and painfully splatted down right on her face into the dirt. She didn’t complete a single pushup, and now to add to her misery, she had some dirt in her eyes and nose and a laughing Pegasus flapping around over her head. Next to her, the tortoise was still struggling miserably on his own backside, and he seemed to be giving Twilight a look of pity, as though he had been there many, many times before.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA…TWI, YOU’RE SUCH A DORK!” Dash laughed, once again going into hysterics as she landed on Twilight’s back and playfully gave her a noogie, “Aww, my poor little would-be pet isn’t very athletic OR fit…not really looking good for your chances at ‘teaching me a lesson’ or whatever it is you’re doing. This is also making me seriously humiliated at losing to you at the Running Of The Leaves, too.”

“Urge to maim…rising,” Twilight growled, pushing herself up and spitting out bits of dirt and rock from her mouth, “Hey, that was my first time doing a pushup, okay? Cut me some slack! And you know you could’ve told me that I had my posterior sticking up in the air a bit SOONER! That would’ve been really helpful, Dash.”

“Is that complaining I’m hearing?” Rainbow asked, mockingly holding a hoof up to her ear and giving Twilight a smug look, “If so, just say ‘I quit’ and this will all go away.”

“Not…gonna…happen,” Twilight sniffed, once again using her magic to put the tortoise right-side up, “If those flying creatures can somehow do exercises, then so can I! Now, watch as I do some sit-ups! You ready, little guy?” She gave the tortoise a warm smile, since he was basically the only one not mocking her or teasing her by this point; the birds and other flying critters couldn’t help but laugh in their own voices after watching Twilight’s shortcomings.

Okay…I had to have Dash help me touch my hooves…and then she humiliated me, Twilight thought, slowly laying down onto her back and staring up at the sky, Then, I tried to do a pushup, but I left a certain private area of my body up in the air and was once again humiliated. Okay, fine, I can live with that. I can feel my body all warmed up anyway; a few easy sit-ups will be a cinch. I’ve even seen foals do these, so there’s no way I’ll fail THIS time.

Next to her, the tortoise once more flew onto his shelled back when he attempted to do a sit-up, resulting in more laughter and screeching from the flying critters and earning him a disapproving shake of the head from Rainbow Dash. Determined to actually get some REAL work in to properly get her body warmed up for the games, Twilight tried to remember the proper way to do a sit-up. Did she cross her forelegs across her chest? Did she bend her knees? She couldn’t really remember, so she decided to combine both ways. The purple unicorn neatly crossed her arms across her upper chest, bent her hind legs up into perfect triangles, and took another deep breath.

“Okay, Twilight, generate air through your nose and push up with your upper chest muscles,” Twilight whispered out loud, “Do not move your hind legs and try to touch your arms to your knees…let’s do it!” The unicorn let out a snarl and she grit her teeth before pushing up with all her might. Almost instantly, she squeaked and ended up hitting her head right back onto the ground.

As Rainbow Dash gave herself a face-hoof, Twilight Sparkle struggled to do one sit-up. She pushed with all her might, trying not to move her hind legs, but she just couldn’t lift anything other than her head up into the air. Then, she began to violently thrash and attempt to use whatever means possible to lift herself up, which included flailing her legs and arms around and screaming her head off. Unfortunately, spending so much time in the library probably wasn’t the best way of staying in shape, as Twilight was now learning. After five minutes of constant straining, pushing, gasping, screaming, whimpering and complaining, Twilight eventually stretched out all four of her limbs and lay twitching on the ground without having completed a single sit-up.

“Twi…that was…well, to say it nicely…pathetic,” Dash sighed, flying over Twilight’s face and putting her hooves on her hips, “I haven’t even started the games yet and you didn’t even properly complete a single exercise regimen. Yeah…this is EXACTLY what I want in a pet. No, you’re absolutely right; I should just pick ANY pathetic pet out there and be happy with it. Right…you sure you don’t want to drop out right now? As much as I’m enjoying this, I really don’t want you to get even more humiliated.”

“Rainbow…this…isn’t about that!” Twilight wheezed, her chest heaving up and down as she slowly rolled over onto her stomach to push herself up properly, “Even…the weakest of animals…have hearts inside of them. The heart…is stronger than anything else. Which would you rather have? An animal who hates you, but can do everything you imagine? Or an animal who loves you, but doesn’t live up to your standards? Really…which one is the right choice?”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, her wings flapping peacefully behind her back while she stared down at the sweaty purple mare in front of her. Twilight did make a good point, but again, Dash always came back to the same exact question: Why did SHE care? This was Dash’s life, not hers. Why did Twilight care so much about what she decided to do? Was it so wrong wanting standards for a pet? It was the same in picking out someone to be your mate, right? It was the same in almost every aspect of life; we always had standards and this was no different. Twilight was just jealous of her skills, that’s all.

What an egghead…always trying to use that fancy talking on me…well, it ain’t gonna work, Dash yawned, rolling her eyes as she glanced at the struggling tortoise next to the unicorn, Just look at the two of them…it’s so sad. These flying animals behind me are so totally cool…one of them is gonna be my pet in the end. Twilight and this turtle dude…I still don’t see what they’re trying to prove. But, if they’re not gonna quit, it’s their loss. Their dignity apparently isn’t worth much to them.

Flying down, Dash held out a hoof to help Twilight up onto all fours. Despite not wanting to look any weaker than she already did, Twilight grudgingly accepted the help and allowed herself to be pulled up onto her four hooves. She then, yet again, used her magic to help her tortoise friend off his back for possibly the fifth time or so. As Twilight gave a few words of encouragement to the tortoise, Rainbow Dash took a harder look at the purple mare. She had failed to do any exercise properly, but she was still sweaty and her mane was already getting frazzled.

Heh…just look at her…she is SO out of her element, Dash thought to herself, admiring Twilight, If she only saw herself in a mirror right now…ha, so priceless. But…wow…with her mane all tussled and her body sweaty like that…it looks like she’s just been through one of AJ’s rodeo lessons. She looks like me after a good workout…only the “workout” part usually means a bit more than some failed exercises. Hmm…why is she trying so hard…just for me? Ugh, stupid Twilight…already messing with my head.

“Uh…Dash? You’re free to let go of my hoof now,” Twilight said, breaking Dash’s thoughts a second later. Blinking, Rainbow glanced down to see that she still had her own cyan right hoof locked with Twilight’s purple one, not to mention she was slightly squeezing. With a slight squeak of surprise, Dash shook off her friend’s hoof and frowned.

“Sorry, Twi, but that’s the last help you get from me!” she snapped, pulling her black sunglasses back down over her eyes as she turned away, “It’s time to get serious; this isn’t a game, you know.”

“Uh, actually, it kinda is…” Twilight began, but Dash ignored her and fluttered back over to the flying creatures that she had her eyes locked upon.

“I’ve wasted enough time playing with Twilight and that turtle, so now it’s time to get to the games!” Dash cheered, listening to the birds and flying animals let out squawks and excited squeaks, “I hope you’re all warmed up and raring to go, because it’s all or nothing now! From this point on, you’re gonna be judged to the harshest level! Only the best will survive…get your game on, competitors!”

Twilight sighed and shook her head as she began to weakly dust her body off. Already she was feeling tired and the games hadn’t even started. Maybe it would be best to just give up. This was so pointless; why tire herself for this? Dash clearly wasn’t going to listen to her. The unicorn was strongly considering just turning around and taking it on the chin before giving up, but something stopped her. Despite looking just as bad, if not worse than she did, the tortoise was slowly making his way over to the flying animals. He wasn’t about to give up, and after casting a curious glance back at Twilight, she realized that she shouldn’t, either. Giving one last aggravated sigh while glancing up at the sky, Twilight Sparkle slowly trotted over to Dash’s group of animals to begin the games, too.

Chapter 3: The Speed Test

“Okay, now that our resident egghead is all ‘stretched out’, we can begin the games,” Rainbow Dash teased, watching Twilight limp to the starting line of the first event with the tortoise moving ever so slowly right behind her, “This first game is a test of speed. As I’m sure you all can tell, this is a racetrack which is 50 yards long when completed in the oval shape that you all see before you.”

“No, really?” Twilight said sarcastically, taking a good look around the track and doing the quick calculations in her head, “Thanks for informing us of that, Dash; we couldn’t figure it out on her own just how big this track was and the shape that it’s in.”

“Oh, shut up,” Dash grumbled, crossing her arms and fluttering her wings, “My would-be pets do not speak back to me! Bad girl, Twilight. Don’t make me come over there and bop you on the nose.”

“Ooh, I’m SO scared,” Twilight smirked, her voice reeking of sarcasm yet again, “Rainbow, PLEASE don’t hurt me; I promise I’ll be a good girl and not speak out of turn again. Pretty please will you forgive me?” The unicorn gave Dash a taste of her own medicine by batting her eyelashes and trying to give the Pegasus a mock apologetic look. Dash could only scowl while making a mark on a clipboard that she was holding onto.

“THAT is gonna cost you some points, Miss Smarty Pants,” Dash said smugly, sticking her tongue out at the purple unicorn and tucking the quill that she just used behind her ear, “Now, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I was saying that this track is 50 yards long. Therefore, when you run four laps, that means that you will have completed…uh…” She did some quick calculations in her head. “…oh, right, 200 yards! Yeah, that’s right, 200 yards!”

“Didn’t teach math in Flight School, Dash?” Twilight teased again.

“And that’s gonna cost you even MORE points!” Dash growled, making some more random notes on her clipboard, “Keep it up, Twilight; I can do this all day.”

“She’s so fun to tease, don’t you think?” Twilight whispered to the nearby tortoise, who seemed to be her own friend, “She can dish it out, but she just can’t take it.” The tortoise couldn’t talk, but he did give Twilight a happy little smile and a bob of the head to let her know that he felt the same way. Thankfully, Rainbow was too busy barking out other orders to really pay attention.

“Okay, competitors, here’s how this is gonna work,” Dash said, “I want to see just how fast you really are! So, flying a mile will be a cinch, right? Yeah, it totally will be. For me, that would only about 10-15 seconds maximum! Each of you must fly…or run, for two of you…an entire mile on this track. Only the fastest will make it back before the others! Um…so, uh…how many laps would that be exactly?” She tried desperately to do the math in her head again, but Twilight couldn’t help but “assist” her a little bit.

“There are 1,760 yards in a mile, Dash,” Twilight said sweetly, trying to sound helpful, “Now, if you said that this track is 50 yards, how many laps will that be before you reach one mile?”

“S-s-shut up, Twilight! I-I-I was just coming up with the answer, but you distracted me and made me lose my train of thought!” Dash squeaked, pulling out her quill again and making more furious markings on her clipboard, “More point deductions for you, Miss Egghead!”

Twilight sighed and shook her head in bemusement while Dash quickly tried to come up with the answer again. Minutes passed, and despite what Twilight told Dash, she still couldn’t come up with an answer. The tortoise was getting bored and eventually pulled his head into his shell to take a snooze. The birds and other flying animals were preening their feathers, flexing their wings, sharpening their beaks on the ground, and randomly poking at each other while the blue Pegasus tried to come up with how many laps it would take to fill her quota.

“It’s 1,760 divided by 50, Rainbow,” Twilight sighed, “You’ll get a decimal, so I suggest you round to the nearest whole number.”

“More points deducted!” Rainbow said proudly, making more scribbles on her clipboard and smirking over at Twilight, “Man, Twilight, for somepony so bright, you sure aren’t very smart. You do realize that you don’t want points taken away, right? You actually WANT points.”

“Judging pets by points…nice, Rainbow,” Twilight sniffed, shaking her head in dismay, “What another perfect way to pick a pet…well done, Dash. You’re awesome, you really are.”

“Duh, I KNOW!” Dash said proudly, quickly turning whatever piece of paper she had on her clipboard over and scribbling out what Twilight just said to her, failing to get Twilight’s hidden sarcasm, “Okay, so…1,760 divided by 50…um, 50 doesn’t go into 1…or into 17…okay, how does this work again? Man, I always copied off Fluttershy’s paper on this stuff! Um…oh, right, 50 goes into 176 three times…and then 50 goes into 1,760…um…somewhere close to 40 times…so, that means, you will have to go 340 laps!”

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA!” Twilight groaned, slamming her head over and over onto the ground, “Dash, the answer is 35.2!”

“Huh? Where did you get THAT number? That doesn’t make any…oh,” Dash blinked, looking at her calculations a bit harder as a blush came to her face, “Oh…heh…right, I totally forgot that…um…anyway, yes, the egghead is right. You each will have to go 35.2 laps for…”

“Dash…you can’t go .2 of a lap!” Twilight moaned, still banging her head into the ground, “Didn’t you hear what I said about rounding it to the nearest whole number?”

“Hey, I said an ENTIRE mile, Twilight!” Dash snapped, “And .2 is still part of the number, so I am no way counting that out! What, are you scared of going that extra .2 mile? Ha, you’re just lazy!”

“Rainbow…that’s not the point…the point is…oh, forget it,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head and groaning in exasperation, “Do whatever you want; it’s your game.”

“You’re darn right it is,” Dash smiled, running a hoof through her mane, “Now, a few more point deductions for you due to annoying me, and then we can start!” Ignoring the added sighs from Twilight, Dash made more marks on her paper, tucked the quill back behind her ear, then was finally ready to get started. “Okay, so, you all have to fly or run 35.2 laps around this track. You get points depending on when you get back. The faster the better, remember. I want a pet that can keep up with me, so keep that as motivation when you feel like going just a hair slower. Every millisecond counts!”

“Wake up, buddy,” Twilight whispered, nudging the tortoise’s shell and watching as he slowly poked his head back out, “We’re about to get started…although I fear that this isn’t gonna be pretty.”

“I want a good, clean race here, competitors!” Dash barked, slowly flying back and forth in front of all the contestants, “So, if you plan on using dirty tricks and cheating…that would be JUST fine. Remember, so long as you win, that’s all that matters.”

“Did you learn NOTHING from the Running Of The Leaves?” Twilight asked. In response, Dash made another mark on her clipboard, then went back to addressing everyone.

“Okay, are you all ready?” the Pegasus shouted, flying to the sidelines and lifting up her whistle with a one hoof and a stopwatch with the other, “Make me proud! On your marks…” Twilight sighed again, and despite her body still being sore from the horrible workouts, she got into the same position that she used back when she competed in the Running Of The Leaves. “…get set…” The tortoise joined in with Twilight, at least with the part of looking ready to go. Really, just standing there, it was hard to tell just how ready he really was. “…GO!”

Rainbow Dash blew on her whistle, and all the flying animals instantly took off. The hawk, eagle and falcon all got the best start, blasting off with such power as they showed off their wing strength. The hummingbird, flamingo, bat, owl, and butterfly were all flapping along as hard as they could, but it was clear they didn’t have the speed as the first three birds of prey. Twilight had gotten caught in the backdraft of the flying creatures, which resulted in her doing a face-plant straight down into the dirt and even letting the slow-moving tortoise get an inch or two ahead of her.

“Ugh…talk about a whirlwind experience,” Twilight moaned, twitching in pain as she hobbled back onto her hooves, “Well, no matter…I learned a lot from the Running Of The Leaves…there’s no way that I’m gonna…GAH!” Having taken way too much time getting back onto her hooves, the hawk, eagle and falcon had all finished their first lap and had once more sped straight past Twilight. Yet again, the combined speed from all three creatures blasted the purple unicorn right off her hooves and made her face-plant into the ground yet again. The tortoise was now even farther ahead of her.

“HEY, TWI, THIS ISN’T A FACE-PLANTING COMPETITION!” Rainbow Dash called from the sidelines, a massive grin on her face, “AND THE DIRT DOESN’T TASTE VERY GOOD, SO I WOULD SUGGEST NOT KEEPING YOUR FACE IN IT FOR TOO LONG.”

“Dash…you are the most obnoxious little…” Twilight began, but she shrieked almost immediately after picking herself up for the second time. The falcon, hawk and eagle had just completed their second lap, and since Twilight was right in the way, the falcon accidentally zoomed straight into her butt and stabbed her with its sharp beak. This caused the unicorn to scream in pain and fly straight up into the air, reaching underneath her and clutching her sore posterior and the new red mark as she did so.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” Rainbow cackled, falling over in the grass as she kicked her hind legs like crazy upon watching Twilight smashed down into the dirt track, “T-T-TWILIGHT…OH, MY RIBS…OH MAN, IT’S TOO MUCH…BWAHAHAHAHA…TWILIGHT…GEEZ, OH MAN…THIS IS RICH!”

Twilight twitched in pain as she lay upside down in the deep hole that her face had created when she smashed back down onto the ground moments before. The only parts of her sticking up above the ground was her hind legs, her tail, and her rear-end with its compliment red mark throbbing on it. The unicorn squirmed weakly inside the hole, trying to get free, but let out a shriek when she felt the flamingo idly fly over the top of her butt as though it was nothing. Then, as more of the flying animals completed more laps, they zoomed straight through Twilight’s tail a few times and ended up ripping off strands of hair each and every time they flew through it.

What…am…I…doing? Twilight thought, whimpering as she felt her tail get destroyed and her butt still throbbing from the wound, This…is…humiliating! These games aren’t for me…why am I doing this? I could always use my magic…to cheat and win…but, that wouldn’t be fair. Dash WANTS us to cheat and use dirty tricks…but I’m not having that. I wanna win with dignity and class…and show her the true heart of a pet…wait, what? Why am I speaking like I WANT to be her pet? I DON’T! Ugh…I think this fall I took really did a number on my head.

“HEY, TWI, CAN YOU HEAR ME DOWN THERE?” Dash yelled, having flapped over to Twilight and was peering down at her butt, “I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT TAKING A SNOOZE INSIDE A HOLE IS NOT PART OF THIS RACE. SO, YOU’RE WASTING A LOT OF TIME DOING THAT. IF YOU’RE EXPECTING SOMEPONY TO KISS THAT BRUISE ON YOUR BUTT, I WOULDN’T HOLD MY BREATH. SO, MY SUGGESTION IS YOU PULL YOURSELF OUT OF THAT HOLE AND TRY TO SAVE FACE…BY QUITTING!”

Darn you, Dash…you rotten little filly…I’m gonna show you a thing or two! Twilight growled to herself, struggling to pull herself out of her hole. She kicked her legs like crazy and squirmed as hard as she could, her purple rump shaking back and forth as she did so, which only amused Dash even more as she watched from the sky.

I probably SHOULD help her…but, no, this is a competition! Dash thought, crossing her arms across her chest while idly kicking her hind legs and flapping her wings, A pet has to learn how to fend for itself and I can’t always be there to hold its hoof or whatever. Man…Twi has a nice rear…I never realized just how nice the color purple is. Boy, that looks like bad wound, too…that falcon sure has a sharp beak. Too bad I don’t have any ointment for that…

Rainbow Dash slowly followed Twilight’s shaking rump and hind legs with her eyes, watching them thrash back and forth as the angry unicorn attempted to right herself. Her mangled tail flapped in the breeze and covered her sore rump now and then, and Dash caught herself staring even more. The Pegasus’ eyes seemed to lock onto the red mark that Twilight now had on her rump. Before she knew it, she felt something warm lighting up on her face, and when she reached up with a hoof, she found her cheeks as the culprit. She was blushing, and blushing badly at that.

“Ugh…Twi, this is NOT okay!” Dash stuttered, flying down and grabbing the unicorn’s hind legs, “You are not only making a mockery of my race, but you’re using your magic or whatever to make me feel weird. I said you could cheat, but not using your magic to mess with my head! That’s…gonna cost you…some more points!” She grunted as she flapped her wings hard and tugged upwards, pulling as hard as she could to free Twilight. With a loud popping sound, Twilight was eventually pulled out a second later.

“BLAH! PTOOEY! BLECH!” Twilight hacked, spitting out dirt and wiping out her mouth with her hoof, “Gross! Rainbow, you…uh…wait, you helped me?”

“Well, yeah…like I said, you were making a mockery of my race…and for some reason, staring at your butt was making me feel weird,” Dash frowned, dropping Twilight on her head a moment later and pulling out her clipboard, “So, I’m taking off points for being dumb enough to crash down into that hole…for not being able to pull yourself out without magic…and for enchanting me or whatever it was you did to make me feel queasy at staring down at your booty.”

“Y-y-you were…looking at my…wait, enchanting…WHAT?!?!” Twilight blinked, completely confused as she sat up and rubbed her aching head, “Dash, what in the world are you talking about? Why were you staring at my…OH CELESTIA!”

Twilight had completely forgotten about the race by this point, so she was very surprised when the eight flying animals came around for yet another lap. The unicorn tried to duck away, but it was too late. With a loud screech, the falcon smashed right into Twilight’s face, and because he was leading the pack, the eagle and hawk both crashed into HIM a moment later. Before long, a huge pileup was on the track, with Twilight on the bottom of the pile and all eight flying animals squirming and squawking furiously on top of her. The tortoise was only halfway through his FIRST lap.

“Whoa! Twilight, NOT cool!” Dash growled, angrily making more markings on her paper, “You just fouled up all the other racers! Do you KNOW what this is gonna do to their times? You should be ashamed of yourself! Just because you’re lousy doesn’t mean you have to mess THEM up, too! Severe point deduction for you, Twi.”

“I am this close to strangling a certain Pegasus,” Twilight moaned, trying to pull herself out from under the pile of birds and other animals, “Dash, I didn’t foul them up; they flew right into me! THEY’RE the ones too stupid to realize that I was in their way! All they cared about was going as fast as they could and not even worrying about who they were up against!”

“Duh, I TOLD them to go as fast as they could, remember?” Dash pointed out.

“But just look at what they’ve DONE,” Twilight argued, “They ran me over, twice. I have a mark on my posterior now thanks to one of them flying straight into it. And now, instead of just flying around me, they all crashed right INTO me. Don’t you see? They care more about a race than they do about safety!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and placed a hoof to her chin, contemplating what Twilight said. There was some true in the unicorn’s words. The birds and other flying animals were indeed being reckless, and Dash herself knew what trouble could lead from that. Plus, even though it was funny to watch Twilight make a foal of herself, Rainbow didn’t really LIKE seeing the unicorn in pain. In fact, deep down, it upset her. But, these were NOT going to be easy games, and Twilight knew that. It was her own fault for wanting to be in it; Dash had even asked her twice, and Twilight had accepted both times. Therefore, whatever unfortunate events befell the unicorn wasn’t her fault, right?

“Humph…you’re just blaming the others for your own mishaps, Twilight,” Dash said calmly, scribbling away on her paper, “Sadly, that’s more loss of points for you; blaming others for your own faults is not a sign of a good pet, Twilight.”

Twilight Sparkle grumbled and shot Rainbow Dash a dirty look, then continued to try and complete her first lap. Sadly, the birds and flying animals had finally gotten back up from their crash, and once again taking little notice of Twilight, they slammed her out of the way once more and continued on with their laps, determined to be the first one to cross the finish line after the 35.2 required laps. The tortoise still had a good quarter of his first lap to go.

And the race wore on and on. Twilight’s butt and head were both hurting badly, but she was determined to not use magic to cheat and she was determined to not quit. Sure, she was constantly bumped into by most of the competitors on each subsequent lap, and she wasn’t much of a runner, since the Running Of The Leaves taught her to pace herself and not rush, so it was taking her a very long time to complete the first game. The unicorn had barely finished five laps when Dash made an announcement.

“FIRST PLACE IS THE FALCON!” Dash yelled out, stopping her stopwatch, “TAKING AWAY THE TIME THAT TWILIGHT CAUSED HIM TO MISS, HIS FINAL TIME IS…TWO MINUTES AND 12 SECONDS!”

Twilight sighed and hung her head, but continued to weakly hobble along anyway. Dash would frequently make more announcements during her laps, exclaiming the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight place contestants. The eagle would finish second, the hawk finished third, the bat finished fourth, the owl finished fifth, the hummingbird finished sixth, the flamingo finished seventh, and the butterfly finished eighth. Twilight and the tortoise were the only two left on the track when the butterfly finished the race.

“…EIGHTH PLACE IS THE BUTTERFLY, WITH A FINAL TIME OF…NINE MINUTES AND 20 SECONDS!” Dash called out, smiling as all eight of her picks from Fluttershy’s house finished the race, “Not bad, not bad at all…nowhere NEAR as good as me, since I could do it in around 15 seconds, but there’s always room for improvement! Falcon, you really killed it out there and…huh?” She glanced back at the track, watching as Twilight limped around and completed only her 24th lap.

“That…should…be…24 laps…and only 11.2 more to go…” Twilight wheezed, still going as hard as she could, despite the fact she was out of breath and looked ready to faint.

Twilight…why? Dash wondered, tilting her head as she watched the unicorn go, This…this is crazy! You lost…big time! Your time isn’t even gonna matter! Surely you’re smart enough to realize that! Why…why are you doing this? You’re hurt…and you’re tired…Twi, c’mon, just stop…please, just stop! But Twilight didn’t stop, and she wasn’t about to stop, either. She was determined with all her heart to prove Dash wrong on judging pets just from their physical traits. She was gonna prove her wrong no matter how badly it hurt.

Ugh…my legs…they burn… Twilight thought, scrunching up her eyes as she gasped and kept trotting along the track, My hooves feel…like they’re on fire…and the sore on my rear-end…keeps nagging me. And…my headache has only gotten worse…but, no, I WILL complete this game! You always learn more in a loss…than you do in a win…Dash, witness the heart of a REAL winner.

“Twilight, stop this,” Dash said, flapping over to Twilight and joining her during her final 10 laps, “You don’t have to prove anything to me! Sure, you lost…handily…and miserably…and in humiliation fashion. But, big deal? I still love ya as a friend and I don’t think any less of you. Seriously, stop this; you’re gonna get yourself exhausted. Believe me, I know; I’ve seen it happen to Applejack.”

“Forget it…Dash…I’m not quitting…not now, not ever!” Twilight choked out, her breaths becoming labored as she neared the home stretch, “I’m…just as tough as you…but not on the outside…”

“What…are you talking about?” Dash asked, frowning slightly as she kept flapping along with her friend, “No offense, but…you’re nowhere NEAR as tough as me. You’re just a small little pony with hardly any muscle on you, and what’s on the inside that makes you just as tough as me?”

“My heart, Dash…my heart,” Twilight responded, and didn’t say another word as she kept pushing forward with her laps.

Dash flew back to the sidelines and sat down on her haunches, watching one of her best friends push forward to complete something that she had no reason to complete. This wasn’t her library. This wasn’t an assignment from Celestia. This wasn’t an overdue book. This was nothing like that. This was just her fighting to prove to Dash how strong her heart was. The azure Pegasus looked down at the ground, muttering under her breath, while the other flying animals idly pecked at the grass and relaxed around her.

Her heart…is just as tough as mine? she thought, closing her eyes and trying to understand what she meant, I…I don’t understand. Sure, we’re best buds, but…what is she getting at? The only thing she’s “proving” to me is that she’s insane and doesn’t mind getting herself killed for the sake of a race. This is just to become my pet! Sheez, what is WITH her? Is this REALLY worth it? Twilight…why are you doing this? Really…why?

Ten minutes later, Twilight inched her way across the finish line, and then trotted what she assumed was around .2 of a mile, before collapsing in a heap. Rainbow Dash called her time (37 minutes and 29 seconds), then hurried over to help carry the weak unicorn to the sidelines. There, Rainbow used some smelling salts on her, then gave her a bottle of water while she tried brushing dirt out of her mane and attempted to tend to any minor scrapes that her body had.

“Well…you completed the race…” Dash said softly, shaking her head in disgust, “And it only cost you…well, everything. You realize that this is just the FIRST test, right? Uh…how are you planning on surviving this, Twi?”

“Heh…in the only way I know how, Dash…with my spirit,” Twilight smiled, leaning forward slightly and alternating between taking deep breaths and downing water from the bottle, “As long as I believe that I can do it…I’ll never be a loser. Maybe, just maybe…you’ll finally see what I’m trying to prove.”

“Whatever…crazy unicorn,” Dash muttered, “I swear, you’re all the same…Rarity is no better when she puts her mind to something stupid, and I think…” She paused, since she had just been tending to Twilight’s mangled tail, and since the unicorn had leaned forward, the Pegasus had caught sight of the red bruise that was still on her butt. It was still there, and it looked just as painful as before. Once again, Dash felt her face starting to burn, and when she reached up to feel with her hooves, she realized it was once again her cheeks. She was blushing furiously yet again.

“Dash…I’ll take care of THAT myself,” Twilight sniffed, glancing back and crossing her forelegs. She had caught sight of Rainbow staring at her butt, and while she was a bit curious that the Pegasus was blushing, she focused more on the fact that Dash was staring at her rump and less on the fact that she was blushing about it.

“W-w-what?!?! Oh, um, right…yeah, you just…magic yourself up some ointment and…take care of that then,” Dash muttered, turning away and shaking her head, “It looks like it hurts pretty bad…um, take your time…still plenty of time until the next event. I’ll just, um, let you catch your breath…and stuff.” The Pegasus quickly flew off, leaving the purple unicorn alone.

“Weird little Pegasus,” Twilight muttered, using her horn to make a bottle of ointment appear, “I hope I’m able to get through to her eventually…ooh, that’s cold!” The unicorn squeezed out some of the cool white ointment cream onto her hooves, leaned forward, and moaned in relief as she began rubbing it over the wound on her tush.

Back on the racetrack, the tortoise was wheezing as he just finished his fourth lap. He was probably gonna have a DNF, since Dash wasn’t known for her patience.

Chapter 4: The Agility Test

“Okay, all the times have been tallied, and after including in all of Twilight’s point deductions, I’m pleased to announce that the falcon is currently in first place! In dead last is our resident unicorn who apparently was raised to become a pet.” Rainbow Dash giggled as Twilight gave her a look of shock and annoyance, the unicorn finally starting to recover after her rough mile run.

“Last place? Dash, as much as I’m trying to prove a point here, how am I in last place when the tortoise didn’t even FINISH the race?”

“Sorry, Twi, but your point deductions have sunk you into a pretty deep hole that could very well be impossible to dig out of. The turtle…”

“Tortoise.”

“…tortoise, whatever, may not have finished the race, but he hasn’t gotten any point deductions for being an egghead, being annoying, or being a pest.”

“That doesn’t even make sense! I can’t be in last place when I actually finished the race! Ugh…never mind, it doesn’t matter. Do whatever makes you happy, Rainbow.” Twilight knew that she was fighting an uphill battle, both in Rainbow Dash’s silly games and with Rainbow Dash herself. Arguing against the Pegasus would do as much good as trying to get Fluttershy to be more assertive.

“I’ll do just that, Twilight,” Rainbow smirked, jotting some more random information down on her clipboard and failing to notice her flying competitors tease and mock Twilight. The tortoise stayed right at Twilight’s side, dejected that he had failed to finish the race, but feeling he could understand Twilight’s pain and would be there for her. The birds and other flying creatures, while Dash wasn’t looking, continued to tease and make faces at the tired purple unicorn, who did nothing to fight back.

“Nice…I’ve got a bunch of animals all mocking me…how lovely,” Twilight muttered sarcastically to herself, glancing down at the tortoise and giving a weak smile, “Hey, little guy, good to see you’re still here. I wasn’t trying to call you out earlier; I was just a bit annoyed with Dash’s illogical sense of a fair point system. Are you feeling alright?” The tortoise slowly nodded his head and gave Twilight a little smile, silently telling her that it was alright and he had been called out worse times than that in his life.

“Okay, now that I’ve jotted down some very important things on my super important clipboard, it’s time to get to the second part of my contest,” Dash yelled out, crossing her forelegs and sticking her clipboard under her left pit, “First was speed, since speed is crucial to being able to keep up with me. However, the next test will be agility! Naturally, my pet will have to be very agile and graceful, just like me, and be able to zoom around any obstacle in his or her way!”

“Rainbow Dash, being fast I suppose I can understand, since you’d want to fly with your pet. But, agility? Seriously? What, are you planning on taking your pet on dangerous missions with obstacles and other dangerous hazards?” Twilight sat on her sore rump and crossed her forelegs, tapping one of her hind legs on the ground in annoyance while she listened to Dash’s usual bravado.

Rainbow Dash frowned over at Twilight, and suddenly stretched her wings and flew over to her. “For your information, smarty pants, dodging trees and flying over pointed mountaintops and skimming over the tops of raging waterfalls all count as obstacles in my book. Testing a pet for agility isn’t a bad thing. I’ll be very curious to see just how well YOU can do, Twi; think you can handle my second test?”

“Oh, I know I can! My body may ache from that race, but I’m still anxious to prove you wrong and win this entire contest!” Twilight bent her ears back and gave Rainbow Dash a confident grin. “Anything that these birds can do, I can do just as well! Let’s see this obstacle race of yours, Dash.”

“It’s your funeral,” Dash shrugged, giving Twilight a little wink before flying back over to the sidelines of the second track, “Alright, so this agility test will be an obstacle course, as you all might’ve guessed. Each racer will have to complete the course in the fastest time possible while going through all the obstacles. For each obstacle that you fail to get around or you outright skip, that’s gonna cost you 10 seconds! At the end, the winner will be the one who completes the race in the fastest time, after deductions of penalties, of course. Aim for the top, my would-be pets! This isn’t a course for the weak.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s speech before taking a glance out at the track and getting a good look at the obstacles she’d have to go through. She couldn’t see all of them, but she saw a large pool of water, some balancing beams, some large metal hoops overhanging a suspending platform, a large pool of mud, a giant empty pit, and several other obstacles. Twilight gulped nervously and once again began having second thoughts about doing this, since she knew she wasn’t cut out for such a course. She could always cheat with her magic, but she refused to win that way. Winning without honor wasn’t really winning at all. Then, something occurred to her.

“Um, Rainbow? All of these animals can fly…except for this tortoise and myself,” Twilight pointed out, “How is most of the obstacle course even…well, difficult for them? They can easily just fly over the pools of mud and water and that big empty pit. Plus, they can’t exactly balance on those beams, since their bodies aren’t made for that. So…how exactly is this gonna work?”

“Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight…you’re so clueless, it’s adorkable,” Rainbow Dash giggled, flapping her wings and once more flying back over to her irritated friend. The Pegasus playfully gave Twilight a noogie with her clenched hoof before she gently tilted the unicorn’s head back and had her look up into the sky. “THAT’S their obstacle course up there. This one down here is just for you…and that turtle.”

Twilight squirmed and pushed Rainbow’s hoof away, but kept her eyes locked on the air obstacle course awhile longer. The course in the sky was all suspended by hundreds of balloons; judging from the colors, Rainbow Dash had gotten them from Pinkie Pie. There were suspended metal rings only large enough for medium-sized birds to fit through, there were large wooden poles with thick pieces of wood jutted out on all sides to dodge, there were very tiny openings in pieces of cardboard that would have to be flown through at the right angle, and many more unusual but clever flying contraptions. The course, like the one on the ground, also seemed to stretch across the sky in a circle.

“Whoa…but, how is that even possible?” Twilight asked, her mouth agape as she was stunned by what she was seeing, “Theoretically, balloons couldn’t possibly support that much weight; it doesn’t matter how many are tied to something! And how is it that the balloons are just staying floating in the places where you put them? This is illogical and totally confusing! Dash, what did you do?”

“Uh…I, like, got Pinkie to lend me some of her balloons…duh,” Rainbow Dash scoffed, as though she had just been asked the stupidest question in the world, “They’re Pinkie’s balloons…it’s best not to ask how they work exactly.”

“But…but…but…ugh!” Twilight hated it when Pinkie always did something that made no sense. No, it not only angered her, it outright infuriated the unicorn. But, there was nothing that could be done; Twilight just pretended that this made about as much sense as a city being built on the clouds.

“So, while you and that silly turtle are running this course down here, I’m gonna be monitoring the TRUE competitors up there,” Dash explained, motioning with her head up into the sky, “But, don’t worry; I’ll keep track of your finish times with my automated stopwatches that are synced to stop automatically once the obstacle course is run! All you have to do is wear them around your neck and they’ll start as soon as you begin the race and won’t stop until the course is completed!”

“Rainbow, that sounds quite advanced! Where on all of Equestria did you find such devices?” Twilight looked up at Dash with eager eyes, her tail wiggling behind her excitedly as she waited to hear where Dash had acquired such advance technology.

Dash paused for a moment, her eyes shifting from side to side, before she gave Twilight a very sheepish grin. “Uh…well…I was kinda hoping that you’d just use your magic to modify two of my stopwatches to do…what I just said. I, um, don’t exactly have automated stopwatches synced to start and stop on command, you see.”

“…Dash, you drive me crazy, you know that, right?”

“I can’t help it I was born this cool, Twi.”

Grumbling and thinking about giving Rainbow Dash a good lecture, Twilight forced herself to be the bigger mare and just let Dash have her way. When the Pegasus held out two stopwatches, Twilight focused on the small objects as her horn ignited with magic energy. She gently levitated the stopwatches out of Rainbow’s hooves and fashioned one around her own neck and one around the tortoise’s next to her. She then concentrated even harder and was able to sync the stopwatches up with her and the tortoise’s body movements.

After another pause, the tiny screens on each watch flashed blue, and Twilight’s magic subsided. Proud of herself, Twilight gave the little tortoise a pat on the head and gave Rainbow Dash a big grin. “Ta-da! Using my magic and knowledge of anatomy, I modified these two stopwatches to start as soon as I take a step onto the obstacle course. The same holds true for my tortoise friend here. They will not stop until either of us come to a dead stop, which would mean completing the course. So long as we keep our bodies in motion at all times, these watches will not stop. It’s a rather complicated spell I used, since matching the motions of two bodies to that of a stopwatch isn’t easy and…”

“Blah blah blah, jabber jabber jabber…look, long story short, you got them to work, right?” Dash sniffed, rolling her eyes and having grown bored a long time ago.

Giving a huff, Twilight glared at her impatient Pegasus and gave a curt nod of the head. “Yes, Dash. These stopwatches will time myself and the tortoise while you watch your bird friends up in the sky obstacle course.”

“Sweet! That’s all I needed…and wanted…to hear!” Dash gave a happy grin and put her hooves on her hips while she hovered in front of the two longshots to become her pet. “Well, good luck to both of you, since you’re both gonna need it. Twi, try not to make a total mule of yourself this time, would ya?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Rainbow. I REALLY wanted to make myself look stupid last time, but you need not worry this time because I learned my lesson.” Twilight’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but Dash either failed to pick up on it or just didn’t care.

“Alright, then we’re all set,” Dash chuckled, stretching out her limbs as she eyed the impatient eight flying animals who had been waiting for the Pegasus to get done with Twilight and focus on them. “Start whenever you two want; I’m heading up into the sky obstacle course. This shouldn’t take long; once I’m done, I’ll come down and watch you finish. It’s sure to be hilarious.”

I’ll make you eat those words, Dash, Twilight thought, slowly bending her legs and narrowing her eyes as she set her sights on the obstacle course in front of her, If it’s agility that Rainbow wants, it’s agility that Rainbow gets. We unicorns may not be very fast, but as Rarity can attest to, we are very graceful. Just you wait, Dash; I’m gonna blow you away this time! Next to Twilight, the tortoise took five seconds to narrow his own eyes as he set his sights on the course, too.

Hmm…she looks so determined…weak body and all, Dash mused, taking one last look at Twilight as her flying competitors flew up to compete in the sky obstacle course, How far is she gonna take this? I REALLY don’t want to see her keep getting hurt. Why can’t she just leave me alone and let me pick a pet MY way? I just don’t understand how she thinks…heck, I don’t understand how ALL unicorns think. Twi, just be careful, okay? You’re still one of my best friends…it hurts me when I see you hurt. I laugh a lot, but…I’m not good with gushy stuff. Just be careful.

Twilight glanced to the side and noticed Rainbow staring at her, and as soon as she did, the Pegasus hurried to put on her black sunglasses so that her eyes couldn’t be read. Flashing Twilight one of her usual grins which could rival Vinyl Scratch’s, she gave the unicorn a little wave before taking off towards her sky course. Twilight and the tortoise were both left alone, and despite both of them knowing they had no chance in such a hard obstacle course, they weren’t about to give up. One was fighting for Dash’s attention, and the other was fighting to teach Dash a lesson. They couldn’t stop.

“This is only round two, little friend…good luck,” Twilight muttered, giving a nod to the tortoise as she lifted her tail into the air and gritted her teeth, “Okay, Twilight…on the count of three, burst out with everything you’ve got in the tank and never look back!” She didn’t pick up on the way the tortoise’s eyes seemed to light up when she uttered the word ‘tank’. “Deep breaths, Twilight, deep breaths…remember to use your lower body for your power and your upper body for your balance, and whatever you do…do NOT use magic to cheat. You’re better than that. Now, one…two…THREE!”

Unfortunately, since Twilight still was no track star, her timing was off. Just as she yelled out “THREE”, she tried to get a head start while at the same time trying to start after she had fully counted down without cheating with a millisecond. The result was she tripped over her front hooves and slammed face first down into the dirt. Her automated stopwatch was spurred into motion almost immediately. The tortoise, having used Twilight’s countdown for himself, had begun to move right after Twilight had face-planted into the track. The tortoise was in the lead.

Ugh…smooth, Twilight…smooth, Twilight moaned, mentally beating herself up as she spat out dirt and tried to right herself, Right off the bat, too. What’s wrong with you? Just do what Dash does and just run without thinking twice! Ugh, but I can’t do that…I can’t cheat and give himself a millisecond head start! Wait, what am I doing? I have to get moving!

Shaking off the pain in her nose, Twilight forced her legs into action and quickly passed the tortoise and focused on the first obstacle. Up above, Twilight could hear Dash’s shrill whistle signaling the start of her own race, and Twilight desired nothing more than to beat them at their own game. The exuberant unicorn spurred her legs forward down the rough, dirt track as she came upon her first obstacle. It was the pool of water.

Let’s see…seems to be…six by six feet…which means I should double six and take 12 paces back to get a running start and clear the entire thing, Twilight thought, doing some quick calculations in her head. She took 12 large steps backwards and focused heavily on the other side of the pit. She told herself to just leap with all she had and not to hesitate for even a moment. Not wanting to waste any more time just thinking about it, Twilight rushed forward. Just as she came to the edge of the pool, she took a hard leap. Her timing was nearly perfect.

Using her strategy of making her lower body do most of the work, she had given a mighty kick with her hind legs and had gotten a good jump. Her slim body easily sailed across the pool without touching a molecule of water. When Twilight landed with a grunt, she gave herself a small cheer of encouragement, but then kept moving. Behind her, the tortoise got to the pool of water, and when he tried to jump, he splashed head first into the pool and began to simply wade across. Thankfully, his stopwatch was waterproof; Twilight had thought ahead and had added in that extra feature.

The next part of the obstacle course was a series of ten hurtles that came up to Twilight’s chin, followed by five large punching bags hanging from chains that she would have to maneuver through. Twilight, high off her successful leap across the pool of water, was using her momentum to carry her forward, so she didn’t bother stopping to examine the height of the hurtles and how she should handle them. The result wasn’t pretty.

“Ow! My face!” Twilight had barely cleared the first hurtle, but when she got to the second one, her left hind leg ended up tripping over the top. Twilight plummeted down and smashed her face into the next hurtle, resulting in her eye getting painfully jabbed and her nose getting crushed. Now that she had been completely thrown off her rhythm, Twilight attempted to simply leap over the hurtles in her way, one at a time, but each leap was worse than the last.

“Ow! Ouch! GAH! Ugh! OW!” Twilight’s shrieks of pain echoed out through the track as she painfully cleared the hurtles, but not before enduring some serious damage. She had landed on her stomach four times, nearly knocking the wind out of her. She had landed too close to two hurtles, resulting in her getting two more bruises to go with the one that was already on her sore rump. On one of the final hurtles, she was completely spent and didn’t even get one foot off the ground, resulting in her basically doing a nosedive over the hurtle and crashing down into the dirt on the other side.

“HEY, TWI, YOU DOING ALRIGHT DOWN THERE?” Rainbow called out, glancing down from her own race and seeing Twilight writhing in pain on the ground.

“I’M…FINE…DASH…” Twilight yelled out, the rise in her volume making her clench her sore chest. But, now that she knew that Dash was watching her, she couldn’t continue to make herself look stupid. Spitting out more clumps of dirt, the hurting unicorn once more pulled herself up onto her hooves and tried to ignore the aches and pains in her chest, butt and face.

You’re…next…punching bags! Twilight snarled in her mind, lunging towards the slowly-swaying obstacles that stood in her way, You can’t keep a good unicorn down…Princess Celestia taught me to never give up…and I’m not giving up on this! Bring…it…ON! Behind her, the tortoise was just working on his first hurtle, which meant he was starting to climb over the top of it.

Twilight Sparkle made sure to try and time her lunges and movement perfectly this time, since she knew getting struck by one of the heavy punching bags could easily give her a concussion if it struck her hard enough. She successfully and gracefully dodged the first punching bag to the left, the second one to the right, the third to the left again, and the fourth to the right. However, just as she was about to clear the last one and advance to the next obstacle, her tired legs begged for rest and caused the unicorn to not quite make a perfect dodge. The end result was Twilight accidentally running into the final punching bag and having it swing back around and bash her right in the side of the chest.

“TWI, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?” Dash screamed, glancing back down and seeing Twilight lying on the side of the track in pain. The unicorn was clutching the side of her chest and her gasping made it clear that she had once more gotten the wind knocked out of her. Just when Rainbow Dash was about to fly down and help her, the hummingbird came in first place in the sky obstacle course and distracted the Pegasus from doing anything except jotting down the time.

Can’t…breathe…I was struck…right in the side…can’t breathe… Twilight’s mind raced, momentary fear entering her heart, since this was one of the first times she had gotten the wind knocked out of her and thus basically had no air entering her lungs. Dash…I’m not gonna let you see me…as a weakling. I’m gonna do this…all the way through…to the final contest. I’m not ending it here…no way…get back up, Twilight Sparkle…BACK ON YOUR HOOVES! Being her own coach, Twilight once again forced herself back up, but a new added pain was throbbing in her side. She couldn’t take much more of this.

“Move on…move on quickly…this thing’s not over yet…” Twilight wheezed, getting back onto the track after shooting the swaying punching bags a dirty look.

After limping along a few dozen yards without another obstacle, Twilight managed to regain some of her strength, but the sores on her rump, the throbbing in her side, the scrapes and bruises on her legs, and the dirt caked on her face all still remained. Twilight tried clenching her teeth and just focusing on the next upcoming obstacle, but it was like walking through cement while having a heavy bag of bricks strapped to your back; it was something that couldn’t be ignored and it easily slowed its carrier down. So, when Twilight eventually came upon the giant pit of mud, she had to stop and catch her breath.

“Ugh…okay…same size as the water pit…same strategy as before…easy,” Twilight decided, once again taking 12 steps back and again charging forward. Unfortunately, since Twilight was not made for such heavy training, like Rainbow Dash and Applejack, she failed to comprehend the point of putting a mud pit in the middle of the course. It was made to test the competitor’s endurance and see if they could alter their strategy to properly clear it. When the purple unicorn took a flying leap off the edge, the pain in her hind legs instantly limited her mobility and her speed had drastically been reduced. She didn’t even make it halfway.

“TWILIGHT, WHY ARE YOU PLAYING IN THE MUD?” Rainbow Dash called out yet again, having tuned back in to Twilight’s face just in time to see the unicorn poke her head up from the middle of the mud pit, “THE MUD IS COOL, I KNOW, BUT YOU’RE KINDA WASTING TIME.”

Moaning in humiliating and agony, Twilight scolded herself for not realizing she had been weakened and therefore naturally couldn’t clear it with the same strategy as the water pit. At the start of the race, she had been strong. Here, she was weak. It had been a mental lapse on her part and she knew it. But there was no time to dwell on that now; she had to keep moving. Slapping wet mud out of her eyes and spitting out spools of the wet dirt from her mouth, Twilight kicked her hind legs and swam to the other side of the pit.

“This is…so disgusting…and so embarrassing…I feel so faint…” Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes up into the sky and taking a look at a random, passing cloud. When her hooves finally touched the opposite side of the pit, the mare paused for a second to gather a bit more strength, then pulled herself out. Instead of shaking herself off, she kept the mud on her body and just kept moving. She looked worse than Rarity did during the Sisterhooves Social event, but she didn’t care; there would be plenty of time for cleaning herself later when she finished this stupid race.

Now basically just dragging herself along on her spirit alone, the muddy Twilight came upon the three metal rings that hung suspended in the air by an overhanging wooden platform. In front of each ring was one of the balance beams, indicating that the competitor should be able to use grace and good form to leap from balance beam to balance beam, going through each hoop while doing so. This would test balance as well as good coordination. A sigh escaping her dry throat, Twilight weakly leaped up onto the first balance beam and did more calculations in her head.

Each jump needs to be exactly the same, and I must clear each hoop and land on the next balance beam if I want to do this properly, Twilight thought, giving a quick nod and sticking her tush into the air as she prepared to jump, Okay, Twilight…don’t overdo it, but at the same time, use enough oomph to make sure you have enough momentum to carry you through. Come on, Rainbow is watching…

Taking her time to make sure she did this right, and to make sure she didn’t incur more physical pain, Twilight shook her rump back and forth in the air as she glared at the first metal loop and bent her legs down. Giving herself a silent three-second countdown, and making sure she actually did it right this time, the unicorn leapt off the beam and soared through the first hoop unscathed. Her body majestically flew straight through the middle of the ring and she managed to land on the next support platform without so much as a wobble.

That’s one…don’t get cocky…now, the next one! Twilight grunted, put her rear in the air again, bent her legs, and did the same exact thing. She cleared the second ring the same way she cleared the first. Yes! Now, after you clear this third one, you’re almost there! C’mon, Twilight, focus! Starting to reclaim some of her momentum and enthusiasm, Twilight got into the same stance as she had the first two times. Just as she was about to leap, Rainbow Dash yelled out again.

“THE OWL FINISHES IN SIXTH PLACE!” she bellowed, “WITH TWO PENALTIES FOR 20 ADDED SECONDS, THAT’S A TOTAL OF ONE MINUTE AND FIFTY-SEVEN SECONDS!”

Distracted by Rainbow’s voice, Twilight’s third jump was slightly off. Her front hoofs slipped off the front of the balance beam, so when she attempted to make her leap, she only got half the height as she had the first two times. The result was her landing roughly right on top of the bottom part of the ring, hanging like a limp ragdoll in the air. The hard thrust of having landed on her stomach yet again nearly knocked the wind out of the unicorn once more, and when she weakly tried to get off the ring, all she could do was weakly squirm and thrash her four legs around like a dog being lifted out of a bathtub.

This is…so humiliating…oh, Princess…please, PLEASE don’t ever find out about this! Twilight whimpered to herself, and still refusing to use magic to cheat, she instead leaned herself forward and gave a weak buck with her hind legs. The forward momentum sent her teetering over the edge of the ring and landing, once again, face first into the dirt. Thanks to the added height, this time the fall nearly broke her nose.

“Forehead…hurts…bad.” Twilight pulled herself to her hooves, her eyes watering and her body close to being shot. “Nose…feels…broken.” Twilight limped along the rest of the way towards the final obstacle that stood between her and the finish line. “Posterior…has more bruises…won’t sit for weeks.” Twilight whimpered pathetically, her legs screaming for her to stop and rest, but her mind refusing. “Chest…feels weak and sore…can hardly breathe.” The unicorn peeked over the side of the large, empty pit and saw that it dropped down a good 10 feet. “Legs…feel like jelly…can barely move.” Not in her right state of mind, Twilight threw caution to the wind and just threw herself over the edge of the pit without even taking a few steps back. “So dizzy…must rest…but can’t lose…can’t let Rainbow down…”

Twilight Sparkle expected to be met with another painful face plant and body slam, which would probably further damage her frail body. She closed her eyes and braced herself, continuing to refuse to use her magic to just teleport across. If she was gonna drop out, she wanted to do it while actually giving it her all and not resorting to cheap tricks. She was no earth pony and she was no Pegasus, but she had heart, and she knew that if anypony had enough heart, no obstacle couldn’t be overcome. But, when she didn’t even get halfway over the pit, she knew that only more pain would greet her in a second.

Rainbow…Dash…I can’t fail you…this can’t be…happening… Twilight sobbed, her body going rigid as she froze in midair, I’m too weak…so weak…I’m such a failure. My magic…is my mask. It’s the mask that hides my weaknesses…but now Dash can see…just what a loser I am. I’m sorry…for wasting your time, Rainbow…Dash?

She had been expecting to fall straight into the empty pit, but she seemed to be suspended in midair. She wasn’t using her magic, and there was nothing underneath her, but yet the confused unicorn wasn’t falling. When she opened her eyes, she heard the gentle flapping of wings. She looked up and saw a familiar face smiling down at her.

“Hey…ya know, I think you forgot to adjust your stopwatch to add in penalties,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, softly holding onto Twilight with her hooves pressed gently into her sides, “I’m afraid that…you’re gonna have a lot of them. Having good old Rainbow Dash save you is gonna be costly.”

“Dash…I…you didn’t…why are you…what?” Twilight blinked in shock, squirming a little and stubbornly trying to pull away. “This…isn’t fair…you can’t just help me out…I wanted to finish by myself…”

“I want my pet to be strong and tough…but not like this, Twilight,” Dash whispered, gently carrying Twilight along and carefully setting her down only inches from the finish line, “And…we all need an extra hoof now and then; even I know that. But, still, you started, so you’re gonna finish. Cross that finish line, Twilight.” The Pegasus stepped over the line herself, then sat down and smiled at her friend.

Huh…she really does care enough…maybe…maybe she does know…what it takes to own a pet… Twilight smiled, weakly inching herself forward towards the white chalk line in the dirt, Maybe, just maybe…I am in the wrong here. Maybe this really IS stupid for me to be doing. But…if that’s the case…then why do I not feel the resolve to quit? Why…why is my heart telling me to keep going? This doesn’t make sense. My head, which I always listen to, is telling me to stop being such a foal…but, my heart…what is this feeling? I don’t…I don’t understand. My books never said anything about a part of the body being stronger than the brain! With one deep breath, Twilight Sparkle finally crossed the finish line and collapsed. Her stopwatch clicked off around her neck as soon as she did.

“Let’s see…your final time…four minutes and thirty-two seconds,” Dash mused, gently pulling the stopwatch off Twilight’s neck and eying the final number, “But…you get a penalty for messing up on the hurtles, you get a penalty for letting a punching bag take you out, you get a penalty for landing in the mud pit, and you get a penalty for having yours truly save you from the empty pit at the end. That’s 40 extra seconds added on, so your final time is…ouch, five minutes and twelve seconds. Um…well, that’s second-to-last, Twilight…since your turtle friend is still out there.”

“Ugh…tortoise, Dash…tortoise,” Twilight wheezed, weakly smiling up at Dash and giving her a little determined glare, “And…don’t think I’m out…just yet. I’m still not quitting. Thanks for helping me, but…this isn’t over…until the fat mare sings!”

“Well, she’s warming up her throat muscles, Twi…that’s all I gotta tell ya.”

While the tortoise was just finishing up wading through the mud pit, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle sat together at the finish line, smirking confidentially at each other. Despite the intense pain surging through her body, the multiple scrapes and bruises on several areas, the caked mud covering up a good quarter of her lower body, her nose still throbbing, and her legs feeling more numb than when she stayed up for two straight nights studying…Twilight Sparkle felt good. Sitting there with Rainbow Dash and still not ready to give up, the unicorn felt good.

Rainbow Dash saved me…from myself. She really is a good friend. She’s tough and she’s rough, not to mention kinda rude sometimes…but, that’s her personality…and I wouldn’t have her any other way. Princess Celestia told me to make friends, and fate gave me Rainbow Dash as one of them. I wouldn’t trade her for the world. But, all the same…I’m still gonna make her eat her words and stop these silly games to pick a pet. I’m not gonna bow out until she sees the error of her ways. Ha…take that, Dash.

Man, Twi, you’re so STUPID! You silly little egghead, what were you THINKING? This is so totally out of your element! If I hadn’t caught you, you’d probably have to go the hospital! Your body just isn’t cut out for this, Twi…why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove to me? I know you’re strong…with magic, at least. You don’t have to be strong at all this other stuff…just for me. I care for you just the way you are. You’re one of my best friends, Twilight…seriously, you’re so STUPID. But…if you ain’t gonna quit…I’m just gonna keep working you until you do. No pain, no gain; prepare yourself, Twi.

“Um…hey, Twilight?”

“Yes, Dash?”

“Would you…maybe like to take a bath before the next event? That mud isn’t a good look for you.”

“…that would be lovely, Rainbow. Thank you.”

Chapter 5: The Guts Test

Feeling the warm rush of water pour down her aching body made Twilight Sparkle give a pleasurable moan of relief, the unicorn having her eyes clenched shut as she sat silently in the shower. True to her promise, Rainbow Dash had paused her games for twenty minute to give Twilight a chance to clean up. Even though Dash enjoyed getting dirty and showing off the labors of all her hard work, she knew that Twilight didn’t deserve THAT much humiliation. She was already doing a fine job of humiliating herself as it was, so remaining as a muddy pony with nagging injuries lingering on her body was enough of a reason to let Dash give Twilight a little reprieve.

“Ooh…this feels so good…ah, my joints are killing me,” Twilight gasped, her body squirming a little as she felt the warm water applying gentle pressure to the more delicate parts of her sore body. “This is all so stupid…I really should just give up. Yeah, I’ll just give up, write a letter to the princess about how to know your own limits and not try to prove a point that is too complicated to really succeed, and then just suffer through Dash’s mockery for a week or so before she moves on to something else to tickle her fancy. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea…I think I’ll do that.”

Twilight sighed and banged her head against the wooden wall of the shower stall she was using. She knew she couldn’t quit. That was just the nagging of her mind. Her intelligent mind. But, all the same, Twilight had learned a long time ago that listening to her heart was almost just as important as listening to your head, and her heart was telling her to not just give up. This little display of poor athletic ability might be pointless and may only be entertaining Rainbow Dash rather than teaching her a lesson, but the unicorn felt a strong urge to push the thoughts of quitting aside. Something was eating at her, but she couldn’t understand what it was.

The longer I play into this, the more…strange I feel, Twilight mused, shaking her soaked mane out of her face as she gathered her thoughts, I just don’t really understand why, but…the feeling of being out there and competing…while Rainbow Dash watches…is so…so…oh, what’s a good word I’m looking for? Tantalizing? Exhilarating? Riveting? Hmm…I don’t get it! Why does my heart go into overdrive when I feel Rainbow’s eyes watching me? Why am I risking my pride, my health, my mental stability, and my dignity just to prove a point? Why does the thought of actually winning and becoming Rainbow’s pet make me…curious? I don’t understand! I wonder if I have a book on this somewhere…

“Yo, Twi, you done yet?” Rainbow Dash opened the shower door and glanced inside, but immediately widened her eyes and blushed when she saw that Twilight was still showering. “Oh…whoops, my bad.”

“DASH! G-G-GET OUT OF HERE!” Twilight shrieked, her face igniting into a beet red visage as she whipped her head around and spied the peeping Pegasus. “CLEARLY, I AM NOT DONE YET! DIDN’T YOU HEAR THE WATER STILL GOING?!?!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Rainbow Dash quickly slapped a hoof over both of her eyes and wrenched her head back out of the tiny stall, slamming the door shut behind her. A second later, the humiliated Twilight heard the door to the shower house close, meaning Dash had made a quite departure. She knew that her friend got rather impatient sometimes, but that was ridiculous. Clearly she had heard the water still running, which any pony would’ve known meant she was still taking a shower.

Her breaths coming out in quick, deep spurts, Twilight placed a hoof over her quickening heart and tried to calm down. Having already washed her mane and scrubbed her body down twice with body wash, Twilight had just been soaking for a while and gathering her thoughts. With the usual red glow surrounding her horn, Twilight magically twisted the nozzle on the shower off and allowed the warm, refreshing water to stop cycling. The soaked, embarrassed and annoyed unicorn was left sitting in the small shower stall, contemplating on what had just happened. Now that she had gotten a chance to catch her breath, Twilight gave a little frown and began to think again.

Ugh, peeking in on me washing…how rude! If I had been Rarity, it’s easy to say that Rainbow Dash would most likely be heading towards the hospital by now. A deep growl escaped Twilight’s throat, the heat in her cheeks still keeping her flushed as she thought about the Dash having peeked in on her. I mean, true, this isn’t really anything different than…oh, say, running around outside during the rain. But, all the same, Rainbow Dash should know better than that! I’m going to have a little talk with her about decency and respecting other pony’s privacy! After that, I’m going to…oh no! I forgot a towel!

Momentarily forgetting that she could’ve just used her magic to summon a towel, the dripping wet unicorn sighed to herself and gently rose to her hooves. She began to shake her body back and forth, thankful that she wouldn’t be getting Rarity soaked this time. It just seemed that the day was getting worse and worse for Twilight. First, one of her best friends was trying to choose a pet like it was game instead of treating it like a loving and personal decision. Second, she was getting beat up and very humiliated during Rainbow’s games. Third, she was experiencing very strange and unusual feelings that she didn’t understand. Now, she was missing a towel.

“Oh all the annoying…hmm?” Twilight blinked as she happened to glance up to the top of the wall of the shower. A blue towel was hanging over the side, as though having been placed there without her knowledge. That towel hadn’t been there when she first entered the small shower house that was near Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s training grounds. Plus, the color seemed to indicate that it was owned by a certain Pegasus. Twilight sighed and shook her head.

Dash, Dash, Dash…what am I going to do with you? If you wanted to lend me your towel, you could’ve just said…oh, right, my magic. Rolling her eyes at her own momentary lapse in judgment, Twilight used her horn to levitate the towel down and gently draped it over her soggy body. The side of the towel that had been hanging over the other side of the wall was rainbow colored, decorated in a vibrant red, a husky orange, a sparkling yellow, a mesmerizing green, a tranquil blue, and a beautiful violet. It almost looked like Rainbow Dash as a towel, and when Twilight began to snuggle it onto her body to dry off, it had a gentle warmth to it that made her sigh.

Do they make these in Cloudsdale or something? I’ve never seen them in town, and I’m SURE Rarity would’ve known about something as comfortable as this! Twilight’s thoughts continued to pour out of her mind as the pony continued using the towel to now dry her mane and tail. It feels so powerful, like it’s made from the stronger fabric and clothing materials that a pony could find! But, at the same time, it feels so warmth…and almost feathery…oh my gosh, did I accidentally turn Rainbow Dash into a towel?!?! That’s it, isn’t it? I turned Rainbow Dash into a towel!

Bursting out of her shower stall, Twilight frantically looked around to make sure no one else was watching, then she sat down on her sore rump and clutched the beautiful towel in her hooves. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, forgive me! My magic must’ve been acting on its own again! I…I really didn’t know this would happen, I swear! It must’ve happened while I was thinking about how annoyed you made me and how I also needed a towel…oh, this is horrible. Just HORRIBLE! If the princess finds out I accidentally mishandled my magic and used it to transfigure one of my best friends into an inanimate object…I’ll be sent back to Magic Kindergarten!”

“Uh…Twi…what are you doing?”

Twilight sobbed and buried her face into what she assumed was Rainbow Dash as a towel. “Oh, Dash, I’m SO sorry! Even if I change you back, it won’t excuse the fact that I once again made a stupid, STUPID mistake! I could’ve easily turned you into something worse, but…” She blinked, then gasped and held the towel up with her hooves and stared at it. “Did…did you talk? Rainbow Dash, you can still talk, even while as a towel? Oh…oh my…this is incredible!”

“Twi…you’re scaring me.”

Twilight, now gone from sorrowful to thrilled, giggled in delight as she observed the towel more thoroughly than she had before. “This is a breakthrough, Rainbow Dash! To think that you could still be talking, even when you have no mouth and no other visible body parts, is astounding! How are you doing that? Ooh, this is so cool! Maybe this means I can turn Spike into a flowerpot when he annoys me, but he’ll still be able to talk and apologize for what he’s done! Yes, yes, this could work! Oh, Dash, thank you SO much for being my unexpected guinea pig for something I didn’t even know I did!”

“Okay, Twi? Seriously, this has gone from amusing to just plain freaky.”

“Oh, you’re telling me, Dash…um, I’m very, very sorry for…using you to…dry my body.” Twilight blushed, giving the towel she was holding a very weak grin of embarrassment. “I…uh…kinda used you to dry all of my body, didn’t I? Yeah…including my…” She wiggled her rump, blushed even deeper, then coughed and quickly continued on. “Well, um, I’m very sorry for that…if I had known it was you, I really wouldn’t have done it, I swear!”

“Ugh…Twilight Sparkle, have you gone insane? I mean, really! What the hay?”

“Don’t worry, Rainbow, this’ll be just between the two of us.” Twilight gently set the towel down in front of her, giving it a gentle pat with a hoof before then breaking out a little scolding. “But, you know, you kinda had it coming for peeking in on me in the shower. That was NOT funny. So, I guess you can kinda call us even now, right? Hopefully this experience as a bath towel made you learn to never peek in on one of your friends when she is CLEARLY not done yet! If you want, I can help you write that letter to the princess. I’m sure she won’t punish me, knowing that there was a good lesson involved here, not to mention the fact that you can still apparently breathe and talk in your towel form, so it all worked out.”

“TWILIGHT, YOU EGGHEAD, TURN AROUND!”

“Huh?” The purple unicorn blinked in confusion, then glanced behind her back. She widened her eyes in horror when she saw a very annoyed Rainbow Dash sitting there with her forelegs crossed and a little frown stretched across her lips. “Rainbow Dash?!?! But…but…if you’re there…then who’s THIS?” She whipped her head back around and snatched up the towel in her teeth, then turned once more to present the bath item to the Pegasus.

Giving a deep moan of impatience, Dash shook her head. “Twi…that’s my towel. It’s my special towel that I use for my showers, and I also use it as a sweat rag for when I do some heavy workouts and some flying tricks during hot days. I left it on your shower stall when I saw that you didn’t have one. Sure, I guess you could’ve just summoned one or something, but…well…yeah, I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“Wait, wait, wait…sweat rag? EWW!” Twilight hacked and spat the towel out of her mouth, shivering in disgust and taking a step back. “Gross! Rainbow Dash, that’s disgusting! Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you used that thing for?”

Angrily, Rainbow Dash snatched up the colorful towel and held it in her forelegs while giving Twilight an incredulous look. “I’m not as dirty and unclean as you might think, Twilight. I do clean this baby every time I use it, you know. Didn’t it smell fresh when you used it to dry yourself with? If you didn’t want to use it, you should’ve just gotten your own. Don’t insult my towel…it’s very special to me.”

“Rainbow Dash…thanks for letting me use it, but…it’s just a towel that happens to look like you…so much that I mistook it as you.” Twilight coughed and meekly rubbed the back of her drying mane, realizing she had just made a foal of herself in front of Dash. “But, um, when did you get here anyway? How much…did you hear…of what I said?”

“I came back at almost the same time you burst out of the shower screaming your head off. I guess you didn’t hear me open the door to this little shower house back up. I didn’t want to disturb your silly little egghead rant, so…yeah, I basically heard it all.”

Twilight moaned and held her head in her hooves. “I was afraid of that.”

A small grin returning to her face, Rainbow Dash gently rose to her hooves and tossed her towel onto her back. “Now it looks like I have something else to tease you about! Man, Twi, you’re just TOO easy. You walk right into these things, I swear.”

“Yeah, yeah…I’m our group’s punching bag, I know…”

“Nah…you’re more of our…dart board. No matter how much we play with you and end up picking on ya, you always stand tall through all the damage you sustain and continue to make us all see just how amazing you really are.” Rainbow Dash’s taunting grin turned into a sincere one as she trotted forward and draped a foreleg around Twilight’s shoulders. When Twilight glanced up at the Pegasus, she saw a gentle smile, showing her that she was actually being serious for once.

“Heh…is that right?” Twilight grinned, playfully butting Rainbow’s foreleg with her head, “So, I guess that makes you my dart, huh? What’s my bull’s-eye?”

“Your heart.” Rainbow Dash wrapped the unicorn into a hug and gave a little sigh. “Your heart is your bull’s-eye. It’s the hardest place to hit, and it’s the most coveted and special part of a dart board. When a dart hits it, it’s a joyous and amazing feeling! But, to hit it is like trying to stay in the same room with Pinkie Pie for more than one hour; it’s almost impossible. But, ya see, Twi…you’re our dart board, and the five of us…AJ, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and myself…we’re your darts. We all cling to you, because we go together, and your heart is the part that keeps us all going and makes us want to keep coming back for more.”

Twilight’s face was heating up as she listened to Rainbow Dash make such a stunning analogy. The Pegasus was never known for her words of wisdom or her poetic charms, but she had just explained something that had touched the unicorn right to the heart. Despite being slightly crude and even a bit ambiguous, Twilight’s fast-working mind managed to grasp the basic meaning of what Rainbow Dash was trying to get across. The unicorn almost got a tear to her eye when she heard the Pegasus’ explanation, and as she stared at the mare, she began to blush again.

Where…where did that…explanation come from? Twilight thought, staring deep into Rainbow’s eyes and trying to get a lock on her own thoughts, What warranted such a deep and thoughtful, if not unusual, response? Is Dash…maybe…starting to see my point? Did she finally decide to stop this silly contest while I was in the shower? Rainbow Dash…what is on your mind?

“Hey, Twi?” Dash gently released her foreleg from the unicorn and gave her a little chuckle.

“Y-yes, Dash?”

“I didn’t mean to get all mushy and junk…I just wanted to let ya know that I really do care for you and stuff.” Rainbow Dash shuffled awkwardly. “When I saw you all muddy and hurting…it made me think of just how badly you were willing to go just to prove…uh…whatever it is you’re trying to prove. As funny as it is to watch you fail…you’re my friend, and I don’t like seeing my friends get hurt. So, when I realized just how mean I was being, I wanted to come and tell you just how important you are to me. But, uh…” She glanced at Twilight and gave a sheepish grin. “…I kinda got impatient and forgot that you were still showering. Once again, my bad.”

“Oh…well, that’s…alright, I guess. No harm done, Dash…thanks for apologizing, and…um, thanks for your…considerate words.” Twilight really didn’t know what else to say; she never really had anypony tell her just how special she was before. Sure, Princess Celestia and Spike always told her how important she was, but the way Rainbow Dash had explained it was…different. In what way, she didn’t understand. But, Twilight didn’t get the same feeling she got from the princess and her #1 assistant when they complimented her. It really confused and aggravated the unicorn; she HATED not knowing something.

“From here on out in my games, I promise to not put you or the other competitors through any more tests that revolve around physicality,” Rainbow Dash promised, “I don’t need ya taking more pain just for some stupid research or science mumbo-jumbo. So, for the next tests, I promise that they won’t force you to get all hurt and stuff, okay?”

Twilight’s ears sagged as she heard Dash’s words. “Oh…so, you’re still going on with the competition then?”

“Uh…like, DUH! You didn’t think I was actually canceling my games, did you?” Rainbow laughed and gave Twilight a gentle slap on the back. “Nice one, Twi! Man, first the towel thing, and now this? You’re SO funny! But, seriously, I ain’t stopping. I can’t wait to see who emerges as the best pet! My bet is on the falcon, but it’s still anyone’s game! Ooh, I’m so excited just thinking about it! You’re free to continue playing as well, if it makes you happy, Twi…oh, and that turtle too, I guess.”

“He’s a tortoise.”

“What I say?”

“Turtle.”

“Is there actually a difference?”

“Yes, actually. I’m no expert, like Fluttershy, but I have read a few books on reptiles, since I have a certain one living with me. Tortoises and turtles are both reptiles from the family of testudines, but the major difference is that the land-dwelling ones are called tortoises and the water-dwelling ones are called turtles. A turtle’s shell is mostly flat and generally light-weight. A tortoise’s shell is usually dome-shaped, and is usually heavier than a turtle’s. Another difference is that a turtle has webbed feet with long claws, while a tortoise has short feet that are very sturdy with bent legs. Their diets include…”

Rainbow Dash let out a fake snore. “BOOOOOORING! Sorry, Twi, but that’s all I can stand and I can’t stands no more.” She playfully patted the annoyed unicorn on the head, then headed for the door. “Now, come on, the next test will be the contest for guts! Let’s see if you’re got the guts to be my pet.” She snickered, then pushed open the shower house door and began to exit, the frustrated Twilight Sparkle slowly following in her wake.

Why do I even bother with you, Dash? Twilight sighed, shaking her head and trudging along. Her body was still sore, including the bruises on her tush still being visible, but the shower had helped boost her spirits immensely. Even though she had wished that Dash had come to see reason and had stopped the games, it seemed to have been wishful thinking.

Following Rainbow Dash along the training grounds, Twilight wondered what the devious Pegasus had in mind for the guts test. A few scary thoughts crossed her mind, but she tried to push them out of her head; Dash DID say that there wouldn’t be any more tests that had to feature her physical features, or something like that. Rainbow Dash wasn’t always the best with keeping her word, but Twilight did hear sincerity in the mare’s voice during her heartfelt speech, so she decided to trust her. Soon, the two girls made it to Rainbow’s next choice of destination, which was actually rather close to the park. All the flying creatures, along with the tortoise, were all waiting and eager to get onto the next test.

“Thanks for waiting for me, even though I know it’d be hard to ever get tired of waiting for THIS,” Dash grinned, patting her chest and striking a cool pose and causing Twilight to roll her eyes. The Pegasus still had the colorful towel wrapped around her back, which Twilight had neglected to inquire about. Why was it so special to her? Either way, it had certainly fooled the unicorn with its stunning similarities to the Pegasus herself.

“Yes, Dash, we’re all so FASCINATED with you, but if you don’t mind, could you stop showboating and get on with it?” Twilight asked calmly, wincing a little as she sat down at the tortoise’s side. Her sore tush wasn’t going to make this easy for her.

“Boy, Twilight, you sure are a downer,” Dash scolded, returning to her normal behavior as she pulled out the dreaded clipboard, “Guess I have to deduct a few points for bringing down the mood! Such a shame, too; you had gone quite a while without losing any.”

“Somehow, I really don’t care.” Twilight shook her head in dismay as Dash made some more random scribbles on her clipboard. The flying animals all seemed to snicker at Twilight, but the tortoise seemed to sympathize with the pony’s plight. The little reptile was probably the only one who was actually treating Twilight with any dignity and respect at all.

“Now, as I already told our resident purple egghead, the third challenge will be the guts test!” Dash explained, putting her clipboard away and grinning, “My pet has to have a lot of guts and willingness to do dangerous things, just like me! Now, don’t worry, this doesn’t involve anything physical or straining, even though I think only ONE of you actually cares…” She cast a mock grin over in Twilight’s general direction, then continued with the speech. “So, one by one, the ten of you will all attempt to take Opal’s favorite mouse toy away from her.” She pointed with a hoof to the right. The flying animals, the tortoise, and Twilight all looked to see Rarity’s pet cat, Opalescence, glaring at the group with her angry green eyes flashing dangerous at them. In front of her, guarded by her long and sharp claws, was her little white mouse toy. The cat was just daring anyone to try and take it away from her.

“Rainbow…you can’t be serious,” Twilight gulped, feeling a little nervous, “This is possibly one of the hardest tests yet! That’s like walking into a lion’s den!”

“Heh, like I said, Twi, my pet has to have some guts.” Rainbow Dash leaned against a nearby tree and propped her hooves behind her head, crossing her hind legs in front of her and striking a relaxed pose. “So, as I said, one by one, each of you gets your chance to snag that kitty’s toy. Let’s see how you all do! Who wants to go first?”

All eight flying creatures glanced at one another in terror, Opal’s hissing easily causing them all to shiver in fear. Twilight knew, as always, that she could use her magic to simply levitate the toy away from Rarity’s cat, but that would be cheating and she still refused to resort to Dash’s tactics to win. The tortoise also looked scared, but seemed to be thinking out a strategy in his head as he eyed the feisty feline. When Rainbow Dash coughed loudly and shouted out “Today, please”, the 10 would-be pets knew they had to get going.

Deciding to be the first brave souls, the three birds of prey took the first risk. First, the hawk tried to dive-bomb towards Opal’s toy, but all he got was a quick swipe in the face and was thrown away. Next, the eagle attempted to fly circles around the white kitty, but upon getting a loud hiss of anger, the eagle backed off in fright. Then, the falcon attempted to give Opal a taste of her own medicine at being intimidating; it flew right into the cat’s face and let out a loud screech. Without even breaking a sweat, Opal simply leaned up and sank her fangs into the bird’s beak, causing him to squawk and fly away.

The flamingo went next, and tried using its long legs to its advantage. However, when Opal decided to taste those tasty bird legs, the pink bird was sent packing. The little hummingbird tried to use its great speed to flutter circles around the cat’s head, trying to get her dizzy. It almost worked, but when the hummingbird tried to steal the mouse, the poor bird realized that it was too heavy to carry. It would then have to fly away in a hurry when an angry Opal cleared the dizzies from her head and nearly snapped her jaws down on the tiny avian creature.

The owl attempted to entertain and distract Opal by rotating its head, but all Opal did was give the bird a bored look. Dejected, the owl hung his head in shame and backed away. The bat tried to use its powerful shriek to stun the cat, but all it did was intensify Opal’s anger; she would give the bat a return snarl, which sent the bat flying away in a panic. All the while, Rainbow Dash kept shaking her head in disgust while making markings on her clipboard. With only Twilight, the tortoise, and the butterfly left, it looked like Opal was going to win out.

“Come on! Are you all just going to let that kitty cat get the best of you?” Dash snapped, slamming her clipboard down in frustration, “I want to see some action! I want to see some bravery! I want to see some GUTS! Come on already!”

Deciding to go next, the butterfly came up with a strategy that it thought it work. Flapping its beautiful multicolored wings, it carefully fluttered over and hovered inches away from Opal’s face, just out of reach of the cat’s vicious claws. Opal hissed and bared her fangs, slashing the air in front of the butterfly as a warning, but in doing so, she ended up staring right into the flapping wings of the animal. Slowly, the blindingly-fast flapping of the butterfly’s wings began to blend the animal’s patterns into a dizzying blur. Opal tried to look away, but she was soon left mesmerized and struck frozen in shock. Taking this chance, the butterfly flew down and grasped the tiny mouse toy before carrying it away.

“Ah, FINALLY! What an awesome display!” Rainbow Dash gushed, holding out her hoof as the butterfly carried the toy over to her, “Full marks for you, butterfly! The only would-be pet who managed to show enough guts…and brains…to get that toy away!” She chuckled and made a note on her clipboard, much to the butterfly’s delight, before tossing the toy back towards Opal. “Guess that just leaves Twilight and the turtle.”

“TORTOISE!”

“Whatever.”

Twilight frowned over at Rainbow Dash, then glanced back over at Opalescence. The cat shook her head and eventually cleared the mesmerizing trance that she had been put in. Angrily snatching her toy back up, she hissed and glared at Twilight and the tortoise. Being last, after being humiliated by a butterfly, wasn’t a good sign for the two final would-be pets in facing the enraged cat. Twilight and the tortoise both looked at one another, before Twilight gave a weak grin and patted the little guy on the head.

“It’s okay…I’ll let you go last and give you some more time to strategize. I…I should be able to do this. Opal knows me; she wouldn’t attack me!” Twilight took a deep breath, tried to ignore the tortoise’s scared expression and Dash’s smirk, and slowly began trotting towards the glaring white cat. “Hi there, Opal! It’s me, Twilight Sparkle! You know, Rarity’s good friend?” Opal’s tail swished back and forth behind her, but she did nothing. Twilight inched closer. “Could I…possibly trouble you…for that mouse? I promise it’ll be the last time…well, other than my tortoise friend’s attempt, but…I only need it for a second to show to Rainbow Dash. That’s not asking too much, right?” Opal’s tail swished even faster, her beady eyes locked on Twilight and focusing on her every move, but still the cat did nothing. “Yes, that’s a good kitty…good kitty cat…I’m your friend. You can trust me!”

Twilight’s sheepish grin grew even wider as she continued to inch closer to Opal and her favorite toy. She had read somewhere that you should not be afraid of an animal; they’ll sense your fear and then in turn act vicious or retaliate in kind. Twilight, restricting her use of magic, knew that she was bigger and faster than Opal, but the pony had seen what the cat could do with those claws and teeth. It wasn’t pretty. Plus, underestimating an animal, no matter WHAT the size, was just asking for trouble. Either way, as Twilight kept inching closer to Opal, a single bead of sweat started to dribble down from her forehead. Opal’s eyes lit up as she noticed the sweat, soon followed by Twilight’s twitchy eyes and lips, and an evil smirk slowly began to stretch out across the kitty’s face.

“Um…Opal?” Twilight froze, mere inches from the white Persian cat, upon noticing the cat’s hungry and evil grin. “I…I really don’t like the way you’re looking at me…” Seeing Opal’s tail swishing even faster behind her, and seeing the cat unsheathe all four pairs of claws, Twilight’s face paled. “N-n-now, Opal, you know b-b-better! I-I-I’m your friend! I’m Rarity’s friend! She’ll f-f-find out about this!” Slowly, Opal bent her legs and locked her eyes on Twilight’s. The confidence was gone and now pure terror had taken residence. “OPAL, WAIT, PLEASE, HAVE MER…!” But the rest of her cry was cut off as Opalescence let out a loud hiss of delight before lunging straight at Twilight’s face, her claws outstretched.

The carnage that took place was horrific, so much that Rainbow Dash turned white herself and was forced to look away. The tortoise quickly withdrew his head into his shell to not watch the slaughter. All the birds that had fallen prey to Opal all flinched and turned away out of respect as well. The butterfly seemed to shake its head in dismay, but turned away as well. Twilight Sparkle’s horrific screams of pain and Opal’s yowls of anger filled the air for the next five minutes, with no end in sight.

She just doesn’t learn…man, she is SO stupid! Rainbow Dash thought, closing her eyes and giving a little sigh as she tried to block out the brutal noise, I’d help her, but…seriously, rescue her from a cat? She did this to herself. She’s going to have to learn a lesson the hard way…again. Hopefully, Opal will finish up while there’s still some of my friend left over. I really don’t want to explain what happened to Twilight to our friends; they’d probably blame ME!

A few more minutes passed, and Twilight’s shrieks of pain and the sounds of ripping, tearing, clawing and spitting courtesy of one Opalescence soon died down. When Dash turned back around to see what had happened, she gulped at the mess that was formally Twilight Sparkle. The pony looked like she had gone through a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake, and an avalanche, and that was only just the beginning of the genocide that had taken place.

Half of Twilight’s mane and tail were gone, while the halves that were left over looked as though they had been through a lawnmower. Massive amounts of Twilight’s beautiful purple coat were clawed off, almost making her look like a cousin of Zecora with how many “stripes” she had. Her body was coated with deep red claw marks, her tongue was sticking out of her mouth and was coated with white cat hair, and her butt had once AGAIN taken a hit. The pony’s rump had yet another deep red mark to go with the others she had sustained, not to mention a good chunk of the purple hair covering her rump was gone, leaving it partly naked. Nearly, Opal was busy grooming herself with her mouse still in front of her.

“Yikes…what a battle…” Dash laughed meekly as she walked over to her massacred friend, “Heh…um, Twi? You still with us?”

“Depends…on what you mean…by with you…” Twilight moaned, weakly spitting out the cat hair in her mouth, “Ugh…gross…Rainbow Dash…do I look…terrible? I can’t turn my head…too much in pain…”

“Um…well…” Rainbow Dash slowly walked around Twilight, closely examining all of her injuries. When she got to the pony’s sore rump, and seeing that it was close to naked without half of its purple hair, she blushed fiercely and quickly moved on. Upon reaching Twilight’s other side after a full circle, the Pegasus gave a sheepish grin. “…not bad, actually!”

“You…are a poor liar…Rainbow Dash.”

Sighing, Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead as she tried to comfort her embarrassed and hurt friend, not even noticing the tortoise having his own go at Opal and her toy. “Sorry about that…I really didn’t think you’d get beat up…again. I guess Opal just had your number. These things happen.”

“Rarity…will be so thrilled…to hear that her cat…knows how to kick her friend’s flank.” Twilight coughed out some more cat hair, then went on. “Plus…I just know…she’ll want to give me a makeover…once all this nonsense is done with…”

“You’re still free to quit, you know. You once again failed miserably at this test, and it’s not really looking good for you…”

“I’M…NOT…QUITTING!”

“Well, in the very least, use your magic! Is not cheating really worth your health?”

“…I’m not Trixie. I value my dignity…before I resort to using the easy way out…thank you.”

“You’re more stubborn than AJ!” Rainbow Dash frowned, shaking her head down at the unicorn, “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is your own fault! At LEAST use your magic to make your hair grow back, would you? Trust me, you need it.”

“Once I feel like moving…I’ll get right on that.” Twilight planted her face into the ground and allowed herself to whimper. “Why…do I feel a draft…on my hindquarters?”

“Er…heh…yeah, about that…” Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment, wondering what to do. Then, she remembered her towel. It was still wrapped around her back. Grinning as the light bulb went off in her head, she unwrapped the towel and very gently used its large length to cover up her friend, only allowing her head to poke out. “There. Feel better?”

Upon feeling the same wonderful warm feeling of Dash’s towel being laid upon her destroyed body, a weak smile returned to Twilight’s sore face. Even though it still should’ve been a little damp from being used earlier, there wasn’t a hint of water located in the towel at all. In fact, for a moment, Twilight got the image of Rainbow Dash herself lying on top of her to cover her up and keep her warm. She didn’t know where the image came from, or why she even thought about that, but her brain DID imagine it and her heart instantly fluttered at the thought.

“Thank you…Rainbow Dash,” Twilight whispered, closing her eyes and letting her body regenerate.

“Anything for you…you crazy little egghead,” Dash chuckled, sitting right at the unicorn’s side while gently patting her back, patiently waiting until she could get her strength back and continue on with her games. Nearby, Opal was going crazy and clawing up the tortoise’s shell, but Dash didn’t pay any mind.

Chapter 6: The Style Test

A little while later, Twilight’s orchid eyes fluttered open, her body having managed to regenerate and heal most of the wounds Opalescence had inflicted onto her. The first thing Twilight saw was Rainbow Dash setting up a stage nearby, humming to herself while aligning the crimson curtains to hang just right. The Pegasus would continually make adjustments to the curtains before flying down and striking a pose on the wooden stage and then going back to make more changes.

Oh, good grief. She always has to make sure she looks so cool and amazing. Twilight rolled her eyes, pulling herself up off the ground and having Dash’s towel slide off her back. Hmm? Oh, right, the towel that I thought was Rainbow Dash herself. Ugh…sometimes, I can be so silly. To think I actually turned Rainbow Dash into a towel. Come on, Twilight, what’s wrong with you? It’s probably all the hits your body is taking in this stupid competition. Such physical exhaustion and bodily harm cannot be good for a pony’s mental stability.

“Now, the camera’s flash is going to light up the whole stage, so I have to make sure the brightness of my stunning eyes doesn’t mess up the rest of my awesome physique.” Rainbow Dash mused to herself, flapping her wings furiously while streaking back and forth in front of the stage now, holding her hooves in front of her face at an angle, as though holding an invisible camera. She made a few clicking sounds with her tongue, continuing to crazily fly around the stage. “Yup, I need a yellow backdrop to bring out the darkness of my eyes, while my blue body helps the contestants stand out on in their own right.”

Twilight licked her hoof and began to run it through her messy mane, forcing stray hairs and loose ends to flatten while she curiously watched Dash’s surprising concern for aesthetics. “What could the next part to this silly competition be? Um…oh, right. If we’re going in order, I think that…style is next?” She racked her brain, thinking back to the start of the competition, and gave herself a little nod. “Yes, style. But, exactly what does Rainbow have in mind this time?”

Inserting a large, yellow cardboard background on the back of the stage, Rainbow Dash smiled and dusted off her hooves. “There, perfect! Now, I’m all ready for my photo-shoot!”

“A photo-shoot? Rainbow Dash? Wow, wasn’t expecting that.” Giggling slightly, Twilight’s horn glowed as she magically folded up Rainbow’s special towel into a neat little square. Setting the colorful drying bath item on her backside, Twilight began to trot over to join her friend. “Either she’s been watching Rarity too much, or all Pegasi were simply made for the camera. Fluttershy knows what I mean.”

Before even taking two steps, Twilight paused and noticed that the tortoise was still hanging around. His shell was gleaming, apparently not having been affected at all from Opal’s vicious attacks, and his saggy eyes continued to stay focused on every move that Rainbow Dash made. Twilight was steadily growing more and more fascinated by the reptile’s passionate motivation in continuing the completion, despite knowing he didn’t have a shot in the entire universe of winning. The orchid unicorn began to draw comparisons to each other the harder she thought about the tortoise’s goals.

“Hey, little guy, mind if I have a word?” Never one to feel silly for talking to an animal, having an owl back at home she frequently talked to, Twilight trotted up to the tortoise and nimbly sit down beside him. The tortoise leisurely drew his eyes up, taking a good five seconds before giving Twilight his undivided attention instead of Rainbow Dash. “See, I’ve been thinking more and more about this little game of Dash’s, and just why the two of us are even competing. It’s rather an interesting concept to try and comprehend, since I think we’re both fighting for different things.”

Her eyes shifting between the azure flying pony and her curious reptilian counterpart, Twilight sighed a little bit and continued her speech. “The thing is, I think it’s pretty clear that neither you nor myself can win this. I don’t wish to sound mean, but…well, just look at how badly we’ve been humiliated up to this point! Without my magic, and since you’re…well…um, a tortoise…” Twilight flushed a little, hoping her current partner-in-crime didn’t take offense to that. When the tortoise didn’t make any sign of minding, the purple pony continued on. “…it’s highly unlikely that either of us can win. So, why do you think we keep trying? Why do we keep trying to win something that is so far out of our reach, and we know we can’t have it?”

Huh…wait, what exactly did I mean by that? Twilight glanced over in Rainbow’s direction once more. Even though I started all this silliness under the pretense of teaching Rainbow Dash a valuable lesson, I’m starting to question exactly WHY I wanted to do that in the first place. Was it because Dash is one of my best friends? But, if that was so…why don’t I just let her do what she wishes? Isn’t that what a good friend would do? Ignoring the confused look on the tortoise’s face as he stared up at Twilight, the pony pressed against the temples of her forehead and tugged at her mane through the internal battle that was prospering inside her mind. But…but…as a good friend, I have to be there for Dash and show her what’s right and what’s wrong! Plus…well, I care for her. I…I…what’s wrong with me?

“Yo, Twi, you feeling alright? You have that silly look on your face that you usually only have when you can’t make up on your mind on what book to read.”

A pair of cyan hooves playfully swished around in front of Twilight’s face, causing her to break out of her momentary daze as her eyes refocused. She immediately saw Rainbow Dash’s grinning face hovering in front of her, the Pegasus having finished setting up her stage to her liking. Seeing Twilight sitting nearby with the tortoise, Rainbow had figured she would see how she was feeling after her bad run-in with Opal and her toy. The look on Twilight’s face whenever she was deep in thought always amused Dash. The way Twilight puckered up her lips and narrowed her eyes, combined with scratching her chin with one of her hooves constantly got a chuckle out of the rainbow-maned mare.

“Gah! Rainbow! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?” Twilight growled and took a slight scoot backwards away from Dash’s hooves dancing in front of her eyes, not very amused at being the scapegoat to Rainbow’s teasing again.

“I didn’t sneak up on you. I flew right up to your face, Twi. It’s not my fault you like to daydream with turtles and not notice your friends fly right up to you.” Dash’s already-smug look evolved into one of gleeful mockery, her wings fluttering and causing her to once more close the gap between her and the annoyed unicorn. “What were you thinking about anyway? About how your mane is going to look when you get your picture taken with me? You unicorns are all the same, I swear.”

“Ugh. For the last time, Dash, he’s a tortoise. Second, I wasn’t daydreaming about my mane and whatever. I was thinking about…other stuff.” Twilight’s cheeks turned a cherry red as she considered telling Dash about her thoughts. What would she think of her if she decided to quit? What would she think of her if she knew she was waffling between a lot of thoughts she couldn’t understand? Ultimately, Twilight decided that she couldn’t tell Rainbow Dash anything. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. Twilight would just finish up Dash’s games and, win or lose, she would find a way to turn it into another life lesson. She always did, after all.

Dash cocked one of her eyebrows in amusement, studying each and every movement and motion that Twilight made. All this time, Dash was trying to have fun with her friend, but deep in her heart, she still struggled to figure out what Twilight was actually trying to prove. Nothing she had said so far made much sense to her. But, the longer that Twilight lingered around, the more Dash’s heart went out for her. Despite all her bravado and teasing, Rainbow Dash didn’t enjoy seeing Twilight get hurt or make an utter foal of herself. Being the element of loyalty, Dash cared very deeply for all her friends. She simply had a very different way of showing her feelings.

Eventually, Dash’s shoulders shrugged and she started flying back to her stage. “Whatever you say, Twi. Just know that my offer still stands. You’re free to quit at any time, and I won’t think any less of you for doing so. It’s hard to keep up with a pony like me.” She flashed another grin back at the unicorn.

Her ego is large enough to hold all the books in my library and then some! Twilight said, her eyes rolling up toward the afternoon sky as she was forced to adhere to more of Dash’s general teasing. But, I suppose that’s…just who she is. I can’t change her, after all. What kind of friend would I be if I were to try and…change her? Suddenly, like a bag of rocks, it hit her. Twilight finally figured out what was worrying her and just what she had been trying to do this entire time.

“I…I’m trying to…change Rainbow Dash,” she whispered under her breath, feeling her ears sag and droop over her skull while her head sadly looked down at the ground. “This is what I set out to do. It was never about showing her right from wrong, was it? No…it was all just a selfish need of mine to change who Rainbow Dash is and make her a pony that she’s not, so to satisfy…my own ego. Nothing more than to be proud of a stupid accomplishment that I could write to Princess Celestia about. This is Rainbow’s decision, and right or wrong, I need to support her. That…that is what a friend would do. A real friend. I’m so ashamed of myself for getting caught up in trying to teach Dash a lesson.”

Assembling her cast of flying animals on the stage and preparing to explain to them about the test of style, Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight was not present. Her eyes darting off to where she had last seen her, Dash saw the tortoise struggling to make its way up onto the stage, which included an excessive amount of a dozen steps. Rainbow then saw Twilight staring at the ground, looking incredibly depressed and dejected. It seemed like small water droplets were sprinkling down from her eyes now and then, too. Dash immediately widened her eyes and looked nervous. Twilight was crying.

“Uh…I need another…ten minutes!” Dash exclaimed, giving a confident nod to her flying contestants, “I totally forgot to…uh, do my mane just right! There are totally a few strands out of place. So, yeah, just chill for now and take five. Or ten, your choice.” When the animals all gave Dash a confused look, the Pegasus just grinned before flying over to see Twilight. “Hey, Twilight, what are you doing? Are you alright? You’re crying and stuff and…uh, well, are you okay? Anything I can do to help?”

Slowly shaking her head, Twilight just gave a garbled sigh and choked back more tears. She really didn’t know why she was crying. It was so silly to cry over such a silly matter. Surely Rainbow Dash didn’t care or else she would’ve made it loud and vocal when she’s had the chance. Yet, in her own heart, Twilight felt sick at making another mistake involving her friends. It was such an unusual feeling for the purple unicorn, but whenever she did something that ultimately turned out to be wrong, it hurt her.

I…have a fear…of failure, Twilight thought, sniffing and rubbing her nose with the side of her hoof. But, that’s not all. My friends mean everything to me, and when I do anything at all to hurt them, it hurts me as well. Without my friends, I wouldn’t be anything. I think…I’ve developed a fear of loneliness as well…maybe that explains the nightmares I have now and then…

“Uh, hello? Earth to Twilight?” Rainbow Dash craned her neck underneath Twilight’s drooped head, frowning and pressing her nose right into the unicorn’s while staring into her soggy eyes. “Twilight, come on, don’t ignore me! You totally hate it when I do that to you, so at least acknowledge me or something!” Trying to liven Twilight back up with a playful jab, Dash’s mouth curled back into her typical grin. “What’s wrong? You crying over realizing that you’re just never going to win and get a chance to be the pet of the totally awesome Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash. What is her weakness? Surely she has one. Everypony has one. Ignoring Dash’s attempts to get her to talk, Twilight continued to stare down at the ground and at the tiny puddle of teardrops she had created. I never spend enough time to really get to know more about those that I say I care about. Oh, what a terrible friend I am! All I care about is books and knowledge. Rainbow Dash must despise me, deep down inside. That’s probably why she’s allowing me to play her games; it’s to have a good laugh at my expense. I’m pitiful, and I deserve that mockery.

“Fine, DON’T talk to me! See if I care!” Gritting her teeth, Dash stuck her nose in the air and turned around. “I don’t need you to give me attention. I have my awesome flying wannabe pets all anxiously waiting for me to pose for pictures with them. Yeah, and you know what, Twilight? You aren’t going to get to get one with me! So there. Ha!” She took a step towards the stage, then almost immediately whipped her head back around, as though expecting Twilight to be looking back up and ready to give her a heavy scolding.

Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. All my friends. And yet, I still don’t know THAT much about them. Not enough, I should say. I know that Applejack is very prideful, yet always honest, hardworking, patient, and spirited. Rarity is generous and beautiful, Pinkie Pie is a ball of energy and fun, and Fluttershy is a sweetheart who could make friends with any animal. Tilting her head slightly, Twilight circled her hoof around the dissolving puddle of tears and sighed again. But, what of Rainbow Dash? She and I…are like water and electricity. We just don’t mix at all. She loves running around, getting dirty, playing sports, pulling pranks, and being the life of the party. I’m more reclusive, with a love for books and a passion for learning, and I certainly am not the physical type. I…I really want to get to know Rainbow Dash more. I really do! But…how?

“Okay, that does it! I’m really going up onto the stage this time, Twilight! I hereby disqualify you from my games, and you can forget about EVER being my pet! Er…well, you had less than a one percent chance anyway, but still!” Dash’s eyes blazing, she stomped a hoof in front of the purple mare and started to form a rather pouty face. Her bottom lip stuck out as she tried using as harsh a voice as possible to get Twilight’s attention. “You hear me? I mean it, really! You’re out, Twilight! You lose. You failed the test. So…goodbye!” She started to take a step backwards, but only took one as she kept her eyes locked on Twilight, hoping for a reaction.

What do I think of Rainbow Dash? Well…I know her personality and most of her hobbies, but that’s not enough! I want to know more! What’s inside her heart? Is it the same as what’s inside her head? Ha, there must be a LOT of room inside there. Twilight stifled a giggle at the tease. Maybe…if I want to get closer to Rainbow Dash…I have to ACT more like her. Yes, that’s it! If I want to get closer to my friends, I just have to involve myself more in their lives! That shouldn’t be too hard; I’m always open for learning new things! I’ll make up for trying to change who Rainbow Dash is.

Her ears splaying across her head, Dash’s body drooped in front of Twilight. “Twi…come on, please talk to me? I’m…I’m sorry, okay? Whatever I did, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean any of what I said just a few minutes ago. Or during the past test. Or…really, during the entire day. Just, please, don’t ignore me! I really hate being ignored!” She weakly nudged her forehead against Twilight’s shoulder, now going from a pouty face to an eye-shimmering cute face instead. “Oh, don’t make me act like this, Twilight. Ugh, it’s hurting my face!”

Finally lifting her head back up, Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash. Putting her recent thoughts to the test, the unicorn forced a rather excessive grin onto her face as she playfully tried to push the Pegasus away. “Ha, gotcha! I’m just fine, you…uh, you silly…mare? Well, uh…yeah, I totally got you. So, take that!” She then turned away and crossed her hooves in front of her chest, trying to maintain an aura of ‘coolness’ around her that she was trying to mimic from watching Rainbow Dash strike so many poses from before.

Rainbow Dash was immediately taken aback, the pony whipping her head back as though she had been bopped on the nose. Whoa! Did she just play me? And…is she daring to show ME up? Oh, it is SO on now! I don’t know what got into her, but if Twilight wants to play that way, fine! I’m game for that. Deciding to call Twilight’s bluff, Rainbow Dash smirked and casually trotted in front of the acting mare.

“Nice trick, Twilight, but that just cost you a few more points,” she said, shaking her head and pretending to be disappointed. “With all your last place finishes and all your point deductions, I just have to tell you something that you really need to know: there’s no prize for last place. So, with that being said, you ready to quit now?”

“Quit? Ha, I’m just getting started!” Still wracking her brain for constant information on how to act like Rainbow Dash, Twilight wished she had a pair of sunglasses. “Bring on the next test, Rainbow. I’m no quitter, and once I’m through with you, you’ll see that…uh…well, you’ll see that…er…oh! You’ll see who the real loser is…loser!”

Raising an eyebrow in amusement, Dash just rolled her eyes and snickered. “You’re calling me a loser now, when you’re the one that’s competing to be my pet? Oh, yeah, I’m the loser alright, and I’m totally going to see that even more when you come in dead last overall.” Motioning towards the stage, Dash gave Twilight a playful smack on the shoulder. “C’mon, you crazy egghead. Let’s just see how photogenic you are when you’re next to the coolest pony in the world.”

“After you, you insane featherbrain.” Twilight followed along after Rainbow Dash, her heart already fluttering at her new change in attitude. It was different and very weird to be acting in such a manner, but already it seemed that Dash was acting more playful and amused around her than before. While she figured her flushed cheeks and accelerated heartbeat was from Dash teasing her, the more she hung out with Rainbow Dash during this day, the more she thought about her and nothing else but her.

Once everyone was up on stage, including the tortoise, Dash went on to explain the style test. “In this test, each of you gets the privileged opportunity to pose in a totally awesome shot with ME! Let’s just see how each of you stacks up when in my wicked presence, shall we?” Pointing to an automatic camera set up to take pictures at random intervals in the center of the stage, Dash jumped up on her hind legs and flexed her wings while pulling out her shades. “Twilight and the turtle, you both are big failures, so you both are last. Everyone else, get in line and make sure you’re ready for the moment of your life!”

“Tortoise, Rainbow Dash. He’s a tortoise.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Sitting back with the tortoise, Twilight watched as Dash took random, cool shots with each of the eight flying creatures still in the race. The falcon, eagle, hawk, bat, owl, hummingbird, flamingo, and butterfly all took very different pictures, but in each one, Rainbow Dash looked to be having a great time. She was smiling brightly, striking a rather excessive pose, and making sure to stand out even more than the would-be pet. When each click of the camera sounded out, Twilight would quickly shield both her and the tortoise’s eyes from the side glare, but always managed to see just what kind of pose Dash had conjured up beforehand.

Finally, when the butterfly fluttered off the stage to await Rainbow’s judging, the Pegasus turned to Twilight. “Well, Twi, it looks like you’re up! Ha, ready to pose with your old friend Rainbow Dash in a picture? This should be priceless. Try not to make me too look too bad, alright? There’s only so much I can do with just me and nopony else.”

Just as Twilight was about to respond with her usual scolding, she remembered just what she was supposed to be doing. “The only pony who will be looking bad after this picture is you, Rainbow! You simply cannot beat the amazing beauty we unicorns have in front of the camera. Prepare to be stupefied, Dash!” Trotting right up to Dash’s side, Twilight immediately tried to jump up onto her hind legs, to try and be flashy just like her cohort.

She’s STILL messing with me with that attitude of hers? Huh. Well, okay, I’m still game! Let’s keep playing ball, Twilight. Without missing a beat, Dash leaped up onto her hind legs as well and thrust her wings back out, her left ones very nearly knocking into Twilight and sending her crashing down.

“Hey, watch it!” Twilight huffed, purposely trying to throw her flank against Dash’s to try and give her the same fate of nearly being knocked over as well. When her right flank smacked against Dash’s left, the Pegasus narrowed her eyes and ran her tongue over her lips.

“Trying to hog the shot from me, huh? That takes guts, Twilight, I’ll give you that much.” Whipping her tail around, she smacked Twilight right in the rump with it. “Sadly, it won’t do you any good. Be a good girl and stand down now.”

Uttering a slight squeal at getting spanked by Dash’s tail, Twilight once again immediately retaliated in kind. Her own tail whipped right back around, slapping Dash’s butt in the same manner. “How about you stand down, Rainbow? These pictures are supposed to show off your pets, not yourself!”

“Yeah, my pets, not a clingy unicorn unwilling to just quit already!” Starting to lose her patience, Rainbow Dash was now basically just struggling to shove Twilight down so she would be standing over the top of her. Twilight refused to back down, and was soon grappling with her friend just as the camera was starting to tick down for its next shot.

With both mares now looking away from the camera and growling while glaring into the other’s eyes, they continued to stand on their hind legs while falling all over one another. Twilight’s hooves and Dash’s hooves continued to smack and push one another at the chance to be the lead in the picture, Dash’s arrogance and Twilight’s determination making it so neither one would back down. It wasn’t until Rainbow Dash decided to cheat by stepping on Twilight’s lower right hoof that they wrestling match would finally come to an end.

“D-D-DASH!” Twilight flailed her hooves around wildly as she toppled forward, slamming her chest accidentally into Rainbow Dash and making them both topple down hard on top of the stage. Dash landed with a grunt on her back, while Twilight crashed down right on top of her. “UGH! Rainbow Dash, you rotten, cheating, obnoxious…”

Sweaty and angry, the gasping unicorn could feel her accelerated heartbeat slowly mix with Dash’s as their chests pressed gently against one another. Their heated groins roughly slammed one on top of the other, Twilight was left staring down into Dash’s fiery rosy pupils. Both faces were flushed and crimson to go with messy manes from the immature batting session both had on one another. For the moment, though, as Twilight Sparkle stayed laying atop the mare she had nothing in common with, she heard something click. Not just from the camera, but from inside her heart.

Rainbow Dash…that passion…I can feel it boiling inside of you. Ready to explode. Your arrogance…it makes you who you are. It makes you…perfect. Twilight’s eyes drifted to within micrometers of closing, her face drifting closer and closer to making contact with Dash’s. You continue to hold me…over and over again…and each time, the warm and fierce hold that you embrace me with is…simply something that I cannot understand. It’s something I have never felt before. Rainbow Dash…

Twilight…you crazy little egghead…what are you thinking? That kind of complex things go on inside that big head of yours? I don’t know, but…I kinda wish that…I knew. Dash’s eyes widened for a split second, just before they started to drift shut as well, her body relaxing while her hooves drifted around to embrace the mare atop her once again. That determination…I can see it resonating inside of you. You never quit…and I have to keep rescuing you…is it because I’m so loyal? Or…something else? Twilight…

Closer and closer the two mares drew to one another, until their lips were but a breath apart. The tips of their noses touching, Dash could feel beads of cold sweat dripping down from Twilight’s forehead and onto her own face. And she didn’t care. Through all the craziness, through all the absurdity, through all the confusion behavior that she had witnessed from Twilight today, she wanted to see the apex of those endeavors. She wanted to know what was inside Twilight’s head. Even if both minds were desperately trying to stop it from happening, the determined and passionate hearts would not be denied.

Twilight Sparkle’s lips soon found Rainbow Dash’s, and both sets of eyelids closed shut simultaneously a second later as their bodies molded into one.