Road Runner - Desertus Gottagofastimus
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"
Twilight leaped out of her chair with a panicked shriek as her horn sparked and fired off a few bolts of loose magic. The scroll she'd been writing on launched into the air, along with her quill, her ink pot, and Spike, who was unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. Twilight herself landed on her back with a thump and coughed as the air fled from her lungs. Beside her, Spike fell into a similar state of affairs.
Dazed and painful, the unicorn got back onto her hooves, reaching up to rub her head. She turned around to find the source of her freak-out. Namely, one sky-blue pegasus who'd entered the library from one of the open windows and was currently hovering above her.
"Rainbow," she started, gritting her teeth, "is it really too much trouble for you to knock on the door like any other pony?!"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, possibly to say some sort of snarky retort. However, as she looked around at the mess she was responsible for, remorse slowly dawned on her face.
"Uh...sorry, Twilight," she finally settled on. "I guess I shouldn't have done that."
"No, you shouldn't have," responded the unicorn, still annoyed but cooling down. "Now can you help us clean this up?" She gestured to the various writing supplies strewn about the room.
"Yeah!" chimed in Spike. "Don't make us fix all this by ourselves!"
"Sure, don't worry."
After the three of them had picked up the mess, Rainbow settled back onto the floor. She turned around to face Twilight.
"Okay," she began, "now that we've gotten that out of the way, I have to ask: WHAT THE HAY?!"
Twilight covered her ears. "Rainbow! Have you learned nothing?!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's just...how could you do this to me, Twilight?!"
"Do what?" Twilight demanded. "I have no idea what you're talking about! I Pinkie Promise!"
"Oh really?!" Rainbow snapped back. "You don't remember this?!"
She reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a copy of Ponyville's local newspaper. On the front page was an article, written about Twilight Sparkle, titled, "Princess Celestia's Student Discovers Fastest Creature in All of Equestria."
"Seriously, Rainbow?" Twilight responded, dryly. "You take issue with my research project?"
"Come on, Twilight. We both know I'm the fastest living thing in Equestria. I admit, there are non-living things faster than me, but that's it!"
"Actually, Rainbow, if you'd bothered to read the actual article, you'd have discovered that I measured that creature's speed and compared it to your fastest feats, including the Sonic Rainboom, and I found that it exceeds your own." She put a hoof to her chin, thinking. "Now that I come back to it, perhaps I should've asked you to come along so I could more clearly compare you two."
"So you could—you're missing the point!" Rainbow snapped. "There is no way that this...thing...is faster than me! I'm the fastest in all of Equestria!"
"Rainbow, I know it's a big blow to your ego, but according to my calculations, the creature is, in fact, faster than you." Twilight's horn lit up, levitating up a piece of parchment covered with equations. "You can read these, if you don't believe me."
"You know I don't understand this egghead stuff," Rainbow protested, pushing the paper aside. "Come on, this isn't gonna prove some random creature is faster than Rainbow Dash!"
"Okay, if that's the way you want it," said Twilight. She levitated over a set of saddlebags. "If you want to prove you're faster, we can go to that creature's habitat right now. In fact, let's bring Fluttershy with us, too. If she's available."
Rainbow blinked. "Really? Just like that?"
"Hey, that research project isn't fully completed. With you around to help me get data, and Fluttershy to help me classify it, we could forward the cause of Equestrian science!"
Rainbow groaned. "Of course you would turn this into an egghead project."
"Do you want to prove you're faster than this creature, or not?"
"Alright, I'm coming."
"Great! Spike, grab my research notes!"
"Already on it, Twilight!" replied Spike.
The two ponies and one dragon made a quick stop by Fluttershy's cottage. However, the timid pegasus was busy taking care of a sick badger and thus couldn't join them. She did promise to look over Twilight's notes on this strange creature when she was no longer busy and help to identify (or possibly classify) it. Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike then headed out, borrowing Pinkie's hot air balloon and heading southwest, towards the San Palomino Desert.
On the way, Twilight told Rainbow more about the research project, while stressing that all this information was contained in the article she hadn't read. Twilight had been tasked by Princess Celestia with speaking to some diplomats in Saddle Arabia, which required her to travel through the desert. During her time there, she'd been passed by a strange animal moving at incredible speeds. A quick spell had given her a rough estimate of how fast it was going, and she'd asked Princess Celestia for (and been granted) the chance to study this new species nopony had ever seen before. Unfortunately, during an interview with a Ponyville reporter, she'd accidentally let that information slip, resulting in the article.
"HA! You admit it! You don't know if it's faster than me!" Rainbow gloated.
"Well, more like I don't know how much speed it has over you, but whatever makes you happy, Rainbow," Twilight replied. "I suppose I should thank you for coming over, since it'll give me more data for the research project."
"More like it'll give me a chance to put my name in the record books again!" said Rainbow. "'Rainbow Dash, fastest thing in all Equestria! Even faster than the...the, uh...'"
"We don't have a name for it yet, remember?" said Spike.
"Yeah, whatever. Maybe you could call it the 'Slowerthanrainbowdashimus.'"
"I don't think that would go over very well with Equestria's biologists," said Twilight. "Oh, look! We're here!"
She carefully manipulated the balloon so that they descended into the middle of the desert itself. The basket landed without incident and Twilight used her magic to weigh it down.
"So now what?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Do we have any way of finding this thing?"
"Well, when I originally saw it, it just sort of zoomed past me," answered Twilight. "I suppose the best thing we can do is search for tracks, see if we can figure out which routes this thing takes."
Spike groaned. "Great. More walking around in the hot, dry desert."
"Calm down, Spike. We brought enough water to last us a couple of days."
It only took a few minutes of searching for Twilight to find the footprints she was looking for. The prints were long and thin, in the shape of a letter Y, with two toes pointing forward.
"Looks kind of like a bird foot," said Rainbow.
"I agree," said Twilight, making a quick sketch of the footprint. "Perhaps this is some kind of flightless desert bird."
"HA! You admit it's gotta be slower than me if it can't fly!"
Twilight gave her a look. "Come on, Rainbow, we've got to start following these tracks."
"Uh, girls?" said Spike. "I don't think that'll be necessary."
He pointed behind them. Twilight and Rainbow turned to discover that, in the distance, something was rushing across the sand, kicking up a massive dust cloud behind it as it went. It was too far away for them to discern any features, but they could tell it definitely wasn't a pony. Upon closer observation, they realized it was turning in their direction.
"Twilight..." Spike began, "do you have any idea if this thing is dangerous or not?"
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, only for a glob of sand to be tossed inside it from the creature's approach. As the unicorn sputtered and tried to spit the sand out, Spike hid behind Rainbow Dash, who took up a defensive position. She crouched low, and flared her wings outwards to look bigger. The animal got closer and closer to them, until it finally stopped a short distance away.
Now that it wasn't just a speeding blur, the ponies could get a good look at the creature. It appeared Twilight's initial assessment had been correct, as the thing certainly looked like a bird. Its feathers were a light shade of blue, except for the wings and on its head, which were darker in color. It had a large, plumed tail and another plume on its head. The beak was yellow and the top curved upwards. The way the beak was structured, it almost looked like it was smiling. The eyes were white, with simple black pupils. The legs were orange and ended in y-shaped talons.
For the next few seconds, no one moved. The bird merely stared at the three creatures before it and they stared back, unsure of how to react. Spike poked his head out from behind Rainbow, still nervous, but the bird made no move to attack.
"Um, hello?" Twilight ventured. "Can you speak?"
The bird blinked a couple of times, then its tongue poked out from its beak. Then the beak opened and it made a vocalization unlike any other bird.
"Meep meep!"
With that, the bird jumped into the air, turned around, and rushed away, spraying Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike with sand.
"Well," said Twilight, "that was...something."
"Something?!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "Did you see that?! It's taunting me! It stuck its tongue out at me!"
"Rainbow, I'm pretty sure it's just a wild animal. It's not sapient enough to be taunting—"
But Rainbow wasn't listening. With a single flap of her wings, she shook off her coating of sand and flew into the air, then took off after the bird.
Twilight groaned again. "Maybe letting her come on this expedition was a bad idea."
"Too late for that," added Spike. "Should we follow her?"
"Probably. She'll definitely get into trouble if we don't."
Rainbow beat her wings furiously as she chased after the bird. It certainly was faster than she'd expected, but she was gaining on it nonetheless. She kept herself a good distance above it so the sand it was kicking up didn't get into her eyes. In another few seconds, she was flying neck and neck with the bird.
"Hey you!" she called out, causing the bird to turn its head towards her. "How does it feel to be the second fastest thing in Equestria?! Because you ain't faster than me!"
The bird merely blinked at her a couple of times, then said, "Meep meep!" again, before abruptly making a sharp turn to the right and charging off into the distance.
"What the heck?! What are you doing?!" demanded Rainbow. "You're not supposed to—!"
The rest of her complaint would go unheard, as she slammed head-first into a spire of rock jutting up towards the sky. Rainbow's entire body flattened against the rock surface, before peeling off like a sticker and falling to the sand. She landed on her back, as her eyes rolled around in their sockets. Rainbow swore she could see tiny versions of Derpy Hooves flying in circles around her head.
She wasn't sure how long she was dazed for, but her head eventually stopped rattling and she pushed herself back up. She started looking around, even as her skull continued to throb in pain.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" called out Twilight. Rainbow turned to discover the purple unicorn trotting up to her, carrying Spike on her back. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," the pegasus snorted back. Twilight had the biggest grin on her face and it was driving Rainbow crazy.
"How'd the race go?" asked Twilight, her smirk somehow growing wider.
"That was just a warm-up!" snapped Rainbow. "I'm going to train harder than I've ever trained before! And I'll show that stupid bird who's the fastest thing in Equestria!"
While Twilight rolled her eyes, Spike looked a little concerned. "Uh, Rainbow? You know it's not intelligent, right?" he said. "It doesn't understand—"
But Rainbow wasn't listening. She jumped into the air and flew away once more, leaving a multicolored trail that slowly faded away.
"Is she gonna be alright?" asked Spike.
"I hope so," answered Twilight. "Though this may be a hard lesson to learn."
Rainbow Dash - Egotistus Twentypercentcoolericus
A few days had passed since Twilight's expedition to the desert. Since then, Twilight had brought Fluttershy up to speed on everything they knew about the strange creature, showing her photos, as well as a feather it had dropped during its charge across the landscape. Fluttershy had agreed that the creature was most likely some sort of flightless bird, somewhat like an ostrich. For now, they were calling it the Desert Runner. With Princess Celestia's support, the two were researching the bird further in an attempt to classify it. At the current moment, Twilight was bringing Fluttershy to the desert to see it firsthoof.
"So have you ever seen it eat anything?" asked the timid pegasus, as the two mares trotted around the sandy landscape, searching for the bird.
"No. I haven't tried feeding it either, because I didn't want to introduce something potentially dangerous into its diet," replied Twilight. "I thought since you can communicate with animals, you might be able to shed more light on it."
"I don't know if I'll be able to understand an animal I've never met before, but I'll certainly try."
"Great! Now where is that thing—"
Twilight was cut off by a sound like an explosion, originating somewhere to the west of their position. Both mares slammed their hooves over their ears to try and drown out the noise, as they looked towards the source. A massive burst of rainbow light, expelled outwards in a circular shape, traveled across the sky, nearly blinding them. In the center of the circle, they could see a moving dot, trailed by a rainbow streak, chasing after something kicking up a heavy sand cloud.
"Isn't that Rainbow?" asked Fluttershy.
Twilight groaned. "Not this again," she complained.
Rainbow Dash could feel the wind ripping at her face as she went into the Sonic Rainboom, accelerating faster than she'd ever gone in her life. She could see the bird ahead of her, still kicking sand behind it as it went. Still, in Rainboom mode, she was gaining on the creature. Up ahead was an archway, formed of solid rock. If Rainbow could get to that arch before the bird, she'd consider it a victory and cement herself as the fastest being in Equestria.
Come on, just a little further... she thought, coming up until she was neck and neck with the bird again. Her wings were burning from the strain of keeping her at this speed, but she couldn't stop now.
The bird looked over at her, its blank, white eyes unreadable. "Meep meep!" it squawked, before jumping up and applying one more burst of speed, pulling ahead of Rainbow Dash once more.
"NO!" shouted Rainbow, who immediately regretted it as she swallowed a mouthful of sand. She beat her wings harder, trying to accelerate, but the strain was too much. She plummeted forward, landing face-first in the sand. Her momentum carried her several the length of an entire hoofball field, leaving a lengthy dig in the sand and burying her body. She pulled her head out just in time to see the bird pass under the archway.
"Why you little...!" she snarled.
A loud, magical pop, the sign of Twilight's teleporting, to her right alerted her to the unicorn's arrival in the same area. Fluttershy immediately rushed over to Rainbow, brushing the sand off her with both wings.
"Rainbow! Oh my goodness, are you hurt?" cried Fluttershy.
"No. But that pesky bird's not gonna feel so good once I prove I'm the fastest around!" Rainbow growled, not taking her eyes off the retreating desert runner.
"Rainbow, this is, what, the fifth time you've tried to outrace this thing?" demanded Twilight. "I think, at this point, we have to just admit it's faster than you—"
"NO!" Rainbow snapped, turning to glare at Twilight. "I will not be beaten by some undiscovered desert animal! All I need is a new approach, a new tactic, and I'll prove I'm faster than it!"
Twilight frowned. "Rainbow, I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's just a wild animal. It's not like the Runner's competing with you for a place in the Wonderbolts."
"I agree with Twilight, Rainbow," added Fluttershy. "The Desert Runner—"
"You're missing the point!" yelled Rainbow. "I'm supposed to be the fastest thing in all of Equestria! I can't let some random animal with no training be better than me!" She ground her teeth against each other. "I'm gonna find some way to prove I'm faster, if it's the last thing I do!"
She took off with another flap of her wings, spraying Twilight and Fluttershy with sand.
Twilight groaned again. "And I thought Applejack was the stubborn one."
"Should we be worried about her?" asked Fluttershy. "I'm afraid of how far she might be willing to go against the Desert Runner. She might hurt herself."
"Good point," replied the unicorn. "After all, pride can make a pony do...dangerous things."
To her credit, Rainbow Dash didn't go all out against the Desert Runner from the beginning. She decided to start small, merely trying to get the bird into a more even race, with both participants starting at the exact same point at the exact same time. She set up a giant START banner, a giant END banner at a location a good distance across the desert and cones to show the route they were supposed to take. Then she simply waited at the starting line for the Desert Runner to show up. She was certain the thing wouldn't be able to resist the chance for an even match.
So she waited. And waited. And waited.
"Come on, where are you?" she complained, looking in every direction. Behind her, she saw the telltale trail of sand kicking up behind the Desert Runner as it approached. Rainbow grinned, before getting into a starting position behind the banner.
Just a little closer, she thought, tensing her legs and spreading her wings out. The bird got closer and closer, seemingly taking the bait.
The second it reached her side, Rainbow took off like a firework, launching herself over the starting line. She managed to gain a good distance ahead of the bird, flapping her wings and taking each curve of the improvised track. She was making good time, passing the halfway point in a few seconds.
Rainbow couldn't resist. She turned her head around to gloat at the Desert Runner, but what she saw stopped her in her tracks. The bird had made a sharp turn to the left, plowing through some of the cones and going off-track.
"What are you doing?!" Rainbow yelled. "The race is—you're not following the race rules! You read the banner—"
The Desert Runner made a quick U-turn, rushing back towards Rainbow. It stopped just in front of Rainbow, and from out of nowhere, it produced a sign attached to a stick. On the sign, in perfect Ponish, was written "Road Runners can't read." Rainbow could only stare, slack-jawed, at the sight.
Then the bird jumped up with another "Meep meep!" and rushed off into the distance. Rainbow was left standing alone, covered with more sand.
"Of course you realize this means war," she growled, digging her hooves into the sand in fury.
For her next plan, Rainbow borrowed one of Pinkie Pie's party cannons. She'd seen Pinkie launch other things besides party supplies and confetti out of it, so she was reasonably certain this idea would work. All it required was a little ingenuity. She'd been forced to ask Pinkie for help in modifying the cannon, so that it would fire at the pull of a string, rather than the press of a button. She placed the cannon itself under a cliff beside the route she believed the Desert Runner would take, then climbed inside, taking the trigger string with her. It was difficult to maneuver herself until her head was sticking out the front, but she pulled it off.
If I can get a quicker head start on that thing, then keep that lead, I'm sure I can beat it, she thought, ignoring that voice in the back of her brain that pointed out she'd never have this kind of advantage in a real race. For some reason, that voice sounded just like Twilight.
She didn't have to wait too long this time. The familiar "Meep meep!" found its way to her ears within five minutes. Rainbow glanced to the side, seeing the bird coming up the road. She tightened her grip on the trigger string, waiting for just the right moment to yank.
The second the Desert Runner passed her, Rainbow yanked on the string. The cannon fired her outwards in a spray of compressed air. She was launched a short distance ahead of the bird, but that was all she needed. Rainbow began beating her wings furiously, getting a steady rhythm. She soon settled into her racing pose, maintaining a good lead over the bird. This time, the course she'd set up was shorter, and she was sure the bird wouldn't suddenly veer off in another direction before reaching the finish line.
Speaking of the finish line, it was already in sight. Rainbow couldn't help the smile that found its way to her face. She was going to win, to prove she was better than the Desert Runner. At long last, her title as the fastest thing in Equestria would—
BANG!
A pony-sized anvil dropped from the sky and landed on Rainbow Dash's back, knocking her out of the air and sending her to the ground with a thump. Rainbow exhaled as the air was violently driven from her lungs, and she went face-down into the sand for the third time that day.
The pain was bad, but not unbearable. Rainbow groaned as she watched the Desert Runner cross the finish line with another "Meep meep!" Frowning, she looked to the sky to find out where the painful interruption had come from and was not surprised to find a certain grey pegasus mare flying a good distance above her, wearing her mail delivery uniform and carrying a now-empty box.
"Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" called out Derpy.
Rainbow whimpered in pain as she dropped her head. Not for the first time, she wished she had her own Pinkie Sense.
"Back to the drawing board."
"What do you mean you won't cast a permanent Accelero spell on me?!"
Rainbow Dash was furious enough to tear apart all of Ponyville, but that didn't seem to deter Twilight. The unicorn stood her ground, staring unflinchingly back at Rainbow.
"I mean, I won't cast a permanent Accelero spell on you," she replied. "And I have several reasons. One, I'm not even sure how to make that spell permanent. It could take years of research just to figure that out. Two, doing that would automatically disqualify you from racing ever again. Other pegasi have lost their careers for trying to magically augment their speed. You'd lose your chance at the Wonderbolts forever. Three, even if I didn't have those first two reasons, if I did cast that spell, you could easily zip and crash into something and die."
Rainbow opened her mouth to issue some angry retort, but found she couldn't come up with anything. Twilight's argument was too good. She slowly closed her mouth and flattened her ears against her skull. Twilight was saying something else, but Rainbow ignored it. She mentally scratched out this idea in her list.
"Are you sure about this, Rainbow?" asked Applejack.
The farm pony currently had Rainbow Dash tied up like a bale of hay. Rainbow herself was lying on the ground, with her wings tucked in under the rope. The other end of the lasso had been in Applejack's mouth, but she'd taken it out so the two mares could understand each other.
"Trust me, this is a great idea," insisted the pegasus. "The second that bird passes us by, you spin me around and chuck me. I'll have a head start on it and I'll beat to it that archway." She pointed to the designated finish line for the course the two had set up. "That'll prove I'm faster than it!"
Applejack still looked uncertain. "I don't know," she hesitantly said. "Does it really count as you being faster if you need my help? Plus, what if your wings can't break the rope?"
"Oh, it'll count, alright," Rainbow said, grinning mischievously. "I'll make sure of it. Plus, I can break this rope no problem. Remember when I broke that rope you put on me at the Running of the Leaves?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
"Shh! Here it comes!"
"Meep meep!"
Indeed, the Desert Runner was rushing up the path, seemingly oblivious to the mares in front of it.
Judging by her body language, Applejack still wasn't one hundred percent on board with Rainbow's plan, but she nonetheless followed it. She seized the lasso with her teeth, then pulled on it with the full force of her body. Rainbow was dragged around the sand, before Applejack made a sharp turn and tossed her, sending the blue pegasus flying in the same direction as the bird. With Applejack's strength, she flew right ahead of the Desert Runner. Rainbow grinned, before tensing her wings to snap the lasso.
And promptly failed to break it.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" she screamed.
She sailed over the side of the road and unfortunately, it appeared Applejack had unintentionally tossed her over the edge of a cliff. The farm pony charged after her, trying to grab the lasso again, but missed. Rainbow Dash plummeted with a loud whistling sound, stopping and kicking up a large white cloud upon impact.
"Uh...oops," said Applejack. "Maybe I shouldn't have used the extra thick rope."
"So what exactly are we doing here?" asked Rarity, as the five mares and one dragon floated down towards the desert in their hot-air balloon.
"Well," Twilight began, sounding more irritable than usual, "as you all are aware, Rainbow Dash had been having a bit of a...contest with the Desert Runner. She's been desperately trying to prove she's faster than it."
"No kidding!" added Pinkie Pie. "She still hasn't returned my party cannon!"
"It hasn't been good for her health," said Spike. "We're hoping that if we all talk to her together, it'll make her stop trying before she really hurts herself."
"Good thinking," Fluttershy replied. "Rainbow's always been a bit reckless."
"I believe you, sugar cube," said Applejack. "I know I've got no room to talk about stubbornness, but that pony is going to crazy lengths to prove something nopony actually cares about."
"Good point, Applejack," replied Twilight, levitating up a quill and scribbling on a flash card. "We should bring that up when we find her."
In another minute, they'd landed. Now that they were actually in the desert, Twilight cast a spell to home in on Rainbow Dash's magical signature, then teleported them all to her location.
"Alright, Rainbow Dash," Twilight began, "we've come here to—WHAT THE HAY?!"
Rainbow Dash, covered in bandages and scratches, had once again crammed herself inside of Pinkie's party cannon, apparently to launch herself once again. However, this time, the party cannon had been hooked up to several crates filled with fireworks, which would vastly increase the firing power and the force of the blast.
"Oh, hey girls! Hey Spike!" said Rainbow. She pointed to the improvised, upgraded party cannon. "Impressive, isn't it? With a shot from this baby, I'll definitely outpace that stupid bird!"
Six jaws dropped, staring at Rainbow's latest hare-brained scheme. Twilight smacked her forehoof into her face.
"That's it," she grumbled, lighting up her horn. Rainbow Dash was enveloped in her magical aura and yanked out of the party cannon headfirst.
"Hey!" complained the pegasus. "What the heck—?"
"Listen, Rainbow," Twilight began, clearly annoyed, "you're going to seriously injure yourself if you keep trying to one-up this bird that couldn't care less about you. This stops now."
"What? No!" Rainbow snapped back. "I'm not going to let some random bird be better than me! I'm going to prove that I'm faster than this thing if it's the last thing I do!"
"At this rate, it will be the last thing you do," said Applejack. "I certainly didn't help when I threw you. What if you crippled yourself to the point you couldn't fly anymore?"
"I wouldn't do that! I'd—"
"Rainbow, darling," said Rarity, "why do you care so much about an animal that most likely doesn't care about beating you?"
"Because I have to be the best! I have to—"
"Why?" asked Fluttershy. "Why do you have to be the fastest thing in Equestria?"
"Because I...I..." Rainbow Dash suddenly found herself at a loss for words. If she were honest, she didn't know the answer.
"Rainbow, like I said before, this bird isn't going to take your place in the Wonderbolts," Twilight insisted. "And even if it was, the fact that it's faster than you doesn't affect your value as a pony. Did you think we'd all suddenly ignore you just because the Desert Runner was faster than you?"
Rainbow's ears drooped, and her wings fell limp at her sides. "I just...I always prided myself on being the fastest through all my hard work. Now, some random animal without training is quicker than me, and...I don't know what to do with that. I don't know what that leaves me with."
Fluttershy walked up to her longtime friend and draped a wing over her back. "Rainbow, you're more than just a fast pony. You're a loyal and kind friend, and that's what's important."
Rainbow perked up a little bit. "Thanks. I guess I let my jealousy carry me away."
"It's okay, sugar cube," said Applejack. "That's why you got friends like us."
"Yeah. Maybe I should apologize to the Desert Runner."
At that moment, the ponies' ears picked up a faint, "Meep meep!" approaching. The Desert Runner ran right past them, spraying them with sand.
"Or not," Rainbow continued with a groan.
Dear Princess Celestia,
It's perfectly fine to be proud of your talents or abilities, but they shouldn't be the only things that define you. And if you come across someone—or something—who's more skilled than you at something, you shouldn't let that affect your self-esteem. And you shouldn't relentlessly push yourself to the point of injury just to prove you're better.
Yours,
Rainbow Dash
"There's only one thing I don't understand," said Fluttershy, as the group headed back to the hot-air balloon. "Why has nopony discovered the Desert Runner until this point? It's not like it was in hiding, it just runs around like crazy in the desert."
"Now that I think about it, that's a good point," said Twilight. "The desert's been mapped for a long time. But the Desert Runner had to have come from somewhere. Maybe it's not native to Equestria?"
Before anypony could speak, they all felt the ground vibrate beneath them. It wasn't strong enough to be an earthquake, but something was clearly moving underground.
"Now what?!" complained Applejack.
"Girls! Look!" called out Spike, pointing.
In the distance, a trail of disturbances was rising up in the sand. Whatever it was, it approached the group at a fairly quick speed. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash, while the rest of the ponies all took up defensive positions, just in case of a fight.
The subterranean object stopped a short distance from them. From beneath the disruption of the ground, out popped a bipedal, grey and white creature with ears like a rabbit.
"Well, here I am!" it proclaimed, in a male voice. Then he turned from side to side, taking in his surroundings. "Wait a minute. This isn't the Carrot Festival!" He reached into the dirt, pulling out a remarkably clean map. "I knew I should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque!"
