Macro/Micro Flash Fic Collection Vol 2

Version: 1

The air was charged with excitement and the chatter of bets. The warehouse had little in the way of furniture other than the table in the middle and the heat rays some sadist claimed were lights hanging above. It was dark outside, but there must have been over a hundred ponies crowding around the table. Two ponies there were very well known.

"20 bits says Anon takes 1st place," Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, challenged.

"Oh Dashie, have you so little faith in your star?" Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter, taunted back playfully. "50 bits says Bob gets 1st."

Rainbow's eyes bulged and her nostrils flared. "50 bits is way too much for one race, Pinkie. I won't have any left to bet on the other events."

Pinkie grinned even wider. "That's only if you lose. If your star is as good as you think you'll have twice the bits to gamble on the other games."

Rainbow cringed. Pinkie could sometimes be smarter than Twilight. "30 bits."

"45."

"35."

"40 bits. Take it or leave it," Pinkie snorted.

Rainbow pouted in frustration. "Fffffffine. You're on for 40 bits."

Pinkie and Rainbow shook hooves in agreement. "A pleasure doing business with you Rainbow."

"Yeah yeah," the blue pegasus growled.

The two friends were startled by somepony shouting that the race was about to start. So they pushed their way through the crowd until they were standing at the edge. The table was fairly large and had a series of circles drawn around the edges. The race track. 8 humans, each a third the size of a mouse, were stretching at the starting line. Each of them wore a single bright color and a number, though the number was hard to see. The human in bright green wore the number 3, his name was Anon and he was Rainbow's favorite. He was fast. The human in white wore the number 7, he was named Bob and Pinkie almost seemed to have a crush on the little creature. He never came in 1st, but the bubbly earth pony always rooted for him.

The racing official was a pale yellow unicorn with a red baseball hat and a whistle. She gently informed the humans it was time to take their places, which they did. Then she counted down from 3 and blew the whistle. The runners were off and the room cheered.

Ponies stomped their hooves as they watched the race unfold. Pinkie and Rainbow were no exception. The pegasus could barely keep her wings from flapping as Anon began to pull ahead of the group. Meanwhile, Bob was still with the pack. He wasn't last, but it didn't seem like he was going to overtake anyone else. The racers progressed around the edge of the table to the halfway point. The group was starting to breakup and space opened between each of them. Anon was still in the lead. Two humans back was Bob, still not last, but getting further and further behind 1st place.

The race ended and Rainbow hollered along with many other ponies. Smugly, she turned to Pinkie and held out a hoof. "I win."

"Yeah, Anon was 1st," Pinkie admitted somberly, pulling out the hefty 40 bits to give the giddy blue pegasus. "But Bob tried his best. He's still a winner in my book."

Rainbow didn't hear that last part, too wrapped up in her sudden dramatic increase in wealth. Meanwhile Pinkie was looking down at the human in white with a proud smile. He was looking roughly as smug as Rainbow. He'd beaten his personal best time. That was enough for him.