Clover stretched and yawned. It was another beautiful day in Ponyville. Celestia's sun was shining, the flowers seemed happy, the area was warm (around 24° Celsius (1)).

She almost felt like singing. Alas, this would not be the day to do so. "Why?", you might ask.

Suddenly a Blue streak leaving a rainbow trail looped around a few times, landed nearby and skidded to a halt. She posed proudly.

Clover and a few other onlookers clapped politely.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The rainbow maned mare spoke, bowing for the audience.

Ah, Rainbow Dash. Element of Loyalty. Not modesty. Clover shook her head slightly. Typical.

Rainbow strode up to Clover, extending one leg for a hoofbump. Clover reciprocated.

"What's up, Clover?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, until a moment ago, you were." Clover joked. "So... What brings you my way?" She asked.

"Weeeell..." Rainbow Dash began, "I was chatting with Applejack a bit earlier, and she told me about how much of a help you were just the other day. I was wondering if you wanted to do a little contest with us. An Iron Pony contest, if you will."

"Strong and graceful doesn't mean I have the stamina to do something like that."

Rainbow waved that off. "Pfft. You'll be fine. If it's too tough, take a load off. Now come on!" And with that, she streaked off toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Clover sighed. "Just my luck. Even with the change there, she just disregards both." She muttered. Nothing for it, she decided. Turning toward where Dash had, well, dashed off to, she started walking.

But a small part of her said, 'Who knows? Maybe it'll be fun.'

When Clover arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, she almost immediately saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack chatting. She trotted over to the mares, who were relaxing a bit. Upon spotting Clover, Applejack waved. "Hey, thar, Clover! What brings ya back o'er thisaway?"

Clover inclined her head in Rainbow Dash's direction. "She did." She said curtly.

Applejack glared at her friend before she took another look at Clover. "Say, did ya put some highlights in yer mane?"

Clover blinked a couple of times and then checked herself. Sure enough, a 6 cm strip of her mane was blue. And an equal amount of her tail as well.

"Yeah, well, it's the price I pay for the abilities I have gained."

At their encouragement, she told them of her story. Applejack asked, "So... Poison Joke, huh? Did ya want the cure for it?"

Clover was taken aback. "And go back to being clumsy, unlucky and unrespectable?? Are you nuts!? These past few days have been some of the best in my life! I don't care what colour I turn. I'm riding this train as far as it's going to go!"

Applejack made a placating gesture. "Whoa! Whoa, there. Relax, sugar-cube. Ah thought Ah'd ask, is all."

Clover smiled wanly. "Sorry, AJ. It's just... This is almost the best thing that ever happened to me. Aside from meeting my friends, of course."

Rainbow Dash coughed, then brought them back to the topic at hoof. "So... Iron Pony competition. You in?

Clover rolled her eyes. "Well, since I'm here anyway..."

Rainbow Dash took to the air and did a backflip. "AWESOME!"

Applejack smiled smugly and said, "Whoa there. Simmer down, Sally. We ain't hardly started yet."

"Speaking of," Clover asked the next pertinent question. "What did you have in mind?"

Rainboiw Dash grinned widfely and said, "Come on! I have the course all prepared."

Then she sped off, leaving Applejack and Clover to follow.

Rainbow Dash directed them to what looked like a set of pylons, made of crystal. Clover tilted her head, quizzically.

Rainbow then said, "This used to be a training tool for the Dusk Guard. This is only setting three on this one."

Clover's mouth twitched. This seemed like it wasn't going to be quite as much fun as it first seemed. Just looking at the course, she saw that it had a test of strength, speed, endurance and then an ACTUAL obstacle course. They looked pretty difficult. Clover grinned, nervously. "Can I get a runthrough on seting one, first?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. That seemed fair. She slapped the main pylon twice.

Some of the obstacles increased in size or height.

"Oops!" she said, slapping the pylon back to setting one. "Wrong way. Sorry about that."

Eek. Clover was pretty sure that some of the obstacles had briefly grown spikes.

Clover stepped over to the starting line. Immediately, she felt something pass over her. It made her shiver.

"Right. I forgot about that. There's a sort of anti magic barrier. No flying; no magic."

Clover took a deep breath, centering herself. She could still feel some of her magic. But she'd have to make do with her default strength. She nodded, finally.

"GO!"

Clover sped toward the first obstacle. This required her to lift a weight and pull it a certain distance to open the door. The farther it got pulled, the wider the gate opened. This being setting one, the weight was fairly light.

The second obstacle required her to run along what seemed like a grande sized hamster wheel. The faster she ran, the wider the gate would open.

The third obstacle wasn't timed. It required her to hold onto a weight that increased in heft the longer one held on to it. The weight started off at about three kilos. After a few seonds it increased to four. Then six. Then eight. By the time it was about 70 kilos, she was ready to put it down (2). That one yawned open for her.

Then the actual obstacle course began. This would require grace and reflexes. Past Clover wouldn't have had a prayer! But that was then.

She jumped over a few low walls, seemingly brick ones. then there were some spinning platforms that she had to walk across at the right time. After that was a tightrope(3), which she handled with only a little difficulty. She could feel the antimagic field trying to negate what the Poison Joke had done to her, but it wasn't able to, for some reason. She continued. Over, under, inside, outside, upside down, She then came to the finish line, panting. She was teleported back to the start. 5:37.

Rainbow Dash said, "Great job, Clover! Ready for level two?"

Clover nodded. She could handle this.

"GO!"

This time the obstacles were similar, but somewhat more difficult. She had to pull a largerer weight further. She had to run a bit faster to get the second gate to open. The weight increased at the same rate but she only let it go when it was about 90 kilos(4). That gate opened wide for her too. This time she had to hurdle some raised structures, which she accomplished with a couple of flips as well, landing on the next part of that course. The tightrope was a bit thinner this time, but she still managed with only slight difficulty. Slide, leap, run, roll, she managed it all. When she came to a stop at the finish line (being telepoted back to the start) she was gasping for breath. 7:56.

"Nice one, Clover!" the prismatic mare cheered. "How was that?"

In response, Clover let out her breath, slumping to the ground. even her ears were drooping with her exhaustion. She'd overexerted herself again.

Applejack said, "Ah think ya mighta set the bar a bit too high fer the poor mare, Dashie. That or maybe ya made the course run a bit too long."

Rainbow Dash picked Clover up. "AJ, why don't you get in some practice? I'll be right back."

Applejack said playfully, "Ya sure ya trust me with this here doohickey?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Applejack, you're the element of Honesty and are nearly as Loyal as I am. Of course I do."

She took to the air and sped off, Clover in tow.

She brought Clover back home and put her into her bed, leaving quietly thereafter. Clover was just conscious enough to say to herself, 'Maybe I'll try that again tomorrow? It was kind of fun after all.' before falling asleep completely.

Author's Note

1: About 75.2° f for all you imperial users.
2: That's 6.61, 8.818, 13.223, 17.637 and 154.324 pounds for you Imperial users. Nothin to sneeze at.
3: Not easy to do with four legs, may I just say!
4: And 198.416 pounds!