Chapters On Your Marks, Get Set...
“Mares and Gentlecolts! Fillies and Bucks! Zebras and Griffons! Welcome to the 700th Royal Arial Celestial Equatorial Social, or as it’s called from the first letter of each word the 700th RACES!” Spike’s voice echoed across the massive field, hundreds of ponies and zebras and gryphons filled the stands to watch the race. He sat in the announcers booth, dozens of monitors all around the room to give a full view of the track.
“That’s right Spike.” Pinkie Pie said from her spot beside him. “RACES because if we used the last letter of each word it would be called the LLLLL and that’s just silly.”
“Uhh right. Thanks Pinkie Pie, anyway we’re just a few short hours from the start of the RACES. For anyone new to the race we have 9 teams who have spent the last 6 months building sky wagon racers and who are going to race all the way around the world! They have 24 hours to go all the way around and cross the finish line…”
“They have to stay in the sun too Spike.” Pinkie Pie interrupted.
“I know I was getting to that. Racers have to stay in the day light the whole time, if they are overtaken by the night they are disqualified.”
“The RACES was started almost a thousand years ago after Princess Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon and raised the sun again for the first time. Pegasi who were worried that when the night came again the sun would stay gone for too long again so they hitched up their wagons and chased the sun. They went all the way around the world and ended up right back where they started, and while they might have felt silly Princess Celestia was so impressed with their skill and bravery that she threw them a party! Boy that’s a party I wish I could have been at. I bet it’s the super awesomest best party ever if Princess Celestia threw it! I bet she didn’t even need party cannons or anything. It used to be that every year they had a party and a memorial race, now though we hold the RACES every four years to coincide with the Summer Sun Celebration, the raising of the Sun by Princess Celestia also being used as the starting flag for the race and speaking of Nightmare Moon and Celestia…HI PRINCESSES!” Pinkie Pie yelled, leaning way out of the booth, Spike grabbing her tail to keep her from falling out of the booth, waving to the three Alicorns who were making their way into the judging booth below the announcer’s booth, similarly equipped for the race. “Princess Cadence! Do you have anything you want to say to everybody?” Pinkie asked, grabbing a microphone with her mane and pulling it down to hold in front of the surprised pony’s face.
“And what about you Princess Luna?” Pinkie spun around, Spike still trying desperately to keep her from falling on her face into the booth below.
“I never want to miss a chance to enjoy a day with the people and have some fun.”
“Princess Celestia?” Pinkie asked finally.
“Oh I’m always excited to see the RACES.” She said simply.
“PINKIE!” Spike cried from the booth, both feet planted against he wall trying desperately to keep her up.
“Oh right!” She lifted herself up and back into the booth like it was nothing, Spike falling back into his chair, panting hard. “Geeze Spike what happened to you?”
“W-warn me next t-time you do that…” Spike wheezed.
“Alright everybody!” Pinkie said, resuming her spot on her chair while Spike just lay on the ground recovering. “We're in for a great race today, now introducing the teams! Team one is...THE ELEMENTS OF AWESOME!” Down on the track a pair of doors in the ground swung open and a massive elevator rose to the surface with the first team. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack sat in the cockpit, waving to the crowd. Their cart looked amazing. Clearly the body was modeled after Twilight’s hot air balloon. On the front were a pair of harnesses, one with a treadmill underneath it, the other just the harness. It had very ornate patterning and meticulous detailing to it, Rarity’s hoof mark to be sure.
“Next up, team two, THE WONDERBOLTS!” Pinkie yelled, the spot beside the three mares down on the track sprang open and the Wonderbolts wagon emerged with a hiss of smoke and magical explosions, the three leapt into the air, twisting around and leaving a smoke trail in the air, a massive 'W' with a lightening bolt through it. Their wagon was the same colour as their uniforms and had racing stripes along the sides, one for each member of the Wonderbolts, matching their manes.
“Team three.” Spike called, having finally caught his breath and resumed his spot beside Pinkie. “The White Stripes!” Beside the Wonderbolts rose the third racer. Zecora and two other Zebras who waved demurely to the crowd. Their craft was a simple bowl shape, made of what looked like dried grass and stone, large enough to hold 9 or 10 bodies, but most of the space was filled with bottles of potions and bags of herbs, the whole center of the vehicle was filled with an already bubbling cauldron.
“Team four. The Super Speedy Quick and Flashy 7000s!” Spike called.
“Boy that's a mouthful.” Pinkie added as the next team appeared.
Flim and Flam stood on top of what looked like the Cider Squeezy 6000, but a ton of the parts had been removed and replaced with engine parts and smoke stacks. Their pilot, a griffon, was wearing an elaborate flight suit, really not needed for any creature that was used to flying at high speeds, but the griffon still wore it. Flim and Flam waved happily to the crowds, spinning their hats and moving back and fourth, crossing each other to wave in different directions.
“Team five. The Hoof Beats!” Pinkie announced. The next vehicle looked like a flying stage with massive wings, currently bent straight up along the sides of it, shaped like harps. Vinyl Scratch stood behind a pair of turn tables that had been changed into controls waving furiously at the crowds, Octavia stood at the front, her contra-bass, or at least a contra-bass, built into the floor beside her to act as the steering wheel. Lyra stood beside Vinyl Scratch, her lyre on a stand in front of her. She wore massive foam hands and was waving happily to the crowds.
“Team six. The Time Lords!” The next opened and a blue box popped up. It looked nothing like a sky wagon.
“What is that? A Telephone booth? That's not any kind of wagon I've ever seen.” Pinkie said. “What about you Spike?”
“No I certainly haven't. I don't know how it's supposed to fly but if the Princesses allow it who are we to say no?”
The doors opened and three ponies stepped out to wave humbly at the crowd. One was a brown earth pony with a darker brown mane and tail. The second was a grey-ish brown with a dark grey mane and tail as well as a collar with a bow tie and a red fez on his head. The third was brown too, he wore a big multicoloured scarf wrapped around his neck twice and even around his forelegs, how he managed to keep from tripping over it was anyone's guess. All three had hourglass cutie marks on their flanks, and all three were Earth Ponies.
“I don't even understand how they all fit inside such a small box...Well it'll be interesting to see how they do.” Spike said as the three got back into the box, closing the door.
“Team seven. The Great and Powerful Team!” Spike called, the next platform billowing with purple smoke as the wagon rose up. Trixie stood on the roof of the wagon, which was actually just a rebuilt version of the wagon she'd had in Ponyville. Snips and Snails waved to the crowd from the windows.
“Team eight...The Family Do!” The wagon rose up from the ground, it was modeled after an ancient Tiki of some kind. Daring Do stood on top, holding a valiant hero pose, such as the fans really seemed to enjoy since the cheering got louder than it had been all along. Derpy stood beside her, waving both forelegs happily to the crowd only to lose her balance and tumble backwards, a carving of a feather in the Tiki's band snapped loudly and broke off as Derpy fell against it, the feather dropping to the ground below. Derpy sat up and grinned sheepishly, Daring slumping down in embarrassment as mechanics ran out and floated the broken piece up and off the field. A young grey Pegasus filly sat between the two of them, already completely embarrassed by their display as they arrived she appeared even more mortified by the damaging of the craft and sank down, trying to hide herself from the crowd.
“Finally, Team nine..” Spike trailed off as he looked down at the information. “Wait...this can't be right...” He looked at Pinkie but she just shrugged. “Uhh Princess Celestia?” Spike asked, leaning over the side of the podium.
“Oh it's right Spike, we're calling it an attempt at reconciliation, they've promised to behave, and if they don't Cadance will deal with them.” She said, smiling simply.
“Alright.” He pulled back and took up the microphone. “Team Nine...The Changlings!” The gate opened and a black wagon rose up, leather bat like wings adorned the sides and it shimmered with a green aura. Inside sat three changlings. Everyone in the stands booed loudly but the creatures seemed to pay it no mind.
“Alright and that's all the...” Spike trailed off and belched loudly, the sound echoing across the field, clearly not impressing the crowd.
“Oh Spike gross!” Pinkie said, then giggled. “That was only a 4 tops.” But Spike ignored her as a scroll appeared and landed in front of him. “Uhh...” He leaned over the edge and looked down at Celestia again. The small portal of green fire she used to send notes to Spike was still closing in front of her but she was still just watching the racers below.
Spike rolled open the scroll. “We have a last minute addition to the race!” He announced, which seemed to catch the other racers by surprise. “Team Ten..The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Since there were no launches left on the field a side door opened and the team shot out, Scootaloo on her scooter, pulling Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in the wagon behind her. Dozens of strings lay inside the wagon and as Scootaloo slid to a stop at the starting line Sweetie Belle's horn lit up and the strings rose into the air, filling magically until the wagon lifted off the ground and floated above the starting line. The crowd meanwhile were going totally crazy for the arrival of the fillies. Apple Jack was fuming and trying to make her way towards them but Twilight and Rainbow Dash held her back, talking and gesturing from the wagon to the starting line and back, whatever she said made AJ just nod and get back onto the wagon. The other wagons slowly spread out along the massive starting line, some deploying their wings, some starting to glow magically, the blue box seemed to just rise into the air and spin lazily over to the starting line, no visible magic field around it. Zecora and the other zebras starting throwing ingredients into the cauldron and it floated in to the air and made it's way over to the stating line as well.
Finally Princess Celestia stood and the lights and the stadium dimmed, plunging the area into mostly darkness as a single beam of light came from her horn and lit her up, her voice magically amplified as well so everyone in the area could hear clearly.
“Racers!” She called lifting her head, the sun rising above the horizon, light slowly starting to fill the stadium again.. “ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...”
(Welcome to part one of what I hope to be a long and eventful story. If you enjoyed this be sure to check out our other stories. Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes (Mine) and MLP:FIM Off the record (The King of Hearts) Please leave any questions or comments/complaints in the comments section and let us know what you think so far :) )
The White Stripes:
Three hours until race time.
The three zebras were working on their strange wagon still despite most of the other teams now going through final preparations or just relaxing. Zecora sat inside, laying bottles of potions and bundles of flowers inside small containers or sliding them between woven patches of grass to be held in place during the trip. The other two were moving around the outside of it, applying some kind of mud or cream of some kind to the outside, layering it more heavily where the rocks joined.
Twilight Sparkle and Applejack came over to talk to them. “Hello Zecora.” Twilight said, waving a hoof as they came up to the ship.
"Good morning Twilight, good morning Apple Jack. How are you this morning, here at the race track?" Zecora asked, standing up and stepping out of the ship.
“We're fine thank you.” Twilight said and Applejack nodded, suppressing a yawn. “We've been here since late last night finishing work on our wagon. So who are your racing partners?” The other two zebras had finished another circle of the ship and stopped beside Zecora.
“These are my friends Xenith and this is Xepher, this mother came with her daughter to help her,” Zecora said, pointing from the other Zebra to the younger one.
“Oh how nice to meet you.” Twilight smiled to the other two zebras. “I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Applejack.” She said, pointing to the orange Earth Pony, who nodded her head.
“Ah'm sorry Twi, I gotta go nap for a few hours. Ah'm not gonna be any good without some shut eye.” Applejack said. “No offense to you three, Ah've just been up for a full day and a half so far.”
“No no, not at all.” Xenith said. “This is an important race, everyone has to be at the top of their game or there's just no fun to it.”
“Thanks for understandin'.” AJ nodded and wandered off back towards their sky wagon.
“You must also pardon me.” Zecora said. “As I still have potions to get ready.”
“Of course.” Twilight nodded and the zebra returned to her work inside her ship.
“So you're one of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony?” Xepher asked excitedly.
“Yes I am.” Twilight smiled, unable to hide the pride in her face. “I'm the Element of Magic...”
“And Applejack is the element of snoring!” Rainbow Dash said, landing beside Twilight. “Seriously, she slipped under one of the tables and she's snoring so hard the table is vibrating.”
They all turned and looked towards the wagon bay, one of the cloth draped tables shaking slightly as the cloth billowed outwards only to be drawn back in a moment later and then the process repeated, making everyone in the group laugh.
“Actually she's the Element of Honesty.” Twilight said.
“And I'm the Element of Loyalty.” Rainbow smirked.
“That is so cool.” Xepher grinned, dancing a little in place. “I've read all about your adventures. Fighting Nightmare Moon, Discord, the changlings...that's all so amazing.”
“I'm sorry.” Xenith said, putting a foreleg on Xepher to try and get her to stand still. “She's very excitable.”
“Hey everyone should be excited when I'm around.” Rainbow said.
“Good thing there's no Element of Humility.” Twilight rolled her eyes, turning back to the Zebras. “I'm glad to meet you. Until now Zecora was the only Zebra we'd met, I didn't think there were many around.”
“Well not many around here.” Xenith shrugged. “Most Zebras live outside of Equestria.”
“Hey...” Rainbow interrupted. “How come you two talk normally? I thought Zebras all talked in rhyme.”
Xenith cringed a little and looked back at their wagon but Zecora was buried in a bag of ingredients and didn't seem to notice.
“Zecora has a speech impediment.” Xepher said quietly. “That's why she speaks in rhyme.”
Twilight's eyes went wide in understanding. “Oh...We just always assumed that was how Zebras talked...you'd think we'd have learned to not judge others based on initial appearances but here we are...” She sighed, clearly embarrassed.
“So how does your ship fly?” Rainbow asked, trying to change the subject quickly.
“Zebra magic.” Xenith said. “Potions and herbs and magical talismen that makes it fly.”
“Oh how interesting.” Twilight smiled. “I've tried to read as much as I can about Zebra magic but so much of it still eludes me.”
“It takes years to master.” Xepher grinned. “I've been at it for three years and I'm still just a novice.”
“I would love to talk to you about it sometime.”
“Perhaps after we win the race.” Xenith offered, smirking at the ponies.
“Aww but that means Twilight will never get to learn because WE'RE gonna win.” Rainbow Dash said.
“How about we just agree to talk more after the race?” Twilight asked and the two Zebras nodded.
“Come on Xepher, we should get back to work.” Xenith said, turning and starting back to their ship.
“Alright. Good luck you two.” She said before turning back and following her mother back.
“Come on Twilight, we gotta get back to work if we're going to win this thing.” Rainbow said, rushing back to their ship.
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Someponies...” Heading back to the ship she watched Rainbow crash down on the table Applejack slept under, jarring the Earth pony awake, making her jump and smack her head on the table, the whole thing rattling again for a moment.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Applejack roared, shooting out from under the table as the Cyan pegasus shot into the air out of reach. “You git back down here!”
Twilight just laughed and watched Applejack try to climb up and catch Rainbow Dash, settling in to the cockpit of their Wagon to run through her checklist.
The Hoof Beats:
Two and a half hours until race time
"Are you two sure about this?" Octavia asked, studying their Sky Wagon curiously, looking away for a moment as a cackling Rainbow Dash flew past, chased quickly by a very annoyed looking Applejack.
"Are you kidding? This thing is going to rock so hard the Diamond dogs are going to try and search it for gems!" Vinyl Scratch laughed without pulling herself out from under the controls she was buried in.
"Musical instruments are hardly conducive to flight, let alone high speed racing flight." She countered, watching the white unicorn work.
"Oh come on Tavi." Lyra said, floating the large double-bass into the air to put into the pedestal at the front of the ship.
"HEY! Drop the bass!" Octavia snapped, worried for her beautiful instrument.
"THAT'S MY JOB!" Vinyl yelled from inside the control console, laughing loudly, which drew looks from passersby.
"Y-You know what I mean." Octavia said, snatching the instrument back from the surprised unicorn. "I'm not using my good Matthias Trotz Bass for this." She tucked it back into it's case. "I don't even know why you brought it." She said to Vinyl while she started to open a case with another, much plainer, clearly cheaper, bass inside, which she allowed Lyra to take and attach to the controls.
"Hey, pack your own bags next time then. I assumed you were bringing a spare." She said, pulling herself out from under the control panel.
"It's almost 500 years old! You've seen how I care for it."
"I've seen how you fret over your lunch before you eat it too, doesn't mean I put much stock in it." Vinyl teased, enjoying goading her friend on.
"I keep it in a sealed glass case at home!" She snapped.
"Yeah, out where anypony could see it and do who knows what with it!" Vinyl countered.
"THAT IS NOT..." She stopped short when two ponies wandered over, one in a fez and bow tie, the other wearing a massive scarf, they were looking over the wagon and talking excitedly.
"Pardon our intrusion." The one in the scarf said. "We were just admiring your sky wagon and wanted to ask...is it powered by unicorn magic..."
"...Or some sort of acoustic anti-grav drive?" Fez interrupted. Both spoke with a Trottingham accent, or at least something similar
"Acoustic what?" Lyra asked curiously.
"See? I told you it was simply unicorn magic." The other said smugly.
"It runs on Nun-ya!" Vinyl called, sitting up and looking at the new arrivals with a smirk.
"Nun-ya?" Fez looked at scarf, who simply shrugged. "I'm not familiar with that type of propulsion." He said finally, looking back at them.
"Oh?" Vinyl asked. "Sorry, it's full name is Nun-ya Business! Quite snooping!" She laughed, returning to her turn-tables, switching them on, watching the lights come to life.
"Vinyl Scratch!" Octavia snapped, adopting a more refined tone, one she generally reserved for those she met at her performances. "Do not be rude! My apologies sirs, she is such a boor sometimes."
"Oh no no it's quite alright, we are indeed prying more than we should be, " Scarf said, "we should be returning to our own ship anyway, our companion will be awaiting our return so we can complete preparations."
"He is our companion isn't he?" Fez chuckled. "I never thought of MYSELF as a companion before."
"Well he is to us, as you are to me and I to you, and we to him." Scarf laughed.
"Uhh right." Lyra said, totally lost by their conversation.
"Well if you'll excuse us...OH," Scarf reached, oddly enough, into his scarf and pulled out a small plastic bag, "before we go would you care for..."
"JELLY FILLIES!" Vinyl squealed, grabbing a number of them out of the bag with her magic and setting them up along her turn table, giggling at them.
"VINYL!"
"No no, it was my intention to offer them." He laughed.
"Thank you." Lyra said, taking two herself. Octavia shook her head and he nodded, starting away.
"Oh I don't believe I got your names." Octavia said to fez.
"Oh of course, how rude of us." He said, smacking his forehead with a hoof. "You can call me The Doctor."
"Doctor what?" Lyra asked.
"Just Doctor." He shrugged.
"And your friend?" Vinyl asked around a mouthful of Jelly Fillies.
"Uhh...he's...Tom?" The Doctor shrugged.
"Doesn't Rarity have a pet rock named Tom?" Lyra asked and Vinyl nodded.
"Well it was nice to meet you Doctor," Octavia said, "and Tom as well."
"And we you dear ladies." He said, bowing his head. "Good luck in the race."
"Thanks Doc!" Vinyl said, waving goodbye before going back to her turn tables.
"I can't take you ANYWHERE can I?" Octavia hissed at the white unicorn.
"What?" Vinyl asked, looking at her friend in confusion, her perceived rudeness totally lost on her.
Her only response was Lyra's laughter and a glower from Octavia that could have melted metal.
The Time Lords:
1 hour, 59 minutes, 51 seconds, 42 milliseconds, 32 microseconds, 29 nanoseconds, 24 picoseconds, 20 femtoseconds, 17 attoseconds, 10 zeptoseconds, and 3 yoctoseconds until race time.
“She shouldn't make that noise!” the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor shouted at the other two. He liked that noise, he really did, but it was to good to show off what he had learnt in his advanced age.
“She always makes that noise!” the tenth answered, knocking against a button making a screen blink to life.
“The parking breaks are on!” Eleven snapped.
“The TARDIS doesn't have parking breaks!” the fourth answered, as he tossed the end of his scarf toward the middle of the console. It caught around a lever, he tugged backward, pulling the lever down. Another screen blinked to life, and the TARDIS let out of low wheezing noise.
“It's the blue ones!” Eleven shouted.
“The blue ones don't do anything!” the other two Doctor's shouted back in unison. Eleven jumped over Ten, knocking the lever to silence the ship.
“Well, it's no fun now,” Four said, looking at the switches that he had never bothered touching on his version of the ship.
“Blimey, when do you learn that?” Ten asked, smiling at Eleven.
“The wife taught me, boys” he said, nodding slowly.
“Wife? We get another wife?”
“Good and clever one too,” Eleven answered, because at this point there was no point in not talking about it. The fact of the matter was, the Doctor(s) didn't join in on this years race simply because it looked interesting—even though it very much did look interesting—they joined because they had accidentally caused a little, teeny-tiny paradox that might blow up all of the space time continuum if not resolved.
The whole problem had started when Derpy came to Ten and told him that her family was planning on entering the race. He had been more then happy to drop her off, and let her have some fun—she had spent the last week running for her life from an army of balloon creatures from the planet Trutting in the forest of Nevermore and Somethens—he on the other hand was planning on spending the time tweaking the guidance system on the ship. While he had been digging around in the library, he had knocked a brightly coloured bottle of sand-like materiel into the swimming pool. It had promptly exploded, sent the TARDIS spinning through time, where it had smashed into two other versions of itself. One from his future and one from his past.
The sand, he realized, was from something he had picked up on the eighth moon of Trotsalor. He had obtained it in an effort to help make the TARDIS jump through dimensional barriers more simply. A project he had never actually gotten around to doing, and had placed the sand in the library for safe keeping. Of course that was a few TARDIS designs ago, and at the time the swimming pool had been located in a much more logical place, and the kitchen was located in the middle of the library. With three versions of the Doctor suddenly on board, and after a few minutes of excited babbling and introductions, the three had come together and come up with a plan to return to their own times.
“Come on then, land her again so we can go and check the outside of the ship,” Four said, nodding at Eleven who—with his advanced years—had some how taken charge. Or rather, after the introductions, he had shouted loudly. “I CALL DIBS ON BEING BOSS, BECAUSE I'M OLDEST!” The following argument had been solved in a game of rock-paper-scissors, where they had all thrown rock 82 times—because you know, hooves—before Eleven had magically produced a sheet of paper and dubbed himself the winner. He proceed to roll the red paper into a tub and place it on his head, “the captain wears the fez,” he said nodding to each of them.
The ship landed silently, causing the three Doctors to stand in the control room for five minutes before there was a knock at the door. Ten glanced at the door, and frowned a little. Eleven glanced at one of the screen, and smiled sheepishly. “Looks like we've landed,” he said trotting to the door and opening it.
“Doctor! I forgot my muffi—” Derpy started, but stopped looking up at Eleven. “Oh, hello.”
“Derpy! How are you? How are you?” Eleven asked, shaking her hoof excitedly. “Haven't seen you in ages!”
“I'm sorry, I don't know who you are,” she said, looking passed him to find Ten and Four walking toward her.
“I'm the Doctor!”
“Not my Doctor,” she answered, shaking her head.
“Not anymore.”
“Oookay,” she said. Ten trotted up to her holding out a large basket filled with muffins.
“Here you are,” he said when she took it, and balanced it on her back.
“Gotta go give some to my family!” Derpy said, beaming. “Would you three like some too?” she asked.
“We will follow you,” Four said, returning her smile. She lead the three Doctors over to her ship, a large Tiki that Daring was busy running around getting ready.
“My cousin sent me away so I wouldn't break anything else,” Derpy said, putting the basket of muffins on a table close by.
“Derpy! Derpy!” a little filly—Dinky—shouted, popping up from the ship. She hopped over the edge and hurried over. “Did you get it?” she asked excitedly.
“Here they are!” Derpy said, handing her little sister a muffin. “And these are my friends! The Doctor!”
“All of them? I thought just that one was the Doctor,” she said, looking from one pony to the next.
“Well, you can call me John Smith,” Eleven said, grinning at her. She nodded and looked at Four who thought for a minute and shrugged his shoulders.
“Theta Sigma, if you'd like,” he said, and then produced a small brown bag. “Would you like a jelly filly?” he offered.
“Oh! Thank you,” she said, taking one and popping it into her mouth.
“Oh Daring!” Derpy shouted, “want a muffin?” she asked flying over toward her cousin. As she flapped along, her back hoof became tangled in a long rope that was anchoring the ship. There was a long second where everyone knew what was about to happen, everyone except for Derpy who continued to fly.
“No! Derpy! Stop!” Daring shouted, jumping down from the top of the ship. It was to late, and the rope tugged away from the ground, letting the magically propelled Tiki take off a few feet forward before crashing into the side of the stadium.
“Oops! Did I do that?” she asked, looking embarrassed.
“Well, I guess we better get back to work,” Dinky said, smiling a little at the doctors. “It was nice meeting you all!” she said, hopping away to help her cousin. Derpy flew back over to the Doctors planting her butt on the ground, and smiling a little at Ten.
“Don't worry, Derpy! I'm sure you will do great!” he said, hugging her quickly. “We will let you get back to work.”
Author's Note
This chapter by Lipah33
The Elements of Awesome
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash both stood by their racer in the bay, waiting for the return of their third team mate, Applejack. She had run back to Sweet Apple Acres, saying she had forgotten something vitally important to the race.
“What could she have forgotten?” Twilight asked, “I made a check list of everything we needed! What could I have possibly missed?”
“Calm down, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash laughed, “You worry too much! At least Applejack remembered whatever it is that you missed.”
“But if I forgot one thing…” Twilight started, thinking to herself carefully, “That means that I could have forgotten something else!”
Dash rolled her eyes, as Twilight frantically pulled out a scroll from her bag, and read it over, hoping that whatever she could have missed, would suddenly come to her.
“Applejack had better hurry up!” Dash said, ignoring the frantic Twilight next to her, “I mean, it’s not like I need her here to help us win! I could do that with one wing tied behind my back!”
Twilight ignored Dash, as she ran through the list again and again, loudly murmuring to herself.
“She just needs to be here, so we qualify!” Dash continued, “We need three ponies to be allowed to compete!”
Derpy walked through the wagon storage bays, deciding offering a muffin to her fellow racers would be a sign of good faith.
However, as she approached Twilight and Rainbow Dash, she saw them both engrossed in conversations with themselves.
Twilight would levitate something out of their cart, talk to herself, and then put it back down. She repeated this several times, with the same objects.
Slowly backing away, Derpy decided not to interrupt whatever it was that was happening. Celestia forbid she get sucked in to it somehow.
“Well,” Twilight said, feeling completely defeated, “I don’t know what I possibly could have missed.”
“Don’t worry about it, Twilight!” Dash said again, “We could win without half that stuff you packed!”
“You’re saying that we DON’T need these umbrellas?” Twilight asked, levitating three hat/umbrellas out of the kart, and giving Dash a very serious look.
Gulping, Dash decided not to have the fight. Twilight had her lists, and interfering with that would probably not bode well for her.
“All right!” Applejack called, running back to her team mates, “Ah’m ready to race!”
“What did I forget to put on the list?” Twilight asked frantically.
“Uh… List?” Applejack asked, scratching the back of her head.
“Never mind,” Rainbow cut in, “What was so important, that you had to run home for?”
“Why, for mah’ lucky hat!” Applejack smiled, leaning down, and showing off a hat that looked no different from her usual one.
“But… that’s your normal hat…” Dash said, still studying it, looking for some kind of difference.
“I got so upset over that?” Twilight sighed, “How is it vital?”
“It just is!” Applejack huffed, not enjoying being attacked by her friends.
“Yeah yeah,” Dash rolled her eyes, “Don’t throw a hissy fit.”
“Looks like we have some trouble in paradise!” A voice said from behind the cart.
Behind them, stood three changelings, that made of the team: “The Changelings.”
The team was made up of one mare, and two stallions… If that’s what you called them.
The two stallions were indistinguishable from one another, simply being black ponies with solid blue eyes, and transparent blue wings. And of course, they were covered in holes. Something that neither Applejack, Twilight, nor Rainbow Dash were particularly comfortable seeing.
The mare was bit different from the stallions they had seen. She had a much more feminine figure, and instead of the blue color that accented the male’s bodies, she had a pink color. Her mane was also much less broken than the stallions had been. It hung down her neck, and shared the same pink color with her eyes and wings.
“What are you doing here?” Dash asked rudely, looking at the three in front of her, “Don’t you have a kingdom to invade or something?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cut in, “Show some respect! They’re here as a goodwill gesture from Chrysalis herself!”
“Especially after the last time we saw you!” The other one continued.
“Y’all have seen us before…?” Applejack asked, confused.
“You hit me in the face!” One said to Rainbow Dash.
“And you blasted me with a beam of magic!” The other accused Twilight.
“Shut up you two!” The female finally spoke up, “The last thing we need is everypony here thinking we’re a team of whiners!”
“Uh… It’s nice to meet you…” Twilight said, stepping off her cart, and approaching the mare, “My name is Twilight Sparkle. You are…?”
“My name is Lilith,” She said, obviously indifferent to meeting Twilight, “These two are my subordinates. We call them ‘the Andies.’”
“Well its nice tuh meet y’all,” Applejack smiled, despite her mixed feelings toward them.
“Why are you called… Andies?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” One said, rather smugly.
“They’re probably both named Andrew,” Twilight said to her friends.
“They said you were good,” Lilith rolled her eyes.
“How do you distinguish the two of them…?” Dash asked, “You both look exactly the same.
“You think we all look the same?” Andy asked, “That’s not totally racist.”
Lilith sighed impatiently, “Their names are spelt differently. That’s how I can tell the difference.”
“That would only help if we were reading their names, and nopony around here is reading!” Dash shot back, not liking her tone.
“Come on,” Lilith said, gesturing to her team mates, “We’ve checked them out, let’s go finish getting ready.”
Dash wanted to shout at them as they walked away, but decided against it, opting instead for a quiet growl.
“Have fun losing the race,” Andy said as he walked away.
“Yeah!” Andie agreed, “What he said!”
“Shut it!” Lilith shouted again.
“They’re quite… nice…” Twilight said, perturbed over their encounter.
“You can say that again,” Applejack agreed, “You’d think the queen would have a sent a friendlier group of ponies!”
“You don’t think they’re here for some other reason… Do you?” Dash asked suddenly.
“What do you mean…?” Twilight asked.
“What if they’re spies?!” She over-dramatized, leaping up on her hind hoofs.
Twilight rolled her eyes, and stepped back into the cart, “Let’s just finish our last few checks here.”
“Fine!” Dash sighed, “But don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
“If they turn out to be spies, I’ll make sure to credit you, Dash.” Twilight said, getting back to work.
Applejack simply hoped that she wasn’t going to have to fight any more Changelings. Beating up another version of yourself is a very uncomfortable experience.
Author's Note
This chapter by The King of Hearts
The Cutie Mark Crusaders:
5 Minutes to race time:
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sweetie Belle asked for the millionth time. The three fillies were putting the finishing touches on their 'racer' making sure everything was secure and all their food and supplies were accounted for. They were currently standing in a shed just off the track, since they hadn't had a berth in the sky wagon pit under the stadium.
“YES!” Scootaloo replied for the millionth time. “I asked Princess Celestia at the pre-race party last night!”
“Applejack is gunna KILL us,” Apple-bloom said, “but if the PRINCESS said it was okay, who're we t'say no?”
“She said we would be the youngest racers EVER.” Scootaloo squeaked excitedly. “Besides Sweetie Belle, you practised that balloon spell for WEEKS, when are you going to get a chance THIS exciting to use a spell like that every again?”
“That's true...” Sweetie Belle said, getting into the wagon and rearranging their things.
“Perfect! Then it's agreed, we're ready to rock!” Scootaloo said, pulling on her goggles.
“Yeah!” Apple-bloom nodded, getting into the wagon too.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SKY WAGON RACERS!” They all cheered, launching out of the gate as they heard Spike announcing them.
They burst onto the track to thunderous applause from the massive crowd as they tore across the ground.
“Wow! There's so many fans for us!” Scootaloo laughed as they came to a stop along the other racers. Sweetie Belle's horn lit up and the balloons started to fill magically, lifting the wagon into the air.
“NO! NO! NO!” Applejack was bellowing, trying to unhook from the harness of her sky wagon. “They ain't racing! It's too dangerous!”
“Applejack come on!” Twilight said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “If Princess Celestia said it was okay then it will be fine! Besides, if you leave the sky wagon now we're disqualified.”
Apple-bloom let out a deep sigh of relief. “Oh good, ah was worried it she'd make a scene in front of everypony...”
“Don't think for a second this is over young lady!” Applejack yelled at them. “We're gonna be having a long talk about this later!”
Apple-bloom just nodded and turned back to her friends. “Just a scene at home later...” She sighed.
“Come on Apple-bloom, you can't worry about it right now.” Sweetie Belle said. “We have a race to win!”
“Right!” She nodded, shaking off her look of disappointment. “Applejack can't yell at us later if we're at the victors party later!” She grinned.
“EXACTLY!” Scootaloo laughed.
“Alright, lets do it.” Sweetie Belle said, putting on a determined face as Princess Celestia stood up.
“Racers!” She called lifting her head, the sun rising above the horizon, light slowly starting to fill the stadium again.. “ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...”
Everyone tensed as the starting line was hit with the first ray of sunshine.
“GO!”
In a burst of magical energy and speed all the racers took off. The 700th RACES was officially under way.
