Brave New World, Discord's Revenge

"Everything seems to be going smoothly."

It had been three whole months since Professor Owen Lambert and his friends had stepped foot in Equestria, and a whole manner of things had happened.

They had released and defeated Discord, Sam found his true love, Rainbow Dash, The Professor himself fell in love with Twilight Sparkle and the two have been courting for a few weeks now. Even Aimee is well on her way to getting her own coltfriend, after befriending the kind, but ambitious, Hurricane.

***

There was a big race happening, almost all of Ponyville had come out to watch. The Professor watched from the sidelines shaking his head. He was the one who had thought of this race and they said he couldn't compete because using a high-powered nuclear jet-pack was unfair on the other racers. He looked down at the starting grid.

It was a teams race. Aimee and Hurricane, Rainbow and Sam, Ebony and Tom and Jake and Derpy. Owen wondered how Jake had managed to persuade Derpy to join in on this race. Probably with the use of a muffin on a stick, no doubt. The rules of the race were simple, whichever whole team crosses the finish line first, wins.

Owen opened up a map of Equestria. The route of the race was inscribed on it. The race would take them from the starting line in Ponyville, through Cloudsdale and into Canterlot, then it would go back along a different route back to Ponyville again. Mr and Mrs Cake had kindly offered to donate 100 muffins to the winner.

"Racer's will you take your places!"

The crowds cheered as their favourite team came up to the starting grid. Flim and Flam had been taking bets on who the winning team would be, creating them a large source of income.

Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity came and set next to the Professor.

"I don't know who ah want ta win. I just hope that Rainbow doesn't boast about it if she wins..." Applejack murmured.

"Oh my, I do hope that Rainbow Dash does win, she'd be so happy." Fluttershy whispered.

"Hmm. I agree with Applejack. Rainbow might just let this go to her head, and that may be her downfall." Owen nodded.

Rarity pulled out a pair of jewel encrusted binoculars and gazed at the racers.

"I think that Aimee has a good chance, she is with Hurricane, after all. They are both rather fast."

"I honestly couldn't tell you who's going to win." Owen mused.

A brass band started up, signalling the start of the race. Granny Smith held up a starting pistol.

"Who gave her a gun?" Owen said, shocked. He turned to look at Jake, who waved. Owen's eyes narrowed.

"Ready?" Granny Smith yelled.

The racers arched their backs

"GO!"

All four teams burst out of the starting line, leaving a huge dust cloud on the track, obscuring everyone's view. Only Rarity seemed to be able to see what's going on.

"Oh my, It seems that Rainbow Dash is in front! Pinkie look at this!" Rarity turned to face Pinkie, but Pinkie Pie had moved. It wasn't for a while that everyone saw where she had gone.

Pinkie was up in a balloon, commentating on the race with her co-partner, Spike.

Owen folded his hoofs. "I'm not waiting around here for the racers to come back." He opened up his saddlebag and pulled out a jet-pack. He attached it to his chest and activated it. He zoomed out of the crowds of ponies and into the cloudless sky.

***

Aimee and Hurricane were beating their wings as fast as they could. Hurricane looked at Aimee and smiled. Aimee turned and saw Cloudsdale come into view. She smiled at her partner and continued forwards.

Rainbow Dash was soaring through the air, performing a dive or two every now and then. Sam was struggling to keep up, he may well be fast, but over a long distance, it was draining him.

Ebony and Tom might well have been the slowest of the groups, but on taking Twilight's advice when they had asked her, they had decided to pace themselves, rather than sprint the whole way. They were definitely behind the other groups, but they were gathering speed.

Jake and Derpy were busy setting up an anti-air base, relatively close to the Cloudsdale airspace. Derpy loaded it with several custard pies, before nodding at Jake. Jake smiled and they both continued to fly towards Cloudsdale. Derpy looked skyward and gasped. Jake frowned and looked too.

Owen had been using his jet-pack to write words in the sky.

"You're too slow!" It read.

All the other teams saw this too and looked towards Cloudsdale, where a shape was flying around the outer limits of the city, repeatedly. The shape saluted them and flew into Cloudsdale.

Rainbow's face contorted with rage and she picked up the pace of her BPM, that's beats per minute. Sam, also angered by his friend took off too.

Aimee and Hurricane looked at each other, nodded then flew off.

Jake and Derpy were sitting in an oversized catapult, Jake then threw the string and they were both launched into the air, giving themselves a head start.

Ebony and Tom continued to pace themselves.

Meanwhile, Pinkie and Spike had noticed the Professor's foul sense of play.

"Dear me Pinkie! It seems like our old friend the Professor is trying to stir up the competition!" Spike shouted.

"You're too slow!? We'll show him slow!" Pinkie turned the propeller's power dial from "Fast" to "Speedy" to "Cranking Speed" to "Beyond Comprehension" The balloon blasted off after the racers. Spike almost toppled out of the balloon due to the imbalance. Pinkie, however, seemed to be doing just fine.

***

The Professor was hovering around Cloudsdale. He was rather enjoying this city. The architecture and the people appealed to him, greatly. It was just such a peaceful town. He landed at one of the checkpoints to see who was in front. Owen frowned when he heard a roaring engine behind him. He slowly turned to see the commentary balloon speeding towards him. He gasped in fright and ducked behind a stone plinth.

He looked over the top of the plinth just in time to see Rainbow speed past the checkpoint, with Sam in tow. A few seconds later Aimee and Hurricane sped by. Jake and Derpy went through the checkpoint banner at some speed, taking half the bunting with them.

"Wha?" Owen whispered.

He saw Ebony and Tom fly through what was left of the checkpoint, they hardly seemed out of breath at all. He waved at the duo and they smiled back. Tom made an "L" symbol on his forehead as he flew by Owen. Owen's eyes narrowed.

"Right. No more Mr nice Professor."

He flew out of Cloudsdale following the racers. He heard a noise. It was clunking and clanking. Owen stopped and looked at the ground. A large anti-air gun was aiming at him. The Professor's eyes widened when he saw it. He tried to avoid it, but to no avail.

A huge custard pie hit him square in his mouth, sending him sprawling on the earth.

Pinkie continued her commentary.

"Ooh!" She said when the Professor got hit. "Well, it looks like somepony got their 'Just Deserts'!"

Pinkie and Spike started to laugh at the Professor, who was still wiping pastry out of his face. He growled.

***

Rainbow could see Canterlot in her sight, it refreshed her, the thought that this was nearly over. Sam, however was tiring fast and had to slow down to regain energy.

Aimee and Hurricane were tiring too, but their passion to win spurred them onwards.

Derpy and Jake were lost somewhere in the Everfree Forest, as their last catapult booster had been angled in the wrong direction. Jake was reading a map. Derpy had to correct him when she discovered it was upside-down. She giggled at his stupidity.

Ebony and Tom were starting to pick up the pace now, they had saved their energy and they were heading for Canterlot, just ahead of them, they could see Aimee and Hurricane.

***

At the Canterlot checkpoint, Princess Luna had arrived to see what was happening, as sleeping with the racket outside going on was proving to be a challenge, even with pillows over her head. She squeezed past people in the crowds until she met up with her sister in the royal box.

"Good afternoon, little sister." Celestia remarked.

"Hi, Tia." Luna replied. "What's happening here?"

"Hmm, The Professor decided to set up a sporting and uncompetitive race. Isn't that kind of him?"

Luna pointed at the sky. The Professor had written something else with smoke.

"F**k you guys!" it read.

Luna sniggered then burst out laughing.

"Yes, Tia. Very sporting and uncompetitive!" she giggled.

Princess Celestia used her magic to evaporate the smoke. She couldn't help but smile at Owen as he flew by, powered by his jet-pack, saluting at the princesses. He slowed and landed next to Luna.

"Afternoon, Princesses." He bowed.

"Good afternoon, Professor Lambert." Celestia replied. "How are you finding your stay here in Equestria?"

"Well, I believe it to be the greatest dimension ever. Much nicer than the one I'm from. I hated it there..."

Luna looked puzzled. "Why did you hate it there? From what we can gather, it's quite similar to our world."

"The worlds may be aesthetically similar, but believe me, their personalities are VERY different. It's not like here, Luna. The weak are oppressed and the strong rule. It's not a nice system. Even between children, that very system is built into their instincts."

Luna seemed to nod her head, but Celestia just looked at him.

"And is there much evil in this world, Professor?"

"Quite a lot, actually. Terrible atrocities are committed everyday, far worse than what is experienced here, Princess."

"Hmm..." Celestia nodded. "Come with me... I wish for your opinion on something."

Before the Professor could reply, he and Celestia had been teleported. Judging from the taperstries hanging from the wall, they were in Canterlot Castle.

The Princess led him to a door, which she opened with her magic. She nodded for him to go in. As Owen stepped in the doorway, he noticed that there were some stairs leading the way downwards. He trotted down the stairs and to his amazement saw something very familiar.

On a stone plinth in the middle of the room, were the torn, burnt and rusting remains of The Defender, its Rainbow Laser hanging out between deflated balloons. The Professor grinned and bounded over to the dead machine.

"Oh! How I've missed you!"

He heard the sound of hoofs behind him and noticed that Celestia had her horn pointing at him, her magic flowing around it. Serveral Royal Guards were surrounding him too.

"Wha... What's the meaning of this?" He stammered.

"This device, this machine is a threat to this entire planet." Celestia stated.

"Professor Owen Lambert, with the power invested in me as the ruler of Equestria, I'm placing you under arrest for the creation of a machine capable of mass-murder."