Rainbow Dash grinned as she overtook the second place pony, soaring past the magenta mare who was, it seemed, getting tired. Perfect, thought Rainbow Dash. One more to go. She cleared another gate and turned hard to the right, on the tail of the current first-place colt. This particular race featured small circular gates and sharp turns which made it exciting for the spectators in the clouds. But not as fun for the competitors, Rainbow Dash thought. She spared a quick glance behind her. Most of the other ponies were exhausted. The tight corners and small gates meant a lot of turning back and forth, and jostling with the other racers all the while. It had taken Rainbow Dash four fifths of the race to break away from the pushing and shoving crowd and claw her way up to second place, but she wouldn’t stop there.
Pushing out another burst of speed, Rainbow Dash brought herself right behind the leader. He was well known as the current champion of the course, having taken first place for the past 5 years. His experience showed, as he was able to hit all the right angles around the gates, and with a heavier build than the other pegasi, none were able to push him off his route. Rainbow Dash was sure she could outpace him in a straight up race, but that would only happen if she could pull up beside him. As things stood now, she was stuck behind the gray colt, and he was proving to be a difficult opponent.
Rainbow Dash twirled right to get out from behind him, but he pulled to the right as well. She tried diving under, pulling up and over, and every other direction, but every time she was blocked by those gray wings.
“See you at the finish line, Rainbow Crash!” he taunted. Slowing down just enough, the colt bumped into her, sending her reeling off course, and then dove for the second to last gate, located just above the ground. From there it was just one steep climb up to the finish line.
Rainbow Dash had no idea how this guy knew her, but that didn’t matter right now. As she dove after him, she knew she was in trouble. He was slowing down, but only enough to ensure that he passed just under the top of the gate. If she wanted to pass him, it would have to be from below, giving her an even longer climb to the finish line. And that would bring her awfully close to the ground…
And then she had an idea. A crazy idea, but they didn’t call her Rainbow Danger Dash for nothing. She took off after him, aiming to pass below. Except she didn’t slow down. The two ponies cleared the gate at the same time, and the gray colt immediately began his ascent towards the final gate as Rainbow Dash sped towards the ground.
“Look out Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy screamed. The rest of the crowd gasped in horror, but Rainbow Dash blocked out all of it. She had to get the timing just right…
In slow motion, Rainbow saw herself approach the ground. With perfect precision, she reached out with her forelegs to catch herself. They touched the ground impossibly gently given her speed. And then her back legs followed, coiled and ready. And she sprung.
To everyone watching, it happened in an instant. Rainbow Dash hit the ground without stopping, and bounced back up with incredible speed. They went wild, but the blue pagasus had long since stopped hearing them. All of her attention was focused on her one last opponent, who was still struggling to get back up to speed.
He didn’t notice her at first, too focused on the finish line. All of a sudden, though, he felt someone on his tail, moving to pass at an impossible speed. He couldn’t outrun that, so, without even thinking, he swerved to intercept. Too slow, thought Rainbow Dash. She saw the movement, but didn’t get out of the way; she charged ahead. The colt’s wing was almost there. If he could just get in front of her, if he could just block her path, then he might still have a chance. If he could just…
“Get- Out-Of- My- WAY!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and she tore past her final opponent. She only grazed the tip of his wing, but at that speed it felt like a full-on crash. The contact sent him spinning out of control, but she was beyond caring. The finish line was just ahead, and Rainbow Dash was finally out in open air. Nothing was left to stop her.
Later, Rainbow Dash might describe how she arrogantly cruised to the finish line, arms raised in triumph, all to the delight of the cheering crowd. The truth, however, was that she wasted no time kicking the speed into top gear. Flying upwards wasn’t cool or flashy; it was hard work. Still, Rainbow powered through the pain. She didn’t pay attention to whatever the crowd was doing. She didn’t look behind her to see if anyone was catching up. She didn’t even look ahead to see how close she was. All she cared about was flying as fast as she could. And she succeeded.
Finally, as Rainbow Dash cleared the finish line she could hear the crowd again. And it was ROARING.
“Way to go Rainbow Dash! You rock!” Fluttershy flew up next to Rainbow Dash and helped her glide down to the finishing area. Despite her exhaustion, Rainbow Dash was beaming with excitement. The two sat on the cloud together and watched the other competitors finish, mostly ignoring the racing staff who offered cups of water and congratulations.
“Hey, where’s that gray guy?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy gave her a blank look. “You know, the one that I passed at the end.”
“Oh, he already finished. He’s right, umm… there.” Fluttershy pointed to another cloud where the colt glared daggers at Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy quickly retracted her hoof and pretended not to notice him.
“Don’t worry about it Fluttershy, he’s just a sore loser. Besides, second place isn’t so bad.” Rainbow Dash smiled. Of course, nothing could beat the feeling of coming in first place. Fluttershy interrupted her thoughts.
“Umm, actually Rainbow Dash, he didn’t come in second; he got third place.” Fluttershy pointed again, this time to a group of mares surrounding the magenta pegasus that had been in second place for quite a while before Rainbow Dash passed her. She was panting hard, drenched with sweat, but still managed to look exuberant. Three other mares gathered around her, squealing and jumping like schoolfillies to celebrate her coming in second place.
Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. The little pony had pulled it off! Somehow the mare had clawed her way ahead of the gray colt. No wonder the he was so mad.
Before long, the rest of the racers finished, and the results were announced. Rainbow Dash graciously accepted her first place trophy and didn’t even rub it in the colt’s face. Much. Anyways, he might have been fuming, but he got his third place trophy and didn’t bother to stay for the rest of the awards ceremony. And Rainbow Dash thought that was the end of it.
In retrospect, Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure why she followed Fluttershy to the ground. She was going to feed her animals or something, and it wasn’t like Rainbow Dash was going to hang around for that. Rainbow Dash also wasn’t sure why that gray colt had thought she would head down to ground, but he had been right. And he was waiting. And apparently he was still mad.
Even worse, he had a brown earth pony with him; the sort of guy that looked really tough and not very smart. Her first though should have been to fly away, but, well, it wasn’t. She had her pride on the line, not to mention Fluttershy’s safety. So when he started to badmouth her, Rainbow Dash went right up to the dumb earth pony and gave him a piece of her mind.
Within seconds, Rainbow Dash found herself tackled, grappled, and pinned beneath the bigger pony. Not a very good start.
“That’s right, Dash. You’re not going ANYWHERE.” The gray pegasus glared daggers at her. Rainbow Dash hated to admit it, but the colt was right. His big stupid friend was way too strong to escape from, and it didn’t look like he was willing to let go any time soon. He was practically drooling in admiration of his pegasus buddy, so talking to him probably wouldn’t get anywhere. That only left one option: the pegasus.
“All right buddy,” Rainbow Dash said to the gray pony, sounding calmer than she felt. “What’s the deal? You lost the race fair and square. Go home and practice hard for next year.”
He glared. “No, not fair and square. That race was MINE, and you CHEATED to win!”
“Yea, so… wait, WHAT?” Rainbow Dash’s train of thought came to a crashing halt. “Cheated? What are you talking about?” This guy must be crazy. There was no WAY she cheated.
Fluttershy started to say something, but was quickly drowned out by the bigger pegasus.
“Yea, you heard me. You CHEATED. You can’t touch the ground in a flying race. That’s totally unfair, or else I would have done it too.”
Rainbow Dash would have been burying her face in her hoof right now if she wasn’t completely pinned. “That’s not cheating,” she said. Fluttershy started nodding in agreement until the earth pony glared at her.
“Nice try, Rainbow CRASH, but I know cheating when I see it. Now I’ll show YOU what happens to ponies that cheat on MY race.” The colt began advancing towards her. Not good, thought Rainbow dash. She strained as hard as she could against her captor, but to no avail. The colt was getting closer…
“Wait!” Fluttershy shouted. She jumped in front of the gray pegasus, who was startled enough to stop walking.
“Umm, I mean,” Fluttershy began, “Are you sure this isn’t just a misunderstanding?” She smiled hopefully?
“No.” The colt said forcefully.
“Um, can’t we just be friends instead?”
“No!”
“You know, you really should-“
Fluttershy stopped as the colt put his hoof on her shoulder. “Look, little filly. You’re not involved here. This is between me and Crash over there, so get lost.”
Fluttershy’s expression darkened, but the colt didn’t notice. What he did notice, however was when Fluttershy brought her arm up and wrapped it around his, pinning it in place.
His face darkened. “Hey! Don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”
Had he been paying more attention, he might have noticed that Fluttershy’s legs had stopped shaking and her breathing had slowed, but he was unable to look away from her eyes. Instead of looking away, her eyes were glaring right back at him. Rainbow Dash stopped struggling against the earth pony and stared, shocked at her friend’s sudden bravery.
Suddenly, Fluttershy pulled down hard on the colt’s leg, using it as a lever. That will never work, thought Rainbow Dash. He’s twice her size! But to her amazement, as Fluttershy put her weight on the leg, the colt cried out in pain and fell, his leg still held and locked straight against the Fluttershy’s shoulder.
At this point both Rainbow Dash and the earth pony had their mouths wide open in shock. But Fluttershy wasn’t done. Keeping the leg pinned with one hoof, she raised her other hoof and brought it down hard across the colt’s face.
“AH! Get off! Get-”
Fluttershy brought both hooves back to the pinned leg and, leaning in close, she jumped up and rolled over the top of her would-be attacker, his leg locked straight against her. Rainbow Dash watched in awe as his leg bent back, entirely the wrong way, further and further, until-
-SNAP!-
Fluttershy finally let go of the limb, which now dangled uselessly at the colt’s side. For an indistinguishable amount of time everyone stopped. It was dead silent. Everyone looked with wide eyes at the soft, gentle, yellow Pegasus. She glared at the colt.
And then he turned and bolted, failing twice to take off before finally getting in the air and putting as much distance between him and the Fluttershy as possible. She let him go.
The other aggressor stared dumbfounded at Fluttershy’s back unil she turned to face him. He let out a distinctly girly squeal and took off in the other direction. Or at least, tried to. As he was still on top of Rainbow Dash, their legs got tangled and he fell on his face, twice, before finally breaking free, shrieking in fear the entire time. Rainbow Dash watched him run off, and then turned back to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy that was- how did you do that?”
Suddenly her innocent expression returned.
“Oh my goodness, umm, do you think he’s all right? I’m so sorry! I was so scared, and, umm, oh my goodness, I hope he’s not upset.” She might have been about to say more, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t be sure since her voice kept getting softer.
“Fluttershy, they were totally attacking us! He got what he deserved.” Fluttershy started to protest, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t finished. “And boy did you give it to him! How did you do that? It was like, BAM! Suddenly he was on the ground, and he had no idea what was going on.” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “What was going on?”
Fluttershy blushed and looked the other way. “Oh, umm, it was nothing really. Can I ask you a favor?”
“Well duh! You completely saved me!” Rainbow Dash paused. “But, can you not tell anyone about this?”
Fluttershy let out a small laugh. “That’s what I was going to ask!”
“Then we have a deal!” Rainbow Dash laughed as well. She wasn’t sure if anyone would believe them anyways. Fluttershy taking on a colt twice her size?
The two of them began walking towards Fluttershy’s house, and again Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure why she was tagging along, but this time she didn’t care. Overall her day had been great. And as she was wondering how Fluttershy learned those moves, she thought she might have barely heard Fluttershy whisper to herself.
“Maybe I should have paid Iron Will after all.”
