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The Young Six

by Jay David

Chapter 19: Fastest Flier

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Fastest Flier

Now, anyone who knew anything about dragons would tell you one definitive thing about them; They simply could not resist a challenge. As soon as somebody gave even the tiniest hint that they weren't as good at something as they thought they were, it became something that had to be settled, right then and there. Sadly, Gallus had made the rather predictable error of making just such a challenge, as he had taken to insinuating that his flying skills could match or even beat that of Smolder. Naturally, such a declaration had to be answered, and so, that was exactly what the two of them sought to do. Standing at the edge of the Ponyville Lake, the two youths were currently engaged in some routine exercises to prepare them for the big test. Stretching out their wings, their limbs, making sure they were as flexible as possible, all that good stuff. However, as they were doing this, Gallus, in that typical way of his, gave a smirk to his draconic colleague.

"Sure you don't wanna back down, Smolder? Nobody will blame you if this is too much for you."

The young dragoness merely snorted to that.

"Yeah, right! If you seriously think I'm gonna let the flying skills of dragons go undefended against a Griffon, you must have feathers in your brain!"

Gallus gave a quick chuckle to that.

"Yeah, figured as much. But, let's not forget, it's not just Dragons and Griffons involved in this."

Hearing that, Smolder stopped, and she turned to look to her other side. There, hopping happily in one place, was none other than Silverstream. The pink Hippogriff was practically giddy over being here today, as she was barely able to contain the giggles that, at any moment, threatened to escape from her mouth. And it wasn't long before she turned to her two other friends, finally unleashing her enthusiasm for the event that was to happen between them.

"Oh! Isn't this just the best thing ever?! Dragons, Griffons and Hippogriffs! An epic race to determine who truly rules the skies! Oooooh! I can already feel the excitement people will be having when they hear about this!"

Of course, as charming as her boundless energy usually was, today it earned her a mere eye-roll from Smolder.

"Try not to get too happy about this, Silver. Might make you a little upset when you lose."

Silverstream looked to her, tilting her head to show her confusion.

"Don't you mean if I lose?"

Here, Smolder gave a chuckle, reaching over and patting her friend on the shoulder.

"Sure, you just keep telling yourself that, Silver."

Then, moments later, Smolder herself felt somebody tapping on her shoulder, and she turned to face the rather smug-looking face of Gallus as he began to speak.

"Let's not forget our illustrious judge. She'll be deciding this race's winner."

Folding her arms, Smolder raised an eyebrow to that.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll make the right call."

Her head turned, and she looked over to another side of the lake.

"Hey! Ocellus! You ready to...oh no."

Confused, Gallus looked over to see what she was so worried about, and in an instant, he understood, placing his claw to his forehead in a display of exasperation. Ocellus was indeed there, but she was not alone. For beside her was none other than Sandbar, and currently, both he and Ocellus were staring lovingly into one another's eyes. It had only been a week since their first kiss, and ever since, they'd been completely and utterly lovesick, to the point where they now seemed oblivious to virtually everything that was going on around them. Yona too was close by, though she simply gave a happy-looking wave and smile to Smolder, who reluctantly returned the gesture. Rubbing her temples, the young dragoness sighed.

"Okay, we've gotta snap her out of it. Silver?"

"Shipshipshipshipshipshipshipshipshipship..."

"...Yeah, looks like Silver's not gonna help us on this one. Gallus?"

Gallus grumbled, but nevertheless nodded to the request, yelling at the top of his lungs towards the happy couple.

"YO!!! SANDY!!! YOU GUYS GONNA ACTUALLY WATCH THIS OR WHAT?!"

Immediately, the young couple looked away from one another, and towards the waiting racers. Naturally, they blushed a little over their apparent distraction, with Ocellus clearing her throat and trying to look as composed and professional as possible.

"Yes...well...I hope you all know that this is going to be a good clean race."

She looked down to the pad of paper she had before her, looking over her notes for a brief time before slowly nodding.

"By my calculations, it will be a close thing, as each of your peoples have distinct advantages when it comes to flight. Griffons have greater muscles in their wings, Dragons have greater endurance for long-term flight, and so on."

She looked back up to them.

"This really is anyone's race."

Silverstream again giggled to all of this, looking over to Ocellus and gesturing for her to come over.

"You're still welcome to come over and join us!"

But Ocellus, smiling to that, raised her hoof, silently declining.

"Thank you for the offer, Silver, but I'm not the competitive type."

Giving herself another stretch, Smolder chuckled to that.

"Well, I am! And I'm itching to get this thing started!"

Gallus smirked to her.

"You and me both, Smolder!"

With that, the three racers got down onto all fours, ready to launch themselves forward and get this thing going. Ocellus took out a stop-watch, ready to get it going the moment the contest began. Sandbar and Yona watched them intently, all while the contestants muttered among themselves.

"So much fun! This is gonna be so much fun!" Silverstream declared to herself.

"Hey, Smolder, don't get too upset when you lose, okay?" Gallus whispered.

"Ha! In your dreams, bird-brain!"

Ocellus, who was not listening in on this, got to her hooves, narrowing her eyes and speaking aloud for all to hear.

"Okay...are you ready?"

The three fliers nodded in unison, prompting her to continue.

"Alright, the race will begin in three..."

The contestants tensed up.

"...two..."

They narrowed their eyes at the far end of the lake.

"...and GO!!!"

Instantly, they flapped their wings as hard as they could, launching themselves like missiles from the banks of the lake. In fact, so great was the flap that the sand behind them was kicked back into a massive sand-cloud, showing just how much strength was being put into this. Ocellus, Sandbar and Yona, sitting to their side, watched with amazement as their friends trailed across the sky, going faster and faster with every flap they gave. Just as Ocellus had predicted, it was a close thing between them, with all three contestants appearing to be neck-and-neck so far. But, with the competitiveness that they had, it was inevitable that things did not end up being squeaky-clean between two of them for long. Gallus, allowing his need for victory to get the better of him, subtlety strayed to the right, putting himself more or less in Smolder's, for lack of a better word, "lane" in this race.

"Hey! Watch it!" the dragoness demanded.

The Griffon chortled.

"Hey, a real good flier wouldn't have any problems with that, would she?" Gallus said back to her.

And with that, the gloves were off, and Smolder narrowed her eyes at her friend. She was gonna win this race, no matter what it took. So, after allowing herself a brief smirk, she opened her mouth, took in a deep inhale, before bellowing out a torrent of fire just ahead of herself. Gallus, seeing this, widened his eyes with shock, straying to his left to avoid hitting the fire. This diversion he put himself in gave Smolder the edge she needed to get further ahead of him, and she cackled loudly as she passed him by. Of course, Gallus couldn't let something like this go, and so he decided to up his game. Like Ocellus had said, Griffons had very strong wing muscles, and as such, his flaps provided him with just enough power to be able to force himself to go a little faster, getting closer to Smolder.

"Now I've got you!"

Now, while this had all been going on, the three non-racers on the lake's edge had been watching, and Sandbar, seeing the expected foul-play between his two friends, let out a long and tired-sounding sigh, slapping his forehead with frustration.

"Yeah...I thought as much."

Ocellus, who looked similarly irritated at her friends' behaviour, put her paper pad down, looking to it with some degree of disappointment.

"Well...guess I'm not getting any accurate scientific data from this race."

Sandbar reached over, offering her a warm pat on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's at least see who ends up getting to the end first."

Ocellus smiled to him, and together, the three of them started to make their way over to where the finish line had been placed on the far edge of the lake. Yona, walking alongside them, tilted her head slightly, before then glancing back to Sandbar.

"How big is lake anyway?"

To that, Sandbar shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh. It varies from day to day usually."

Meanwhile, things had become even less sportsmanlike among the racers, with Gallus having finally caught up to Smolder. But, rather than provide some distraction or subtle tactic, he instead opted for a more direct approach. Reaching forward, the now-aggressive Griffon grabbed hold of Smolder's ankles, seizing them tightly. Of course, the dragoness herself did not appreciate this, as evidence by the angry glare she now gave him.

"Hey! Let go!"

But Gallus did not, and after an almighty yank, he pulled her back, giving himself the means to get further ahead. Unfortunately, Smolder had elected to do the same, and grabbed onto Gallus ankles, trying to pull him back too. However, when she did this, she caused him to become so distracted that he briefly lost control of his flight. It was a small thing, but it was just enough to cause him to start falling out of the sky. Smolder, her eyes widening, watched as her Griffon friend collided with her, causing both of them to fall. Down and down they went, until, finally, they collided with the water. A few moments passed, but eventually, they both re-emerged from the lake, panting furiously over this.

"What's the big idea?!" Gallus demanded to know.

"Oh no! Don't you put this one on me, Gallus!" Smolder spat back.

The two knew they had a race to finish, and so they again flapped hard, sending themselves back into the sky. The end of the lake was near now, and they knew they could no longer afford to be underhanded with this. So, it was simply back to pure speed and effort for the final leg of the thing. Faster and faster they went, hoping beyond hope to be the first one there. It was a tense moment, but finally, the two of them made it over the finish line, practically collapsing onto the sands of the lake's shore as they did so. They panted heavily again, looking utterly exhausted from their efforts, but, not so tired that they couldn't look up and see Ocellus, Sandbar and Yona arrive to greet them.

"So...winner?" Smolder asked through her panting.

"Yeah! Who came first?" Gallus added.

The three others looked to one another, and then, with simultaneous motions, they pointed to the side.

"She did!" they said together.

Turning, Smolder and Gallus looked on with amazement and shock to see that it was Silverstream that now stood at the end, waving happily to the two of them and smiling widely.

"Hey, guys! Wasn't that great?"

The two still-tired racers blinked slowly to this, gradually getting themselves off the ground and staring at her with pure disbelief.

"But...but...how?!" Smolder uttered.

Silverstream shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, while you two were busy having your little...whatever-that-was...I just, you know...raced. I've been here for a couple of minutes, actually."

Getting himself dusted off, Gallus groaned with irritation.

"But...why didn't you try anything to get ahead and win like we did?"

Silverstream looked to them as though that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever been asked in her life, culminating in the expected giggle.

"Duh! Because this was just a bit of fun, right? What's fun about causing friends to lose?"

A silence hung over the group, and slowly, Gallus and Smolder turned, looking to one another. Neither of them wanted to be the one to say it, given their equally-massive pride and all that, but, after a while, it was Gallus, the one who had sparked this all off, who did so. Sighing, he turned to face Smolder fully, raising a claw and scratching the back of his head before finally saying what he needed to.

"I guess...what we did wasn't really all that fun, was it?"

Letting out a sigh of her own, Smolder shook her head.

"No...in fact...it was kind of a load."

The two shared a dry laugh together, and Gallus soon stepped forward.

"I'm...I'm sorry for saying I was a better flier than you."

Smolder nodded.

"And...I'm sorry...for using fire during the race."

"And I'm sorry for trying to pull you down," Gallus continued.

"Yeah, same here," Smolder confessed.

Then, to heir slight surprise, they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Turning, they saw the still-irritated face of Ocellus, looking to the two of them like she was expecting them to say something. After a few moments of pause, Smolder gained some realisation, chuckling nervously.

"Oh...um...and we're sorry for messing up your notes and science...stuff."

Ocellus gave a nod.

"Thank you."

Looking back to her feathered friend, Smolder took a step forward of her own, stretching her claw out.

"So...we cool?"

Looking to the offered claw, Gallus gave a quick smirk, then took it, giving a firm shake.

"Yeah, we're cool."

Then, to their great shock, they were immediately seized and jointly hugged by Silverstream, who squealed happily at the resolution of this issue.

"Eeeeeeeee! So we had an exciting race and learned an important lesson about not being overly-competitive? AWESOME!!!"

The other two groaned to this overabundance of excitement from their friend, but they nevertheless smiled to it shortly afterwards, with Smolder giving Gallus one final smirk.

"So...a proper race this time?"

After letting out a hearty laugh, the Griffon looked right back to her with determination.

"You're on!"

Next Chapter: Performers Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 55 Minutes
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