He was in a bind, cause he was way behind, and he was willin' to make a deal,

When he came a cross a young filly flyin' stunts and flyin' 'em hot,

Discord jumped up on a hickory stump, said "Girl let me tell you what!"

"I bet you didn't know this, but I'm a quick flier too,

And if you care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you,

Now you fly a pretty good routine filly, but give 'ol Discord his due,

I'll bet wings of gold, against your own cause I think I'm better than you."

She said "My name's Dashie, and it might be a sin,

But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret, cause I'm the best there's ever been!"

---

Rainbow Dash flew up and down, left and right, looping and diving effortlessly as though she belonged in the skies outside Ponyville. Until she caught a glimpse of a thin, scaly hide she hoped to never have to see again.

Discord waited for her in a clearing, arms folded, goat leg propped up on an old stump with his trademark grin wide across his lips.

"Looking fast there Rainbow."

Dash didn't have time for pleasantries, knowing if he was here, it was only to cause trouble. "What do you want?"

"Me? Oh nothing, just a proposal," he said motioning to his mismatched wings. "These aren't just for show, you know."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, she was the best, and she knew it. There was no way those ridiculous looking things could even hope to match Maverick and Goose (her wings).

"Alright, I'll bite," she said guardedly, "What proposal?"

"Just a race, from here to there," he explained, pointing a talon toward a distant tree a few hills over.

"Beat me, and I'll give you wings of solid gold!"

"Solid gold eh?" Rainbow considered, thinking of all the ice cream she could buy her number one fan Scootaloo with the money from pawning gold wings.

"So, do we have an accord?" he asked, extending a talon to seal the deal.

This'll be a cake-trot...

"Deal." Rainbow grinned, extending a hoof and sealing the verbal contract.

"Oh, and if you lose, I keep your wings forever," he snuck in, getting in a starting position.

"What?!"

"Readysetgo!"

With that, Discord took off toward the tree, leaving Rainbow still trying to wrap her mind around the consequences of losing this race.

"Why you little cheater!" Dash snapped. She was unpleasantly surprised by how quick the chimera actually was on his odd wings.

Discord took a look back; the cyan pegasus was nowhere to be found. He was more than halfway to the finish line, contemplating whether or not he would look good with an extra set of wings.

In a few seconds, he rested his hand on the tree, panting slightly but smiling as he imagined the look on her face when he took her wings for good.

"About time you showed up." A voice from behind the tree put ice in his veins. A slow turn revealed Rainbow resting against the tree on her flanks as if she'd been there for a few minutes.

"W...wha...Impossible!" Discord stammered, staring in disbelief.

"How in Equestria could you have—"

"I flew in the other direction around the world." She smirked, standing from her seat.

"Now about those gold wings..."

Discord narrowed his eyes into a glare. He had never lost before, and wasn't about to start now.

"I don't think so, you'll have to fight me for them!"

Discord grew one hundred feet tall, ready to smash Rainbow to bits.

"Not so fast Discord!" Rainbow said, using her powers of awesomeness to grow just as tall as the god of chaos.

Then, they both—

"Scootaloo, are we near the end? I only get one lunch break ya know."

She looked up from her paper and met Dash's less than amused stare.

The filly's eyes dropped with her enthusiasm, Rainbow regretting her interruption almost immediately. Dash made the occasional habit of dropping by the schoolhouse when it let out to see Scootaloo on her lunch break when she was utterly bored or not very hungry.

"Uhm..." the little pegasus gathered her thoughts, demanding of herself that she keep her composure and not let her idol know how frustrating it was to never be able to impress the one pony whose opinion mattered most. She decided to just tell Rainbow the ending instead of reading through the two page fight scene she had written.

"Then you beat Discord and win your gold wings and... uhm... that's it..." she sighed. Scootaloo hated when something she thought for sure would impress Dash backfired. It seemed like she had only managed to bore her.

"And you wrote this for a school assignment?" Rainbow chuckled.

"Yeah... I only got a C 'cause it was supposed to be a paper about mythological creatures." The orange filly sat on the school steps knowing all she wanted to do was tell the rest of her class how awesome Rainbow Dash was, and she couldn't even do that right.

"Only a C?!" Rainbow gasped. Sure, it wasn't the greatest story ever written, but how could something involving her; the fastest pegasus in Equestria not get an A?

Dash made a mental note to bring that up with Cheerilee the next time she saw her.

"Let me see that, kid," Rainbow said, grabbing at the papers, scanning quickly over each page before coming to the end.

The last line, along with a simple crayon drawing of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo eating ice cream together after the victorious race, before the words 'THE END' scrawled at the bottom of the page, pulled on her heartstrings.

This was the reason Rainbow tried to limit her time with the energetic young pegasus. Cute stuff like this threatened to break down her carefully crafted 'devil may care' attitude. Sometimes the kid was just too cute for her own good. Still, it was obvious she worked really hard on this, so Dash figured a reward of some kind was in order.

Her magenta eyes flicked above the paper as she held it in front of her, the orange filly still awaiting her verdict nervously.

Rainbow smiled as she gave her essay back to her.

"Well?" Scootaloo asked, waiting with bated breath for her honest assessment.

"I gotta tell ya squirt, I don't like it."

The young pegasus' heart shattered. She had stayed up all night the night before writing it, not so much for a good grade, but specifically so she could show Rainbow after school.

The look of devastation was clear on her face as her bottom lip began to tremble, all attempts at holding back her frustration seeming to fail.

Rainbow cherished her ability to alter the foal's mood with a single sentence. Though she would never admit it if asked, seeing those purple eyes light up happily was almost as much fun to her as flying itself. The look on Scootaloo's face was sad enough to make an onion cry.

"I love it!" Dash finished, the hopelessness and frustration the filly had been feeling evaporated as quickly as it had come. An ear to ear grin broke across her lips as Dash laid on her belly before her.

"Hop on, if we hurry, we can get some ice cream before I have to be back at work." She grinned, motioning for Scootaloo to climb onto her back.

"Really?! Thank you thank you thank you Rainbow!" the orange filly repeated in ecstasy.

Dash smiled as she scurried aboard. Once she had settled in, a quick flap and the two pegasi were airborne.

"Rainbow, do you think you could teach me how to fly like you?" Scootaloo called over the wind.

"Like me?"

"Yeah! All dangerous and crazy and stuff!"

This filly was going to be trouble. Dash was certain the same words had come out of her mouth at that age too.

"Maybe one day Scoots. For now, lets just get some ice cream."

Scootaloo conceded, holding on tightly to Rainbow's neck as they flew into town.

Though ice cream was a good start, Dash wanted to really make the filly's day after her less than stellar grade, and decided to up the ante.

"Hey squirt, how about after ice cream, we start your flying lessons?"

Scootaloo's gasp was loud enough to be heard over the rushing wind.

She had only asked in passing, she didn't think Rainbow would actually agree to it! Much less agree to it today!

"A-are you serious?"

"You know I don't joke about flying!"

"B-but what about work?" she asked.

"Screw work. You're my work today kiddo," she replied, turning her head to see those violet eyes shining behind her, like she knew they would be. Scootaloos face had gone from devastated five minutes ago to beyond joyful right now. Rainbow secretly loved it. She heard another flurry of thank yous and a tight hug gripped her neck as they flew.

Maybe it wouldn't be a total drag to hang around with her number one fan a bit more often.

END

---

Song credit goes to Charlie Daniels, All I did was bastardize the lyrics.