Two seventy pound weights dropped to the ground, side by side. Above them stood a red pegasus with a tan mane, a rippling set of back muscles, and a cocky smile. He had every right and reason to hold that smile. After all, he was none other than the legendary Landsmoker, ready for his next run.
Behind him stood a gigantic Earth pony hitched to a Plainstomper Load Wagon. Landsmoker's partner, just as famous but a bit less charismatic, the unstoppable Mass Motion. He bellowed out across the way in his booming voice.
"MAKE A PATH!" As ponies down Mane Street skittered to the side of the road, he set himself against the wagon and started out. The ground cracked beneath the huge 6,000 pound load, but nothing was stopping Mass once he was moving. "Best get out there, Red. I ain't stopping 'til dinner." Landsmoker smirked and lifted himself into the air.
He took a deep breath, enjoying the freedom of not having weights on his wings. The sky was his home, no doubt, and nopony could challenge him up here. With Mass below him, a load of cider behind Mass, and the skies open ahead, he was immortal.
In a nearby police station, Rainbow Dash was hopping up and down in joy. For the first time since leaving the Wonderbolt Academy, she'd been given a callback and a training assignment. She was to assist the Cloudsdale Police Force for a week in the High Speed Division. Her supervising officer pinned a deputy badge on her with less than professional enthusiasm, and instructed her to raise her right hoof. She did so quickly, eager to get out on the job.
"Repeat after me. I, Rainbow-"
WHIRWHIRWHIR.
The alarm blasted their ears, and Rainbow Dash immediately leapt from her spot, out to the front of the station for her first dispatch. "Come on, what do you got for me?" The shaky old stallion at the desk handed her a description and a picture.
"Speeding with an oversized load. Go get 'em." She grabbed the papers eagerly and stuffed them into her saddlebag.
"Alright! Which way, pops?" He lifted another page, studying it closely.
"Looks like...heading towards Appleoosa. Coming from...coming from...gersh...coming from Manehattan." Rainbow Dash was practically in conniptions from waiting this long, and as soon as she heard both locations she was gone.
Landsmoker smashed through a small cloud formation, enjoying the misty breeze that came with it. Mass Motion was preforming at his peak, and at this rate they'd have this cider to Appleoosa three hours ahead of schedule. He took a moment and sighed. It was really just a sad point in a pony's career when the police gave up on trying to catch him.
"This is the police! Pull that wagon over!" His ears perked up and a smile spread across his face.
"Well, might have some fun after all." He rocketed downward, coming to the altitude the voice had come from. After a quick look around, he identified the source as a lithe, somewhat charming blue pegasus with a shockingly multicolored mane. He put on a quick burst of speed and whirred past her, spinning her around in midair. "Top of the morning, flygirl! But I wouldn't be worried about that wagon if I were you." He gave a few quick flaps, drawing in some clouds, and gave his new formation a heavy kick. It collapsed into a ball of water, splashing all over the new deputy.
Rainbow Dash grimaced in anger. "Hey, who do you think you are?!" The arrogant red pegasus gave a quick chuckle.
"I might ask you the same thing. There are those who might call you a bit of a greenhorn for not recognizing me." Rainbow Dash pursed her lips, but she wasn't getting an answer, so she cracked open her saddlebag quickly. Thankfully, it was waterproof. The paper inside held only one picture instead of two, and it was of this red pegasus. The file behind it read the following:
'Landsmoker aka Bandit aka Runner aka Cannonball aka Demonwings. Former flight instructor for Wonderbolt Academy. Former Aerial Combat Instructor for Canterlot Royal Guard Pegasi Unit. Holds the title of Fastest Flyer in Equestria, the formal award for which was revoked by Celestia after his second smuggling offense. IF LOCATED, DO NOT ATTEMPT PURSUIT.'
Rainbow Dash glanced from the file to the pony, matching the cocky grin to the achievements. "So, you're a big shot in Canterlot, huh? Got the Fastest Flyer award?" He grinned, giving a mock bow. "Well, you know who I am?" He straightened up, raising an eyebrow.
"I haven't the foggiest." Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest, making sure to look as intimidating as possible.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, Youth Flight Champion, personal student of Spitfire-" Landsmoker burst out in laughter, then quickly contained it.
"Sorry. It's just that I trained her. She ended up bottom of the class." Rainbow Dash blinked a few times in disbelief, but then a smug grin spread across her face.
"And one more thing. You ever hear of the Sonic Rainboom?" A mildly entertained grin spread across his face.
"You might say that."
"Well, guess who's the only pony to ever pull one off!" Landsmoker raised an eyebrow, but no more surprise came to his face.
"Not too shabby. Of course, you do realize it had to have a name before you were born, otherwise it wouldn't be known as well as it is." She took a moment of silence to think about it. "Ever occur to you that somepony else must have figured out how to do it? And maybe that somepony was stricken from all records after a rather humiliating incident involving a foreign official, so their name never came up in the history books?" Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped.
"You don't mean..." Landsmoker chuckled.
"It used to be named the Smoking Barrel, but Celestia decided to change it after you preformed it. I guess once a filly pulls it off, you can't really name it after a weapon, can you?" Rainbow Dash shook herself. It didn't matter who he was, or who he thought he was, it was her job to catch him.
"It doesn't matter anymore. You're mine. Now reach for the sky!" Landsmoker nodded slightly.
"Now we're getting to the fun part." He glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Mass Motion was almost a mile away by now, and turned back. "Tell you what. If you can manage to lay a hoof on me, I'll go in without a fight." She grinned.
"Then I'd suggest you get going. You're the first stallion in years that I shouldn't have to go easy on." A gleam came through his eyes, and his muscles rippled underneath his wings as he spun around and blasted away. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and launched after him.
It only took a few moments before tears came streaming off of her face, speed ripping the wind from her lungs. Up ahead, Landsmoker glanced back, a cool, calm look on his face. "Come on then, flygirl! I know that's not all you've got!" Rainbow Dash grimaced in anger, and her speed jumped again, a cone of air beginning to form around her. She was too focused to see the same cone around her quarry, or even the huge wagon as they passed Mass Motion half a mile below.
Just as she reached her limit, everything flashed white and she felt all the resistance leave her body. She rocketed forward, coming within a hair's breadth of Landsmoker before a huge red and gray ring burst from his body and he shot forward, moving even faster than before. Dust flew off the plains beneath them as he pulled his body to the left, making a huge turn. Dashie followed, shoving all her weight into the spin. They went around in this circle for almost two minutes before Landsmoker looked up and grinned, coming to a sudden stop and lifting into the air. Rainbow Dash shot past him, taking a bit of extra time to stop herself, and with her peripheral vision restored, she understood what his game had been this whole time.
"No way..." Two minutes of circular motion from two ponies with enough wingpower to achieve a Sonic Rainboom had generated a massive storm system, with a mass of clouds rivaling Cloudsdale itself. She rose into the air, bucking at clouds as she went, but nothing was going to slow this storm down. As she stared down into the center of it, Landsmoker rose behind her silently.
"And now you get to choose. Fifteen minutes of top speed moving in the opposite direction of the storm's flow will bring it down to a manageable gust, but you lose Mass and I. These are the choices you make to be the best." She gulped, looking at the inevitable task before her, and hating herself for the fear of failure, and even for the fear of the voice that gave an arrogant little chuckle before flying off into the distance.
Twenty minutes later, a completely exhausted blue pegasus stumbled into Canterlot, barely making it to the front steps of the castle before collapsing in a heap. One of the castle guards rushed inside, and mere moments later Celestia and Luna both burst out of the door, kneeling next to Rainbow Dash. Luna spun around, gesturing to a guard.
"Bring us the medic posthaste!" Celestia lifted Dashie's head gingerly, listening for a breath. Slowly, shakily, an inhale and an exhale fluttered across her ears, and she sighed with relief.
"She's alright for now, but we need to get her friends here as soon as possible. Once the medic arrives, I'll send Twilight a letter."
Twilight and four other ponies rushed into the room, gasping at the sight of Rainbow Dash lying so motionless on a bed. Rarity was, as usual, the first to speak.
"I-I don't believe we've seen her in such a lackluster state since Tank went into hibernation. Whatever could have happened?" Celestia stepped forward, and everypony bowed instinctively, lifted back up almost immediately by her magic.
"I called you all here because of exactly that. Rainbow Dash seemed to have been assisting the local police force on assignment from the Wonderbolt Academy. Spitfire specifically informed me that she was quite set on this course above all others. Unfortunately, her first runner seems to have given her more than she can handle." Pinkie gave Celestia a skeptical look.
"Not to be rude, but have you met Dashie? I don't know of anypony that might be as fast as her, and I hang around with an Alicorn all day!" She wrapped an arm around Twilight as Luna retrieved the rolled up file from within Rainbow Dash's saddlebag.
"You may not, but I believe this might explain a few things. Sister, you're more familiar with this than I am." Celestia sighed and began as the file opened in front of her, revealing the photo of the stallion.
"This is Landsmoker, a famous smuggler and racer. At least, he used to be famous." Applejack raised an eyebrow.
"And how exactly does somepony just stop being famous?" Celestia grimaced.
"He used to be a flight and combat instructor for the pegasi on the Royal Guard, but after he was challenged to a race by a very high-level griffon official, his attitude became an issue. I offered him a promotion and ten thousand Bits to throw the race and save the official's dignity, but he refused. Landsmoker even went so far as to taunt him after the race on being so slow, leading to a state of incredible tension for almost a year between our two kingdoms. In order to maintain the peace, I eliminated Landsmoker's name from the records and removed him from any contact with foreign officials, but placing so much freedom on him was ill-advised." Twilight cocked her head.
"Why? What happened?" Celestia glanced back to Rainbow Dash for a moment, then continued.
"He met an Earth pony by the name of Mass Motion, a wagon mover, and ever since they've been leading massive convoys or just running single trips at speeds that destroy the beautiful environments that the plains create or endanger everypony within a half mile. Landsmoker runs as a flackflyer, disguising himself as the real threat while Mass Motion runs the load. They've been at it for almost five years now, but they usually run along the borders of Equestria, not this close to the major cities. Obviously they're getting more confident." Rarity raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I should hope we aren't planning on allowing these ruffians to just leave. They've no right to go about refitting the law for themselves." Luna and Celestia glanced anxiously at one another.
"That's the issue. Landsmoker was famous for being the fastest and most skilled flyer in the world. Griffons, ponies, and even a few species we've never seen before or since have been outrun by him. Luna and I...well, we'd be outmatched, to say the least."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Well, y'all have never called us here to tell us about something we couldn't do, so what's the deal?" Celestia chuckled despite the situation.
"Well, you aren't wrong, but the only pony we know of that might be able to bring down Landsmoker..." She glanced warily back to Luna. "Well, he's a bit of a wild card." Twilight grinned proudly.
"We'd be happy to help in whatever way we can. Right?" There was a resounding chorus of 'Yes!' before Celestia nodded in satisfaction.
"Very well. Here is the pony you'll be looking for." Her horn sparked, and an image appeared between them of an Earth pony. He was just a little taller than average with a dusty white coat and a mane the color of desert sand. "His name is Broken Lightning." They all stared for a moment, taking in the appearance of their quarry. Pinkie was the first to look out from behind her picture, extending her neck out from behind it to glance at the princesses.
"What's so important about him?" Luna spoke this time, trading her place by Rainbow Dash's side with Celestia.
"'Tia has explained this to me in some detail, and I believe she would rather I tell the story." Celestia blushed for a moment, then took an interestingly detailed interest in a newly formed cowlick in Dashie's mullet. "About twenty years ago, there was a bit of a scandal when two very famous racing pegasi, a married couple, had an Earth pony foal. It took a lot to calm it down, and Celestia was only able to do so by carefully examining the child. When she did, she determined that the colt had lost its wings sometime during one of its mother's races. She was unable to confirm the exact cause, but the colt's heart was left broken until it discovered a new talent." Their eyes were all glued to her now. "Nopony in Equestria can run as fast as Broken Lightning. 'Tia taught him how to train himself, and he's been getting better ever since. We checked up on him as soon as we found out Landsmoker was involved in this, and now we genuinely believe that he is the only pony in Equestria who can bring down Landsmoker and Mass Motion." They all gazed at the picture, now in a bit of awe.
"Well, it looks like we're on another road trip.
Welcome, one and all, to my newest story, and one I've been keeping in storage for some time. Now, one thing I will point out is that for the first time ever, I'm using my OFFICIAL OC characters. Landsmoker and Broken Lightning are the two that I regard as my OC when they are melded into the same plot, despite everything that you may have seen through my past stories. Also, I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to all the new people following my stories. I'll be honest, at this point in my life, the support is greatly needed, and it feels even better coming up on my first anniversary as a fanfic writer. So without further ado, I'm OfficialBacon, and I'll see you in the next one.