A/N. Sorry about the lack of authors note at the bottom of the last chapter but I couldn't think of anything to say… anyway, onto the story!

Chapter 17

"Right then, before we start I would like to set out a few rules; Rule number one, if any of you try to escape I will kill your friend up here and then all of you down there," Inmate 73 said in a soft voice, "Rule number two, If anypony touches any of my weapons I will kill all of you. Rule number three, No killing on both sides until the race is over. Got it?" They all nodded in agreement. Inmate 73 glided to the ground and dropped all its weapons, its GAU 13s, its MAC-10s and a pair of weapons they had never seen it use. It then dropped a load of clips and drums containing the ammo for the weapons. "Altitude 1000 meters, air temperature 20 degrees Celsius. We begin at 1000 meters from a standstill. Do you want to start from a cloud or from hovering?" Inmate 73 asked Rainbow Dash.
"I think I'll start from hovering," she replied.
"Ok then, should we start with something simple like 100 mph?"
"Seems fine to me."
"Oh, and by the way this isn't a standard race as such. More of a test of speed. There is no track and no amount of laps, just the sky and your wings. Are you ready?" asked Inmate 73.
"As ready as I ever will be," Rainbow Dash replied.
"Three… Two… One… GO!" yelled a starter that Inmate 73 had summoned.

They both reached 100 easily and were soon cruising side by side. "How about 500?" asked Inmate 73 and in seconds, the cyan pony accelerated. Inmate 73 soon caught up though. "Speed of sound?" they both sped up until a cone of heat was forming around them. Rainbow Dash said "Sonic Rainboom time." She looped and powered towards the ground, a thinner, tighter cone formed around her two outstretched hooves. She flew faster until… BOOM! The visible light spectrum shattered leaving a circular rainbow that expanded over the entire battlefield. This was so awesome that the fighting stopped for a few minutes to observe this phenomenon. Inmate 73 began to dive, its wing creating a backwards force that would have knocked over a building. It began to spin, and soon it did a sonic rainboom too. This one was not as beautiful as Rainbow Dashes because Inmate 73 did not have a rainbow colouring. The sky around it just shattered, all the white light became bathed in the light emitted from this fracture in the electromagnetic spectrum. It kept spinning however and it soon reached Mach 20 or 15,211 mph. this created another event. Inmate 73 broke through the ultraviolet waves. The entire battlefield was bathed in a bluey, purpley light that burned the eyes of all that looked too closely. The nature of UV light meant that the skin of all the ponies that were fighting had become darker and began to peel. Inmate 73 then brought its hooves closer to its body, creating a blunter shape and span faster. It kept spinning and pounding on the air with its wings that it reached Mach 30 or 22,816 mph. this brought around the most spectacular thin that Rainbow Dash had ever lay eyes upon. Inmate 73 broke through the X-rays, the expanding circle of light was now composed of x-rays and so she could see into the bodies of her fellow ponies and most importantly she could see into the body of Inmate 73. What she saw shocked her. It was a pony, not a machine. Only a few of its bones seemed to be missing and what else she could see confused her. She could see all of its veins and half of its brain; most of its internal organs were visible through the X-rays that it bathed in. This was a crushing blow to Rainbow Dash; she was no longer the fastest flying pony in Equestria.

When both contestants had landed they returned to the starting line. The fighting was still paused until Inmate 73 gave the order. It went back, picked up its weapons and left for the other side of the battle. This was when the friends decided to begin their attack. They had found many clips and magazines on the floor and they found weapons that would be useful like maces and a spear or two. As soon as Inmate 73 had left, the firing began. The kill line had soon wiped out their captors forces, breaking free of the bonds it had put them in. This race had affected Rainbow Dash in a way she would not like to admit. She had lost and because of that a hatred burned forcefully in her heart, she killed without mercy even when enemies were unarmed. She would shoot them, she would kick them and she even caved ones skull in. Soon her hooves were covered in blood, all from the many she slew that day. She shot until she ran out of ammunition and she kicked until it became impractical and even after that she picked up hammer from the floor and swung with all her might. She became a killing machine, ending life after life and then standing on the remains of her fallen foes to kill more of them. She lost all sense of morality that day. It was an inevitability that she would come across her better, the pony that wasn't a pony. Inmate 73 laughed at her, and with a quick shot ended the life of the pony he was just about the kill. It brought the two guns it was using, a pair of automatic shotguns, to the sided of her head and intended to end the persistent pony but it couldn't. The cyan coloured pony was utterly crucial in the downfall of Inmate 73. It felt merciful towards her even though she threatened to kill it. It left her there to ponder over why this one time it had let her off, flying to another part of the battle. All this left Rainbow Dash to do was to find her friend, all her rage spent.

A/N. I promised one but I didn't say how long it would be! Right then, if you enjoyed this then please leave a review and if you didn't, could you tell me why? The next chapter I think will just be an extension of this one and so it won't be too long and too boring.

Vale