Chapter 17 – Enter the Qualifying Round

Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply, and then exhaled as Breeze walked up to her, "Nervous?" he asked.

"Extremely." she admitted, "But don't tell anypony."

He chuckled a bit, "I promise, another one of our little secrets." he said as the garage door opened up for the day, the day of the qualifying races, "Ready?"

Again, Rainbow Dash inhaled, "As I'll ever be." she said and flapped her wings to lift up and fit herself into the cockpit of the Rainbow Trail. Laying her belly on the seat and placing her hooves on the throttles. Lifting her wings, she slipped them effortlessly into the wing connections at her sides, curling her feathers to grip the mechanics of the devices and control the wings of her ship. Then she placed her back hooves to a set of two buttons on the floor behind her. This action caused the strips on the bottom of the ship to glow, and she began to hover, letting her landing gear retract into the body of the racer. Then the wings unfolded, the parts separating only a little as they lit up pushing the Rainbow Trail slowly out of the garage.

Breeze disappeared in a ring of dust, and reappeared on the top of the ship, opening a hatch and diving into it. Inside, he planted himself into his seat, leaning into the support like Rainbow, but at a much steeper angle. He then reached in front of him, gripping a pair of joysticks as the rest of the room lit up and became like the area around the ship, "I'll never get tired of this room." he whispered to himself. The Rainbow Trail entered into the sun, the light bouncing off of its cyan and white paint as she guided the ship outside, only pushing the throttles to half when she was cleared from garage walls. The two of them made their way towards the testing grounds again, but this time both were surprised when they found every ship in the race lined up, just hovering there, "Are we late for something?" Breeze asked.

"Can't be, we've been the first one here every day until now." Rainbow said and heard the coms come alive.

"Just find a spot for now {snort}." Tusks said.

"Hiya Coach!" Rainbow said, found a nice spot next to the Silver Blitz and another ship that looked much like a drill. Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of Rainbow Dash and in the top corner of her vision. Inside the screen was a red room and a chair with Syls sitting in the middle. "Sup Short Stuff?" Rainbow asked.

"WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT SKITTLE HEAD?" the Dryskian shouted as she exploded in anger.

"Let's not fight right before the race." Breeze said as the four of them connected.

"I agree, we're gonna want to keep our eyes on the prize for this one." Tris said, "I heard there might be some cheating like last Cycle's qualifying round."

"Yeah, but they got caught last time as well, so the same cheaters aren't going to be in this race." Syls said in response.

"Still, never know for sure." Breeze said.

Rainbow stayed quiet in thought until the air changed around her. It seemed like the wind stopped, and stilled as the ground echoed with an eerie howl. Then she could hear the ground rumble, and what sounded like bones cracking. From the ground energy erupted, bending in towards each other as they formed what was supposed to be a giant ring of sorts. The yellow energy was followed by the sound of metal, the same ringing metal that a pony would hear if she were to draw a sword from its scabbard. Again, energy emerged, this time in the shape of two bone horns that curled in towards each other like some kind of broken archway. The structure came again with the sound of bones cracking and steel, then another and another, each a half of a mile or so apart from the last. The rings kept emerging, golden in color as they each made their way to who knows where. Suddenly her ears were filled with the sound of revving engines, and at each side of her she could see some of the racers getting ready to start, "Wait…" she said, "How will I know when to start?"

Suddenly, there was a cry, not one from any racer, but rather one that seemed to come from everywhere at once. It sounded like a cross between a whale call and a dolphin click. With this cry, the racers all gunned it, "What are you doing Skittle Head? That's the starting call!" Syls called out.

Rainbow Dash then pushed her throttle forward, lighting up all five of her jets at once, and gathered a boost to actually get in the race. "Wish somepony would have told me about that." R.D. nearly growled.

"I've never heard that call before, sounds like the planet's alive or something." Breeze commented as they rocketed into the first of the rings.

"Not a good start." Rainbow said to herself, and let go of one of the throttles to press a button on her console, "Coach!" she called out, "Got a bad start."

"I see that." Tusks said over the com, his picture appearing in the corner. "Guess I should have told you about the special Terranuil-only things you'll see and hear in this race huh?"

"YOU THINK?" she heard Twilight ask, "A natural call that the planet actually gives off? How were we supposed to be prepared for that?"

"Wait, your planet doesn't do that?" Pilit asked.

"No!" the ponies all said at once.

"Listen Rainbow." Tusks said as he turned back to the pilot, "Don't let this get you down, I once came in first place by starting last. Just try and judge your opponents as you come up to them and then pass when you get the chance, but always look out for the chance."

"You got it boss!" Rainbow said and pushed the jets even harder.

"And you Breeze." Tusks said easily getting the unicorn's attention, "You keep those bolts from hitting the shield, take down the more stubborn ones and get Rainbow within the first sixteen racers to finish this race."

"Yes sir!" Breeze said, and looked behind him, "What place are we in?"

"Because of that bad start, we're in 46th place." Twilight stated.

"Don't worry, I'll get us to the next round and do way better next time." Rainbow said and passed through another ring.

The coms switched off, and Twilight turned to the other ponies, "Wow, only sixteen out of all those racers?" she asked.

"That's kind of brutal." Pinkie commented.

"Agreed." Rarity said in response.

"Don't yall worry yerselves none." Applejack said as she walked up to the group, "This is Rainbow Dash, why I bet she's gonna just sail through and get us qualified."

Rainbow Dash was doing well, several times she would sneak in behind a racer, and once she was through the ring, she would sneak around them, either from the sides or from underneath, then overtake them at the next ring. It was quite some time until the two of them discovered someone willing to attack them. And Breeze seemed to be ready. Only a few bolts hit the shield, a sphere of blue energy that formed from diamond-shaped plates, before he shot down the other bolts. "This is easy!" Breeze said as he confidently grinned from ear to ear.

"Says you." Rainbow said, "Some of these gaps are a tight squeeze." She finished her sentence just as the shield on their opponent broke, and a shock of energy from one of Breeze's shots struck true, slamming into the engine of the ship and causing it to sputter to a halt, letting the opponent slowly glide to the ground.

"Relax." Breeze said, "We've already made up plenty of distance."

Then suddenly, they found their ship shaking from a rather hard hit. Breeze looked up, just as a ship that looked like a battering ram came up from behind them fast, "What was that?" Rainbow asked.

"That can't be a stun bolt." Breeze said, "It had way too much impact."

"What's going on?" Blade asked from over the coms, "We just detected a huge spike in your shield energy readings."

"Enough to shut them down for the next few minutes." Pilit shouted.

"WHAT?" Rainbow and Breeze asked in unison. Just then, a bolt of energy flew right by them, and Breeze turned to return fire.

"By Bolts are barely holding theirs back, what in Celestia's name is going on?" the stallion asked.

"Wait, Breeze, can you point your gun at the barrel for a second?" Blade asked and was rewarded when the opponent stopped refiring to let both of their guns recharge. "I think I see what's going on." he said, "But, I just don't…" Just then, the barrels on the opponent's ship began glowing again, at first a bright white, then turned to yellow matching the color of the bolts Breeze was using, "They're cheating!" he said, "That's not a stun bolt, that a Linear Arc Canon."

"It's a what?" Rainbow asked.

"ROLL!" Blade quickly shouted, and Rainbow instinctively did it, rolling over the energy blast as it sailed for them.

"I thought you said there were no dangerous weapons allowed?" Breeze asked.

"What is a Linear Arc Canon?" Twilight asked.

"That cannon is used to evaporate water at a super long distance" Blade explained, "It has enough voltage to fry the ship and anypony on board if it hits directly."

"But, how can you {snort} tell?" Tusks asked.

"It turns white before it turns yellow." he explained, "They're using a stun bolt to mask the Arc energy of the canon."

"GET OUT OF THERE, YOU TWO!" Writch ordered.

"Hit it Rainbow!" Breeze called out, and she pushed the throttle as far as it would go, the blast from the engines actually knocking the next bolt off course as it sailed wide, and slammed into one of the shields of a ship next to hers dropping it instantly.

"Who is that guy?" Applejack asked, and watched as Pilit typed on the computer.

"Boar." she said, "A wild card at best and a dirty thug at worst. Guy's got a spotless racing record but a bad habit of running his mouth and getting into some dangerous fights."

"Spotless record, huh?" Tusks said, and placed his hand to his chin, "Sounds like {snort} he's been cheating for a long time, but with how {snort} well he's got it masked…how do we report him?"

"A report of cheating is very serious." Pilit said, "If you make one and it turns out to be false, you can be fined or kicked out of the race!"

"Then we gotta reveal him to the world." Rainbow said, and focused her eyes, "Next time."

"Yeah, for now, we just gotta stay ahead of him and let our shield recharge." Breeze agreed, "Man, our first race, and already we're fighting for our lives. These races are no joke."