Chapter 27 – Last Place

"Are you sure this will work?" Rainbow Dash asked as she placed herself into the seat of the Rainbow Trail. Prin had rearranged the ground to her left in the fashion of a stone ramp, she was to boost to the wall, then follow wall to a platform before racing to a natural ramp so they can land on the platform that the two had been set on.

"Look, I did the math already, this will {snort} work if you do just what I told you to do. {snort} Don't let up on the gas, and don't give it {snort} too much. Full throttle on the last jump and no {snort} stopping or slowing down." he responded.

"You got this Dashie." Breeze said to her.

Rainbow Dash took a small gulp to steady her nerves, "I hope you're right." she said and gripped the controls.

"Hey, why are you two on the hull again?" Breeze asked.

"Well, there was a lot of weight removed when you scraped up against the wall, we'll act as counterweights and balance you out." Uza explained.

"You just want a free ride." Rainbow grumbled, and inhaled again, "Alright, I can do this." she said and slowly pushed the throttle on the side that scraped against the ground, causing the machine to sway, and the jets to slowly lower to the ledge.

"Careful…" Prin said as the machine scrapped against the wall, "Careful…" he repeated, and waited until the right angle, "HIT IT!"

Rainbow pushed the slide up to the near max, and the back end erupted as if they were releasing the pressure on a volcano. The fire pushed the racer forward along the wall, and the edge hit the ramp Prin had built out of stone and sand. The connection it made caused the damaged wing to come off, leaving nothing more than a ripped stub of metal and wires. She connected with the wall like before and skated across a small gap to a ledge jutting out of the wall. She effortlessly navigated the turns as she searched for the exact ramp Prin had told her. When she found it, she held her speed, and just before the ramp, she pushed both throttles to the max, catching quite a bit of air as the four of them sailed towards what looked like a platform with another wreckage on it, a mid-sized racer that looked like it was supposed to be two cylinders attached by a small raised cockpit in the middle.

"I think I may have underestimated her top speed!" Prin called out, and everyone could tell, she was going to overshoot. Rainbow then flapped her wings forward, the Rainbow Trail's wings following suit, not only slowing down in midair but also causing a small burst of fire to erupt from right in front of them. She was surprised when she saw it, and landed safely on the ground out of reaction. "Whoa!" Prin said in both exhilaration and surprise, "Hiding a move like that, I mean, that could {snort} easily save you in dire times."

"Didn't know she could do that." Breeze said, and looked to Rainbow, "Did you?"

Rainbow simply shook her head as the three passengers got off, "Most likely from the wing beat compressing {snort} air and the jets on your wings igniting {snort} the compression." Prin said as he moved to his ship, then turned and waved his hands to guide Rainbow Dash into position. Still surprised, Rainbow Dash moved the ship into position, right next to the other ship, and right in front of them, she could see it, a naturally large curve of stone that lead them up the wall, and a carved-out straight shot to the top.

"Nice huh?" she heard, and turned to Uza, "Not sure how it got there but it seems so unnatural."

"Hey." they heard Prin say, "I'm gonna need your engine {snort} off for this to happen." Without a word, Rainbow stepped off of the switches in the back, reducing the throttle to zero, and breathed a sigh of relief before exiting her racer.

"What do you think it was for?" Uza asked, only to be interrupted by Breeze.

"Hey!" the unicorn shouted. When they turned to him, he had the tip of his horn glowing, "I found something." he said and lowered his waving hoof.

The thing he had found was a cave, a cave full of pictures. They depicted several things, ancient pictures of Treeopon harvesting wheat while a serpent loomed over top of them. Then they saw a picture of the same serpent, except the elements themselves were striking it down. A third mural was found, and it depicted Treeopon once again harvesting, but this time they worked in the light of what looked like a dragon that had two halos. One around its head, and one around its tail. This dragon didn't seem to loom or threaten, instead, it simply observed, almost like the Treeopon in the field could not see it. "Whoa!" Rainbow Dash said to herself and was startled by a flash of light.

The two ponies turned to Uza, who had a very small camera in her hands, "I always carry a camera with me." she said, "Just in case something funny happens. I'm kind of a celebrity on the Terronet."

Both Rainbow Dash and Breeze drew blanks as to what this was, "Terronet?" the pegasus asked.

"It's an inter-system network that lets us share information from all four planets." she explained.

"Oh, like the network on the Genesis Ark, but for your whole solar system." Breeze said in realization.

"Yeah, in fact, it was based on that concept." Uza said.

"I'm glad you two know what you're talking about." Rainbow added in.

"Sorry R.D. It's a digital network, like the things Bubble could use to send messages from NanoPack to NanoPack.

"Oh yeah." Rainbow said, "I remember her flooding Jetwing with a bunch of silly pictures once. It took forever to get those two to stop."

Everyone in the cave began chuckling until they all heard Prin call out to them, "I'm just about done!" he called to them.

During the walk back, Rainbow turned to Uza, "Could you send us those pictures?" she asked, "I got a couple of friends that might be interested in them."

"You mean the history behind them?" Uza asked.

Rainbow simply nodded with a smile, and the three walked into the light, revealing what looked like the Rainbow Trail with the other racer over top of it. The cylinders resting at the sides of her racer while the cockpit of the other rested on the back. The Rainbow Trail's wings were extended out, and the two were held together by a few long slabs of metal that strapped the backs together. "And she's easy to detach after we get to the top {snort} and reset." the Treeopon said.

"Will she hold on the way up?" Breeze asked.

"Yeah." Prin said, "Had to improvise, but I was able to weld the three {snort} holding plates to our ship. Now we just need to {snort} get to the top."

The four of them prepared the best they could, a connection made between them, and Uza counting down, both engines running until, they both hit the throttle, both pushing their machines hard, keeping the racers straight until, "I can see sky!" Breeze said excitedly, and then, just as quickly, they ran out of dirt. Rainbow turned her wings, letting the two connected racers fall to the ground, the Rainbow Trail slamming to the ground a bit hard, but still mostly ok.

The four of them sighed in relief as the two gunners, Breeze and Prin, got out, and under the Treeopon's direction, separated the two racers. They worked fast, Breeze using his horn like a torch to separate the plates from the ship, and then got back into the cockpits of their pilots. Rainbow Dash backed out from underneath Uza' and lined herself with her. The two glared at each other intensely. Suddenly they heard it again, the moan of the world, and a giant ring erupted from the ground in front of them, "This must be fate." Uza said, "Never has the starting line appeared for a second time like this."

"Well, there is one spot left." Rainbow said, and grinned, "Wanna race for it?"

Uza grinned proudly, "I'd be happy to be your opponent Rainbow Dash." she said and revved her engine both racers facing the giant ring, and everyone heard the call as it echoed once again. The two of them hit their throttles, each hitting the starting line at the same time.

No words were spoken, even as the crowd at the end of the track watched after they had heard the call, they could only wait as the silence rang. Rainbow Dash pushed hard, her racer giving it the best it could, as the two pushed each other, trading the lead every gate, and again pushing each other. The crowd could now see them, it only took a few seconds but now they could see the racers that had been kicking up dust. Writch smile as she saw the busted-up Rainbow Trail, the little ship giving it everything it had, despite missing two jets. "They made it." she said to herself, and lifted the rod in her hand into the air, "GO RAINBOW DASH!" she called out. This got a roar of emotions going, some cheering for the little blue ship, while others cheered for Uza. Inside the garages, the team cheered loudly as they all smiled in happiness and excitement. The Silver Blitz just sat there, the two Dryskians grinning from ear to ear while Boar and his gunner looked as if they were going to face a firing squad. The large Sunik pilot just growled at the turn of events.

The sides of the two racers slammed together, Rainbow and Uza glaring at each other while keeping an eye on the road. They ran through the last gate together, but then, something happened. One of the jets on Uza's machine coughed and she lost speed, the Rainbow Trail passing through the finish line first, right before the back end exploded. "Time to bail!" Breeze said, and Rainbow removed her wings from the controls, Breeze using his magic to push the hatch open, right before the two of them jumped from the ship, and it slammed into the ground, erupting into a ball of flames. Rainbow flapped her wings, floating there in stunned silence as Breeze reappeared on the ground, his ring of dust kicking up upon his arrival.

"Oh, sorry to see it." they heard a familiar voice say. They turned and met the gaze of the larger Sunik racer, "Looks like you had more damage than you thought!"

"You…" Rainbow growled and was ready to pounce when Breeze placed his hoof on her shoulder.

"He, he, he. Even I can't take credit for this one." the large lizard man said, "You did this to yourselves."

He turned and walked away just as Writch came up to them, "You two ok?"

"Yeah." Breeze said in response.

"Do you two have a spare racer?" one of the officials asked as he came up behind them.

"A…spare?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, if you can produce a spare racer by the end of the day, we can declare you the last to qualify for the next round, if not, then I'm afraid we'll have to give that title to someone who can." the Treeopon said.

"Oh, we'll produce a new racer you can count on that!" Writch said angrily. The official lifted his hands in defense, and she turned to the two ponies, "Come on you two, we gotta get you under some healing lamps."