Chapter 32 – Third Trial

Once again, the two of them stood at the garage door, Rainbow Dash and Breeze waiting for it to open and signal the start of another race. "You ready?" the stallion asked.

Rainbow Dash took in a deep breath, exhaling loudly as she tried to let go of her nervous energy, "I'm not sure, we only had a few days to practice because of those injuries." she said.

"Yeah, I get it." he said and pressed his cheek into hers right before the garage door opened up.

"No turning back now." Rainbow said, "We got this far."

"You sure? Even though Boar is out of the picture we still have to deal with the aggressiveness of the Sunik team." he asked.

"It won't matter." she said and lifted up into the air, flying to the cockpit of the Rainbow Trail Mk.2.

Breeze made his way to the hatch, and as soon as he was settled in, he asked over the coms, "Why do you say that?" and let his nerves show themselves on his face, "Aren't you afraid that we'll have a repeat of last time?"

"There won't be a repeat of last time." she said, "We're not coming in last-place again!"

'I hope you know what you're doing R.D.' the male thought to himself, 'The entire system might just depend on us.'

The engine of the racer roared to life, the hover plates lighting up as the landing gear retreated into the ship. Rainbow then slowly pushed the throttles forward, letting the ship slowly exit the garage, and just as soon as she was clear, she pushed them forward to a comfortable speed, racing her way towards the training grounds. The only two racers they saw was the Silver Blitz and the Honor Guard.

"Are we early?" Breeze asked.

"We've been the last ones here until now." Rainbow observed.

"It is about time you arrived." they heard Honor's voice say in their minds.

"Brother, I will ask you to refrain from your aggressive outbursts." Chivalry scolded.

Suddenly Syls appeared on the HUD, "Nice ship!" she said, "Really suits you."

Rainbow simply chuckled at the compliment, "She's more than just awesome paint, she's a winner."

"Then I believe we need to get to the starting line." Chivalry said.

"Who the…" Syls asked as she looked around her, "Where did that voice come from?"

Rainbow simply smiled, and turned, "Chivalry is right, we need to get to the race itself." she said.

"That would be over at the cliff track. It was decided today." Tris said with a smile.

"Wait, the cliffs?" Rainbow asked.

"Lucky us." her gunner said.

"I suppose…" Honor said in disdain.

"Seriously, where are all these voices coming from?" Syls asked as she turned and the three of them made their way to the chosen track.

"Honor and Chivalry are Meltackians, keep up Short Stuff." Rainbow said and boosted the Rainbow Trail Mk.2 forward.

"WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT SKITTLE HEAD?" Syls called out as she boosted as well.

"This is going to be your tradition isn't it?" Tris asked in a sigh.

"I think it is, but it makes sense." Breeze said.

"Honor…" Chivalry said as her brother let the two of them race off. This caught his attention, it was the first time she had used the name given to him by the ponies, "Go faster. You wanted to see if they were worth communing with. How do you plan to do that from back here?" she asked.

He let his eyes go wide, she was right, and somehow that irked him a bit, but she was right. So, he pushed the throttle forward, boosting his engines and attempting to catch up to them.

The trip took only a few minutes, but in those few minutes, they crammed as much enjoyment into their trip as possible, teasing and playing along the way until they found the line of racers.

"It is the place we were practicing." Rainbow said as she approached the lineup.

"Wait, you used the cliffs for practice?" Syls asked, "And you didn't invite us to join in?"

"If we had it wouldn't have been a secret practice now would it?" Breeze asked as the three of them lined up.

"I don't care, you should have at least told us." Syls said.

"Focus there, Syls." Rainbow said as she readied herself.

"Fine, but we're talking about this as soon as the race is over." the Dryskian said and shut off the comms before she patted her cheeks, "Ok Syls, you got this." she told herself and gripped the controls of the Silver Blitz.

The group of thirteen racers all waited there patiently, a grin on the Sunik racer's face as he confidently waited for the start. Syls and Tris each with their own focused expression, and Rainbow Dash tightening her grip on her throttle controls while Breeze touched the outside corner of his lips with his tongue in anticipation.

They all waited as the wind suddenly died, and the sound of the gates rising from the ground passed. Then in anticipation of the start of the race, each ship began revving their engines to get themselves excited. Then, they could all hear it, the sound of the planet calling the beginning of the race, that sound that howled like a whale and clicked like a dolphin. At this sound, each of the racers let loose their machines, the race officially beginning.