Chapter 40 – Up and Coming

Rainbow Dash found herself standing in front of the closed garage door for the fourth time since she got to this planet. This time, however, she wore something new. A suit colored like the Rainbow Trail Mk.2, the rainbows snaking their way under her wings to meet at a point under her collar or disappear at her cutie mark. A simple brown jacket with fur lining the collar adorned the front of her. Breeze stood at her side with an identical uniform to hers, he had decided not to wear a jacket, instead, he tied his own scarf around his neck to add his own touch to his ensemble. They looked to each other for comfort and assurance as the two waited for the door to open, "Just a few more races, from hundreds to just ten." the unicorn said.

"Syls and Honor are with us, but we still have to defeat that large Sunik guy." Rainbow said, and inhaled deeply, "I still can't believe we're here!"

"Yeah." Breeze said, and looked to the ceiling, "Honestly I never thought I'd come back here after we were sent for relief efforts. They were still doing the races back then as well."

"How young were you when you came here?" she asked.

"Young, probably early teens or younger." he admitted and listened to the door as it began opening. He inhaled deeply as the fresh air rushed into the building, "It's our time Dashie."

"No more screwing up, this time we win." she said and lifted herself up using her wings. She quickly entered into the cockpit of the Rainbow Trail Mk.2, placing herself onto the rest, and placing all four of her hooves into position, getting the racer to roar to life. Just like last time, she eased the machine out of the garage, Breeze waiting until she had his hatch out of the garage before he decided to make his way to his gunner seat. With ease, he slid his hooves into the gauntlets and turned his legs like arms, readying himself for whatever fight was ahead of him.

It's getting close to the end R.D." Breeze said, "You sure we can go up against our new friends?"

"That's what races are for," she said happily, "Not just to find out who's the best, but to learn about your friends. That's how you and I learned about each other."

"Actually, it was a nice calming talk in the Everfree Forest." he corrected. She simply giggled at his gesture, and pushed the throttles further, picking up speed. It didn't take them long, just a few minutes to find the group of racers. Breeze looked up as she raced off to the starting line, "Huh?" he asked, "Looks like our friends decided to join us."

Rainbow Dash watched the screen as two small boxes appeared in the corners, Syls and Honor both looking at her, "What's up with you taking off without us Skittle Head?"

"Truly you are not the best of examples for me." Honor explained, a small smile on his face, "I have never awakened so late in the day."

"You call this late?" Rainbow asked, "This is nothing, I can sleep till noon back home." With this, the three racers entered the racing line, side by side.

"I'm not sure that is a healthy habit to be proud of." Honor said as he looked at the pony in surprise.

"Hey, you'd sleep till noon too if you had our clouds." she said.

"What do clouds have to do with…" Chivalry tried to ask.

"You sleep on clouds?" Tris asked in delight.

"Don't tease my gunner, she can be a bit gullible." Syls exhaled.

"She's not." Breeze said, "Pegasi and Alicorns can stand and sleep on clouds. I even know a spell for it."

Syls let her jaw drop to the floor, and was interrupted from her shock when the racers next to them revved their engines. The track ahead of them seemed pretty straight forward, an open slot between two large cliffs, the base curved like ramps as they paralleled each other for several hundred miles, enough that even those that had the keenest of eyesight could not see the end of it. "This should be easy." Rainbow said and was surprised when instead of hearing the moan of the planet, she heard the rumble of several boulders, each perfectly smooth and round, emerge from the tops of the cliffs, and begin rolling back and forth across the cliffs. She simply gulped in fear.

"Oh, that I didn't see coming." Breese said.

"Oh no." Tusks said from the other side of the coms, "The Golawks are awake."

"What's a Golawk?" Breeze asked.

"Think of a large adorable armadillo, but their shell is made of stone." Fluttershy said, and suddenly realized everypony was looking at her with a questioning look, "Hulon 's been teaching me about all of the wonderful animals of this planet." she explained as she lowered her ears in embarrassment while trying to shrink into her own shoulders.

"They roll around to break up rocks and other materials and absorb the minerals through their skin, by digesting the dust they collect." Hulon told them.

"And we have to dodge them?" Syls asked.

Suddenly they all heard the cracking of the gates emerging from the ground, each one at different levels along the track, almost as if something were slithering along the ground, "It appears so." Tusks said, in disappointment, "Oh, Egas, why?" Just at that moment, they all heard the call of the planet, that moaning wail of a call and they all pushed their engines to race.

Rainbow Dash quickly focused, it wasn't like she had never dodged before, this was actually something she had to do on a daily basis for her flying. But she knew even now that she had never had to dodge something this big, especially using a machine like the Rainbow Trail Mk.2. 'It'll be like dodging the Sunik ship.' she tried to reason with herself, 'Yeah, like dodging those jerks.' She thought this just as she and several others entered into the area, and were immediately confronted with one of the rolling Golawk. The group of racers quickly separated, each one making their own way to the first gate as each of them was beginning to be chased by another of the creatures.

"I thought you said they absorb the minerals from the crushed stone on their skin?" Twilight asked, "Why are they trying to run over the racers?"

"Because the racers are {snort} a source of food as well." Tusks said in a groan.

"HOW?" Twilight asked in shock.

"The metal, it's part of their diet." Fluttershy said as she came to a realization.

"But I'm sure Rainbow Dash can stay ahead of the Golawks, and Breese can scare them off with the shots he takes." Pilit said, nervousness setting in.

"This just isn't a very safe race {snort} this Cycle." Tusks groaned.

Rainbow Dash shifted her front legs quickly, sliding sideways through the first gate while one of the giant rolling animals followed close by. "Do something." she said to her gunner. Instantly he turned to the rolling beast, and pulled the trigger on one of his guns, the blasts hit their target, and actually rolled with the movement of the beast to get crushed into the ground before dissipating.

"This is not good." Breeze said and aimed higher with similar results. It wasn't until he nearly reached the top of the ball that the beast even flinched, and when it did, it cried out as if it were startled, a cross between a lion's growl and the squeal of a boar. The Golawk veered off, and rolled up the ramp, swerving around until it felt that its distance was enough to keep it safe. "I think I startled it with that one." he said just as Rainbow Dash passed through the third gate.

"You scared yours?" he heard Tris ask from over the coms.

"How?" Chivalry asked from inside his mind.

"It's either enough blasts or the higher up the closer its charge detonates to its face." he said, "But it might have been just luck as well, hard to tell with just one success."

Tris and Chivalry turned to the Golawk following them and did the same thing, letting their bolts travel up the shell until the same scream could be heard, and their Golawks turned away from them, "I do not think it was luck." Chivalry announced.

"Yeah, it worked for me as well." Tris said as the three racers met up to pass through what was the fifth gate in the race, "But it looks like the positioning on the Golawk is deferent for different sizes."

"Which means that we'll have to find it as we go." Breeze said, "Eyes open gunners, and adjust for the pitch of the roll."

Both of the other gunners nodded in agreement, though it seemed that they would be safe for now. They weren't going to let their guard down, not with so many dangerous creatures just ready to crush not just their racers, but them as well.

"I thought you said that the Golawks weren't very big?" Fluttershy asked.

"They're not supposed to be. Adults are usually the same size as a Criobo, but these…" Hulon explained, "I think they're ancient. Survivors from before the Terranuil Race even existed."

"Which means…what?" Twilight asked.

"They are going to be hungry." the Hylop said, "Hungry enough to chase down every racer on that track."