"Fast."
"Competitive."
"Majestic."
"These are the three words that describe the Fire Horse Pokemon. Rapidash. And today we showcase just how amazing it is! With the first annual Rapidash Race!" BigTime Ben had announced. He had done it again. He had opened up a race that focused on the speedy Rapidash. A Pokemon that became a smash hit in Equestria. Everypony loved it. Some loved its majestic yet fierce mane. Others love it because of how it reminds them of Princess Celestia and Luna.
"40 Rapidash! Each of you little ponies to run with! This race will be something to remember!"
Ash and the others had arrived at the center of Ponyville, to see this race take place.
"What in Equestria's name is this?" Rarity said.
"Looks like BigTime Ben is making more opportunities." Applejack replied.
"Oh my. Who are THOSE ponies?" Fluttershy noticed Rapidash.
"Oh sweet! It's a Rapidash! Tons of them!"
"Pikachu!"
"Rapidash?" Rainbow Dash pulled out her Pokedex to see what this Rapidash was all about.
"Rapidash. The Fire Horse Pokemon. It gallops at nearly 150mph. Rapidash usually can be seen casually cantering along fields and plains. Its moves at insane speeds when it gets serious, filling up its excitement to run and race with anything."
"Sweet! That sounds like my kind of Pokemon!" Rainbow Dash grinned.
"Ah! Look who it is! Princess Twilight Sparkle! Why don't you come up here and help announce it?"
Everypony turned to the new princess.
"Me? Uh.."
"No pressure." BigTime Ben said.
"No, it's fine. I can do it." Twilight walked up to where Ben stood as all eyes were on her. Gothitelle helped her out with a note to read. BigTime Ben always comes prepared for any situation.
"Ahem. As the newly appointed princess, I hereby welcome the newly made race completion. The Rapidash Rush. Huh. That was pretty easy." Twilight said.
"Excellent! Now then. For each participant, there will be 40 of them in total. Just enough for each Rapidash's. Anyone can join! People, Ponies or Pokemon!"
"I wanna join! It'd be super cool to ride on one of those!" Scootaloo wanted a go.
"We'll go! I wanna try this out for sure!" Ash decided to join as well.
"That doesn't look safe though. Its mane is nothing but fire." Fluttershy worried.
"Oh don't worry. You see, if you put your trust in Rapidash and it puts its trust in you, you can ride on it without any worry of the flames." Ash explained.
"Correct, Ash my boy! So nopony has to worry about getting burnt. Just let Rapidash trust you and you'll be one with it." Ben replied.
"Seriously? How does that work?" Twilight didn't understand how that was possible really.
The participants had been set. Ash, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and even Applejack had joined in. Followed up by some ponies and humans.
"Good luck you all!" Fluttershy was cheering them on.
"Pikapi!"
"Alright! Here's the layout! Gothitelle if you would." Gothitelle got out a huge map that showed the whole race map.
"Our starting point is obviously here at Ponyville. The racers will advance forward on the simpler paths such as Saddle Lake, White Tail Woods and Froggy Bottom Bogg. Then they'll go on a more diverse path. They will have 3 options, each of them have their own ways of getting to the next location quicker. These 3 paths were created once our worlds crossed over, and the planet had changed its structure based on certain Pokemon preferences. It's a choice of either Exploud Chasm, Kingdra Durance or Sealeo Breakwater. The choice is yours."
"These options look a bit intense don't you think?" Fluttershy said to Rarity.
"Indeed."
"Pika."
"Then, the racers will end up at Canterlot, where they'll meet Princess Celestia who has volunteered to help out in this race. She will lend you all flags that you will carry along with you. Then its a race to reach the Crystal Empire, and gain your second flags from Cadence and Shining Armor. You'll need those two flags. And finally, make your way to the brand new Ice Islands, where Ice-Type Pokemon are there like crazy. Then return here to Ponyville. That's the basic gist of it really." BigTime finished saying.
"And don't worry. Everypony can watch the race via Gothitelle's projections."
"This sure seems like a long one, eh?" Granny Smith said.
"Eeyup."
"That won't be an issue. Rapidash are very fast Pokemon. They'll be able to clear this out in a 2 hours or less." Brock explained.
"Is it safe to go without any Pokemon? Those new lands seem dangerous." Applebloom was worried.
"It's 40 contestants only. And Pokemon count. So Ash and Pikachu can't go together." Brock replied.
"Pika."
"Are you racers ready?" They were all on Rapidash. Some felt a slight burn since their trust in Rapidash wasn't fully complete. "Then get set..."
"GO!"
And they were off. All Rapidash's took off, galloping towards their first location, Saddle Lake. Ash's Rapidash was ahead of most of them. This wasn't his first go on a Rapidash so he had easy control. The others were still managing to keep up, even if they could feel a small burn.
"We're gonna ace this race!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning.
The race was being seen from all across Equestria. Psychic types can be considered the most useful type. And BigTime Ben just has drones everywhere.
The Rapidash had immediately arrived at Saddle Lake. There, Cobalion was standing on a hill, watching the race go by. Keldeo and the other swords were watching this race as well. The Rapidash had avoided a group of Krabby's near the lake. They had galloped up the steep section of the hills their speed was so fast that they passed Saddle Lake in only 1 minute.
Next was WhiteTail Woods, Gardenia saw the Rapidash coming as she worried that they might burn her gym due to their fire.
"Eek! Not the grass!" She yelled.
"Sorry, Gardenia!" Ash said, passing by her. Scootaloo was falling behind, her Rapidash wasn't moving as fast the others.
"Oh come on! What gives?! We're getting left in the dust here!"
Rainbow Dash was gaining up on Ash, just a bit behind. But Applejack was moving just as quick as hers.
"Hope you don't mind me passing you Rainbow!" Applejack said, passing her.
"Wha- Applejack!"
This race wasn't without its obstacles. There were some Pokemon they all had to get past. Like a flock of Wooloo. But, luckily the Rapidash knew what to do if they came across these little ones, jump over em.
"This race is pretty great so far. But what's the reward?" Twilight asked BigTime Ben.
"Hehe! The reward is a huge and beautiful mansion. Whoever wins gets to live there. And it's portable so it can move between both worlds."
"Is that even possible?!"
The race continued as the contestants galloped from White Tail to Froggy Bottom in no time. Applejack and Rainbow Dash butted heads with both their Rapidash's right next to each other. They were neck in neck for second place. The race was going fine, but somepony or some Draconequus had plans.
"This is interesting. This race is good so far... but!" Discord snapped his fingers, as he made the ground on Froggy Bottom Bogg have slime that made the Rapidash slide a bit.
"What in tarnation?!" The Rapidash were sliding across the slime, unable to control their direction a bit.
"Hm. That's weird. Oh well! It makes the race more interesting." BigTime Ben didn't mind the sudden ground change. He just went with the flow.
"We won't let this slow us down! Rapidash! Flame Charge!" Ash's trust meant that he could command Rapidash as well. His had charged through the slime, burning it away as it kept galloping on. This had made a good pathway for the others, giving them the opportunity to make through solid ground.
Passing Froggy Bottom Bogg, they now come face to face with their first challenge. The 3 paths. Ash had stopped as did the other contestants and the Rapidash.
"So we have three pathways huh? And each of them has its own quick ways of getting to Canterlot." Ash said.
"Well, I'm avoiding the Exploud Chasm. That's a disaster waiting to happen." A human said.
"If the lands have changed due to our worlds crossing over, who knows how quickly we can get to Canterlot." Applejack replied.
"Then me and my Rapidash will move on forward in the middle!" Ash and his Rapidash galloped to the middle, heading to Exploud Chasm.
"Then I'm taking the Breakwater!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Durance for me!" AJ replied. All the other contestants and their Pokemon had chosen different pathways that they believed would be a quick way. Scootaloo was falling behind still. She had just reached the 3 choices.
"Why are they so fast compared to mine?!" She moved on without thinking of which path to take. She had gone for Exploud Chasm.
The Sealeo Breakwaters. Sealeo's had made this area their home ever since the lands had terraformed in specific places. The mostly adorable and mostly harmless Ball Roll Pokemon loved it here. They constantly love spinning round objects on their noses. Rainbow Dash took a moment to see these Pokemon while galloping along.
"Oh, those are some pretty neat Pokemon." Discord appeared as a ball on Sealeo's nose as his next trick was in play. He had made the rocks on the Breakwater sentient as they were flying to the contestants, ready to pelt them with little pebbles. The pebbles had hit some of the Rapidash's and contestants in the eye, bugging them and throwing them off their flow. "Ow! Hey! What gives?!"
There were pebbles being pelted everywhere. They were only targeted at the contestants and Rapidash so the Sealeo's were fine.
"Grr... I think I may know who's behind this.."
On the other side of the spectrum, Exploud Chasm. A huge gorge could be seen once you arrived there. The Exploud there can cause massive destruction with just opening their mouth, once. These Pokemon are capable of triggering earthquakes in one shout.
"This is where things get dangerous. Those Exploud seem to be quiet, but at any second they'll start bellowing and things could get ugly." BigTime Ben explained.
"Oh, man. Look at all those Explouds..." Ash took a gander at the vast quantity of Loud Noise Pokemon. "Let's be careful for this one, alright Rapidash?"
"Rapidash."
Discord looked down, seeing Ash here.
"Hm. I wouldn't want to cause too much trouble for Ash. After all, he and Fluttershy are the only ones who can understand me. But..." Discord couldn't help it as it pointed at an Exploud, causing it to sneeze.
"EXPLOUD!"
Once that sneeze was active, the first tremor arrived. The entire chasm began shaking, rocks were falling as cracks formed. Scootaloo and her Rapidash were in the worst possible spot for this.
"W-What's going on?!" Ash heard Scootaloo as he turned around to see her.
"Scootaloo!"
Where Scootaloo was standing, the ground was breaking apart. Her Rapidash couldn't move as it was struck with fear.
"HELP!"
"Rapidash! Turn back!" Ash had commanded Rapidash to turn back, just to help Scootaloo.
Everyone watching this was in shock as BigTime Ben had fainted, with Gothitelle catching him. The ground broke apart as Scootaloo and her Rapidash had fallen.
"AAAAAAH!" She screamed in terror as Ash jumped off Rapidash, once again not regarding his life in the sake for others.
"ASH!"
"Pikapi!"
They all said in unison. Ash had grabbed the falling Scootaloo and Rapidash, holding them closely. "RAPIDASH!" He called out to his Rapidash. It ran down the chasm like it was a hill, heading towards them. "USe Flare Blitz!" Rapidash's body became engulfed in fire as its galloping speed increased, reaching that 150 mph. It jumped off the chasm, heading towards the falling trio.
Rapidash had to not only catch the three of them on its back, but it also had to run back up to the surface before everything collapsed.
Chapter 40 END!