Who is faster?

      There was a sharp turn in the path for the remaining participants. Dash managed to notice the vine, grab onto it while running and with its help quickly ran around the grass, overtook Sonic and Shadow and ran further ahead of them. Rainbow Dashs also did not intend to give up and tried to fly faster at the same time. Now Khan stood in their way again, having formed out of thin air. — Wind resistance is useless. Admit that I am faster than all of you. No matter how firmly the mountain stands in front of the wind, the wind will not stop blowing in his face until it tilts it and makes it fall. — he stated, and then moved out of sight in the wind towards Quicksilver from the Avengers, starting to tease him as well, appearing on his side, then in front, then behind him. — What? Is your vision failing? — Don’t you dare steal my phrase, plagiarist! — Quicksilver cursed. — Then let's do it! You are running against the wind. There's no way you can beat the wind. — Khan corrected himself. Quicksilver got angry and tried to speed up as much as he could. Ahead there was only a sharp slope down and up, which the hedgehogs, Dash and two Rainbows managed to notice and carefully run through. Mercury did not have time to notice him and, during a sharp descent down, he decided that he had fallen and even stumbled, falling face first into the sand. Khan, in the wind, evaporated from the end of one slope and was formed from the wind at the other end, running further. Quicksilver tried to get up, but it turned out that Khan planted an anti-tank mine on him, which he stepped on with his chest and as soon as he stood up from it, a sharp explosion threw the Avengers runner back and left him lying with a wounded scratch. — That's it! I'm leaving the sport. — he said to himself, lying on the path. The zebra Zecora immediately approaches him and says: — Greetings, interspatial wanderer. Would you deign to help a shaman alone in a dark forest? Sonic and Shadow surrounded Dash between themselves, trying to knock him out of range. Dash initially hoped to slow down and run back a little so that the hedgehogs would crash into each other. Only at that moment Sylvia ran up behind him and only urged the boy forward, not allowing him to run away. All that was left was to run forward. Sonic and Shadow prepared to attack, and at the last moment Dash managed to accelerate even more and run faster forward. Sylvia ran straight, and Sonic and Shadow crashed into her, trying to push the boy. Having been hit by two hedgehogs, Sylvia slowed down upon impact, then tripped over a pebble and rolled in place. Spinning straight in a circle, she and her weirdo crash into a tree when turning. — My back! — she hissed through her teeth and looked around. — Wander?... Wander, where are you? — I'm here! — the saffron milk cap mumbled, crushed by her to the tree. She somehow peeled herself off the tree and fell onto the grass. Following her, Wander himself slowly peeled off. — I didn’t think that participating in ferry races would be so painful. I told you that there was no need to participate here. — Sorry, Wander. I promise you won't suffer anymore because of me. Shadow and Sonic, using chaos control, caught up with Dash and surrounded him again. — Don't try. I still won't give in to you. — the boy boldly declared. — Then try this! — Shadow said and showed his emerald. — Chaos bla... — he didn’t have time to finish when Dash abruptly managed to take his emerald from him. — What?...Why did you take my Chaos Emerald? But Dash in response only hit the black and scarlet hedgehog in the nose. From his fist, the hedgehog immediately flew into the lake and dived there. — How dare you treat my friend like that, you nasty boy? — Sonic cursed and curled up into a ball as he ran and rolled towards him. — I'll show you! But hoping to knock Dash off his feet, the latter managed to slow down a little in time and step back, and Sonic rode ahead of him on a spindash and fell behind a little. Dash glanced as he ran at the emerald that he had taken away. — Clear. Fake. — he decided and threw it away. Then he saw where he was running and narrowed his face: — Oh no! On the way there were already exactly the same rocks through which Rainbow Dash then, after checking Fluttershy, tried to fly faster. Now it's time to run there. Dash first ran high up one mountain, ran around another, and then began to jump like a bullet from one rock to another, sometimes grabbing the walls of the rock with his hands and feet, and then pushing off with them. Sonic, running after Dash, did almost the same thing. Khan did it much faster than them, thanks to which he was able to overtake Sonic and Dash. His disappearing in the wind and appearing out of thin air at each rock wall was like filming the shortest one-second scene of a thousand stuntmen in the same superhero costume just hanging by their hands and feet on different rocks and their different places, most of them which were removed during editing, and one was left and with each millisecond frame, first only one was left in the frame, then the other, and so on in turn, until the last stuntman remaining on the ground on the other side of the rocks and plains ran further and also disappeared into thin air . Plus, when one stuntman just starts moving, the other one finishes it and then also starts his own movement. It was more reminiscent of teleportation from the air than fast movement. It looks like this superhero really proved that the wind is much faster and there is no one faster than the wind. — These are the same rocks, get ready! — Rainbow says to her human counterpart, they free their wings from the ropes and begin to fly. In an attempt to catch up with their rivals, they simultaneously do everything the same as they do, only they move twice as fast as Sonic and Dash and fly around every rock, rather than flying towards them and bouncing off them. Then they land and continue to just run on their hooves. On their way, a running Khan immediately appears out of thin air. — You still don’t understand anything? You are running against the wind. Bow before him and do not resist! — he said. — You're wrong. — Rainbow said from the human world, gritting her teeth and trying to accelerate even faster. — I'm Rainbow Dash. The fastest pony in Equestria. Not a single wind is anything against me. Even you, impudent. — With these words, she summoned rainbow lightning and flew forward very quickly, grabbing Khan and throwing him to the ground. — Rainbow, run further! I'll take it upon myself. — THANK YOU!!! — she shouted back and tried to accelerate in the same way, causing the same rainbow lightning. Rainbow flew three times faster than herself, hoping to catch up with Sonic and Dash, because only they almost reached the finish line. Dash was still ahead and was confident of victory. — You still won't win. — Sonic hissed through his teeth and threw the ring forward. Strangely enough, it rolled and fell on the path, forming a portal from below. Dash did not notice her and fell through the portal while running. Dash, oddly enough, found himself in the same stadium in his own world. — Wow! Am I back home? — he asked himself. There are only two opponents left. Sonic the Hedgehog, who was now running ahead and was confident of his victory, and Rainbow Dash, who, leaving behind her a shining rainbow tail like a comet, flew faster and tried to catch up with the super-speed hedgehog. — Give up, Rainbow Crash! How can you compete with a supersonic hedgehog? — he teased the pegasus and accelerated, not giving the pegasus a chance to overtake him. — My-y-y... Na-a-ame... Rainbo-o-ow... DA-A-A-A-A-A-A-ASH!!! — with this cry she accelerated even more. Now the blue hedgehog and the rainbow pegasus were running level with each other. — Oh, you... Well, okay. You've made it! — said the hedgehog and, curling up into a ball, increased his speed, and after him, Rainbow accelerated a little more. Both competitors ran parallel to each other along the track, but none of them could overtake each other and everyone ran on equal terms. Ahead was the finish line, where all the spectators had seen them off since the start and were now welcoming them. Rainbow Dash and Sonic were almost at the finish line, stretching only their arms and hooves forward to count their victory. All the spectators bulged their eyes and opened their mouths at once from what they saw and in bewilderment, which of the two will be first? The hooves of the pegasus and the hands of the hedgehog almost touch the white line and are photographed by someone with a flash on a camera. Taking a breath, the super-speed hedgehog and the pegasus looked at each other, catching their breath. Ahead was the finish line, where all the spectators had seen them off since the start and were now welcoming them. Rainbow Dash and Sonic were almost at the finish line, stretching only their arms and hooves forward to count their victory. All the spectators bulged their eyes and opened their mouths at once from what they saw and in bewilderment, which of the two will be first? The hooves of the pegasus and the hands of the hedgehog almost touch the white line and are photographed by someone with a flash on a camera. Taking a breath, the super-speed hedgehog and the pegasus looked at each other, catching their breath. — Wow, my heart is beating so hard that it’s about to jump out of my throat. I have never flown so fast in my life. — Rainbow Dash said, somehow catching her breath. — But you’re great too. Without you, I wouldn’t have the strong motivation to speed up even more, as much as I wouldn’t be able to. — Come on! Without you, I didn’t even know that I could still run so fast. - Sonic explained and quickly finished catching his breath, because his lungs are very sharp and he rests very quickly from running around. He waited for Rainbow to finish catching her breath.

Two hours later

      Rainbow finally stopped catching her breath and calmed down. — Well... And which of us won? she asked. — Here you need to watch the photo finish. — Sonic answered and showed the camera that was hanging at the finish line. He gave the device to Dr. Whooves, who connected it to a large screen, through which absolutely all spectators could see the photograph and, to everyone’s surprise, at the finish line the very first, or rather in front of Sonic and Rainbow, was Fluttershy, who was happily jumping around with her eyes closed, as if I didn't know about the race. — Which one?... — Fluttershy?... — Rainbow herself was shocked, and all the spectators began to applaud and shake the yellow pegasus with a pink mane. Although she was timid and shy, she loved being rocked like a real champion. At that moment, the rest of the competitors arrived, beaten, bruised and covered in mud, two Quicksilver, one of whom walked with a cane, two Flashes, Khan, Rainbow from the human world, Sylvia, who was holding her friend in her arms, and Shadow, who, oddly enough, were also happy winner and were proud of her. Except for the gloomy Shadow. — How is this possible? — Sonic was indignant. — Fluttershy, you... You're slow... Besides, you almost didn't catch up with us. — Rainbow explained from this world. — I don’t like to brag, Rainbow, but... I just ran according to Princess Twilight’s method. Do you remember how you and Apple Jack had an autumn race and you both lost, and Twilight was ahead of you despite the fact that she ran slower and admired the scenery? At first I ran slowly, and when you all got into fights, started quarreling and fighting against each other for victory, I... Well, I sped up a little, and in some places I even took shortcuts, which for some reason none of you thought of. — Why was that possible? — Sonic grabbed his head in shock. — Well, in general, yes. We had several shortcuts there and they were even mentioned in the rules of the race. — Starlight intervened in the conversation. — That's what happens when you're in too much of a hurry to be first. — By the way, Rainbow, you're doing great. Running over the trees, I saw how you, together with your double from a parallel universe, were able to overcome these very rocks and even timed them in advance on the stopwatch. And I have to admit. You broke a much bigger record than I thought. — explained the timid pegasus and showed Rainbow a stopwatch, which showed that two Rainbows were able to run around all the training rocks in as much as nine and nine tenths of a second. - Well done. You finally got over those rocks as fast as you could. — So I didn’t understand? — Flash from the League was indignant. — Was this race started just because Rainbow was speeding up, trying to overtake us? — And there won’t be any promised prize? — Quicksilver from the X-Men was indignant. — Have you deceived us all? — Khan was indignant. — Not at all. We promised you a reward and you will receive it. All. Even the losers who also participated received a reward for their participation. — said Twilight Sparkle and all the spectators began to rejoice again, clapping their hands and shouting with joy. — Marvelous! It turns out that in racing, the main thing is participation, not victory? — Sonic thought out loud and threw another ring, tearing off the portal and calling Dash back through it. — Uh... Did I miss something? — he asked the hedgehog. As Princess Twilight promised, each participant in the race received a golden figurine with a golden hoof, in the form of a cup, on each of which the names of the winners were engraved and for some reason the first places were written. Apparently, so that no one would be offended. Even those who came last. Plus, everyone except Quicksilver from the X-Men, since he didn't like cider, received a free barrel of apple cider from the Apple family. And most importantly, the fans for each participant were all happy with the victory of the one they were rooting for. All that remains is to return all the inhabitants of parallel worlds to their homes, and it’s time for the other guests to go home.