Something Different

by BlackWingsRed

Chapter 16: Win Win

Chapter 16: Win Win

The sun beamed down on Whitetail woods as the two Pegasi and red Unicorn lined themselves up at a make shift starting line.
"Okay here's the deal. The first pony to go around the track twice wins. The path has been marked by the orange pieces of cloth that have been tied to several trees. "Understood?" Bellowed Spitfire in a drill instructor type of way.

"So what do I get if I win?" Soarin boasted obviously overconfident.

"Good question... Whoever wins... Gets bragging rights for a week. How's that sound?" Both Red and Soarin nodded they're heads in approval. "Okay then lets get this started with!" They got into positions "Three!.. Two!...-"

"What are you guys doing?" shouted an energetic young voice causing the three to almost trip over. She had wide greyish purple eyes, an orange coat, and a brilliant purple mane.

"Oh, hey there Scoots." Red waved back to her. "You're not with the others today?"

"Hey what're you doing here kid? Shouldn't you be in school?" Asked Spitfire.

"I saw the three of you leave the windmill. I figured that something cool was up. Besides, how could I not notice two of the coolest members of the WonderBolts. So, I snuck out of the fence and followed you guys here." Explained the little Pegasus.

"Uhh... listen Scoots we were kinda in the middle of a very important race." Said Spitfire moving the little filly out of the path.

"A race?! Can I watch?" She enthusiastically began jumping up and down. Spitfire turned her head towards Red.

"Why not? It's only one of em." Red said in reply nodding his head yes.

"Alright!" Cheered the little filly.

"Okay now that that's settled care to do the count down?" Spitfire pointed a hoof towards the large hilltop.

Scootaloo quickly made her way to the top. She held her head up high as she tried to piece together the race path. Red and the others got into position. "Everypony ready?! Okay! Three! Two! One!...GO!" The three of them blasted off down and along the path.

The three of them were neck and neck briefly passing each other. "Ha! Come on I expected better! Than that!" Spitfire sneered taking the lead. Scootaloo cheered as they rounded each turn. Little did they know others were watching.

---

Back in town

Twilight sat in the library with a frazzled mane. She levitated a rather long and tedious list... That must've been at least ten feet long and probably had every book in the library listed. "That's number eight - hundred and eight... *sigh...* I'm not even half way through." She turned to the other half of the library where the books were neatly stacked on the ground instead of on the shelves where they belong. "Spike? Hey Spike can you come here for a moment? Spike?!" She slowly got up and looked around but nobody was there. "Owlicious? Anyone?" She stood up and trotted up the stairs to her room. "Where are those two?" She looked towards the owl's little perch. She was relieved to see the little horned owl with its eyes closed and gentle breathing. There was a little yellow note on his tail feathers.

"Dear Twilight, I won't be back until later today. The Princess sent me on a few errands in town. Sincerely, Spike"

She sighed and took the note off the owls feathers and balled it. "Hmm... I wonder what the princess needs him to do?" She asked herself. Suddenly she teleported towards one of the telescopes and brought it to the balcony. The flash woke up the owl causing it to fly over to her. "Hey there sleepy head." The owl stretched its wings and turned its head a full rotation. Twilight laughed and looked through the scope.

Across town through the Telescope, she could see Applejack was busy at her usual fruit stand, Rarity was toting around a wagon of fabrics, a line stood in the doorway of Sugarcube corner, and clouds were being tended to. It was a nice day to be outside. She suddenly vanished in a flash. Owlicious hopped his way into the room where he heard the sound of a faucet being turned. Twilight exited from another room brushing her mane. "Owlicious, I'm going out for a while. Do you think you can watch the library?" The little owl hooted back in reply. "Alright I'll see you later." Twilight teleported herself outside. "I hope everyone isn't too busy." She trotted along the path into town to notice several ponies rushing off in one direction. "What's their problem?" Twilight thought. Suddenly, she heard some sort of ruckus coming out of a building near by. It was Sugarcube Corner, ponies were rushing to make orders. Twilight made her way through the entrance to see the Cakes and Pinkie Pie working at incredible speeds baking and packaging baked goods.

"Twilight! Help us!" Shouted Pinkie pulling a baking sheet out of the oven. She set it on the counter and zipped over to the Unicorn. "We need your help! We're getting overrun with Take out orders." She held a stack of little pieces of paper.

"Okay just tell me what to do." Twilight immediately jumped in and began to pack the little pastries into boxes. Pinkie passed them over to the customers all the while Mr. And Mrs. Cake continued to bake. Within minutes the crowd of customers had calmed and left happy.

"I wonder what's got everyone in a rush today?" asked as he dusted off a bit of flour that was on his side then disappeared into a cellar. "Hey honey I think it's better we close up for now."

"What's wrong Mr. Cake?" Pinkie looked into the cellar.

"We're all out of Flour. I'm gonna have to go across town to get some more. How about we call it a day and you girls can have the rest of the day off? Is that okay?" He replied sadly standing there with a few empty bags.

"Okay we'll see you guys later." Pinkie happily said as she pulled Twilight outside.

"Heyyyy Pinkie! Where are we going?"Twilight said as she tried to protest.

"Maybe we can still make it to that race everypony is talking about" she happily relied dragging Twilight along with her.

---

Meanwhile at the race passing over a cliff side

Spitfire still ran in first place while Soarin and Joe trailed behind her. "Hey why aren't you going all super speed like when we were in Canterlot?" Soarin asked as they ran side by side.

"I don't know... It's harder in this body." Red replied trying to get it work. "I've only gotten it to work a few times." His horn glowed but nothing happened

"Then this race is mine!" He shouted as he flapped his wings allowing him to catch up to Spitfire and pass her laughing. They quickly began to race even faster than before.

"Crap! Gotta catch up to them! " he thought to himself. Both Spitfire and Soarin were already ahead of him using their wings to boost themselves up a hill. "Hey thats cheating!" He began to run faster until he had reached the hill where the two Pegasi were reduced to jogging.

"Took you long enough. *Huff... Huff* We were just taking a small breather." Spitfire laughed even though she was panting.

"That wasn't fair, you guys used your wings." Red questioned though he was almost panting himself. He wiped his brow of sweat

"We're already reaching the starting line for the second lap why don't we make this more of a challenge. Lets make this a No holds Barred! So why don't you take off that little necklace thingy and show us just how quick you are on those two legs of yours." Spitfire challenged.

"Yeah! Loosen up a bit. Nopony but us is out here." Soarin added as he finally calmed. "But in the meantime see you guys at the Finish line!" He quickly dashed away followed by Spitfire leaving Red in the dust again.

Red was about to take off the pendant when he looked down the hill. A crowd was gathering at the starting line. "Dang it! Where the heck did they all come from?!" He stopped just as he reached the bottom of the hill. " I've got to either find a way or power through the crowd... Screw it lets-" he noticed his friends already crossing the line. He quickly began to run after them in haste and passing the finish line as well.

Little Scootaloo managed to climb to the top of a tree and cheered for each one of them. "Go Mr. Red! You can do it!" She cheered along with the ponies in the audience. Until a branch snapped causing her to fall into the hooves of another pony. "Huh?... Oh my gosh?! Rainbow Dash!" She jumped around until she was placed firmly on the ground.

"What's going on squirt? What's up with all these ponies?" Rainbow quickly asked.

"A race between two of the Wonderbolts and they're already on their second lap. Isn't it awesome?!" Scoots said as she waved her hooves in their direction.

"I know that but, these ponies. How and why are the here?" Rainbow questioned in a calm yet rushed way.

"I don't know, they all sorta showed up." Scoots replied before she climbed her way back into the tree.

"I thought they were gonna have a small race not a exhibition." She whispered to herself before flying up to a cloud to watch the race.

---

Back with Pinkie...

Twilight was being dragged like a bag by her mane as Pinkie continued her merry jog.

"PINKIEEE! STOPPP!" Twilight managed to shout loud enough to stop cause her friend to let go.

"Yes Twilight?" Pinkie calmly asked in reply.

"Why don't we do it this way? Just tell me where we are going and I can teleport us there. I think we can both agree that it would be easier to do that?." Twilight explained coping with her anger.

"You shoulda said so sooner. The race is over in Whitetail woods, that Red pony guy will be racing the Wonderbolts."Pinkie replied. In a flash they were at the race right next to Fluttershy who yelped and fell over in fear. "Oh hey there Fluttershy, fancy meeting you here." Pinkie said as she helped her up.

"Twilight?... What's going on?..." Fluttershy asked still shaken up.

"I was hoping to find out from you. Have you seen him?" Twilight whispered into her ear. "We can use this time to monitor him him and see how powerful he really is."

"Oh umm that sounds like something Rainbow would do. But, is that a really good idea? Fluttershy stammered back a bit at the plan. Twilight then ushered them to follow her to a hill away from the starting line where another group of ponies sat and watched "Can't we just sit back and watch? Please?" She motioned her friends to sit and they complied. From where they were they were still able to see where the racers were. Spitfire an Soarin still led the way while Red was trailing behind them.

Red managed to hold his own without being able to use the intense speed he had in Canterlot but, it still wasn't enough to catch up with the two Pegasi. Suddenly as if on cue, a familiar voice echoed in his head. "Try channeling some magic into your hooves."

"Luna? What?" Red thought wondering where the Princess of the Night was. "Where are you? How can I hear you?"

"We're up in the castle, We've been watching through the telescope my sister occasionally uses to check on the town." Luna replied.

"But how can I hear you?" Red asked once again.

"We are using the mental link my sister made when she looked through your mind." Luna explained even further. "It can allow us to speak to you through our link with our sister. It's a very intricate spell. Now go forth and try to focus your magic."

"Well alright. Here it goes!" Red agreed. His aura of magic glowed brightly as it moved down to his hooves. He tensed and braced for the speed but there was nothing, even though his mind was where it should've been. "What the heck?"

"Oh well it was worth a shot. We wish you well in your race." Said Luna as she ceased talking through the link.

"Dang what do I do now?" He thought as he picked up his speed. He managed to cut through a small portion of the forest to get closer to the two in lead.

A small distance away at the finish line Scootaloo made her way to the top of the tree she had been climbing. "Perfect! I can see the whole race from here!" She looked down towards the base of the tree. She gulped as she took notice of how high she had actually gone. She turned her attention back to the race. Soarin has taken the lead and Spitfire was right behind him. Red on the other hand had just turned into the last turn before the hill, leaving a straight path to the hill and finish. "Go Red!" She happily cheered while rocking the branch. She watched as Red caught up and managed to trail just behind Spitfire.

Just as they began to climb the hill she and Soarin began to flap their wings giving them a boost for the hill. Red still managed to trail right behind them. Spitfire jumped into the lead again as they began the run down the hill.

Red noticed a little orange dot atop a big old tree and simply thought of the only little pony he knew. "What are you doing up there?" he thought. He could barely manage to see the tree through the crowd of cheering ponies. The tree began to lean and creak. It looked like it was going to fall. Suddenly, a shrill scream cut through the cheering. Scoots was going to fall. Red panicked and held his breath as he began to gallop harder and faster past both of his competitors. It wasn't long before he noticed his hooves were glowing red and a red trail had began to emanate from them as well. He passed the finish line and leapt into the air using his magic to snatch the little filly off the tree as it slammed into the ground. The crowd cheered as he placed her onto the ground then collapsed onto the grass panting. Several onlookers checked Scootaloo while Spitfire flew in to check on Red. "Joe err... Uhh, Red are you alright?! What the hay happened?" Soarin asked landing right next to him. Spitfire fanned him with her wing.

"I'm alright. Check on her..." Red said as he pointed a hoof. Scootaloo just sat there still confused as to what happened.

"She's alright. C'mon we gotta get you out of here." Spitfire helped him onto both of their backs. "Jeeez buddy you're pretty heavy."

"Guess what though. Ha... I still won." Red said even though he was exhausted.

A little while away

Twilight and her friends made it to the fallen tree. Where Scootaloo continued to sit and stare.

Fluttershy quickly came over to check her. "Scootaloo?" She asked waving a hoof in front of the little filly.

"That... Was... Awesome!" Scootaloo finally responded. "Did you see that?! He was like Zoooooooommmmm! And then he jumped all the way up there!" She attempted to mimic the rescue and ended up falling onto her face and getting back up

Twilight looked around and approached one of the ponies that were still there. "Excuse me. What happened?"

"Oh you shoulda seen it. This tree here was falling and one of the racers just zoomed in and snatched this little filly right off one of its branches. Then as soon as it was over the WonderBolts came over and carried him away." The pony replied.

"I see... Thank you." Replied Twilight. She walked back to Pinkie and Fluttershy. "You saw all of that right?"

"Which part? Asked pinkie. "The way that red pony passed the finish line and jumped super high and grabbing Scootaloo? Yeah I even saw that weird glow coming off of him."

"I'm aware of all that. I just don't know what kind of spell that was. Where did those three go to?" Asked Twilight as Scoots continued her little role play. "I think I need to go some more research on that."

"I don't think he's that bad of a pony. He rescued Scootaloo." Said Pinkie

"Hey Pinkie? Have you thrown him a party yet?" Fluttershy whispered into the pink pony's ear Pinkie immediately covered her mouth with a hoof.

"Don't worry it's almost complete. The time draws near." Pinkie replied creepily.

"You know you're really starting to scare me Pinkie Pie..."

---

Later...

At the entrance to Ponyville. Red and the others stopped.
"You guys can let me down now I think I can walk from here." Red motioned them to put him down. "I don't think I will be doing that again. My body hurts..."

"I think it's time for us to go." Spitfire whispered as she noticed a few ponies heading their way. "Dang... We couldn't have a proper vacation day. Maybe next time we can have one over in Canterlot. Sounds good?"

"Sure. I guess I'm gonna pick up a few things and head home. I need to sleep this off. Are you guys alright?" Red replied. He stood on all fours and stretched each of his legs.

"Yeah we're fine. I just wish we coulda had more fun and I can't believe we lost. Hmm... That makes Soarin the slowest out of us since he lost twice." She replied.

"Hey that first time wasn't fair! He caught me off guard." Soarin replied defensively. "Yeah I think it's time to be heading home. The sun is going to be setting soon, I'd hate to be stuck out in the dark."

"See you later Joe." Waved spitfire as she took to the air. "See ya next vacation day!"

"Yeah see ya next time." Said Soarin as he took to the air as well. They waved their hooves goodbye and were gone.

"What a day... Hmm... Isn't there something I'm forgetting?" He asked watching his friends leave. His stomach began rumble. "Oh wait! Apples!" He made his way back through the town.

Applejack was already packing up by the time Red had arrived. "Mr. Red you came back!" Apple Bloom popped up from behind an empty stand pushing out a bushel of apples. "I've got your apples right here." But an elder sister intervened.

"Howdy there Red! It's a pleasure to meet you. I see you've met my dear little sister, I'm Applejack and we're a part of the family at Sweet Apple acres." Explained Applejack as she rapidly shook Red's hoof. "We love to make new friends."

"Friends? err... I'm sorry I've got to get going. But it was nice meeting ya." Red quickly replied.

"Wait, please stay for awhile we want to know a bit more about you. Like, where did you move from? Any friends? Family?" Applejack questioned.

"Well... I'm just staying here until I've found what I am looking for... I'm pretty sure once I've found it I would be out of everyone's hair." Red replied. "Pretty much I'm here all by myself my parents live far. Farther than you'd imagine."

"Well you can always find a friend in us!" Apple Bloom proudly stated. She leaned against her sister. "The Apple family would proudly welcome you."

Red felt cautious of the sudden gesture. Unsure of what to say he nodded his head and used his hoof to scratch his head. "Thanks, I'll remember that." Apple Bloom smiled boldly as Red took the basket and walked towards his home.

The door swung open and Red stepped inside. he yawned as he placed the apples by the entrance and closed the door. His horn glowed red again as a pillar of magic shot up through the roof and surrounded the windmill except for its wooden blades. He plopped the four books he had gotten earlier onto the table. He took the pendant off and placed it on the table as well. The human sat down and began to read. Until he noticed a scroll he hadn't seen before. He instantly jumped up an looked around the room. "I don't know who you are or what you want but I can tell you, I will find you!" He said aloud. He stood still listening carefully for any signs of movement. Suddenly, he heard the sound of something scraping against the wooden floor as it tried to sneak away. The noise had come from right above him. I've got you now!"

The intruder heard him and panicked it quickly ran through the upper floors. It quickly made its way towards one of the windows until something caught its tail and placed it into a ball of magic.

"I told you I'd find you." Joe whispered.