The Day I Became A Millionaire

by Ribe_FireRain

Race

Author's Note:

We can all see where this is going...

Also, I know I go kinda off track with my writing sometimes and I get all sappy and unfocused on the actual story and go on about the feelings of AB and Matt. I don't mean to do it that way and truthfully, my ideas for the previous chapters weren't like this initially. I just modified them.

Hope you like.

The next morning, just as the sun was rising to its place in the sky, Scootaloo and me stood at the entrance of Ponyville with both our vehicles side by side. Scootaloo's scooter didn't look like much apart from a simple board with handle bars on it to allow for steering, but if she says that it earned her the fastest land speed record on a scooter, now would be the time to really prove that.

I was currently looking over the engine compartment of my car, showing it to Scootaloo for the first time and she seemed pretty impressed but still determined at not losing the race.

Even though it was still the early hours of day, some other ponies were out and upon seeing us and out of their curiousity, formed a small crowd around us. For this one lap race, we were both amazed at the crowds that formed in the upcoming minutes before the race was underway.

Sweetie and Apple Bloom stood at either end of the dirt road that ran through the streets of Ponyville with white and black checkered flags in their mouths.

Scootaloo stood atop her scooter wearing a scratched and beaten up purple helmet that matched her mane colour with white stripes running from the far back of the helmet to the front. On the side was her name in white characters, also a little scratched up. Clearly her helmet has seen better days.

I got into my car, strapping my seatbelt around me. Unlike Scootaloo, I chose not to wear a helmet. When things are dangerous, it makes it all the more fun. Turning to face her, I saw her staring back right at me with a daring gleam in her eyes along with a cocky grin on her lips.

I smirked to her in return as I turned my keys in the ignition slot and the car roared to life, taking her aback and scaring the crowd at the ear-splitting volume of the engine as I revved it with the accelerator, blasting plumes of engine exhaust out of the back in clouds of thick grey. I smirked wider to her as I saw her grin suddenly fade. (Ah, the smell of petrol was truly astonishing for any petrol-head to smell...)

All of a sudden, it appeared that the odds were higher for me than for her to win.

The race was simple - a single lap around Ponyville, starting from here to around the town square, around the town hall, past Sugarcube Corner, through the Everfree Forest and then back to the start line.

We nodded once to each other to signal that we were ready and turned towards Sweetie and Apple Bloom, nodding once more before they nodded back and began to wave the flags in their mouth before moving out of the way.

In an instant, Scootaloo was off in a cloud of dust, momentarily looking over her shoulder at me with a smirk. I sighed cooly, pushing down the hand brake and pushing down on the accelerator, launching the car forward with an even bigger cloud of smoke than what the microscopic, red wheels on Scootaloo's scooter kicked up.

Not even thirty seconds in, I was already directly behind her, honking my horn once before I waved out of the window to her in a taunting way. She gasped in shock of how quickly I caught up and before she could get any further away, I came up beside her and gave a quick salute before pressing down on the clutch and changing up into third gear before pushing down on the accelerator again, putting me in the lead.

I looked into the rear view mirror for a moment, seeing that smirk on her lips again. She flared out her wings and began pushing with them to generate more speed out of her scooter. She flapped her wings harder and harder and her scooter gradually sped up before, like a rocket, she bolted past me, taking me by surprise.

Passing through the town square and scaring a few ponies in the process, Scootaloo maneuvered to the right and blasted up a wooden ramp, going airborne and showing off a few flips and tricks before landing smoothly back down again.

I pouted, kicking up the gears into fourth and with all my determination and strength, pushed hard on the accelerator, boosting my MPH up to a hundred and thirty-five and once again coming up beside her.

Town hall came into view and coming up on the right of it, I switched down the gear into second and pushed lightly onto the accelerator for a moment before I did a hand brake turn and swiftly and smoothly curved my way around the town hall in a spray of dust and small pebbles from the dirt path.

Righting myself and putting it into third gear, I pushed myself past Scootaloo and around Sugarcube Corner where I surprised Pinkie Pie whom was standing at the front door of the bakery with a gasp on her face at my sudden appearance.

Following shortly after me was Scootaloo who took time to wave friendlily to the bubbly pink mare before giving a quick ''Hi, Pinkie!'' before bolting after me and past the bakery, leaving the mare speechless.

Coming up was the Everfree Forest but before any of that was some roads with a whole bunch of sharp turns in them. Unfortunately, I had to execute them all perfectly to avoid rolling myself into the ditch below that had no safety rail to stop that from happening.

For Scootaloo, it wasn't a problem because of her sleek, lightweight scooter but for me in a big, angry-red, bulky car, it wasn't.

For once, I felt a surge of fear pass through my veins, remembering what happened the last time I drove like a maniac on a road just like this.
Coming up to it, I managed to get around two corners with little problem, despite the poor grip on my tires, but when the third one came up, that was one it got bad.

I accidentally pushed down a little too hard on the accelerator and misdirected my car with some over-steer in the mix and I found myself rolling down the hill in my car.

My car clunked and thumped heavily from the forceful blows to its exterior plating and the windscreen smashed in front of my face, causing me to instinctively shield my eyes from the small shards of glass.

Thankfully, the car righted itself upon nearing the bottom to the ditch yet it was short lived as I could see a tree coming up directly in front of me. Eyes wide, I pulled on the hand brake in hopes of slowing me down, but unfortunately, all it did was cause me to skid and descend faster into it.

Nothing else I could do but scream, and scream I did before I plumeted into the tree with a deathly hard impact and a shower of bark.

My ribs hurt and my body burned in pain. My head collided harshly with the dashboard and blood started to ooze out of the gash it created in my forehead and dribbled down my face and onto my shirt and jacket.

My arm throbbed and there was no doubt that I had broken it. I coughed and blood sputtered from my throat and out of my mouth, splattering onto the steering wheel and dashboard in red polka dots.

It wasn't a second later that my vision turned black and I felt my body go weak and numb before my head dropped down and I passed out.

*** *** ***

At the finish line of the one lap race through Ponyville, the crowd cheered as Scootaloo came through with a victorious smile on her face before she skidded to a halt and got off of her scooter, taking off her helmet and giving her mane a brush with a hoof.

Sweetie and Apple Bloom and a few others came up to her and gave her a congratulatory hug. From behind her, they all looked expectantly for Matt to appear in his car but that never happened.

Slightly worried, Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo. ''Uh...Scoots, where's Matt?'' The orange pegasus gave a shrug.

''I-I dunno, he was behind me not that long ago.'' She said, also sounding worried for her friend. Sweetie came next to them, looking to both of them.

''He can't be that far, I'm sure he'll be alright.'' Sweetie said reassuringly but her eyes shrank as she looked up, her mouth slightly agape. Taking notice of her friend's sudden change in mood, both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked to where their friend was looking, gasps escaping their mouths.

A cloud of thick, grey smoke was flowing up past the top of the trees, visible to every eye in the now worried crowd.

''Oh, no...'' Apple Bloom said weakly and softly before she began to gallop off to the where the smoke was coming from, hoping that nothing too bad has happened and that Matt was unharmed.

*** *** ***

Beep...Beep...Beep...

''I think hes wakin' up!'' I heard a voice say, too muffled by my ears to recognize it. My head hurt all over, but that compared nothing to how much my body ached.

Mustering all my strength (or what I could at least), I forced myself to open my eyes and found that my vision was blurred. All I could make out was multiple fuzzy blobs of colour. One a cream colour, one orange, another red and the last an apple-green colour.

Turning my head to face my right, I saw more of the fuzzy blobs, five, if I counted correctly. One purple, another a light blue then a soft yellow then a pink and a white.

Blinking, the blurriness subsided and I found that the fuzzy blobs were those of the Apple Family and Applejack's friends. All of them wore worried expressions and one or two looked as though they have been crying.

Not a moment later did I feel sharp pain strike through my body as I tried to move. I would of screamed but my lungs felt deflated.

A pair of soft hooves pressed gently against my chest and pushed me back down. Looking up, I could see the gentle smile of Applejack.
''Easy there, sugarcube. Ya'll are hurt pretty bad.'' She said, still smiling. I looked down to my body, seeing that I was laid up in a bed with slightly itchy, light green covers that were pulled around halfway up my body that was covered all the way to my neck in bandages.
As for my left arm, I saw that it too was covered in some bandages and a small, white cast. My breathing slowed slightly.

''W-W-What happened?'' I asked, feeling groggy.

''Ya crashed your car, Matt. Ya'll are lucky to be alive.'' At that, I sighed and frowned.

''Lucky? I don't think so.'' I managed, getting a confused look from Applejack

''Whaddaya mean, sugarcube? Ya could've died in that race with Scootaloo. Thankfully, the docs here managed to save your life. Can't say the same for your car, though.'' She frowned sympathetically. At the mention of Scoot's name, worry immediately ran through me.

''S-Scootaloo? Where is she? Is she alright?''

''She's fine, Matt. Her an' Sweetie should be along shortly.'' As if on cue, the two young mares entered the room, looking just as worried as the rest of them were. Applejack stepped away to allow them room to my bedside.

''Thank Celestia you're okay, Matt.'' Scootaloo hugged me softly, careful not too push too hard on my heavily battered body. ''We were so worried about you.'' I managed a smile and looked over her shoulder to see Apple Bloom look back at me with sad eyes.

''C-Can you give us a minute?'' I asked softly and everypony in the room nodded silently in understanding before they made their way out of the room, leaving just me and Apple Bloom as the room's only occupants. For a short moment or two, she looked me in the eyes and I noticed a tear or two stroke her cheek. ''Apple Bloom?'' I asked, concerned by that look in her eye.

She came up next to me and hugged me close, rubbing her cheek into mine. Her bodily warmth heated up my cold figure. Quietly, I gently placed my unbroken arm over her back and stroked her coat lovingly in an attempt to calm her. In my embrace, she cried lightly.
''H-Hey, are you alright?'' I asked her, causing her to weakly raise her head to look me in the eyes. The pain in those gorgeous amber windows of hers bit at my heart.

''Matt, Ah...Ah was so worried that ya wouldn't wake up! When Ah found ya crashed into that tree, A-A-Ah th-though the w-worst!'' She sniffled heavily. ''Ah thought ya'll were dead!'' She whimpered.

''Don't cry, Apple Bloom. I'm here now and that's all that matters. Besides, it isn't the first time.'' I smiled to her but she didn't smile back. And then, I had an idea. If nothing could cheer her up, maybe this would.

Looking beside me to my bloodied jacket on a hook on the wall next to my bed, I limply leaned over and placed my hand into the left pocket, taking out a small, black box lined with soft red fabric. It wasn't that much bigger than your average ring box, but the item inside was a whole lot more valuable.

Curiously, she watched me open the box. I motioned for her to closer, and when she did, I presented the item to her. Her eyes widened slightly as she eyed the item within.

It was a small diamond broach in the shape and colour of a glistening red apple and around the apple were blooming, pink flowers. Taking it out of the box, I pinned it to her pink bow. It looked perfect. Not bad for a few hundred bits. (I bought it some point during the time when I was fixing up the clubhouse.)

She smiled greatfully and hugged me warmly. ''Cheer up, AB.'' I told her, kissing her cheek. She blushed brightly, earning a chuckle out of me. ''So...how long was I out for?''

She pulled away and touched a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. ''About...three or so days? Ya'll were hurt pretty bad, afterall.'' I noticed her cringe.

''Well, I guess I can't say I'm surprised. I don't actually remember anything.'' I admitted. ''And since I doubt I need them anymore,'' I reached into my jacket pocket again and pulled out my car keys. ''I want you to get rid of them. Me and cars don't really seem to like each other anymore.'' I smiled jokingly, but she didn't smile back.

''No, keep them, Matt. Ya may need them. Ah managed to fix up your car, so what if ya need it? Ya'll know, for pie deliveries an' such?'' She said as she pushed the keys back to me. Truthfully, I seriously didn't want to drive anymore. It nearly killed me twice and one of these days, probably will. If my car is still in fully working order, perhaps I can teach somepony to drive?

That in mind, I looked to Apple Bloom with a smile. She looked at me confusedly for a moment and asked me why I was smiling. I only smiled a little wider.

I had the perfect candidate!

''Hey, Apple Bloom? How would you like to learn to drive?''

Comments

[Ribe_FireRain]

Oddly, I somehow feel that I failed miserably with this story.

Originally, I did have an alternative to what it is now and it was a whole lot more better regarding Matt and Apple Bloom's feeling for each other as time progressed from their first meeting. I wanna edit it so it turns out like that but it is too much work and will interfere with my college work. (In other words 'God f***ing dammit!')

[Adikthone]

Nah man the story is fine.