Chapter 10
Fame and Fortune and Everything That Goes With It
The Hall of Champions: where the winners of the Cloudsdale 500 are forever immortalized in stone. These ponies, griffons and dragons were the best of the best. And now, Forge would be joining them.
"Damn I look good!" Forge exclaimed as he gazed upon his statue. "The sculptors did a great job!"
"Yeah... great." Zephyr said dryly. Forge glanced back at him, noticing the scowl on his face.
"Oh... sorry Zeph. I'm probably just making you feel worse about the whole thing."
"Forget it. You won fair and square." Zephyr glanced up at Forge's statue. "Still..."
"Ignore the statue! If you're still upset then why'd you come with me to see it?"
"I only came to see it because you're my friend and this is a big moment for you. If you were just some random douche who beat me in the race I wouldn't be anywhere near here! In fact, I'd probably find some way to destroy it!"
"Okay, okay. Sheesh..."
"Don't worry I won't do anything to your statue... at least not when you're around." Zephyr shot Forge an evil grin before looking up at the clock. "Shit, I'm late! I gotta go Forge. Some of us still need to work for a living to make our money."
Forge was busy tossing a very large bag of bits up in the air. "Hmm? Sorry Zeph, I couldn't hear you over the sound of my fifty thousand bits clinking together. Did you say something?"
Zephyr gave Forge a quick death stare before flying off to work. Forge chuckled slightly before placing his bits in his saddle bag and turning to leave the hall. He took one last glance at his statue amongst the hundreds of previous champions lining the walls before flying off towards Ponyville.
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Forge landed in Ponyville and made his way through town. As he strolled through town, he noticed that a few of the ponies were staring at him and whispering. He managed to ignore them and continued his walk through town.
"Excuse me sir." Forge began to look around for the source of the tiny voice. "Down here."
Forge looked down and noticed a little light brown colt with a propeller hat sitting in front of him. The colts little eyes were filled with a mixture of excitement and awe. "Uh... hey kid. What's up?"
"Are you the pegasus who won the Cloudsdale 500?" the little colt asked.
"Yeah."
"That's so cool! Can I have your autograph?" The little colt held out a pen and his hat towards Forge.
Forge seemed a little shocked at the colt's request before smiling and taking the pen and hat. "Sure kid. Who do I make this out to?"
The colt puffed out his chest and placed a hoof over it as he spoke. "My names High Score!" he said proudly.
Forge nodded and signed the hat. "There you go." he said as he handed the hat back to the colt. High Score smiled almost as wide as Pinkie Pie would as he looked at his hat.
"Thanks mister! All my friends at the arcade are going to be so jealous! See ya!" High Score ran back towards the arcade down the road with his hat placed proudly on his head. Forge watched him go and smiled.
"I have a fan. To bad Zephyr wasn't here to see that. He'd be so pissed."
Forge continued his walk until he spotted Sugarcube Corner in the distance. His stomach growled in response as he stared at delicious looking building. He licked his lips as he thought of the many pastries and all the other delicious food that was there. His train of thought was interrupted when Pinkie Pie suddenly sprung up right in front of him a few inches away from his face. "Hi Forge!" she squeaked.
Forge jumped at the party ponies sudden appearance. "Gah! Pinkie! Warn me next time you're going to do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry! So what's up?"
"Actually, I was just about to head on over to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat."
"Say no more!" Pinkie suddenly grabbed Forge and dragged him towards Sugarcube Corner, placing him in a seat while she disappeared behind the counter. Forge was still reeling slightly from being dragged into the restaurant when Pinkie Pie returned with an assortment of foods balancing on her hoof. "So what do want to eat? We've got every kind of flavour! Blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, coconut, coconut cream, whipped cream, vanilla cream, coffee cream, hair cream..."
"Hair cream?"
"Hair cream! We've got chocolate, chocolate fudge, chocolate chip, milk chocolate, mint chocolate..." As she continued her insanely long rant, she was pilling the food she mentioned on the counter in front of Forge. The pile was getting bigger and bigger by the second and was now threatening to swallow Forge up. "Uh... Pinkie."
"...peanut butter, peanut brittle, chocolate peanut butter..."
"Pinkie."
"...cherry, cherry chonga, chimmy cherry chonga..."
"PINKIE!"
Pinkie stopped her rambling and looked over at Forge, who was now being suffocated by the pile of food. "Yes, Forge."
"I'll just have a slice of chocolate cake. That's all."
"Okey dokey lokey! Coming right up!" Pinkie grabbed all the food off the table and carried it all into the kitchen. A second later, she appeared behind the counter with his cake. "That'll be five bits!"
Forge got five bits from his saddle bag and placed them on the counter. "Five down, forty-nine thousand and nine-hundred and ninety-five bits to go." he joked as he took a bite of his cake.
"So, how do you like being famous?" Pinkie asked with a huge grin on her face.
"Well, I had some kid ask me for an autograph earlier. But that's about it."
"Don't worry! They'll recognize you eventually."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because there's a crowd outside watching you eat."
"What?!" Forge turned around to notice a large group of ponies surrounding Sugarcube Corner.He recognized a few of them from earlier, but most of them he'd never seen before Forge slowly turned back around to look at Pinkie. "Wow, word travels fast around here." He ate the rest of his cake and got up from his seat. He began to walk towards the door but stopped as the crowd focused all their attention to the door. "On second thought, can I use the back door outta here?"
Pinkie nodded and directed Forge towards the back of the kitchen where the back door was. "Thanks Pinkie. I'll see you later." Forge opened the back door slowly and peaked his head out to see if some crazed fans were waiting for him. Seeing nopony around, Forge unfurled his wings and took off.
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Forge flew off into the sky to a nearby cloud. While the attention that he was getting from winning the Cloudsdale 500 was a breath of fresh air from the usual attention he got (normally involving screaming ponies and the guards chasing him out of town), he didn't want to be bothered by fan after fan asking for his autograph all day.
"This will all die down in a few days." he thought to himself as he landed on the cloud. "I just need to lay low for a while and they'll forget all about me."
Forge lay down on the cloud and yawned. He always enjoyed sleeping on clouds. They were softer than any mattress he had slept on in the past. His eyes grew heavy and he placed his head down on his forelegs. It wasn't long before he fell asleep under the warmth of Celestia's sun.
"Excuse me!" Forge's eyes shot open and he noticed a yellow pegasus with a camera hovering in front of him. "Hi, Tracy Flash for the Ponyville Sun. How about a few pictures for tomorrows paper?" Tracy was soon joined by more reporters, each one taking pictures of Forge. He groaned in frustration and flew away from the reporters. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Tracy and the other reporters following him.
"Ugh, they're more annoying than the guards!" Forge began to fly faster as he attempted to lose his pursuers. Forge flew towards Sweet Apple Acres and dove into one of the apple trees in the middle of the orchard. He hoped that the with the insane amount of apple trees in the area, they would lose sight of him and just fly by.
After a while, Forge didn't hear the reporters anymore. He poked his head out of the apple tree and looked around. "Guess I lost them." Forge sighed in relief. His relief was cut short however when multiple flashes of light appeared form above him. Forge looked up and saw the reporters all hovering above him taking pictures. Forge quickly sunk back into the tree and flew out the opposite side of the tree, leaving the reporters taking pictures of nothing but leaves and apples.
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Forge flew back towards Ponyville. He figured that he would be able to lose the reporters in the large crowd of ponies that normally accumulated in town in the afternoons. All he needed to do was keep his head down. He arrived in the center of town, where the afternoon rush was just beginning. It didn't take long for the entire town square to fill with ponies and Forge seemingly disappeared into the crowd.
The reporters arrived soon after and began to scan through the crowd for him. "Do you see him anywhere?" one of the reporters asked.
"No. I think we lost him." another reporter replied. He was about to turn around when he spotted something orange swish through the crowd. "Wait a minute..." The reporter gestured to the others and they landed nearby. They slowly made there way through the crowd until the came across a pony sitting at one of the cafe tables.
"Here he is!" The reporter readied his camera and pointed it at the pony. The pony in question turned to face him. It wasn't Forge. Unfortunately for them, the pony that they had found was just one of the citizens living in Ponyville. "Uh... can I help you?" the stallion asked.
"Uh... no. Sorry, we mistook you for somepony else." The reporters hung their heads and flew away. One of them muttered something about this being 'just like when Fluttershy became famous' before flying after the other reporters.
"Hmph. Someponies nowadays." The stallion grumbled.
"Tell me about it." Forge said from the seat next to him. Forge spun around in his seat and smiled in victory before picking up a nearby newspaper and flipping it open to the comics section. "Idiots. Haha! Silly Marmaduke, you're to big for that cart!"
The stallion turned to look at Forge. He looked at him for a bit before looking at the newspaper. He then looked back and forth form Forge to the newspaper for a little bit, before a look of realization spread across his face. "Hey... aren't you the pony who won that big race in Cloudsdale?"
Forge's smile suddenly disappeared and his eyes went wide. "Uh oh." he thought to himself. "N-no. Y-you must have mistaken me for someone else..." Forge's eyes were darting in every direction as he lied to the stallion.
"No no, it is you! Hey Al! Look who it is!" The stallion was soon joined by his friend, who looked Forge over once before nodding in agreement. "Hey your right Arnie! It is him! Forge right?"
"No. Nope. Never heard of him. You've got the wrong pony."
"Really? So that's not you on the front page of the newspaper then?"
"What?" Forge closed the newspaper and quickly flipped it over. On the front page of the newspaper was his picture just after he was announced as the winner of the Cloudsdale 500. He looked back up from the paper and noticed that a large crowd of ponies had surrounded him and were looking at him with excitement and awe. "Oh crap..."
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Twilight paced back and forth nervously in Rarity's Boutique. The princess had invited the six of them over to Canterlot for a few days and Twilight didn't want to keep the princess waiting. "Come on Rarity!" Twilight shouted. "We're going to be late!"
"Just a minute!" Rarity called back. She soon appeared with a large number of bags behind her. "Okay. I'm all set."
The girls stared at Rarity's bags in shock. "Uh... Rarity. We're going to be in Canterlot for only three days." Rainbow stated. "You've got enough stuff for about ten!"
"Yeah, what in tarnation' is all this?" Applejack asked.
"Now you surely don't expect me to go to Canterlot with all those high class ponies and not have something fabulous to wear. I want to look my best if I'm going to impress them."
Applejack simply rolled her eyes and was about to say something to the alabaster unicorn, but was interrupted by a visibly frustrated Twilight. "Who cares how many bags Rarity brings! We need to get to Canterlot right now! Otherwise we'll be late! Then the princess will be mad and think that we don't take her seriously! Then she could banish us from Ponyville! Have us black-listed all over Equestria! Or worse... she could send us all to the moon!"
Fluttershy had a look of horror on her face and was now cowering behind her pink mane. "S-she wouldn't do that... Would she?"
"Of course not! Twilight's just overreacting again." Rainbow said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Rainbow's right dear. I don't believe Princess Celestia will banish us because we're a few minutes late." Rarity added.
"Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances. Now come on let's go!" The girls all sighed and begrudgingly followed Twilight towards the door. Suddenly Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and hung in mid-air. Applejack looked back and noticed the party pony hovering in mid-air with a look of concern on her face. "What's wrong sugarcube?" she asked.
"My Pinkie Sense is tingling." The girls all gasped as they waited to see what Pinkie would do. "Ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch." Pinkie gasped and looked over to where Twilight was nearing door out of the boutique. "Twilight! Step away from the door!"
"Pinkie now is not the time for one of you-" she said before the door slammed in her face as Forge barreled through the boutique. He zoomed past the girls and crashed into a nearby bookcase. "Forge?" they all asked. Forge quickly got up from his crash and rushed back towards the door, slamming it shut and drawing the curtains. He whipped around, placing his back against the door. A look of panic was on his face and he was breathing heavily.
"Forge! What happened? You look positively dreadful!" Rarity exclaimed.
"I was mobbed! All the ponies in Ponyville know it was me who won the race and now they won't leave me alone! No matter where I go they always find me! They're like vultures!"
"I don't see what the problem is Forge." Rainbow said. "If it was me, I'd be loving all the attention."
Forge pulled back one of the curtains showing a large crowd of ponies surrounding the boutique. Reporters were flashing their camera's at every angle in an attempt to get a picture of Forge, while the rest of the ponies were practically climbing over one another as they tried to get a better look into the building. "Exhibit A." Forge said gesturing to the crowd before drawing the curtain again.
"Okay... maybe that's a little to much attention." Rainbow admitted.
"A little is putting it mildly. This is way to much attention for my liking." Forge glanced to his right and noticed that Twilight's horn was buried in the door and she was struggling to yank it out. "Whoa. Twilight why is your horn stuck in the door?" Twilight glared at him and muttered something under her breath before attempting to pull her horn free once again.
"Hang on sugarcube. I'll get ya' outta there." Applejack strolled over to Twilight and pulled on her tail to try and free her.
"Rrrrright... Well I wish we could help you Forge, but we were just about to leave. Princess Celestia has invited us to stay in Canterlot for a few days and we really must be going." Rarity said.
"Oh..." Forge said. He hung his head in disappointment. He had hoped that one of the girls would have been able to hide him for a few days, but know it looked like he was on his own.
"Wait! You should come with us!" Pinkie stated.
"Hey yeah! The ponies in Canterlot are incredibly stuck up, so they won't care who you are. By the time we get back, everything will have settled down and things will go back to normal." Rainbow added.
"You sure that'll work?" Forge asked.
"Dude, you could be the princess's long lost brother and they still wouldn't care. I know it'll work."
Forge smiled. This was the perfect plan. Not only would he not have to worry about being mobbed, but Spitfire and Soarin were staying in Canterlot while the Wonderbolts were in town. It would be the perfect opportunity to catch up with them. "Count me in!"
"Hold on." Twilight said. She had freed herself from the door and had rejoined the group. "There's still one problem. How are we going to Forge out of here without him being seen? He sets one hoof outside and he'll be mobbed."
"Can't you cast some sort of invisibility spell on me?"
"I don't know any. And even if I did, I couldn't guarantee that it would last until we reached the train to Canterlot."
"What if you cast a spell that made him really tiny?" Rainbow suggested. "Then he could just sneak through the crowd without anypony noticing."
"I don't think so. I'd prefer not to be squished under someponies hoof thank you."
"Well what else can we do?" They all began to think of ways to sneak Forge out of the boutique. Applejack turned her attention to the pile of luggage that Rarity had brought. A sudden smile spread across her face. "Hey Rarity. Do ya' suppose that one of those fancy bags a' yers' could fit a full grown pony?"
"Well I suppose, but I don't see how... oh." The girls all turned to look at Forge. He looked at each of the girls and then towards the pile of luggage on the floor.
"Oh come on!"