//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: impressions. // Story: Something Different // by BlackWingsRed //------------------------------// Chapter 14: impressions. The thoughts still haunted Red's mind. "I am different... I've known since I was very little... I just thought it was normal..."His thoughts seemed to have been heard as a familiar yet wise voice came into play. "What you seek is what you fear. The paths will diverge and the role is yours to bear..." Said the voice. Sounding much like the voice he heard in Canterlot and his dreams. "The road home is for you to follow alone..." The voice trailed off as it vanished into the back of his mind. He shuddered as it ended. Who the crap does this voice belong to?" He thought shaking his head side to side "What is that even supposed to mean?!" Red shouted as he began to gallop through the forest with his eyes tightly closed. When he reopened his eyes a white rabbit jumped into the path. Causing him to jump over it and crash into a patch of grass. He slowly rolled to a stop and groaned. "Oww... What the heck?" He wondered opening his eyes and rubbing his head. He watched as the rabbit quickly jumped on his stomach and pulled at his mane pointing towards another path. "What? What are you doing little guy?" Red simply asked shaking the grass off of himself. The rabbit seemed to pout as Red ruffled its head. Angrily and quickly the panicky rabbit ran around Red. It attempted to push him onto the path but gave up due to the major sizing issue. "Well it's been nice but, I need to be on my way now." Red said aloud as he patted the rabbit's head once again and turned around to trot away. The rabbit jumped up to his back and in a desperate fit yanked off the pendant. In a bright flash Red transformed into his human form. "Hey! Give that back!" His saddle bag hung around his arm. The flash startled the rabbit causing it to run down the path. Joe reached out his arm and ran along the path. A little while away at Sweet Apple acres. Applejack was busy hauling in todays harvest in a large wagon into the barn whilst Big Mac was busy pulling along a row of similar smaller wagons with Apple Bloom and the others on their little wooden airplanes. Curious of where the new toys came from she trotted over. "Hey uh, girls? When did y'all build these little thingies?" "We didn't build em. Our friend Mr. Red made them for us this morning." Replied Apple Bloom looking towards her. "Who is this Mr. Red? Is he somepony we know?" Asked The curious Applejack. She felt rather confused on what exactly they were playing with. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of something approaching at breakneck speeds. Rainbow Dash flew around the barn until she could properly stop and land. "Hey Applejack! Have you been reading the news?" She yelled trotting towards the farmer. Remember the story I told all of you? It's real! It's really real!" "Wait a what now? What's real?" Applejack asked curious as to why Rainbow would suddenly drop in unannounced. "The Canterlot monster. I actually saw it and fought it." Rainbow explained this caught the attention of Scootaloo and the others as they listened in. "It was just out there last night out on the hills." During that night (with Rainbow Narrating it.) Rainbow Dash sat upright in her bed reading through one of the many Daring Do books that sat on her night stand. "I was just sitting at home when suddenly" The whole house shook as if an Earthquake was going on. "For some reason I knew something was happening." As various objects and Rainbow dash herself fell to the cloud floor. The cloud began to become unstable and misshaped on the outside. "If I didn't do anything my house would've been destroyed." Rainbow managed to stand up after the shaking finally stopped. She angrily jumped from a window and flew up towards the moon. "I saw it. It was tall, had a messy mane and it was itching to fight!" "Are you sure about that RD?" Interrupted Applejack. "Now I'm pretty sure I've seen you pick a fight with a few fellas that didn't even deserve what ya put them through." "Hey it's my story! Now let me continue." Rainbow Dash continued. She dived with so much force that the clouds departed and the color of her mane created what seemed to be a nocturnal rainbow in the sky. "But before I could even get to hit it, it trapped me in a ball or something. Then it walked over to me and looked me straight in the eye. And then it said-..." She paused remembering what it was. Back at the farm. "What did I do?...Sorry..." Echoed throughout her mind as she repeated what it had said that night. "Sorry?..." Asked Applejack as Apple Bloom popped up right next to her to listen to the story. "See now maybe that fella might've not been the one that got your feathers all ruffled." "But then why'd it put me in the ball? That sounds pretty guilty doesn't it?" Rainbow asked snapping back to reality. "And then he ran away leaving me there till morning." "Well it sounds to me like he was trying to protect himself from getting hurt." Sweetie Belle replied. "What would you have done if someone tried to attack you for no reason?" "Well I'd probably kick their flank." Rainbow calmly gave her response crossing her hooves. "Isn't that a bit overconfident?" Asked Apple Bloom eyeing Rainbow. "What if you can't win?" "How would I know? I need to be there to know it wouldn't I?" Rainbow replied rather flustered. "Now about that monster. I don't think it's safe to have it running around causing trouble we need to catch it!" Her face turned a bit more serious considering what she had said. Back in the forest. Joe ran along the path just behind the rabbit until he had seen something on the road. "Whoa?!" it looked like a yellow Pegasi. As he approached the downed Pegasi the little rabbit quickly hid inside the pony's pink mane. Without thinking he tried to wake it up. "Hello?... Hey?" he poked its side. "Are you okay?" The pony wouldn't respond. The rabbit jumped up and pointed to its forehead. Joe planted his hand on its forehead and sighed. "Its got a fever! How far is the hospital?..." He gave it a thought and remembered the hospital being on the far end of the town. "The ponies would see me if I try to bring it over there." Once he turned and checked for the rabbit, he noticed at once that the rabbit had run off down towards another path in the forest. Thinking quickly he used his magic to lift the Pegasi onto his back and chased after it . "Hey come on! Give that back!" Further down, the path led into a cottage by the river. The rabbit made its way to the entrance and jumped up through the upper portion of the split door. Joe stood there with the pony on his back worried. Rain slowly began to fall as he stood there thinking. Cautiously he approached the door and slowly opened it to see the little rabbit up on the steps pointing towards a room upstairs. Joe followed it up and saw where the rabbit was leading him. They were in a tiny bedroom, Joe placed the pony on the bed and tucked her in. Suddenly, the sound of thunder could be heard from outside causing the sleeping pony to stir. As he placed his hand on its forehead she slowly but weakly opened her eyes. But only for a brief moment as she quickly passed out again. Joe noticed and quickly snatched the pendant from the rabbit with his magic. He put it on and changed back into a pony. "Why didn't I just do that in the first place?" The pony weakly watched as Red trotted downstairs and out of sight. "Who is that?..." Asked the weak pony. She closed her eyes as she returned to her sleep. "I can't leave her like this..." Thought Red as he paced around waiting for the rain to slow. He walked into the kitchen where a dozen little forest animals stared at him. "Okay?...what is this?" Out of a small crack came a small little mouse that slowly pushed out a small little bowl. Right behind the mouse were a collection of other little animals including several birds coming out of the walls. They all went to these little bowls and dishes. "Dinner?" Asked Red as the same little rabbit from earlier popped out from one of the holes in the walls nodding its head. "Well where do I start?" Red sighed as he levitated a few of the bags of pet food from one of the cupboards. He whistled as he poured the food into the bowls. He plopped up a little cook book on the side of him and levitated a knife that began chopping a bunch of vegetables. As he whistled the birds began to whistle enjoying their meals. A/N:(I recently have been whistling the tune to yellow submarine while at work. Gets the time moving at work.) The freshly chopped vegetables went into the bowls for rabbits and the other small creatures. The birds and bigger creatures ate from the kibble and bird seeds that Red set out for them. With all the animals nice and preoccupied, he couldn't help but notice the little jar of leaves and a tea kettle sitting on an old wood stove. Having finished feeding the animals all there was left Is to wait for the rain. He put in a couple of short logs and burned them with matches he found in the cabinet.. He sighed as the room began to heat up. The animals having finished their meals gathered near the stove to warm themselves as well. Red emptied the tea kettle and refilled it with fresh water. Within a few minutes the tea was done and poured into a couple of cups. He levitated one of them and trotted up the stairs. The pony was still asleep so he left it on the drawer next to the bed. The little rabbit kept his eyes on Red as he returned downstairs. Next he levitated a few chopped vegetables in a pot of water and placed it on the stove to boil into a soup. Upstairs The rabbit lifted the pony's head up onto a position for her to be able to drink some of the tea while it was warm. Back at the farm. Applejack continued to work on bucking more trees while Rainbow Dash watched from atop a tree branch. "Do you know what the weirdest thing was?" Rainbow looked like she was deep in thought. "This morning Princess Luna acted as if she already knew what was going on." "Maybe if ya can stop telling that story for a moment and help me out here, I can listen to it a bit better." Said Applejack as she bucked the tree where Rainbow sat causing not only apples to fall but the Pegasus as well. Rainbow screamed as she fell on her face. "Ouch... Okay I get it. Tell me which side you want me to do." She replied getting up. Applejack pointed towards an orchard on top of a hill and Rainbow took of towards it. Apples rolled down from the hill and into a large pile. After a while, the two had an almost even amount of bushels. "Not bad. I suppose it's time we take a break. Hey RD lets bag this bunch and head in!" Applejack pulled over the empty baskets and began to pick out the good from the bad apples. Rainbow flew over and began to help by scooping them up with her wings. "Hey uh, have you heard of any pony going around by the name Red by any chance?" "No. Why?" Asked Rainbow pulling away a basket. "See those little wooden things the girls are playing with? They said that some Red made it for them. He told them that the ponies where he's from use em to fly." Applejack pointed towards the girls and rolled her eyes at it. "Ha! How's a pony supposed to get anywhere in those things?!" She leaned back and laughed. "The day somepony outflies me in something like that will be the day Fluttershy wrestles a bear." She continued to laugh until she had noticed the oncoming clouds. "Oh no... That rain was scheduled for later today. It's moving in way too early. I bet it's Thunderlane again." "It sounds weird but, don't you find it strange that everyone's been acting weird after the mines? We had that whole Canterlot monster mishap and now Twilight has us watching somepony that claims he's Celestia's apprentice. What in tarnation is going on?" "Hey why don't we go see what Twilights been up to lately." Rainbow bluntly suggested. "I don't know... This morning she seemed a little bit... Off her rocker." Applejack replied. She positioned the hat a little further back. "Well we're gonna need to start moving, especially before it starts pouring." Applejack looked up at the clouds an thought for a little. "I thought you said this won't start till later today?" "I don't get it either, They should know what to do by know. But still.., I know it's not my fault." She jumped into the air a lightly flew through the air a bit to stretch her wings. "Let's go." Sure enough at the library. Spike was sitting outside on the the porch as both Applejack and Rainbow got there. "Hey girls watcha up to?" He asked as if nothing had happened. "Eh... Spike what're you doing out here? We need to speak with Twilight for a little. Is she inside?" Applejack tried the door to the library but it was locked. "Hey what's going on?" "I think Twilights upset about something. She just came home and poof I'm out here and the door is locked." Explained Spike getting to his feet. AppleJack sighed and moved spike out of the way. "Don't worry your little head off we can handle this." She faced her tail to the door and prepared. "I'll have to fix this later." She bucked the door and it swung open. Rainbow quickly dashed in and looked around. Everything was neat and there was nothing out of the ordinary. Slowly she trotted up the stairs. "Twilight?" She called out but there was no response. As she made it to the bedroom she found Twilight sitting there looking out the window. "I followed Luna and I saw them." Calmly yet sorrowfully replied Twilight. "I just don't get it... DID CELESTIA REPLACE ME?" She began to panic. "C'mon Twilight you've gotta get over that. If he was before you, then why did she begin teaching you?" Rainbow asked sympathetically. "I mean maybe he wasn't good enough. Celestia probably saw better potential in you than he had." "Yeah! Shes right sugar cube. You probably have way more skill than he does." Said Applejack coming up the stairs with Spike on her back. "I still don't know... Those things I saw. What Luna said." Twilight got up and trotted closer to the window. "She acted as if I did some sort of crime by spying on them." "Well you do tend to go overboard. Just like when you first moved here. You tried to spy on Pinkie remember? By the way... Where the hay has she been these past few days?" Asked Applejack with her hoof to her chin. "I haven't seen her since the sleep over and it ain't sitting well with me." "Oh. Pinkie? She has this whole evil scheme thing going on. I don't know much about it. But she's been acting creepy about it." Answered Spike jumping down. "Anyway! If you're worried about being Celestia's star student then you're going about this in the wrong way. You've gotta show her that you have the determination! The Drive! And the Power to take out the competition and shine as the brightest student she's ever had!" Rainbow shouted as if she were a coach or a drill instructor. Twilight seeming slightly better than she had been a second ago got up and trotted over to her two friends. "You know what I think I will. I won't stop studying until I'm top pupil once again!" Twilight said confidently. "That's the spirit! Now let's get out there and show em who's the best Unicorn in Ponyville!" Cheerfully shouted Rainbow Dash. "But, how?!" Twilight suddenly said aloud. "I don't even know what kind of spells i would need to be studying. What if Celestia were to find out?!" She groaned in worry. "She might punish me for not being up to date." She buried her head in her hooves. "Aww c'mon now don't be like that. Lets go downstairs and start on some studying." Said Applejack using her head to move Twilight towards and down the stairs. Back at the cottage. Red paced back and forth as the soup boiled and slowly turn into a simmer. He took a ladle and tried a little. "Mmm... Tastes alright what do you think?" The little white rabbit jumped up onto the counter and tried the soup. He stopped and gave a thumbs up. "Okay then I will leave this here if you guys are still hungry. This bowl will be going up to the pony." He levitated a bowl of soup and trotted up the stairs. The pony still laid there asleep. He placed the bowl on the night stand and took the empty tea cup. The rabbit watched as he levitated the pendant of his neck and place his hand on the pony's forehead. He placed the pendant back on his neck and sighed in relief. "The fever is starting to drop. I better get out of here." He trotted downstairs followed by the rabbit into the kitchen. He sighed again as he placed the cup into the sink. He trotted over to the table where his saddle bag sat and pulled out a few pieces of paper. A bottle of ink and a quill levitated out and immediately began to write. "Let's go little guy I have a job for you." The rabbit looked back towards the stairway and back at Red. "Don't worry she'll be fine. She just needs some rest." The rabbit calmed down and jumped onto his back. Red put on the saddle bag and placed his things back inside. He went back upstairs and placed a note on the nightstand. After that he walked straight out of the door. The ground was still wet and the clouds still hovered above the forest. "We gotta make this quick." He quickly began to gallop over the path and into town. The ponies in town showed almost interests in him as he casually strolled through the streets. A few of the markets were still open and a few were already closing signaling that it was almost sundown. Red stopped by one of them and bought a bright orange carrot. He continued to walk until he got to a really big building. He turned towards the rabbit he levitated the carrot and letter to the rabbit. "This is the place. These are for you. I will need you to go into the hospital and hand this to whoever works there got it?" The rabbit gave a salute and took both the carrot and letter. He hopped his way into the hospital. "Well that's that. I hope everything turns out alright for them." Suddenly another voice entered his head. "What is the matter with you? You're supposed to be finding a way to get home aren't you? You said it yourself. Not here to make friends." The voice of the old man in the scarlet suit echoed throughout his head. "Why is it that you are still here? If Celestia truly wanted to help you. You'd be home already. Trust me I've dealt with her kind all too well." "Can't you guys just leave me alone!" Red angrily thought hoping the voice would leave him alone. It seemed to work. Seeing the sun he began to trot back into town. That voice did have a very good point. "What am I really doing here? What am I here? I really need to get out of here..." He slowly made his way to the windmill and shut the door.