//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic--One Last Race. 
// by Godzilla313 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2

As Twilight Sparkle read, she was intrigued on how periodicals were written in that time, what they advertised, and so forth, before she managed to reach the main article. As she read, it gave a great account of the life of the mentioned pony and all he had achieved. He had come from a plantation in Mareginia, and from an early age had a knack and love for running. This was noticed by his parents early on, and they did all they could to foster his talents early. What was interesting is that they had no pictures of his mark. There were only pictures of him as a young foal, though he did have the same coat as the newcomer to town. Anything else was pictures where he was wearing his racing gear or training gear that covered most of his body. She was looking for the mark, just to see if she may have seen this pony somewhere else. By this point, Rainbow Dash had arrived to return the latest copy of Daring Do, and only saw Spike tending to things.

"Hi Spike," she popped pleasantly in her normal confident way, "Where's Twilight?"

"Oh, she's in the reading room," he answered, not looking up from the floor he was sweeping. Dash sighed and said, "Why does that not surprise me."

She went in and saw her friend, not in a book, but in a sporting magazine. She started to laugh, saying, "You? The scholar is reading a sports magazine?"

"And?" said a slightly annoyed Twilight.

Still giggling a bit, she said, "I never thought you'd get into anything like that!"

"I'm actually doing some research," said Twilight, "It seems that our new Ponyville resident has a past being involved with professional racing."

"Really?" she then said, coming over to see what she was reading as Twilight added, "It seems he was a part of it in this era. I was hoping I'd come across a picture of him in here with the other ponies, but it seems the whole thing wants to focus around this pony."

"Wait," she said, "Is this the great Clerkalariet?"

"You know who this is?" asked a curious Twilight.

"Oh, come on!" said a surprised Rainbow Dash, "He's even a legend in Cloudsdale! He was the fastest thing in the world that didn't have wings. He was so fast, even pegasi were impressed!"

She looked at the pictures, and then said, "Oh my goodness! Man, those racing ponies sure wear some odd looking duds!"

"From what I understand," said Twilight, "I think they wear that to help cut down on wind in their manes and coat. They sometimes race to beat each other by just the fractions of seconds. They're trying everything to get an edge."

"Well, you don't need that magazine to tell you who he is," said Dash, now on the floor, "He only lost one race in his whole career! He mostly came in first, or came in the top three a few times. The worst finish he ever had was fourth, and that was in his first race. After that, he was unstoppable! They compared to the great Stallion O' War, and he even took O' War's nickname: Big Red. He won the Triple Crown."

"Okay, what is that?" asked Twilight, now very intrigued thanks to Dash's enthusiastic presentation.

"That's the top three track meets in the season," answered Dash, "There's the Ducky Derby, the Speak Nice Steaks, and the Belle Mountain Steaks. They are three meets in a row, and the best middle and long distance runners take part in the keynote race in each meet. You win those three, you win the Triple Crown. He was the first to do it in 25 years at his time, and not just that, but he set track records in those races that have yet to be beat!"

"Well, it sounds to me like he should be better known than that," asked Twilight, wondering why he would still not be the talk of the town.

"Well, that's the odd part," she answered, "He had a much shorter career than most ponies. First of all, when he ran the Belle Mountain, only five other ponies even bothered to enter the race. It was always hard to find opponents for him. Worse, ever since the last race in the crown, rumors flew about that he had been a cheater somehow, that no horse was that good. He had to be using illegal gear, had magic help, or took some kind of potions, something like that. The worst accusations came from the pony that gave him the hardest challenge: Shemp."

"What happened there?" asked Twilight.

"Well, in the Ducky and the Speak Nice, he finished second, and only a length or two behind Clerkalariet," Dash offered, "Yet, in the Belle Mountain, he not only won, but won in tremendous fashion. Shemp blew up and couldn't keep up, finishing dead last! He was so angry, and started the accusations of cheating that he never let up on through his whole career. He swore revenge one day, but his coaches wouldn't let him. They feared he might do something stupid on the track, and kept the two apart. The pair went on to win their meets separately, but they never raced each other again. Then Clerkalariet retired, and Shemp, to this day, swears he got out because he was sure he would be exposed one day."

"Where is this Shemp now?" asked Twilight.

"Oh, he's still racing," answered Rainbow Dash, "And he's getting ready to retire himself now. He has the respectable career himself, but knows it's time. He's been invited to compete in the race of the best ponies of that year, and any other past legends, called the Feeder's Cup, sponsored by an oats company. Clerkalariet would have been in this too, had he not retired."

"Well, that's quite a career," said Twilight, "It's a shame about the slander, though. Sometimes, that kind of thing can stick harder than good things, and that's whether or not it's the truth."

"Yeah," agreed Rainbow Dash, "No one really knows where he is now. He's been in seclusion ever since, and some believe that is even more reason to believe he had done something underhooved."

"Well, maybe, one day, we can get a chance to see if he knew this pony," said Twilight, "Maybe he can tell us what happened."

Rainbow Dash nodded and said, "Well, I promised to help Scootaloo to better her wing strength so she could learn to fly. It's so hard being a late bloomer."

Twilight nodded, knowing how she had her troubles learning how to fly herself and said good-bye to her friend as she took off for other things.

As she went, she spotted said pony in the market, doing some shopping. She came down and said, "Oh hi! You must be the new pony here."

He laughed a touch and said, "I tell you, everyone has been treatin' me like an international pony of mystery."

He put his hoof to his mouth and whispered to her with a giggle, "Been workin' on it like mad!"

She laughed, and then said, "I heard you were involved with pro racing at one time."

He sighed and said, "Yep, I was. I could tell y'all few stories, but there's really nuthin all that interestin'."

"Well, my friend was wondering if you ever met the great Clerkalariet," she asked in passing.

Clark shuddered a bit, paused, and shook it off, saying, "Well, what makes you ask?"

"Well, I admit, you're about the right age," she answered, "And I figured you'd know only the greatest hoof racer ever."

"Well," he said, pondering, "What's there to know that ain't already known? Ya seem t'know yer history on the matter."

"Um, to be honest, I thought you would know some stories they might not print in magazines," she answered.

"Ah, you must've been lookin' at some of the magazines I donated t'the library," he answered, "Which must make you friends with that princess."

"Yep!" she said, all proud, "She's my best bud! She's a bookworm, though. She'll read just about everything."

"Did she figure out who this pony was?" he asked.

"Nah," she concluded, "I don't think she wanted to know who he was as much as what you might have known about the business. She just wants to know what that world is like at that level."

"Oh, well, that's fine," he said, seeming to relax, "Maybe one day I can talk t'her 'bout it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta be moseying along."

She let him go with his shopping, but something struck her odd. She sensed a bit of tension when she mentioned Clerkalariet. She wondered just why this might have been, and wondered if there was something he was keeping back. She did know of the cheating rumors, and wondered if he knew something about that he didn't want to say. With that, she followed him, keeping out of sight, moving from cloud to cloud.

Soon, she was at Ponyville Downs, and he went into his house. She landed on some of the roofing that covered the stands overlooking the main stretch of the track. After about fifteen minutes, she looked over and saw Clark jump the rail around the track wearing a set of goggles and trot out towards the end of the stretch. Not sure if she was visible where she stood, she ducked down a bit to watch. He started to look like he was limbering up, concentrating on that more than who just might be watching him. After about five minutes of that, he went to the point where the last turn becomes the straightaway, and watched him as he just stood there, staring down the track. She found this odd, wondering why he was just standing there, but then soon got her answer. After a few minutes, he tore off down the track as if he had already been in motion. He left a nice cloud of dust, a face of determination, every part of his body seemingly in motion and contributing to his every step. The one thing that caught her about this was his eyes. They were both fixed and full of fire. He seemed otherworldly in this state, and she wondered if this is what she looked like when she raced or tried for her sonic rainbooms. It hadn't even been a minute and he was already tearing down the backstretch, seeming to go faster and faster with every passing moment. At this, she wondered if all racing ponies got like this, and she had to admit she'd never seen an earth pony race up close like this. Another forty-five seconds or so, and he was flying down the home stretch, seeming like he was not even touching the ground. He crossed under the wire and then began to slow to a trot, going around the track in a cool down. "Wow," she thought, "I have to rethink about the speeds a racing pony can get."

She looked up at a clock tower and realized that he had run the course in about two minutes, nine seconds. He came back around, and one of the attendants saw him, saying, "Hey, that was amazing! You were only seven seconds off the track record."

"Well, I gotta stay in shape if I'm gonna coach," he answered, "I can't let some of these young colts show me up, y'know."

They laughed, and when they were not looking, Dash took off, thinking about what she had just seen. She would have to tell the others later.

That evening, they were together for some tea a Rarity's house, and Rainbow Dash told the story of what she saw. "It was incredible," she said, "He ran like the wind! I've never seen an earth pony fly before, but I think I saw it today."

"Well, he did say he was a racer, did he not?" mentioned Rarity, "I do believe they can all run like that, darling."

"But you don't understand," she said, "That fire in his eyes…it's like he was in another world. I know that feeling. It's that passion. It's like when I'm racing myself, or doing reserve work with the Wonderbolts, or I'm just flying fast for just the sake of going as fast as I can. I know I'm doing what I was born to do."

"Well, tarnation, girl," expounded a slightly confused Applejack, "If he was born t'do what he does, why should that be any different?"

"I don't know," responded Dash as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I guess what I'm saying is, if he was not all that as a racer, I mean, the way he seems to act like he wasn't all that much, then why did he look like he had such desire to run so fast, and ran as fast as he did? I think there's more to him than he lets on."

Twilight sighed and said, "And, I think somepony is letting her imagination run away with her. Look, he's been a racer, and he's just stretching his legs. If he likes to go fast, then you, of all ponies, should understand why. He's probably just having fun. Don't make too much of this. He seems to want his peace, so, let him have it."

"But, I…*sigh* maybe you're right," she conceded, "Sorry, Twilight: you always have been the voice of reason I guess."

She let it go, but something nagged at her inside. Something was amiss, and something in her wanted her to find out more about this newcomer.