Out of the Darkness

by SergeantShenanigans

Ch 22: Competition pony

He gazed into the box not knowing what to expect, on the inside there was a golden heart shaped pendant and a picture. He picked up the picture and looked at it, on the picture he saw himself as a child, Starswirl, another young colt with a cyan mane a green coat and purple eyes, and a mare that looked almost the exact same as the younger colt, but she had magenta eyes.

This raised even more questions to Star "Who are those two ponies?" he thought to himself.

He stared at the picture for a few moments before noticing that there was something strange about this picture, it was much clearer than any picture he had seen since he could remember.

He sighed "Yeah, that is just what I needed, more questions about my past" he thought sarcastically

Eventually he stopped staring at the picture and put it back into the box. He turned back to the pieces of the telescope and, only knowing how it was supposed to look when he was done, started to put it together.

He tried about 42 times before he finally gave up on trying to put it together, he put the lens back onto the main cylinder part of the telescope, and that is how much he did successfully "I guess I don't have a knack for building" he thought

Starting to feel tired Star looked outside to see what time it was, the sun was just past the horizon, it had just set. He had a very large smile on his face, now he could just sleep and wake up to go to the race the next day. He laid down into his bed and fell asleep.

Star found himself in a strange trance-like state, just as he had once before, he was experiencing a flashback in his dreams. He looked at the scene before him and saw himself, without his hood on, speaking to Starswirl.

"What happened to it?" Star asked

"It absorbed the spell, I don't know about any side-effects yet" Starswirl responded

"It absorbed the mind-reading spell?" he asked in surprise

"Yes, but while wearing it you can't read anypony else's mind, the amulet seems to read yours" Starswirl explained

"How? The amulet is an inanimate object" Star said in confusion

"Using its ability as a conduit of magic, instead of using conventional means of doing spells, it takes your thoughts and uses them as a spell. In other words, if you think of what kind of spell you want to cast and what result you want, that is what will happen. It takes the energy from your body and uses it to accomplish the goal" he explained

"What if you don't have enough energy to cast a spell and you try to use it?" Star asked

"It will do just what actual spell casting will do, it will drain your life force and kill you" Starswirl said bluntly

The scene shifted before him as he stirred into consciousness. He looked around to see that the sun had risen and it was morning. He got up from his bed and walked over to the window to see what time it was. The sun was still low in the sky "I still have an hour, I might as well ask Twilight if she has a book about the race so I can memorize the path" he said to himself

He made his way down to Ponyville and to the library where, as always Twilight was reading a book "Hey Twilight, I was wondering if you had a book on the Running of the Leaves, I think it would be good if I memorized the path I have to run today" Star explained

"Sure, one second" she said putting down her book and looking over her book shelves. After a moment she levitated a book out of one of the bookshelves and gave it to Star "Here, this book will have everything you will need to know about the Running of the Leaves"

Star sat down and immediately began reading it

The Running of the Leaves is an annual event that ponies participate in; it is a friendly race that helps get all of the leaves off of the trees to get ready for winter.

Above this explanation it showed a path that ran through Whitetail woods, which was the path he was supposed to run. Thanking Twilight he went on his way to Whitetail woods

When he arrived he saw a ponies gathering near the front of the woods. He approached them but was stopped by Mayor Mare "Are you going to be participating in this event?" she asked

"Yes" Star answered

She slapped the number 58 onto his flank "Here's your number" she said leaving him to mingle with the other racers.

Star approached Rainbow Dash and Applejack "So, which one of you two is going to win the race?" he asked

"I am of course" Rainbow said confidently

"Don't get yer hopes up, cause I'm gonna win" Applejack said competitively

"Well, I am going to take third then" Star said happily

"Third?" they both said in unison

"One of you two will take first, the other will take second, so I am going to take third" he said simply

"Ya aren't even gonna try ta beat us?" Applejack asked curiously

"I will try" he reassured her "but I doubt I will be able to keep up with you two"

"I am pretty fast, aren't I?" Rainbow said egotistically

"Not as fast as me" Applejack said in a competitive tone

Just before they could continue with their banter they heard a voice in the megaphone "Welcome everypony, to the annual Running of the Leaves!" he recognized the voice as Pinkie Pie's "What do you think about the competitors Spike?" she asked the unseen baby dragon

"This year's competition looks fierce! Up front we have the two most competitive ponies in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Applejack!" he said popping up from inside the basket of the weather balloon that Pinkie was floating in

"Last year they lost because they kept sabotaging each other, but this year they won't be doing that so everypony be sure to try their hardest to keep up with them!" Pinkie finished

Everypony shared a glance at Applejack and Rainbow Dash before Pinkie continued "Now, everypony to the starting line!"

All of the ponies that were racing lined up at the starting line, Star recognized Lyra and Bon Bon who were participating in the race, he would try to see if he knew anypony else in the crowd, but he didn't know anypony else in town so he got up to the starting line "Alright everypony are you ready?" Pinkie started

"Get set!" Spike continued

A bell rang and all of the ponies started running "Aaaaaaannnnndddd go!" Pinkie said after the bell had sounded.

They all started off to a good start and surprisingly enough, Star was keeping up with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but quickly falling behind as they kicked up their speed to pass each other. He looked behind himself to see that he was still in third place, as he had predicted.

It was a long track so every once and a while in between he would take a break by walking, soon enough the crowd of ponies that were also competing in the race caught up and passed him. Star simply enjoyed the rest of the run, he knew that he was going to take last but he was fine with that.

After a long run he finally saw the finish line. He approached and passed the finish line and heard a roar of cheers as he was swept over into a crowd of ponies "Congratulations! You won the race!"

Star was stunned, everypony else had passed him "How? I was in last place!" he said incredulously

"No you weren't silly! You took first!" Pinkie said happily

"But everypony passed me! I saw them!" he said in disbelief

"Well you were the first pony to pass the finish line so here is your medal!" Mayor Mare said happily giving him a golden medal

"That means something bad must have happened to everypony else" Star commented "Pinkie, let's get into the balloon and search for everypony else"

They got into the balloon and flew above the woods looking for the missing race ponies, they finally found them, they were running the wrong way through the woods, they somehow got turned around and were running back to the starting line. They approached the crowd in the balloon "HEY! YOU PONIES ARE GOING BACKWARDS!" Star shouted

All of the ponies stopped and turned to see Pinkie and Star in the weather balloon "What are ya doin in that thing and not in the race?" Applejack asked

"You ponies must've taken a wrong path and gotten turned around, we figured that out and came to tell you" he explained ignoring the question

Hearing this all of the ponies turned back around and started to run the correct path. Star and Pinkie went back to the finish line and waited.

After about another 20 minute wait the other ponies came into sight. Star heard Pinkie and Spike commentating again "Rainbow Dash is in the lead, no Applejack, no Rainbow Dash, no Applejack" she said as they went back and forth

They passed the finish line in what appeared to be a tie "It's a tie!" Pinkie confirmed

"Are you serious! Again!" Rainbow said in frustration

"At least we both got first" Applejack said happily

"That's where you are wrong" Star objected

"What place did we get then" Rainbow said reluctantly

"You both got second" he answered

"Who got first?" They said simultaneously

"I did" he said simply

"HOW!" Rainbow said in surprise "Everypony passed you!"

"I was the only one who didn't take the wrong path" he explained

"How did ya know what path ta take in the first place?" Applejack asked

"I found a map of the course we were supposed to run from a book in the library and memorized the path" he answered

"Ugggghhhhhhh! You sound like Twilight!" Rainbow said in frustration

"Is that such a bad thing?" Twilight said walking up to her friends, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie

"It isn't a bad thing, it is just annoying" Rainbow admitted

"So, how did you girls take the wrong path anyway?" Star asked

"Well, I think it was when we got to the fork in the road with the arrow sign" Rainbow thought out loud "Somepony must have put the arrow pointing in the wrong direction"

"That would make sense, I didn't follow the path with the arrow pointing towards it because I still had the map and path memorized" Star said

They talked for a bit before there was a lull in the conversation "Now what?" Twilight asked

"Pinkie, as I promised I am going to go and eat a LOT of those pudding cupcakes, I will see you girls later" he said leaving to go to Sugarcube Corner

When he arrived Pinkie was at the counter, she had somehow gotten there before him, but he decided not to question it "Alright Pinkie, I have a pouch full of bits and a craving for those cupcakes"

Four hours, two hundred cupcakes and an eating contest later Star was laying on the floor beside Pinkie rubbing his stomach "I can't believe I almost ate as many cupcakes as you, and that I thought it would be a good idea"

"You still did good, you ate two hundred of them, I ate two hundred twenty three" she said happily "and that is something to be proud of, nopony eats as many sweets as I do"

Just then their other five friends walked in the door to see Star on the ground without his hood on rubbing his stomach with his hoof and Pinkie doing almost the exact same thing "What happened? Did the cakes leave the sweets pantry unlocked again?" Twilight asked

"Cupcake eating contest" Star answered

"Two contests in one day? What are ya the new Rainbow Dash?" Applejack teased

"He isn't awesome enough to be the new me" Rainbow said defiantly

Twilight rolled her eyes "Who won?"

"Pinkie did" Star answered

"How many more cupcakes did she eat than you?" Rainbow asked

"Twenty three" he answered

"Only twenty three?" Twilight asked incredulously "How many cupcakes did you two eat?"

"I ate two hundred and twenty three, he ate two hundred" Pinkie answered

"You ate two hundred cupcakes!" Twilight asked Star

"Yes, and I will never be eating anything else ever again EVER" he emphasized "Why are you only surprised by me eating that much? Pinkie ate more than me" he asked

"We've come to expect that from Pinkie, but we have never seen another pony who has eaten that many sweets" Rarity responded

"There is a first time for everything" he said rolling himself over to stand up "What were you girls all doing here? You don't usually travel around in a full group unless something bad happened" he paused "Did something bad happen?"

"No, we were going to invite you two to a picnic to celebrate the race, but I can see that neither of you would want to after that" she explained

Pinkie suddenly jumped into the air "I would LOVE to go to a picnic" she seemed unaffected by the cupcakes anymore

"I appreciate the offer, but I am just going to go home and try to put that telescope together again" he said

"You couldn't put it together yesterday?" Fluttershy asked

"I wasn't entirely paying attention to it" he admitted

"Why were you distracted? Worrying that you were going to lose to me in the race?" Rainbow asked

"No, I just found the key to the box" Star said as if it were no big deal

"WHAT! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?" Twilight yelled

"I found it last night, I haven't had a chance to tell you till now" Star said slowly

"What was in the box?" Pinkie asked "was it a present? I love presents! What was it?"

"It was a picture and a golden heart shaped pendant" he explained

"A picture of what?" Twilight asked

"Me as a child, Starswirl, and two other ponies I don't recognize" he explained finally starting to feel better after his cupcake binge

"Wait, how do you have a picture of that? Camera's were invented a hundred years ago not a thousand" Twilight questioned

"I have no idea" he admitted

"Can we see the picture?" Rarity asked

"Sure" he answered reaching into his saddlebag and grabbing the box. He opened it and brought out the picture "here it is"

Twilight grabbed the picture and they all looked at it "Awwwww" they all said simultaneously

"You used to be so cute!" Fluttershy commented absentmindedly

"Ummmm…. Thanks?" Star said awkwardly, not knowing how to handle this particular situation

Realizing what she said Fluttershy hid in her mane and turned a bright crimson "This picture is much clearer than most, how was it taken?" Twilight asked nopony in particular

"I have no idea" Star said as he took the picture and put it back into the box.

"Maybe she was your mother?" Pinkie guessed

"Maybe, but if she is then I had a brother" Star said

"So now that this mystery is solved, we only have one thing left to do, decipher what we can from the journals" Twilight said

"I guess so, well you girls enjoy your picnic" Star said leaving to go home.

He found it slightly hard to walk while full of cupcakes, especially two hundred of them, so he walked at a very slow and monotonous pace the whole way home. He finally arrived but it had taken him an hour and a half to get there.

He walked into his home and lay down in his bed to think. "What am I going to do now?" he thought about it for a moment before deciding "I guess there is nothing else I can do but try to decipher the books and be patient"

He started to try and decipher the books again before a thought came to him "What if there is something I missed in what I have already deciphered?"

So he read back through what he had already deciphered and found that he hadn't missed anything "Oh well, it was worth a try"

He then tried again to decipher the books, learning how the amulet did spells he decided to try it as it had been explained "Alright books, I want you to translate into Equestrian text from your rune text" he then thought of the rune's changing into letters, and sure enough he felt his magic transferring into one of the books.

He then flipped through Starswirls journal expectantly looking for something new, he found nothing so he turned over to his own journal hopefully and opened the book. He flipped through pages of runes before he finally came to a page that was translated into Equestrian text, it read

Today was a strange day, at first I thought that somepony had figured out my secret, but it turned out that the secret they found out was just that I could see in the dark, for a while there I thought that I would have to go into hiding. Starswirl was furious and my mother was in a panic, if anypony found out my secret there would be a reckoning to pay.

Star stared at the passage in his book "Great, just great, now I have another thing I have to find out, except now it's some secret of mine"

He decided to press his luck and once again tried to decipher something out of the journals and surprisingly enough he actually deciphered two more things, one more page out of his journal and one more out of Starswirls.

Reading through Starswirls it was a very similar passage to the one he had just read, but instead Starswirl stated how he was angry and if anypony actually found out about the secret then there would probably be a war.

He then read through the other page he had deciphered and it looked like a recipe of some sort, under it he read

This is the recipe that my mother taught me today, it is the family recipe for our sweet and sour pie, I love this pie so much, I just got through eating about a hundred of them!

Note to self for the future, eating more than one pie will cause an addiction to it, even an obsession, now I have to go and get more

Star chuckled to himself about this, he would have to make some tomorrow, maybe if he loved it enough he would remember more about his past. Resining for the night he put the books away and went to sleep.

Comments

[moguera]

Alright! What was in those cupcakes? Confess or I'm reporting you to the FDA!