Taismo: Discovering Equestria

by RockStarMLP

Chapter 8

It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, the sun shining bright across all corners of the town, ending a relaxing night for most, but a long night for others.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were three tired fillies, having stayed up for all but a few hours from a night that started as another crusade to earn their cutie marks to finding and taking care of a strange pegasus filly. They brought her into their clubhouse and gave her a place to rest for the night as they each wondered who this was, waiting to get some answers.

The last to awaken was the found filly, who struggled her eyes open to find herself wrapped in a blanket and a sleeping bag, picking her head up with a yawn as the three other ponies sat nearby, all looking at her with strange glares. Her hearing wasn’t clear at first, but began to understand what they were saying as she woke herself up more.

“Look, she’s finally wakin’ up,” the little yellow mare said. “I reckin’ she got the best night sleep anypony here’s ever had.”

“Great,” added the white unicorn. “Maybe now we can see who exactly this pony is, and where she’s from.”

The stranger’s hearing was at her best when she heard the third pony, another pegasus, say “It’s about time. We didn’t stay up practically all night for nothing and…”

The voice stopped speaking as the three ponies saw the new pony stand up. She was around the same size with a light blue coat, her mane and tail both white with emerald blue highlights, but what made her appearance stand out the most were her eyes. This filly’s eyes looked transparent, unable to be clearly identified of their true colors, and looked to be staring off into any random direction. The three friends saw this, but didn’t know exactly what to say at first, so they just said nothing at all.

Their guest spoke up by saying “Hello? Is anypony there?” and her head turned left to right in search.

It was clear to the three little ponies now – this pegasus was unable to see a thing.

They looked at each other, lost at how to approach this, but Scootaloo was urged by the other two to say something. Thinking carefully, she said “Uh, yeah, right here… in front of you,” trying to be as kind and polite as possible. The pony turned her head towards the sound of the voice, and Scootaloo added “Yeah, that’s right,” to confirm it.

“You must’ve been awful tired last night. You slept through pretty much the whole mornin’,” Apple Bloom said, pointing her hoof out towards the window. Her friends looked at her for the gesture, to which the pony quickly lowered her hoof and felt embarrassed.

“Where… where am I? How did I… get here?” the pony asked, her memories of last night absent.

“You were passed out in the orchard, so we brought you here to our clubhouse,” Sweetie Belle answered.

“Oh,” the fily responded. “Thank you.”

An awkward silence fell for a few moments, but Apple Bloom broke it by asking “Would ya mind tellin’ us who you are and where y’all are from?”

The little pony didn’t say anything, and showed to be very shy and timid about the topic. “How about we introduce ourselves first, and then you can say who you are?” the little unicorn suggested, to which she got a gentle nod in response.

One by one, then all together, the trio of best friends introduced themselves-

“Howdy, I’m Apple Bloom…”

“My name’s Sweetie Belle…”

“And I’m Scootaloo, and together we’re…”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

The pegasus filly didn’t say anything again, but not at first. When she got the courage, she said “Nice to meet you,” followed by a pause before adding “Thank you for letting me sleep here. Perhaps I should get going and…”

“Get going? To where?” Sweetie Belle asked. “And for that matter, do you even know where you are?”

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo yelled, and both ponies stared at their unicorn friend. “That wasn’t the best thing to say!”

“It’s alright,” the filly told them. “I take it you’ve seen, and I’ve shown you that… well, I’m blind.” She bowed her head lower with her eyes shut, only to pick it back up and show them her eyes wide open with their glassy appearance. “My name is…”

Her shyness began to overtake her as she found it unable to speak much at all. In encouraging hope, Apple Bloom told her “It’s alright, you can tell us. We’re not bad ponies. What’s your name?”

The filly then told them “My name is… Snowstar. I’m from…”

“Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom! Are y’all up yet?! We got company here y’all should meet!”

The fillies could hear Applejack calling out for them from a distance, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders raced over to a window to see her getting closer. “Hey, it’s my sister. Maybe she can help us out with…”

“No! Please, don’t tell anypony about me! I don’t want anypony else to see me!” Snowstar said, pleading with much despair in her tone.

“What? Why not?” Scootaloo asked, but they got their answer as they saw the newly identified pony’s eyes starting to cry.

The trio had to think of something of what to do, and they thought up something quick. “Alright here’s what we’ll do- I’ll go with Applejack back to the farm while y’all get Snowstar comfortable here. Tell her what’s where and catch up when yer done.” Her two friends responded with “Got it,” and the yellow filly made her way out of the clubhouse and raced over to meet with her sister.

“There you are, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said. “I was startin’ to wonder if the three of you hightailed it elsewhere this mornin’. Where are those other two?”

“They’re… still getting’ ready. They’ll catch up in a minute,” the little pony replied, and she led her big sister back and away from the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo finished with Snowstar after just a couple minutes, then raced out and caught up with the other two.

/)∞(\

Sweet Apple Acres was home to the finest apples and apple-based products in Ponyville and the greater area. Applejack and her family served as the tenders to the entire orchard, just as all their relatives do with their own orchards across Equestria, the kin humorously being the only competition each orchard has.

The family invited Twilight and Rainbow Dash to bring Tails and Cosmo over to take a look around the farm and continue the couple’s welcoming into this new world they were sent to. The two didn’t mind at all, remembering from their own lives that even in uncertain times, it was best to maintain positivity and relaxation when possible, especially for the heroic fox and alicorn princess who worked most of last night trying to solve problems and understand what Zecora shared with them. Nevertheless, a day with friends is always enjoyable, and that’s what they looked forward to for the day. When the group of four arrived, Granny Smith was waiting for them outside the barn-styled house that was the Apples’ home.

“Well good mornin’ there, youngins,” she greeted them. “And a pleasure to see you again, Princess,” she added, trying to bow in respect but then hurt herself in the attempt. “Ah, my back! My back!”

Without saying a word, Rainbow Dash dashed into the house and brought out the old mare’s rocking chair to sit in. When she was situated, Twilight asked “Are you alright, Granny Smith?”

“I’m fine, just these old bones not holdin’ up like they used to,” the elder Apple replied. “Anyhow, glad y’all could stop on by. Applejack said she was mighty happy to show you two around the farm.” Her attention was directed towards the two new guests.

“Oh no, the pleasure is all ours. Thank you for inviting us to see your home,” Cosmo replied, and took a look around the general area. “Just judging by what I see, you have a very beautiful farm, and your trees look very well.”

“You got that right. This place has got the best apples your teeth will ever sink in, and the cider… the cider…” Rainbow began to say hovering in the air, but then got lost in her own world when thinking about her favorite drink. Little did she recall was that Tails had a taste of it when he woke up in Twilight’s home a few nights ago.

After rolling her eyes at that, the purple pony began to hear Tails whispering to her “Is she talking about what I drank the other night?” She just nodded with a small smile. “Well, it was great cider, but I see that some ponies like it A Lot more than others.”

Twilight laughed a little at that and said “Some ponies, yes. None more than Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. They go crazy when cider season is open.”

The cyan mare snapped out of her trance upon hearing that, and said “I don’t get ‘crazy’ over cider season. That stuff is the most delicious thing ever! You can’t beat something that tastes that good.”

“Darn tootin’,” agreed Granny Smith, as she rocked backed and forth in her chair. Then, feeling lost, she said “Wait, what’s the best of whatever?” The other two ponies just looked at each other a little confused, while the fox and flower just stood where they were, feeling a slight bit awkward over that.

“You wouldn’t know where Applejack would be, would you Granny Smith?” Twilight asked.

“She said something about a little surprise she had in store for when we got here,” Cosmo added.

“We’re comin’!” yelled out the voice of Ponyville’s favorite cowpony. Coming up from out of the orchard was Applejack, who was followed by three little fillies. “Glad y’all made it. Sorry for not bein’ here when you arrived. Had to go harvest a few little latecomers.”

“It’s alright,” Tails replied. “We only just got here ourselves. You’ve got a really nice farm from what we’ve seen getting here.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, Tails. I’m sure you’ll love it best, Cosmo, being so in tune with nature and all,” Applejack said, which surprised the Seedrian because before that point, she explained about herself and her people to just Twilight and Rarity.

“Rarity told me about ya when she stopped by last night to drop off two of these Crusaders for a sleepover.”

The three fillies then stepped up to see the two new visitors, amazed to have never seeing as, what they described, ‘a big fox and tall flower’ before. The couple could only laugh a little, and returned to say how they’ve never seen ‘such nice ponies’ themselves.

Cosmo made the first introductions by saying “My name is Cosmo, and this here is Tails. What are your names?”

Each filly then introduced themselves in the same manner they had done just a little while ago, but with a louder “and we are… The Cutie Mark Crusaders!!” and immediately showed off their club capes and colors.

The couple didn’t quite understand what they meant, so Tails asked them “Cutie Mark Crusaders? What exactly do you do?”

“Well, none of us have our cutie marks,” Scootaloo said, starting their explaination.

“So not only are we friends, but we work together to discover what our special talents are,” Sweetie Belle added.

“And so we can finally earn our cutie marks together and discover our special talents!” Apple Bloom concluded with.

“This one’s here the littlest Apple in our bunch,” Applejack stated, rubbing her hoof on her little sister’s head. “She’s a bit impatient, but a might determined little pony. I kinda told them about y’all but knew they’d like to meet ya too.”

Cosmo smiled and said “It was nice to meet them, too.” The trio then surrounded the couple, having several questions they wanted to ask and got right to it.

“So is it true that you guys are from a totally different place?” the pegasus filly asked first.

“That’s right,” Tails replied, “our home on a planet called Mobius.”

“That’s so cool!” the little unicorn squeaked.

“Now calm down there,” Applejack told the fillies. “There are our guests, so don’t be botherin’ them with a hundred questions like curious cats. Right now we got a treat for y’all over this way.”

She began to walk and lead the group, minus a now asleep Granny Smith, into the farmhouse kitchen where a big spread of apple treats were there waiting. Whole apples, apple fritters, apple slices, apple brown betties, two apple pies, it was a whole smorgasbord of fine apple treats. “Tails, Cosmo and everypony, have a treat of a Sweet Apple Acres brunch.”

/)∞(\

And feast they did. The couple were kindly allowed to go first, but tried to insist to not be treated so highly, and instead like the Cutie Mark Crusaders have the first helping with everyone else following. Getting their fair shares they made their way back outside to sit on some hay bales and eat together under the late morning sun. Applejack then excused herself to go down to the apple cellar to get one more ‘surprise’ to share, which turned to be a half-sized barrel marked ‘private stock’ on the side.

When Rainbow Dash took a good look at this, she stuttered to ask “Is that… Is that what I think it is?” with tears of joy forming in her eyes. The orange mare nodded her head to confirm the pegasus’s hope that it was – a barrel of apple cider left over from the last cider season.

“This here’s one of the last barrels we have before the next season. We always save a few drops for special occasions, and well, with Tails and Cosmo, the family decided that this was a special time for some,” Applejack said.

She then asked her sister to go and get some mugs for everyone, and the yellow mare went off to do so, along with the help of her two friends. Even though there were three fillies in the house working together, it still took a little longer than expected, but before too long they arrived with empty mugs, which Applejack immediately filled up and passed around to each open hoof and hand.

“Apple cider reserves! This is so awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, the last two words coming out at a higher pitch. She about to guzzle down her first of hopefully several mugs before Twilight used her magic to coat the mug in an aura to stop the drinking.

“Hold on there, Rainbow Dash,” the alicorn said. “I say we make a toast of this, to the Apple family’s kind gestures.”

“Well that’s mighty nice of ya, Twi, but we had a different opinion,” Apple Bloom stated.

“You know what, so do we,” Tails added, and a let Cosmo continue with “How about a toast, to new friends and wonderful fun?”

The other two fillies decided to play a small joke. “We weren’t thinking that,” Sweetie Belle started.

“We were thinking more of something like, to new friends and Awesome Fun!” Scootaloo concluded, taking a gesture from her favorite pony. They all agreed and gave a clash of their mugs together and took a drink.

After her first taste of it, Cosmo pulled the mug away from her face and swallowed some cider. “Oh my, this tastes delicious. I haven’t tasted something that seems so natural and rich since the herbal teas my clan makes.”

The group then went back to eating the rest of their meal and sharing some nice conversations with each other. Of course the Cutie Mark Crusaders asked all the questions possible about where the Mobius couple came from, what their world was like, and how their friends were, and the couple were more than kind enough to answer each one the best they could.

The three fillies were amazed by the answers more and more, and kept asking on and on about them, up until the point when the other ponies instructed them to take it easy on the question bombarding, and took the talking to a new direction that was more up Applejack and Cosmo’s interests- plant care and farming. One of the stories they went on to talk about was the first Applebuck Season when Twilight moved to Ponyville, and the process of ponies harvesting apples.

“I will say, even though she overworked herself to the core, she really did quite the job harvesting all those apples on her own. I’m just glad when the rest of the unpicked apples were pointed out, she finally asked for help,” Twilight said, concluding most of the story.

“I’ll say,” Rainbow Dash added, “especially after sending me on a crash course across town into your balcony.”

“How did that ever happen?” Tails asked.

“It’s another long story,” Applejack stated, and left it at that.

Cosmo looked out at the farm’s land, seeing the endless fields of apple trees go on as far as the horizon. After looking at all the seeable trees, she said “I couldn’t imagine having to try to do all that kind of work on my own. How do you and your family ever take care of all of those trees?”

“It’s not too hard, just needs hard work. Tell you what, how about I show you around the orchard? Big Mac’s out there collectin’ apples right now,” the orange mare suggested.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” the purple alicorn stated.

“Sure, why not? I don’t have any weather jobs until tomorrow morning anyway, so I have the whole day to do whatever,” the cyan pegasus added.

“Alright then,” Tails agreed. He then ate and drank what nourishment he had left, and offered to collect everyone’s empty plates and mugs. Rainbow, however, hung onto her mug, wanting another drink of cider for the walk. He took everything else into the kitchen, where he was asked to just leave on the counter to be tended to later, and afterwards the group made their walk out into the orchard.

/)∞(\

The walk was becoming very enjoyable for them all, and educational for Tails and Cosmo. Applejack told some family history about how the orchard came to be, with the three fillies adding the story of the founding of Ponyville from Granny Smith’s story they heard during the last zap apple season. They made a couple stops at hilltops to get greater views of the land and all the more apple-filled trees there were to be seen that the Apple ponies kept expressing their great pride of.

Soon enough they saw a few bare trees, an empty cart, and buckets filled with freshly picked apples surrounding each one. After a thudding sound, they all found Big McIntosh, who was busy bucking another tree to harvest its content.

“Hello there, Big Mac,” Twilight called out to him, his attention turning to the ponies, fox and flower, and gave a quiet and polite bow of his head to them all.

“Nice to see you again,” Cosmo followed. “Are you having a good day?”

“Eeyup,” the red colt replied.

The Seedrian felt her dress being tugged on by Apple Bloom, who wanted her to kneel down to whisper something. “I know my brother won’t say much, bein’ a shy pony at all, but he’s…”

Cosmo chuckled a little and said to the yellow filly “It’s alright, you don’t need to explain about it.” She and Tails were told more about the Apple family from the other ponies, which included the colt being the quiet type of pony, nothing that was a big deal them at all.

“Looks like you’ve got a lot of apples already, older brother,” Applejack complimented. “Need some extra help with anythin’?”

“Nnope,” he answered. He then began to pour the full buckets into the cart to take back to the barn.

When pouring in the first bucket, he found a second one being poured in just after his, then a third, then a fourth. Tails and Applejack went ahead and helped out with their strength, and Twilight used some levitation magic to help out too.

“We know you said no, but it never hurts to give just a little help,” said the two-tailed fox. Big Mac didn’t say anything, just gave them a kind smile and began to push the cart towards the next bundle of buckets.

“Hey, I just got an idea!” Apple Bloom yelled. “Why don’t we show Tails and Cosmo how we get our apples with some applebuckin’?”

Applejack had a little laugh and said “Well of course we were goin’ to show ‘em that, if they’d like to see that is.”

“Sure, why not?” Tails said, agreeing to the idea, and Cosmo smiled with the same agreement.

“What about you, Rainbow Dash? What do you think?” Scootaloo asked her idol, but the pony was too busy hovering in the air enjoying what cider she had left in her mug.

“I think she’s a little busy,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

The group made their way towards a couple trees that were filled nicely with apples. The youngest Apple sibling surrounded each tree with empty buckets, lacking the strength to applebuck herself, while the older two positioned themselves.

“Alright, now harvestin’ apples around here is simple like a pony trottin’, but it’s still somethin’ that works best with practice,” Applejack explained, standing by a tree with her rear legs towards a tree. “Now, after ya get a firm grip on the ground, ya spot a point on the tree to focus on as a target. Once ya have that, ya pick up yer hind legs, give a good thrust and…” Her hind hoofs struck the tree, sending a shake through it that loosened the fruit on the branches to fall out into the buckets. “…you collect your new apples.”

Big Mac then took his turn, knocking down the apples from the tree he bucked. Seeing how many full buckets there still were to put into his cart, and that being near full as it was, he took two more buckets, dumped them in the cart and strapped himself up to pull it.

Before he left, two apples fell out of his cart – one that shined very green, and another with more yellow skin – and rolled its way down to Cosmo. She picked them up and said “Big McIntosh, wait, you dropped a couple.”

He turned back to see her approaching, then held his hoof up to stop her. “You two can have ‘em,” he told her kindly.

Even though they felt a little full from the previous meal, the couple appreciated the kindness and said to him “Thank you,” to which he simply replied “Eeyup,” and began to walk off to the barn with his first filled cart of produce.

The couple looked at each other with a smile, each holding an apple that was their loved one’s hair/fur color, but Cosmo had a sense about the trees that she wanted to look into more. He saw this in her eyes, and tilted his head towards one of the just bucked trees. She gave him her apple, stepped up to the tree, and placed her hand against it, closing her eyes and not saying a word. She stood still for a few moments, keeping herself quiet before one of the ponies spoke up.

“What the heck is she doing?” Rainbow Dash asked, her attention back on her friends after finishing her cider.

“She’s sensing the tree,” Tails answered.

“She’s doin’ what now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sensing it,” the fox explained. “You see, Cosmo and her race have a special connection with nature that make them able to sense plants’ life force and state of being. Living in harmony with nature is a life’s mission for Seedrians, as they are part plant themselves.”

“Whoooooaaa,” the Cutie Mark Crusaders said, their minds blown from this information, like everything else they’ve learned.

Twilight, already familiar with the Seedrian ways, added “It’s amazing. Some ponies have to study advanced magic to try and connect with plant life, but like unicorns and alicorns with their magic, this looks so natural.”

Cosmo’s hand pulled back from the tree, and she looked up at its height, looking and feeling very happy.

“I sensed that your tree was very happy, and well taken care of. It’s like the applebucking, it’s a way of life for them, and they enjoy it,” she said, not to her love or anypony in general. Her attention went towards Applejack as she added “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see those who take care of nature so well.”

“Well that’s mighty kind of ya to say, but it’s nothin’ we don’t take no pride in. These trees are Apple family after all,” Applejack replied, appreciating the compliment. “You know, Cosmo, we could use somebody like you on the farm, bein’ so close to nature and all, and help keep things nice and fun, calmin’ like a picnic.”

“Did somepony say a fun picnic?!” yelled an excited voice, and popping out from one of the trees was Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry Pinkie,” Rainbow said, “there’s no fun picnic going on here right now.”

“But that does sound like a great idea. Why don’t we have a picnic with everypony tomorrow?” Twilight suggested.

“YES! We totally should! We can have sandwiches, ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, and cake, lots and lots of delicious cake! Maybe I should get some balloons and my favorite picnic basket and blanket and…” rambled the pink mare, but Applejack used her hoof to make her stop.

“Yeah, that all sounds good. Tell you what, why don’t you go tell the others about it and get picnic plans set up for tomorrow afternoon?” the cyan pegasus said.

Pinkie jumped up in the air excited, replying with “Okie Dokie Lokie!” and began to hop her way out of the orchard to make the proper Pinkie picnic preparations, leaving the rest of the group to continue on through the orchard.

/)∞(\

The group continued their trek through the apple trees, and in a short time they reached the three Crusaders’ clubhouse. The fillies began to become paranoid the closer they got to it, hoping that the older ponies wouldn’t ask about taking a look inside. They felt like the luckiest ponies of all time when Applejack led the group passed it, stating that because the three little ponies ran a little late earlier, they left it in a terrible mess that they should clean up first. They took advantage of that and agreed to go and do so, with Sweetie Belle racing to the clubhouse, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo dashing back to the house to get some ‘supplies.’

Now it was just the group of five friends strolling along until they reached a clearing through the next tree line, a small one but still spacious enough for Rainbow Dash to zip up into the air and have some flying fun.

“Nothing like some wide open air to stretch out my wings,” she said as she dashed in all different directions, leaving a rainbow trail as she flew fast. She paused to look down at her friends, more particularly the princess of the town, to say “You should get up here and do the same. It’ll help you improve your flying.”

“I’m fine on the ground for now, Rainbow Dash. Like what I was telling you a few days ago, just because I have wings doesn’t mean I should use them at every given moment. I’ll work on my flying when I choose to,” responded Twilight.

Unpleased by that, Rainbow said “Alright, fine, but sooner or later, you’re getting back up here for longer than just a quick sprint.”

Tails felt Cosmo nudge him a little, so he turned to see her looking at him with a grin. “Don’t you want to get back up in the air for a little while? I know you don’t like being grounded for so long,” she told him.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you can get airborne too. You a good flyer?” the cyan pegasus asked.

“Well I fly, but not always naturally. Back where we’re from I’ve made aircrafts that I love to fly around in, like my favorite being the X-Tornado. I’ve been wanting to get back in the air, especially since I feel like I’m nearly back at full strength,” the fox replied.

He then began to let his two tails twirl around, lifting him off the ground and up to Rainbow Dash’s level in the sky.

“I don’t recall him doin’ that the other night,” Applejack stated, referring to how the fox flew to his loved on and lifted her into the air for a kiss. “You two are just chuck-full of surprisin’ things, aren’t ya Cosmo?”

The Seedrian then replied with “I suppose so, but only to those who are new, just like how fascinating all the things we’ve come to know about you all have been for us. Truth be told, and like what you saw that night, he’s just full of surprises.”

Rainbow circled around the airborne Tails, examining the fox’s flying figure and seeing just what more he could do. “Alright, I’ll say it’s cool that you can fly too, but what cool stuff can you do?” she said.

“That depends,” Tails answered, “what would you expect me to do?”

He could tell that she was starting to challenge some of his abilities, so he took a page out of the ‘Stride Like Sonic’ metaphor and decided to play along.

“How about move clouds around, or control what weather than can come out of them?” the pegasus said, and she raced over into another part of the sky, and brought two clouds to give demonstrations, much like what Derpy showed them the other day.

She pounced a little rain out of one over an apple tree, and stomped on it to release a lightning bolt that struck the dirt ground, all before kicking the cloud into nothing. “You know, like that?”

Tails’s attempt showed no prevail after trying to simply reach out and grab the cloud, but instead it acted like any other cloud he’s ever seen, and his hands just went through it like air. He just shrugged with a little smug and said “Guess not. I prefer flying through clouds than controlling them anyway.”

“Alright, well how about agility?” the pony asked, and before he could answer, she sped into the air and began making many swift maneuvers. From sharp turns to quick positioning from one point to another to zipping through some trees, she showed to be very agile indeed. “Show me what you can do, and try to keep up.”

He saw her confidence coming out, and decided to give her a very small taste. With a smallest reserve of his energy, he showed off his own techniques, including what she did in the trees, but by appearance, faster. He even caused the others to lose sight of him, surprising the in-the-air mare from behind.

“Yeah, I know a thing or two about swiftness,” he told her, starting to feel more like his brother.

“Not bad,” Rainbow told him, “but let’s really prove to see just how good of a flyer you can measure up to, when compared to me of course.”

“OK. What do you have in mind?” he asked.

“Oh boy,” Twilight said, “I think I know where this will be going.”

“So do I, but I think they both want to do it,” Cosmo added.

Rainbow Dash then showed her full confidence and a little more ego when she said “Let’s have a flying race and see just how well you can keep up. In case nopony’s told you yet, I am basically the best flyer in Equestria, so don’t be surprised if my skills leave you in the dust.”

This was when Tails grinned with eagerness and competitive spirit, just like how his older brother would be. “A race, huh? That’s more up Sonic’s alley, but sure, I think I can take you on,” he said to her, “...and probably beat you before knowing it?”

Those on the ground listening just stood and watched the conversation continue on. “Oh boy, RD’s really goin’ to go all out with this. If there’s two things she hates, it’s bein’ shown up by anybody, and losin’.”

“I wouldn’t get too worried about it. Tails is just acting, something his confidence let slip out when he feels like our friend Sonic. He’ll just race for the fun, not for superiority,” Cosmo said.

The two in the sky just exchanged a little boastful pride before Rainbow said “Ok, then here’s what we do,” and she pointed out towards a mountain in the distance, one that once served as one of the earliest adventures of her and her friends.

“We start from here, fly to that mountain, circle it three times starting at the base going up, and then make our way back. First one back to the barn wins. Think you can handle that?”

“Gladly,” he replied, but then he took a different approach with his flying. He let his tails stop spinning, and just stood in the air as if he was on the ground, using his energy to keep him. “So, who wants to make the countdown?”

“I’ll do it,” Twilight called from below, and used her magic to project a green flag to be wave. “Racers, take your marks…”

The two did so, flying on opposite side of the flag in front of them, facing the mountain’s direction.

“Good luck, you two!” Cosmo called out from the ground, to which they both gave a friendly gesture with a wink, but his was shown with a little more romance.

“Get set…”

“Alright, buddy,” Rainbow said, “time to show you how flying in this place is really done.”

“Very well. I’ll give you some of my best, but what I’ll do will be nothing after you meet Sonic. He taught me how to be fast after all,” Tails responded.

“We’ll see about that,” the cyan pegasus said.

As she waved the magical flag in the air, Twilight called out “GO!” and the two racers dashed off.

/)∞(\

They were neck and neck for most of the first leg, each just barely passing the other by a head for fun. It was barely any time before they had reached the mountain, where Rainbow Dash decided to sprint herself in front and starting to fly up and around the mountain. Her love for racing was in full drive as she enjoyed her lead and the eased sense of keeping it, up until her opponent raced beside her and took the lead.

As her competitiveness began to show itself even more, she didn’t like the prospect of losing, to any other pony, or any other being.

“You think you’re hot stuff huh?” she called out to him. “Now to show you how it’s really done.”

She kicked into full swing and flew the fastest she could up to the mountain’s peak, just passing Tails beforehand. But instead of following the predetermined path, she went straight up into the air. The fox froze stopped at the top of the mountain, for only a few seconds, confused about what was now happening.

“What is she up to?” he said to himself, but then he remembered what he had come to learn about his new friend, and the cutie mark story she told about at the party a few nights ago. “Let’s see how this will end,” he said, and charged himself into the air, catching up to her.

The more the cyan pegasus flew up, the more confident she was of claiming another win to add to her success tally. As she kept flying up, she looked back to see just how far she left him behind, but to her shock, he was catching up faster than she could’ve anticipated. “Alright,” she said to herself, “time to give it what I’ve got.”

After flying just a few more feet up, she stopped and just hovered in place, waiting for him to reached just so far up before she dashed back down towards the ground. Tails stopped himself to see where she was going with this again, and when he put together her actions and history he and Cosmo had learned, he knew what was coming. All he did at that point was give a small smirk, and tapped into a reserving well of his power to try to equal in effort, if not more.

Cosmo, Twilight, Applejack, and any other pony who could see watched as they saw Rainbow Dash race back down towards the mountaintop, watching her pull off an incredible feat. Just as it looked she was about to hit the mountain, she created a Sonic Rainboom, reaching the supersonic speed that left a beautiful show, and angled herself straight back to Sweet Apple Acres.

A rainbow was left in her trail as she raced on, her confidence was at its highest at that moment, believing that victory was hers and hers alone, that is until she saw gold.

As she reached the home stretch of the race, from the distance came Tails, racing at a speed even faster than Rainbow Dash, but he seemed different. A golden aura shrouded him as he was racing through the sky, almost like a shooting star, and before anypony could explain it, he passed the pegasus pony in an instant, just before the apple orchard’s property line.

By the time he reached the barn, the gold aura disappeared, and there he stood on top of the barn roof. It was only a moment before Rainbow Dash finished and landed on the roof, and she just stood in place for a several seconds as he realized what just happened.

“That was a good race,” compliment the winning fox. “If only Sonic was here, he’d give you a real race.”

The cyan pony didn’t say anything at first, and her friends began to wonder if she was bitter over her loss. When her head turned over to look at him, she was smiling, and looked not disappointed, but accepting, and cooperative.

“Not bad, but next time, we’ll make it a better race,” she said, and he reached her hoof out towards him. Now for Tails, he’s shaken a few hooves as if they were hands, but for this case, he saw something different. Giving the same facial expression, he clenched his hand in a fist, and gave her hoof a bump, a fist-to-hoof bump, to best put it.

“So, where did that gold come from?”

“I think you already know,” Tails replied, “but I’ll tell you more about it if you tell me about what you did back there.”

Comments

[masterblotart]

one, what happen back the team and two how long until cmc secret is blow?