The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 9: The CMC

***Day 6, midafternoon***

Applebloom walks back into the room accompanied by a white unicorn filly with a half pink half purple mane and an orange pegasus filly with a pinkish-purple mane, fuchsia I think. Applebloom leads the other two to Winona while telling them about what happened.

“…and then Fluttershy and the green colt said Winona was gonna have puppies!”

“PUPPIES!?!” The other two shout simultaneously.

The three fillies walk over to Winona and pet her while all talking at once so I couldn’t really understand what they were saying. Think of it like a constant high-pitched jabbering sound with the occasional squeal of delight.

Ok, cute as that is… not sure what to do in this situation. Strangely enough, Fluttershy seems a bit less apprehensive than Applejack, did not see that coming. Wait they stopped talking…and are looking at me… and why are Applejack and Fluttershy just standing there with smiles on their faces… I'm getting a bad feeling about this...

The three fillies advance as one with very worrying looks on their faces. They slowed down a moment before shouting, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MYSTERY PONY CATCHERS YAY!!!”

Ow, a bit loud. What do they mean by- uh oh. Well, I’m not gonna make it easy for them.

I glance upwards at my mane, “Hey Specs a little help here?” Specs looks down at the approaching fillies for a moment before diving into my bag and coming out a few moments later carrying the stethoscope with the “shield,” as I call the metal end, held in one hand using it as, coincidentally enough, a shield. He takes a defensive posture in front of me and narrows his eyes at the fillies.

And now I make my escape!

I start to make my way to the door when I realize something and turn to Applejack, “Applejack, would ya mind if I left my saddlebag here by the door till me and the girls there get back?”

She nods, “Feel free, better hurry though, Ah don’t think that squirrel a yers is gonna hold em off fer long.”

A high pitched voice comes from the other room, “AHH! Why's it so cold?!”

I set my bag down and look over at the Crusaders and Specter.

She’s got a point, even with the Legendary Stethoscope of Frost, Specter is still outnumbered by three fillies each of whom are bigger than him. Just hold them off for 30 seconds little buddy.

I walk out the door and stop about 30 hooves from the door and take a look around to get an idea of what I’ll be dealing with. Just as I finish my inspection the three fillies burst out the door and onto the porch pausing for a moment to lock onto where I am. Fluttershy and Applejack follow them with Specter on Fluttershy’s head looking like he’s proud of how long he lasted against such odds. I focus back on the three fillies who look ready to charge.

I give them a playful smile, “Well girls, I congratulate you on getting past Specter but the question is: do you think you have what it takes to catch me?”

What can I say? Kids are fun.

I power on Res to get ready for the chase. The familiar slight floating sensation covers my hooves just as the orange filly points at me.

“Get him girls.”

Cue the chase music!

And the chase is on. I move backwards and shift my weight to rotate around as the fillies start running at me. I make my way through the orchards at a steady pace making sure the fillies never fall behind. I have to give them a chance otherwise it’s no fun for anypony. We work our way through the apple orchards with me always keeping the barn in sight so I don’t get lost, which is a distinct possibility because all these trees look the same! Eventually the three start splitting up to try and cut me off, their attempts get closer but not close enough. I skate past the barn a few times, after one of which the orange filly comes around on a scooter which drastically increases her speed. She starts letting the other two herd me while she makes high speed runs at me, meaning I have to dodge now. This goes on for about ten minutes until the scooter riding filly circles around in front of me as we near the barn again. The other two are behind me and split up to surround me. I back up against a nearby tree as they close in.

They’re better than I thought… let’s see them counter this!

Just as it looks like they’re ready to pounce on me I mentally alter Res and start walking backwards up the tree I backed into until I’m up in the leafy branches looking down at the group. They all have their mouths open, looks like they weren’t expecting that. The white one gets an indignant look on her face for a split second.

“Oh, come on!” She exclaims while gesturing at me with one hoof.

I chuckle at the look on her face while they all sit there looking up at me for a minute. They give me one last look as they walk around the barn.

Looks like I win.

I climb down the tree and walk back towards the door to the house to get my stuff and see what Fluttershy and Applejack were up to this whole time. I see them sitting on the porch and start making a beeline towards them.

I hope those fillies aren’t too sore about me getting away from them, maybe I’ll let them win next time-OOF!

*thump*

(Stop the music)

I get blindsided by the very fillies I was thinking of and end up lying on my side on the ground while they’re all standing on my body with triumphant looks on their faces. I put on my dramatic defeat face.

“I have been caught! I submit to you and your superior tactics! You win.”

“Yeah!” The three fillies simultaneously exclaim as they high hoof.

“Alright you three, you caught ‘im let ‘im up now.” Applejack says as she and Fluttershy walk over to our pony pile.

I wave off the farm pony's request, “Believe it or not I’m actually quite comfy right here." I look up to the victors, "So then my little wranglers, what will ya do now that ya caught me?”

Applebloom answers while scratching the back of her head with a hoof, “Well, ummm, Ah don’t know, what do ya do once you catch a pony?”

The white one and the orange one just shrug.

I offer a suggestion, “Might I go ahead and ask something while you three are decidin’? I figured out Applebloom’s name but would ya mind tellin me yours?” I nod at the two ones I don't know yet.

The pegasus filly proudly answers, “I’m Scootaloo.”

The little unicorn goes next, “And I’m Sweetie Belle.”

Applebloom pops into the conversation again. “She’s Rarity’s sister.”

I nod at the information.

Applebloom puts a hoof to her chin in thought, “Huh, ya know now that Ah think about it ya never did answer any of mah questions.”

I shift slightly to remain comfortable in the dirt, “Well Ah’ll tell you what, as a prize fer catchin’ me, how bout I do my darndest to answer any questions you have?”

Applejack buts in, “Ah got one!”

I shake my head at her, “Now now, I’m only answerin questions from these three right now.”

Applejack walks over to Applebloom and whispers into her ear. Good old loopholes. Bloom turns back to me, “How come ya keep changin’ the way ya talk? Ya talk like me and Applejack most of the time but Ah heard ya talk like everypony else in town a few times too.”

I shrug, “Just a quirk of mine, Ah tend to talk with the accent of whoever Ah’m talkin to, it takes a sec to kick in and it also tends to linger but Ah don’t mean nothing by it. Over time it’ll probably get less noticeable but it’ll still be there.”

The Apple filly hums, “Hmm, ok, oh what’s yer name?”

I do a slight wave with a hoof, “Rhino, at your service, Ah’m a doctor down at the veterinary clinic in town.”

She nods in confirmation, “Guess that’s how ya knew what was makin Winona act all weird. Alright one last question, how are you so tall? Ya’ll are just about as tall as mah brother and he’s one of the biggest stallions in Ponyville.”

I shrug again, “Just ended up that way, Ah’m taller than both mah parents so Ah’d guess somepony back in mah family was tall and Ah just got the luck of the draw.”

Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Oh I have a question! How did you do that skating spell and that other one you used to walk up the tree?”

I answer while getting back to my normal way of speaking, “Well actually they’re the same spell, it’s actually a little something I made myself I call Res for short.”

She tilts her head with a curious expression, “What’s it short for?”

“Resistance Entropy System.”

She blinks and stays silent a moment before responding, “…I’m going to stick with Res. But hey, you think maybe I could ask you a little more about it, like tomorrow or something?”

I ponder this before answering, “I was thinking about going to the library after work tomorrow, so you could always meet me there after school.”

“Okay!”

She seems really excited, it’s sweet but I feel there’s going to be something else she’s going to ask as well.

I turn my eyes towards the horizon, “Well the sun’s starting to go down so I guess Fluttershy and I should start heading in the direction of town. You girls feel like joining us?”

Scootaloo answers, “Yeah sure-woah!”

At “sure” I levitated the three fillies off me and stood back up, setting Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on my back and Applebloom next to Applejack as quickly as I could. It’s generally considered bad manners to levitate somepony without their permission for an extended period of time. I grab the scooter and my bag with my magic as we walk closer to the house. The girls say goodbye to each other while Fluttershy tells Applejack that we’ll be stopping by again in a month to check on Winona.

The walk back was fairly uneventful, Scootaloo apparently decided she had questions though mostly they were about how fast I could go using Res. When I tell her that I could probably go pretty fast if I tried she seemed excited, but when I told her if I really needed to save that much time I’d just do a series of Blinks there she got all disappointed and I heard her grumble to herself that teleporting was cheating or something. Anyway, Fluttershy and I got the girls dropped off at their respective dwellings and we enjoyed some friendly banter as I escorted her home. The rest of the evening went by without a hitch, barring a few small explosions from Hydro’s room but you get used to those.

***Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale***

The silence of a weather factory is shattered by raised voices behind closed doors.

"Gone?! What do you mean it's gone?!"

"Just what I said sir, it appears to have forced it way through the wall, taking most of the wall with it."

"How? The only way it should be able to move is if somepony moved it."

"That's the thing sir, nopony has been near that room since we put it in there... we think it escaped on it's own."

"It can think for itself now... Celestia help us..."

Author's Note:

Wow there was a lot of accent action in this chapter, my brain keeps switching on me now so I have got to go read something where Applejack doesn’t talk much or something. As always, comments are encouraged.

Comments

[Atomic Vortex]

Explosions from Hydro's room? Jeez how many tissues does he go through! Must come out like a floodgate! Damn I'm good with puns!

[Rhino]

509687 Oh you.

[Atomic Vortex]

509796
And don't you know it!

[Spamotron]

The only thing that bugs me is that Rhino seems to know a number of complex spells. Remember a regular Unicorn who's interest aren't in magic have a hoofful of spells related to their special talent and probably a couple of minor utility spells that help out around the house. Res feels like the kind of spell that would require a deep understanding of magic and physics that you probably couldn't pick up just by dabbling.

[Rhino]

510586 Correct, there is a bit of a story behind that and shall be explained later on. As for knowing a number of complex spells: Res is probably the most complicated one he has, he just casts it A LOT and thus it's almost second nature now, it definitely was not always that easy. The only other complex spell he's shown is the nerve one and that is a standard medical one that he doesn't entirely understand the origin of and thus has limited use to only scanning and cushioning.