Too Slow

“Too slow!” He said as he laughed at me. I looked away in shame as other began to join him.

“Nah, Nah, I’m just kidding, here.” He stifled his jeers for a moment of once more to again offer a hoof in friendship. I decided to trust him again and tried to meet him halfway.

“Too Slow!” he brought back his hoof before I could touch it. Everyone laughed again. I blushed and looked away.

“That’s not nice.” I mumbled in embarrassment, shame and anger. I tried not to look at the filly to the bullies side.

“You know were just joking around.” The larger colt pushed my shoulder back in a jovial manner.

“Y, yea.” I nodded. The bell rang. And the circle of young ponies dissipated and headed back towards the school house.

“Don’t mind them.” I looked at a small, chubby pony walk by me. “You’ll get your cutie mark, everyone does.”

“You got in another fight again!” I tried to ignore my mother. “I told you, this needs to stop…”

“They made fun of me again mom.” I said. “They were pushing me around.”

“Don’t go down to their level sweetie.” She said, wiping some dirt from my cheek. “Try to make some friends.”

“I have friends mom…”

“You have that one trouble maker that hangs out with you.” She said judgmentally. “Honestly, I don’t know how his parents raised him…” A bug on the ground distracted me as she continued speaking. He voice droned on as my mind went blank. It was a roach, just tracking along the floor. It shone with the moonlight coming in through the window and scampered towards a destination that I could not calculate.

Suddenly a hoof replaced the roach on the floor. “Uh, we need to clean up this house sweetie, bugs are getting in. This is why I tell you to tidy up your room, now go; I’ll clean this up.” I did as I was told, strangely re-entering the world I was a part of and walking to my room.

I was going to do it today. I was going to tell her I liked her, that I liked her since last year. I was going to ask her to the dance.

Her name was Spice. She was a pink pony with sparkles, and freckles, just like me. She was pretty, she smelled nice, and she was the nicest pony he knew. I didn’t talk to her much, well, I didn’t talk to most anybody much, but when I did talk to her, she never said anything mean.

I took a deep breath and walked to her. This was my chance. The bell would ring soon and then I would have to wait for tomorrow. I had to do this now.

“Spice?” my voice was shaking. She looked at me. I gulped.

“Do you want to go to the dance with me?” I tried to smile.

“Oh.” She seemed surprised. “I, um… Tails already asked me. Sorry.”

Too slow. Too slow.

“You think that she would ever go with you?” asked that bully. “I’m the fastest pony at our school. What do you got? Twerp?” he smiled. “Whats you name again? Hey, buddy, tell me, come on…”

I brought back my hoof and aimed a blow to the colts face, but he smiled and backed away.

“Oh! Tough guy huh. You want to fight?”

“Shut up.”

“Come on! Fight me!”

“My, My mom says…”

“Are you a momas boy?”

“My… my mom…” I couldn’t think strait. I couldn’t talk well, and I wasn’t sure what I was doing.

“Your not that fast.” I said, blurting out the first thing that sounded smart.

“You wanna bet?” he asked. “You wanna race?”

“Ohhhhh” the crowd that had gathered spoke in unison.

“Tomorrow, after school.” Tails smiled. “Be there.”

“It’s your name honey, there’s nothing to be ashamed about, and I thought you and Tails were friends?” My mother spoke.

“Not anymore. He’s a jerk now.”

“Don’t talk mean like that! Now I know his mother and she is just the most…” the words droned on as I thought about other things.

“Look at people when their speaking honey, it’s not polite.” She adjusted the height of my chin and I passively stared through her as she continued to speak. “I heard that show you like was coming to town… er, whats her name…”
I looked down when I saw a glint of something catch my eye. It was a slug on the ground, slowly marching towards the leg of the table.

“Anyways, you should be careful out because I heard the Pegasus ponies are letting a few rainclouds few tonight and I might be muddy tomorrow…”

I watched the slug as it slowly contracted, use all it’s strength, and slick it’s way another half inch forward by stretching as far as it could. And it would repeat again, and again…

“…That kid you hang out with, what’s his name? You know the fat one. I heard he cut some fillies hair in class today and got detention. I’m telling you, you shouldn’t hang out with him…”

Did it have eyes? I wasn’t sure, it seamed confused when it hit the hard surface of the leg. Did it want to go up? Or did it just want to get past the obstacle in it’s way. If it had eyes I could tell. It slowly began to move it’s body up, onto the vertical surface.

“You still haven’t cleaned your room, and I swear there’s more bugs then ever… AHH!” She screamed at me, nearly making me drop the slug from my hoof. “What are you doing?”

“It wanted to get onto the table…” I tried to explain.

“Just, throw it outside where it belongs.” She said. “It could be poisonous…”

“It’s a slug.”

“I know it’s a slug!” she snapped. “I don’t want it in my house.” I walked on three hooves to the window and put it out on the still.

“Now, as I was saying…”

“I’m actually really tired.” I interrupted her. “Can I clean my room tomorrow?”

She sighed in resignation. “Fine.”

Too slow.

“Are the racers ready?” I got into a racing position, copying Tails beside me. It was a race to the tree and back. There were a few mud puddles along the way, and ponies were scattered, waiting for the judging filly to start the race.

Too slow.

“I bet I can make it back before you can even reach the tree.” He snickered. I didn’t have anything smart to say, so I didn’t respond.

“On your mark?”

Too slow.

“Get set?”

My muscles tensed, I took in a deep breath, and I made contact with a filly in the audience. Spice. She was watching. She was smiling. I wasn’t sure if it was at Tails, or me but she was still really pretty, and I smiled back.

Suddenly I heard someone call my name. I turned and saw my friend, and everyone else yelling. “Run! It started!” I snapped my neck back and saw Tails charging towards the tree. I cursed myself for getting distracted and galloped hard and fast to catch up with the young colt.

Too slow.

Tails’s outline became smaller and smaller as I followed. I heard some people cheer my name, but it didn’t make me feel much better. I dodged a mud puddle, just to step into another, but as my face and sides became wet and caked I kept on running. I just had to keep going.

He was at the tree. I saw him turn and…

He fell! He slipped and fell! I redoubled my efforts to gain the lead and managed to round the tree just as he was getting back up.

Too slow.

They were cheering for me now. Maybe because they liked me, probably just because I was an underdog. I had never run so far so fast before, and it was beginning to show. My chest heaved and my lungs burned. I began to hear another set of hooves beside me. I knew who it was and did not bother to turn. My eyes were on the finish line. It was right there.

Too slow.

Just in front of me however, was a peculiar object. Right next to a mud puddle was a snail, slowly trekking across the field. My legs were tired, but I tried to bring them up and push me forward as hard as I could. I tried to concentrate.
The snail suddenly flew upwards, just like the earth below it, and I flailed my legs in the empty air. Head over hooves, I rolled and tumbled into a puddle of mud, and splashed the thick liquid everywhere.

I was so tired, I wasn’t sure if I could stand. I got my face up from the mud and saw Tails on the other side of the finish line with Spice.

Spice was looking at me… well, so was everypony else, but she was looking at me. Then she smiled.

And then she laughed. Others began to follow suit. Some lost their footing and rolled onto the ground.

I looked at my muddy body in shame, but I soon found what they were laughing at. The snail had found it’s self on my rear. I sighed and tried to wipe it off.

It didn’t come off. The crowd roared with laughter. The lack of mud covering the object just served to make it clearer.

I tried to shake it off, but it was stuck. I summoned up the strength to get out of the mud and hit it with my fore hoof.
It didn’t come off. The crowd changed from laughter, to once again chanting my name. I didn’t know what to say.

“Snails! Snails! Snails!” I was short of breath and my throat was dry, if I had anything to say then I wouldn’t have been able to say it anyway. My face was wet and my vision was blurry, but I wasn’t sure if I was crying or not. They didn’t stop their chanting. I went to my knees and closed my eyes like a snail hiding in a shell. I tried not to listen. I opened my eyes just to look back.

I looked at the snail on my flank. This was my role in life? This was my mark? My name and my purpose? I looked back into the crowd and saw a few ponies begin to walk away once they had become bored. Slowly but surly, the chanting did subside. One by one the ponies left me in the mud. I never got another look at Spice.

Too slow

“Hey Snails.” I was woken from my stupor by a familiar voice. There was Snips. That chubby little unicorn had stayed. “You alright?”

“… yea.” I lied.

“You ready to go back home?” he asked.

“No.” I told the truth. “… mom doesn’t like bugs.”

“At least your moms around.” He rolled his eyes. “Hey…” he spoke as if he just had an epiphany. “Lets ditch this place.” I wasn’t sure what he mean, or how to respond.

“I heard Trixie is going to preform Ponyville this week! We could totally go!”

“My mom wont let me go out on a school night…”

“Nah, lets just leave. I do it all the time.” It was a concept I had never entertained before, but it was immediately appealing.

“I didn’t like this place anyways.” Snips said.

I quickly realized, neither did I.

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