Blazing a Trail to the Past.

by Daylight_Dreamer

57- Double vision.

I decided to start my search for Applejack by meeting back up with Gilda and the others so they could help me look. It turned out to be an even better idea than I had thought as the entire mane six had met up below the start line to watch Scootaloo's first race together.

"I told you Scootaloo would make it in time," Gilda said, "She just ran past followed by her unicorn friend."

"Speakin' O' that," Applejack spoke up, "did anypony see Apple Bloom run by? She's not gonna want to miss this. She's wanted to see Scootaloo fly since they met."

"There's actually something I should tell you all about," I said, "Somethings come over the crowd."

As if on cue Discoed appeared next to me holding a stuffed pony figurine. It was a stark white earth pony with no cutie mark.

"Good news," He said, "I neutralized the spell, and even better. I finally added 'the unnamed idol' to my collection."

"The unnamed idol?" I asked.

"It was a gimmick about sixty years ago, while I was still trapped in stone," He answered, "They were sold as stark white ponies, with the option to have them come un-stuffed. The idea was that they could sell them cheaper and you could do the coloring yourself. They didn't sell for very long as the cost savings were minimal and they only came in earth pony. Only a few ponies had them sent pre-stuffed, and never died them. These are the hard ones to find, known as 'the unnamed idol'." He held it in front of my nose, "and it's in mint condition."

"That's the lucky charm that nice traveling sales-pony gave me," Harvest moon revealed himself to still be with the group, "he said it would help Sweet Harvest win if I put it in just the right spot."

"Well, it didn't do her any favors did it?" Discord asked, "but that's not necessarily your fault. What did this sales-pony look like?"

"Well there were two of them," He said, "Ah'm pretty sure they were brothers or at least cousins. They were kinda yellow, with red manes, one had a mustache. Real fast talkers. Ah didn't want what they were sellin', but ah told them where ah was goin' and they offered me that thing sayin' it was a lucky charm that could make anypony famous."

"Guys!" Gilda shouted, "The race is starting."

I had mixed feelings about dropping the subject when I hadn't even gotten to where Apple Bloom was, but I decided it was best to let the rest just enjoy the moment. Considering the reason Apple Bloom took the kick I assumed she would be ok with the extra fifteen minutes without her sister if it meant Scootaloo got the full audience.

I can't say I was disappointed when neither Scootaloo nor Sweet Harvest took first place. Scootaloo won on the first round, then seemed to hold back so she didn't wear herself out on the other two, she still never took last. Sweet Harvest was in second place on all three. A pony named Thistle Whistle took the blue ribbon.

As soon as the cheering died down Applejack turned to me, "So where is Apple Bloom?" I could tell she had been waiting for that answer. As any concerned sister should.

"That figure was making it dangerous in the crowd for anypony with any amount of fame," I worked around the topic in an attempt to lighten the blow, "The Crusaders got stuck in the middle of it. I had to take her to the Wonderbolt's first aid station."

"Is she hurt bad?" Applejack asked.

"Why don't I take you to her," Sweetie Belle said as she walked up, "It's about time Jerry enjoyed his party."

"Alright," I said, "Just let the doctors do their thing."

"Whoever's comin', "Applejack said, "let's go!" She took off at a gentle trot.

"Don't worry," Sweetie Belle said, "I bet you five bit's I can hold her back a good five seconds!" Her horn sparked as she started galloping to catch up.

"So who would trick Harvest Moon into sabotaging his daughter's Wonderbolt debut?" I asked.

"You mean other than my ex-wife?" Harvest Moon asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I recently found out Sweet Sunset married me because she didn't want her children to be flyers," He said, "she figured they would be farmers. She didn't even expect a pegasus, but she seemed to miss the part where my grandpa was a Wonderbolt dropout."

"So you think she may want to ruin this whole event?" I asked.

"Ah wouldn't doubt it," he said, "she said it was just gonna lead to her being attacked by fan-ponies. Ah can't say ah disagree but ah figure it's up to her. Ah filed for divorce when I found out she had been telling Sweet Harvest that ah was the one that wanted her to be content on the farm, and that ah was gonna be disappointed in her if she went off and tried out for the Wonderbolts. All so she could pretend to be supportive when Sweet Harvest went her own way. That was just two weeks ago ah found out, ah came here to tell Sweet Harvest about it in person, and let her know I'm ok with her livin' this life."

"Sound's like a pretty elaborate 'I told you so!'" I said, "Can you tell us anything else about these sale's ponies?"

"Not really?" He said, "It was late at night and ah had been drinking after a long day on the road."

"Could it be them?" Twilight asked pointing a hoof at Flim and Flam hanging out by the open bar.

"It could," was all he said.

"I better handle this," Discord said walking directly through a group of high-class ponies to get at the infamous brothers. We all followed wanting to know what was going on.

"Well if it isn't the guests of honor complete with an entourage?" said Flim.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" asked Flam.

"Do you know anything about this?" Discord held out the figurine.

"It looks like the little known but very sought after 'unnamed idol' put out by Hy as an early attempt at a 'build a pony' concept," said Flim, "It was a failed experiment leading to hundreds if not thousands of hideously colored personal keepsakes that weren't really worth anything in a collectors market, and just a few completely untouched examples that are now worth thousands of bits."

"At least that's what it looks like," Flam jumped in, "This is clearly a reproduction. We'll take it off your hooves for say... ten bits."

"You're not going to fool me that easily," Discord said snapping his fingers causing the figurine to disappear, "I've been collecting these things longer than you'll have a chance to. My question is, have you seen that one before?"

"It's hard to say if we've ever seen that one," said Flim.

"They may be rare," Flam added, "but they are all the same."

"The last time we saw one was only a week ago," Flim suggested.

"But they weren't selling for our price so we passed," Flam quickly added.

"Who was it?" Discord asked.

"It was a mare with an orange coat and red mane," said Flim, "that's about all I could tell." He seemed nervous,

"She declined to give us her name," Flam said, I could tell he found this fact annoying, at least I knew this much was true.

"Did she have wings?" Harvest Moon butted in.

"If you're asking if she was a pegasus," Flim said, "we couldn't tell."

"She was wearing a sort of cape," Flam added, "with the hood up. It could have been a unicorn for all we know."

"I guess that will do," Discord said, "ta ta." He led the group away to a relatively empty area. "They're lying about something. I don't know what, but it was all over their faces. I'm going to spend the rest of the party on patrol, but I think the rest of you should get back to the fun. We don't want to stand out any more than we already have."

"Just for the record," Harvest moon said, "Ah still don't know if those were the ponies ah met, but ah put muh bits on Sweet Sunset havin' somethin' to do with this."

"I'll keep that in mind," Discord replied, "it's the best lead we have after all."

"Why are you doing all this?" I asked, "you could leave it to me."

"Because I take this as an act of sabotage on my friend's party," Discord answered, "A party my friend desperately needs to enjoy the rest of. I suggest you find that blue maned filly and keep an eye on her. Since I know you won't be able to have fun if you're not helping."

"Ok," I huffed, "but I expect a full report when the party is over."

"Yes, sir!" Discord saluted and an olive green helmet appeared on his head before he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Sweet Harvest, one o'clock!" Pinkie shouted. We all looked at Pinkie's one o'clock and sure enough Sweet Harvest was flying our direction. A closer look revealed Scootaloo trotting to keep up with her.

Harvest Moon and I both ran out to meet our daughters with Rainbow Dash and Gilda right behind me.

"Did you see me?" asked Scootaloo as they came in for hugs.

"Sure did!" I replied, "you did great!"

"Can we go check on Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo asked, "I wanna tell her how well I did,"

I thought about that a moment, "I guess a quick visit shouldn't hurt, but we have to let her rest, don't get her too riled up."

"Would you two mind staying with us for safety?" I asked Harvest Moon and Sweet Harvest.

"Ah think that's for the best," Harvest Moon agreed.

"Are you kidding?" Sweet Harvest gushed, "hanging out at a Wonderbolts party with my dad, my new flying buddy, and a Commander of the Wonderbolts! Somepony pinch me."

The rest of the group decided to go out and do their own thing so we didn't crowd Apple Bloom. Gilda had even decided to go with Rainbow Dash.

Once the four of us reached the first aid station I was shocked to see Applejack sitting outside with Sweetie Belle.

"What's up?" I asked.

"That unicorn is checkin' things out," Applejack explained, "she said we could stay, but ah don't care to see muh sister's skull." She shuddered at the thought.

"Did you take the bet?" Sweetie asked me.

"Sure," I humored her, five bits weren't that much after all.

"What bet?" Applejack asked.

"I bet him I could hold you back when you tried to barrel into the tent," Sweetie answered honestly.

"Well ya sure pulled that off," Applejack blushed.

"I held her long enough for the doctor to calm her down," Sweetie boasted, "it took a full minute and I could have gone longer."

"I left my bits in my pants," it felt weird saying that without the word 'other', "I'll pay you with interest after the party."

Sweetie just squeed.

A white unicorn mare with a greying light blue mane came walking out of the tent and got our attention, "I'm finished if you would like to come back in."

We all entered the spacious tent to find Apple Bloom sitting up in the bed eating cotton candy. She saw us right away but seemed more nervous than excited.

"Doctor?" she said, "are you sure I'm fine? Ah, think I'm seein' double. Except that Daylight has a hat and that Scootaloo has blue hair."

I just now realized Harvest Moon was even wearing a dress shirt similar to mine. He just needed the vest and some wings and nopony could tell us apart. His cutie mark was even an orange full moon with blue clouds cast over it. It could be easily mistaken for my fire and ice yin-yang at a glance.

Naturally being an orange pegasus only a couple years older Sweet Harvest did resemble Scootaloo, her cutie mark even had a similar wing in the middle, but one would be hard-pressed to mistake the berry bush in the background for the shield on Scootaloo's flank.

Scootaloo laughed at her friend's mistake, "No, your eyes are working fine. This is my new flying buddy Sweet Harvest and her dad Harvest Moon. They really could pass for us, huh?"

"Ah'd say," Apple Bloom laughed, "Y'all had me thinkin' muh eyes were still messed up."

The white unicorn cleared her throat, "It seems your sister is one tough filly. She sustained a skull fracture yet somehow escaped any serious injury to her brain or spine. She needs to take it easy for a week or two, and we have a few potions to prescribe, but she'll make a full recovery."

"Can ah watch the last race?" Apple Bloom asked hopefully.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Said Commander Calm Glider, "It's starting now and we need to give that swelling a few more minutes to go down before we can mend things up."

"Ah, horse apples," Apple Bloom said, "ah really wanted to see more flying before it was done."

"It's ok Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said, "There's still our show at the end, not to mention we can do it for you again if we have to. Right, Dad?"

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

9259765
Have you tried the group Authors Helping Authors? Also, you can find The Other Sans here.

[Daylight_Dreamer]

9385627
I appreciate the advice, I have been working with The Other Sans and have discovered an amazing free program called Grammarly that seems to work wonders.

However, I only get on here for a little bit each day and I made a LOT of mistakes before realizing how bad I was doing. I do apologize for the chapters I have yet to fix.