Friendship is Weird

by Local Loco

Heart Racer Part II

Another bright sunshiny day in the town of Ponyville. The streets bustling with busy ponies on their busy way. At the center of it all are two ponies, a green Pegasus mare and an orange earth pony stallion. The stallion has an eager smile on his face as the two continue to trot around town. The mare looks nervous but still has a smile on her face.

“This has been a fun day, Mareian.” The stallion says as happy as always. “You’re my best friend in all of Equestria!”

“Well Hope, I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” The mare took a deep breath before looking back at the stallion. “Every time I am around you my heart beats out of control and to tell you the truth, I kind of like it… what I am trying to say, Hope, is that I want to be more than your friend… I love you.” The world around them slowly cracks into darkness as the stallion frowns.

“I prefer stallions.”

The world shatters around the mare as she falls into the darkness. She sees the stallion trot away with another stallion that looks just like her. She screams as multiple disembodied heads of the stallion she confessed to circle around her with varying emotions.

“I think of you like a sister.”

“You’re not Cheese Mare.”

“No Mareian, best friends don’t do that.”

“I love Lucky!”

“You’re just like all the other mares in my life. After me, but never my heart.”

At her breaking point, the mare screamed into the darkness, flailing her wings and legs as she does so. Suddenly a bright magical aura lit up the darkness. Coming out is a dark blue alicorn. “Princess Luna!?” Mareian screamed.

“Facing North, thou must calm thyself. Tis only a nightmare. Your dreams can never harm you.” Mareian began to relax herself a bit, though still suspended in the air of the dark void the two of them were in. “Is there a reason thou hath dreamt of young Hopeful Journey? You may confide in me for I am your friend.” The princess of the night asked.

Mareian took a deep breath, or at least she did in the dream. She had reached a calm as Princess Luna’s comforting presence enveloped her. “Luna, it’s Hope. Something about him makes me feel… special.” She sighed as she explained herself. “Always so eager on everything. Facing off against a dragon, your coronation, getting a job. His smile never seems to waver…” Mareian takes one last deep breath as she finally meets eye to eye with Princess Luna. “Really makes me envy Cookies. His relationship with Sky… Hope’s sister…GAH!” She slams her hooves into her face and begins to float backwards in somersaults.

Princess Luna teleported closer to Mareian and smiled at her, her voice calm and resolute. “It is ok Facing North. The choice is yours. Always remember that thou hath friends who are better suited to aid through these times.”

“I can’t ask Cookies. He’d give me some kind of baking analogy and I’m not going to talk to his partial mute of a brother. Worse case of asking Lucky is that she might have the same kind of feelings towards him knowing her luck. That just leaves EC and her dragon that claws my sides.” Mareian lets out a disappointed groan. “I just know if I tell him, he’ll say ‘I love you too’ and then continue behaving the same way he always does.”

Luna chuckles a bit. “Mr. Journey is the type to behave as you say. If that is what thou considers a worst-case scenario then thou hath none to worry. In the end the choice is up to you my little pony. Sleep well.”

Mareian awakes from her slumber. She is in a bed facing towards another bed with her friend, EC in it. On the floor is Lucky, peacefully sleeping on four big pillows with her hat gracefully on her head. Mareian takes a look out the window and sees the dark clouds.

“Rain.” She sighs. “I guess that means no training with you, EC.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.” A voice came from underneath Mareian’s covers. It was Scales the dragon. His purple eyes illuminated in the dark dawn lighting as be pulls himself from under the covers. “Royal guards don’t skip training because of the weather, so don’t go counting on that. Get ready because her internal alarm should be going off right about…” Scales pulls out a pocket watch showing that it is mere seconds before the hour. “Now.”

As if on cue, EC lift’s herself up out of bed. Her hair and mane is a mess but her golden eyes meet Mareian’s hazel ones. “Alright girl, it’s time to get ready for our training. Time is limited so let’s use all the time we have to make you the best mare you can be.” She looks out the window. “That’s good, I don’t have to call the weather team to bring up a storm. Come on, Mareian!” EC uses her magic to get herself an umbrella meant to cover her face.

“Told you.” Scales got off the bed and followed EC. With a sigh, Mareian follows suite as they exit the library.

“Let me guess, you want me to clear the skies today? Should be simple enough.”

“No.” EC opens up her umbrella as she steps outside. “These raindrops are an enemy invasion firing arrows at us. Your mission is to scout Ponyville without getting hit.” EC said but Mareian only gave her a confused look, staring over at the smug looking Scales. “Fly as fast as you can around Ponyville trying not to get soaking wet. Stick to the road, but stay flying until you make it back here. Got it?”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!” Mareian says with a friendly salute.

“Ready? Set.” EC looks over at Scales who has his pocket watch still out and they both nod at each other. Mareian takes a deep breath. “GO!”

Without missing a beat, Mareian flies out of the library at high speed. She followed the path that EC suggested. Not many ponies out on a rainy day and those that are out have their umbrellas opened. Mareian’s bird point of view can’t distinguish which pony is under what umbrella except for a black and white umbrella heading for Sugar Cube Corner. The path is rather long and Mareian is starting to get soaked. She beats her wings faster and faster until she finally reaches the library again.

“Good time.” Scales said, showing the pocket watch revealing that two minutes had passed.

“But not good form. You’re soaking wet.” EC stated before looking over at Scales, giving him a nod as he starts to breathe fire on Mareian.

“Woah careful!”

EC’s horn glows, enveloping Mareian in her magic. “We have to speed up your drying process. The Best Young Flyer competition isn’t a race. You are going to be judged on your form as well as your speed. Sure, you can fly from point A to point B pretty fast, but if it’s all just a quick and easy straight line they’ll think of you as too simple, which is why some do tricks at the competition, to show that they are fast and quick thinking. The reason I used the enemy invasion analogy was for you to think and act quickly on how to avoid the rain. Now that I’ve told you, do you think you can come back drier?”

Mareian takes a look down the path that she had gone. There were several awnings that she passed that could have provided as cover from the rain. If she stayed low enough to the ground while still flying she could shield herself from the rain. She looked back at EC and nodded. “I’m ready.”

Scales stopped breathing fire on Mareian and gave EC a thumbs up. EC nods and looks back at Mareian, dissipating her magic. “On your mark, get set…” Mareian got into her racing position as she waits for the call. “GO!”

With a burst of energy, Mareian launches herself forward, her wings propelling herself through the rain-soaked air. Using her agility and quick thinking she’s able to find shelters from the rain ranging from awnings to trees and even open windows to keep her dry. Flying low, she was able to use roaming ponies and their umbrellas as protection though she kept apologizing to each one she had to use. She was making great time, barely a drop of water on her fur. She has a clear path back to the library.

*SPLASH*

“Oh hey, Mareian.” A chipper voice said as Mareian wipes all the mud off her face. “Sorry about that. Jumping around in the rain is so fun and calming I wasn’t paying attention.” Mareian feels a hoof press against her face and sliding off. She blinks a few times to clear her vision and is able to see Hope right in front of her.

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

“Hope, what are you doing without an umbrella?” Mareian was able to snap herself out of her silence, heart racing as she does so. Despite the interaction, she still remains in the air, wings flapping. “You’re going to catch a cold.”

“You make a good point, but I’m pretty sure I’m locked out of the house.” The stallion said with a smile on his face. “What about you? Why don’t you have an umbrella?”

Mareian had opened her mouth to explain herself, but EC’s words came to mind. “You are going to be judged on your form.” “…do tricks...” “Think and act quickly on how to avoid the rain.”

“Sweet Celestia I am not the brightest bulb in this shack of friends we have.” Mareian stated, a bit glum.

“I’m not the sharpest tool either, so that makes two of us.” Though he is covered head to hoof in mud, Hope gave Mareian a smile that shine through the grime. He reached out and wrapped his hoof around hers. “Come on, we can head back to your place and get all cleaned up.”

Were her cheeks not covered in mud, Hope would have clearly seen how much he made her blush. “M-my place!?” She stammered.

“Yes. Your place!” He said with no hesitation. “I said I was locked out of my house so we should go to your place to get clean.” The stallion pulled the Pegasus closer to him, only for her to stay flying. He looked at her in confusion before a smile brightened up on his face. “YOU’RE TRAINNING FOR THE YOUNG FLYER COMPETITION!?” Hope pressed Mareian’s face together with his hooves as his sparkling blue eyes stared directly into her hazel orbs.

Mareian tries pulling her head away, but Hope has it firmly in his grasp. All Mareian can do is look away as her heart pounds out of her chest. “Y-yeah…” She said shyly. “EC wants me to fly through Ponyville without getting wet. Now that I’m thinking about it, she probably meant for me to do so with her umbrella as a way to multitask flying at high speeds whilst holding on to something.”

An ever-brightening smile grew on Hope’s face as if a light had gone off in his head. “Let me be your umbrella!”

Before Mareian could potentially deny the offer, Hope went from wrapping his hoof around hers to wrapping all of his hooves around her body, hanging on to her like a koala cub. They were connected, belly to belly. “How is this an umbrella?” Mareian said strained from the weight of the stallion below her.

“Wrap your hooves around me, fly forward, and flip over. That way I’d be on top of you!” The two of them were getting strange looks from the passing by ponies. It didn’t help that the last words out of Hope’s mouth were words you just couldn’t look away at.

With a groan, Mareian followed Hope’s instructions and flew the rest of the path back to the library. She couldn’t help but feel the beat of Hope’s heart. Nothing about it is abnormal for a pony jumping around in the rain. Something about it was rather calming to Mareian. Not even the strain of the exercise was bothering her in this moment as she felt her own heart slow to sync with the stallion on top of her. She couldn’t see Hope’s face as both ponies were looking forward, but through the sound of his cheering voice, Mareian could tell she was making him happy. It wasn’t long before they reached the library.

“H-Hope? M-Mareian?” EC looked flabbergasted as the earth pony practically hovered over to her. During her wait, she had put on her helm for the day; her main exploding out of it as it usually does.

“We’re gonna take a break right now. Some pony got locked out of their house and needs a warm bath.” Mareian let go and flipped Hope off her, leading him into the library holding hooves. “Come on. Let’s get you all fresh and cleaned.”

EC and Scales both look at each other, the unicorn looked confused while the dragon looks annoyed if not done for the day. Scales shakes his head as the two go inside the Library. Mareian and Hope head into the bathroom and once they do, the sound of running water vibrates the library.

“Whassa!” A surprised sleepy sound came from upstairs. “Ya’ll bathing down there!”

“A certain somepony decided to play in the mud!” Scales hollered back up the stairs. “Go back to sleep, Lucky!” Scales decided to relax in the pillowed reading corner of the library as EC rummages through the ‘romance’ section of the library. She pulls out a book titled ‘Heart Racer: A Romance Author’s Guide to Real Romance by Cherry Heart’ and begins skimming through the book.

“Y-you’re a grown pony, Hope. You can bathe yourself, by yourself.” Mareian exits the bathroom with a lot less mud on her face than when she entered, though still soaking wet. She placed a hoof on her chest as she took a couple of deep breaths.

“Excuse me, Mareian, could you come over here for a moment.” EC beckoned Mareian over to her.

“Umm, sure…? Do you want Scales to dry me off first or…?” As Mareian approaches EC, the unicorn’s horn lights up, coating Mareian with magic before quickly pulling off all the water off her fur and tossing it out an open window. “…you could always do that? Since when?”

“Cookies put the idea in my head when he talked about how he applies spells when he works in the kitchen, but that’s not important.” EC brings the romance book to Mareian. She doesn’t say anything but she looks at Mareian before looking over at the bathroom and nudging her head towards it.

Mareian’s eyes widened as she swiftly stepped closer to EC and pressed the book up against her mouth. “Why yes, I know about romance author, Cherry Heart. I like how she makes her characters interact with one another and all that. Good times EC, but I flew around Ponyville twice and it feels like I just woke up. We can talk more when we don’t have a GUEST in the bathroom.” Mareian said with a forced enthusiasm as if to brush the conversation under the rug. She makes her way up the stairs while EC sighs and places the book back down on a shelf.

“Not really much to say to her then.” EC says a bit dejected as she heads on over to Scales and lays in the pillow corner. “Friendship problems are one thing, Scales, but love is another. You got any ideas?”

“Do I look like I do romance? I dunno, but Hope seems like the kind of guy who’d love anything so that’s all my input on the matter.” Scales says with a roll of his eyes. EC stares at the door to the bathroom and then looks back up the stairs and then finally at the bathroom again as Hope exits the room looking clean, but wet.

“That’s so refreshing!” The stallion says relieved. He notices EC approaching him and gives his friend a warming smile. “Hey, EC. You got something you need me for?”

“Hope, I have a friendship question related to you. How is your friendship with Mareian?”

“She’s fun!” Hope said without hesitation, smile beaming as usual. “I can tell she likes to liberate herself every once in a while and I like going on adventures!” He starts to chuckle. “I’m glad to have her around. She’s like a guide to me whenever I’m away from family or Cookies.”

“Or Cookies?” Scales speaks up with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep, or Cookies! He isn’t family yet, but I like to think of him as family. Heh… I like to think of you all as my family. A close-knit family of friends. Brotherhood and sisterhood. Companions until the end, even though I never want it to end. So yeah, Mareian is like family to me in a sense.”

“I…see…” EC says as she uses her magic to levitate an umbrella over to him. “Stay safe out there.”

“Won’t Mareian need it when you send her out again?” Hope asked.

“Don’t worry about that, we have more umbrellas. Plus, she’d worry about your safety so take it.” EC levitated the umbrella up to Hope’s face who smiles and grabs it with his mouth as he exits the library. EC smiles as best as she can waving him off. With Hope out of sight, EC sighs, levitates the romance guide, and begins to trot back upstairs. She finds Mareian laying down in her bed, her head in her pillows.

“Is he gone?” Mareian asked muffled through one of her pillows.

“Yeah.”

“Good…” Mareian removes the pillow from her face, revealing a stream of tears running down her face. She starts to verbally bawl while maintaining a smile on her face.

“Umm… it’s ok you can let it all out…?” EC said a bit confused.

“So-so liberating.” Mareian babbled, her breathing erratic. “I am e-elated. So-so happy… EC, I-I-I…” Mareian took a big gulp before looking back at EC, teary eyed and an unwavering smile. “I think I’m in love with him.”

There was a silence between the two. EC levitated the book she had and started to flip through the pages. “Chapter 11: Adventurous Stallions and How to Wrangle them.” EC read out loud.

Step 1

Find that stallion

Step 2

Make sure you’ll have fun

Step 3

Don’t forget to breathe-

Heart racer...

Step 4

Ask him out on a date

Lewd stuff

So, we’ll skip to step 8

To which you’re both happy-

Heart racer…

“As long as the two of you have fun together, you both will be happy.” EC holds out her hoof to Mareian. “And I know you’ll be happy; I can promise you that.”

Mareian wiped away her happy little tears and held her hoof out to her friend. “Thanks EC. You’re a good friend.” The two ponies came in close for an embrace.

“Can ya’ll cut the lovey dovey nonsense? I am tryin’ t’ sleep in.” Lucky jokingly complains as she lay on the floor below their hug. The three ponies look at each other before smiles form on their faces and they start giggling.

“So, I guess we should get back to training huh?” Mareian says looking out the window and into the rainy skies.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary anymore.” EC explained, getting surprised looks from both Mareian and Lucky. “Physically, you’re more than able to do well in the competition, surpassing my expectations both times even though you were soaking both times. You have it all figured out and what’s more important is for us to be there for you.”

Lucky smiled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, girl! I know I’ll be there cheerin’ for ya no matter what…” Lucky’s eyes start darting between the two mares. “Where we gonna go anyway?”

Cloudsdale, a city in the sky comprised of clouds. The Pegasus ponies gather at the Cloudsdale stadium for this year’s Best Young Flyer competition. There are Wonderbolts and royal guards in attendance as well as princess Celestia. Some earth ponies and unicorns are also in attendance though they have to stay on wagons and such objects that can hold them up on. In one such wagon is a daisy yellow earth pony quaking in fear and covering her eyes with her hat.

“WHY CAN’T YA’LL HAVEN THIS THANG ON DA GOUND!?” She screamed.

“Fillies and Gentle Colts! LIVE IN THE CLOUDSDALE STADIUM! CHECK ONE CHECK TWO IT’S THE ONE AND ONLY MIC CHECK HERE FOR YOU FOR THE BEST YOUNG FLYER’S CONTEST!!!” A voice boomed throughout the cloud stadium. The audience erupted into nonstop cheers. “We’ve got our wonderful Wonderbolt judges and hey, I even got a Wonderbolt here with me on commentary. Codename: Wanderwings, it’s drill sergeant Speed Sound.”

“That’s WONDERwings to you, flightless. We’re here to see a specticale of ponies performing their hearts out. My kids are even in this one and I know they got their little heart racer friend competing as well.” Another voice chimed in.

“Wonder wander. Gonder gander. That isn’t what the judges told me. We’ll get started with the event after a word from our sponsors.”

Inside the stadium’s waiting room is an anxious Mareian, pacing back and forth as she stares at the latest issue of Equestria Daily. She’s looking at an article titled ‘The Heart Racer, The Breath Taker & the Third Placer’ and the picture they used for the article was when Hope tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Mareian during the Running of the Leaves, though without reading the article it looks like they printed a picture of two ponies kissing. It’s in black and white so it would be hard for any pony who wasn’t at the event to distinguish the two without reading first. Mareian looked at the picture with a dizzy smile.

“Wow, you two REALLY went at it. How did it taste?” Mareian was accompanied by two large blue Pegasus ponies: Sky Sonata and her younger brother Alto Tenor. The mare giggled as she mockingly asked Mareian.

“Don’t you have a small unicorn to tease?” Mareian snarked at Sky.

“I would, but I’m only number 5 so I have to wait here with you.” Sky replied. Both Mareian and Alto looked at their numbers: 10 and 7 respectively. “But seriously, how’d you rate that kiss, my pegasis?”

“My heart was beating so fast and I couldn’t breathe for a moment.” Mareian whispered.

“So dramatic! So ROMANTIC!” Sky said with exaggerated enthusiasm before giggling to herself. “Winning this competition won’t win his affections, silly. I know my little bro.”

“Same.” Alto added.

“Winning isn’t the plan.” Mareian sighs as she places down the issue of Equestria Daily. “I don’t even have a plan. Just do a thing and something good will come out of it. He’ll be happy that I took part with you two so in a sense just being here is already doing the job. I just have to not look like a fool.”

Sky let out a snicker. “You already did look like one at that race. Front page material too.” She tries to reach for the newspaper but her hoof is swatted away by Mareian. “Ow… Sorry, sis. Just saying it how it is. Can’t look any worse than that, right bro?”

“Injury is always worse.” Alto added.

“And since we’re up all the way in Cloudsdale, and we aren’t exactly head-to-head flying, what exactly are you gonna get injured on? Slip and land on a cloud?” Sky started to laugh as a lighter blue blur with a rainbow streak came into the scene.

“OH hey, you guys! I don’t suppose any of you would like to trade places with me?” Rainbow Dash had pulled out her number to show to the trio. It was 2. Sky had a mischievous smile on her face.

“You can take mine. I wouldn’t want my Ponyville whether mare to stress herself out on this, eh?” Sky yanked the number out from Rainbow Dash’s wing and let her own number gently float down on her nose.

“That was easier than I-” Rainbow Dash pulls the number off of her face and her eyes widen. “FIVE! You were already just about to go on?”

“I am!” Sky says as the announcer calls up number 2. “Wish me luck!” She looks back at the group and gives them a wink and a smile before heading off.

Rainbow Dash looks at Alto and Mareian with a sheepish grin. “I don’t suppose either of you want to be fifth?”

“THAT’S MY DAUGHTER! EVERYPONY THAT RIGHT THERE IS PURE GENERATIONAL TALENT MY SKY SONATA!”

“She JUST came out and waved. She hasn’t even started yet.”

The announcer bickered with Speed Sound. Over in the audience, Hope, Cookies, and EC begin to cheer in their wagon while Lucky is still screaming terrified. Their wagon is connected to a rather meek looking dark Pegasus stallion with a swishy white mane and tail. He wears a hard hat and glasses and on his flank is an image of a lightning bolt coming out of a dark cloud. He smiles at Sky coming out and gives her a wave with one of his hooves.

An airhorn signals Sky to start. Her movements, while not the fastest, show such grace as she flies. Going through a couple of cloud hoops, she gathers bits of the cloud in her hooves. When she reached a high enough height, she dived down towards the wagon with Hope and friends on it. Her speed increasing as the result of gravity. Just before she could have collided into them, she performs a backflip triple corkscrew whilst flinging the clouds that land on the faces of Hope, EC, and the hard hat wearing Pegasus. Cookies stares at her with amazement as she plucks out two of her feathers and blows them right into his nostrils. She flies back to the starting point, exaggeratingly swaying her hips from side to side as she makes her way back. She gives a final bow as the audience erupts into cheers and whistles.

“Well then…” Cookies snorted out the feathers from his nose, hiding them in his mane before his friends could notice.

“Wassat Mareian? Did I miss it?” Lucky, who had been blindfolded with her bandana and improvably strapped down, managed to lift her blind up a bit before she started trembling the wagon. “NOPE NOPE NOPE!”

Back in the waiting room, Sky is greeted by her brother and Mareian. Alto gives her a small wave with her wings, while Mareian is pacing back and forth still. “Woah there, I thought you’d have nerves of steel at this point with Hope being your target audience. He’s an easy please that’s for sure. Ever smiling stallion that he is.” Sky giggles to herself. “Easy please...”

“You and your family probably have done these athletic events numerous times, but I never had. Sure, my focus is on H-” Mareian shoved a hoof in her mouth before she could finish. “Hope and my friends, entertaining them and putting smiles on their faces because that’s what a good friend does you know but there are still several other ponies who have never seen nor heard of me because I work at a library and not at the gym they’d all frequent on a regular basis AHHHHH!”

“You need to work on your breathing, sis. You’re gonna pass out from lack of air.” Sky said.

“Yeah… breathing… can’t keep forgetting about that.” Mareian takes a moment to do a bit of breathing exercises.

“Ha! I managed to get 11!” Rainbow Dash bursts into the scene, waving her number in Mareian’s face, causing her to lose focus and start coughing. “Watching you flop is gonna make my life a whole lot easier going forward.” The rainbow Pegasus starts to laugh.

“Oooooh rivalries! How exiting!” Sky said with an almost sarcastic enthusiasm as she starts laughing to herself. “You guys bother amongst yourselves for a while. I need to freshen up.” Sky makes her way to the mare’s locker room the three Pegasus look on. Mareian and Rainbow Dash look at her in confusion while Alto looks back with disgust.

“Eh friendly rivalry never hurts as long as we don’t get too physical with each other. Worse thing that can happen to us is that we get injured. Right Alto?” Mareian looks over at Alto his face still scrunched up in disgust as he nods at her.

“Oh, you’re just saying that so it hurts less when I become the best fastest Pegasus out there tonight.” Rainbow Dash boasted.

Mareian sighs as she places a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “You didn’t ever make top three acts at the talent show.”

Rainbow Dash pushed Mareian’s hoof off of her. “Yeah, I got beat out by a bunch of musically talented ponies such as your friends. That’s what usually wins talent shows. It was just pure luck that quack got third place.”

“Quack? She was a magician. Not a doctor.”

“POTATO POTATO!” The two of them look at each other before they start to laugh. “You know, I’m starting to get why that Wonderbolt likes you.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.” Mareian said with exaggerated enthusiasm. As the two bonded through snarky bickering, the announcer had called for Number 7 to which Alto got up and headed over to the starting area.

“What’s up with that guy?” Rainbow asked. “Isn’t he that shredder of a guitarist in that one group from the talent show? Why is a music nerd here?” Just as she said that, a loud boom shook the stadium despite it being made of clouds. The two Pegasus ponies look around in fear for a couple of seconds before Alto had come back with a pizza box in his hooves.

“Alto… where did you get that?” Mareian asked the enormous blue Pegasus pony.

“Ponyville.” Alto pulls out a slice, showing it to be olives and mushrooms, and puts it in his mouth carefully chewing. A second loud boom overtakes the stadium again. Rainbow Dash and Mareian look at each other before looking back at Alto with a bit of terror in their eyes.

“OOOH Olives! My favorite.” Sky comes back rather clean and grabs herself her own slice of pizza and starts messily chewing. “What did I miss?”

“An AMAZING SHOWCASE so far by all of these wonderful winged warriors!” One of the voices in the loudspeakers boomed.

“They all got potential there, Mic, but only one can be considered the Best Young Flyer.”

“I’d say it’s cheating how two of these competitors were trained by an official Wonderbolt of you asked me, miss Sound, but I don’t make the rules here I’m a radio host for Equestria Radio for that wonderful Weekend Wrap Up. Up next is Number 10: Facing Nor-”

“HA! SHARK FACE DID COME AFTER ALL! Tally that as another pony I trained, Mic. That is if you count land training. I ain’t seen how this girl flaps her wings and right now I’m on the edge of my seat.”

“Facing North, Shark Face, Heart Racer, and I think her friends call her Mareian. This mare has many monikers, but we’ll see if she can take the one for Best Young Flyer.”

Mareian stood before a massive crowd. She looked around to find her friends, which didn’t take long as Hope was cheering louder than any pony else in the stadium. It also helped that he made a banner that said ‘A-MARE-ZING’ with her cutie mark crudely drawn on the left side and her face on the right. She felt a pang in her heart for a second before shaking her head. She pointed in that direction, moving her hoof vertically as if motioning towards that section, and then she raises her hooves. Hope raises his hooves which starts a domino effect as every pony else raises their hooves.

The airhorn sounds off the start of Mareian’s turn. She aimed herself towards Hope, flying as fast as she could towards him. Without missing a step, Mareian made it look like she was running upwards on the hooves of the audience before flipping back and kicking a piece of cloud through one of the cloud hoop obstacles. The audience cheers as she starts to fly through the obstacle course upside-down. Her movements, unwavering and elegant as she gracefully twists, turn, and spin past the obstacles without fail.

“WOOOOOOOO MAREIAN YOU GOT THIS!” Hope cheered as she flew by.

“Wait ya’ll, it’s her turn now?” Lucky took off her blind for a moment, but got startled by her surroundings and clung to the wagon with enough force to shake it. “NOPE!”

“Oop!” Hope loses his balance in the shake and falls off the wagon. Mareian watches as her friend starts to plummet down to the surface of Equestria.

“HOPE!” Mareian screamed as she dove after him. She didn’t care about the competition in that moment as she burst through cloud after cloud in her way. She could hear the screams of the stallion echo out. The two broke through the clouds, with Hope spinning on his way down Mareian had to spiral down so she could line up her hooves and catch him before they reached the ground. “Gotcha.”

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

Hopes screams were not that of terror, but of excitement. Mareian had looked up at his face and could see a bright smile on his face. She noticed that the gray Pegasus near his wagon and Speed Sound had flown close to them, but stopped and softly smiled. Time felt to slowdown as a rainbow overtook the sky above them. Mareian couldn’t help but smile staring at such a happy earth pony free falling through the sky. She didn’t want it to stop.

*BAM*

Ponyville General Hospital has been bustling recently due to the recent outcome at the Best Young Flyer competition. Only one pony was injured at the event and what had happened to her had brought in droves of journalists wanting to get a prime story. For the first time in around a decade, another sonic rainboom cast over the skies of Equestria. In the past it was accomplished through the magic of two very powerful unicorns as they battled it out in the sky. Today, it was done by two Pegasus ponies reaching groundbreaking speeds. However, one of the two accidentally knocked the other out of the air, causing her to crash hard into the ground below.

In one of the hospital rooms are five ponies wait patiently for a doctor to arrive. Cookies scowls at the ground, unable to look any of his friends in the eye. Alto merely frowns, his eyes darting from his friends to different parts of the room. EC had been biting her lip in anticipation, giving the doorway to the room a thousand-yard stare. Princess Luna was attempting to start a conversation with her friends, but ended up stopping herself, sighing depressingly. The only one not in a down mood is Hope, the only one in the room with a smile present on his face. He too stares out the doorway, but on occasion he looks back at his friends. While they don’t look back at him, he holds no ill will towards them, understanding how they feel. He looks at Princess Luna with a warm smile.

“I know it’ll all be ok.” He spoke.

“Thou art ever an optimist, Mr. Journey. A trait that all could aspire to, myself included.” Luna smiled at the stallion.

After a good couple of minutes had passed, the nurses brought in a bed with a green pony on it. She was practically cocooned in bandages that you could only recognize her face only that her eyes are closed. A brownish stallion in a white coat enters the room looking at a clipboard. He notices princess Luna and is shocked by the visit. “Wasn’t expecting a visit from Luna today, but with all the paparazzi I could only assume she had celebrity status.”

“Facing North is a dear friend of mine. I came as soon as possible, but do tell, young doctor, how is she?” Luna asked.

“We’ve stabilized her, but with the head trauma and the fall she is left comatose. We don’t know when she’ll wake up. A week? A month? A year? We can’t make promises like that, but we will keep her here healthy. I’ll leave you all to your friend.” With that the doctor and the nurses exited the room.

There was a moment of silence as all the ponies stare at their friends. It was a good minute before Cookies sighed, breaking the silence. “I could have prevented all this… Instead of focusing my magic on something so stupid like food services! I should have followed my father’s hoof steps and helped him with safety protocols. I’m a shame on the Cream name.”

“Cookies you don’t have to-”

“No!” EC interrupted Luna as she slaps her helmed head. “I promised her that everything would be good, that she’d be happy. As her coach, I let her fall. As her friend, I let her down. I failed as both.”

Alto stomp one of his hooves. He didn’t say anything, but sighed as he shook his head and took his leave. Cookies watched his friend leave and so he too, with a somber look, stared back at the rest as he left. “He’s right… we can’t just mope about here… I’m going to go out and study for a bit.” With that said, Cookies carefully closes the doors behind him as he left.

There was a bit of silence until EC too stood up and made her way to the door. “I can’t stay in a hospital room and wait again… not again… I have to get stronger so that this may never happen again to my friends anymore. Sorry Princess… Hope… I’m going to become strong to protect my friends.” With that said, the helmed unicorn slowly opens and closes the door on her exit.

Despite the sour emotions that were in the room, Hope remains smiling at Mareian. “It’ll all be ok… Hey Luna…” Hope stared at the princess with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. “Do ponies dream while comatose?”

Outside of the hospital, Scales paces back and forth at the entrance. Celestia is out there dealing with journalists and so are a couple other ponies who were at the event. Scales stuck to the background next to a sign that said ‘No Dragons Inside: Fire Hazzard’ waiting patiently for EC, Mareian, or any of the others to come out. Through the window he saw Cookies, but it seemed like he was taking the back exit. The first pony to actually come out was Alto, journalists swarmed him, but he had remained silent, making his way out of the area.

“Go figure. Better off interviewing a wall.” Scales snorted. At this moment, EC had exited the hospital and Scales was quick to catch up with her. “EC! How’s everything? Lucky came by and grabbed some of her things. Said she needed to do something at home. She said you guys were at the hospital. Things are crazy.” Scales said rather exasperated as they walked away from the hospital. Thankfully they weren’t bothered by the journalists on their way.

“I let her down, Scales. Another of my friends in the hospital and I can’t do anything about it.” EC said with a bit of emotion to her words.

“Woah, take it easy. Let’s head on back home and get some rest, ok?” Scales tried reassuring her.

“I can’t, Scales. She spent just as much time living there as me and I don’t think I can live there until she’s back. Sorry if I’m leaving you there by yourself Scales.”

“I get to have a place to myself so I’m not gonna complain, but where are you going to go to instead?”

“Here.” They stopped in front of a mailbox. In the fanciest of print, the word ‘Cream’ is plastered on its side. “Cookies has some spell books that I don’t think I’ve seen before. Especially that cryptic book he has. If there’s one place to learn how to protect my friends, it’s here.” She approaches the door and presses her hoof on the doorbell. It takes a minute before Alto opens the door.

“Woah… you got here fast.” Scales said with a bit of lightheartedness.

Alto stares at Scales and the back at EC with a slight frown on his face. “He’s not here.”

“Oh… I just wanted to borrow some of his spell books, if you don’t mind.” EC politely asked. Alto welcomes the two inside the house. “Thank you, Alto. I promise to return any such books that I borrow.” EC quickly trotted up the stairs into Cookies room while Scales and Alto hung around the living room area.

Cookies room is kept quite tidy. His bookshelves aren’t organized like a library would, but EC recognized that all the cookbooks were on one shelf and the spell books were on a different one. She sifted through the titles, but they were all either too simple, books she already had, and not the specific book that she wanted to look at. She sighed at her failed search. She noticed that Cookies has a mirrored wardrobe with the stuffed version of his friends Hope made for his birthday carefully decorated around it. She noticed that there are two photos hanging just above the mirror. One of the family photos he had before meeting her, and the birthday photo.

“Hello?” A familiar voice rang from downstairs accompanied by the door opening and closing. EC carefully went downstairs and saw Cookies. He looked different somehow. His eyes had a glossy look to them, and the emotions he held not too long ago were gone. She could only assume he had used some type of relaxant spell.

“Sorry for going through your room, Cookies. I was looking to borrow that spell book of yours.” EC apologized while Scales and Alto remained quiet, relaxing to the soothing melody being produced by a music box that Alto had his Concerto Crystal turn into.

“Well, my fair…” Cookies had to look at his hoof for a moment before looking back at EC. “…Enchanted Crown, you don’t have to apologize to me for anything. What, might I ask, was the book you were looking for?”

“That one I told you about. You got it back in Buckfield.” Cookies had to tilt his head confused at EC’s explanation. “The one with Grogar’s name on it.”

“OH! Oh…” Cookies had recognized what she was talking about before a somber realization came to him. “Unfortunately, I… left the book behind at work. Don’t want to invade the Cake’s privacy now that they have twin foals to deal with.” The unicorn embarrassingly explained. “But I can show you one from it. My fair Hopeful Journey assisted me with it. Come now, let’s end this dreary mood and share some good memories! May I have a volunteer?”

EC, Scales, and Alto looked at each other skeptically before Alto nodded his head and raised his wing. With a smile, the pony known as Cookies walked towards the large Pegasus stallion and cast his magic enveloping Alto’s head. The magic poured out a group scene poured out. All their friends were visible, staring at him as he played his instrument. The scene continued Alto’s voice could be heard singing a song, wishing his friend a happy birthday. EC and Scales were both impressed and had smiles on their faces, though ECs was hidden by her helm.

“That was a wonderful birthday present for Cookies, Alto. Even in memories it still rings well.”

“My birthday?” Cookies whispered to himself.

The door bursts open as the memory starts to fade away. “Expert level magic, eh?” a voice could be heard from the door. From the darkness of the night emerges a gruff white unicorn stallion. His fur has a black star pattern on his right eye, both of which shine a sparkly silver color. His mane is black and well kept, but it looks like it uses some product and dyes as some gray hairs are visible at the root. His tail is kept short with a shiny streak going through it. On his flank is an image of a mirror coming out of some purple smoke. “As one would expect from a Cream.”

EC, Alto, and Scales stare at Cookies in confusion. Cookies tries his best and speaks up. “Oh! Today I wasn’t expecting a family visit today.”

“Course not, Uncle Dandy doesn’t do diddly in advance. But that’s neither here nor there, nephew.” The stallion comes in close and wraps his strong hoof around Cookies. “See, I ain’t gonna live forever and I sort of need a pony to pass my legacy onto…” the stallion looks at EC and Alto. “And I see you got yourself some friends who would look great alongside you.”

“Excuse me, is there something we can help you with?” EC tries to ask respectfully.

“My apologies! I’m fairly sure my brother hasn’t told my nephew a lot about me.” The stallion starts posing as if he were showing off his muscles. “Dandy Cream The Third, but if you watch Pony Wrestling, you’d probably know me as DC3, baby. Multi-time world champ, tag champ, singles champ, you name it, I’ve done it in the wrestling circuit. At my age, I’m bound for retirement, and since I don’t got a family of my own, I thought about asking my brother’s kin to help me get to the top one last time.”

“I-I don’t know. Something just happened and we have a lot on our mind so-”

“Good, this’ll get whatever you have off your minds. I’ll train you all to be in the best shape of your life. Whatever obstacle you got, a monster you need to defeat, a friend to protect, a bully to stand up to, or even fame. I’ll make you all famous.” DC3 offered.

“We’re somewhat famous already.” EC added.

“I’ll make you famouser.” The stallion backed away and let out his hoof. “So, what will you say?” There was a bit of hesitation before Alto sat up and wrapped his wing around the stallion’s hoof. “There we go, big guy. What about you, nephew?” Cookies looked unsure at his uncle but sheepishly grabbed the stallion’s hoof. “There we go! You, royal guard looking mare. You got a good gimmick going on, the protector. I like it. I can make you an even better one than you are now.”

“A better protector?” EC said with a rising enthusiasm. She confidently strides to the stallion’s side, nodding at him. “I’ll do anything to protect my friends.”

“Alright! We got ourself a little stable of the next generation lead by the one and only D C 3.” The stallion said emphasizing each part of his name. “Let’s head on down to the performance center. We can get you all trained up there in no time.”

“Hey! Aren’t you forgetting me!?” Scales said getting in the stallion’s face with a nervous smile.

“No dragons. Safety reasons, bud.” DC3 begins to walk out of the house with Alto and Cookies following him. “Dragons have hard scales and breathe fire. We ponies are soft, squishy, and coated in very flammable substances in our fur. Sorry pal.”

“EC you can’t just go out without me again. I don’t want to miss out on this.” Scales begged EC who shrugged him off after a bit of hesitation.

“This isn’t a fun adventure we’re going on, Scales. We’re doing this for personal reasons, and I can’t in good conscious force you to join us on something you didn’t even have control over. It’s not you Scales… it’s us.” With that, EC left, joining the stallions on their way to the train station. Scales stood at the door with a mix of emotions ranging from angry to confused.

“FINE!” Scales shut the door, separating himself visually from EC and the others. “Friendship is leaving your dragon behind it seems.” Scales said with a bit of spite. “Friendship is weird.”

Author's Note:

And thus ends the Heart Racer two parter. Love! Drama! And the gang being split up! Find out on the next chapter: Uncle.

Honestly this was the most hyped-up chapter so far for me. I turned what I thought was going to be the most mundane chapter into an exciting two parter. The song has a very punk rock feel to it and its reprise is a much calmer melody. Speaking of hype, with the way things are going, the official volume I ending shall be chapter 14 and the ending for that chapter has been written down.

Love! Friendship! Artistic interpretation! Much more writings in the future.

Also, Happy birthday to me ;D