Forgotten People

Chapter 10 – Into the Quarters

The following morning was met with heavy showers and thunder. The Pegasi were very sorry for the inconvenience, but the weather schedule had to remain tight or else the whole system would collapse. It was Alec and Dash who were most annoyed while Hamish and Twilight seemed pretty relaxed about it.

“Come on you two, it’s just a little rain.” Twilight tried to comfort.

“Yeah Alec, stop being a little wimp!” Hamish jeered. Alec had the severe urge to buck him in the stomach, but Dash restrained his thought.

“It’s annoying, you guys!” Dash said with a sulky tone, “The race will probably be cancelled today! Stupid schedule…” Alec shared this thought, if today’s Olympics were cancelled, they would have to wait another day, and they couldn’t go down to the practice tracks either. But suddenly an idea sparked into Alec’s head.

“Wait, Dash, we’re both Pegasi, so we could punch a huge hole in the clouds to let the sun through over the stadium!” Dash seemed pretty impressed with the idea and so they both flew up to the clouds to begin the task. However, they were being watched from below.

“It’s Ace, he’s watching us from the starting line of the track.” Dash whispered to Alec. To lighten the mood a bit, Alec gathered some saliva in his mouth, and spat into the stadium. One thing that not many people knew about him is that he was a very accurate spitter, only missing once every 30 shots. The droplet sped through the air…and landed on Ace’s head. He twisted his neck up in anger to see what had happened. The two young Pegasi could barely contain themselves as they started thrashing about in laughter.

“Sorry!” Alec blurted out to him. Ace shook his hoof at them and trotted to a sheltered area. After kicking in the last cloud the sun shone through the stadium, making the crowds cheer for the sunlight. The two of them descended into the stadium to reach their starting points.

“Hey y’all!” said a familiar friendly voice from behind them. Applejack trotted up to them to see what positions they were in for the races. Next to the starting line was a large billboard showing the times for all the races.

“So when are you two up?” she asked. Alec quickly scanned the board for their times, but suddenly a huge stare swept across his face.

“We’re all in the same race!” he said triumphantly. The other two congratulated as they did a couple of warm ups. The Weight-Lifting was in progress, Hamish was sat on the sideline talking to Princess Luna.

“Why did you decide to take part?” Hamish asked in a friendly tone.

“I wanted to get involved in something, Canterlot business has been very tiring lately. Why does thou ask?”

“Just asking. It’s good to see some royalties mingling with us common folk.” Luna laughed at his pun as they continued chatting. Applejack tapped Alec on the shoulder.

“Can I speak to y’all for a minute?” she asked. Alec nodded as they went to the water fountain.

“What’s it about? Me? The whole event?” Alec asked interested.

“I know.” She simply said.

“Know what?”

“About your crush on Dash over there.” Alec face went a quick shade of red.

“I…don’t know what you mean?” he lied. Applejack did that stare that looks into your soul making him feel uncomfortable. Finally he admitted the truth.

“It’s true. What’s it to you?” he asked.

“Haven’t you told her?”

“No.”

“Well, y’all should.”

“I’d feel kinda embarrassed if I did.”

“Look, Dash has been livin’ on her own for the past couple o’ years. She gets real lonely on her own and has mentioned about findin’ her special somepony. Now you’ve showed up, admit to me that after a month that y’all like her, and you haven’t told her! I think y’all should, because by the looks of things, she likes you too.” Applejack had a point there. Dash did live on her own, and she had shown some signs of affection to him. Was it time to admit? After a month of being in Ponyville?

“…” he said.

“Well?” she replied, “You tellin’ her or not?”

“OK, AJ, I’ll tell her. But not in public. I’ll wait till we get back home.” AJ smiled at him.

“See, tellin’ the truth ain’t so difficult is it?” Alec shook his head. They’d finished their chat and wondered over to the starting line to begin the race. The line-up on the track had separated them apart two racers. So Alec was on the far left, Rainbow Dash in the left/middle and Applejack on the right. Unfortunately, Alec was positioned next to Ace Swift again, who looked at him with a smug grin. Rainbow was positioned next to Guilda who gave her a deadly stare.

“I won’t trip you up this time, I’m going to wait till the finals to do that. That is, if you make it there. Remember the deal, you let me win, I won’t embarrass you both.” Alec bit his lower lip, Ace had them pinned in a tight blackmail which allowed no slip-ups. The only solution was to find a loophole. But how? Pinkie Pie’s voice was audible on the mic again.

“Racers, take your positions!” she ordered with a giggle. They all prepared themselves as they finalised their marks.

“On your marks!”

“No time to slip up, not now.” Alec thought to himself.

“Get set!”

“Just ignore Guilda and focus on the line!” Rainbow thought to herself.

“GO!” The racers leaped off their starting positions and raced down the track. Alec and Rainbow began to pull forward into 1st and 2nd place whilst AJ was solidly holding 3rd. The two Pegasi grinned at eachother as it became a friendly race to get to the finish line first. But suddenly Guilda managed to pull forward to their positions as she desperately tried to sprint ahead, nut Alec and Rainbow used the last of their adrenaline to make a final boost to the finish line, Guilda following behind whilst AJ unfortunately came 4th.

“ALEC AND RAINBOW DASH WIN! A GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL FOR PONYVILLE!” The stadium roared with cheers as they congratulated the two winners.

“Nice one Dash.” Alec said holding out his hoof. She grinned and gave him a hoofbump. AJ trailed over to them looking a bit disappointed. They all knew why.

“Sorry AJ. But at least you tried real hard!” Dash comforted. AJ raised her sad face to them.

“I lost though. What am a’h gonna tell Applebloom?” she said sadly. Alec smiled.

“Hey, you’re her big sister. So what if you didn’t get the position you wanted? She looks up to you a lot, she told me herself a couple of weeks ago. She also said that no matter what happens, she’ll still love you.” Applejack broke her sad face k and replaced it with a lighter one.

“She said that?” she asked. Alec nodded. “Thank y’all kindly, that really makes me feel better.” AJ trotted over to the sideline to meet up with her family.

“I didn’t know you had a way with words like that!” Dash said bumping his side with her hood. Alec rolled his eyes.

“I’m new here, you don’t know half the stuff about me.” He replied in a playful-annoyed tone. Dash giggled. But this was broken when a roar was heard from a couple of metres away.

“What do you mean I can’t continue?!” Guilda screamed at the judge of the 100m race.

“Sorry miss, but only 1st and 2nd place can progress to the Quarter Finals!” Guilda let out a roar that made all the competitors, including some spectators, stare at her. Her eyes full of rage, she marched over to Rainbow Dash with a claw outstretched.

“This is for being such a hotshot…” she said as she raised her claw. Dash had no time to escape as the claw came swinging down in a blaze of fire.

“OW!” someone screamed, followed by a poof of dust.

But it wasn’t Dash who screamed, opening her eyes she saw that Alec had dived in front of her and had taken the claw to his cheek. He picked himself up and began to wipe the signs of fluid away. The security officers rushed to the scene to take her away.

“Miss, you have been permanently banned by Princess Luna from ever entering the stadium again. Violence like that is not necessary!” The two Pegasi looked to their left as Hamish and Luna walked over to them.

“You okay Alec? That scar looks pretty deep.” Hamish said worriedly. Alec wiped the last of the fluid away.

“I’ll be fine. I mean, it’s not as bad as the time I got a metal buckle lodged into my skull. Now THAT hurt!” They all laughed together. But suddenly Pinkie’s voice was heard again.

“We have just received news that the 3rd place racer has been disqualified. That means the bronze goes to the next racer, so…APPLEJACK WINS THE BRONZE!” AJ tilted her head up to the scoreboard which now read that Applejack had come third by default! A tear of joy sparkled in her eye. She may not be through to the Quarter Finals, but she got the medal she wanted after all. Their events were now over, so they could all leave.

“So, what scores did you two get this time?” AJ asked Hamish and Luna.

“I got 87/100 this time, and Princess Luna got 95/100!” Hamish said cheerfully. “Where did you guys come?”

“Rainbow Dash came 1st, I came 2nd, and Applejack has come 3rd by default!” Alec said, impressed with their efforts. After a couple of minutes of walking the five of them parted their separate ways, but promised to meet up again at the stadium the next day.

***

“OK, remember what AJ said, you have to tell her.” Alec thought in his head. There could be two possible outcomes to this, either Dash would have mutual feelings to him, or she would throw him out of the house because she wasn’t ready. Alec just took a deep breath and wondered into the living room where Dash was lying on the sofa.

“You okay?” Alec asked. Dash turned his head to him.

“Yeah, I’ve just been thinking.” She replied tiredly.

“Thinking? About what?”

“You.” She simply said. Alec’s face went a slight shade of red.

“I think about you too.” He said quickly but meaningfully.

“The way you defended me from Guilda today, that was really brave. You’re a really nice guy Alec, and I’m the first to tell you that.”

“Thanks Dash, that means a lot.” He said sitting next to her. “The scar stings a bit, but it’ll heal soon.”

“Um, Alec…scars don’t tend to heal.” She said sadly.

“What?! Oh, perfect.” He said annoyingly.

“It’s fine, let me see.” She asked nicely. Alec turned his head to her. It was a rather big scar, but it had sealed shut so it wouldn’t leak anymore. Dash got a look at it.

“Ouch, now I understand why it hurts.”

“You don’t say.” Alec sighed. But before Alec could turn his head away, his face was met by Dash’s as she pressed her lips onto his into a kiss. Alec seemed off guard at first, but remembered what he had promised AJ.

“OK, AJ, I’ll tell her. But not in public. I’ll wait till we get back home.”

So for now he just enjoyed the moment. Alec had never experienced a true kiss before, even from Rachel, but this was amazing, it felt like Dash really meant it. She wrapped one of her hooves around his chest into a hug as he to her. As they pulled away, they both said what they had tried to say earlier that day, and they said it at the same time.

“I love you.”