Part V

Little D made his way back towards the market where he would give Applejack her stuff before he took a leisurely time-wasting walk around town. He was still a few blocks away when he felt a shadow fall over him. He walked to the left a little and the shadow followed him. A bit to the right and it followed him again. He looked up to see a fluffy white cloud with a girl lying down on it, upside down, and staring at him with bored fuchsia eyes. She had multi colored hair and was wearing a cyan blue hoodie and gym shorts.

“‘Sup?” she asked lazily. “You new in town?”

“Yeah,” D replied. “Who are you?” The girl grinned and did a front flip off of her cloud bed and twisted in the air so she was facing him. She spread her wings proudly and jabbed a thumb at herself. “The name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria and future member of the Wonderbolts. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

Little D decided to humor her. “Names Little D and, yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said, causing Rainbow to falter a little.

“Wait, you have? I, uh, mean of course you have. I’m practically a celebrity,” she boasted as she casually flipped her hair.

“Oh yeah,” D continued. “Everyone I’ve met on my travels have said how, uh...” he looked up in thought. “Now, let’s see. What did they say?” he asked himself, causing Rainbow to fidget in place.

“Well, WELL?! What did they say about me?” she asked excitedly. Little D thought for a moment longer, trying to suppress his smile while Rainbow became more and more antsy.

“I think they would always talk about how ‘so totally cool’ you were,” he said after deciding he should stop teasing the poor girl. Rainbow whooped loudly and jumped into the air and did a victory fist pump. D grinned and decided to keep going. “They also would say how talented you are,” he said.

“The most talented,” she agreed.

“How bold you are,” he continued.

“The boldest,” she gloated

“How modest you are.”

“My modesty knows no bounds,” she ranted. D rolled his eyes at that last one. She turned back to him. "So? What else did they say?" she egged him on but Little D shook his head and began walking forward towards the market again.

“Sorry Rainbow. As much as I’d love to talk about how much people love you, I really need to get back to the market and give Applejack her stuff.”

“Why are you doing her chores?” asked Rainbow as she floated next to him. “You tryin’ to impress her or something?” she raised her eyebrows suggestively. Little D chuckled at that.

“Nah. It’s not like that at all. I’m just trying to do a good thing for someone and I gotta say that it was a pretty good decision on my part. I got the chance to meet a bunch of new people today,” he said as he continued his walk.

“Hey I got an idea,” she said suddenly, giving D the impression that she wasn’t listening at all. “We should have a race!”

“Really? Me? Race the fastest flyer in all of equestria? That’s a bit one sided don’t you think?” said D, drawing Rainbow’s attention to his lack of wings. She flew around him and put a fist to her chin in thought.

“Hmm. I see you’re point,” she said. “So I guess a foot race will have to do.” She folded her wings on her back and stood next to him and took a runner’s position. “On my mark. Ready. Set. GO!” Just as she tried to sprint off, D stepped on her shoe lace. Rainbow lost her balance and fall face first onto the dirt

“Now hold on just a minute there.” he said calmly. She got up with a groan and glared at him. He ignored it and watched her re-tie her shoe. “I don’t know my way around town too well, where are we racing to?” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“We’re going to the market,” she said like it was obvious. “You gotta go down this street four blocks, take a left and keep going.” She got to her feet and dusted herself off. “I’ll even carry that stuff for you, make it easier on you. Cool glasses by the way.” D thanked her and handed the two bags of sugar to her and the burlap sack. “Allright. On my mark, for real this time. Ready. Set GO!” She took off like a bullet and sped down the street. Little D chuckled to himself, put his hands in his pockets, and set a leisurely pace towards the market.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“NO. FREAKIN’. WAY!” cried Rainbow as she neared Applejack’s booth. Little D was spinning a 6 foot arrow-shaped sign that read “Apple’s Apples” in front of a large group of excited looking people.

“Apples and apple products!” he shouted. “Get ‘em while they're hot! Or stop by later when they’re cold if ya like that sorta thing!” He started flipping and spinning the sign and performing all manner of tricks. “Apple’s Apples over here. Simple name and great products! I guarantee you’ll never forget either!” he looked over at Dash and noticed her shocked face. He smiled mischievously at her. “Oh hey, there you are. I was beginning to worry that you weren’t going to show up.” Rainbow stumbled over to him, flabbergasted that he was in front of her now.

“But I-you were right behind-and then-I thought I was gonna--” she babbled, earning a confused look from Applejack.

“You alright over there sugarcube?” she asked. “Yer actin’ like somethin’s buggin’ ya.” Applejack leaned over the booth to get a look at her slack-jawed friend. Rainbow turned her focus onto Applejack.

“Oh I’ll tell you what’s buggin’ me. Little D and I were--” she stopped herself. How could she tell AJ that she lost a race to a total stranger. She grinned nervously. “--were just talking about how cool the Wonderbolts are.” She stated slowly. “Yeah, yeah, and he had the nerve to say that Fleetfoot was cooler than Soarin.” D gave her a sideways look. “Just go with it, just go with it, just go with it.” she chanted in her head.

“That’s ‘cuz he totally is,” he said as he flipped the sign a few more times before casting it high into the air, causing his audience to follow it, most shielding their eyes to avoid the sun’s glare. Rainbow sighed in relief. “Fleetfoot is way cooler than that dim-witted pie-lover,” he continued, making Dash rolled her eyes.

“You’re just saying that ‘cuz you both have white hair arentcha’?” D flipped his hair and looked at her.

“Of course not...well, ok maybe a little,” He said with a smile as he held out his hand. Rainbow thought he was going to take Applejack's things from her, so she held out the burlap sack. He shook his head and pointed upwards. She looked up to see the sign quickly tumbling down through the sky. He caught it and quickly flipped it behind him and back over his shoulder. He lept onto Applejack’s stand and pushed off of it in a backflip. He slammed the tip of the sign into the ground making it stick straight up then he landed on top of the other end in a one-legged crouched position. He then rose tall and shot his hands up in a victory pose. The crowd rang out with a loud cheer of hoots and hollers, tossing bits to him and rushing up to Applejack to buy their daily dose of apples.

“Hey, watch it!” cried Rainbow Dash as people pushed past her and bumped into her in their frenzy. She flew up to get out of their way and noticed someone familiar in the middle of the crowd, trying desperately to get out of the mob. She swooped down and snatched the girl out of the crowd. “Can’t you stay out of danger for one day, Scoots?” she asked. Scootaloo looked up with her purple eyes full of shock.

“I’m sorry Rainbow,” she said. “I was trying to get a better look at that cool guy flipping the sign and I wound up in the middle of the crowd. Next thing I knew, everyone was going crazy and I almost got trampled."

Rainbow smiled at her. "So you wanna meet that guy, huh?" she asked.

"Well yeah," she said. "Maybe he could help me get my cutie mark. It looked pretty cool and I bet I could pull off some of those stunts."

"Well, let's get you in closer," Rainbow said as she flew over to Little D, who was casually sitting on his sign, watching the apple-hungry mob. “Hey D!” shouted Rainbow the roar of the crowd. “I got a fan for ya’ ta’ meet.” She hovered in the air before pointing away from the market. “Meet me over there when you can, and bring the sign.” D gave her a thumbs up and got down from his perch and yanked the sign out of the ground and began walking towards Dash.

“Hey, who’s this?” he asked as he got near Rainbow and Scootaloo. Rainbow tousled Scootaloo’s hair and introduced her.

“This is Scootaloo. She saw you doing those tricks with that sign and wanted to know if you could teach her a trick or two.” D smiled and looked at her.

“Why in Celestia’s name would you want to have a sign flipping cutie mark?” he asked her. He cocked his head and adjusted his glasses. “That doesn’t really sound like something you’d be really interested in.”

“But you made it look soooo cooool!” Scootaloo protested. “The way you did that flip thing at the end and wait. How do you know I don’t have my cutie mark?” she asked. D smiled softly.

“I could see it in your eyes. Theres also a kind of desperate need to learn something remotely cool that’s just plastered across your face. Now don’t get me wrong,” he said as he popped his neck. “I’m not trying to make fun of you or anything, but just ask yourself the question: ‘Is this something I really want as my cutie mark?’” He looked down at her and saw her eyes were closed in concentration, making him chuckle. “But if you really have to ask yourself that question, the answer is probably a ‘No.’ But don’t freak, I’m sure you’ll find your mark before the year is over.” Scootaloo looked up at him.

“You really think so?” she asked, eyes full of wonder. “What do you think it’ll be?” she asked eagerly. D scratched his nose and shrugged.

“That is up to you to decide. You gotta make your own future kiddo, do what you gotta do to do what you wanna do? Understand?” he said with a smile, one which Scootaloo was more than happy to return.

“Yeah I think I do, gosh, no one’s ever said anything like that to me before.” Rainbow Dash grunted a protest.

“You kidden’ squirt?” she asked. “My friends and I have been telling you and your Crusader buddies that ever since you first got covered in tree sap.” Scootaloo and Little D both looked at her in an odd way.

“Tree sap?” asked D.

“Yeah, but all made it sound so boring,” replied Scootaloo blandly. “Always going on about finding your true self, figuring out who you are, and all that mystic mumbo jumbo.”

“Tree sap?” asked D again, making a confused face.

“Seriously?” retorted Rainbow. “We couldn’t have made it clearer to you little fools.” Scootaloo looked at her and frowned.

“Who are you calling a fool?” she asked sternly.

“You, ‘cuz you are one,” said Dash as she ran up and started tickling Scootaloo. “You little fool,” she repeated as she reduced Scootaloo to a spasming puddle of laughter on the ground. D watch and smiled a little. He began walking away when Dash ran up to him.

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for how you handled Scootaloo and going along with the Wonderbolts things. If AJ knew I lost a race, she’d never let me live it down.” D smiled back at her.

“Yeah, no problem,” he said. “You okay with losing though?” he asked her, causing her to frown.

“Not really,” she said honestly. “Mostly because I just don’t know how you did it. Did you cheat or something?” she asked him.

“No, of course I didn’t,” he said defensively. “I took the same path you did, just a bit faster. At times I can be pretty slow, I admit, but other times,” He turned away and began walking back towards the center of town. “Other times I’m the fastest in the world.”

Rainbow Dash stood there for a few minutes and watched him go. “Fastest in the world? So this little upstart thinks he’s faster than me huh?” she smiled to herself. “Mark my words D, I’m going to find out how you beat me in that race, and once I do, we’ll race for real.” Rainbow took another look at D before he was out of her line of sight.

She shuddered in excitement.

Author's Note

Don't forget to tell your friends about this. Things are haven't even scratched the surface.