//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Healthy Rivalry // by HapHazred //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash sighed wistfully. The tiny orange furball, overflowing with energy buzzed around her hooves as she left the Sugarcube Corner, her continued presence forcing Rainbow to give up on the very notion of having a half hour of free time. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, was having the time of her life: it was no secret that Rainbow Dash was her idol, and hanging around her was like bathing in the glow of a multicoloured sun. "Ooh! Where are we going now? Where?" she asked with the sort of enthusiasm that could only be found in several pounds worth of sugar, condensed into a single being. Rainbow Dash tilted her head. She looked over towards Sweet Apple Acres longingly... but despite it's aching proximity, it was unattainable. "Uh... left, I guess." she replied. Scootaloo rushed ahead, as exited as a little filly could be to go left. Rainbow Dash trudged after her, in the opposite direction of the orchard. She shook her head, her eyes tired. She needed a nap: she hadn't slept all day. "So, uh, Squirt... aren't you gonna' play with the rest of your little Crusader gang?" she asked tentatively. Please say yes, please say yes... "Oh, Applebloom's with her sister, and Sweetie Belle is out of town, so no. Too bad, we were gonna' do some wicked crusading this week..." Curses. Rainbow Dash couldn't be too mean, of course... she really did like the kid. She was brave, energetic, and fun... but unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, she was still just a kid, and Rainbow was terrible with children. She could probably handle them for, well, if she tried, a few hours at best. On second thought, two hours. Well, an hour and a half. It didn't help that Scootaloo couldn't fly... Rainbow would feel awful soaring above her, whilst the little filly could barely hover at all. It was just plain unkind, as far as she was concerned. But if she stayed for too long on the ground, she'd start to feel sick. It was one of the downsides of being brought up in a floating city. Rainbow Dash was starting to feel a little sick now, in fact. "So, wait... the Sweetster is gonna' be gone for how long again?" she asked. "She's off in Manehattan with Rarity for the whole week!" Scootaloo explained. As the filly's words registered in her mind, Rainbow's heart plummeted down into her stomach. Did that mean she was going to have to foalsit all week long? She bit her lip anxiously. It better not. Her wings itched uncomfortably: she desperately needed to fly, and the petrifying stillness of the ground was starting to make her sway a little, her stomach churning horribly. There was nothing else for it... "Hey, Scoots... Do you mind if I take off? I..." Scootaloo didn't even blink before answering. "Sure thing! Boy, I love seeing you fly." Rainbow Dash grinned awkwardly. "Heh... I meant as in go home? Like, I'm sleepy." she replied. Horsefeathers... now I feel bad. Scootaloo deflated immediately. Rainbow couldn't blame her... after all, when she was a filly, she hated being left on her own. But being around a kid all the time was just too much for Rainbow... she needed her space, her sleep, her sky, and above all, she wanted to go down to the orchard. "Uh, yeah. Okay." Rainbow Dash felt like banging her head on a lamp-post... dammit, why were kids so hard? Was this like some sort of retarded motherly instinct she didn't want, or was Applejack making her go soft? Her and her stupid family... stand around that sort of pony for too long and you'd get infected by them, in Rainbow's opinion. Thinking of her friend triggered an idea in her mind: of course! Applejack dealt with annoying siblings all the time, and she never seemed angry at all! She'd know how to handle Rainbow's problem without any difficulty at all. "I get to see you tomorrow, though, right?" Scootaloo asked, getting over her dissapointment. "I don't want to be all alone all day..." Rainbow bobbed her head a few times without thinking, agreeing to everything Scootaloo said... she was too engrossed in her own wild imagination at this point, trying to figure out what kind of cool advice she'd get and how awesome she'd look being a good sort-of sister to Scootaloo. She grinned. It also gave her a really good reason to head down to the orchard... "Sure thing, squirt. Gotta fly!" she exclaimed, all pretence of fatigue lost as she took to the skies. One flap of her wings later, and she was comfortably gliding above the clouds, leaving Scootaloo in her dust. "Darn it! Stop kickin' the tree like that, you'll just bruise yoursel'... and the tree." Applejack shouted as she dragged the heavy cart, filled to the brim with the day's harvest, across the muddy ground, leaving deep tracks in the dirt behind her. She grunted: she had asked Applebloom to oil the damn thing, but she obviously wasn't going to be getting her cutie mark in vehicle maintenance any time soon. Which was a pity: the Apple family could use a good mechanic. "Ah just need to try a lil' harder!" Applebloom shouted back in her tiny little voice. It was a shrill thing to hear, very similar to Applejack's own, aside from being higher in pitch. Some ponies found it adorable, but Applejack was finding it increasingly infuriating as time went by without finding some sort of release. If only Big Macintosh were here: together they easily shared the burden of taking care of their destructive little force of nature. About three seconds later Applejack heard her sister give a short, sharp exclamation of pain. "Ow!" "I told you..." Applejack muttered as she ducked under the carts harness to go and find Applebloom, who was shaking her rear leg angrily, as if trying to throw the pain off like a spider stuck to a sleeve. Thankfully, it didn't look like much more than a bruise. "I think I'd better try somethin' else..." Applebloom commented once she had calmed down. "That'd be best, sugar." Applejack trotted back to her cart, already dreading what sort of mischief Applebloom might inadvertently get herself into behind her back. Before she was halfway there, she heard a suspicious rustling in the leaves above her. Worried that it might be a bird of prey, or some thieving animal out for her crop, she looked up, her hoof reaching towards her shovel, resting casually next to a tree. A familiar blue head popped out of the foliage, failing to camouflage itself amongst the bright red apples. "Hey, AJ!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Applejack's hoof pulled away from the shovel. "Man, were you really gonna' hit me with that?" Applejack wished that her friend had arrived at a different time... any time but now, in fact, when she needed to get her chores done and take care of Applebloom. With a wistful sigh, she realized she simply wouldn't have any time to spend with Rainbow at all. "No, I weren't goin' to hit you with my shovel. Can you make this quick? I kind of have a sister situation, and loads of chores to do." Rainbow glanced over at Applebloom, who was probably in the middle of failing at farming some more. Why she persisted, Applejack didn't know why... It was always when she ended up trying too hard that everything she did fell apart. "So, I suppose that means you're in the same boat I am, huh?" Rainbow asked. Applejack raised her eyebrow. "How so?" "Scoots." Rainbow replied gloomily, giving Applejack all she needed to know through the name and the tone in her voice alone. Applejack collapsed into a laughing fit instantly: something about Rainbow being in as much trouble as she was just struck her as amusing. Rainbow glared at her, annoyed. "Hey, cut it out! It's really difficult for me, okay? I don't know how to deal with... fillies like you do." she said. Applejack pointed towards Applebloom, who had managed to knock over a bucket of apples whilst tending to her foot. Applejack raised her eyebrow, suddenly as serious as she could manage. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but I ain't perfect neither. Usually I just share her with Big Mac and the Crusaders and it all works out, but my brother's out on a delivery to Dodge Junction and I don't know where the other Crusaders are..." "Sweetie has gone with Rarity. Scoots... is with me." Applejack nodded. "That makes sense. They can't crusade without the whole gang." she muttered. "Just as well, I suppose..." "How so?" "They're easier to find when they're all in one place." Just follow the screams... Rainbow Dash agreed, and then they both fell into silence. "So... what, we don't have time for each other?" she asked, downcast. The thought was horrible. "I guess not." Applejack answered sullenly, causing Rainbow to wince. Her ears flicked around her head as she began thinking. "Or..." Rainbow payed instant attention. Did Applejack have an idea after all? "Or?" "Or... we would have them bother each other instead of hangin' around us all day." Applejack suggested. Rainbow snorted, rather unimpressed with the idea. "Hey... believe me, I've thought of that one, too. But you can't get them to go crusading without the whole gang. They won't do it." Applejack nodded. "Sure... but then we just don't get them to go crusadin'. If I were t'ask you what the most addictive, pulse-poundin' activity was, what'd you answer?" Rainbow Dash didn't hesitate for a second. "Competition." Applejack grinned like a shark sizing up a school of fish. "Exactly. And if it worked for us... why shouldn't it work for them?" Rainbow lowered her head towards the ground, letting herself zone out on the grass as she considered Applejack's suggestion. Slowly but surely, the corners of her lips curled into a cunning smile. After all, she couldn't argue with the results of their contests... they had hardly spent time with anypony else, they were so dedicated. Dedicated to winning, of course, she considered. That was the big one... to start with. Then we just became dedicated to each other, which felt a bit different even though we were really just adding another activity on top of all the old ones... "Applebloom is a lot like you... she won't take doing anything less than her best lightly. You've seen how much she commits to crusading, after all..." "And even if Scootaloo weren't like you, she'd try her very best to be." Applejack added belligerently. "And that means she won't think about anything other than winnin'." she finished, whilst pointedly ignoring that Applebloom had run off into the orchard somewhere for the time being. She'd catch her later, she thought. "It's foolproof!" Rainbow Dash concluded. The farmpony looked a little less enthusiastic. "Not sure I'd go that far... but yeah, I guess so. I can't think of a reason why it won't work, after all." "That's because there isn't one, dum-dum." Rainbow replied cockily, prancing on the spot gleefully. If competition can get us together once... heck, it can do it again.