//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: Healthy Rivalry // by HapHazred //------------------------------// "Crud." It turned out that Rainbow Dash had underestimated just how well their plan would work: a quick bit of investigation revealed that both fillies had broken the first rule of competition: don't get mad at each other. It had started much as they should have expected: Applebloom had accused Scootaloo of cheating, and understandably Scootaloo had gotten angry, and now, well, Rainbow Dash was wandering through the orchard after her, far away from the pony she had done everything in order to be with in the first place. "Scoots? Hey, squirt, where are you?" she called, but there was no answer. She sighed. If she tried flying, she wouldn't be able to see through the thick canopy of trees, which made getting a birds-eye view useless. She was grounded. Searching on hoof took forever. "Kiddo? Seriously, where are you?" Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the small orange pony next to one of the apple trees. She gave a small sigh of relief: at least she hadn't done something really stupid like going to the Everfree Forest. "...over here." Scootaloo called half heartedly. Rainbow trotted over to her, folding her wings by her side. "Hey... uh, what's up?" "I'm sitting." she replied. After a brief pause, she confessed: "I really hate losing." I know the feeling, squirt. "Yeah, that happens. I guess it's tough being rivals, sometimes." Rainbow explained. "I guess. How'd you manage it?" Aside from falling in love with my rival? Well, let's see... "Lot's of practice, squirt." she said. "I guess it was a bit unfair of me to expect you'd be fine with it when it took me so long to get the hang of proper rivalry in the first place." Scootaloo shrugged. "I suppose..." she said, unsure. Rainbow figured she should explain further. "The trick is turning it off. Don't tell anypony I said this, but..." Rainbow began, then looked around conspiratorially, checking nopony was listening in. "...when I became rivals with Applejack, I was... a sore loser." Scootaloo continued listening in silence as Rainbow Dash remembered some of her less glamorous times with the farmpony. "Sometimes, I'd be mad for days until I beat her. It wasn't until much later that I realized that all that time she had been giving me something I really needed, something to aim for." And later, she gave me everything else... "Even then, there was still getting the hang of taking losing in my stride. Trust me, that's tougher than it sounds." "How long did learning that take?" "Eh... still getting there, squirt." the older mare replied in a rare moment of humility. "AJ figured it out a while ago, though... even though she might not always act like it." "How am I gonna' face Applebloom now?" Scootaloo asked, despairing. "I was really mean..." "Oh, don't worry about that. Applejack's giving her a talk too about how stupid she's being, too." Rainbow replied. "You're maybe too young to get it, but being rivals with somepony is a pretty special relationship, and it's not worth losing over some stupid fight. Otherwise you'll just be enemies, and that's not the same." And sometimes it can grow into something more... "Uh... yeah. I guess I was a bit silly." Scootaloo admitted with a half hearted smile. Rainbow Dash snorted. "Yeah, well at least you don't have to write a letter to your ruler every time you mess up." she muttered. "Be glad for that, by the way. Postage costs go through the roof." Scootaloo laughed, the chipper noise echoing through the trees. Rainbow leaned back against the tree, smirking to herself, glad she'd been able to cheer her sort-of sister up. When Scootaloo stopped, she looked back up at Rainbow. "Do you and Applejack really like being rivals? It seems like such hard work." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Yeah, well... lemme' tell you a secret, kid. Even though me and AJ are rivals, well, we like each other. A lot." "Uh, yeah. You're friends, right? Like me and Applebloom and Sweetie Be-" "Heh, nah, more like your mum and dad. Except younger. And more flexible." Scootaloo took a minute to run that through her head. Eventually she nodded. "Oh." "Yeah." Scootaloo thought some more about the whole ordeal, before smiling, and nodding. She looked up at Rainbow Dash with a smile. "I think I understand what you mean." Rainbow shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she decided to get the awkward bit out of the way, and do what she probably should have done in the first place. "No, Kiddo, you don't. What I mean is, I really need a bit of free time so I can see Applejack alone. 'Kay?" "Oh." Scootaloo scratched her head awkwardly, understanding dawning upon the young pony. "Okay, I can do that." An idea struck Rainbow Dash. "And you can distract Applebloom so she's not there too?" she added hopefully, tapping her hooves together mischievously. "Sure thing." "Great... great." Rainbow Dash replied, smiling. She looked up at the sun, which was at this point dipping over the horizon of mountains to the west. She got to her hooves. "Well, we'd better get you back to Applebloom so you can say good night, huh?" Scootaloo was fine with this arrangement. Rainbow Dash beamed: she had solved both Scootaloo and Applebloom's argument and arranged to get Applejack alone. This was still an awesome evening. Applebloom had calmed down too by the time the pair returned to the farm. Applejack and Rainbow Dash kissed, briefly, when Applejack thought that the fillies weren't looking. Despite a rather rough ending to their date, it had been very nice indeed. Applejack moved away from the two young ones so she could talk to Rainbow in private. "I guess we should have been a bit more careful." Applejack said, smiling wanly. Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, well, contests usually do work... Who can blame us?" "I can." Applejack muttered. Rainbow felt like she should say something, but sometimes she just had to let Applejack's familial concern run it's course: interfering was a sure way to get the talk. "I guess we won't be seein' each other until Rarity get's back..." Applejack added after a brief pause. Rainbow Dash glanced over at Scootaloo, remembering their secret deal. "Hopefully not... but no more healthy rivalries, that's for sure... not until they're older." she replied. Applejack nodded: she was certain that that, at least, was true. She rested her neck on Rainbow's shoulder, the talk with Applebloom having sapped her strength this late in the evening. Rainbow Dash shifted a little, making sure she didn't get too comfortable. "Before you fall asleep on me, let me take Scoots home. Don't want her to get lost in the dark or anything." "Sure thing." Rainbow Dash disentangled herself from Applejack, and headed over to Scootaloo. "Okay, you ready to head?" she asked. The young filly nodded. "Yeah, I'm good to go." Rainbow Dash picked her up with one smooth motion in her hoof, much to Scootaloo's surprise. "Okay then... I hope you don't mind me going too fast." she warned. To Applejack, she said: "I'll be back for my chessboard, okay? Just give me five minutes to drop this off." With that, she flew off, Scootaloo tucked in one hoof, leaving a distinct rainbow trail in her wake. "Back for your chessboard... yeah right." Applejack sneered. Rainbow Dash shrugged casually. "What? You didn't want me giving the real reason in front of Applebloom, did you?" she asked. "Heh. I'm just sayin' I think it's still lyin' around outside." Rainbow Dash peered out the bedroom window, but it was useless: the chessboard would be hidden in the dark, scattered far away on the hill, quite invisible. "Ah, horseapples. I'll have get it tomorrow." The pair snuggled closer, the large window letting in the dim light from the night sky. "Heck of a day." Applejack said suddenly. "I guess, but it all turned out okay in the end, right? And this way, we know that making other ponies compete for our amusement isn't necessarily the right thing to do." Applejack chuckled, sleepily burying her face into the pegasus's furry blue chest. Rainbow still kept her eyes open despite the late hour. She felt fidgety, and there were some things about the day that still bothered her. She decided to do the thing she usually did these days, and began talking to Applejack. "Do you ever get tired of being rivals?" She asked. "Always one-upping each other, and all that?" Applejack didn't bother moving her head so that her voice could be heard clearly. "Ya'll really thought we were rivals?" she asked bluntly. "Is that a yes or a no?" "Sorry, sugarcube, Ah guess Ah never thouht of you as real competition." Okay, now I'm being teased, Rainbow thought as Applejack messed her fur up by giving her an affectionate rub. I guess I'll not get an answer tonight... ah well. Worse things have happened at sea. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that." she replied roughly, making it clear that she very definitely was real competition. Applejack made a muffled noise that could have been either a laugh or a snort. Rainbow wasn't entirely sure which. It might have even been a yawn or snore: it was simply too distorted by the pegasus's own body to be identified correctly. Rainbow opened her mouth again. "Do you think that-" Applejack raised her head slightly and looked out the window, interrupting Rainbow's question before she could finish her question. "Hey, can you tell me what cloud that is?" she asked sleepily, and dropped her head back down on Rainbow before she even waited for an answer.