//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Welcoming Autumn: Emerald Style 
// by Thermal Soul 
//------------------------------//

I could be doing any number of things right now: taking a nap, eating a snack, sitting back and relish in the perfect weather. ...What am doing instead…?

	I groan as I lay motionless on the unforgiving ground, every fiber of my being aching like they never ached before, all the while a nice heaping pile of dirt and mud were the only thing I can see and somewhat taste.
I could hear a disappointed sigh right beside me, my urge to sucker punch the annoying stallion grew as he spoke with a slight condescending tone, “Hey Cosmos! Who told you to take a break?! We still got a long way to go before you’re ready! Come on, get up and run like the wind!”
Lifting my head up from the ground, my face contort in disgust as I spat out the horribly bitter dirt out of my mouth. I turn towards the lime green pegasus with a fiery dark green mane and tail, who’s tapping his hoof on the ground impatiently with a cocked up eyebrow.
“Remind me Emerald, why am I doing this again?” I struggle to keep a calm demeanor, my voice still manages to be laced with almost annoyance.
His signature smug smile appeared as he explains, “I need a good enough rival if I want to get motivated for this Running of the Leaves thing.”
I pulled myself together and got up from the ground, dusting myself off, “Silly me, I thought this whole event was suppose to be for fun.”
“Pfft, it is for fun, but it’ll be more fun when I marvel at my first place medal on my pedestal!” He said, his eyes filled with burning passion.
“You mean MY pedestal,” I reminded him.
“Tomato, To-mah-to,” Emerald dismissed, “What’s important is making it to the finish line and I’m not letting you slack off and end up in last place.”
“Thanks pal,” I thanked with almost no enthusiasm.
“Don’t mention it bro,” he pats my back with the same grin, “Now get moving!”
I groan in protest but complied anyway. What did I get myself into?

~*~

Recovering from my “morning workout”, I swiftly escaped from my overbearing roommate and trot to the meetup across Ponyville. The town was abuzz with anticipation over the race, I could feel the air spark with excitement as I take my route to the starting line. Until now, I never took the chance to take in how the trees in Ponyville changed from a lush green during the summer to variety of amber red and brown.
After a light jog across town, I spot the starting line near the fountain where eager ponies were filling the air with cheer and the participants stretching their muscles for one final warmup. I received my number from a volunteer and stroll to the starting line. I levitated the two square sheet with the number ‘24’ printed on them onto both sides of my flank covering my three stared cutie mark.
Taking my spot on the finish line, I search the crowd of participants for one spiky green maned stallion.
“Strange, by the way he was spazzing all day, he should be here by now.”
Almost right away, I could hear his voice amongst the white noise of other ponies.
“Ha, like you’re even a match for me,” Emerald boasted, “I’ll leave in the dust in seconds.”
Lightly pushing my way through the mass of ponies, I spot Emerald arguing with an Earth pony stallion with a dark blue mane and a bright yellow coat nearby the fountain.
“Oh REALLY, I’ll have you know I was top runner back when I was a colt!” the stallion countered.
“Your point? I’m still at my prime!”
I picked up the pace in a panic and practically dragged Emerald away, “Excuse my friend, he CLEARLY didn’t get his early morning nap.”
The stallion humphed as he began to walk off, “Whatever.”
“Yeah you better walk away! In fact walk all the way to las--”
Before he could finish his screeching, I smacked him over the head to vent my growing frustration.
“OW! You’ve gotten stronger, Cosmos,” he rubbed his head to sooth the red bump.
“What is wrong with you… besides the other things that is wrong with you?”
“Look, you should’ve seen the way that guy was bragging about himself like he’s the princess of the world or something,” he tried desperately to explain.
“So you chose to start bragging about yourself against his bragging?” I rack my brain to understand his logic.
He shrugs, “Not my best course of action but whatever.”
At least you’re aware. “Please Emerald, just try to chill out and enjoy the race. There’s no immediate need to win this anyway.”
“Not for you at least, but I need to win this Cosmos,” I looked at him like there was two of them as he took on an unfamiliar serious tone.
“Why are you so determined anyway? This is the first time I ever see you care about anything,” I asked, trying to solve the apparent puzzle.
“Look Cosmos, don’t worry about me. You just enjoy yourself out there if that’s what you want,” he advised as he regain his usual composure, “As for me, I got a race to win!”
With that said, he flew towards the starting line, taking his place amongst the other participants. I sighed as I trudged after him and reached my spot.
Up in the air, I could see Pinkie Pie and Spike riding in a purplish-pink hot air balloon with a megaphone attached, floating up high to get a good view of the race.
“Are you ready?!” Pinkie announced into the megaphone.
“Get set!” Spike joins in.
Everypony on the starting line got into position to dash out at any moment. Snapping out of my self induced trance, I did the same as I took a deep breath, calming my agitated nerves.
On cue, the starting bell rang signaling everypony to bolt towards the path in front of us. While I was running amongst the crowd trying to pace myself, Emerald had already passed me and shoot up at the front of the pack.
All around us were trees in a large arrangement of different warm colors from vibrant yellows to warm oranges reaching almost endless acres of land from the way I see it. As our group gallop near these majestic giants, they began to shed their tired leaves and shower us in a multitude of colors as a reward. Leaves ranging from many shapes and sizes glide gracefully in the air, showing off their reds, browns and yellows while they before we eventually ran past them. I could hear multiple leaves crackle underneath my hooves while I try to at least keep up with everyone.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the majesty of the autumn trees as they dance elegantly at the mercy of the scheduled breeze. I had not noticed I was falling behind until I turn my attention back to everypony else. I quicken my pace as the group made a right turn on a fork on the road.
Bring up the rear, I try to go on a full sprint to pass some tired ponies, but something caught my eye. There was an unnaturally big pile of leaves in the middle of the path. As I got closer to the pile, rustling and groaning can be heard from it while the leaves slid off the figure’s body underneath. I gasp when I caught a glimpse of a familiar green coat.
“Emerald?!” I called out, by the time I made it to his side, he slowly crawled out of the leaves.
He look to me trying to wear his grin, but it was twisted in pain, “Cosmos, fancy meeting you here... “
“Emerald, are you okay?! What happened?!” I asked frantically as I lowered myself to check for any injuries.
“It all happened so fast, I barely knew what hit me,” Emerald explained, his voice strained with pain and exhaustion.
While checking his hooves, I notice his right hoof’s fur is horribly matted, the color red growing potent each second beneath the skin. I trace the route Emerald presumably took leading to a tree stump.
“Yup, that’ll do it,” Emerald sighed.
“Can you stand?” I asked filled with concern.
He struggled to stand on his own hooves, but I quickly caught him when he was about to fall.
Refusing to rest his injured hoof on the ground, he muttered under his breath, “Horse apples…”
“Maybe I can--”
“I know what you’re gonna ask, but I’ll slow you down too much,” he interrupted me.
“I know that, but I can’t just leave you here.”
“But the race--”
“Like I said before, I don’t care if I come in last, I’m only in it for the experience, got it?” I gave a small smile.
He chuckled weakly, “You can be such a soft loser sometimes.”
“Well us losers need to stick together, you know,” I laughed at my own jab while it seemly brought some life back into him.
“Touche.” Carefully placing his hoof on my back, Emerald lean some of his weight onto me as I try to support him.
Together we began walking on the road covered in a blanket of leaves.

~*~

With the occasional crack of the leaves beneath our hooves filling the silence, we slowly trekked towards the goal in mind while taking in the scenery surrounding us. Buckets positioned near the base of the trees as it collect the sap leaking out of a tube inserted through a hole in the bark. At this moment, Emerald began to chuckle again leaving me puzzled slightly.

“Something on your mind?” I asked out of curiosity.

He continued to observe the molting trees as he spoke, “Just reliving memories I guess.”

“Hmm?” I urged him to go on.

“I remember every autumn my… girlfriend would always want to watch the leaves fall around this time of year. Doesn’t matter if we lived in Cloudsdale at all, she’ll insist on attending this event specifically,” he explained, his smile faltered as he spoke.

“But why?”

“Simple,” he stated, “she loved seeing other ponies enjoying themselves, enjoying autumn in general. She wanted to join the Running of the Leaves badly, but we were never old enough. But now she’s… she’s…”

“I… I get it, there’s no need to say it,” I couldn’t bare to listen him break down like that.

“I thought I could finish in first place just for her, but I guess I’m a good-for-nothing after all.”

“...No, you’re wrong,” I simply stated catching Emerald’s attention, “from the sound of it, she’ll be happy all the same regardless of how you did.”

“But I…” he began but couldn’t finished.

“It doesn’t mattered, what matters is that you had fun. I bet that what she’ld want from you.”

He took a moment to collect and gave a sad smile, “You think so, huh? Yeah… seems like something she’ll say.”

Through the soft murmurs of cheers in the distance, I spot the finish line at the horizon.

“Look, we’re almost there,” I said, filled with hope.

“Finally,” he said with a sigh of relief, “Let’s finish this, bud.”

“Mhmm.”

“Oh, and if you share any of this to anypony, I’ll tell everypony about your little “cheese” incident.”

I winced, but nodded anyway with a laugh, “Whatever you say, Emerald.”