//------------------------------// // The Decathlon // Story: Applejack Gets Lost // by MagicS //------------------------------// Applejack crawled her way out of a thorn bush, paying no mind to the light scrapes and scratches covering her. The lack of any real path over this hill was proving problematic but nothing she couldn’t handle. The annoying bugs buzzing about her, the rabbit hole she almost twisted her ankle in, the itchy pollen from the flowers she walked through, none of it mattered to the mare on a mission. She was following exactly the direction she was pointed in and even if there was an ancient magical barrier somehow blocking her way she would find a way to get through it. That was Applejack’s determination. I really, really, hope there isn’t anything like that though. Applejack walked on, ignoring the growling of her stomach, it being empty thanks to her haste in getting on the right track to home. With a little more forethought she could’ve stopped to at least stock up on a bit of food but there was no sense in complaining about that now. As soon as she came across something edible she’d just eat it up. There was probably some kind of fruit tree on the way she was going, or edible flowers, or blackberries or something else she could sink her teeth into. And if not then so what? She knew she was close to home now, she could feel it. The very first thing she was going to eat when she got back was an apple and eating it on an empty stomach would probably make it all even better. But for now she was still on an inexorable path heading exactly straight home. Like she had been saying to herself there was absolutely nothing that would cause her to stray from her path now. Her lack of a map and poor sense of direction may have hurt her in the past but now even that couldn’t stop her. “I am getting home, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. I am gonna get to Sweet Apple Acres, eat an apple and then sleep for three days straight.” Applejack frowned after a second. “Naw, got too much work to do.” She coughed. “I will sleep for 8 hours straight.” Better. The apple farmer pushed through more brush until she did come across a road, but unfortunately it was going perpendicular to where she was going, it was at least a sign of civilization but it served no real purpose to Applejack. She simply walked over and went on back to trudging her way through the unbeaten path over the hill. It was shortly after that that she began to hear something. Voices. Lots of them. It sounded like a great deal of ponies were close by, the sounds of hundreds of conversations began to fill the air as Applejack walked further and further along. Pushing through a few more bushes, Applejack finally made it out into the open. A few ponies standing near the edge of the brush line looked at her in surprise but she paid them no mind. Applejack looked out past them to see a huge arena built into the ground right in front of her. From her guess there were several thousand ponies milling about around it and in the stands, the arena itself was sunken down below ground level with multiple rings of stands for ponies to sit in and watch whatever took place inside. It was oval shaped and probably one thousand feet long and maybe two hundred wide. Inside it Applejack saw a vast field, a swimming pool, a rock climbing wall, some kind of obstacle course, sand pits, clay courts for she didn’t even know what, and a huge race track surrounding it all. “Wow, must be quite the place to hold an event.” Applejack said to herself as she slowly walked down the stairs to the arena ground, keeping on her straight path. It didn’t seem like it would be a problem, she didn’t see any actual events or competitions taking place yet, it looked like things were still getting setup and she saw a good number of ponies who clearly weren’t athletes wandering around the arena field and talking with others. Applejack ignored it all. She wasn’t here to compete, she wasn’t here to watch, she wanted to walk on through to the other side and continue on her way home. “Excuse me! Excuse me, miss! Are you a competitor?” Applejack heard a pony saying that in her direction but thought nothing of it, she kept walking until an older gray stallion with a big bushy mustache and thick-rimmed glasses practically plowed into her. Huffing and puffing he stopped in front of her, placing a hoof on her shoulder to keep her from walking past him. “Uh, can I help you?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow at the pony. “You’re a competitor right? You need to get with your team already, they’re in dire straits!” The pony gestured off to his side where Applejack looked and saw a rather amusing sight. It was like somepony went and gathered a sports team from Appleloosa. A dozen or so ponies all dressed up like cowponies, every last one of them with a hat like Applejack’s as well, some wearing boots with spurs, or vests, bandannas, and what have you. Some of them were even practice twirling a lasso around. Applejack couldn’t help but grin at it all. But even for the ones who were practicing they all had frowns on their faces and looked despondent. “You need to get ready, your team is already without a decathlete, if you want any chance of winning here at all you’ll need to be in tip-top-shape and take the gold in nearly every other event!” The pushy stallion told her as he indeed tried to push Applejack towards the group of cowponies. Applejack being as strong and solid as a rock he didn’t have much success with that. “Now you hold on one second.” Applejack said as she pushed him away with a hoof. “I aint a part of any team and I didn’t come here to compete. The hats are a coincidence.” “Oh dear I’m terribly sorry.” He prattled on, fidgeting in space and nervously tittering back and forth. “But this is really quite a mess the Rodeo Rider’s have gotten in, they’re in a bit of trouble and I’m trying to help them out. You see I happen to be one of their backers, there’s a lot of money to be made and lost at events like this one.” “Uh huh.” Applejack said, disinterestedly. The only thing holding her back from just continuing her walk through the arena was that it would be a little rude to just cut the pony off suddenly and leave. The glasses-wearing pony was now starting to look more studiously at Applejack. She frowned and took a step back from him. “Can I help you?” She asked with a bit of annoyance seeping into her voice. “Well I was just thinking, you look like you’re in quite good shape right now, sans the little cuts and all that. And you seem pretty strong too.” The stallion got a twinkle in his eye that Applejack didn’t like. “Would you perhaps be interested in temporarily joining the team and taking part in the Decathlon today? Anything is better than not even competing at all.” He said, shrugging his shoulders and giving her a lopsided grin. Applejack groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Look pal, I’ve got places to go and I don’t even know what a decathlon is.” “Well let me explain it!” He shouted as he got way too far into Applejack’s personal space. “A decathlon is the grandest of competitions that takes place at this arena. A pony goes through ten separate events and whoever conquers it the fastest wins! At this decathlon the events are a long run around the track, a freestyle swim through the pool, climbing the rock-wall, pole-vaulting, the rope climb, the maze run, cart pulling, rock tossing, log rolling, and lastly a final sprint! It’s the ultimate test of athleticism and endurance a pony can take! The decathlon is the most important thing happening today, the Rodeo Rider’s are in a tight spot because their decathlete is injured and none of them are prepared for the events in the decathlon, and most will probably be tired from their own events. If you could help us out and compete in the decathlon you’d be doing us all a huge favor, and you might get a lot of attention if you do good, there might be fame and fortune for you at the finish line!” Applejack smiled at the stallion. She put a hoof on his shoulder and took a deep breath. “No thank you.” And she walked past him and proceeded on her way through the arena directly towards Ponyville. For a second the stallion just stood there, too befuddled to go after her. “W-Wait a second! Hold on there!” Applejack rolled her eyes but didn’t bother looking back as she heard the pony call after her and jog to catch up again. “You’re making a huge mistake! Why wouldn’t you want to compete? You really don’t know what you’re missing, miss!” He had to pick up his pace a little as Applejack sped up. “Yeah, what you said all sounds pretty amazing but I don’t got time for that. I’ve got somewhere to go, sorry.” She replied, still not bothering to look back at him. “I have had enough adventure, enough distractions, enough of getting sidetracked. I could sit here and tell you all the stuff I’ve been through recently and why I don’t want to do anything else but that’d take a while and I don’t feel like doing that either. Good luck with the Rodeo Rider’s.” The stallion sputtered about as he tried to keep up with Applejack’s faster pace, that she intentionally sped up to get through the arena as quickly as possible. “But… but… you would really be helping us all out!” “Sorry, just not interested. I feel bad for them all but I’m just not gonna get sidetracked again.” Applejack pondered that Rainbow Dash would probably be giving her the stink eye right now or complaining about her passing up on the opportunity to do something awesome but if she was being honest Applejack just didn’t really care at this point. Some of the others might admonish her for not helping out ponies in need but Applejack was confident that they’d understand where she was coming from too. The apple farmer tuned out any other attempts to get her attention as she made her way to the other side of the arena and began climbing the steps out of it. No fun and games to be had here, Applejack had a path she was set on, a home to return to, and apples to eat.