//------------------------------//
// Research and Development 
// Story: Forward Motion 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	Applejack was quiet the rest of the evening.  The Running of the Leaves was two days away, and it was suddenly possible that she would not be competing for first place.  It was a terrible feeling to know that she might have lost the race before it even began.
The orange mare was no quitter, though.  That night, she stepped out onto the track determined to run harder than she ever had before.  As fireflies began to light the orchard, the mare warmed up by jogging a couple of laps.  Coming back to the timing line, she tried for a fast one.
The wind rushing past Applejack’s face was an enjoyable feeling, but the resistance was clearly holding her back.  Her mane and tail, both tied to keep them out of the way while she worked, streamed behind.  The mare jogged the next few laps, thinking.
Vector had a very short manecut.  Big Macintosh kept his tail bobbed in the typical workhorse way, but the racing pegasus had gone beyond even that.  It was a good thing the blue stallion was athletic, because his unusal grooming and face wouldn't win him any mares.
Applejack shook her head.  No, she wasn’t interested in Vector for any reason other than beating him in the Running of the Leaves.  Still, maybe he was onto something.  The mare went over to the barn to find some twine.  Taking off her hat, she bound her mane and tail tightly with the string to keep them out of the wind.
Leaving her Stetson there, she trotted back to the track to have another go.  The darkness made it harder to see the ground passing rapidly beneath her hooves, but she felt faster.  Applejack grinned.  She could sure put some distance on Rainbow now.  Her smile faded as she thought of Vector.  There was no way her speed had improved enough to beat him.
After the mare retired for the night, the track sat unused until the early morning hours when Rainbow showed up.  The pegasus knew Applejack would be hard at work by then, so she was free to practice for the race unsupervised.
It would be nearly impossible to actually improve her physical condition significantly in the two days before the race, but darn it, Rainbow was going to try.  She took off at a gallop, accelerating until the familiar floating feeling started to make her hooves slip.
The mare knew she couldn’t hold her straightaway speed through the corner, but pushed as hard as possible, leaning into the turn.  About halfway through, she lost her footing and almost fell, catching herself at the last minute with an instinctive flap of her wings.
A sudden thought struck her.  Why had Vector been holding his wings so strangely when running?  Was he using them to push his body towards the inside of the turn?  Rainbow ran down the back straightaway and charged into the next corner.  Lifting her outside wing slightly, she felt the airflow generate just enough force to keep her upright.
Rainbow grinned, a second idea coming to her.  If she could do that, could she overcome the inevitable floating by holding herself to the ground?  It took a little trial and error, but the mare reached an effective wing position for the moving air to give her some downward pressure.  Then, she could really run.
The mare whooped with excitement.  She would beat Applejack for sure!  Her face fell, however, as she remembered the pony she was really competing against.  He would continue to be a problem.
Rainbow was still contemplating the situation that afternoon over lunch in Ponyville.  She spotted Applejack walking into town.  The farm pony came over to Rainbow’s table outside the café.
“I was thinkin’ maybe we could go over to the library,” suggested Applejack.  “Maybe Twilight has somethin’ we can use to get faster.”
“At this point, I’m willing to try anything,” agreed Rainbow.  The two of them headed over to the book-filled tree where their friend made her home.
When they entered, they found Twilight writing some technical things on a chalkboard.  Beside her was Vector.  From the conversation, it seemed like both of them understood each other pretty well.
“What’s goin’ on here?” asked Applejack.
“Hello girls,” said Twilight.  “You’ve met Vector, right?  He and I were just talking about physics and aerodynamics.”
“Uh, yeah,” said Rainbow.  “As a matter of fact, that’s what we came to the libarary to learn about!”
It was harder to say who was more surprised, Applejack or Twilight.  
Vector looked amused.  “It’s a big field of study.  I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
“Well, it’s…two days until the Running of the Leaves.  Ah’m sure we can learn somethin’ useful,” said Applejack, feeling like she was lying.
“I’ll leave you in the very capable hooves of Ms. Sparkle here,” said the tall pegasus.  He said goodbye and went out the door.
“Have a nice day!” the librarian cheerfully called after him.
“Twilight, what are you doin’ being so friendly with him?” demanded Applejack.
“Yeah,” put in Rainbow.  “Are you trying to help him gain an even bigger advantage over us in the race?”
The purple unicorn rolled her eyes.  “Girls, Vector really understands what he’s talking about.  I don’t think there was anything I could teach him that he didn’t already know about going fast.  In fact, some of what we illustrated on the board might actually help you.”
“He didn’t seem a little full of himself when it came to racing?” asked Applejack.
Twilight frowned.  “Not really.  In fact, the only time I brought up the Running of the Leaves, he said, and I quote, ‘It’s a shame there isn’t stiffer competition around here.  Without that, it's hard to push myself'.”
Rainbow pointed a hoof at the chalkboard.  “Let’s just try to make some sense of this mess.”  
Twilight seamlessly slipped into teacher mode.  “Okay, what we have here is the most important part of speed: efficiency.  There are several forms of that, however.  One is economy of movement, which means using the least amount of effort.  For example, don’t kick your heels up when you run, because it’s wasted motion.”
The unicorn looked at her friends.  “Now I know you’re both seasoned athletes, so you probably already understand that one.  A lesser known technique to make your running more efficient is streamlining.  When you’re moving through the air there is resistance, and there’s more of it the faster you go.  You want to find a way to cut through the air more easily.”
Rainbow nodded.  At sonic rainboom speeds, there was a lot of air moving around.  When flying, she’d instinctively tucked her ears, legs, and everything else tight to her body.  It seemed simple enough to apply a similar concept to the ground.  Applejack, however, had learned the same lesson very well the night before.
“There is a limit to how much you can do,” Twilight pointed out.  “You’re restricted by the overall shape of your body.  I mean, you can’t change your bone structure or anything.”
The earth pony and the pegasus thought glumly about Vector’s angular head and silly-looking tail.  Both probably helped him cut down on wind resistance.
“Wait a minute,” said Rainbow.  “What if you could give us a little help, Twilight?  Can magic make us better?”
Twilight gave her a skeptical look.  “You seriously want me to perform a transformation spell?  If I did that, it wouldn’t be you running the race, Rainbow, it would just be your mind in another body.  And anyway, I can’t.  It’s not allowed by the regulations.”
“I thought that there were only like three race rules,” said Rainbow.
“Yes, but have you actually read them?”  Twilight selected a pamphlet from a pile of current events paperwork and showed it to her.
1. Racers must have fun
2. Racers must stick to the marked path
3. Racers may only use their hooves to provide forward motion.  Restricted things include, but are not limited to: mechanical devices, wings, and magic.
For questions regarding the rules, see the Mayor of Ponyville.
Rainbow looked at Applejack.  “So last year when you caught a ride on the balloon with Spike and Pinkie, you were cheating!”
“There’s a lot I ain’t proud of about the race last year,” said the other mare, blushing.  “But at least Ah was right all along: no wings!”
Rainbow grumbled.  “Great.  This means I can’t use that new technique I picked up.”
“What’s that?” asked Twilight.
“I was using airflow to help keep me on the ground,” the pegasus explained.  “It helped everywhere, but especially in the corners.”
The purple pony nodded.  “Vector talked about that.  He calls it ‘downforce’.  Isn’t the Running of the Leaves a road race, though?  Not many sharp curves.”
Rainbow nodded.  “Yeah, I guess that does take away some of his advantage, but the stupid ‘no wings’ rule hurts me, too.  Now I’m back to where I started.”
“Ah don’t know how your mane would respond to bein’ tied up,” said Applejack.  “Ah tried it, and it helped with wind resistance.”
The multihued mare ran a hoof through her mane.  “There’s a reason I go for the windblown look.  I can’t get my ‘do to behave any other way.”
“Well, it’s a shame,” said Applejack.  “Ah don’t have that problem.”
Rainbow frowned at her.  “No fair!”
The earth pony shrugged.  “Well, Ah don’t get any advantage from wings.”
“I can’t even use them in the race!” the pegasus retorted.
“That ain’t my problem!” said Applejack, matching her tone and volume.
“Girls, stop fighting!” shouted Twilight over the two arguing mares.  “Now if you’re really serious about knowing everything there is about Vector’s techniques, I’ll do some asking around.  Derpy’s making a mail run to Neightona soon.  Maybe she can find something.  You have to realize, though, that you can’t win all the time.  Sometimes a pony comes along who is just better.”
The two mares in front of her hung their heads.  
“You’re right, Twi.”
“Yeah.”
The pair left the library together.  Applejack said, “That was kind of a silly thing to be arguin’ about.”
Rainbow looked up.  “Do you want to…work together?”
“How, exactly?” asked the earth pony, tilting her head.
“Well, maybe if we ran close together the one in front could split the air for the one behind.  That way, the one following could rest a little and then get back in front to let the other take a break.”
“Hmm.”  Applejack considered it.  Running as a team was an idea that she’d never heard of before, but it sounded like it might work.  The two of them trotted out to the track.
“Let’s do this!” shouted Rainbow, taking off at a gallop.  When Applejack caught up with her, the pegasus went faster.
“That all you got?” called the farmer.  Rainbow put on a little more speed, but not much.  The earth pony found herself easily keeping up.  Like her friend had predicted, the pressure of moving air she felt on her face was much less.  Applejack suddenly had an idea for something to add, though.
“Hey, what are you doing?” called Rainbow.  “What did you do to my tail?”  She chanced a quick peek over her shoulder, seeing Applejack’s mouth closed on her multicolored tail.  The slight tension kept it from flapping in the breeze, and Rainbow could feel the subtle drop in wind resistance.
Applejack grinned.  The faster Rainbow ran in front of her, the faster she could run.  Maybe the technique they had developed would work even better with more ponies in line.
The two ponies took turns leading and following.  It was clear that they’d discovered something big.  Maybe, just maybe, they could take down Vector by working together.