//------------------------------// // The Running Of The Leaves // Story: The Running Of The Leaves // by doctor hooves //------------------------------// "C'mon Rarity! It'll be fun! Everyponys going to be there and it won't be the same without you!"said Pinkie Pie "NO!" said Rarity. "I simply won't risk getting my beautiful mane and new pedicure messed up for something so uncivilized!" "You're going. End of discussion." said Twilight as she used her power to lift Rarity into the air. "PUT ME DOWN!" yelled Rarity. "Yeah! and the winner gets a Flugelhorn!" said Pinky Pie. "Exactly! We need all the help we can get to make sure Pinkie doesn't get that horn!" said Rainbow Dash Rarity got a terrible image in her head of Pinkie Pie playing the horn at 3:00am, waking everypony up and worst of all Rarity wouldn't get her beauty sleep. "I'll do it" she said confidently. Meanwhile , Applejack was trying to get Fluttershy to compete. "Why don't ya' come on down from that tree and come and race?" asked Applejack. "Something fell on me and scared me!"said Fluttershy. "It was just a leaf Fluttershy! And there are plenty more leaves that'll spook ya' in the tree yer sitting in!" Applejack said while trying to use her apple-bucking skills to get Fluttershy out of the tree. "What if I lose and everypony laughs at me?" "They won't laugh at you! And there are plenty woodland critters that'll fascinate you!" "What kind of woodland creatures?" asked Fluttershy curiously. "Birds and bunnys and porcupines and many , many more." said Applejack Fluttershy started to come down. Later they met up with the others at the library so they could all eat dinner. The next day, Pinkie Pie ran over to Twilight's house as fast as she could. "Twilight! I just got a paper saying whose competing in the race!" Pinkie said rather quickly. "Me too." said Twilight. "Hey! Did you here-" began Rainbow Dash as Pinkie cut in. "What? That almost everypony in Ponyville is competing?" said Pinkie Pie excitedly. "No, that Fleetfoot from the Wonder Bolts is competing!" "As well as Big Macintosh and...Granny Smith?" said Applejack. "Wait! Did you all come to me first?" asked Twilight. "Uh-huh!" they all said at the same time. "JINX!" yelled Pinkie. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash can't talk until somepony says there names! Oh...Wait." "Why did you all come to me first?"asked Twilight. "Because we were supposed to meet at the race track a half-an-hour ago." said Rarity. "Oh. right! We should get going!" "That's what we've been trying to tell you!" said Applejack. Bon Bon, Lyra, Mr. Cake, Derpy Hooves and Scootaloo were the other competitors. Everypony was lined up at the starting line "And there off!" yelled Spike, who was the sports narrator again. "It looks like Bon Bon is in the lead!" Fluttershy flew up to the balloon spike was in. "Um Spike?"she said Quietly. "Spike?" she said a little bit louder. "SPIKE!" she yelled loud enough for everypony to hear. "What do you need, Fluttershy?" said Spike. "Could you call off the race? my friends are late." said Fluttershy sheepishly. "No worries Fluttershy. They're just practicing for the running of the leaves." "I know-wait! Did you just say "leaves"?" asked Fluttershy remembering the leaf that scared her. So she flew off as fast as she could. later when all the others got there, they couldn't find Fluttershy."Hey Spike!" yelled Twilight. "What did you say?" replied Spike. "Rainbow, go and ask Spike if he knows where Fluttershy is. It's almost time for the running of the leaves." said Twilight. "I'm on it!"replied Rainbow Dash as she flew up. "Hey, Spike?"asked Rainbow Dash. "What do you need?" said Spike. "Do you know where Fluttershy is? When we left to get Twilight, we left her here so she could make sure the race didn't start." asked Rainbow Dash "I saw her fly off that way as if she was late for something." said Spike as he pointed East. "Well she's gonna' be late if we don't find her soon." muttered Rainbow Dash as she flew to tell her friends. "She flew off East." "C'mon! We need to find her! the race starts in forty minutes!" said Applejack. "Applejack, you search at the Ponyville School." said Twilight urgently. "I'm on it!" "Rarity, you go to the Hey Cafe." said Twilight. "Of course!" "Rainbow, you get all the pegasi you can and run a search through all of Ponyville." said Twilight. "Sure thing!" "Pinkie, go to Sugarcube Corner and look for her there." said Twilight "Oki-doki-loki!" "I'll look at Quills & Sofas!" said Twilight. "We meet back here in thirty minuets!" later, at Ponyville School, Apple Jack arrived. "Good afternoon, Apple Jack." said Miss Cheerilee. "Same to you. Hey, do you happen to know where Fluttershy went?" said Applejack. "Yes, she tried to hide in the School, but the doors were locked. Than she flew toured Hey Cafe." "Thanks!" said Applejack as she ran to the Cafe. "Can I help you?" said the cashier at the counter of Hey Cafe. "Yes, have you seen a pony with a pink mane and three butterfly's as her cutie mark?" asked Rarity. "Yes, she said something about having to go to Sugarcube Corner. I guess she didn't have time to stop for a drink." said the cashier. "Thank you!" said Rarity as she ran out the door and bumped into Applejack. "Oh! Applejack! Whatever are you doing here?" she asked. "Cheerilee said she came here!" "The cashier said she left to go to Sugarcube Corner." "Than we best be gettin' there!" Later at Sugarcube Corner, Applejack and Rarity ran into Pinkie Pie. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?" asked Pinkie. "We were told she came here." said Rarity. "Lemme guess, she went to Quills & Sofas didn't she?" asked Apple Jack. "Nope. Mrs. Cake hasn't seen her all day. But we should meet back up with Twilight and Rainbow Dash!" said Pinkie. Later when they met back up, one of the pegasi informed Rainbow that somepony saw her at the Ponyville train station. "Alright, Girls! Lets move!" said Twilight urgently. when they got there, Fluttershy was about to board a train and they only had five minuets left to get her and get back to the starting line. "Pinkie! Block her!" yelled Twilight. Fluttershy was about to move out of the way when Rarity grabbed her. Fluttershy started flying to get out of Rarity's hooves. Twilight used her magic to slow her down. "Applejack! there's an empty carriage! See if you can do something with it!" yelled Twilight. Applejack bucked the carriage in front of the door to the train. Finally Rainbow picked her up and flew her all the way back to the starting line with one minuet to spare. "Fluttershy, if you're running really fast, than the leaves will be falling behind you and won't scare you." said Twilight. "Oh, I guess your right." replied Fluttershy. "C'mon, y'all. we better get lined up." said Applejack. "And there off" yelled Spike. "Derpy's in the lead! It looks like Fleetfoot is catching up! Oh, now Bon Bon and Fleetfoot are tied, putting Derpy in third place! Oh, and now Big Mac is starting to catch up! Now...Granny Smith is in first place? um... Am I seeing this right? Oh, but now Scootaloo is coming up on Granny Smith! AAAAAAAAND.....its a photo finish! it looks like the photo shows granny smith winning the race!" "I WON! NOW WHAT IN THE HEY THIS HORN DOOHICKEY SUPPOSED TO DO?"said Granny Smith. THE END