//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Winona runs away // by Trigger_Finger //------------------------------// 11:35am… Without much effort, I bucked my hindlegs and kicked the tree. I didn’t pay attention but there was a crash behind me as the tree simply snapped from the force I put on it. I stepped up to another tree but a voice interrupted me as a cyan pegasus flew down. “Whoa, cool your jets! We’re harvesting apples… not making firewood.” Rainbow Dash gasped. I looked behind myself to see that in my anger, I had outputted more strength than I had meant to, and in turn had knocked down dozens of trees. “Sorry… just got a little sidetracked…” I muttered, without really looking to her. She smirked, “Yeah, you get sidetracked and manage to put out enough force to snap trees like they were twigs…” Rainbow Dash said with heavy sarcasm in her voice. “It happens.” I told her as I bucked the tree behind me, but it too snapped from all the pent up emotional anger inside me. “HEY! EASY!” Rainbow Dash gasped. I looked to see that I had knocked down yet another tree. I sighed regretfully as I flopped onto my haunches and buried my face into my hooves. “It’s time for lunch…” I muttered and she fluttered down beside me. “Uhm… if you haven’t been paying much attention… in less than two hours, you’ve somehow managed to harvest a day’s worth of apples.” She told me. I hadn’t been picking the apples but that’s when I noticed that she had the wagon and had been picking up after me. “Huh… guess that’s a day…” I muttered with heavy depression in my voice. “Jeeze… are you okay? You sound worse than that time Pinkie Pie had a case of the blues on her birthday.” Dash asked. I nodded. “I’ll be fine… I think I just need to be alone for a while.” I told her. She scratched the back of her head then shrugged before leaving, giving me some alone time. I’d get the wagon of apples on my way back but right now, there was somewhere more reclusive I wanted to be. * * * Wind threatened to knock my body off the edge of the cliff as I stood on my hindlegs, facing the opposite direction of the cliff’s edge. My hindlegs felt as if they would buckle from underneath me as I breathed deeply to try and calm my nerves. I came here lots, but only seldom did I come to the edge, and that was for good reasons. If Celestia had meant for ponies to fly, she’d have given us wings. Pegasus are exempt from that rule. I felt the cool wind tuff the duster coat flaps and I held the black cowpony hat tight to my head. I gulped deeply as I let my body fall back, off the edge of the cliff. For a moment, it felt as if there were butterflies in my stomach. I felt as if I was flying. Then, ever so slowly, the weight of gravity, and the fear of dangerous heights, made my heart race. Wind resistance thrashed against me as I fell. My heart thumped inside my chest as I began to free-fall, but I quickly gained control and sent my body careening into numerous midair flips. I straightened my body and held my forelegs forwards, like Superstallion, as I looked to the deep trenches of the lake below. I remember the first time I did this, I was twelve years old. When I was six I had fallen head over heels for a mare named Velvet. She was astonishingly cute and I couldn’t keep my feelings for her at bay. When I was twelve she asked me to be her special somepony, ME! To be her special somepony! But three days later she broke up with me and said it was just a bet she wanted to win with her friends. I had been so heart stricken that I came out here and lept off the cliff, but about halfway down I really thought about what I had done. Stupidity had bewildered me into jumping but once I was falling, I wanted to turn back. I screamed for help, hoping that somepony would hear my cries and save me. Of course it was already too late. Then it happened. I slammed into the water depths below. I hadn’t looked before I lept but I guess fate had planned other things for me. That moment proved a turning point in my life, the one where I got such a rush from near death that I told myself I didn’t need love, only exhilarating fun. But when I was seventeen, fate again, planned otherwise, and I met Applejack. Once again I fell head over heels for some mare that didn’t share my feelings. And once again my heart was broken, but at least this time I didn’t have the impending fear of death scarring the living hay out of me… but it still got my heart racing fast enough that adrenalin was pumping through my veins like wildfire. It was probably a hundred hoof drop, from top to bottom. My body slammed against the surface with great force, it would probably kill a pony if they didn’t land right, despite being just water. My body was quickly weighted down as water soaked into my fur and coat. The weight began to pull my body down and I allowed the force of gravity to drag me down to the lake bottom, which was probably 20 to 25 hooves deep. I just… was there, at the bottom. I opened my eyes and fresh water blurred my vision painfully as I looked to the dark gloomy depths of what could’ve been my grave. But I guess I was too good for this kind of death. After again eluding death, I began to casually swim to the surface. I surfaced with a splash as I whipped my head back, splashing my mane out of my face. I heard a clapping from the shoreline and looked to see Rainbow Dash laughing as she clapped her hooves together. “Hey, that was really cool. For a moment there, I thought you might have been drowning!” Dash said cheerily. I silently groaned to myself, I had kind of wanted to be alone but I guess things wouldn’t be so. I slowly swam to shore and as my legs touched bottom, I stood to my hindlegs and walked to the shore before sliding off my jacket and tossing it aside. My hat floated along in the water but I’d get that later. I flopped down to my haunches, sitting beside Dash as I sighed to myself. She looked to me with a look of curiosity. “So what’s really wrong? And don’t say you got distracted. Nopony gets distracted and falls off a cliff… well maybe Twilight, but she’s exempt from this.” Dash looked into my eyes before I looked away. “Why does it matter?” I asked and she shrugged. “Because I want to know… and when I want something, I usually get it.” She told me. I looked over to her with a smirk. “Oh really?... well I guess in that case I’ll make you work for it.” I said slyly. Her eyes went narrow as her lips turned into a devilishly playful grin. “Oh, it’s on!” She said as she tackled me onto my back and began to tickle me with her hooves. I began bursting out in laughter as she got all my most venerable points. “Ahh, ooh, okay, I give, I give… bwahahahaha, I give… please, I surrender!” I laughed, unable to control myself. She stopped for a moment, still sitting on me to make sure I didn’t escape. “Well?” She asked. I smiled as I quickly shifted my body then rolled, placing my body on top of hers and began to tickle her back. “Revenge is a dish best served… with tickles!” I laughed. She began laughing uncontrollably as her face turned bright cherry red and she clenched her eyes shut as laughter riddled her body. “AHH, OKAY I GIVE… I SUBMIT TO YOU… GAHHH… IT TICKLES!” Dash laughed. I stopped but kept myself playfully on guard. We were both panting heavily as we looked into each other’s eyes. Her rainbow mane was all scraggly but I suppose mine was probably straight from the soaking wet water that still dampened my entire body. “Well?” She asked and I tilted my head to one side. “Well nothing, you gave up.” I teased but suddenly she rolled our bodies again, placing her on top. But rather than tickle me half to death, she just sat there, starring dreamily into my eyes. She rested her hooves against my chest then sighed. “So… what happened?” She asked. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. “Applejack went on a date with Soarin…” I replied regretfully. For a moment it looked as if Dash was going to burst into laughter but then she realized I was serious. “Okay… so what?” She asked. “Sooo… for the last year and a half I’ve been trying to hook up with AJ but… she kept saying she didn’t want a relationship and now… well you know…” I told her. “Forget her!” Dash exclaimed and I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. “Hey, so what if you’re not her type! If she doesn’t want you than it’s her loss and she can go mess around with Soarin all she wants… that guy isn’t all that great either, he’s a real mood killer. It’s why Spitfire broke up with him in the first place.” Dash told me. He words of kindness helped me out a little and I felt better, in an emotional kind of way. “Thanks Dash… it means a lot.” I said with a smile. She laughed briefly then kissed me on the cheek. “Just don’t get all mushy for me. You’re a nice stallion and all, but you’re not my type. I like my stallions to be less athletic than me so it isn’t such a challenge for me to show them who’s the boss.” She said with a wink “That’s okay, you’re not really my type either…” I said slyly and her wings puffed out. “What!? Are you kidding me?! You were all mushy for me just a second ago!” She gasped. I shook my head with a shrug. “No I wasn’t.” I told her and she lightly hit my chest with her hoof. “You SOOOO were, you were probably about to fall for me too!” She countered. “In your dreams.” I laughed playfully. Her eyes went narrow again as her lips grinned deviously. “Oh… it is on.” She laughed and I smirked. “What is on? Your love for me, or is that just the tension in the air?” I taunted. She suddenly zipped into the air, flying high into the sky. I looked up and watched her as she became a speckle in the air. She was one competitive mare, I could say that. I waited for a moment as her body started coming back towards the ground at an accelerating pace. My smile soon turned into an expression of worry as she continued to pick up speed. There was a large boom in the air as she broke the sonic barrier. A flash of rainbow stardust followed her trail as a spectrum of light flashed across the sky. So this was the legendary Sonic Rainboom. I gulped as she slammed into the water. There was a moment’s pause before the water backlashed against the force, creating an enormous tidal wave. I looked dozens of yards into the air as the massive wave loomed over me. I yipped in anxious fear as I covered my face with my hooves. The feeling of the tidal wave crashed against my body as it slammed into me and pulled me along through its course. I floated along inside the wave with several bits of lake undergrowth and fishes… and a racoon. I swirled around in the water until it finally dispersed, leaving me lying on the ground. I coughed up some water as I looked to the sky. My view of the sky was soon impeded by that of Rainbow Dash as she loomed over me. “So… am I still not your type?” She asked playfully. I had a blank expression as I replied to her question. “I think that’s enough fun for one day…”