//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Challenge Accepted // Story: What do I win? // by HapHazred //------------------------------// The sun, usually warm and comforting, stroking Rainbow's wings in flight, now glared through her shades like an angry parent scolding their child. She closed her eyes, but it hardly made much of a difference: beneath her eyelids the sun still turned her vision to a bright yellow. The sun was hovering in the sky as if frozen stiff, and the afternoon would drag on for a good few hours before she'd have to go and get dinner. Her wings were stretched out, the grass tickling and itching her feathers as the blades sprang up between them as she breathed. Now and then she'd shift, scratching her back where the prickling had become too annoying to bear. She could currently feel the itch on it's way as the hours progressed, but it would be another minute or so before she'd absolutely have to move, so she elected to keep on staring. Lazily, she raised her hoof, as if to swat the sun from out of her eyes, before lettting it drop back to her side heavily. She could swear that her foreleg was heavier than it had been a week ago. She hated holidays. Her ears flicked around to the side, the sound bouncing around in her skull as she tracked the movement of a pony.. who, she could not tell. It couldn't be her supervisor: after all, there was no weather to move around. In fact, there was absolutely nothing to do. Briefly Rainbow Dash considered taking flight, like she used to on an afternoon like this. She pictured herself soaring above the surrounding countryside, letting the chaotic excitement of Ponyville come to her. There was a time, not long ago, when she would have hung out with her friends just for fun, dive into wells to save fillies from drowning, perform stunts and keep herself in top shape. That was before the boredom. Boredom for Rainbow Dash was like sinking in quicksand: you'd want to get out, but you'd just end up sinking down deeper and deeper until somepony threw you a rope. The hoofsteps were close now. She found herself mildly curious as to who it was, but still made no motion to find out. "Hey there. Ya'll doin' anything interesting?" The voice was Applejack's. Rainbow Dash could easily recognize all of her friends voices, but Applejack's was by far the easiest to place. The heavy southern accent was unmistakable in Ponyville: the only other ponies who spoke similarly were either too young, too old, or too male to imitate the soft and rich confidence she had. "Nope." Rainbow replied curtly. Applejack's darkened face, strangely distorted from this angle, acted like a parasol, blocking out the sun. A nonchalant flick of Rainbow's hoof removed the shades, changing her black silhouette back into her usual form, a young attractive mare, her coat coloured in soft orange tones. She bore an enthusiastic expression, her whole body seemingly energized. "Ya'll want to have some fun?" She asked, her voice taunting Rainbow just enough to draw her from her half-awake slumber. Rainbow shrugged. "I guess." Applejack smiled. "Then I have just the thing for you: me and the girls, we cooked up a little series of events for us. You game?" A series of events? Ugh, activity. Rainbow ran the idea through her mind, but all of her optimistic imagination couldn't stop her from arriving at the inevitable conclusion: if she was going to join in, she'd have to move. "Nah." Applejack raised her eyebrow in surprise. For a brief second, Rainbow Dash almost woke entirely from her slothful apathy. She always thought that Applejack's eyebrows must have special muscles that other ponies didn't have: they could practically raise her entire hat when Applejack commanded them to. "Ya'll ain't doing anything, are you?" Rainbow wasn't. "Well, I don't feel like... doing stuff." Rainbow replied hollowly. Applejack sighed, and stepped around to get a better view of her friend. The sun almost blinded Rainbow Dash, who turned over on her stomach, annoyed, flicking the grass stuck to her wings into the air. Applejack decided to play her trump card: the three magical words that would, when in doubt, always motivate Rainbow Dash as if she were a mare possessed. "There's a prize." Rainbow's heart began racing as she fell under Applejack's spell, unable to move or think. Her blood coursed a little faster at the notion that she wouldn't just win... she might win something. "Oh yeah? What do I win?" she asked. She wasn't stupid: her subconscious overloaded her with warnings indicating she was being played. The rest of her simply didn't care. "Well, what do I win if you lose?" Applejack asked stubbornly, crossing her hooves. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. Well played... if there was one thing Rainbow loved more than prizes, it was stakes. "What do you suggest?" Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Week on the farm?" "Surely you can do better than that." Applejack smiled. "I want your cloud house." she said, grinning like a gambler with a hoof full of aces. Surprise. That was the only feeling that went through Rainbow's mind: Applejack, reliable and predictable, had managed to surprise her. "Wh- what do you want with my house? You can't stand in it without falling through the floor!" Applejack shrugged. "Ah can give it to Applebloom: put up some wooden planks she won't fall through, and have her little Crusader headquarters floatin' above the farm. Plus, I really just want to have it as a trophy or something." she said. She leaned in slightly. She knew she had Rainbow in her grasp. "Plus, ya'll can always make a new one, right?" Rainbow Dash frowned. Her house was special: it had been her home for years, and it had special, sentimental value that couldn't be replaced by just any old structure she made. She didn't like the idea of giving it up... but that was what made the idea fun. Rainbow loved taking risks, and she knew Applejack knew she loved taking risks. She was being played like a zither... but it was time to turn the tables. "If I win, I get your hat." Rainbow knew she had drawn blood. Applejack's hoof rose to her hat, and a flash of fear went across her face. But Rainbow knew she wouldn't back down: an Apple never backed down. They were as stubborn as an old tree, so they said. "If you lose, you can always get yourself a new one." Applejack gave in. "You got yourself a deal, partner." Applejack eventually said. Rainbow Dash grinned and got to her hooves. They bumped hooves briefly, and Rainbow Dash felt herself become electrified. She chuckled: she had missed this feeling. "So... what have you come up with? Is it exiting? Dangerous?" Applejack shrugged. "I don't know... I just know that the others will be testing both of us to our limits." she said. Rainbow smirked. There was no way the girls could come up with anything so challenging that Rainbow Dash herself couldn't handle it. "I think I can take it." Applejack snorted. "Not like that ya'll can't." she said, gesturing at Rainbow's tired looking eyes and slumped shoulders. "You haven't worked or moved in a week, have you?" Rainbow flexed her muscles, testing to see if they were still as strong as ever... and to her dismay, she found Applejack had a point. Her muscles felt weaker, and a quick check confirmed that some of them had been replaced by flab... nothing too serious, but a nightmare for an athlete like her. She had been lying down for too long, she'd gotten fatter, and slower. Softer. It was going to be tough to get back in shape, she thought, maybe too tough. Applejack grinned. The trap had been sprung, and like a tarantula in the desert, Applejack was going to drag Rainbow down to her doom. "I hope ya'll will be ready by tomorrow... I have chores. Got to keep the farm running, see, Sun Season or no." she said. She turned and left, leaving Rainbow Dash alone on the hill, gritting her teeth. As Applejack disappeared into the orchard, hidden in the shadows of the trees, she turned back, silently observing what secret reaction her friend had. She followed a flash of blue as it rose into the sky, the recognizable rainbow trail following it wherever it went. From the safety of the apple trees, Applejack beamed. "That's more like it."