//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Fluttershy's Challenge // Story: What do I win? // by HapHazred //------------------------------// And so, the next morning, early, only a few minutes after the sun began to rise above Equestria, Rainbow Dash awoke. She quickly pounded her hooves on the ground, pummelling them to life, warming up all her muscles at once. She knew the stakes, and she wasn't going to lose: there was just no way she could live down the shame of having to give up her house to Applejack, and besides: she figured she'd look really nice in a hat. Rainbow Dash stopped only to throw a few lettuce leaves into Tank's bowl before charging off into the open skies, ready for anything. The borders of the Everfree were quiet, to say the least. Aside from sporadic birdsong, there was very little sound at all to be heard. The almost-silence made the sharp noise of the four ponies chatting impossible to miss. Rainbow glided down from the skies, circling them once, twice, three times as she approached them. They were easy to spot, too: yellow, white, purple, and above all, pink, did not blend in well amongst the green and brown of the surrounding countryside. Rainbow landed gracefully, although less powerfully than she usually would, to her growing concern, and trotted towards them. As she approached, she suddenly felt happier with herself. Although she hadn't given them much thought as she had been lounging around her home, in fact, barely even thinking at all, she felt better for seeing them. "Hey there! I hear you've all got some challenge for me." she shouted as she closed the gap between them. Everypony trotted towards her, crowding her as they smiled, bounced, and greeted their friend as she was returned to them. "I think it would be more accurate to say that Fluttershy has a challenge for you." Rarity answered. Pinkie nodded, grabbing the pony in question, and practically shoving Fluttershy into Rainbow's face. "Yes she did! And it's really good! Tell her, Fluttershy!" she ordered. Fluttershy coughed nervously. "Well, um... I got Angel Bunny to tell the other rabbits to scatter across Ponyville..." Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow. "So... herding?" Twilight tilted her head to the side. "Well, more like animal hide and seek." she said. "They're not going to hide in groups or anything, but you will have to catch them." Rainbow chuckled. "This sounds easy... what's the time limit?" she asked. "Oh, no time limit. You can take as long as you want." Fluttershy explained, as if trying to reassure Rainbow as to the level of difficulty involved. Rainbow was not going to be satisfied with an easy task, however. "What? C'mon!" "But ya'll will have to do it faster than me, though... else I win." came Applejack's voice. Rainbow Dash turned around abruptly to face her opponent. Applejack stood confidently a few yards off, arriving unnoticed as Rainbow was occupied talking to the others. She flexed her shoulders: they looked as powerfully muscular as ever, as did the rest of her. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Applejack... I should have guessed you'd ask for herding." she said, smirking. "Hide and seek." Twilight corrected. Applejack held up her hooves innocently. "Hey! I didn't choose the challenges... they did. I'm just playing the hoof I'm given, partner." she replied. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Okay... well, what makes this any different from the Iron Pony competition? If I remember correctly, I won that." Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I would say that it's up for debate, but what makes this different is what the challenges will be. Right, gal's?" The other four nodded enthusiastically. "I'm sure you'll find my challenge particularly interesting." Rarity commented boastfully. Pinkie bounced up and down behind her. "Mine too!" As the others prepared a scoreboard, Rainbow Dash decided it was time to taunt Applejack a little. "Well... I hope you're ready to lose your hat, AJ." Applejack smirked. "Oh, trust me... I ain't." There were a few ponies who could claim to be athletes in Ponyville... a strangely sports oriented town for it's size, and every tribe of pony participated. Pegasi would fly, unicorns practised archery, and even earth ponies, without wings or magic, ran, rowed, jumped and vaulted, just like everypony else. But there were only two athletes that stood out over all the rest: and one of them was Applejack. Applejack was unique in that sport wasn't her primary goal in life: she simply adopted the activities as her own, a product of her rather physical lifestyle. But she took to them like a fish took to water, and very few ponies could even hope to keep up with her. She was stronger than Big Macintosh, faster than Fluttershy, even when she afraid, and more agile than a snake dipped in oil. As for her training? Well, she didn't train. She worked: and she worked hard. Where most ponies did what they did for fun, Applejack did because she had to, and that made her tougher than anypony around. Anypony betting on the outcome of the challenge would have gladly thrown their money on Applejack. The only problem was that the only pony who could possibly claim to be even better than her, was the mare she was competing against. Applejack darted around Sugarcube corner, two rabbits clenched in her teeth by the scruff of their necks. She was already panting, although most ponies would be lying on the ground by now, unable to move, but Applejack wasn't most ponies. Neither was Rainbow Dash, however. Applejack looked up at the sky, spotting the lightning fast pegasus easily. She was circling periodically around the perimeter of the town and doing her best to spot them from above. Applejack could have sworn she saw eagles perform similar motions, but she had no idea where Rainbow might have learned such a predatory technique. It was rather out of character. But then again, so was lounging around doing nothing all day, and Rainbow Dash was managing to do that just fine. The last time Sun Season had come, it had taken months of training to get Rainbow fit again. It had practically set her ambitions back by a whole year. Applejack grinned. Not this time, thanks to her. A flicker of movement passed through her peripheral vision: a quick check revealed it wasn't a pony, but indeed one of the rabbits she had been looking for. She scooped it up as quick as a flash, but as she tried to continue her search, she stumbled. All the rabbits she held in her teeth were squirming, which made the task of carrying them difficult indeed. As Applejack tried her best to come up with a solution, she eyed a wicker basket, lying by a doorstep, and instinctively, without thinking, she tossed the rabbits inside and carried the basket with her, accompanied by the shocked exclamations of the owner, demanding she return the item. Normally, she'd have put it back down on the spot, but her hat was at stake. She looked up: the comforting brim of her hat providing the same relaxing shade it had for years. She loved her hat dearly. She wondered, not for the first time, why she had volunteered her hat as a stake. "The things I do for you, Rainbow..." she muttered, before, rounding a small bush, she spotted another rabbit. She grit her teeth, and gave chase. Rainbow Dash wasn't bothering holding all the rabbits at once: instead she just flew them back to Fluttershy, one by one. She was flying so fast it looked like she was on the verge of breaking the sound barrier. To any casual onlooker, she'd have appeared to be a mare at the peak of her physical condition. They would be wrong: Rainbow Dash felt clumsy and heavy as she almost clipped a rooftop, failing to ascend fast enough. She growled. At this rate, she might even fall, or worse, fall behind. Of course, there wasn't that much of a risk she'd fail: after all, she had the sky, and from here, it was easy to pick out plenty of rabbits, especially the ones who thought they were safe by hiding out on the rooftops. She grinned, spotting another, her seventh. Rabbits really weren't masters of camouflage, especially in a village who's buildings were often coloured pink or yellow. This time, on her way back to Fluttershy's cottage, she saw Applejack cantering back as well. Rainbow Dash soared over her head, covering her in an instantaneous shadow, causing Applejack to glance up and see her rival make her way to the other four mares. Rainbow Dash landed heavily on the grass, sliding a good yard before coming to a stop. She tossed the rabbit to Fluttershy, which she then let bounce off into the nearby foliage. Twilight ran her hoof over a colourful, glowing, crystal ball. "Well, that's it!" she declared. "You don't have to go, Rainbow Dash. The challenge is over: all the rabbits have been found." Rainbow Dash cackled, and leaned against the fence, glad this was over. She looked at her score: seven to zero. She knew Applejack would be carrying them all back at once, of course, so her score would rise quickly, but still... seven was a good number, in her opinion, and would be tough to beat. Applejack cantered up to them, and dropped the basket, filled with rabbits, at Fluttershy's feet. Then she collapsed, breathing heavily. "Re-.... remind me to return that... to miss Flower Pot." she wheezed. Rainbow Dash leaned over Applejack. "Hey there. You must get some good shade, from that hat." she commented. Applejack made no reply. Fluttershy trotted to Rainbow, smiling. "Wow! You found seven of them in half an hour! That's really nice... it takes me hours to round them all up." Rainbow Dash shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I am faster than most ponies." she boasted. Rarity was smirking as she approached the three mares. "Yes... too bad we let loose fifteen rabbits." she said. Rainbow Dash paused, quickly doing the maths in her head... and came one rabbit short. Applejack broke into a grin. "I win?" "You win this round!" Rarity declared. "I knew you could do it!" "Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed, balancing herself on one of the fence posts, practically bombing Applejack with confetti. Some of it almost choked her. Applejack coughed furiously. Rainbow Dash sat down heavily as her face fell in disappointment. "I... lost?" I lost.