A Bad Wish Gone Worse - Pt. 1

by Burning_Halo

Chapter 14

It was another beautiful sunny day out a Sweet Apple Acres, where the wind blew through the trees and rustled the leaves, wafting the scent of the apple orchard over the farm and over the hills of Equestria. The trees danced on the wind, swaying gently to the rhythm of the farms other plentiful crops, like a lively green fire.

It was lively indeed, for Wildfire, galloping at speed over the farm land, had gone exploring the farm through the uniformly spaced apple trees, all bearing their ripe ruby red fruit. He huffed as he ran, eyes fixed forward in a unbreakable focus as he blazed the tan dirt trail. The breeze shot through the trees and blew Wildfire’s long bouncy mane out of his face, the feel of the air giving him chills as it cooled off in the shade the trees offered, making things feel a bit more blustery than they were on the calmer, hot summer’s mid-day. He reached out with his wings every so often, letting the sun’s rays and the cool breeze hit his feathers all at once, allowing his sweaty undersides to cool off.

Soaring just overhead was the bright and colorful Rainbow Dash, gliding along on the soft winds of the invigoratingly refreshing day. With her view of the land below her, she felt like she had more energy than any other pony could hope to ever have. The trees, the farm, the town off in the distance; it was another moment of hers where she could just let the world go for a minute. But beneath the sound of the rustling trees below her, she could hear the faint sound of a pony’s hooves stomping the ground. She searched the ground, finding an orange pegasus galloping along through the trees all by his lonesome.

It had been a little over a week since the Summer Sun Celebration; the last time they bothered to even talk to each other. But something felt different today. Rainbow was more curious than she was infuriated by the pony at this moment. What in the world was he doing just running through the apple orchard like that? Rainbow Dash dove in, lining her flight path up with the trail that Wildfire was stomping out, and ready to take off again when and if Wildfire decided to blast off himself.

Carefully navigating through the tree canopy, Dash furled her wings to slowly drop altitude while she glided along, just a s a bird would, flaring out again once she reached the ground. The sound of her flapping wings didn’t seem to catch Wildfire’s attention; he didn’t even turn his head around to see who was tailing him. Rainbow thought that he might be just ignoring her again, so she pulled up into his line of vision. She watched his head bob up and down to the sound of his galloping hooves, listening to the sound of his heavy panting as his mouth hung open, taking a minute or two to observe him before actually exchanging any words.

“What are you doing?” asked the curious Rainbow Dash, eyes bouncing back and forth between Wildfire’s engrossed expression and his hooves battering the soil.

“Exercising.” Wildfire said in between breaths, panting heavier now to keep conversation.

“Exercising your legs?” said Dash. “Aren’t your wings more important?”

“Pegasi have… poor stamina, or… so they say.” said Wildfire, his eyes bouncing now and then between the path and Rainbow’s confused stare. “So… I’m trying to… build stamina by… exercising… regularly.”

“By running?” Dash exclaimed, now finding his method more intriguing.

“Yeah…” Wildfire began panting heavier, “… and much more!”

They came to a clearing where the trees spaced out and gave way to the sky above them, overlooking the farm from the top of the hill. The path forked off into two other major trails from there; one cutting a straight path back to the farm, and one trailing off to the left and moving through the orchard off in the other direction. With a grunt, Wildfire broke his stride, slowing to a trot, hanging his head as he caught his breath back, his legs seeming to move involuntarily now as he trotted around in circles in the grass off the path.

“Hah… this used to be a lot easier when… I wasn’t studying so much.”

“So… that’s it?” asked Dash, beginning to like the way Wildfire was pushing himself.

“Well…” Wildfire stood, panting heavily as the dry feeling in his mouth made his teeth feel slimy. “I usually finish with this trail and head back to the farm. That’s about seven miles. I planned on going at least one more today…” Wildfire shook his head, taking a moment to remoisten his mouth. “…but I got my usual routine in today. I can save it for next week. Besides, I promised Applejack I’d offer a hoof at the farm.”

Dash looked at him, watching him huff as his head hung low, stretching out his legs and rolling his head as cold chills shot through him.

“Is it really going to kill him to do that last mile?” thought Rainbow.

She hovered back up above the trees, looking out down the path, watching it wind around and end back up out at the main road out of Ponyville, out along the white fence that separated the orchard from the road. It didn’t seem too far to the blue pegasus, but the orange pegasus obviously wasn’t ready to put up with it.

Looking back down at Wildfire, and back at the path, and back and forth a few times more, Rainbow began forming a plan in her head, and a small mischievous smile drew itself out on Dash’s face.

“Sounds like you need some motivation.” said Dash, earning a half black expression from Wildfire.

“So get back on that path and run that last mile!” she shouted, poking at Wildfire’s haunches.

“You’re kidding…” said Wildfire, picking his head back up and looking Dash in the eye.

She smiled impishly, raising her hoof and giving Wildfire’s hind end a firm smack.

“Ow! Hey!” he said, jumping at the snap of her hoof on his haunches.

“Go! Quick! Before they catch you!” shouted Dash, her voice echoing lightly through the trees.

Wildfire stared down the path, his tunneled vision making him feel that the last mile would feel more like three. But Dash kept shouting at him, kept saying that “they were going to get him,” as if he were the lead in a race, and the second place pony was rounding the corner and overtaking him. With a grunt and a painful cringe, Wildfire lunged forward and picked his pace back up, tailed by Rainbow Dash as she continued to shout encouragement at him.