• Published 20th Feb 2014
  • 2,296 Views, 28 Comments

Why - CCC



Twilight asks some questions, and gets some answers

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Why were there no stallions at the Running of the Leaves?

Rainbow Dash grinned widely as she saw two of her best friends approaching the start line for this year's Running of the Leaves. “Hey, Twi!” she said, waving. “Hey, A.J.! You ready to take second place?”

“Second?” asked Applejack, grinning widely. “Why, Rainbow, aside from mahself, who else d'ya think is gonna beat you?”

“Maybe Twilight?” asked Dash, also grinning. “I mean, hey, she did it last year, right?”

“Yeah, maybe.” said Applejack. “What d'you think, Twi?”

“Hmmm?” asked Twilight, looking around. “Oh, hi, Dash. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, did one of you say something?”

“Nothing important.” said Dash, waving a hoof dismissively. “What's got you all distracted?”

“Just...something a little bit odd.” said Twilight. “Why are there no stallions at the Running of the Leaves?”

Applejack gasped in mock horror. “What? D'ya mean nopony told you?” she asked.

“Told me what?” asked Twilight.

“Well, Whitetail Woods is kinda a big place.” said Applejack. “So there's actually two races. The mare's race traditionally covers the portion to the east of the Whitetail River, while the stallion's race covers the portion to the west o' the river.” She leaned a little closer to whisper to Twilight. “Big Mac keeps insistin' his race is longer'n ours, but Ah think it's jus' 'cos he's ashamed Ah keep beatin' him.”

“...that's it?” asked Twilight.

“Eeeeyup.” said Applejack.

“Just separate races?”

“While some of us,” said Dash, spreading her wings, “wouldn't mind a route that's twice as long and passes through the river half-a-dozen times, apparently most ponies aren't awesome enough to handle that. Soooo.... we kinda get the whole race on easy mode.”

“We kinda want the whole town t'be able ta finish the race, Dash.” pointed out Applejack.

“See?” said Dash. “Easy mode. It's not an awesome race until the average pony starts dropping out before the finish.”

Applejack just sighed, and rolled her eyes.