Fall Weather Friends
////
Fall Weather Friends
////
Alex and Spike walked into the library together after their first Cutie Mark Crusader meeting, and both collapsed on the floor in front of a confused Twilight.
“How was your first meeting in your new club…?” Twilight asked.
“Well…” Alex began, “We know we’re not doctors…”
“And we’re not acrobats!” Spike added.
“We’re also not dancers, librarians, police ponies, body builders, inventors, glass blowers, actors, poker players, marathon runners, magicians, lumberjacks, OR ice skaters.” Alex sighed.
“I was pretty good at blowing glass.” Spike said quickly.
“Actually, he was,” Alex agreed, “I thought the Cutie Mark would appear on him… But it didn’t.”
Twilight giggled, “It sounds like it was a rough day.”
“Hey!” Alex said suddenly, “Why is it so much like autumn out there?”
“The falling leaves?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah!” Alex said, “Didn’t winter JUST end?”
“It happens a few times a year,” Twilight said, “It must just be another different between our worlds.”
That was good enough for Alex. He didn’t want to get into any complicated season-related conversations. What he REALLY wanted was some food.
“Man… it sure would be GREAT if somepony made me a sandwich.” Alex said hopefully, looking at Spike with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.
Spike looked at Twilight with the same eyes..
Twilight looked at Alex, eyebrow raised.
“Uh… Maybe I’ll ask Dash!” Alex said, but after a moment of thought, he changed his mind, “Mmmmmaybe not.”
“I don’t think she’d like that very much,” Twilight laughed, “Besides, I think she’s busy today.”
“What’s she doing?” Alex asked, having been fairly busy in his studies the last few days.
“She and Applejack are having some kind of competition.” Twilight explained, “I don’t really know the details, but they’re doing it today.”
“Wow,” Alex said, “I figured I’d have heard something about it.”
“It actually started over a game of horseshoes,” Spike spoke up. “Rainbow was pretty sore about losing a game of them to Applejack.”
“Sounds like her,” Alex said, “Where are they?””
“They’re at Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight said, “I’m actually on my way there now.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Alex asked, “I’d love to be a cheerleader.”
“Maybe THAT will be your Cutie Mark,” Spike laughed.
“I doubt it,” Alex said, getting up and heading toward the door, “I look terrible in a skirt.”
Twilight giggled, “And how would you know that?”
“What happens in Manehattan STAYS in Manehattan.” Alex laughed.
“I can picture it.” Twilight said, “Come on, let’s get going.”
Alex nodded, and headed out the door, followed by Twilight and Spike.
////
Heading up the road toward Sweet Apple Acres, the three saw Applejack and Rainbow setting up some obstacles, for some kind of race.
“Hey guys!” Dash said, seeing that her friends had arrived.
“Hey Twi!” Applejack said, smiling.
“Hey girls,” Twilight said, looking around the set up farm. “What exactly are you doing?”
“We’re havin’ a—“ Applejack began.
“An ironpony competition!” Rainbow Dash cut off, as she started flexing her wings.
“See, we’ve set up a bunch of events to decide which of us is—“ Applejack began again.
“Is the most athletic pony!” Dash finished.
“So… Why do you need me?” Twilight asked, a bit confused.
“Yeah!” Dash agreed, “Why do we need her?”
“Because we need somepony to judge and keep score!” Applejack said.
“Oh yeah!” Dash said, “Somepony has to record my awesomeness for the record books!”
“Riiiiiight.” Alex said.
“Hey!” Dash said, “You’ll be famous too!”
“Why…?” Alex asked.
“You’ll be remembered as my stallion, of course!” Dash said.
“Oooooh, lucky me.” Alex said sarcastically.
“Well, Rainbow, are you ready to get this show on the road?” Applejack asked.
“You bet your rump I am!” Dash said excitedly. “Let’s do this!”
////
Alex sat and watched the girls compete for the next few hours, and was surprised at the sheer number of different things they were doing. However, something quickly became apparent to him, and he was surprised that Twilight hadn’t spoken up about it.
Dash was using her wings in several of the competitions, and Applejack had to simply do without… It wasn’t exactly fair. But… was he in the position to be telling Dash that she was being unfair? He felt like she would punch him or something. And that would put him in an abusive relationship!
…Okay, maybe not. But, he had clearly seen Applejack being frustrated by the disadvantage she was at. So, Alex was going to go talk to Dash at the end of this round, and hopefully get her to change her mind about using them.
Waiting patiently, Alex watched as Applejack tried her best to buck Spike off her back. However, being a pony and all, he was clearly weighing her down. He had simply lay down across her back, and put all of his weight on her. This event would have really worked out better if Spike were still a dragon.
After Applejack realized she wouldn’t be bucking him off, she simply shook herself side to side until Spike slid off. Unfortunately, it took her a few too many seconds to figure out how to get him off, which gave Dash yet another advantage over her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake.
Replacing Applejack, Rainbow Dash walked up to the collapsed Spike and gave a loud ‘Ahem!’
“Yeah yeah…” Spike sighed, lifting himself up. “Let’s try to do this fast.”
As Spike draped himself over her back, Dash waited for her signal to start.
Just as Twilight blew the whistle, Dash extended her wings as best she could, and started to flap. She then lifted her front half up, and Spike slid right off.
Of course, Dash beat Applejacks score by those few seconds, giving her yet another point in her favor.
Seeing the increasing frustration being exhibited by Applejack, Alex decided to talk to Twilight about it.
"Isn't this a little unfair?" Alex asked.
"I was thinking the same thing," Twilight nodded, looking at him, "Maybe you should go say something?"
"Why me?" Alex asked, "I solve too many problems, and that probably gets pretty lame. You should go talk to her."
"Yeah, okay." Twilight nodded, "I'll go over there."
“Hey Dash!” Twilight shouted, hopping off the tipped over barrel she had been sitting on.
“Hey!” She answered happily, “Coming over to congratulate me?”
“Well, Not exactly...” Twilight said, being careful to choose the right words, “I think that you’re kinda… Being unfair.”
“Why? Because I’m so much more athletic than her?” Dash joked, “I can’t disagree with you there!”
“Well… No,” Twilight said, scratching his head, “It’s your wings.”
Dash cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little unfair that you’re using wings?” Twilight asked.
“That’s her problem!” Dash retorted, “She agreed to this competition with me!”
“Look,” Twilight said, trying his best to formulate an argument, “What if Applejack was a unicorn, and used magic to complete the challenges?”
Dash didn’t respond.
“Like, if she had levitated Spike off her back, and dropped him. Or, she had protected the chicks on her back with a magic field.” Twilight explained, “She’s at a disadvantage here.”
Dash thought about it. She WAS right; Applejack simply didn’t have the ability to compete with her on certain levels.
“I guess.” Dash finally agreed.
“Finally!” Applejack cut in, “I can’t believe it took y’all so long to see how unfair this whole shin ‘dig was!”
“Well, I guess we weren’t too clear on what the rules were.” Dash said.
“Was it that hard to notice how unfair it was?” Applejack sighed, “Anyway, where do we head from here?”
“Look, I'm sorry.” Dash asked, giving her an apologetic look, "I guess we could restart, if you wanted to do this from the beginning."
“Hmm.” Applejack thought, “Ah think that’d take too long.”
“And all these events were maybe… A tiny bit of overkill.” Twilight said.
“Maybe we could keep it simple…” Dash formulating an idea, “There is one thing we could do.”
Walking toward a nearby tree, Dash demonstrated her idea by kicking the trunk with her hind leg, making a large amount of leaves fall to the ground.
“Um…” Applejack said, “What’s that all about?”
“You know!” Dash said patting her hoof in the pile she made.
“You want to play in a pile of leaves?” Alex asked.
“No!” Dash said.
“Do you want to have a leaf raking competition?” Spike asked.
“That’s a great idea!” Alex agreed, knowing that he was just bugging Dash at this point. “That’ll prove the most athletic pony for sure!”
“I think she means ‘The Running of the Leaves.’” Twilight cut in, smiling, “And I think it’s a great idea!”
“Yeah!” Applejack agreed, “Just so long as no WINGS get used!”
“I don’t need my wings!” Dash shot back, “I could beat you in the Running of the Leaves with my wings tied behind my back!”
“Oh, Sugar Cube,” Applejack said, smirking, “Ah’ve jus’ been WAITIN’ for you to say that.”
////
Applejack and Dash stood on the starting line for the Running of the Leaves, along with a dozen other ponies, each preparing themselves for the run ahead of them.
“Is the rope REALLY necessary?” Dash asked as Applejack secured the rope behind her.
“You said you could do it with em’ tied behind yer back!” Applejack laughed, tightening the rope that was wrapped around Dash’s wings.
Dash sighed and blew her hair out of her face. Since she hadn’t had it cut in such a long time, it was constantly getting in her eyes. But, Alex liked it, so she wasn’t too upset with it. And, as much as she hated to admit it, it was a plus on the feminine scale… that was for sure.
Alex approached the start line with Twilight, and was received with laughter from Dash and Applejack, upon seeing that they too had entered the race.
“You two are joking, right?” Dash asked.
“No offence Twi’,” Applejack said, “But you don’t seem like the runnin’ type.”
“And Alex!” Dash added, “Just last week, I saw you levitating yourself around town, because your leg was sore!”
“I fell out of the sky, and landed on you during a Wonderbolts race!” Alex said, “I think that counts for a few days of lazy!”
“I didn’t see you limping after the race.” Dash said.
“I barely noticed it,” Alex said, “Once I had a chance to lie down a bit after we got back, it started to stiffen up a bit.”
“Well, try not to hurt yourself again, then,” Dash giggled, “I don’t need you floating around anymore!”
“Are you sure that y’all want to do this?” Applejack asked seriously, still surprised they showed up.
“I’ve read a whole bunch on running,” Twilight said, “So I think I’ve got a good chance!”
“Uh… This is a RACE, Twilight,” Dash said, cracking up, “Not some test that you can study for!”
“I beg to differ!” Twilight said, “I think that reading will do me plenty of good!”
Applejack let out an audible snort, trying to hold back laughter.
Twilight sighed in frustration.
“Well, good luck, egg head.” Dash said, laughing some more.
“IS EVERYPONY READY?” Pinkie bellowed from her hot air balloon, high above the action. “GET S—“
“Get set!” Spike said from that megaphone attached to the balloon that Pinkie seemed to have forgotten about.
“Oh… I forgot about that!” Pinkie was heard saying to Spike through the megaphone, “What was I supposed to say next…? Oh yeah! Go!”
Everypony was surprised to hear the sudden signal to start the race, but they still headed off in a hurry. And of course, leading the pack, were Rainbow and Applejack. It only took a few minutes for the two of them to pull away from everypony else.
Alex and Twilight kept pace with one another, and idly chatted about whatever came to their minds, while they watched Applejack and Rainbow Dash duel it out. However, a few minutes in, they watched Applejack come close to Dash in an attempt to pass her. However, she tripped over a large stone, and tumbled to a dead halt.
“Did y’all see that?” Applejack asked furiously.
“See… what?” Alex asked, stopping.
“She tripped me!” Applejack said angrily.
“No she didn’t…” Twilight said, “You tripped over that rock.”
“Huh…?” Applejack said, looking back, and seeing the rock that she had indeed run in to, “Aw, hayseed!”
“Sorry about that,” Alex said, “But you probably want to get moving.”
“Yeah, I have a LOT of ground to cover ah’m gonna catch—“ Applejack said before being cut off.
“Hey Applejack!” Dash shouted from just ahead of them, “Are you coming or what? I can’t have my competition tripping and falling way behind!”
Everypony was in awe, Dash had stopped! She must have taken that unfair advantage speech to heart.
“We’ll start running together, from here, so hurry up!” Dash instructed.
Applejack simply walked forward, and nodded, still determined to win this race.
Alex and Twilight watched Applejack and Dash resume their race at full speed, then looked at each other, unable to find any words for each other.
“Did Dash just stop and be… fair?” Alex asked.
“Wow.” Twilight said simply, “Will she still be that graceful if she comes in second place?”
“That’s a good point…” Alex said, thinking for moment, “But, I think I have an idea on how to fix that.”
“What’s that?” Twilight asked.
“I could beat them both, so neither of them could come in first!” Alex said seriously, confusing Twilight.
“But… Are you even capable of winning this race?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I’m rarely out of breath unless it comes to magic,” Alex said. “Running isn’t so bad... I think that the air here has a higher oxygen content or something.”
“Well, I’m all for it!” Twilight smiled, “I’d like to see the looks on their faces!”
“Alright!” Alex said picking up the pace, “I’ll see you at the finish line!”
Twilight nodded and watched Alex run after the two ponies.
“Is he really going to be able to beat them?” Twilight said to herself.
“PROBABLY NOT!” Pinkie shouted from her balloon, “Oh right, megaphone! Thanks Spike!”
////
Applejack and Rainbow Dash had moved through the pack of ponies that had passed them, and were once again fighting with her for first place.
Alex had been trailing behind them for a few minutes now, but hadn’t been noticed. He was trying to find the best moment to pull forward, and take a lead over them. Everypony else was so far behind, that they weren’t even visible anymore. So, Alex knew that this was going to be down to the three of them.
Unfortunately, Alex was completely blindsided when Dash tripped over a small tree stump, and tumbled backward into him.
The two of them rolled into a pile of bushes just off the race track, and came to a stop with her on top of him.
“Ugh…” Dash said, lifting herself off of whoever she had landed on, “Sorry about that A—“
Dash did a double take, “Alex? What were you doing up this far?”
“I was racing,” Alex laughed, “But I guess you kinda put an end to that.”
Dash looked at him, confused.
Alex gestured to his left hind leg that Dash was currently on top of. Jumping off his leg, she realized just how hard she had landed on it. A spot on her back was aching from hitting something too hard, and that ‘something’ must have been his leg. And on top of that, that was the same leg that he had hurt before.
“Oh!” Dash said, “I’m sorry! It’s because Applejack… Well… I guess I tripped over that stump. I wasn’t really paying attention…”
Dash surprised herself somewhat with her admittance of the truth. Normally she would have convinced herself that Applejack had caused this, by knocking her into the stump or something. But… that would have led in a circle of blame, and cause nothing but fighting. She couldn’t believe that she recognized that before she started the fight! After everything that had happened to her recently, the last thing she wanted to do was start a fight with her friends.
“It’s okay.” Alex said, grimacing as he stood up. “But you owe me!”
Dash rolled her eyes, “Fine, after the race I’ll make you some soup and a sandwich.”
Alex’s eyes lit up, “You read my mind!”
“Once the race is over, though.” Dash said, smiling at his enthusiasm.
Alex nodded.
Dash looked toward the race track seeing that Applejack was long gone, and then back to Alex. And for some reason that she couldn’t fathom, she didn’t care if she won this race. Sure, she knew Applejack would rub this in her face for the rest of their lives. But, for now, she was going to look after Alex. She could beat Applejack some other day.
“Come on,” Dash said, “Let’s walk to the finish line together.”
“But… what about the race?” Alex asked, “I can handle myself, if you want to try to catch up to Applejack.”
“No!” Dash said immediately, “I’ll- I’ll look after you.”
It made her happy to say that.
Alex smiled and nodded, “Thank you.”
////
Applejack stood at the finish line, completely perplexed, and feeling somewhat guilty. She had finished first place, no problem. But… Rainbow had wiped out, and she hadn’t even stopped to see if she was okay. For all she knew, Dash broke her leg and was helplessly waiting for somepony to help her… Even after she had stopped for her.
The bulk of the crowd finally arrived at the finish line, Twilight included. So, Applejack decided to ask if she had seen Dash.
“Hey Twi!” Applejack said, running over to her. “Did you see Dash at all?”
Twilight smiled softly, “I did. She’s just behind me.”
“Is she hurt?” Applejack asked, “She fell an’ I didn’t stop to check on her…”
“Don’t you ponies ever watch where you’re going?” Twilight laughed, “But no, she’s fine. She’s with Alex, she hurt him when she tripped, so she’s walking him over the finish line.”
“Huh…?” Applejack said, a little shocked that she would stop racing on account of hurting somepony. “You sure that we’re talkin’ ‘bout the same Rainbow Dash?”
“I am,” Twilight smiled, “I’m pretty surprised myself, she’s surprised us all today.”
The two watched the race track as Dash and Alex finally appeared down the path. Alex walked with a slight hobble, and was being supported by Dash, who was right next to him keeping him held up. Of course, that was more of a ploy than anything. The two were simply happy to have an excuse to walk so close together. Alex really would have been fine on his own.
The two walked up to Applejack and Twilight, both expecting to hear some kind of gloat. However, there was silence instead.
Applejack wanted to gloat. She wanted to proclaim herself as the ‘iron pony,’ and the undisputed winner… but was she really? Dash had stopped to help her when she tripped, and then stopped to help Alex when he fell. She even walked him to the finish. Whether that was because he was her colt friend or not, was unimportant… She had still taken the time to make sure that both of her friends were okay, an attitude that she herself had lacked, when she didn’t turn around to check on Dash after she tripped.
In retrospect, Dash was miles ahead of her, no matter where she finished.
“Gongrats, Dash.” Applejack smiled, “I think you just won the title.”
“Huh?” Dash asked, a little stunned, “But… You finished WAY before me…”
Twilight smiled and spoke up, “I think Applejack learned something about sportsmanship.”
“Sportsmanship?” Alex asked.
“You stopped to help somepony that needed help,” Twilight explained, “You put Alex before the race.”
“Well, I… I guess that I would have helped anypony that really needed it.” Dash admitted, “But Applejack would have to!”
“But I didn’t….” Applejack said quietly, “Even after you stopped for me when ah tripped… Some dependable pony ah am…”
“What, that?” Dash said, “I didn’t expect you to, I mean, I would have caught up anyway!”
“Still, it was wrong for me to do that, and I’m sorry.” Applejack said.
Dash looked around, a bit surprised that this conversation was even happening. But, decided to accept it gracefully.
“It’s alright Applejack.” Dash said, “Next time we have a race, let’s just keep it friendly, and not make it a competition... I feel like it brings out the worse in us”
“Darn tootin’!” Applejack agreed.
“Sounds good.” Alex added.
“Yeah,” Twilight said, “Sometimes competition can lead to everypony losing. Just as long as we play fair, and have fun, we can always have a good time!”
The four were satisfied with the way the race had turned out, and continued chatting about it, until they were cut off once again by the balloon in the sky.
“WHEN I SPEAK IN MY ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, I DO NOT NEED A MEGAPHONE!” Princess Luna was clearly heard from the sky.
Looking up, Alex saw that she had sandwiched her way into the middle of the rather small basket that barely held Pinkie and Spike.
“SISTER, I WISH TO PURSUE A LIFE OF COMMENTATION.” Luna shouted toward Celestia, who had appeared in front of Twilight and her friends, just as suddenly as Luna had appeared in the balloon.
Celestia giggled, “She can be quite playful sometimes.”
“Princess!” The four said in unison, as they all bowed to her.
“Please, there is no need to be so formal,” Celestia said, gesturing for them to stand up, “I simply came down to enjoy the running of the leaves. It’s one of my favorite traditions, and you all seemed to do a wonderful job making the leaves fall.”
“That’s what we were doing?” Alex said to himself quietly.
“I saw what you did for your friend, Rainbow Dash, and I’m quite proud of you.” Celestia said softly, “And you, Applejack as well.”
“Yer proud of me?” Applejack asked, “But… I didn’ do anythin’!”
“But you did,” Celestia explained, “You realized what you had done wrong, and apologized for it.”
Applejack nodded slowly, still not convinced.
“If we never make mistakes, we’ll never learn from them.” Celestia finished, “So don’t be afraid to mess up some times.”
“Thank ya kindly, Princess…” Applejack said, “That makes me feel a whole lot better.”
“It’s no problem, Applejack.” Celestia smiled.
“I’M HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME WITH MY FRIENDS!” Luna bellowed from the sky, even though Pinkie and Spike were somewhat squished in the basket.
“If you four will pardon me,” Celestia said politely, “I need to remove my sister from the hot air balloon.”
“Good luck,” Alex said, “She seems to really like it up there.”
“Indeed…” Celestia said, concentrating on the sky.
“Oh, Princess,” Twilight said quickly, “Would you like for me to write to you about this lesson I just learned?”
“Of course not Twilight,” Celestia said, not looking away from the sky, “I’m sure that you understand it.”
Twilight nodded, before seeing the clear frustration in Celestia’s face “Do you want some help getting her down?”
“…Please.” Celestia said calmly, “I’m worried it might cause a scene if I levitate her out.”
“I’ll help too!” Applejack said, stepping forward.
Alex and Dash looked at each other and exchanged glances, formulating a plan.
“Alex, could you—“ Twilight began, before turning around, and seeing the two teleport away.
“Oh, to be young and in love,” Celestia said happily, “We can deal with Luna, let’s leave them be.”
Applejack giggled, “I may not be allowed to laugh over winnin’, but I sure as heck can laugh at ‘em fer runnin’ off to make out every twenty minutes!”
“That’s another valuable lesson.” Celestia giggled.
“SISTER!” Luna bellowed again, “I WISH TO HAVE A CUPCAKE.”
“A cupcake…?” Twilight said slowly.
“NEVERMIND,” Luna said immediately, “PINKIE HAS SUPPLIED ME WITH SIX—SEVEN! SHE HAD ONE IN HER TAIL!”
“Eww…” Twilight said.
“This is gonna be tougher than ah thought…” Applejack sighed.
Celestia sighed, “Why did I even let her up there…?”
////
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Meh.
It's good.
Luna you so random
I love it when Luna does these kinds of things in stories they just make me realize how awkward she is in the new society.
If I had the power I would give Luna a hat.
wow. And I thought pinkie was random. She aint got nothing on Luna
Can Dax see and experience everything that is happening to Alex, even though the latter isn't aware of it?
2181305
Yes. He's been along for the whole ride
Oh, Luna, my mentor. She is more random than Pinkie sometimes. Good luck getting the Princess out, girls.
I love the way you portray Luna, it is hilarious
luna your so random
HAHA LUNA OH GOD YES!
Late comment because Eli decided to skip out on breakfast before he came over and decided to eat my food instead.
But you food is so delicious.
Whatever. Also, adorable Luna is adorable.
~Sylpheed and Eli
2802503 I laughed so hard when I saw that
Is it wrong that Luna is reminding me of Torgue in Torgue's Campaign of Carnage DLC for Borderlands 2? Seriously, it's so awesome.
Im sorry im going to have to count that as a FANFICTION sin >:L you used it to much your sin count is now at 37...
I wan da cupcakz too
3458714 Agreed.
But now I want a muffin after seeing your display picture.
I the only one who was imagining Luna drunk?
3895261 Nope
Cupcakes!
3895261 Nope
I absolutely love this chapter, probably my favorite even.
Luna is best Princess!
Sarcastic humor can be hilarious when pulled off right, It's nice reading all these chapters again
Queen Luna of the Balloon
The lessons are altered, though not negatively... Will they still have enough experience in this new direction? Hmmm...
I thought of Mr. Torgue the entire thing.
I fully support this idea
I think I figured out the key change that Alex caused, twilight's not sending nearly as many (if any) friendship reports to celestia
Okay, and what exactly is Celestial going to do about that request, Lunal? Does she have magic cupccake magic of some sort? Did I say magic too many times? Yes, yes I did. Am I talking to myself in text format? Yes, why yes I am. As long as you don’t start saying you instead of I.
Oh. Uhhh... By the way, that first you was completely unintentional. Also, I think I have reached my ADHD kick-in point of the night.
Also, I know their names are Celestia and Luna. I call them Celestial and Lunal because that is their nickname from me.
You do realize that despite this episode coming after Winter Wrap-up it's generally assumed that the episodes were just shown out of order. I mean if you think about it it makes sense.