Fall Weather Fiends

by Bookpony579

Chapter 1

On this beautiful fall day, we find our heroines at the Canterlot High School athletic field watching two of their friends compete against each other...

...for the fifth time this month.

The field was set up with various sorts of athletic contests such as horseshoe tossing, barrels weaving, a portable long jump set and so on.

Nearby, we find none other than Rainbow Dash and Applejack, two of CHS's most athletic students, stretching and doing warm ups to prepare. The air was so tense between them, you could cut it with one of those plastic knives they give you at those fast food places.

Meanwhile, on the bleachers, the rest of their friends looked on in....well significantly less anticipation than the two who are actually competing. Rarity was taking the time to touch up on her manicure, Fluttershy was busy rubbing Spike's belly, Sunset was listening to a song with her earbuds, and Twilight was, as usual, reading a book. Only Pinkie Pie, the referee and scorekeeper, seemed genuinely excited to watch her friends compete against each other.

"Oh my stars! This is so exciting! Aren't you guys excited? I'm excited! Weeee!" Pinkie cheered as she did a cartwheel.

"I suppose it would be more exciting if they didn't do something like this all the time." Rarity said, examining her nails.

"First, it was seeing who could carry the most books, then who could eat their lunch the fastest, then it was who go without throwing up the longest after eating them so fast." Twilight listed, not even looking up from her book.

Fluttershy sighed. "Sometimes I wish they could just go one day without competing against each other at something." Her eyes widened. "Not that I don't want them to be at their best of course."

"It's just all these contests can get a little....predictable." Sunset stated. "It usually ends in a tie or one of them wins one while the other wins the next."

"Hey!" Rainbow called from the field. "Are we just gonna sit around chatting? Or are we gonna watch me beat Applejack?"

AJ scoffed. "Now don't count yer chickens before they hatch. I'm feelin' pretty good today!"

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow smirked and narrowed her eyes. "Then get ready to bring it on!"

"Gladly!" AJ smirked back.

"Alrighty then!" Pinkie popped up between them. "Since we're all ready, let's get this started!" She then reached into her hair, pulled out an air-horn, and pressed it, causing everyone (except herself) to cover their ears.

"Pinkie!" Sunset scolded, still covering her ears.

"What?" Pinkie asked innocently.

---

The first event was track. Both competitors stood at the starting line.

"Get ready to eat my dust!" Rainbow said.

"Don't get cocky now. I've been herding cattle with Winona for a while now. I'd say I've got speed built up." AJ bragged.

"On your marks!" Pinkie called.

AJ and Rainbow tensed.

"Get set!"

Their eyes narrowed, focusing on the prize.

Pinkie then blew the air-horn again. "GO!"

"Pinkie!" Sunset cried out, covering her ears again.

"What?" Pinkie asked again, still unaware.

Rainbow and AJ took off at lightning speed. Quickly and swiftly, they jumped over the various hurdles on the track.

"Feeling tired yet AJ?" Rainbow asked when she noticed sweat on her friends' forehead.

"Oh please! I got enough steam to light a house!"

"That's nice." Rainbow smirked. "Too bad I've got enough to light a city!"

With that, Rainbow kicked it into high gear and zoomed off, leaving a Rainbow just behind her.

AJ just blinked a minute, shocked, before pushing herself faster.

Unfortunately, by the time she reached the finish line, she was all out of breath and Rainbow was already there, leaning smugly against a tree.

"Sorry AJ. But I'm a lean mean, running machine!"

AJ just collapsed on the ground, glaring at her.

---

A few more events passed, before Rainbow and AJ found themselves in front of a carnival high striker game.

"Okay ladies!" Pinkie spoke up. "I found this in my party supply closet. The one who hits it the highest wins. Now let's go!" She blew the air-horn again.

"PINKIE PIE!" Sunset shouted, covering her ears.

"What?"

Rainbow went first, taking the mallett, eying the target for precision, before finally striking as hard as she could. Up the ball went, all the way to...

"Ogre!" Pinkie cheered.

Rainbow smirked before handing the mallet to AJ, "Hah! Try beating that!"

AJ smirked right back. "Oh I won't have to try sugarcube..."

AJ got into position, lifted the mallet high in the air before bring it down.

The ball flew up the board and, instead of just hitting the bell, knocked it out into the sky.

Rainbow's jaw dropped to the ground as she looked up.

AJ dropped the mallet and smirked again. "You may be fast, but I'm as strong as an ox!"

Rainbow just glared at her.

---

More events passed, and in no time the final event arrived, much to the other's relief.

"Alright girls!" Pinkie shouted. "Final round is a simple set of pull ups! The won who does the most without falling off wins. Now, since Ms. Shimmer over there hid my air horn..."She shot a look at Sunset, who looked away whistling, before returning her attention to the competitors. "I'll signal myself. Are you ready?" The two teens nodded from below the bars. "Get set.....BEEEEEEEEP!" She said, trying to imitate the sound of her missing air horn.

Immediately, both girls jumped up and started doing pull ups as fast as they could while Pinkie kept count.

"...thirty seven....thirty eight....thirty nine!"

Rainbow and AJ kept going, despite the growing soreness in their arms.

"You...can quit...anytime...you like..."Rainbow wheezed.

"Not....a chance.....but....you can..."AJ huffed.

Both girls continued, despite the sweat and apparent exhaustion they were going through.

"Ninty eight...ninety nine!"

As both girls tried pulling themselves up, they found their strength slipping away from them and fell back to the earth.

"My goodness!" Rarity looked up from her finished nails and gasped. "Are you girls alright!?" She asked as everyone rushed over.

Both of them lay flat on the ground, gasping for air.

"Did...did I...win?" Rainbow gasped.

Pinkie took a quick look at the scoreboard she had set up. "It's a tie!"

"WHAT!?" Rainbow and AJ were suddenly on their feet.

"Yup! A perfect tie!" Pinkie revealed the numbers, and indeed they were equal on both sides.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow groaned.

"Well I woulds won if you hadn't cheated!" AJ shouted.

"What!?"

"You used yer super speed on some of the events! You wouldn't be allowed to do that in a real contest!"

"Oh yeah? Well what about you and your super strength!? I'm pretty sure that's not allowed either!" Rainbow and AJ were glaring daggers at each other now.

"Girls! It's alright! It's doesen't matter!" Twilight tried to stop them, to no avail.

"If you want a real contest, how about the running of the leaves marathon?" Sunset suggested. "You both are eligible for the teen devision, right?"

The running of the leaves was an annual tradition in Canterlot. In the old days, it was believed the vibration from all the runners would help shake all the leaves off the trees in preparation for winter. Nowadays though, it was just a fun event for everyone.

"Oh, we can do that. That is, if Rainbow's not chicken?" AJ raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh it's on!" Rainbow declared.

"You do realize you'll have to wear speed-hampering bracelets right? That means no super speed." AJ informed her.

Rainbow just rolled her eyes. "Oh please. I was fast even before it was my superpower!"

"Then it's a deal? No cheating?"

"Deal."

With that, cowgirl and tomboy spit into their hands and shook, sealing the deal much to Rarity's disgust.

"Oh brother..."Twilight rolled her eyes, only imagining what her friends would do.

The sound of an air-horn filled the air.

"I found my air horn!" Pinkie shouted above the noise.

"OH COME ON!!" Sunset shouted, covering her ears yet again.

Comments

[Comickook]

Once again, thanks very much for getting the next story started. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly like the more adventure-oriented spin mentioned in the description to keep this from being TOO similar to the actual episode.

Rainbow: But if *I* have to wear speed dampeners, AJ has to wear STRENGTH dampeners too.

Applejack: Really?

Rainbow: Yes, really. I might not be as smart as Twilight, but I'm not stupid either. I'm pretty sure that super-strength extends to your entire body - including your legs. You might not be able to run as fast as ME, but you CAN run at the speed of a fast car.

Applejack: Oh, okay. If you're going to be a big baby about it, I WILL wear strength dampeners too.

Rarity: There you go. Besides, both of you doing this WITHOUT super-powers will be good practice for the Friendship Games, since you would be competing against individuals who don't have super-powers.

Applejack/Rainbow: Point taken.

At any rate, I WILL most assuredly be looking forward to more of this.

[Snowdrifter]

"OH COME ON!!" Sunset shouted, covering her ears yet again.

Sorry, Sunset. Sweetie says such shouts specifically should be shouted by Sweetie. Sorry, silly Sunset Shimmer.