> Leaves of Love
>  by Underdogg
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Leaves of Love
Collapsed on the floor of your home again after a hard day of training, you reflect on how far you actually ran. The pungent smell of sweat was not an appropriate way to greet the Wonderbolts, who were coming tomorrow to give you a pep talk. A hot shower was in order.
You have been an honorary Wonderbolt for 3 years now. You have been close friends with all of them even before you joined, and now, just like you used to dream when you were little, you are soaring through the crisp, clean equestrian air with the only ponies in the world that you care to be with.
A big event was coming up soon, the Running of the Leaves. Undoubtedly the toughest and most brutal competition of all. Pegasi don’t usually take part in these sort of events, especially the Wonderbolts. But you had a special talent that no other Wonderbolt had. You could run. You could run for long distances and had the endurance that of a professional earth pony runner.
Tomorrow was the first time you would be putting this talent of yours to the test.
                                *        *        *        *        *        *
“Alright everypony! Welcome to the annual running of the leaves! I am your eye in the sky Pinkie Pie, and my faithful assistant Spike!”
“Yes, hello everyone its great to see so many fans here today supporting the esteemed Ponyville athletes.”
“He’s right there are a load of ponies here!”, you here somepony say. You turn around and see a bright rainbow coloured pony. She looks out at the stands, as if looking for somepony. You ease away without a response, but she pipes up. “So what’s your name, stranger?”
“Silverbolt” you murmur, still taken back by her mane colours.
She jolts back a little bit after hearing this. She turn to you with wide open eyes. Her wings unfurl.
“You.... you don’t mean.... THE Silverbolt?!” she almost explodes.
“Sure.” you reply, smiling now at the prospect of having fans.
“Ohmygosh omygosh omygosh! You look totally different without the goggles and makeup!” This time other ponies began to notice what all the commotion was. Some heads turned to you and you shyly smile at them. Then somepony says, “Hey look it’s a Wonderbolt!” As the hoards of runners rush over to meet you, the rainbow pony grabs hold of you and flies upwards, overlooking the crowd.
“Hey look Spike, Rainbow Dash caught a Wonderbolt!” The crowd giggles. You are beside yourself.
“Hey! What are you doing? Put me down” You yell up at her.
“Calm down, would ya? I’m saving you from those people down there”, she mockingly replies.
“I have to get ready! The race starts in like 10 minutes!”
“Ok, but first there’s someone I want you to meet.” She slowly flies towards the starting line. Anything for a fan I suppose, you think to yourself. How hard could it be? Introduce yourself, and leave to go prepare youself. Besides, she probably isn’t that interes-.
Your thoughts were cut short. As she descended onto the ground, what lay before you, you couldn’t believe. The most beautiful mare you had ever seen was stretching at the starting gate. She had a rich, blond mane, and the most gorgeous green eyes you could ever imagine. You started to sweat as Rainbow Dash flew close to her. Your hooves hit the ground with a thud, and you were standing directly in front of her flanks. You look up at Rainbow Dash who had a broad smile.
“Hey AJ!” she booms.
“What, is it Rainbow?” She had a thick southern accent, which further added to her charm. She looks behind and stares directly at you. You avert you eyes and feel the heat going to your face.
“I’d like you to meet my new favourite pony! Silverbolt” Rainbow Dash settles on the ground next to you.
“Well, sure is a pleasure to meet ya, mister!” She holds out a hoof. You take it in your hand and savour her touch. “Rainbow Dash here is a big fan of the Wonderbolts, aren’t you, “Miss I-have-lots-of-pictures-of-Silverbolt”. You turn to her. She looks away, going bright red.
“AJ!! not in front of him!”  she mumbles through gritted teeth. You laugh it off, along with the blond mare.
You summon up your courage. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” In an instant she replies “Miss Applejack, but you can call me AJ!” She tips her hat.
“Alright everypony! Time to take your marks!”
OH NO! Where did the time go! You have to scrap the stretching and just go for it. You make your way up to the starting gate. “Hey, good luck out there” Applejack says. “And, remember, NO WINGS!” She chuckles. “Alright, I’ll remember that one” you flash a smile.
The whole crowd goes quiet.
“SET!!”
… your body begins to tense up, and your eyelids close slightly.
“GO!!”
You bolt out of the starting gate and nearly tumble over. You gather your balance and power your legs as fast as they can move, leaving a silver streak behind you. Your teeth are clenched and your head is down. Dodging ever root in the ground, and jumping over every fallen log. You turn around. You are miles in front of the main group of people.
However, you can just about see somepony coming over the hill behind you. No, two ponies.
You pick up speed a little bit more, sweat now starting to pour down your muzzle. You turn aound and again, see two ponies, also picking up speed. Out of curiosity of who could be pacing with you, you slow down a little bit.
Before you start pacing it again, you can just about make out, it’s the Rainbow one again. But the other pony with her is the beautiful blond one you met moments ago. You breathe a sigh of relief and slow down a bit to meet them.
“You two are doing great!” you smile.
“We thought.. (huff) .. (huff) ... we could run.... (huff).. with you..” Applejack says. You become mesmerised at her heavy panting, and your mind drifts a bit. She wants to run with me?
“After all... (huff)... you’re like... (huff)... the hottest stallion in equestria!... (huff)” This time Rainbow Dash says that. You couldn’t tell if AJ agreed with that or not. But either way, it was a compliment that made you go bright red.
“Well, I hope you two can keep up!” you say tauntingly.
“Don’t worry about that sugarcube,” AJ says. We just need a pacer, as all.
“And a good view” Dash says again. You hear AJ tell her to hush, and she looks back at you, with those big green eyes you could stare into for hours. She bows her head again and picks up speed again, leaving Rainbow Dash gaping at you with flushed cheeks. Applejack comes in on the inside, about to overtake you. You crack out all strength you have and rocket away, leaving her and a silver streak behind you. You catch a glimpse of her mouth agape and this new found speed from a pegasus, just using his legs. You keep running, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash, aren’t that easy to leave behind. These two mares are stubborn. For the next few miles, AJ is right on your tail, followed closely by Rainbow Dash, who was trying to get overtake her.
After a while you start to hear both of them seriously wheezing. You look behind. Applejack is in a lot of pain, and so is Dash. You start to worry.
“You guys...(huff)... alright?” No reply came for a while.
“Yea, don’t worry ‘bout us..” Applejack replies. You run again for a while, and you are too beginning to feel incredibly tired. The stretching you didn’t do earlier is now taking its full toll on your body, and everywhere hurts. You look behind you again and this time, you don’t see anyone. You immediately come to a complete stop. What happened? I saw those two close behind me. You think for a minute. You must be so far ahead of everypony else. You turn around and start to run back.  Just around the corner, you see Applejack, laying on the ground, covered in dirt and panting. Dash is sitting at her side.
“OH! It’s you, thank Celestia! AJ here just passed out!” You look at her. She is wheezing heavily, and it looks like she definitely won’t be finishing the race. Without a moment’s hesitation you lift her up. She is quite muscly and quite heavy, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. You put her up so that she lays across your back and shoulders. You then start to trot a little bit.
“What... what are you doing?” She looks in disbelief.
“I’m gonna make sure she finishes this.” You reply.
Rainbow Dash trots along side you, still in absolute disbelief.
“Hello everypony, it’s Pinkie Pie, your one and only eye in the sky! I’m here with my faithful  co-commentator Spike.”
“That’s right folks, and the leading ponies are just about to break away from the forest into the final stretch of the race! Wait.. is that... somepony has been hurt?”
You, Dash, and Applejack on your back all make your way into the clearing at the same time. At this point, your legs are about to give in, and Dash is looking very pale.

“Unbelievable! It seems that Silverbolt, a highly regarded Wonderbolt has been carrying a passed out Applejack through the forest!”
“I have never seen anything like this! And the fact that Dash doesn’t make a break for it now is mindblowing!”
You come over the hill, and everypony suddenly roars with cheers. You still struggle forward, with AJ on your back, and Dash trying to give you encouragement over the immense noise of the pony’s cheering.
You come up to the finish line, and the two judges are standing at the finish, giving you quizzical looks. You and Dash walk up to them, and you can just about make out the line. You go over to it, and stop. Looking straight down at the ground, Dash looking at you like you’re insane. What you did next assured her feelings.
You set Applejack on the ground and push her over the line with your muzzle.
“You win, AJ”, you whisper.
Dash then looks straight into your eyes, with a look of pure astonishment.
End of Part 1

> Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You win Applejack”
The crowd around you begins to silence and you don’t hear anything except the brisk fall wind entering your ears. You start to become dizzy and you feel blood entering your mouth.
*THUD*
                                *        *        *        *        *        *
You stretch out and feel a sharp pain in your chest. There’s a light, you can feel entering your eyes. Again, you feel sharp bolts of pain in your chest.
“CLEAR!”
You are jolted upwards and you can feel a warm hoof touch your forehead.
“CLEAR!”
Jolted up again the light starts to fade. You become aware of your surroundings and you start to hear people rushing around you.
“Alright he’s coming back”
“....wha-...wha happened” you squeeze out your throat. You can still taste blood, but the pain in your chest is slowly fading,
“You pushed yourself way too hard, son”, you hear a gentle voice coo. “Let’s leave him to rest”.
You suddenly feel a warm mass engulf your body.
“Oh, Silverbolt! I was... I was so scared!”
You open your eyes slightly, and you areO greeted with vibrant colours. Instantly you realise who it is. The last mare you saw before you collapsed.
“Yes... yes, Dash I’m fine.” She looks up at you with teary eyes.
“Is Applejack ok?”
“Yeah.. she’s just resting” she places her head on your chest again. You both sit there for quite some time, you feel her warm touch against your body.
After resting for a while, you come to your senses. You find yourself in a hospital room. No one is there except you and Dash. Her chest is lightly inflating, and she is breathing slowly. “I love you”
Your heart skips a beat. Did she just say the three big words? You start to feel anxious. Was she just trying to make me feel better? Or is she being serious. I’ve only known this mare since this morning, but I think she’s known me for several years. Then, as you lay back in your bed, you realise the mare you met this morning is sleeping on the love of her life.
How could you feel the same way about her, when you met Applejack. Your head starts to hurt, and you just close your eyes...
                                *        *        *        *        *
“Well, Mr Silverbolt, you took a turn for the worse yesterday!” the doctor says.
“Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have pulled that stunt out there..” You start to look embarrassed. “Your mare-friend, Miss Dash, left this morning.” You roll the word mare-friend around in your head for a moment. “But she told me to pass on a message to you.” You look up to him. “She said for you to meet her at her cloud-house” and he rattles off the address.
“A cloud-house?” you think to yourself. “The last time you were in one of those was when you were a colt. Why would she want me to come to her house?”
“We are going to check you out now, but you should take it easy, understand?”
You nod in agreement. Your chest still hurts and you wont be doing a great deal of flying or running any time soon.
Now you had to go meet Dash at her apartment. Applejack then invaded your thoughts. Where was she? Has she been checked out? The best place to check was in the Ponyville town centre - Sugarcube Corner. Undoubtedly there would be somepony there to answer your question.
As you walked over to Sugarcube Corner, you pondered whether you should stay and chat, or if you should see her, see that she is OK, and then leave to go meet Dash. You couldn’t bare to stand her up, but you wondered if Applejack knew she had won the race because of you.
There she was. Standing, happy as ever, behind a cart filled with apples. She was advertising her wares to ponies who passed by. You stare at her for some time, but she never makes eye contact with you. Eventually you walk over to her. You prepare yourself for the worst.
“How you holding up?” You mumble half-hearted to her. She turns to you. You half expect her to slap you across the muzzle for pulling such a stupid stunt. However, the next thing she said nearly broke your heart in half.
“I beg your pardon? I don’t believe we’ve met! My name is Applejack, and what ya see here is the finest selection of apples from my farm!” She smiles. You choke on your words. This mare has forgotten everything that happened. The struggle you went through to save her, the first time you met her and the laughs you shared. Your feelings for her were non existent as far as she was concerned.
“Uh.. um.. well my name is Silverbolt, and I just heard you checked out of the hospital this morning.”
“Well shucks! I didn’t know I had fans, well Mr. Silverbolt, I’m doin great thanks to the kind colts and mares up at the hospital. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know who won the Runnin’ of the Leaves yesterday do ya’?”
This question took you completely off guard. What could you say? How could you explain this to her? Then you said it, you just said the first thing that came into your head.
“Rainbow Dash”
“Well, that darn pony! I won’t stop hearin’ about this for months! Well, it was nice meetin’ ya Silverbolt, but I’ve got business to attend to.
You nod and walk away, feeling like you’ve just destroyed your entire life in seconds
> Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you walk away from Sugarcube Corner, you reflect on the race. The mare of your dreams has no idea who you are and what you did. It was only a matter of time before she would find out and be angry at you for lying to her. Either way this whole scenario would end up with somepony being furious at you. You felt in no mood to go meet Rainbow Dash, but you couldn’t bare to break her spirits. After all, she stuck with you the entire race and complimented you several times. The flirting was more than apparent, it was open and pretty obvious she was coming on to you.
As you run these thoughts through your head you become more nervous as to what might lie ahead for you at Dash’s house. By the time you make it to her address you are too nervous to go in, and you just want to go back and hang around with your friends. The ones you trust and the ones you’ll stick with until the end. Your family. Ok, so maybe she was the most talented flier in Ponyville, but she was just a weather-mare. What would the public think of you? A professional Wonderbolt such as yourself becoming smitten with a weather clearer for a small town such as Ponyville. You like Rainbow Dash, you like her A LOT. But there was something about Applejack that just grabbed your attention. Seeing as now you had nothing left to lose, you knock on the door. In a few seconds Dash answers the door. She looks like she is busy, as she has a frown on her face when she answers the door. However when she spots who it is she immediately blushes and a twinkle in her eye appears.
“Oh! Hi Silverbolt, why don’t you come on in and have a seat. Her cloud-house was absolutely giant. You flew into what appeared to be her sleeping quarters. You take a seat on her bed and she says “I’ll be in in just a sec!” You sit on her bed for a while looking around her room. You gave up and find that the ceiling is quite low, and some sort of paper seems to be hanging off it by tape that has dried up. You push the picture up and stick it up to the low ceiling again. However, something catches your eye. This isn’t a paper, this is a medium sized poster, about the size of a map of Ponyville. You back away from it a little and look at it. This poster is a poster of you. It features a picture of you doing your trademark “Silver Thunder” stunt, and in the corner it says “Silverbolt”, but you look closer at the name, and someone had written over it “Sexybolt” with a smiley face next to it. You look over to the far wall and you can make out another poster of you, this time with a fake signature of yours on it, and a love heart.
You increasingly become more uncomfortable at the sight of these, and the air in the room starts to become thick. You feel like bringing these to her attention but you’re afraid she might get embarrassed. You look at the doorway and see a smirking Rainbow Dash leaning against the doorway, you’re heart skips in fright and you quickly start to make it look like you didn’t notice the posters.
“You saw those posters eh?” She says as she flicks her rainbow mane aver her shoulder. She looks at you showing a toothy smirk eagerly waiting a response.
“Uh, no? oh wait you mean these? oh yeah, those are cool, and that one, yeah I like that one..” you start to mumble as she walks over to you. You blush heavily as she brings her head closer to yours.
“And.....and.....the silver.....thunder.....” you’re whispering now. You get a rush of adrenaline as her soft warm lips meet yours. You start to feel sweat beads on your neck and she wastes no time in feeling for your tongue with hers. Her tongue tastes like cherry and mint, and you slowly start to succumb to her advances. She breaks the kiss and says “I....I have only ever dreamt of that.” and before you can say anything she grabs you and literally throws you onto her bed, and lays on top of you. She again kisses you passionately again, trying her very hardest to suck every last ounce of pleasure out of it. She starts to direct her attention to your neck, when the there is a knock on the door. You awaken from the hot situation and as she gets up off of you she playfully says “sit tight!”, and you sit up on her bed, still in complete shock.
You sit there for a minute, having just experienced the most heavenly encounter you have had with a mare for a long time. You gaze out the window at the sprawling plains of Equestria with the sunlight dancing in your eyes, when you start to hear a conversation in the background.
“Congratulations on winnin’ the Runnin’ of the Leaves, Rainbow!”
Your face gets hot. You were in deep shit now. Applejack was at the door, about to find you in her room, with the smell of Dash’s scent all over your face and neck. And even worse, your lie will be busted. You duck into the nearby closet and catch your breathe. The conversation pans out as follows.
“I didn’t win the race, AJ”
“Huh, but some fella told me at Sugarcube Corner that you won.”
“Really? That’s weird. What did he look like?”
“Well, he was a real handsome pegasus, with a silver mane and sky blue fur.”
“Ohhh, you mean a certain fella in my room, right?” She says louder.
“What.. What do you mean Rainbow?”
“AJ, you have been misinformed, big time.”
“Well if you didn’t win, then who did?”
There is an awkward silence.
“I know just the colt to tell you that!”
You scramble around in the closet trying to find the doorknob, and when your hoof meets it, you burst out of the closet, right into the cheeky grin of Rainbow Dash, and the startled face of Applejack. She had an aura around her, that of an earth pony who is under a spell. This shining glow not only allows her to walk nimbly on the clouds, but  further emphasised her bright eyes and mane.
                                        *        *        *        *
“Let’s all sit down”
“What in the world is goin’ on Rainbow?”
“Is this the kind gentlecolt you met at Sugarcube Corner, AJ?”
“Why... why, yes it is.”
“Did he tell you that I, Rainbow Dash, won the Running of the Leaves?”
“Yes he did, Dash but-”
“Do you know who REALLY won the race Applejack?”
“No, no I can’t say that I do.”
She points at Applejack and grins. “You did.”
Those final two words are what pushed you over the edge. Your bottom lip quivered as the thought sank in. The mare of your dreams now found out you were a liar.
“But, that’s impossible Rainbow! I don’t even remember entering into that race!” There was desperation in her voice now. You felt now was the right time to speak up.
“I wouldn’t expect you too.” Both mares turn to you. “You passed out half way through from trying to keep up, I was amazed at how fast you were running. So I picked you up, put you on your back and brought you all the way to the finish line. Then I dropped you and pushed you over the line. You won, Applejack. And I was too much of a coward to tell you at Sugarcube Corner, especially since you had forgotten all about me. I’m sorry for lying to you, and I swear that what I did was out of kindness and-” Before you can finish the sentence Applejack throws herself onto you and your lips meet hers. She immediately forces her tongue straight into your mouth, and begins to play with yours. You had no idea what would possess her to do this, but you didn’t care, and all you wanted was for it to never end. But as soon as she runs out of breathe, she breaks the kiss
“I...I... I knew there was somethin’ about you. I could recognise the face and the voice.” She stares deeply into your eyes. “But I couldn’t quite remember how I knew you.” She dives in again, this time focusing on your neck, and you lay back, soaking in all of her.
“Hey, AJ save some for me, would ya’!” Rainbow goes around to your right side. Applejack moves down to your chest and Rainbow begins to taste your neck and cheeks, making sure that no part of your face is left unattended. Her wings unfurl and Applejack looks hot and flushed.

"I think we should spend the night here, don't you?"