It was deep into Autumn and Fluttershy lay on a tree branch overlooking the apple orchard, her rabbit Angel doing the same just above. She had been coming around a lot to snatch up some apples but recently had found that all the fruit had slowly been drying up. Even so, she found these trees to be much more comfortable to hang around on and as long as she kept away from the worker areas she could also bring much of her warren to pass the time.
Keen eyes spotted Applejack heading out of the farmhouse. Curious and not having anything better to do she began to silently follow. AJ headed around the house and onto a bare patch of yard where several stakes and pony shoes had been left around. Picking up one she twirled it in her hoof and flung it at speed. With a loud clang it struck the post and spun around it before coming to a stop on the ground. Applejack cheered herself and picked up the next.
“What are you doing?” Fluttershy asked as she fluttered down to the ground.
“Practising, been a real long time since I last played.”
“Played what?”
“You never played shoe toss? Ah well, of course not. Want to try?” Applejack asked with a nod to the other blue colored shoes next to her own orange.
Picking up a show Fluttershy took a long look over at the two stakes and then to her metal shoe. Copying Applejack she threw it with force but it missed by a mile and embedded itself in the ground behind the posts like a throwing star. AJ could not help but snicker and Fluttershy huffed. Picking up another she adjusted her aim and threw another. It struck the post but bounced off with a great clunk.
“Dumb post!” Fluttershy shouted angrily as she tossed a shoe so hard it bounced off the floor and smashed into the house.
“Easy girl, it is only a game.”
“Fluttershy does not lose!” She called out still seething.
“Calm.” Applejack replied as she placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, we got the running of the leaves tomorrow so why not come down and help us? It is a lot more fun than this game is.”
“Running on leaves?” Fluttershy replied now curious again.
“Ah, yes. Every year we run through the forests to make all the leaves fall, which is why autumn is often called fall in many places. Once we do then the others can bring it winter.”
“Pony seasons sound hard, not like Everfree which don’t need work.” Fluttershy hummed and nodded. “We will race and win!”
“It is not about winning girl. You will see.” Applejack smirked.
The wind was getting cooler. The trees were heavy with leaves. This would be one of the last days of fall and everypony knew it. While it is true the races were done out of need and tradition than competition there were still medals and prizes given as an added bit of fun. And of course, with every competition or large event Twilight was busy making sure Ponyville stood out from the other towns as doing it bigger or better in some way. This year she was making a whole spectacle out of the running path, with gold and silver medals, special prices for those who run the track more than once and more. Back at town there was also tents and booths set up with hot drinks and plenty of comfy places to sit. She had something grand indeed in mind.
“Is it ready yet?” She asked the engineers wearing green lab coats. Each one of them had an odd symbol stamped on the arm, an acorn wrapped in a vine with the words ‘TSERT’ under it.
“Almost, almost.” A young mare with frizzy hair replied as she fiddled and clanked around a large machine that had been set up at the base of the town hall. Suddenly it came to life and started to whirr quietly. “There it goes!”
“Excellent.” Twilight grinned. With a flare of her horn the energy moved to a headset she was wearing. Pressing the button the side she tapped the microphone a few times. “Can you hear me spike?”
“Loud and clear!” He called back from the other end.
“How is it on your end?”
“All good and I have to say, thank you so much for letting me do this.”
“Anything for my number one assistant. Start her up when you want.” Twilight replied and no sooner than she did the machine loudly started to shudder and spark. Several beams of light shot up out of the machine and hit small crystals that had been set up on the outside of the town hall. They bounced and flickered before coming together to form a large green square that hovered in the air. It shifted and slowly it formed a picture made up of grey, black, white and green shades. Twilight’s grin was a mile wide and her eyes intense. “The first live showing off an event over distance!” She muttered wildly. “The first working holovision screen and the first time the holocamera has worked. This is excellent. So very excellent.”
Spike was flying over the forests the runners would be going through in a large hot air balloon. Attached to the basket was a huge camera like device that had several glowing crystals around the outside of it. Spike could move it freely and anything he could see through its huge telescope like barral would be transmitted to the screen at the town square. It was an important job and he would go down in history as the first pony… Um, creature to operate such a device. While sound was impossible for the holocamera, for now, he did have a microphone of his own that would transmit his narration over the loudspeakers set up across town square and the forest.
Twilight had no doubt that the other cities would be envious of such cutting edge technology and while it was a shame the running of the leaves lasted only a day she had plenty of other events with the device in mind. Each one would push its popularity, each one would make her tons of bits in tourism and that would go into upgrading and refining it. In the end she hoped to have it be able to record and then play back the images later much like the old projectors they have but moreover she wanted it to have a full range or color and sound first. It had limitless possibilities!
Looking up the screen she blushed. “Spike, watch where you are looking.” Twilight said through her headset. She heard a gasp in reply and the image suddenly moved away from what was clearly Pinkie enjoying a different way of making the leaves fall. Thankfully the town square was only just starting to ponies coming in as the races did not start for a few hours more. Stretching out her legs she gave the headset to the head engineer and went off to prepare herself for the race. It was only fitting after all that Twilight Sparkle herself showed off her skills.
The morning ticked on and ponies were flocking to the square to see the new technology in action. Locals and visitors alike were both quite impressed with the clear view of the landscape and path that the runners would be travelling while those less interested in the tech stayed for the food. If there was one thing Ponyville had on the regular was thriving festivals that were always pulsing with life and many travelled down to the town whenever they caught wind of any gathering going on.
The races started with a special event, for special ponies. They were not the fastest but having the first lap of the event be just between them felt quite nice indeed. Leading the pack as well was a grey pegasi with a yellow mane. She seemingly could not move in a straight line but was able to stay ahead of the others all the same. It warmed everypony's heart just a touch to see such happy faces in that crowd and it set up the rest of the day perfectly.
The next group was the hardcore runners. The ones who train for months to take as many laps as they could go for and for several of these ponies they would be running for hours and hours. For one such pegasis he looked like he had a bit too much training. His wings were tiny yet his legs were almost grotesquely massive, he really did look like he was bench pressing anvils in his spare time. After each were given a number they lined up at the starting point and with a ring of a bell they were off! Each one of them was faster than the average pony and everypony knew that this was them starting slow on top. It would be a long and proud day for them all.
A few more packs had started and the hardcore runners had finished a lap when the next group was just getting started. Applejack and Fluttershy arrived at the starting point to find Twilight already warming up with some surprisingly intense stretches.
“Nice to see you running this year AJ.” Twilight spoke up between her warm up.
“Thanks and I brought Fluttershy too… Hoping I can teach her a few things about going with the flow.” AJ replied quietly. Twilight gave her an understanding nod and trotted up to the starting line. Fluttershy stood nearby looking over the other runners. At a glance she could tell how fit most were from how they stood, the muscle structure or how they breathed and out of all of them she found herself staring at Twilight. There was something unusual about all three of her aspects.
“Are you ready?” Spike called out causing the runners to more properly line up. Fluttershy snapped to attention as well. She had defeated great beasts and gone on hunts for hours since she was young but she was still going to put every ounce of effort into this race. To prove her strength, to dominate the weaker. Her wings fluttered in excitement. “Go!” Spike shouted as a bell rang.
Fluttershy ran forward at impressive speed. Her hooves broke the ground and the air strained against her sheer force but her cocky grin faded as Twilight bolted ahead at twice her speed. It was as if Fluttershy was running in slow motion and here she finally understood the oddities of Twilight’s biology. She did not have the same muscle size as herself no, she had density. The same exercises done every day to the point of breaking and beyond. Unlike Fluttershy as well who had used her wings for so much of her life Twilight was all legs.
With Twilight powering off into the distance Fluttershy slowed down to pace herself and within a few minutes already found herself only some steps ahead of the others. She could see almost in complete darkness, sniff out food from a literal half mile away and run straight up a cliff wall but try as she might she could not run better than most others.
“Not so easy is it?” Applejack spoke up as she saw the struggles her friend was going through.
“We don’t understand. Why are we so slow?” Fluttershy replied.
“How many races have you actually ran? AJ asked and Fluttershy slowed down a touch to think. Sure she had been on great hunts and fought strong things but never before had she had to put speed over stamina.
“I am weak?” Fluttershy spoke barely louder as a whisper.
“We all are. Nopony is perfect but that is not the point of the race.” AJ panted as she tried to keep up. “Ponies put money towards the… Runners and events and that… That… Can we slow down a second?” AJ wheezed. Realizing that they were both well ahead of the others Fluttershy indeed took the gallop down to more of a canter. “Thank you. Ah ok. So the money goes towards the winter prep and fall clean up with leftovers helping the town. So it is not about winning, it is about doing.” AJ finally explained. Seeing Fluttershy mull over her words made her happy and she started to slow down a touch more which she appreciated but then she turned her head to look at her.
“But we want to do and win.” Fluttershy simply stated before locking her eyes forward and sprinting forward faster than ever before. AJ did try to catch up but it was just too much for her.
The ponies in the town square was loving the action. The town planner and local genius showing that she was just as fit as she was brainy got some fierce cheers from the residents while Fluttershy’s head strong refusal to be beaten got the crowd fired up on all sides. Some had even started to take bets on who would win.
Surprising even herself Fluttershy had started to catch up to the purple unicorn but when she did she noticed that Twilight had slowed down a lot. The once impressive burst of speed had quickly worn off and left her needing to recover. Seeing her chance Fluttershy caught up and while she was feeling the burn for the first time in a long time she kept going forward. The pair were neck and neck for many strides as the golden leaves rained down around them.
“Not bad Fluttershy.” Twilight shouted with a wide grin. “I have been training for years to pull a sprint like that off and you caught up easily.”
“Fluttershy has eaten things tougher than you!” She replied harshly but Twilight just laughed.
“Yes, yes you have but have you eaten things faster than me?” And with that she put her head down low and began to pick up speed again. Fluttershy grit her teeth and began to push forward but suddenly tripped. She tumbled and spun along the ground before finding herself in a daze.
“Oooo and Fluttershy is down!” Rainbow Dash called out causing Spike to nearly jump out of the balloon in surprise.
“What are you doing here?” Spike asked as he corrected the spinning camera.
“Everypony knows that sports needs two commintaters. The nerd and the jock, the dry and the whit, the pony and the dragon?” Rainbow listed with a sly smile.
“Alright, that does sound cool.” Spike replied with a fist… To hoof bump.
“And it looks like Fluttershy is not down for the count quite yet folks” Rainbow shouted into the microphone. “And she is off again, quite the pace for a pegasus but to be expected from the wild champion of the Everfree herself.”
“What a race indeed! Twilight, the architect, Sparkle vs Fluttershy the wild one. It is anybody's guess who will yet win.” Spike added loudly.
Applejack meanwhile had been doing her best to catch up to the two ahead. It was her idea to get Fluttershy involved after all so to not be there for her did not sit well for the farm pony. Try as she might she could not quite get near them. Fluttershy was overflowing with stamina and Twilight had the speed of a sugar rushed pegasis for some reason.
“Huh.” AJ spoke out loud as she started to slow down and pace herself. “So that is what she is up to.”
The racers had started to enter the second of four parts to the race. This one went around the north forest area and the rocky hills. With babbling brooks and plenty of wildflowers it was quite the scene for any runner to take in. Twilight came to a stop and began to pant heavily as she looked around. Fluttershy was still catching up and she had at least a few minutes to herself. Reaching a fork in the road Twilight got a sneaky idea. Flipping the directional arrow around she jumped into a bush and sat for a moment to rest. With the sound of light hoofsteps coming closer she peeked out just in time to see Fluttershy go the wrong way. Grinning she fixed the arrow and started up again with a strong gallop.
“Oh sneaky sneaky, looks like Twilight is putting that big brain of hers to great use!” Rainbow called out.
“Indeed she is. Since the race is done as part of a holiday event there is little to no rules involved with it after all. Anything goes in the Running of the Leaves!” Spike explained. The crowd watching was losing all composure and the betting was reaching a fever!
Fluttershy meanwhile could tell something was wrong. While the path was still within the forest the ground was not clear of smaller debris and soon enough she came upon a wide river in the way. Not stopping for anything she fluttered her wings and bounced along the surface like a skipping stone. With a shower of water leaving rainbows in her wake she took a right and jumped directly into the brush of the woods.
“Oh bonus points for that last move.” Rainbow added to which Spike snickered.
Twilight thought she had all the lead in the world when suddenly Fluttershy burst out of the bushes. She nearly yelped in surprise and began to laugh instead. Fluttershy was not playing around and she finally overtook Twilight for the first time in the race. They were still so close though and the lead could easily change at any minute!
“Enjoying the race?” Twilight called out.
“It is much more enjoyable than we thought it would be. The sign was a good trick.” Fluttershy admitted.
“Oh you knew it was me, good to see you having fun.”
“It makes the hunt all the more enjoyable when there is a challenge.”
“Excellent, cya at the finish line then.” Twilight smirked. Fluttershy was confused at what she meant when all of a sudden she stopped dead in her tracks. Pulling at her stuck legs she found that one of the sap collectors had fallen over and half the track was a sticky trap! The goop was so thick that even with all her strength she could barely managed to lift her hooves slightly. Twilight gave her a wink and ran off laughing.
Aj and the others had been having a pleasant jog through the countryside so far. They saw some rabbits and flutterflies. The clouds were nice too and all the golden leaves slowly showering the track never got boring. AJ could not help but snicker however as she found a rather grumpy Fluttershy seemingly stuck to the floor. While the others went on ahead Applejack stopped to help. Pulling down a long branch from one of the trees she heaved and eventually managed to unstick her.
“You are going to have to run really hard to catch up.” Applejack stated with a sly look.
“Twilight is fast but slows down often. She must be mocking me.” Fluttershy replied as she ran along with AJ to warm her legs back up.
“Oh yes that must be it.” AJ replied barely keeping her laughter in.
Not able to hear the sarcasm Fluttershy sprinted away. Past the others that had gone on ahead. Over the river’s bridge and across the meadows. The third section of the path was coming up soon and that one was the hardest area. It had many winding roads and split paths making the quickest route forward to be a guess to all but the most practised of runners. Like, Twilight for example. Fluttershy groaned but had an idea. She could do one thing that surely no other could do, keep a sprint up regardless of the terrain.
When the first split in the road came up Fluttershy did not take either choice and instead hopped over the sign and into the woods. She could bounce between trees, over rocks and through bushes just as easily as a pegasi could fly through clouds!
“Impressive off-road skills being shown today.” Rainbow spoke up from a small couch that had somehow found its way into the balloon.
“Indeed my prismatic narrator. These two have been some of the most impressive runners Ponyville have had in years.” Spike replied as he took a sip of his tea.
“What is coming up next?” Rainbow asked.
“After the winding forest paths it all connects back together on the edge of the Everfree. It is a long straight and quite easy to follow thankfully, it is here that most of the professional runners put everything into one last sprint forward.” Spike explained.
“Insightful! And as we have seen Twilight is the queen of hard sprints.”
“Nothing is more true but as we keep seeing Fluttershy can make any kind of come back.”
“So it is anyone’s bet to the winner so far?”
“Exactly that.” Spike nodded.
Fluttershy burst through the brush and skidded back onto the path. She was sweating, mane a mess, and her wings fluttered gently to try and cool her off. Her eyes caught sight of a purple dot slowly jogging up ahead and she powered on forward to catch up. She was going to win if it was the last thing she did. She knew all too well of Twilight’s burst speed by now too so if she was going to find victory it had to be done quickly. Putting everything into a push forward she caught up to Twilight who looked quite surprised for the first time.
They kept up neck and neck until they finally left the dense and winding roads and entered out onto the clearer Everfree verge. Fluttershy buzzed her wings and growled in a clear sign of aggression while Twilight kept her eyes forward and focused. They approached the area for the final sprint. Hooves pounding as hard as their hearts Fluttered snapped her wings closed and got ready to prove her strength when suddenly Twilight faulted and collapsed. Crashing hoof over head across the the ground Spike had just managed to cut away before the fall.
“As our two champions get ready for the final push, let's go see what those in the back are doing!” He quickly stammered out. Rainbow herself was confused but went along with it all the same.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as she came to stop. There was no response. She just lay on the ground with labored breaths. For the first time in a long time Fluttershy felt scared. Rushing to Twilight’s side she fanned the purple unicorn with her wings. “What is wrong, you are the strongest and smartest and, and… You tricked me.”
“Sorry.” Twilight quietly spoke. “I know it is boring to win every time so I tried to give you a challenge. For you and for the town.” She explained. Fluttershy was stunned and impressed but more than anything she felt silly.
“It is not about winning, we see. Come on Twilight we have a race to run.” She helped Twilight to stand and together they began to trot along at whatever speed Twilight could move. The others were so far behind them that they could walk to the finish line and still have several minutes of a lead. And that is exactly what Fluttershy was counting on.
“Looks like Twilight is out well in front!” Spike announced as he returned to the last length of the race to find Twilight slowly making her way towards the finish line and Fluttershy was keeping some distance behind. “The pair looks all kind of tired but Fluttershy is catching up once more. Oh it is going to be a close one.”
“That it is spike, that it is but oh man what an impressive race it has been. From Applejack’s rise, fall and rise again at the main pack to the intense combative love blooming between Twilight and Fluttershy. Simply electric.” Rainbow added.
The race was a draw. Fluttershy had managed to catch up at the last minute and tie perfectly with Twilight who had been seen dominating the entire way through. The town square however was going ballistic, completely nuclear in fact. There was screaming and crying and pieces of cake being thrown everywhere. In that day money had been made, money had been lost, but in terms of history it would be known as one of the greatest moments in the Running of the Leaves.
The pair of them returned to the town to find themselves being showered in praise and cheers like old heros. Several of the winners offered to buy them a drink or a day at the spa, anything they could desire, and Fluttershy was not about to pass up the chance. With Twilight agreeing that a spa trip would be an excellent idea the pair of them stopped only to pick up Rarity from her crafts booth. Quite literally, Fluttershy would not take no for an answer when it came to hanging out with her friend.
Unknown to them Starlight had been following behind ever since they returned to Ponyville. She listened to every word they said and took notes on everything they had done from the shadows.
“Oh yes, yes, now that is some real friendship.” Starlight muttered as she hid behind a food cart furiously scribbling down notes on a long scroll. “Sometimes the most unlikely of ponies can become good friends, even if they fight, even if they don’t see eye to eye for the most part. Friendship will always reveal itself.” She added proud to have another few friendship lessons for her dear teacher Celestia.
