01000010 01110101 01110100 01110100 01101111 01101110 01000100 01100001 01110011 01101000
It seems that a day always exists, without fail, sometime in September or October or with luck, November, when the air is particularly fresh and the sky is bright and cloudless and a light jacket seems like just enough to enjoy the autumn atmosphere. Then subsequently, the rest of the year until March or later is dreary and dismal and the lovely crimson-hued, crunchable leaves are never enough to make up for the cold bite of the wind.
This day, ladies and gentlemen, can be called the Last Good Day.
In Ponyville, where the whether is exclusively controlled by pegasi and not mother nature herself, it is called the Running of the Leaves.
And this year, Button Mash is going to win it.
The first time Button saw a poster advertising the new youth division of the annual autumnal tradition, he didn’t exactly care at all. After all, he was never a colt known for his athletics. But that was all before he met the most beautiful, heroic, and all-around amazing mare in all of Equestria. And she’d be there. So when Cheerilee handed out sign-up sheets a few weeks later, he snapped one up.
Since then, he jogged to and from school daily. His gaming time turned into training time, as he went for laps around his house and ran through the Apple orchards for the terrain. He was diligent. He timed himself. He hydrated. He crossed off days on the calendar in his bedroom until there were no more to cross out, just red ink encircling the day.
Bright and early, Button Mash was there at the starting line. He blocked out the vague insults and taunts being hurled all around him. He had to focus on winning. Winning two things, actually: the race and the mare of his dreams.
The bell (that fateful bell) finally rang, and then they were off.
Sure, the scenery through that trail was undeniably beautiful, but the only beauty Button Mash could think about was of a very particular pony. And the thought of her drove his legs forwards, though they hurt unlike anything he had felt before. He kept going, though his lungs were begging him to stop. He kept going, though every single mare and stallion had long passed him.
But not the foals.
He glanced around, still running, and noticed that he was actually, shockingly, doing well. He smiled to himself. But on closer inspection, he realized he wasn’t completely in the clear. Not yet. He still had one colt to beat. And by Celestia’s hoof, he was going to do it.
He gasped in as deep a breath as possible and sped up to close that gap a little bit. Which was when he began to notice that the colt ahead of him was... actually a filly. Whoops. Well, you can’t really blame him, considering his vision was blurring slightly and she wasn’t wearing her signature oversized bow in her mane.
Either way, she was slowing down. The race was starting to take its toll on her. And they were almost at the finish line. He swallowed his pain and pushed even harder, went even faster. He was close... so close... to her, and the finish line was close... so close... to them. And he just had to keep going... for her...
And then everything went black.
Just kidding.
He slid across the finish line a mere fraction of a second before Applebloom did. And as the dust cleared, he looked around, realizing that he had done it. He had won the Running of the Leaves. Well, the foal’s division. But he had still won! All of his hard work, his dedication, the dry lectures on pacing by Twilight Sparkle, it had all paid off.
Immediately after regaining his breath and all of his consciousness, Button took a brief moment to bask in the glory, but then started running again, this time looking for somepony in particular.
And then he found her. Surrounded by her own admirers. Whom he pushed past.
She looked at him and stared deep into his soul.
“Hey.”
That one little word was enough to make him swoon. Or that could’ve been the dehydration. But it was probably the love.
“Hey... Rainbow Dash.” Button managed to stutter out in between wheezy breaths. “Did you... see me out there?”
She smiled and his heart melted.
“Of course I did! Nice job.”
The moment was right. He knew it was. He just had to go for it. Just like the race. So he leaned in, lips puckered and...
Rainbow ruffled his mane slightly then unfolded her wings and flew a few feet into the air.
“Anyway, I got a date I can’t really be late to. But congrats, uh...”
“Button Mash.”
He sighed slightly, eyes cast to the ground, as she flew off into the sunset. Without him. Leaving him here alone, as usual.
“Button!”
He looked up, surprised by the juvenile voice calling him. And he saw the filly it belonged to running toward him, struggling to keep something afloat with her magic.
“Hey Sweetie Belle.”
“Button!” Sweetie repeated. “You were so great in the race!”
She reached him and floated the cup she was carrying over to him.
“What’s this?”
“I brought you something to drink. It’s just water. I thought you’d need it.”
The pain of his broken heart had distracted him from the physical pain of running a marathon, but the moment Sweetie had said that, it sort of reminded him, and suddenly it was hard to stand. He took a shaky sip of the water.
“Thanks, Sweetie.”
She smiled at him, and praised him again as he finished drinking.
“It’s been a long day, huh?”
He looked up at her, his vision still a bit blurry, and smiled again.
“Yeah, it has. Let’s go home.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
And they walked off, together, into the sunset.
