The Wind and the Mountain

One day, the wind raced the mountain. They finished neck and neck, behind every other participant. They had spent the whole race fighting each other. Our story begins after the sun took them to task for their behavior.

“Why, Princess, I think we can knock those leaves down for ya lickity split,” Applejack promised. Turning to Rainbow Dash, she continued. “What do you say, friend? Wanna go for another 'run'?”

“I'd love to stretch my legs,” she replied.

Not wasting any time, Dash turned and eagerly sprinted back into the woods. Applejack followed close behind.

Twilight Sparkle watched her friends run off. “Those two are so weird. They can be at each others' throats one minute, and attached at the hip the next.” Twilight shook her head as if to clear it. “It doesn't make any sense.”

“Oh, I suspect it makes a certain kind of sense,” mused Celestia. “Especially the attachment at the hips.”

“Come back here, you!” Applejack struggled to keep pace with Rainbow Dash's wing-assisted strides. “Consarn' it, this ain't a race anymore. You can slow down.”

Rainbow Dash looked back over her shoulder. “You're going to have to make me!” The brief moment she stopped looking at the track, though, was the moment it rounded a sharp corner. Inertia being the cold-hearted bitch it is, Dash continued off the path and into a fallen log. Rotational inertia being the heartless bastard it is, Rainbow toppled over the log and promptly into the ground.

She lay on her back, staring at the near-bare tops of the trees for a time that might have been seconds, and might have been minutes. The fall had left her a teensy bit fuzzy around the edges. When an orange belly filled her vision, though, the fog dissipated rather quickly.

Applejack landed on her front legs first, one on either side of Dash's head, to absorb the force of her jump. Her back hooves landed next, one on either side of Dash's body. Her chest worked up and down in time to her breathing, which was still coming huge and heavy. Rainbow's lungs labored to recover as well. The only sounds either could hear were the pounding of their own pulse and the rasp of their labored breathing.

Looking up, Rainbow could see the anger written across Applejack's visage. It was made more potent by the wild aspect their run had lent her. Her fur was stuck down with fresh sweat. Half of her mane hung loose; her hairband had been slipping. Her nostrils flared wildly with every breath.

“I thought,” Applejack began between breaths, “that friendship was more important to ya than winning.” She lowered her head to glare at Rainbow Dash, bringing them almost nose to nose. “Looks like I was wrong.” Hot breath washed across Dash's face.

“You weren't wrong,” the Pegasus replied. “I just wanted you to chase me.”

“Beg pardon?” Applejack raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Now why would the biggest showoff I know want something like that?”

“Well,” Rainbow started, trying to look anywhere but at the pony looming over her, “I like it when you chase me.” Applejack's eyebrow stayed raised. “Look, it's just... the whole super star speedster thing gets lonely.”

Applejack snorted. “Lonely? You try and win something that isn't a competition and the best excuse you can give me is 'I'm lonely?' That don't make sense.” She raised her head again, not deigning to be close to the backstabbing Pegasus any longer. She began stepping off her erstwhile friend.

“Wait!” Rainbow Dash implored, stopping Applejack's front leg from crossing her with a cannon of her own. Applejack rounded on her again.

“Why should I wait?” Acid dripped in her tone. “Wait around, just so you can run off and leave me behind again?”

Panic crossed Dash's face. “Leave you behind? Why would I leave you behind? You're my friend.”

“Some friend. We start on a friendly run, and the first thing you do is try and leave me behind!”

“I wasn't trying to leave you behind! Not this time, anyway. It wasn't a race. I just... I just wanted to see if you'd follow me,” Rainbow Dash finished lamely.

“Why do you care if I chase you, if I follow you?”

Rainbow Dash's ears pinned back in embarrassment; her eyes suddenly found a tree trunk fascinating. She mumbled something inaudible, even to the pony standing right over her.

“I didn't catch that.”

“I said, no one's ever chased me just to catch me. No one's ever followed me just because they're my friend.”

“Ha, that's rich. What about that fan club of yours?”

“That's not the same!” Rainbow Dash insisted. “They're my fans because of what I can do. They'd disband tomorrow if I stopped being fast.” Applejack answered with continued silence. “I was hoping you'd keep chasing me even though we weren't racing. But I guess that's what you thought it was, another race.” She heaved a sigh. “I should go.”

Rainbow Dash rolled out from under Applejack, and began climbing over the log back to the path. Before she could get to the top of it, though, she was stopped by a tugging on her tail. She turned around to see a teary-eyed Applejack holding it in her mouth.

“What...?” A flurry of emotions played across Rainbow Dash's visage. Irritation and concern flitted past, finally settling on confusion.

Applejack let the polychromatic tail fall from her mouth. “Ah didn't think you were trying to race,” she managed. “Ah thought you were trying to ditch me.” She slumped to the ground, folding her legs beneath her and burying her face between her forearms.

“Ditch you?” The orchestra of Rainbow Dash’s confusion reached a crescendo, underlayed with a counter-movement of concern. “Why would I ditch you?”

“Everypony always leaves me behind, eventually.” Applejack sniffed, still hiding her face. “Ma and Pa are off gallivanting around the world, Rarity’s wrapped up in fashion, Fluttershy and my brother are leaving me behind...” Another sniff. “I’m just everyone’s stormy-weather friend. ‘We can count on Applejack when there’s a problem,’ but when do they ever come ‘round just to say ‘Hi’? And there you were, running off again now that you’re bored with me.”

“Applejack...” Rainbow Dash felt herself at a loss for words. She wanted to reach out and comfort her friend, but didn’t know how to do it. She grimaced in frustration with herself. The only pony that would follow her anywhere was breaking down in tears, and it was all because she thought Dash was running away.

Rainbow Dash, at a loss for what else she should do, lay down beside her friend. She scooted against her, shoulder to flank. Applejack tensed at the contact, but otherwise didn’t react. “I’m sorry, Applejack. I didn’t want to run away from you.” She collected her thoughts. “I want to run with you, not from you.” She draped her neck across the orange Earth Pony’s back, just behind her withers. “I’ve been running my whole life, ever since I won that race at Flight Camp. From Cloudsdale to Hoofington to Manehatten - all over Equestria, and all the way to Ponyville. I was looking for something the whole time.” Applejack’s sniffling had subsided. “Do you know what I was looking for?”

“A town with no air speed restrictions?” Applejack said. A note of wry humor had returned to her voice.

Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance. “No.” She hesitated. “Okay, maybe that was part of it. But the main thing I was running around for? I was looking for a pony to run with me. No matter what friends I made or where I went, when I felt the wanderlust calling me, not one of them came with me. Not even the Pegasi. Not even,” her voice hitched, “not even the Griffon.” Rainbow felt a warm weight lay itself across her back.

When Applejack spoke, Rainbow felt it through her wings. “What a pair we make, eh? The Pegasus that loves to run and the Earth Pony who won’t go anywhere.” Melancholy was abundant in Applejack’s voice.

“Heh, ya. What’s gotten into us, anyway? Crying out here like a couple little school fillies,” Rainbow put on a show of bravado, but stayed tucked against Applejack’s side.

Time passed. The sun sank lower in the evening sky. The two friends lay in the forest, resting against each other.

“Hey, Rainbow.”

“Hmm?”

“You remember how you dated a filly or two way back when?”

Rainbow Dash tensed. “Ya, what about it?”

“Do you still like mares?” Applejack asked without a single chalant.

“Well, yeah but what does that have to do with--” Applejack twisted her head around and silenced Rainbow Dash with a kiss.

The moon was high in the sky by the time the Pegasus and Earth Pony pair wandered out of the Whitetail Wood and back into Ponyville.

“So...” Rainbow Dash began.

“So,” Applejack agreed.

“What happens now?”

“Now, we play it by ear. Ah suspect I’ll have to learn to do some following, if we’re gonna make this last.” Applejack ruminated.

“I’ll just have to learn how to slow down a bit,” Rainbow Dash seemed to wince at the thought. “I can’t force you to leave your farm if I decide to go roaming one day.”

“You ain’t forcin’ me to do nothing. I’d be choosing,” Applejack rejoined. “‘sides, I could use a vacation every now and then.”

Their bickering continued as they walked; the mountain promising it would move, and the wind promising to never blow.