Chapter Eleven: Analepsis

The cloudless blue sky loomed overhead like the endless sea - pristine, pure, and radiating the summer sun. The air was fresh and crisp and the sweet melody of the birds waft upon the morning breeze. It was the kind of morning that any pony in their right mind would want to wake up to. That is unless you were Applejack.

“What in the hay is going on?” the young farmer shouted to the young pup beside as though it could answer. “Where’s the rain Ah was promised? It’s supposed to be cloudy with showers all day not...this! The crops are going to get all wilted if we don’t get some water.”

To no surprise, the brown-and-white border collie only responded by dropping a stick at the farmer’s hooves followed by a couple of happy, expectant yips. As tempting as it was to indulge in the small puppy’s whims, and as difficult as it was to turn down those endearing eyes, Applejack knew that she had more important tasks to attend to.

“Sorry Winona, Ah ain’t got time to play with this mess to sort out,” Applejack said with a reluctant sigh. She felt her heart cringe as her furry companion let out a pathetic whimper, but work was an important part of life, and hopefully as her dog grew, she would come to understand that as well. Not wanting to leave her pet in a saddened state, she came up a workable alternative. “Why don’tcha keep Applebloom company. Ah bet she’d like that.” In a heartbeat, Winona’s eyes lit up and before she could even say ‘fetch’ the puppy had scampered off to find the youngest apple of the family.

“She’s gonna make a great work dog one day,” Applejack thought as she continued on her way. Though a minor issue in the grand scheme of running an apple orchard, her family was dependent on the weather ponies to provide a timely and predictable weather schedule for them. Her family needed at least one more good rain or they risked losing some of their stock to the summer heat.

“This is weird, it ain’t like Hailstone to be careless,” Applejack muttered to herself. “This is the third time this week we ain’t got the right weather.” In fact, this was the first time that the farmer had ever had issue with their assigned weather pony. Hailstone had done a terrific job over the past few years ensuring that the farm got adequate sunshine and rain. Such tardiness was uncharacteristic of him, and the more Applejack thought about it, the more worried she became. Hopefully nothing terrible had befallen the reliable weather pony.

Knowing her big brother, who possessed the uncanny ability to always be up before her, he would have already looked into the matter. And thankfully, it did not take her long to locate the big red stallion. Out by the front gateway, Big Macintosh had taken advantage of the good weather to catch up on some much needed repair work on the fencing.

“Hey Big Mac, have you seen Hailstone around?” she asked as she trotted over. Preoccupied with the hammer in his mouth, the stallion simply shook his head ‘no.’ “Well did you get a chance to talk to go into town and talk to the weather supervisor?” This time, her brother had an affirmative answer. “That’s good...so what’s the story? Where’s our rain?”

When presented with a question that couldn’t be answered with a non-verbal gesture, the stallion just stared in silence at his sister for a few awkward moments until Applejack finally grew impatient.

“Just put the hammer down already.”

Rather than try to continue on with his work like he wanted to, Big Macintosh complied and set the hammer down with the rest of his tools. He knew better than to try and stand between his sister and something she wanted, which in this case were answers.

“Hailstone’s gone.”

“Gone?” Applejack repeated in disbelief. “Whaddya mean gone?” For a brief instant, a dreadful thought skirted the farmer’s mind. “You don’t mean he’s-”

“Stress leave.”

“Oh thank goodness.” She breathed a sigh relief. Normally she didn’t jump to such extreme conclusions but it was hard to think of a plausible reason for an otherwise punctual and hardworking weather pony to up and vanish like this. Even when Hailstone took vacation he made sure to let the Apple family know beforehand. “So...wait, who’s supposed to be taking care of our weather then?” the farmer demanded with growing impertinence.

“Dunno - some new pony they hired,” Big Mac said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. While Applejack may have been worked up over the weather, the elder sibling was far less concerned, both visibly and internally. He figured there was no point getting in a huff over something he had no control over as an earth pony. Weather control was the realm of the pegasus and he had no business telling them how to do their job.

“Well he best get his hindquarter in gear or Ah’m gonna...um, go complain or something...oh, forget it! I’m heading out to the orchards.”

“You should just take the day off...you work yourself too hard as it is.” Big Macintosh’s words fell on deaf ears, however, as Applejack was already trotting off with her new objective in mind. Seeing as there was little he could do to ever dissuade his sister from her chosen course, the quiet stallion picked up his hammer and resumed his repair work.

While Applejack would have preferred tracking this new weather pony down, unless she found a way to magically sprout wings that plan was never going to get off the ground. The absent weather pony could be anywhere and with no other alternatives, the dutiful farmer decided to make the most of the situation. There were always apples that could be picked even if the time wasn’t optimal. After a quick stop by the barn to pick up some baskets, she headed into the orchards to get to work.

*****************************

By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, Applejack had barely gathered even a quarter of what she could normally harvest in a given day. It was still too early for most of the apples so the farmer had to carefully inspect each tree’s bounty to assess their quality. Most of the trees didn’t need to be harvested, and in Applejack could have simply taken the day off, as was the original plan due to the rain, but she hated wasting perfectly good daylight hours doing nothing productive.

The idea of heading into town to meet with her friends had crossed her mind, but when she thought about it, it dawned upon her that she didn’t know many ponies in town. There was Pinkie Pie but she was friends with everypony, and it was hard enough to get Pinkie to stick to her duties at Sugarcube Corner without distraction from her friends. Now Applejack had been meaning to introduce her new pet to Fluttershy. Surely the soft-spoken pegasus would be thrilled to meet with the new puppy...and then Applejack would be all on her own while Fluttershy frollicked with Winona.

It was a sobering thought for the orchard farmer when she realized that she still didn’t have too many close friends in town. Perhaps Big Mac spoke with a grain of truth when he kept mentioning to her that she ‘spent too much time working the farm.’ Bah! What did Big Macintosh know? He spent almost every waking moment working and he had the gall to tell Applejack that she was overworked?

“Work too hard, my Aunt Brown Betty,” Applejack grumbled as she took position beneath a tree. “Ain’t mah fault if nopony ever wants to visit me all the way out here...always have to go to them.” After double-checking her position relative to the cluster of ripe, red apples overhead, the work pony delivered a calculated kick to the side of the tree. The precision strike knocked loose the cluster of ripe apples, which plummeted neatly into her baskets. “Ah’m perfectly fine here with mah work and mah apples. All Ah’ve got to do is-”

“Watch out!”

“Watch out?” Given that those words, shouted out by an unfamiliar voice, were commonplace in a profession that involved falling fruit, Applejack’s first instinct was to look above her. It was not falling apples or tree branches that she had to be wary of, but rather a pegasus careening out of control. When she caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye, the farmer turned her gaze just a moment before blindsided by the speeding pegasus. Feathers and apples were thrown in all directions, and when the farmer senses came to she found herself sprawled across the ground covered in bits of smashed produce. What was of greater interest to her, however, was the dazed pegasus laying against her who happened to have the apple basket overtop of her head.

“Owie...” the pegasus murmured. With a small groan, she pulled her head free of the basket, revealing a rainbow-coloured mane covered in mashed apples. After shaking some of the pulped produce from her mane, the pegasus turned her gaze over to the farmer and flashed an embarrassed, apologetic smile. “Heh...sorry about that. Kinda lost control...”

“No kidding,” Applejack replied with barely contained sarcasm. The farmer got back to her feet and began brushing the pulped apples off. “What in the hay were you doing anyways?”

“Just trying out a new routine,” she explained. “But I think I zigged when I should have zagged. What do you think?”

“Ah think you should be more careful next time.”

“Well I did shout ‘watch out.’”

Applejack let out a tired sigh when she saw the full extent of the mess the impact had caused. At least half of the apples she had gathered had been turned to sauce, while the rest were now scattered across the field.

“So...is this your farm?” the pegasus chimed as she flew up to a sturdy branch in the tree. She gave it a few shakes to test its stability before rolling onto her back and making herself comfortable. “Wow, this is actually way more comfortable than I thought it would be.”

“Hey! Get out of there,” Applejack shouted. “These trees ain’t for napping!”

“Okay, okay...sheesh.” The pegasus was reluctant at first to vacate her new perch but after a few kicks from the farmer, she was persuaded to abandon the tree. “What’s got your mane in such a twist?”

“Because Ah’m trying to work, but you just went and undid almost an entire morning’s worth of effort,” the farmer explained as she directed the other’s attention to the scattered apples. “And since you helped make this mess, you can help me clean it up.”

“Me? Work?” The pegasus shuddered in disgust at the thought. Her opposition to the notion was clear but unconvincing to the farmer. “No can do. That’s way too boring for my style. Just who in the hay do you think I am?”

“That’s a darn fine question,” the earth pony snapped back. “Who are you anyways?”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash,” she introduced herself in a boastful tone. “Maybe you’ve heard of me - fastest flier in all of Cloudsdale.”

Rainbow Dash could have been the fastest flier in all of Equestria for what little it mattered to Applejack. It didn’t change the fact that there was a huge mess in her orchard as a result of the speedster pegasus. Reputation didn’t excuse one from righting their wrongs like any decent pony would. And as Applejack frowned and shot the pegasus her best disparaging glare, these truths became apparent to Dash. With a reluctant sigh, the pegasus landed amongst the apples, her head hung low in defeat.

“Fine...I’ll help you clean up,” she muttered.

“That’s mighty kind of you.” The sarcasm was not lost on the pegasus, but she refrained from making any snappy comebacks. “My name’s Applejack, by the way.” Despite her initial misgivings, the farmer tried to not let animosities linger and flashed Dash a friendly smile. “Now grab the basket and help me gather up the good apples.”

“That sounds even more boring when you say it like that,” Rainbow Dash protested. To the farmer’s surprise, when Dash grabbed the basket, she flew up and nestled it in the tree’s branches instead.

“What are you doing?”

“Making things far more interesting,” Dash explained with a playful grin. She landed next to the farmer, grabbed an apple by the stem, and tossed it up into the basket. “Now we see who can get more apples into the basket, and whoever loses has to carry the basket.”

In an instant, Applejack’s opinion of the pegasus made an about-face, and she found herself unable to wipe the grin from her face. The gauntlet had been thrown down and pride demanded that she answer the call.

“You’re on!”

Already down one apple before the competition began, Applejack knew she’d have to aim carefully just to keep pace with her opponent. The two ponies began a mad scramble across the field, grabbing and tossing every healthy apple they could find. Rainbow Dash had the advantage of speed but Applejack was no stranger to tossing apples about and her aim was more precise. In less than a minute both ponies were still neck-and-neck with a dozen apples scored apiece. That changed, however, when Dash managed to find a small cluster of apples and was able to score three points in rapid succession.

Now behind by a significant margin, Applejack’s honour as an apple farmer was at stake. She had to take her chances with a risky play. Rather than grabbing the apple with her teeth, the farmer knocked the apple airborne with a stomp of her hoof. And with a whip-like snap of her tail, she batted the fruit up and into the basket.

“So we’re doing trick shots now, huh?” Dash remarked after witnessing the farmer repeated her technique with a couple more apples. Not one to be shown up, Dash decided to go for style over substance as well. She scooped up an apple with her wing and tossed it above her head. “Watch this,” she said before using her other wing to volley the apple into the basket. “That’s how you do it with style!”

“That’s nuttin’, check this out!” With that declaration, the quest to score the most apples became secondary to making the most impressive shot. Soon the two ponies were taking turns making their shots, bouncing the apples off their tails, hooves, foreheads, and even each other.

However, they eventually ran out of apples to throw around and were left with only a full basket of produce.

“So...who won?” Applejack asked. “Probably should have kept score for those last bunch.”

“Like you need to ask. My shots were obviously way more awesome than yours,” Dash answered with a triumphant grin.

“Like hay they were - you throw apples like mah granny.”

“I guess that means even your granny throws better than you.”

As Rainbow Dash laughed at her supposed indisputable victory, Applejack decided that the only way to settle this matter was through a rematch. With one solid kick to the tree, the basket full of apples was sent tumbling back to earth.

“Rematch!”

“Ha! Bring it on, earth pony!”

After they collected the apples into a pile between them and the basket set back into the tree, the pair focused their efforts once again on scoring as many apples as possible. This time Applejack didn’t have to worry about her opponent starting with a lead and was able to keep pace with the pegasus. Speed and precision were paramount, though with more effort being put into the former rather than the later. In fact, the two ponies carried themselves with such haste that when they both wound up reaching for the same apple, they didn’t even have enough time to blink before knocking heads. The loud ‘thud’ of two pony skulls colliding resonated through the orchard, followed by an even louder ‘ow’ in chorus.

“I think we should call it a draw...before we really hurt ourselves,” Rainbow groaned.

“Agreed.”

The two dazed ponies spent the next moment or two just laying on their backs and staring up at the sky. Out of the blue, Applejack just started laughing out loud. Here were two grown ponies who had managed to almost knock each other unconscious over a bunch of apples. She should have been hard at work but was instead wasting a perfectly good afternoon, and she had no regrets about it whatsoever. The laughter proved infectious and soon both ponies were rolling about the grass in a jovial fit.

The gleeful chorus came to an abrupt halt when Applejack heard some hoofsteps approaching. Thankfully, it was only Big Macintosh and not somepony who might have gotten the wrong idea from seeing one of the Apple family workpony’s lounging the afternoon away. The elder brother was surprised but relieved to see that his sister had taken his advice into consideration after all. He said nothing at first, but the single raised eyebrow conveyed his curiosity and confusion.

“Oh, howdy there,” the sister greeted as she rolled back onto her hooves. “This here is Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. Dash...this here is mah brother, Big Macintosh.”

“Good to see you’ve managed to track down our missing weather pony,” Big Mac replied after a curt nod to the pegasus.

“Weather pony?” Applejack repeated with evident confusion. “Wait...you mean she’s-”

“Hailstone’s replacement,” Big Mac confirmed.

Applejack’s sense of jovial camaraderie vanished faster than an apple pie at a family reunion. Instead of looking back on the afternoon as having spent time with a friendly, fun-loving pegasus, it became an afternoon of procrastination with a lazy, undisciplined sloth. It wasn’t frustrating just because the weather pony had been playing instead of doing her job, but because Applejack had enabled her to do so. It added insult to injury.

“You’re the one that was supposed to bring the rain today?” Applejack said as she shot an accusatory glare at the weather pony.

“Well...maybe...sort of, I guess.” Dash gave a very unconvincing, half-hearted response. “I mean, they told me to go to Ponyville, and I think they mentioned something about rain and stuff. But who would want to ruin an awesome day like this with a rainstorm?”

“Ah would! We need that rain to keep this farm going,” Applejack explained. She couldn’t believe she would need to explain the importance of weather to a pegasus who lived in the clouds. “Without rain, our crops wilt. And we count on you pegasus to bring it to us. If you can’t do yer job then Ah’m going to have a word with yer supervisor and we’ll find somepony who can!”

“Hey! You didn’t seem too interested in doing work a few minutes ago.” Just like with a test of athletics, a verbal confrontation was not something that Dash was willing to back down from. Backing down was the same as admitting defeat, and losing was out of the question for her.

“If Ah knew you were supposed to be working, Ah would’ve dragged you back to the weather factory mahself.” And speaking of work, Applejack was feeling a strong urge to get back to it in order to focus her thoughts away from the source of frustration. A mixture of anger and disappointment coalesced within the farmer, which left her feeling uncomfortable and with a desire to vacate the vicinity. Walking over to the tree, Applejack knocked the basket down and quickly gathered up all the spilt apples. “Now if y’all excuse me, some of us have work to do!” She walked away without looking back, leaving Rainbow Dash in a defeated state...and Dash hated losing.

*****************************

Sadly, work had done little to ease Applejack’s mind off the day’s events. Even when the work pony turned in for the night, she was still bickering with herself over the irresponsible foolishness of some ponies. It was amazing anything got done in Equestria when you had pegasus who couldn’t get their heads out of the clouds for five seconds to do their jobs. It made it almost impossible for her to sleep, and the farmer wound up tossing and turning in bed for the next few hours. And to make matters worse, just when she was finally able to push those troubles out of her mind for five seconds, the heavy pelting of rain against the roof added to her woes.

Wait...rain?

Quickly realizing what was wrong with the situation, Applejack was soon out of bed and rushing over to the window. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise but that didn’t stop her from gazing through the window in awestruck wonder at the rainstorm above the farm.

Her eyes drifted skyward to a small opening in the clouds, where she could just make out the outline of a pegasus, silhouetted by the light of the moon. Even without the sighting, she knew who was responsible for this piece of work. Rainbow Dash must have been working all through the night gathering the number of clouds necessary for a job this size. She realized that she may have been premature in judging the pegasus. And while it didn’t excuse the earlier procrastination, almost any other pony who have just left it for the next day rather than grit their teeth and put in the overtime. That kind of dedication was almost admirable.

Just then, Applejack caught a glimpse of movement from the pegasus-shaped silhouette - it looked like it was waving to her. The pegasus then disappeared for a brief moment, reappearing as another hole was opened up closer to the farmhouse. At that distance, she could clearly make out Rainbow Dash’s weary grin.

Applejack popped open the window and stuck her head out.

“Hey Applejack,” Dash called out. “I’m going to swing by tomorrow to clear these clouds up. Do you wanna hang out after that?”

*****************************

“Hey Applejack, you listening to me?”

A sharp prod to the her side snapped the cowgirl from her engrossing train of thought. After quickly shaking those thoughts from her head, she flashed the Wonderbolt Captain an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, hun, Ah was just...thinking,” she said with a faint sullen undertone.

“This is about Rainbow Dash again, isn’t it?” Spitfire said after a quiet sigh.

It was unnecessary, but the nod from the farmer confirmed what she suspected. The issue had plagued Applejack’s mind during the entire train ride to Manehattan as well as most of the first day of the aerobatics show. A pang of guilt echoed through the earth pony as she could see on Spitfire’s worried face how this was affecting their time together. The plan was to spend this time together and she was draining the mood with her sullen temperament. Spitfire stepped closer in hopes of cheering the pony up, putting a hoof around her shoulder and giving her a gentle, affection nuzzle.

“I know you’re worried about your friend...but you have to let it go,” Spitfire reassured her. “I’m sure Dash made the choice she thought was best for the both of you.”

Applejack had to concede that the her date had a point. The last thing Dash would have wanted was for her decision to ruin the whole event for Applejack. It seemed pointless to dwell on the issue, but it clung to her mind like a stubborn stain. In all logic, she should have been having the time of her life. Here she was in the midst of the largest aerobatics show in Equestria alongside one of the most famous athletes in the sport. The Manehattan Square Gardens were filled to capacity with the finest ponies, goats, griffins, and cows from Equestria and beyond. The outer halls of the arena were lined with exhibits detailing the long and colourful history of the sport and this competition in particular - statues of great fliers and photos of past triumphs. And, of course, more food stands than Applejack could shake a cinnamon stick at. This was the kind of show that Applejack enjoyed even if she didn’t compete in the sport.

But every picture of a pegasus soaring through the sky only reminded the farmer of the pegasus who should have been there. She had looked forward to listening to Rainbow Dash gush like a giddy schoolfilly while recounting every fact, triumph, and glory of the greatest pegasus in history followed by an explanation of how she was ten-times the flier they were. It felt empty without Rainbow Dash and she couldn’t help but feel responsible for the state her friend was in.

“Ah just...get this feeling that it’s all because of you and me. Ah’m just worried that she might be jealous.”

“Who wouldn’t be jealous?” Spitfire said with a bright grin as she threw her hooves around the farmer. “After all, you are the best cowgirl a gal could ever ask for.” The gamble paid off as the pair were soon smiling and sharing a quiet laugh. “But seriously, even if Dash is a bit jealous, that’s her problem to deal with, not yours. And you shouldn’t burden yourself with the blame. I don’t want to sound like I’m coming between two friends but...if Dash can’t accept you being happy with me, then...maybe she isn’t as good a friend as you thought.”

That was an uncomfortable truth that Applejack didn’t even want to consider. She never imagined that finding a special somepony might result in the loss of her closest friend. She prayed to Celestia that this wasn’t the case because given the choice between Dash and Spitfire, she wasn’t sure who would win.

Desperate for a distraction, Applejack’s eyes began to scan her surroundings for something of interest. There were a lot of ponies around, many of whom were well-dressed, which left the farmer feeling that wearing her apple-patterned scarf again was a bit inadequate. Fancy dressing would never be her thing, and she was still hesitant to wear the dress that Rarity had made specially for her. Perhaps she would save it for the final day of the competitions. Finally, Applejack noticed something familiar hanging from a nearby wall. There was a gallery of framed pictures entitled ‘Legacy of the Wonderbolts’ and one picture in particular featured a pair of familiar, frizzled-mane pegasus fliers.

“Is that you in this picture?” Applejack remarked as she walked over to it. A considerable amount of willpower was needed not to burst out into laughter as both pegasus in the picture had disheveled manes that looked like they had a thousand volts passed through them.

“Oh wings of my ancestors, please don’t look at that picture...my mane is such a mess in it!” Despite her initial protests, Spitfire was soon by her date’s side and holding back quiet snickers of her own. “That’s me and Soarin’ after we flew our first paired sky dance. This would have been taken when we were still rookies on the Wonderbolts.”

Applejack leaned in for a closer look at the picture; Spitfire was hovering over Soarin’ with her hooves draped around his neck and shoulders. The mix of exhaustion and overwhelming joy was visible on their faces; the kind of smile you got when you saw years of hard work finally pay off. It was the same kind of weary grin that she had seen on Dash so many times in the past.

“So what happened to your manes?”

“Static build-up,” Spitfire explained. “Our routine had us passing through a storm cloud, which resulted a storm cloud contrail behind us. We were actually the first to come up with that technique and we’ve since incorporated it into all our routines.” Spitfire let out a contented sigh as she gazed at the photo. Whatever sense of embarrassment she felt earlier was washed out by the flood of nostalgia. “Everypony said we didn’t stand a chance, but we went ahead anyways. And we pulled it off too - a perfect score, the first in the championship’s history.”

“Wow, that’s mighty impressive,” Applejack commented. Now she didn’t know much about the finer details of aerobatic competitions, but she imagined that a paired sky dance required both ponies to be working with perfect coordination.

“Yeah...turned the whole aerobatics community on its head. Two no-name rookies in their first major championship blowing every big name out of the sky. Soarin’ and I felt like we were on top of the world back then.”

“That sounds like quite the spectacle. Ah can’t wait to see you two perform!” Unfortunately, the paired sky dances weren’t until the second day of the competition. The upcoming competition was for solo performances and the team events were on the third day.

“You...won’t, I’m afraid,” Spitfire admitted reluctantly. It wasn’t a subject that she wanted to delve into but it was her own fault for bringing it up in the first place. “Soarin’ and I haven’t done that routine since we...um, sort of...broke up.”

“You and Soarin’ used to go out?” The news didn’t come as much of a surprise to Applejack. From what she understood, the pair had been best friends for most of their lives, worked and trained together, and were both attractive young pegasi in prime physical condition. If anything, Applejack would have been surprised if nothing had transpired between them. Spitfire seemed to be more hesitant to discuss the subject than Applejack was to hear it, but the door had already been opened.

“We joined the Wonderbolts as a couple,” an uneasy Spitfire explained. “We had spent months making our own routine but we didn’t expect we’d get a chance to perform it for years. But then we’re at our first major championship and the captain suddenly comes up to us and says ‘go out there and fly together like you love each other...and then make the rest of the world believe it.’ And that’s what we did.”

Every passing minute seemed to bring out another facet of the pegasus flier that impressed Applejack. The story she heard sounded like something straight out of a romance novel. Sadly, unlike a romance novel, this story had an unhappy ending that she knew was coming up next.

“So what happened to you two? Ah mean...if you don’t mind me asking.” Judging by the way Spitfire’s eyes fell to a spot on the ground where she was scuffing her hoof like a nervous tick, the pegasus was rather uncomfortable with the subject.

“I was made Captain,” she answered. Her voice was barely above a whisper, almost sounding as though she were ashamed of this. “Being together was easy when we were just two junior members. Nobody cared what we did. But once I was Captain, everyone started whispering about us...about him. Add in the strain of adjusting to being in charge and...well, the stress just got to us both.”

Seeing that it was Spitfire’s turn to need some moral support, Applejack gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she shifted a step closer to her. “It’s okay, Spitfire. Things change...ponies change. The important thing is that the two of you are still friends.”

Spitfire was soon smiling again, returning the reassurance with a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

“It’s in the past and I’ve moved on,” Spitfire said as her gaze met with Applejack’s, “to much, much greener pastures.”

The orchard farmer felt a sudden flash of heat rising to her face as Spitfire slowly leaned in. However, both ponies were soon sporting embarrassed flusters as hooves fell onto both of their shoulders.

“There you two are!” It was Soarin’ with his apparent knack for ruining the mood. At least this time pineapples weren’t involved. Whether it was intentional or not, the stallion appeared oblivious to the discomfort his unannounced arrival caused. “With the way Spitfire’s been spending all her time with you, I was beginning to worry that she was going to forget all about the competition.”

“As if I would forget one of the biggest competition of the year,” Spitfire scoffed before she pushed her teammate away.

“Like how you’ve forgotten half of our practices last week?”

“I’m your Captain, not your foalsitter. I’ve trained you well enough to know how to think for yourself, Soarin’.”

“I’m not the one that you should be worried about,” he said as he laughed the remarks off. As always, the Wonderbolt Captain’s razor-sharp wit bounced harmlessly off Soarin’s mental armour. “But seriously, we’re running a few last minute drills and somebody’s got to yell at the other Wonderbolts. My voice is going to go hoarse if I keep doing your job.”

“But I...” Spitfire’s words lumped in her throat. She knew for a fact that she had been neglecting her duties as the team’s Captain, and all reason stated that she should go with Soarin’ to ensure her teammates were ready for the competitions. At the same time, she didn’t want to abandon Applejack. It was an inevitability but Spitfire had assumed she would have more time - the competition was still about five hours off. Indecision gripped the pegasus’ mind as her eyes darted between her friend and her date.

“Ah’ll be okay, hun,” Applejack spoke up. The farmer could see the torment in the pegasus’ conflict gaze, and Applejack could never be so selfish as to keep Spitfire away from her responsibilities. “The Wonderbolts need their captain.”

“I know...I know,” Spitfire said with a reluctant sigh. Even if everybody knew it was the right thing to do, that did make leaving Applejack alone feel any easier for her. “I’ll come find you right after my solo flight, okay?”

“I’ll be waiting for ya.” Just as Spitfire was about to turn to leave, Applejack hooked a hoof around her neck and pulled the pegasus in for a good luck kiss, which was drawn out for a bit longer than was customary.

Applejack waved goodbye as the two Wonderbolts flew off. Alas, Spitfire was not the only one who felt a pang of sorrow parting ways. Without her pegasus escort, the farmer was left alone in a stadium she was unfamiliar with, surrounded by legions of ponies she did not know. It took less a second for her to pining for Rainbow Dash’s company.

“Guess Ah’ve got a few hours to go before the show,” she muttered to herself. Letting out a long sigh, the pony hung her head and turned to head off with no particular direction or destination in mind.

“Hey! Now what’s with that long face?”

Applejack’s ears perked up at the voice. She turned towards the source of the question and what she saw took her breath away...