When I heard Winona barking, it didn’t worry me–they were “Yes, I’m chasing something, but don’t worry, it’s under control” barks, not “We’ve got a real serious situation on our paws” barks. But now that it’s been a couple hours, I reckon a follow-up is merited. Once she’s run something off, she usually comes right back to me for congratulating, and since she hasn’t, maybe things are a bit less under control than she said.

But it doesn’t take half a minute to find her, and sure enough, she seems to be just fine. And she doesn’t seem too worked up, not really. But she’s still got her teeth bared and her back arched low, and her growls say “I won’t bite [i]hard[/i], but you still won’t like it if I catch you.”

Next, I look up at Rainbow Dash. She’s resting on her belly on the limb of a tree, her legs dangling down and her eyes half-lidded. But if you know the gal–and I do–you can’t miss the tension in those dangling legs, or how those half-lidded eyes keep scanning around. She’s looking for an opening, make no mistake.

“Rainbow?” I call, trotting up beside Winona. Rainbow perks up, suddenly all smiles.

“Applejack!” she says, “Good to see ya! What’re you doing here?”

I give her a flat stare. “This is my farm. I live here.”

“Okay, sure. But like, what are you doing [i]here[/i] here?”

“Seeing where Winona went. Which reminds me…” I look down. “Set, girl.”

Normally, when I tell Winona to set, she backs right off. Instead, she cocks her head, then whines. It ain’t a [i]no[/i]; more like a [i]please[/i]?

“Oh, she’s fine,” Rainbow interjects. Winona snaps her attention back to Rainbow with a mildly-fierce growl. Rainbow blows a raspberry. 

I sigh.

“Rainbow. Why’re you here, why’s my dog mad at you, and what’d you do to deserve it?”

“Okay, first of all? Rude. But… so, Sweet Apple Acres was scheduled for clear skies this afternoon, and you said you didn’t want me slacking off until I’d bucked all the clouds, right?”

“Right…” There’s one tiny cumulous directly overhead in an otherwise clear blue sky. If I know the gal–and I do–it’s probably just about the right size for a pegasus to snooze on. “...So, B+ work all around, what’s the problem?”

“Well, after I’d finished, I landed to grab a quick snack before getting my afternoon cloudnap on, but [i]somebody[/i] seemed to think I hadn’t quite finished my job, so she chased me up here.” Rainbow gestures at several apple cores on the ground. “Thanks, by the way. But now I’ve got to get down past her, and it’s tough when–I mean, and I can totally do that whenever I want!” Another raspberry; another growl.

I take a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash, you are a pegasus. You can just [i]leave[/i].”

“But that’s cheating!”

“‘Cheating?’”

“Yeah! Winona doesn’t have wings, does she? So how can she catch me if I fly away, huh?”

“She… can’t?”

“Exactly!” Rainbow nods triumphantly, as if she’s proved some particularly brilliant point. “So, I’ve gotta get past her on hoof.” She flops her head back down. “I’ll let your dog keep thinking she’s got a chance for a little longer, then jump down and outsprint her to the fence when I’m good and ready. You go do your farm stuff, s’cool.” Winona gives a quiet half-yelp; part agreement, part threat.

I look at Winona again, then lean down to whisper. “It’s almost suppertime, girl. You [i]sure[/i] you don’t want me to call this off for you? I don’t mind bein’ the bad cop.”

She shakes her head. Don’t need an owner-pet bond to know what that means.

“Suit yourself.” I straighten up. “A’ight, you two have fun, don’t stay out all night.”

As I turn and trot away, I hear the growls resume, answered by scratchy-voiced taunts. It occurs to me that even a couple years ago, I would’ve put a stop to this nonsense without a second thought. But now?

There’s nopony pony in Equestria (family excepted) that I know better than Rainbow, and there’s no creature in the world (family included) that I know better than Winona. And if I know the gals–and I do–they’ll both be happier being left to their standoff than they would be if I jumped in and interfered.

Those two are just about my best friends in the world. And sometimes, the best thing a friend can do is nothing at all.