Nothing was more excited than the Club Fair! For this occasion, Canterlot High School also had its own open house, where members from the family could come and support their siblings and kids. It was an event that a lot of people would miss under no excuse.
Going through the school’s railings, and looking up to the huge horse statue at the entrance of the yard, symbol of the place that used to be one of the most famous stud farm of the country, Big Macintosh felt a little nostalgic. He felt as if he’d lived a thousand years since he left High School.
It was good old times, he thought while skirting the main building in order to go to the back schoolyard and to the stadium where the fair was happening. It was the time of his first real crushes… The time he had understood he wanted to do nothing else than contributing to the prosperity of his parents’ heritage.
This afternoon, every class of the ninth grade competed in various sporting tournaments, with their homeroom teacher as the team coach.
The young man remembered he took part in the relay race, just like his young sister Applejack did and like his even younger sister Apple Bloom was about to do as well. His team didn’t win the race, but he kept a vivid memory of this day. It was a chance to make new encounters while having fun.
Quickly, he noticed the small bunch of friends he was looking for. Twilight was the only one missing, the Guiding Class being exempted from the beginning of the school year’s proceedings, in order to directly dive into their advanced program. He knew she probably regretted not to be with everyone, but also that she had an aim for life that was almost more important than anything else, and that she would hold on to it. This girl had always been very serious. A little too serious, sometimes…
Of course, Fluttershy was here as well. Since her confession on the night of the fireworks, Big Macintosh hadn’t changed his mind about her. She was softness incarnated, of a loveliness that probably ravished more than one heart, but she wasn’t his type of girls. They were too much alike on many details, and he preferred energy, joie de vivre, and when all the initiatives didn’t have to come from him.
However, he could admit the efforts she produced were endearing. She hadn’t turned pathetic, and didn’t make zeal in excess. The fact she could stay herself, while trying her best to stick to the description of his tastes, made her score some points.
“Hey, Big Mac, yar here at the right moment. It’s gonna be our girls’ turn soon”, his little sister told him when he met the bunch.
He greeted the girls one by one, and as he often did, add no other words. Listening to their conversation always had a little something that was entertaining.
“I can’t wait to see Sweetie Belle wearing her uniform… It reminds me of memories”, Rarity sighed with a nostalgic smile.
“Rarity, you’re talking a bit like an old biddy”, Pinkie Pie giggled.
“Say that I’m old!”
“You’re old… What? She asked for it!” she added when her friends all threw threatening glances at her at the same time.
“I think it was a way of saying, Pinkie”, Sunset Shimmer said with a smile, in order to calm down the mood.
“Duh! I know that!”
“Who cares?!”, Rainbow Dash interrupted them, a little abrupt. “The brats are coming.”
Indeed, the Crusader’s class appeared on the athletics field, all wearing the mandatory outfit for sport of CHS, made of a tee-shirt embroidered with the school badge, of black shorts with a white stripe on the sides and of long white socks. Immediately, Rainbow Dash went out of her slightly sullen state, and followed by Applejack and Rarity, started to scream in order to encourage the young girls, while shaking small school’s flags.
From the field, they spotted them, and made signs with their hands to show they were seeing them. And so, the whole school was going to see a confirmation of the connection between them and one of the most famous gang of friends. Their popularity would blow the roof if they won the relay race with it. They trained really hard all night long, with this as their main goal. They just had to get it started now.
Out of the three, Scootaloo was the proudest. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both could boast about a real parental bond with the elders, that she herself didn’t have with Rainbow Dash. The fact that she was here to support her and no one else, it was her greatest victory. She didn’t have to feel disadvantaged from being an only child. Her big sister was a soul big sister… This bond didn’t happen thanks to the chance of birth, but by something else, different yet deep as well, that made her want to jump around laughing.
She was going to give all she had inside in order to impress her.
And there was more. The homeroom teacher, Mr. Caballeron, was very authoritarian, not to say stiff. He had lectured them a long while on the previous day, saying this relay race was more important than everything else, and that from this was going to follow on the image the others would have of their class for the rest of the year. The pressure was huge, both for them and for their classmates.
On the agenda: to win. There were no other options to envision. Their problem was that the rival class, Ms. Prim Hemline’s, welcomed into its midst young people already part of a sporting club, and with quite a reputation from their former Middle School.
At the gunshot, Sweetie Belle was the first to go. She wasn’t the fastest, but she gave everything. Knowing that Rarity was here to encourage her was pushing her to try her best. She wanted her big sister to be as proud of her as she could be to have her.
Once her turn over, the young girl was in a sweat, her cheeks tinted of an aggressive red. Her first reflex was to raise her head towards the bleachers, from where she saw her sister apparently delighted from her performance.
Soon, it was Apple Bloom’s turn to throw herself in the competition. Because she came from an athletic family, and she often helped the eldest in their work at the farm, she was nimbler than her friend. Her advantage was to have a better respiration, and a far better endurance, which permitted her to keep going and to be in a better shape at the end of her turn.
She joined Sweetie Belle on a bench and encouraged Scootaloo with all her might, as she was the last to run. Out of the three, she was the most athletic one, and her ease on the track was the brightest of all proofs. The young girl also wanted to make a good impression on an eldest, and put a peculiar zeal in her race. Rainbow Dash was looking, and she wanted to match up to her legend – twenty-one seconds and fifty-four hundredth of a second at the two-thousand-meter race in tenth grade, namely the record for track and field race in High School.
Once she reached the finish line, they were happy to note that they’d just beat the former class. Yet, everything wasn’t said and done. Ms. Prim Hemline’s class was the next to race.
During the whole race, the three Crusaders held each other’s hands with their classmates, taking the shape of some kind of human frieze all along the edge of the field.
The suspense was at its highest, and each heart was beating in unison as the last young runner reached the finish line. Seconds seemed to drop off with an incredible sluggishness, like a tape in slow motion.
The second place position. Because of two seconds more. Their disappointment was big, though they all know they’d given everything they had inside.
Their homeroom teacher’s shadow suddenly stood out in front of them, large and threatening, similar to that of evil spirits from scary movies. The features of his face had toughened again. Made of stone and metal.
“I’m so disappointed for the girls. They really wanted to win.”
“Bah don’t ya fret, Rar’, they’ll get well. And they gave everythin’ they had.”
“What if we go there and comfort them?” Fluttershy suggested. “I’m sure they would like it.”
“What a lovely idea!”
“That’s also what I wanted us to do”, Rainbow Dash finished.
Without another word, she turned her back on them, and started to go down the bleachers. The other girls looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her. Sunset Shimmer was the only one to be a bit lost… Since the morning, their friend was in a lukewarm mood, wavering between a certain kind of indifference and a passive aggressiveness she hadn’t seen yet. Was it because of her broken bracelet? It was annoying, but even so…
In reality, though her bracelet problem was a worry for its incarnation of a negative sign, it wasn’t the main reason of her tension. This morning, when she had seen the date on her calendar, she had felt like a slap in her face. Her mother’s death anniversary was exactly in one month. Like every time, a weariness meddled within herself, gripping her from inside little by little until she felt as if chocking, and couldn’t control her grief anymore.
However, this year, the feeling was particularly intense and tenacious. It came from the fact she’d realized that next year, it was going to be five years since her mother had passed away. Suddenly, appeared to her the undeniable fact that she would spend much time without her than she had spent being with her. And it hurt. It hurt like hell.
If, to make matters worse, Soarin could stop making eyes at all those starry-eyed girls who supposedly wanted to talk to him about basketball, though in reality they surely wanted to slip their hands under his shirt, it would have helped her. Now wasn’t the right time to agonize over such a consideration.
Maybe Applejack was right when she said that a boyfriend was more troubles ahead.
Meanwhile, she had to help the Crusaders to get a bit of comfort. It wasn’t going to be easy. Herself couldn’t stand losing, and it was rare that she took that matter well.
Lucky for her she wasn’t alone to complete this task. Her friends were here as well. Though she acted a bit cold-shouldered with them, Rainbow Dash was glad to know they were here. For many different reasons.
The young girls’ class was hiding away near the benches sheltered from a large part of the audience. When the bunch of friends came closer, they saw a teacher dressed in a tracksuit with the colors of CHS, standing in front of the pupils, his hands on his hips. His voice, sharp like broken glass, resounded inside the alcove.
“Second position. Second position?! You’re the shame of this school! Not even able to do something as simple as a relay race. I wonder what’s instead of your neurons… water, maybe. How could I teach anything to a bunch of bunglers such as you? You’ll never do anything with your life, I tell you. Who the hell did give me such a band of losers?”
In the front line, the Crusaders kept their heads low, eyes staring at the ground. It broke Rarity’s heart when she saw tears appearing on her little sister’s eyelashes. This teacher was a real boor! No one had the right to talk this way to very young teenagers who were at an age when it was so easy to lose the confidence in any kind of field.
She made a step forward in order to tell this lout her way of thinking, and was pleased to notice she was followed by the other girls. They couldn’t let it happen. And not only for their little sisters, but also for the other students of the class.
“Who do you think you are to talk this way to these poor kids?” Rainbow Dash intervened first.
The teacher turned around, his eyes full of belligerence. The student in front of him was small, and looked scornfully at him, with as much poise, in no instance impressed by his natural authority. A half-smile stood out on his face, before it disappeared. He had heard about this girl. An unstable spoiled brat boasting because she wasn’t bad at sports, but who always defied the adults. A young schemer who thought she was important but who was as silly as the others. She and her gang was everything he hated about young people of today, not enough obedient.
With her chin up and her frown, did she try to make him understand that she wasn’t afraid of him? Fine, because he wasn’t afraid neither! Especially as he already knew he was going to have the whole gang in sports, and he already had decided he was going to give them a hard time.
“Who do I think I am? And you, who do you think you are, you little chump? I talk the way I want to my students, and I don’t have to have my behavior dictated by a bunch of brainless critters.”
“Be careful ‘bout what ya say to us”, Applejack replied. “The school rules say ya have to respect yar students.”
“Learn how to talk properly before speaking to me again. Aren’t you able to form a complete phrase?”
“Applejack’s got very good grades in English. It’s not her fault if she has an accent”, Pinkie Pie added.
“So, you are the former juvenile delinquent, aren’t you? If I were you, I’d be very careful to what I say to my teachers. I’m sure you don’t want to be fired because of your lack of respect for the rules.”
“This sounds like blackmail, sir…”
“Sunset Shimmer, I presume? That’s perfect timing since you know a thing or two about blackmail.”
“Are you thinking students are your footboard or something?”
Mr. Caballeron set his attention on Rainbow Dash again, while Rarity, in shock, didn’t know what to say or to do anymore, since she wasn’t even a part of Canterlot High, and though she should have been the more immune of the six. Her friends were attacked, and here she stood, dumbfounded, unable to utter the least of words, even if they were swarming in her throat, looking for a way out.
The man came closer to the teenage girl, still looking at him with defiance. He opened his mouth, ready to destroy her…
“Mr. Caballeron”, the Vice-Principal Luna’s voice resounded behind the group. “It’s time for your class to receive the ribbon. Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thanks, Ms. Luna”, he answered, upset of the interruption.
The latter didn’t move from an inch until the teacher was far at the main lawn, followed by his whole class, with sad and wounded faces, far from what they should have looked like. She waited for everyone to be a bit in the front, before stopping Rarity, grabbing her arm.
The former student had known the sisters only during her twelfth grade, when they took over the reins from their parents, yet, while this short amount of time, she managed to gather their sympathy. The fact chance had made her be friends with this particular band was a pleasant surprise for both Luna and Celestia, who saw her as some sort of guardian angel for the youngest.
“When you’ll have a second, I’d like you to go to Twilight Sparkle’s class. Warn her something happened, and that the Student Board has to keep an eye on Mr. Caballeron. We hired him because of excellent results back in his High School in Manehattan, but we’re not a one hundred percent sure of the choice. Could you do this for me? We don’t want PTA to know, that’s why we need someone absolutely neutral.”
“Yes, Miss Luna. I’m going to do it right now.”
“Thanks a lot. The Guiding Class will have a break in something like three minutes.”
After this, Rarity slipped out discreetly, while the Vice-Principal joined the lawn with the wide smile of the pleasant conversations, not to arouse curiosity.
The young woman was going to miss the ribbons presentation, however, she didn’t think Sweetie Belle was going to mind much, at sight of the bitter taste of their victory. If the mission given to her could be a helping hand for her little sister’s future, and avoid that her fragile self-confidence would be crushed by this stupid sports teacher, then it was worth the sacrifice.
-----------------------------------------------
First holding the handle with the preferred hand, the palm in front of yourself. Keep the thighs tight around the saddle. Stay focused. Relax the upper body, so that the weight of this part doesn’t become a disadvantage. Use the free hand for balance and think about transferring the body from one side or the other at the right moment.
With a bit of practice, it wasn’t so difficult to master the mechanical bull. When those techniques were well known and there was no fall, to copy this same pattern on a living bull had nothing mysterious.
Applejack did this since she was a little girl. Her parents had quickly noticed she had quite a gift for horse-riding and that she wasn’t afraid to fall or to get dirty. Naturally, she chose bull rodeo, while still helping her mother who liked to secure the cattle by herself – her family rose sheep, for the wool, and a few cows, for the milk.
Aged nine, she took part in her first competition, where her strength and dexterity had astounded all the judges. Since this day, she climbed all the steps of the ladder until being the only competitor of less than nineteen to compete with adults.
Her pretty face and her freckles had made her the darling of advertisers and sponsors, and they all fought every year to have her as their image, along with her being the muse of the familial products, which had reinforced her popularity.
Though this sport had a certain reputation in Equestria, and generated significant incomes, it remained less prestigious than showjumping or horse race. It couldn’t be a real future prospect but rather an entertaining extra. That was the reason why Applejack had chosen to follow the same path than her brother, and to pursue studies in business and management.
However, meanwhile, she could make the most of the fun and the pleasure of an activity she was really fond of. And she was making it fully, despite the fact it demanded a constant practice and a lot of diligence.
When she was back from school, after she had hung around with the group, and before starting her homework, Applejack would go down in her private practice room where she had her own mechanical bull. First, she set the machine to the maximum, and decreased the level of difficulty little by little, before finishing with the fastest one. It allowed her to test her stability, and to improve it.
As often as she could, Apple Bloom would come and watch her big sister. All that concerned rodeos and farm chores had not her interest like it did for her siblings, but she worshipped Applejack so much, seeing her as a role model thanks to her sense of honesty, her simplicity and her integrity, that she was fond of seeing her in action.
The eldest also loved the attention, and tried hard to be a person regarded with respect and deference. After all, their little sister had no other parents than their grandmother to turn to in order to forge her image of what’s an adult supposed to be like. That she saw her siblings as some kind of substitutes sounded natural.
However, tonight Applejack could see the young girl looked absent. She wasn’t even watching the mechanical bull, but rather seemed to be captivated by her shadow dancing on the room’s floor. Even when the machine started to get crazy and to fall was turning into a dangerous action, she didn’t clap her hands enthusiastically, her mouth wide opened and her eyes starry from excitement.
Applejack did a sign for Big Macintosh to turn it off, and went off the bull to speak with her little sister. Even once she was in front of her, Apple Bloom didn’t react, still lost in thoughts. She had to snap fingers in front of her face for her to get out of her lethargy. Something might have happened…
“What’s wrong, sugar cube? Ya got the face of when ya bite into a rotten apple.”
“Nothing’s wrong, I swear”, the youngest answered.
If she refused to tell her the truth, it wasn’t because she lacked trust in her. She knew Applejack wasn’t the kind to get carried away about what turned out to be an injustice. What bothered her was that the whole matter almost took a wrong turn on the previous day, if there hadn’t been Luna’s intervention, and she didn’t want to risk her sister’s reputation.
At the same time, she had to admit her sister neither was the kind to be satisfied of such a big lie. Never, if she didn’t worry about anything, Apple Bloom would’ve lacked attention during one of Applejack’s practice. If she insisted in remaining speechless about the problem, she would be grilled until she would spill the beans.
She sighed. Her desire to confess went stronger and stronger as the seconds passed, and her big sister tried to survey her with her eyes.
“Can ya promise me ya won’t make an apple pie about it?”
“Pinkie Promise!”
Deep inside, Apple Bloom thought her eldest had clues about the issue. It wasn’t as if nothing special had happened lately.
“In fact, since the Club Fair yesterday, Mr. Caballeron is even nastier with us. He been very mean with Scootaloo all day long…”
“Why Scootaloo in particular?”
“Cuz she been the last one to race and he thinks she’s Rainbow Dash’s sister. He always yells humiliatin’ things on her, like she’s a dimwit and stuff like that. We all scared of him so we don’t dare to say anythin’”
The preteen girl had kept her head low during the whole confession, mesmerized by the floor as if it was the watch of some hypnotizers. To go into details about what the teacher said to her friends, especially to Scootaloo would hurt too much, so she had only revealed the visible part of the iceberg.
All the same it was enough to increase Applejack’s anger. Today, they had a gym class with him and he had tried to exhaust them more than possible, especially taking it out on Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer, who were the pair he took the strongest dislike of. But none of them could escape, just like the rest of the class, who wondered what they had done to make this man so bitter. And it was only the beginning of the school year…
There was no way they would sit by it. This last grade was too important, especially for those hoping a scholarship in sports. If no one did anything, the whole class’ future would be compromised and the ninth grade’s self-confidence was going to be crushed and buried into earth, before it could even bloom normally.
If he wanted to play, he didn’t know yet against who he was taking a bet.