This last action was going to be determining. It only left a few seconds to the game, and if the Crystal Prep’s Shadowbolts scored this basket, victory would not be for the Wonderbolts for the first time since she was on the team.
Her problem was that the player in front of her was a real giant. Noticeably, she could bet she was even taller than Soarin.
Rainbow Dash knew all her friends were here, supporting her from the bleachers. She didn’t want to disappoint them. She also wanted to prove those college’s sport selectors that a small player barely 5’’01 tall could be good be as good as all these “Beanpoles”.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get the ball off the other girl’s hands, who was running straight towards the basket, in conquered territory. Where the hell were the other backcourts?
In desperation, Rainbow Dash positioned herself in front of the player to obstruct her and prevent her from shooting the three-point basket that would make her team win… It didn’t really work well, since the rival gave her a hit in the shoulder that made her stumble down like a plain ragdoll, and shot.
From the floor where she could hardly sit straight, the rainbow-haired teenage girl looked with horror, as the ball lingered on the basket’s rim for a few seconds which seemed like forever, and going into the net right when the end of the game was whistled.
She opened her eyes wide, and could already see all those years spent with CHS’ basketball team, all her victories which now didn’t seem to have a meaning.
But another whistle from the referee cut short any displays of joy from the rival team.
“Non-accepted! Foul!”
She opened her eyes wider, and her heart started to dance inside her chest. If these three-points weren’t taken into account, then it meant they were for the Wondercolts, who had just won the finals.
Immediately regenerated, Rainbow Dash got up and yelled a “yes!” of victory that came from deep inside her guts. She’d never been so happy to win. Quickly, the other girls of the team met her and surrounded her, bouncing and screaming from joy as well.
After they were given the cup of the interschool championships, they had to wait for the round of fans, High School’s newspaper’s journalists and congratulations from the teachers to be over. And finally, her whole bunch of friends, plus Soarin and Scootaloo, could come and greet today’s heroine.
“It. Was. So. AWESOME!” her young admirer claimed.
“Without yar last second counterattack, Crystal Prep would’ve win this thang”, Applejack nodded.
“I know. It’s so cool, right? But she smashed my shoulders!”
“Yeah, no doubt”, Sunset Shimmer laughed. “Did you see how tall this chick was?”
“I’ll give you a soothing cream for your shoulder”, Soarin said, pecking her temple. “Congratulations. It was an amazing game, and I know what I’m talking about…”
Rainbow Dash answered him with a smile, before her eyes caught those of another person, in the back of the room, discussing with their coach.
Immediately, all the other eyes conveyed towards the person in question. She was sport selector from the Canterlot University’s Wondercolts team. Soarin recognized her easily, since she also was the coach of the female team, who trained both Spitfire and Fleetfoot.
“Do you think you got your chance?” Rarity asked – she had closed her boutique earlier just to be able to attend this game.
In fact, when Rainbow Dash had seen her, she’d been so happy she turned even more stressed. If her friend came in here just for her, she needed to witness a game that would be stunningly great.
It had also led her to a much more bitter realization… Even her friend, whose work asked for a lot of time and devotion, was able to spare herself some time to attend something she didn’t care about at all , only to support her, when her own father wasn’t.
She shouldn’t have been disappointed, since it had always been this way, nevertheless, she was disappointed…
“I don’t”, she answered to Rarity with a slight smile. “And I’ve always known. I’m too small and college basketball is too serious to allow a player of my size on the floor. But you know what? That’s OK. In two days, there will be lacrosse finals and my attention is to get selected in this sport, and then get my merit scholarship.”
“Oh, yes, lacrosse finals!” Pinkie Pie claimed. “I can’t wait!”
“You also want a merit scholarship in sports, Pinkie?” Twilight questioned, surprised.
“I don’t, but I love lacrosse and I want to keep playing next year.”
“Haven’t there already been selectors during the semi-finals?”
“Indeed, Sunset Shimmer… But they weren’t from Canterlot University and that’s the university which accepted me so that’s the university I want to play sports in.”
“Dashie wants to be with me”, Soarin said, proudly.
“Yeah, but I also want to be with my best friends. We all chose the same college; you see…”
“We don’t want to be parted.”
Something then appeared clearly for the fiery-haired teenage girl, for the first time. Something she hadn’t thought about too hard before and which, now, was bursting into her face.
All her friends would go to Canterlot University, where they all sent their applications and received a favorable recommendation – the rest of the details were to be negotiated before the end of the school year.
They never seemed to be interested by any other universities, yet this realization felt a bit bitter to Sunset Shimmer. She had made up her mind a few months ago already, and her choice had stopped on a program of art and design which was only given in Fillydelphia.
What it meant made no doubt, and suddenly, she felt embarrassed to think that, for her friends, it had seemed evident she would follow them on their city’s campus, when she had other plans.
Now she had to find a way to tell them the truth. She couldn’t let them be ignorant of this. Even if it hurt. Because it was a safe bet that, if things were going to be a bit difficult for the five friends with different schedules and the new friendships they would make, for her who would be a hundred miles away, everything would turn out to be even more fragile.
---------------------------------------
Twilight’s knees were slamming together as she was walking towards Principal Celestia’s office. She was trying to stop it, but her anxiety seemed to be bigger when she got focused.
Last time she had been summoned this way by the sisters, what had been announced to her hadn’t filled her with cheerfulness, conversely.
In theory, the lost half-point was history, and she thought she had given everything she had during the last exams. It never stopped her from being scared.
What if, in reality, she had tripped over and her results were catastrophic? What if she wasn’t even among the Top 10 Students? She hadn’t received an answered about her scholarship, after all…
Her friend did her best to reassure her. Of course. They weren’t the kind to say things like “it’s sure that you’ve failed”. Although… Sometimes, Pinkie Pie was likely to jumped to disastrous scenarios which had opposite results than the expected effect. It hadn’t been the case this time, but that could have happened.
Each of them insisted she was the best student of CHS, and even of all Canterlot – if not of all Equestria, which meant Pinkie Pie’s sense of exaggeration didn’t always have bad sides.
Twilight was confident about her intellectual abilities, but everyone had their bad days and she knew that an excess of self-confidence didn’t always mean victory.
Studies and knowledge were her life, so it sounded logical for her to have doubts from time to time. The sole idea of being deprived of a future she regarded as decent had her heart beating the drums and she felt weak.
In front of the office door, the teenage girl took a deep breath. She wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever. Especially as classes weren’t over yet.
Fear kept on wringing her stomach, for all that, Twilight didn’t let it win, and lifted her fist in order to knock twice on Principal Celestia’s office door.
A voice summoned her to come in, and Twilight jumped in. Celestia and her sister Luna were waiting for her behind the desk. The first was sitting on a chair, a paper in her hands, and the second one was standing next to her, leaning over the same paper.
Lowering her eyes towards the desk, she saw a lot of other papers were spread out here, and thought she could recognize the name of another student of her acquaintance.
Vice-Principal Luna gathered all those leaves in a pile that she put behind her, on the filing cabinet. Meanwhile, Twilight, her hands clasped together on her lap, her knees still slamming together, watched them without a word. She was unable to smile, though she wanted to. As if her face refused to obey her mind.
“Well, Twilight Sparkle. You must doubt why we asked you to come here”, the Principal started.
The young woman shook her head no, still unable the say the least of words.
“There are a few things we want to say with you”, the younger sister went on.
Twilight swallowed. In her opinion, it wasn’t the kind of things people said to someone who did something well. Obviously, this meant she had failed somewhere. Although she told her friend she didn’t care about her position in the ranking, in reality, she knew that if she couldn’t make it to the Top 10, she would never get what she wanted.
This prospect didn’t only worry her, but it saddened her as well. She wasn’t the only one who had built hopes up about her. If she failed, she would also disappoint her family and her friends, and this thought made her eyes teary. She wanted everyone to be proud of her so much.
“The first thing is about your application to Canterlot University’s Summer Classes in astrophysics.”
Twilight hung on to her Principal’s every word, and felt as if each of them were getting out of her mouth in slow motion, like many daggers directed straight at her heart.
Summer Classes were reserved for the best of the best students, the cream of budding scientists. To be accepted meant being a part of this elite, but also a beginning like a rocket for the years to come. Her profile would then get more chances to be noticed by future employers. Especially as her target was a job at the Equestrian Royal Agency of Space and Aeronautics, in the Research Sector, very coveted and very hard to get.
Five applications only were selected for the whole country, as well as for the potential exchange students.
“All your teachers and ourselves have written recommendation letters on your behalf, giving details of your many school and extracurricular successes in CHS. It appeared that the team in charge of selecting the applications had been truly impressed… So, this is a pleasure for me to announce you officially that you’ve been chosen among the five lucky students. Congratulations.”
The sensation felt even more violent than being stabbed by a hundred daggers. It felt as if she had also been knocked on the head and tied to a chair. Strange. She rather expected an excessive cheerfulness, worthy of Pinkie Pie’s madness…
“I’ve… I’ve been accepted”, Twilight dared to whisper.
“Well, yes, you’ve been. You sound really surprised.”
“I’m not. Well, I am but I’m not, well I mean… There were only five chances and…”
Celestia and Luna exchange a confused glance. They both also had expected to see the young woman scream from joy. It was a recognition for a student of her kind, to be accepted in such a program of high caliber. A student like Trixie wouldn’t have hesitated of boasting she always knew it was where she belonged…
But Twilight was too in shock to be able to react any differently. Her dream was within her reach and it torn her between many contradictory feelings. Joy meddled up with fear, meddling up with pride, meddling up with doubts about what allowed her to get this far.
And it was only the first of the announcements the two sisters had to make.
“What are the other things you wanted to tell me about?” she asked with a quavering voice.
The two sisters shared another glance, before Principal Celestia cleared her throat and asked her sister Luna to give her one of the papers piled behind them.
“We’re in the making of this year’s ranking of the best students. It isn’t over yet, but we’ve analyzed all the results of the pupils from the Guiding Class, and unless there’s an unexpected surprise, which would be… well, really, surprising… I think we can tell you that you’ve kept your position as number one. In fact, there’s even chances you’re also number one of the national ranking…”
This time, Twilight opened her mouth so wide she thought her jaw would fall down. She felt glad and relieved to know she had kept her position in the school ranking, but she would never think her results to be the best of the whole country. In fact, she didn’t even know there was a national ranking for this exam!
It could only mean good things, nevertheless, she couldn’t feel completely happy for a reason she still ignored.
“We’ve communicated this result to the Department of Education, and… They sent us this letter. It says you’ve done a request for the Royal Scholarship which, as you know, is only granted to the best students of the Kingdom.”
“You mean that I… I got… the… Royal Scholarship as well?”
Obviously. If she was at the top of the national ranking, although there still could be last minute plot twists, it also meant she’d been granted the coveted scholarship as well.
Her parents had saved money to allow her to go to university but the programs she wanted to apply to, like those famous Summer Classes, represented huge additional fees. She knew her mother and her father ready to big sacrifices for her future, but she didn’t want them to keep on depriving themselves for her. Especially as her brother, Shining Armor, got the Royal Scholarship at the end of High School.
Since it seemed like it was the case for her too, then she didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Each program would be paid by the Scholarship. Each experience she would like to attempt. Her meals, her supplies, her housing, even, if she wanted to leave her family house (which she didn’t want), everything would be paid by the Scholarship.
Only once she left Principal Celestia’s office, with a loads of administrative papers to fill, was she able to pinpoint the reason why she wasn’t able to rejoice as much as expected.
To be accepted by the college of your choice didn’t mean you’d be able to accede to your selected course, since some of them had a limited number of accepted students. Among her friends, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were the only ones who were sure to be accepted in their chosen options.
Fluttershy didn’t know yet whether she could get to the Life Science course, since they were many each year to want to try this. Sunset Shimmer had been particularly vague about her choices and Canterlot University’s decisions about these, no matter how much she had harassed her to know.
As far as Rainbow Dash was concerned… Well, it appeared that before she chose, she was waiting to see whether she could be chosen herself by a sport selector and thus get her coveted merit scholarship.
What if one of them was accepted in no course? She would feel so bad to display her own victory before her. That was what made her feel so uneasy. Even when it was someone you loved, seeing the others be successful when you have failed was a frustration and a sorrow bigger than what Twilight could imagine.
So, while walking in the corridor to go to her class, she promised to herself she wouldn’t say anything to her friends before she was sure they all could celebrate their success together.