//------------------------------// // 5.- Getting to Know Each Other // Story: Canterlot High's Sports Challenge // by LiQuiD //------------------------------// - CHAPTER 5 - GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER (BGM) Hours have passed, and now it’s lunch time, your teammates look fully recovered now. Rarity suggested for you to take a seat at the same table to share your thoughts about the upcoming qualifiers, mostly to know and encourage each other. This is the very first time you’ve spoken with this many people ever since you got transferred into this school and you’re doing great, these are your impressions so far: Big Mac, he totally was dragged to the event by Applejack. Cool guy, doesn’t talk much. Bulk Biceps, you wish he wasn’t that loud, your ears still ring from the last time he yelled YEAH! And that was like, four hours ago. Sandalwood has done nothing but bore you all to death with his talk about spiritualism and chakras. Curly Winds can’t stop texting and talking about his buddy Wiz Kid…he must be his best friend. And Heath Burns is just sitting there, thinks himself somewhat of a ladies man, you wonder what product he uses to keep his hair like that, it’s unnerving. They look like they don’t like attract much attention to themselves, so they’re just like you. Flash Sentry and his buddies, they’re okay in your books. Flash looks to be the leader of said gang, however…you can tell he really wishes he wasn’t here right now, and not only by the button he has pinned on his jacket stating that fact, but you’ve got a hunch that he must be doing it for somebody else, just like Zephyr Breeze, as for the girls: Applejack, she looks like the closest friend Rainbow Dash has, they seem to be competitive between each other, really…those two are the best members of the team, along with Sunset Shimmer it looks like Canterlot High has an actual chance to win. Trixie is the funniest of them all, boastful, arrogant, self-centered, yet she manages to be cute and clumsy…yeah, you like her a lot. Cloudy Kicks and Tennis Match, they are pretty happy and eager to be a part of this, they seem to enjoy each other’s company. Derpy is just as cute as a button, that innocent smile itself could stop wars. Lyra and Sweetie Drops, yeah…you know what’s going on already. They look very tough! It’s better not mess with them. Sonata and Aria? Aria is just a grump and she tends to fight a lot with Sonata. Sonata doesn’t mind her insults, instead she loves to tease Aria a lot. However you can picture Aria beating anyone who dares to hurt Sonata. ”So Anon…why don’t you tell us more about yourself?” Sonata asks. ”Yeah brah, we don’t know you very well. You barely speak…” Flash Sentry adds, “how come?” Welp, this is it…you better not embarrass yourself by saying something dumb or bore everyone by oversharing too many personal details. “Yeah, sorry about that. People weren’t exactly friendly to me back where I was from so I kinda uh, tried to keep a low profile.” ”Really now?” Applejack adds, “well where were you from sugarcube?” “Uhh, I used to live in Seacrest County and I attended Seacrest County Jr. High before I moved here.” Everyone gasps. ”No way, you went THERE?” Rainbow Dash says, looking quite shocked. “Yeah…?” ”That explains a lot actually, the people in that place are the worst…no offense dude,” she adds. ”They take everything seriously…” Lyra says, “very tough, competitive and overall bad sports, every level, from Elementary to College, they are like that.” ”Yeah!” Everyone complains. “You’ve played against them?” ”Both Fluttershy and I played volleyball against one of their teams back when we attended Cloudsdale Elementary; isn’t that right Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash says- ”Yes, they were quite the big meanies, we were instantly eliminated by them and they mocked us when we lost, I-I cried a lot that day…” Fluttershy says. ”That’s not everything, I’ve heard rumors of them cheating as well, especially if the other team is good. Take CPA for example…they were about to beat Seacrest County High on basketball last tournament, and those meanies started to play in a very unsportsmanlike way.” Tennis Match adds. ”Phew…am I glad we aren’t facing them right off the bat on this tournament.” Derpy says looking quite relieved. “Yep, totally sounds like them...I was a part of their soccer team; however, I wasn’t very good like them, and I didn’t feel like diving in the grass every time the other team tried to get the ball from me or doing dirty tackles or slides.” ”Good!” Rainbow Dash says, “as much as I hate losing I’d hate it more if I won by cheating!” Everyone agrees with her. “As I said, there were a few exceptions, some of them also liked the things I enjoyed so I got to hung out with them, the soccer team, jocks and cheerleaders however…” “HAHAHA look at that loser! I bet he’ll lose the ball any second now.” “How come you’re so quiet Anon? I mean like, you need to talk more and stuff…” “Jeez Anon, why do you say weird things all the time? No wonder nobody likes you.” “Good job you idiot, you blew it again…no wonder you always are benched.” You let out a deep sigh and place both of your palms over your face. ”Sorry, I spaced out for a bit…so, my dad got a better job in Canterlot and we moved here just as the new school term was about to start. I’m still trying to get past that stage of my life, however; every time I try to talk to anybody here, I recall my Jr. High and early High School days and tend to make people feel uncomfortable.” ”Oh darling, you don’t have to worry about that anymore, here in Canterlot we are very friendly! Isn’t that right boys and girls?” Rarity says while rubbing your shoulders to motivate you and reassure you have nothing to worry about. ”Yeah! Welcome Nonny! I can call you Nonny right? I didn’t even ask first.” Pinkie Pie says with a giggle. “Y-yeah, I like it…“ you reply, feeling a bit relieved. “Awesome! I would’ve totally made a ‘welcoming’ party for you…but you just like, have the power to vanish.” Everyone laughs, you even let out a chuckle. “Yeah, sorry about that.” The team keeps talking to get to know each other. So far, you don’t think your team can stand a chance against the likes of Crystal Prep or the other high schools, no one here seems to practice sports as much as you used to, however, you plan to give your 110%. Then you take another look at Rarity. It’s incredible that such a gorgeous girl as her believes in you, and even dared to stand up for you when Rainbow Dash got angry, you’ll make sure that you give your 120%. ”Ehem…” someone clears their throat, making you all turn your heads to the source of the voice, Principal Celestia is standing near your table. ”Hi there boys and girls, planning your tactics already?” She asks. ”Actually, we were getting to know each other better Principal Celestia,“ Rarity says, “I believe that’ll help us click as a team!” ”That’s great!” Principal Celestia says, “I’m glad you’re taking this seriously y’all, I’m so proud of you!” Principal Celestia fidgets with some papers. ”I received an e-mail from Superintendent Discord earlier,” she says, “apart from facing Crystal Prep High we’re gonna face Croix Bleue High School…” ”Croix Bleue’s Speedy Hares?” Rainbow Dash says, “well…this is gonna be fun.” “Really now, how come?” You ask, because you’ve never heard of them. ”They’re a pretty good team, however luck is never on their side. They tend to ‘choke’ in the last minutes of the match, well…at least their soccer team does that, not sure about the team they’ve formed for whatever-this-competition-thingy-is.” Rainbow Dash says while crossing their arms. They sound like an easy enough team to beat for Seacrest County’s Seahawks, then you look at your teammates. Hmmm…perhaps not so much for Canterlot’s Wondercolts. ”Well then, who else are we facing off against?” Aria asks. ”Ah, Pleasantview High School’s Llamas…” ”The Llamas? I thought they were a college team,” Twilight Sparkle asks. ”No, those are Bridgeport’s University’s Llamas. Pleasantview’s High School is owned by that University, their best students get a scholarship for that university.” ”Yeah…but, who’d like to enroll in a university whose mascot are stinky llamas?” Flash Sentry jokingly says, “don’t make me laugh.” ”I-I like llamas…” Derpy says. ”So do I,” Twilight Sparkle says, “their college has state of the art technology…I wouldn’t mind studying at that university.” ”Y-yeah! I totally knew that! And they’re awesome!” Flash Sentry wasn’t expecting Twilight to say that, he tries to save face, but with no success. ”Ugh…” Twilight rolls her eyes. Sheesh, Flash looks like he wants to bury his head in the dirt right now. ”I hope you all do your best to defeat those three teams. I’m counting on you! No pressure!” Principal Celestia happily says, then she turns her head over her shoulder delivering a last statement before leaving, this time in a more threatening way; “but seriously…just win.” ”Hooo boy! This is totally not good,” Tennis Match says. ”Hmm? What do you mean?” You ask. ”That High School has a very tough player, her name is Sandy Prattle…she’s easily one of their best athletes,” Tennis Match says. ”Ain’t no match for Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie says as she lifts Rainbow’s arm, “isn’t that right Dashie?” ”Actually Pinkie, Tennis Match is right…she’s very tough,” Rainbow Dash says. ”Not to mention hot!” Brawly Beats says as he passes around his phone with a picture of her, which he found online on Lifeinvader. ”Eeeeyup!” Big Mac excitedly says before Applejack punches his arm. Sandalwood lets out a wolf-whistle. ”Meh…” Curly Winds says. ”I wouldn’t mind losing to her to be honest,” Heath Burns smiles and lifts his eyebrows. You look at her picture. And yes…she’s quite beautiful! Rarity clears her throat and snatches Brawly Beats’ phone from his hand. ”Anyways…” Rarity says as she turns off Brawly Beats’ phone, “we shouldn’t be worried at all. Let’s take this as a chance to get back at Crystal Prep and to show those fancy schools who’s boss!” ”YEEAAAAAH!” Bulk Biceps yells. ”Pfft…Sandy Prattle, Sour Sweet, big deal; all we have to win is right here!” Rarity says with her arms wide to inspire you all. ”Yeah…Rarity’s right! We can do this people! With or without Zephyr Breeze!” Heath Burns says. ”YEAH!” Everybody says at the same time. ”Heeey!” Zephyr Breeze replies, feeling offended. Holy smokes, you don’t know why but you kind of want to be part of this even more. ”COME ON EVERYBODY! SAY IT WITH ME!” Pinkie Pie says “GOOOO WONDERCOLTS!” Everyone goes! Classes have ended for the day and you all are at the public pool. Rarity provided you all with appropriate swimming gear she managed to get ready on time in the sewing club she’s the founder and president. It has the colors of the school and a cute yellow horse shoe. “Wow, Rarity’s quite talented isn’t she?” You say as you look at your swimming trunks. ”Yep, how are your swimming trunks Anon?” Sunset Shimmer replies. “Bit tight around the crotch but, everything else is okay.” ”I’m so sorry darling, if you hadn’t left home yesterday so early I would’ve been able to take your measures so I just had to guess them,” Rarity says. “Whoops…sorry Rares, I didn’t know you’d actually have uniforms ready for today.” ”It’s okay dearie,” Rarity says, “I haven’t worked on the uniforms them yet, I only began to work on the swimsuits.” ”How much did Principal Celestia contribute for these anyways?” ”It’s on my tab dear Anon! Our school is currently running low on cash, according to Celestia she’ll have to close some extracurricular activities if this keeps going on…including my sewing club.” Rarity says with a slight worried tone. “That’s horrible! No wonder Principal Celestia wants us to win…” you say. ”Yeah yeah…” Rainbow Dash says while stretching her slim and well-toned body, “okay people. Let’s do this. I want you all to reach the end of that swimming pool and then turn around, then keep swimming over here 5 times okay?!” ”Like, what about the people inside the pool?” Sonata asks. ”Think of them as buoys, or sharks or walruses! You just gotta dodge them!” Rainbow Dash replies. ”HEY!” A big angry lady floating on an inflatable raft yells at Rainbow Dash, ”who you callin’ walrus Miss anorexia?!” ”How about a big walrus floating on a buoy?” Zephyr Breeze whispers, and a few chuckles are heard, Even Rainbow Dash wanted to laugh at Zephyr’s joke but then stopped herself from doing so. ”Well then, lemme show you all how it’s done!” Rainbow Dash says, as she drops the towel revealing her beautiful figure, not without Fluttershy covering Zephyr Breeze’s eyes first. ”Aww sis!” Zephyr protests. ”Oh brother, you promised…” Fluttershy says. Rainbow Dash jumps in the pool and swims quite fast from one end to the other. ”Whoa…” Flash Sentry says, “that’s fast!” She’s gonna swim in different styles for each lap. Front crawl for the first lap, then backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and side stroke. ”Maaan, she’s amazing!” Ringo says. ”I know…she’s literally perfect,” Zephyr Breeze says and lets out an inspired sigh as soon as Rainbow Dash emerges from the pool. ”Phew…how did I do Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asks. ”That’s a brand new record Rainbow!” Twilight says, showing Dash the time she did on her phone. ”Awesome! Heh, perhaps I should play through this competition myself,” Rainbow brags. ”That’s Rainbow for ya,” Sunset Shimmer says, rolling her eyes in a friendly way. ”Anyways people, us captains received the rules of the competition a few hours ago, so!” Rainbow Dash says while rinsing her body, “the swimming event will need five players and five for the high dive event.” “Why five?” ”A swimmer for each lap newbie…the best of you will be part of the swimming team, all you have to do is swim in the pool, Twilight here will take your times!” ”Very well then,” Twilight smiles and looks at her list, “uhhh…Derpy?” ”Yes?” Derpy asks. ”Do you want to go first so I can test you?” Twilight asks. ”A test?! I didn’t even study! I’m gonna fail!” Derpy starts to freak out, causing Aria to shut her up. ”It’s not that kind of test dummy! Just get in the pool and swim!” Aria angrily says, Rainbow Dash just lets out a sigh. ”Oh…okay!” Derpy happily says as she runs towards the pool, sadly she didn’t realize the floor near the pool is quite slippery, she slips and falls on her rump. ”Oww…owie, don’t worry about me, I’m fine!” Rainbow Dash shakes her head and snatches the chart from Twilight's hands to write Derpy’s name off the swimming event. ”Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolds the captain of the team, “remember…ALL of them need to participate, otherwise we’ll get points deducted! So Derpy…you’ll be in the cross-country team.” ”Woo!” She happily replies while rubbing her butt to alleviate the pain. ”Umm…Big Mac? Your turn,” Twilight happily says. Big Mac doesn’t hesitate and quickly jumps into the pool, takes his time swimming and when he’s done he emerges from the pool, fixing his wet hair which makes the girls let out a inspired sigh, except for Applejack and Rarity. ”Good job bro,” Applejack says as she hands him a towel. ”Wow…that was an impressive time Mac, who wants to go next?” Rainbow Dash asks. Zephyr Breeze raises his hand. ”…Anyone else?” Rainbow Dash asks again. "Come on, I got a couple of moves to show off," he says with a smug printed on his face. "Sure you do... alright, do what you gotta do," Rainbow Dash says, rolling her eyes and letting out an annoyed groan. ”YAAAY!” He says as he emerges from the back of the group. (BGM) Zephyr Breeze performs some incredibly eccentric and not exactly helpful stretching exercises. Rainbow Dash can't help but become annoyed by how much time he's wasting, looking at her watch. ”Whad’ya think Rainbow?” He says, trying to show off his looks to a very flustered and annoyed Rainbow Dash. "Get on with it, Zephyr!" She yells. ”Fine, fine!” After one final pose, an unusually confident Zephyr Breeze steps forward. "Alright, everyone, prepare to be dazzled by my own art." Sonata and Aria lift an eyebrow each, no one knows what he's even talking about. He runs towards the pool’s diving board and performs a dive with a surprising amount of grace for a guy who normally; and still sort of does, look silly. Upon hitting the water, he soon arises from the depths... only to not start swimming. In fact, it looks as though he's performing water aerobics first, you and your teammates are confused by his actions while Rainbow Dash's patience continues to be tested. "Hey! You're supposed to be swimming, not dancing in the pool or whatever you’re doing!" "Come on Rainbow Dash…don't tell me you're not amazed by my body workouts. Okay, but here it goes…” Zephyr Breeze starts swimming for real this time…and you all realize that he’s going almost at a snail pace. Clearly, Rainbow Dash has had enough of Zephyr Breeze's actions. "Okay, that's it! Get out of the pool!" Rainbow Dash threatens Fluttershy's brother. ”But I'm not done with-" “OUT!” A sonorous shout is heard coming from Rainbow Dash's mouth, quelling Zephyr’s protest. ”Hmm…I think Zephyr Breeze is highly qualified for the high diving event,” Twilight says as she looks through the High Diving event’s rules. ”Y-you’re kidding…” Applejack says, “he’s actually good at somethin’?” ”Yep, he didn’t splash water out of the pool and got through the water in a very good position. Who would’ve thought his annoying routine ensured a place for him in the team after all?!” Twilight says in disbelief. Hours later. Twilight keeps taking record of everyone’s times. ”How did everyone do Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asks. You’re the last member of the team in the pool. And you’re about to complete the fifth lap. “There!” You say. ”Good job Anon!” Twilight says. ”You did great dearie…” Rarity says, handing you a towel as soon as you emerge out of the pool. “Aw shucks…thanks Rarity!” You say while scratching the back of your head with your right hand. Twilight shows Rainbow the chart. ”Hey…that’s not bad at all!” Rainbow Dash says. Twilight gets her laptop out of her backpack and quickly transfers her data to a spreadsheet, then she expertly runs a program of hers to show the best swimmers. ”There we go! In the top five are: in fifth place is Anon; in fourth place is Flash, in third place is Rainbow Dash in second place is Aria and in first place is Sonata!” Twilight says, and after hearing those results Rainbow Dash chuckles. ”What’s so funny Rainbow?” Twilight asks. ”Really now Twi? Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?” Rainbow keeps giggling. ”Mistake? No! This program makes sure to place the best on top!” Twilight brags about the program she wrote. ”B-but…” Rainbow Dash stops laughing, “are you sure? Can you check again?” ”Science is never wrong Rainbow…Aria and Sonata are way faster than you,” Twilight says, then both Aria and Sonata share a high-five as they mock Rainbow Dash, who can’t believe what she’s listening to. ”Buut, we got a problem…Anon can’t be in two events at once can he? Besides I am better at running and you know that!” Rainbow Dash says. ”Y-you’re right…Anon is already going to be part of the relay race team!” “I am?” You ask. ”Yep, along with ehhh…Big Mac; Cloudy Kicks; Rainbow Dash and Applejack according to today’s record. However this might change so you all better keep training!” Twilight says, ”well then…I believe it’s time for you to train for the High Diving event!” ”I’m already in that team so I don’t need to practice further!” Zephyr Breeze says rather proudly, Rainbow just puts on a grumpy face. ”Yeah like…can’t we leave that for tomorrow?” Cloudy Kicks says, “I’m like, totally wasted!” ”A rest would be okay with me…” Sandalwood adds, ”I’m hungry as well…” ”Ugh…fine,” Rainbow Dash says, “we’ll keep training tomorrow.” ”Who’s up for Chokey Chicken?!” Pinkie Pie yells. ”Chokey Chicken?!” The team yells in excitement, that doesn’t sound bad at all! And is yet another opportunity to bond with your team. Ahh who are you trying to fool? You’re also hungry as well. And that fast food joint serves some good chicken too. What can you say? Today was a good day!