- CHAPTER 14 -

THE GOOD NEWS

”Excuse me gentlemen, what is the repechage program?” Vice Principal Luna asks.

”The repechage program is an emergency program the Ministry of Education came up with yesterday after four teams were disqualified. According to them, the cheating said teams did doesn’t reflect too well on the program’s goal,” An official says as he stuffs the tablet back into the briefcase, “which is, in case we need to remind you again, to inspire young people to become more active, and to teach them that cheating and shortcuts will get them nowhere.”

”But then the Board of Directors and us thought that before we let the team in third place qualify we looked at the scores, then we saw a huge gap between winning and losing teams. So, to make things more fair instead of giving them an automatic pass for the third places…” an official adds, "we decided to arrange the losing teams in groups of four…from the highest score to the lowest. As you can see, there’s enough teams to have groups of four. Then we discussed how the event should be because there are only three spots available.”

”We looked at the scores, and instead of forming said groups with the best scores and the worst scores we balanced things out," the official says as you notice the numbers next to the team names, your team has the highest score out of the eliminated teams.

The officials are right. If the groups were set like that there wouldn’t be any balance at all, besides…you’d have to face Croix Bleue again. Eugh…poor Pearly wouldn’t stand losing to your team once again.

”So, we arranged and balanced these groups according to their score…the team with the most points will take G2 spot, which belonged to St. Ursula High School.”

”Out of the cheaters, St. Ursula scored the most points, they landed in a privileged position…so, there will be a team that will take their spot, as well for the others.”

”Wait…there’s four groups, for three spots,” Superintendent Discord asks.

”Yes, there will be only one winner per group. The winning team with the most points will earn St. Ursula’s spot. The 2nd winning team will earn Sky Lagoon’s spot…the 3rd and 4th most winning teams will go to a sudden death for Ghastly Gorge’s spot,” an official replies.

”Oh man…so, if we are the winners of our group and get more points than the rest of the winners we’ll be in spot G2?” Rainbow Dash asks.

“That's correct! But if you end up in second place of Group 1’s your participation will be over.”

Superintendent Discord looks mad, regardless; he manages to calm down and regains his composure, the officials hand Principal Celestia a paper and tell her to sign it to confirm your team’s presence in the Repechage event, she gladly signs it, both her and Rainbow Dash looks so happy.

”Dude! W-we’re back in!” Rainbow Dash says, you don’t know what to say, the smile on your face is enough for Rainbow Dash to give you a big hug, ”and it's all thanks to you! Come ‘ere you!”

Zephyr lets out a defeated sigh before turning around and opening the door to leave.

”Mind explaining us why you wanted to sabotage Anon? He’s your teammate!” Vice Principal Luna asks.

”Well…I-I wanted revenge okay?! There I said it!” Zephyr Breeze blurts out.

”Yeah! Revenge! You humiliated me in front of everyone in the pool!” Zephyr points his index finger at you, the one that isn't covered by the cast of course.

”Ah yes,” Superintendent Discord says with a mocking chuckle, “you’re that kid who couldn’t jump…”

”Anon! You knew I was talented at high diving! But in order to attract all the attention you went in and asked to replace me! Even when I was having a panic attack!” He angrily blurts out.

”I’ve been after her since I met her, and you suddenly appear from goodness knows where and she’s done nothing but talk about you and hug you all day!” He points at you once again.

”Ahh…so this is the reason why he tried to sabotage Anonymous,” Vice Principal Luna says.

”I think you’d better off if you leave the office immediately…” she says with a big smile on her face, her eye is twitching though.

”B-but they will hurt me once again!” Zephyr says referring to your teammates.

”Not as much as I will…” she says with a sarcastic wink, “so you better run…NOW!”

”We need to talk about your punishment Zephyr Breeze…” Principal Celestia says.

”Can’t we leave that for another day?” He says before opening the door, then shutting it at the sight of your angered teammates, "woowhee! It’s a nice day today isn’t it?”

Zephyr Breeze jumps out the window and runs away from Canterlot High's premises, Rainbow Dash sighs. Looking quite disappointed in him. Well, more than usual.

You can only hope that this’ll be the last time you'll have to endure his antics.

"We look forward to see your team in the repechage round Principal Celestia. It’ll take place next Saturday, the Board of Directors will email you all the details within a few hours.”

As soon as the officials are gone Superintendent Discord turns around and places both his palms on Principal Celestia’s desk.

“I know you’re after the prize money Celestia…I assure you that it won’t land in your hands.” he says to her.

Principal Celestia says nothing to him, Superintendent Discord bursts out of the office.

”…WE DID IT! I’m sooo proud of you!” Principal Celestia stands up and gives you two a hug.

”You don’t know how much Superintendent Discord wants to see me fail…it’s too much pressure I have to deal with, having him on my back is even worse!”

Your face was against her chest…you can feel your face going all red, as well as a blood rush down there. This is totally not good.

”Go on! Tell your friends the good news!” Principal Celestia says, “forget about the rest of the classes, go train instead! It’s an order!”

”Uh…okay Principal Celestia,” Rainbow Dash says, “are you sure about that? We have exams coming up next week and-“

”Forget about those!” Principal Celestia says with the biggest smile she’s ever shown to anyone, “the repechage event will be your tests! Go on, shoo, don’t waste your time any longer!”

You only nod and open the door for Rainbow Dash. As soon as you open the door you’re greeted by an angry mob and a book flying right at your face.

“What’s the big idea Trixie?” You ask, rubbing your face with a hand to help alleviate the pain, Applejack helps you stand up.

“Do I look like him in some way?” You ask, also wondering why she's not referring to herself in third person.

”Well, you're both pretty tall and thin...and green; wait, we still have a score to settle with him! Is he still hiding in Celestia’s office?” Trixie asks.

Aria, Sonata, Bulk and pretty much everyone present but Rainbow and her friends crack their fists and prepare themselves to give Zephyr another well-deserved beating.

“Gone; he jumped out the Principal’s office window and made a run for it…” You say.

”Aww…” Cloudy Kicks says, “it doesn’t matter, that no-good slimeball is gonna get what’s comin’ to him!”

”…why? Fluttershy’s brother got us out of the competition!” Tennis Match says, Fluttershy looks hurt by Tennis Match’s statement. She didn’t even address him by his name, so that makes Fluttershy feel responsible for last Saturday’s outcome.

“Well…yeah, that’s true. But! He revealed why he did it, he did it because-“

”Leeet’s not get into that much detail okay Anon?” Rainbow Dash says as a cute blush starts to form on her face, Rainbow Dash takes her hand off your mouth and then lets out a sigh.

”Look, what Anon was trying to say was that Zephyr confessed to the Ministry of Education he didn’t mean to trip the blondie Anon here likes so much.”

Rarity gasps, and then squints at you. You can only whistle an innocent tune as you try to avoid Rarity's cold gaze.

”He just wanted to trip Anon because he wanted to humiliate him in front of everybody just like he did in the High Diving event," Rainbow Dash, leaving everyone quite baffled, ”the refs and the Ministry of Education knew there was something fishy and investigated the so called ‘sabotage’, if Anon had passed through the finish line without helping that blondie they were right in calling us cheaters.”

”Exactly! And they also knew that…remember that footage shown at the games? They caught Zephyr losing his mind after Anon helped Nelly,” Rainbow adds.

"Pardon me Rainbow Dash,” Big Macintosh calmly says, “so, you’re implying we-“

”Eeeyup!” Rainbow Dash says with a wink, “the Ministry of Education are willing to give us another chance in the tournament, by entering the ‘repechage’ phase!”

”A small contest for the teams that couldn’t qualify,” Celestia says as she steps out of her small office, “to take the spot of teams that have cheated…”

”No way! We’re going to face the other losing teams to get another chance to qualify?” Trixie asks in disbelief.

”Yes,” Vice Principal Luna says, “maybe we can take St. Ursula High’s spot, or perhaps Sky Lagoon’s or Ghastly Gorge’s!”

”So! What are you waiting for? Go out there and start training for the repechage event!”

”Yeah, forget about the classes, I want you all fully focused in this! You managed to be first place for a brief time last Saturday, AND you had to attend your classes…imagine what you can do if you do nothing but train!” Principal Celestia says.

Everyone barges out of Celestia’s office and head straight to their lockers to grab their uniforms, before you join your team, Principal Celestia stops you.

”You heard my sister young man, win!” Vice Principal Luna says, “come on…go out there and show everyone what you’re made of!”

”Are you actually gonna let them skip their classes?!” Vice Principal Luna says, “Are you out of your mind Tia?!”

”They’ll obviously fail their tests and then go in intensive courses for the sufficiency test…just as easy as that,” Celestia says to her sister.

”…you’re actually gonna make them go through that excruciating course to take that difficult test at the end of the term in case they lose?” Luna asks.

Minutes later, you join your teammates at the soccer pitch who look quite excited, Celestia and Luna observe from their office’s windows.

”Very well guys! We better get ready for the repechage event,” Rainbow Dash says.

”I still can’t believe it myself,” Sweetie Drops says, “like…they really wanted us to participate again!”

”I guess being nice to that blondie really paid off, isn’t that right Anon?” Brawly Beats mockingly says as he slaps your back quite hard.

“Oof!” You stumble from the hard blow Brawly Beats gave you, “huh? What are you talking about?”

”You know, I would’ve done the same if I was him,” Ringo adds, “hoo boy, that blondie sure is a piece of eye-candy.”

“What? Pfft, don’t be ridiculous,” you say, letting out a nervous chuckle, “it’s not like that, you got the wrong idea.”

In that moment, your smartphone rings, you take a quick look at your phone, only to see a text notification from Nelly on the lock screen that reads:

”Hah! I was right…” Brawly Beats teases you, “congratulations dude, you got great taste…although I preferred that Sandy girl myself, too bad she was already taken by that sleepy lookin’ guy. I mean; what’s he got that I don’t?”

How embarrassing, thank goodness Rarity returned to her class, otherwise you’d be in big trouble.

”Not funny guys…” Rainbow Dash says with a serious tone, “let’s not waste any more time, we better get serious if we want to snag the first place in our group.”

”Well duh!” Applejack says, “there’s no way we’ll qualify if we end up second…we are forced to win this time.”

”We’re up against those pesky Lion County high schools,” Trixie says as she crosses her arms, “always bragging they are the best…puh-lease.”

”Sounds like someone I know…” Sunset Shimmer says in a mocking tone, making Trixie blush from embarrassment.

”Well then, we better get started people…” Rainbow Dash says, “we’re not gonna let this second chance we were given go to waste isn’t that right?”

”We won’t let anyone get in our way!” she says in a reassuring way, ”not even Seacrest County High!”

”YEEEEEEAHHHH!” Bulk Biceps yells at the top of his lungs, you’ll never get used to his bellowing.

”Wait a second sugarcube…” Applejack says, “aren’t we missin’ something?”

”Oh. OOOOH…you’re right. Well, we should look for other possible candidates to replace you-know-who,” Rainbow Dash can't even bear to say Zephyr's name.

”New rule, none of you shall mention his name again…understood?” Rainbow Dash says while crossing her arms, everyone nods, "anyways, it’s better for us to train now. We’ll look for the 20th player when classes end for today okay?”

”Sounds fair to me. I sure hope we can find a replacement willing to participate…and that is a good athlete of course,” Applejack adds.

”As long as he doesn’t get us disqualified for helping the other team members then we should be fine,” Sandalwood mocks you.

”Another thing we should point out Rainbow Dash,” Sunset Shimmer adds, “that incident with Anon and Fluttershy’s brother…”

”The wire one? I got a great idea; we place blinders on Anon’s eyes so he can’t get distracted by any falling beauties,” Rainbow Dash mockingly says.

“-Seriously? What is this? Make fun of Anon day or something?” You arch an eyebrow.

”Relax dude, I’m just pulling your leg,” she mockingly says, “heh, you’re getting flustered now.”

”Not that one Rainbow Dash…” Sunset Shimmer says, “the one where Anon had to take his place because he had a panic attack. If he hadn’t climbed the ladder we would’ve been penalized.”

”Oh right…no one was prepared to take his place…Tennis Match said she had never dived once in her life, isn’t that right?”

”So! Why don’t we try to get better in every event? I mean, we shouldn’t expect Anon to save us anymore don’t you think?” she says with a chuckle.

”Huh, you’re right Sunset! We better have the basics covered…so! Let’s try doing laps again. All of you have to beat Anon’s time,” Rainbow Dash cracks her fingers and then arrogantly says, “then maybe, MAYBE…you can hope to beat mine.”

“Gee…Rainbow Dash sure is a humble one ain’t she?” You whisper to Sunset’s ear, making her giggle, everyone walks to the sidewalk surrounding the school. Once everyone is done with their warm up exercises, they get in line and prepare themselves to give all they got.

“Nice! This time you didn’t bump into each other!” Rainbow Dash yells, "so we're making progress!"

”You up for a rematch Anon? Or are you still tired from the morning exercise?”

“Yeah, why not? I'm guessing you want another pie?” You say with a smug grin.

"...maybe I do," she happily says, you shouldn’t try to pass her right now…you love the way those buns bounce.

“Oh uh…I’m trying to figure out the best way to pass you Sunset, you’re very fast!”

Holy smokes, you’re exhausted. However, you managed to keep up amongst the first three places, this time Sunset Shimmer beat your record, and that’s a good thing.

”Good job guys…” Rainbow Dash says as she finally stops the watch, “you could’ve done better, but at least you’ve improved a lot.”

Everyone falls on their back; including you, to rest on the nice soccer pitch’s grass, your teammates moan and caress their calves and thighs.

”Good! You don’t want fat to accumulate there of all places, you only want muscle,” Rainbow Dash adds.

”In your case…it’s probably a good thing,” Rainbow replies, looking disgusted by Bulk Biceps’ huge muscles.

”We sure were fast, but…I don’t know if that’s good enough to beat the other teams,” Cloudy Kicks adds.

"Probably not,” Rainbow replies, “I want you to run once again and beat your scores…come on, get up!”

”You can’t be serious!” Flash Sentry joins in as well, “we can barely feel our legs.”

”What? You guys are done for the day? This way we’ll surely lose against Seacrest County, and if this is your limit…don’t even dream of making it past the repechage event.”

”Eff that!” Brawly Beats says, “can’t we do something else today? Like go to the swimming pool? It’s almost noon so I doubt there will be too many people swimming.”

”That’s a great idea…” Tennis Match adds, “we can practice diving and swimming there.”

”Fine…we’ll do that right now, but after we’re done we’ll train for the cross country okay?” Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.

”Besides,” Rainbow Dash turns around to see if Celestia’s still checking up on you all, and yes...she still is, ”we should get going to the pool, it should be more ‘quiet’ over there, but now let's rest a little okay?”

“Ahhh…that’s the stuff,” you say, enjoying the delightful feel of the blades of grass on your back.

”You can say that again,” a sweating and panting Sunset barely manages to say, “heh…I finally beat you this time Anon.”

“Yeah…good job Sunset, I'll get you a pie from Sugarcube Corner when we're done for the day okay?”

It seems that you've formed a closer bond with Sunset Shimmer, she's starting to feel more comfortable around you.

Once you’re all done resting your team gathers their stuff and go on their way towards the public pool, one by one, leaving you alone with Rainbow Dash.

You stuff your belongings in your backpack, drink a little water and bend your knees a bit, as soon as you try to join your team you’re stopped by your captain.

“Uhh…sure Captain, if it’s about me remaining mysteriously behind Sunset Shimmer all these laps then-”

”Don’t let Zeph or anyone’s shenanigans get to you…” Rainbow Dash begs.

”Don’t you see? You showed everyone what you’re made of. And perhaps you did it too well to get our own teammate to hate you.”

”He really made a fool of himself by trying to sabotage you, but…in the end you were quite depressed to not answer our messages. You truly believed it was your fault we were disqualified.”

“Yeah…I felt awful; somehow I thought he was right when he said I didn’t care for your efforts by helping Nelly.”

”Nah, you did well that day. You helped out that girl and somehow that ended up being our ticket to the repechage event, heh. I guess I should be thankful.”

”But seriously dude, you gotta be stronger, not only body-wise, but your mind as well,” Rainbow Dash points at her head.

”By the time we go against Seacrest County, promise me you won’t be afraid of those jerks anymore.”

"It's a promise Pinkie Pie made for us, it's literally unbreakable," she warns, pointing her index finger at you.

”Good! We’ll help you out to get over your Jr. High days in exchange for showing the other teams what you’re made of!”

“A good start would be not reminding me I helped out Nelly,” you arch an eyebrow at her.

”A’ight, I’ll take care of that…second thing I wanted to say," She turns around to check if the coast is clear.

”This is gonna be very hard for me to say, so I’ll just say it once and I won’t repeat it okay?!”

”A-Anon, help me get Principal Celestia off my back! This stress is unbearable!” She says between sniffles.

Rainbow Dash explains the deal she made with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna.

“But you said earlier that it was okay we were disqualified, that we should try next year!” You recall her words, arching an eyebrow.

”Yeah…I was lying, I really felt hopeless back then. But I didn’t want anyone else to find out,”she lowers her head in shame.

”I do but…how can I explain to them that this deal is going to benefit me the most? They’re gonna feel like I’m using them!” She says using a slight tone of embarrassment, knowing she did wrong.

"You're probably right Captain..." you say after pondering how your team would react if they knew the truth, you're not upset at all however. Seeing her so stressed and vulnerable just breaks your heart.

She looks like she's in constant pain, and the bags under her eyes reveal how she probably can't sleep at nights, you sigh and hope that she won't hit you for what you're about to do. In that moment you give her a warm hug.

“D-dude?!” She says, shocked from your sudden action; not knowing what to say.

"Captain, I promise you that I won't be afraid of Seacrest County or anyone else...and I promise to help you out as well. So well that Celestia will stick to her word. Pinkie Promise."

Rainbow Dash closes her eyes and wipes away some tears with the back of her hand, then she hugs you back and rests her head on your shoulder.

”Thanks dude, I know we barely know each other but…I think you’re quite a reliable guy, am I glad you kicked that ball right into Fluttershy's face that day."

”Come on Captain, they are waiting for us,” you say, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a big sincere smile, she still wipes some tears away with the back of her hand.

"Thank you Anon...now! Come on! They're waiting for us!" Rainbow's mood just went 180°.

You are now Zephyr Breeze, and you’re hiding under the soccer pitch's bleachers.

You saw everything…he did it again! At this rate he'll steal Rainbow Dash from you! She’s never been that friendly to you! She even fixed her hair in front of him…you can’t bear to watch Rainbow getting along with the new kid so well.

You will not allow this, you decide to follow the love of your life and your nemesis from a safe distance and then, once you’re at the pool you’ll cause some mischief when everyone’s off to train. Delightfully devilish Zephyr…

“Prepare yourself Anon…because I’m willing to fight for Rainbow’s love!” You say.

Darn it! What does he have that you don’t?! You’re much better than him in everything…with some exceptions like sports, and grades. But you know Rainbow doesn’t care much about grades! Sports however…

The newbie comes from Seacrest County, so it’s no wonder he’s good at sports, then why does he claim to be bad still?

You picture Anon being overly dramatic in the future to receive Rainbow, Rarity, the team and your sister’s attention altogether.

“I’m sorry…I really tried so hard Rainbow! Won’t you please pity ol’ me?”

“It’s okay dude, you did your best. Unlike Zephyr…you are pretty reliable, and quite handsome too~”

“Rainbow…I wish I had said this sooner but, I love you! Forget about Zephyr!”

“But I can’t…okay!”

“Oh no you won’t!” You say as you use your good arm to wipe away those thoughts at the imaginary cloud on your head.

Whoops, you quickly hide behind a parked car by mere seconds before Rainbow turns around.

“Huh, must’ve been my imagination…I kinda thought Celestia was following us.”

“Wow, you really meant it when you said you wanted her off your back didn’t you? I didn’t know the problem was THIS bad.”

“Shut it newbie, come on…let’s hurry up, we don’t want the team to slack off when we aren’t present now do we?”

Canterlot High's Sports Challenge

by LiQuiD

14.- The Good News