//------------------------------//
// Wondercolt of Personality: Ch. 3 
// Story: The First Equestria Girl 
// by Mani-Roar 
//------------------------------//

Sunset struggled to pay attention at the next Spirit Club meeting. The music room became their base of operations and Fancy Pants took the opportunity to decorate it based on their club members' unique talents and personalities. 

Tempest addressed the group, talking about something to do with the Friendship Games logistics. Sunset could barely retain what was being said. She sat nervously thinking about the conversation she overheard between the Superintendent and Celestia. She replayed it in her mind over and over.

Secret, Sunset thought. 

Secret. Secret. Secret.

It rattled around incessantly in her mind. She didn't want to be the keeper of a secret anymore. Especially not one with such profound consequences for the school. Everyone went to class and walked these halls not realizing the danger that their Principal was in. From what Sunset had seen, the student body loved and respected Celestia. Similar to how the students at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns felt about Equestria's Celestia although perhaps not quite to the same extent. 

A new principal could be harsh and uncaring. Losing status as a magnet school would be humiliating for anyone who ever wore Canterlot school colors. They had no idea that their entire school culture and identity hung by a thread, and the Friendship Games were coming to cut out the last hanging remnant. 

Sunset fidgeted with her hands in her lap. Her anxiety grew louder and louder with the only coherent thought in her mind.

Secret.

Sweat gathered on her lower back. Her breath quickened as she desperately tried to appear like nothing was bothering her. Occasionally she would nod or mumble in agreement with whatever Tempest was saying. However, she wasn't certain how long she could keep up the facade. 

"Sunset, did you hear me?" Tempest asked.

"Mhmm." Sunset nodded at the sound of her name.

"So what's your answer?" Tempest asked, a bit confused.

"Yes." Sunset sounded robotic. Her eyes staring straight forward looking off into nothing.

"Uh… it's not exactly a yes or no question." Tempest’s face looked amused.

Sunset couldn’t hear Tempest anymore. She kept picturing Harshwhinny in her prissy pants suits pointing accusingly at Celestia saying, "You're fired!" Over and over again.

In this daydream turned nightmare, human Celestia turned into a pony. The very pony that was the oldest image Sunset could recall in her life. 

"No please. I'll do anything." The pony Celestia begged Harshwhinny to no avail. In her frantic imagination, Sunset saw Celestia looking right at her.

"Sunset, my daughter, help me." She held out her hoof, but couldn't reach Sunset.

"No, mom, I'm sorry!" Sunset shouted out loud. Her internal madness finally becoming external. The sound of her own shout, snapped her conscious self back into reality. 

Tempest took a step back and put up her hands in surrender. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open.

"Ok, we can table that question for now and come back to it later." Tempest said sheepishly. 

Everyone's eyes were locked on Sunset with similar expressions to Tempest.

"Dear, are you alright?" Fancy Pants asked. 

She could hear the genuine empathy and concern in his voice. If any other guy at the school called her dear it probably wouldn't sit with her too well. But Fancy's calm and mature nature made it more endearing than awkward. If Flash had called her "dear" her face would probably turn into a tomato on the spot. Which was basically what was happening then anyway. The humiliation sank in as she came to terms with the fact she had randomly called for her mother in front of her school friends. She decided to drop the act and fess up to what was bothering her.

"I can't do this. I can't keep it inside, it's driving me crazy." Sunset leaned over in her chair, grasping her hair on top of her head. She felt Tempest’s hand rest on her shoulder.

"What's bothering you, Sunset?" Tempest spoke softly. 

Sunset looked up to see everyone's concerned faces.

"I… I'm not sure I can say it." Sunset was torn. She had promised Celestia but the burden of the knowledge was tearing her apart inside. 

"Sunset, we’re your friends." Tempest kneeled down to be face to face with Sunset. "Whatever is bothering you, we want to help you."

Tempest massaged Sunset's shoulders with her palms. Her gentle touch calming to Sunset's tense muscles. 

"Really?" Sunset held her hands to her face and peeked at Tempest through her fingers.

"Duh, silly" Tempest stuck her tongue out slightly. 

"Of course, we're friends." Derpy smiled with her hands clasped in front of her skirt.

"You're one of us, my dear. And we look after our own." Fancy Pants said confidently. 

"Can't leave a club member hangin'." Minuette stated matter of factly, sitting in her backwards chair. 

"We all need help sometimes. Nothing to be embarrassed about." Flash gave her a thumbs up.

Sunset felt safe and comforted with her new friends. They barely knew her, yet they accepted her whole heartedly. Was this the magic of friendship that Celestia spoke of all throughout her childhood? They made her feel like she could take on the world with them by her side.

"I overheard the Superintendent talking to Principal Celestia. If we lose the Friendship Games, she loses her job." Sunset buried her face in her hands. She could hear a collective gasp in the room.

"What the f-"

"That is absolutely unfair!" Fancy Pants interrupted Minuette. Sunset peeked up through her hands to see Tempest stunned in bewilderment. 

"P-principal Celestia…" Tempest whispered. Her shoulders slumped.

"This is ridiculous. They would dismiss her over a silly competition. I mean, sure the Friendship Games are a big event every year, but isn't school about education and not competitive results? It seems like such an arbitrary standard to uphold." Fancy Pants said. He stood defiantly with his hand on his hip. 

"That's just it. Superintendent Harshwhinny said Canterlot was performing poorly across the board. Academics, tests, and everything. She blames it all on Celestia." Sunset looked down as she spoke. 

The seniors in the room shared an uncomfortable look with each other. They wanted to object to Harshwhinny’s allegations, but they all knew the truth.

"We do suck." Minuette sneered. 

"Poor performance across the board is a fair analysis of our school as a whole, lately." Fancy Pants admitted. His righteous indignation was completely extinguished. 

Sunset glanced at Flash and Derpy. None of the freshmen were sure what to say.

“It’s our fault.” Minuette said suddenly. “Our school has been slacking off ever since the end of Freshman year and now Celestia’s gonna get punished for it.”

“Performance reflects leadership.” Sunset said blankly. Her words sounded like Harshwhinny which gave her a knot in her gut. 

“No, that’s not true!” Minuette argued. 

“Yes it is.” Sunset looked confused.

Ok, yeah… the saying is true, sure. But not in this case. Celestia is a great principal. The students have just… I don’t know, there’s like a low energy vibe, you know?” Minuette threw up her hand in frustration. 

“When did it first start, exactly?” Sunset asked.

“I mean,” Minuette searched for the words. “It didn't happen all at once. We just slowly got more complacent as time went on. Losing to Crystal Prep didn’t help either. Insert ‘frog in a boiling pot analogy’, I suppose.” She put up air quotes with her fingers. A speech habit Sunset had witnessed by humans before. 

“Imagine what we could all do together if we just tried.” Fancy gazed directly at Sunset. “Those were your words, Sunset. We have plenty of talent here at Canterlot, we just chose not to use it.”

“But, you guys aren’t lazy.” Sunset defended them. “I’ve seen us all work so hard together.”

“Yeah, we for sure put in a lot of work this last week or so but…” Minuette shook her head. “I have to admit, I’ve been phoning it in myself. It’s just hard to get motivated sometimes, you know?” She shrugged her shoulders. 

“That’s why we can’t bring ourselves to accept Celestia’s dismissal.” Fancy contemplated. “We are all to blame. As a collective student body.” 

“So, what, we just gotta win right?” Flash blurted out. All eyes shifted to him.

“What’s done is done. No need to beat ourselves up about what happened in the past. We’re gonna pull it together to win the Friendship Games and save our Principal. Simple, easy. Right Sunset?” Flash pointed a double finger gun right at Sunset, making her feel at least a little more at ease. 

“Brilliant Flash, I wholeheartedly agree.” Fancy Pants snapped out of his daze. “Celestia has nothing to fear as we are absolutely destined to win the Friendship Games this year.”

“Yeah, so no more moping about. Let’s just go out there and get it done.” Flash darted to the center of the group and held his hand out.

“Ah yeah that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Minuette leaped out of her seat over the back rest. She smacked her hand right on top of Flash’s, ready for the group cheer. 

“This year’s games will be an unforgettable landmark in Canterlot’s history.” Fancy Pants proudly placed his hand on top of Minuette’s

“I suppose we have nothing more to lose.” Derpy shrugged as she joined her hand in the middle.

Sunset quietly stepped forward and placed her hand with the rest of the group. Only Tempest remained outside the circle, staring aimlessly away.

“Tempest?” Sunset asked curiously. “You’re our leader.” She was worried. Normally Tempest would be the one comforting Sunset. Tempest gracefully spun around. Her skirt twirled as her dance prowess showed. She calmly walked next to Sunset, placing her hand on top of hers and speaking directly to her.

“For Celestia.” Tempest’s voice was unusually calm and muted for such an occasion. 

“On three.” Tempest commanded. 

“One, two, three…”

“For Celestia!” The group raised their hands together. The pact had been made.

They would win the games this year and save Principal Celestia. They would save their school, if not themselves as well. 




****



Sunset opened her locker to set her unneeded materials inside. She kept only what she required for homework purposes, not wanting to weigh her backpack down with any unnecessary bulk. She paused for a minute as a particular book caught her eye. It was sitting gently at the bottom of her locker, unmoved since the moment the locker was assigned to her. 

She pulled it out and stared at it. It was a plain brown hardback book that bore her sunny cutie mark on the front cover. It was one of the few possessions that she brought with her from Equestria. This book was a magical communication device. With it, anything she wrote down would be sent to Celestia’s copy of the book for her to read. 

She had planned to communicate what she discovered back to Princess Celestia from the other side of the portal. She knew her fake trip to Fillydelphia would eventually have been discovered, and she had wanted to carefully take her time apologizing for her disobedience. She wanted to meticulously explain why she did what she did and hope that the untold wonders she encountered would be worth the effort. Ultimately leading her adoptive mother to forgive her. The plan seemed naive to her now. Even if she had slipped through the portal unnoticed, would Celestia’s rage really have been any more satiated? She would have simply received her dismissal via letter instead of in person. 

She opened the book and stared at the blank pages. With no magic in this world, would the book even still work? Even if it did, what on earth could she say to Celestia now? She pulled a pen from her pocket and held it to the top of the page. Anything at all would be better than nothing, but nothing would certainly be easier. She swallowed nervously, trying to think of what she would say.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m sorry

Were the only words she could muster to write. She gazed blankly trying to gather another thought, another sentence. After many long seconds the words on the page disappeared.

“No!” Sunset panicked. She wasn’t done yet, but she had hesitated so long the book assumed she was finished. Princess Celestia would now receive a woefully short and insufficient apology.

However, she knew this meant that the magical connection between the two books was still working. It could reach across dimensions and still deliver the message. Even in an inert world void of its own magic, this place wouldn’t stifle existing magic either. Perhaps inert was the wrong choice of words. This world was magic neutral. 

She sighed as she closed the book.

Even if she spent the rest of the afternoon thinking, she was pretty sure she couldn’t come up with anything else. 

She closed her locker door only to see Flash Sentry’s face looking at her. 

“Hey,” He said in a friendly tone. Sunset jumped a little at his unexpected arrival. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you.” He said a little embarrassed. 

“It’s fine.” Sunset answered. He had no way of knowing what she was doing just now but she still felt as if she had been caught. 

“What brings you by?” She was more than happy to speak to a friendly face. Anything to take her mind off of Equestria. 

“Well, I was wondering if you would want to go get some food sometime.” He hugged the back of his neck with his palm. 

“Like grocery shopping?” Sunset was confused. “Tempest keeps our fridge pretty well stocked, but I appreciate it.” She naively said. 

“No I mean…” Flash started hesitating. “Like, you and me… eating food in the same place… together.” He said feeling foolish.

“You mean like…” Sunset blushed as she finally caught on to what was happening. 

“A date.” He said definitively. No more beating around the bush. 

Sunset’s heart beat soared along with her body temperature. The thought of spending intimate time with Flash Sentry was appealing to her. Immensely appealing, in fact. 

“Flash, that sounds… I would…” Sunset was a second away from accepting but the memory of Harshwhinny and Celestia came crashing back to her mind.

“I would love to, but I don’t think I can.” She said disappointed. Flash smiled sadly, just barely holding himself together.

“Oh. Ok. I get it.” He sheepishly looked at the floor. 

“Flash you don’t understand.” She grabbed his hand with both of hers and held it at her chest height. His cheeks reddened as he stared hopefully at her.

“I would love to go on a date with you, but…” She looked away.

“But what?” Flash asked. 

“I want to focus all my attention on the Friendship Games. I can’t have anything else distracting me.” She confessed. 

Flash moved away slightly but still held his hand in her grip.

“So I’m a distraction?” He looked hurt.

“Flash, don’t say it like that.” Sunset shook her head quickly. 

“Hey, you said it first.” He smirked back. 

“Look I just… what I mean is…” She was stumbling over her words now. 

“We’ll go on a date, I promise.” She finally said. 

“We will?” Flash’s eyes lit up with hope and excitement. 

“Just as soon as we win the Friendship Games.” Sunset declared. 

“We have to win?” Flash looked deflated. 

“We have to win.” Sunset confirmed. “I just won’t feel right otherwise. It’d be like celebrating failure.” She glanced at him apologetically. 

“Alright.” He said plainly, shaking his head. “We have to win.” He grabbed Sunset’s grip with his free hand. Now both of their hands embraced each other. She smiled warmly back at him.

“You know you drive a hard bargain, Sunset.” Flash boldly caressed Sunset’s cheek with the back of his hand. She leaned into his touch as a tingling warmth traveled through her body. 

“I know what I’ve got to offer.” She said with a knowing smirk. She held onto his hand by her cheek for a moment. 

“See you at tryouts?” Flash asked. Sunset almost forgot that the preliminary tryouts for the Friendship Games team was this afternoon. It was of the many things Sunset’s imagination had glossed over while Tempest was speaking at the meeting. 

“I’ll see you there.”




****



Sunset squinted her eyes as she stepped out of the air conditioned school and into the direct sunlight. Spending all day indoors always made her eyes sensitive to the natural light. She made her way towards the bleachers by the track and practice field of Canterlot High. Most of the school had gathered to at least watch the first round of the tryouts if not participate themselves. 

Sunset apprehensively sat her backpack down and took a deep breath. The first tryouts were all physical activities. Not exactly Sunset's area of expertise. She wanted to make the starting 12 of the Friendship Games, but for now her biggest goal was just to not embarrass herself.  She calmly walked over to where Tempest and the other Spirit Club members were standing. They had a table set up in the grass and were signing up competitors to try out. 

"Hi Sunset." Tempest vigorously waved at her. Sunset tucked her hand near her shoulder and calmly waved back.

"Here's your number." Tempest handed her a paper with the number "1" on it and four safety pins.

"I'm number 1?" Sunset asked, a little shy. 

"Of course you're number 1." Tempest winked. "Also you happened to be the first name I wrote down when I was making a list. I only wrote down like fifteen names, but way more have signed up on the spot." Tempest clapped her hands together a few times.

"How many people normally try out?" Sunset asked.

"Not this many." Tempest shook her head. "I think last year we were lucky to fill the twelve man roster." She shrugged with a laugh. 

"Good to know the excitement didn't die down after the rally." Sunset said. 

"You're telling me." A strangely familiar voice said behind Sunset. She turned around to see the red haired track student from the pep rally.

"Hello Sunset." He said with a familiar nod.

"Oh, hello uh…" Sunset was instantly embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I don’t think we've actually been introduced." She tilted her head away a little. 

"I'm Saturn Drive." He held out his arm and Sunset accepted the hand shake. "But friends call me Rocket." He finished as their hands let go.

"Oh ok, so Rocket." Sunset shot him a finger gun just like Flash. Rocket smiled when she called him his nickname. She decided to make friends first and ask questions later. A habit she picked up from Tempest.

"I never got a chance to thank you at the pep rally." Rocket said. Sunset rubbed the back of her head.

"Oh yeah, that." She looked bashful. "Thanks for what?" 

"For the kick in the butt! I for sure needed it." He crossed his arms and laughed. Sunset grew more embarrassed with each chuckle. 

"So you're the track captain?" Sunset changed the subject. "I guess you must run pretty fast."

"That's the idea." His confident grimace glowed with pride. 

"Did you compete last year?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah I did. There was some track racing last year too. There's usually some most years." He nodded.

"How did that go?" Sunset tugged on her quick dry gym shirt. She began applying the safety pins to her number. 

"I got 2nd place in the 1500 meter." He said casually.

"Oh that's pretty good." Sunset remarked, still messing with her safety pins.

"Sure but Crystal Prep took 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th place." He frowned.

"Ouch." Sunset's tone dropped. 

"Yeah I was pretty annoyed. No one wanted to work on their cardio conditioning leading up to the games and they wondered why we lost." He threw his hands up.

"And that soured you on competing at all?" Sunset looked up at him. Her number hung loose by her safety pins.

"Pretty much. But hey, if everyone is willing to work a little harder we might have something here, you know?" He stretched his hands out together, cracking his knuckles. 

"Attention students." Celestia's voice rang out over the outdoor PA system. "If everyone is finished signing up, we will begin the conditioning test of the first day of tryouts with a 5,000 meter run." Many of the students groaned as soon as she said it.

Rocket cackled out loud.

"Celestia’s not pulling any punches this year. A 5k right at the get go. I like it." He rubbed his palms together. Sunset knew Celestia couldn't afford to go light this year. It looked like she wanted to weed out the unfit as fast as possible.

"Yeah, it sounds like a real blast." Sunset nervously glanced at her legs. Despite her human legs, she could run, but how fast and how long? 

She filed onto the 400 meter track with the rest of the contestants. There had to be at least 50 students crowding the lanes. 

Everyone was doing various stretches and warm ups. Bending over to touch their toes, or extending their legs out in a lunge. Albeit, some weren’t doing as well as others. But the effort was there. Sunset cast a glance at Rocket, who was doing similar stretches effortlessly. She mirrored him to the best of her ability.

A whistle blew across the field. "We'll begin on my signal." Celestia paused and the students got up and readied themselves to run. 

"Go!" Celestia shouted. All students broke out into a collective jog. Everyone looked to be going at a similar speed, but it wouldn't last. Sunset ran next to Saturn Drive. Only a few strides in, she already felt the burning in her legs and sides. Her breathing a bit labored. 

"Oh my… God you run so fast." Sunset complained. 

"This is my aerobic pace. Gotta save plenty of juice in the tank for later." He casually mentioned, tapping on his upper thighs. Sunset's breath was already short as she over strode to keep up with him.

“This is a marathon, not a dead sprint.” He told her. But Sunset still felt like she had to keep up with him. Otherwise, she’d never earn her place in the Games.

She didn’t talk, just focused on running and the human easily keeping pace beside her.

"Word of advice? Don’t wear yourself out at the start trying to keep up with me." He turned to look at her. His face was dead serious and he spoke like a coach. "Run at a comfortable pace for you or you'll end up walking that last four kilometers."

Sunset nodded and slowed her pace down. She watched as he jogged past her  effortlessly. Her "comfortable" was barely faster than walking but she knew she could keep it up for a while. He did spin around and give her a quick salute before disappearing among the other students, weaving his way through as they slowed.

The first 1,000 meters was tough, but after a few minutes of jogging she had become accustomed to it. Rocket's advice was paying off. All the athletic students from various sports clubs had lapped her, but she stayed ahead of the less trained competitors. Many had tried to run fast like Rocket and were already walking at the edge of the track, barely able to catch their breath.

If Sunset hadn't heeded his word, she would have been one of them. She decided to not think about what position she would finish compared to anyone else, but only focus on finishing the 5,000 meters without stopping to walk.

Running five kilometers as a pony would have been nothing to her. Most races in Equestria were more like fifty to hundreds of kilometers. Pony anatomy would certainly provide an advantage in this case. Maybe it was the extra legs? Sunset was downright inhibited In this form. However, her pace and rhythm were good. She managed to keep her breath as she watched more and more of her peers drop out and walk. 

Rocket looked absolutely unstoppable as he effortlessly glided around the track repeatedly. There wasn't a single runner on the track he didn’t lap by the end of it. Including the other track team members. He finished his laps, and students watching from the bleachers cheered as he pumped his fist over the finish line. Meanwhile Sunset was only about halfway through hers. 

By the time she crossed the finish line, Sunset was bent over huffing and puffing just like many of her peers who ran the whole way. She was proud that she managed to run the whole distance, yet felt maybe slightly resentful as Rocket waltzed over to her as if he hadn’t done anything strenuous at all. To be fair, he did have at least twenty minutes to rest before she finished.

“How’d you do?” Sunset asked, still winded. Her breaths were short and audible. As if the air around her were too thin.

“First of all, if you stay keeled over like that, with your hands on your knees, you’re gonna risk passing out.” He said concerned. 

“What should I do?” Sunset asked both tired and a little annoyed. Even though she could use the advice, she didn’t like it when someone else was the expert. 

“Stand up straight. Put your hands behind your head. Let your lungs expand better. Take big deep breaths and keep walking. You don’t wanna just stop moving.” He said as he started walking. He put his hands behind his own head to demonstrate. Sunset followed suit and walked with him. 

“Why do I feel dizzy?” Sunset asked as she took deep long breaths, filling up her lungs as instructed. 

“You surpassed your VO2 max. Your blood can’t get oxygen fast enough.” He said simply. Sunset felt dumb. It was simple biological science. If her head had been more clear she probably could have figured it out herself. Fortunately, she was starting to feel better already.

“I assume that was your first 5k?” They continued walking their cooldown lap around the track. Some of the slower students were still finishing up their runs. 

“Yeah.” Sunset admitted, resenting her inexperience. 

“What was your time?” 

“Uh, 36:40 if I recall.” 

“That’s really good!” Rocket said excitedly. 

“Don’t patronize me.” Sunset rolled her eyes. 

“I’m not, I swear.” He crossed his hand over his heart. “That’s a great time for your first 5k ever. Especially if you don’t run very much. You should be proud of that time.” 

Sunset smiled seeing how earnest his praise was. It was almost teacher-like of him to be so cognisant of a beginner’s skill level and not let his own skill go to his head. 

“Thanks.” Sunset accepted the compliment. “I hope I'm good enough to make it to the next round.”

“You’ll be fine. Anyone with a time under 40 always gets considered. After all, the games aren’t just running. We need skills and smarts across the board. I may carry us on the track, but if I don’t keep up with math and science and stuff, I’ll drag us down in those competitions.” Rocket looked determined. Sunset simply nodded.

“So what was your time?” Sunset asked.

“17:57.” He stated triumphantly. “That’s a personal best for me. I’ve never sub eighteen-ed before.”

“Congratulations.” Sunset couldn’t think of anything else to say. She couldn’t even fathom running that fast for that long as a human. 

“Well at least we know Canterlot will get first in any running event.” Sunset said confidently.

“I hope so.” Rocket went quiet.

“Hope so?” Sunset looked perplexed. 

“Yeah I still have to run faster than Shining Armor. He’s the guy who got first place last year.” Rocket sighed.

“I think you’ll get him.” Sunset put her hands back down to her sides. Her breathing was fine now and she felt a little ridiculous with her hands in the air. 

“If I run like today, you may be right.” He nodded.

“Well I’m glad I was able to inspire you even a little the other day at the rally. We’re lucky to have you on the team.” 

Rocket stopped walking. And Sunset walked a few paces ahead before she realized he had stopped.

"Sunset, I'm gonna be real with you."

Okay, now she was worried. Was he not being honest with her before?

"CHS wasn't my first choice High School." He said with a tinge of guilt in his expression. 

"Oh?" Sunset could hardly judge him. CHS wasn't exactly her first choice of, well, anything at all. Still, it was her whole life at the moment.

"I applied to go to Crystal Prep. Since they were the best school around, I wanted to go where I had the best chance of getting a track scholarship to college." He shifted his feet with his hands in his pockets. 

"Why didn't you go to Crystal Prep then?" Sunset wondered. Rocket looked relieved that Sunset didn’t view him as a traitor for admitting it. 

"I didn't get accepted." He laughed.

"Really?" Sunset was surprised. 

"Yeah. My track tryout was good, but not good enough. I came in 5th place in their 3k exhibition race for incoming freshmen. All five of us were neck and neck the whole last stretch. It was a super close race. I was slower than 4th place by a tenth of a second." He sighed as he recalled his 8th grade summer. 

"That was it? They rejected you by only a tenth of a second?" Sunset was surprised, but then she remembered that unicorns would fail their entrance and final exams at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns by similarly narrow margins. 

"Yep. They took the four kids who placed in front of me, but decided they didn't want me." He shook his head slowly, trying not to let his recollection bother him too much. 

"I'm so sorry, Rocket." Sunset was at a loss for words. Comforting other people's egos wasn't her strong suit. Tempest or Flash would have been much better suited for the job.

"Don’t be." He smiled finally. 

"No?"

"I'm gonna show them they made a mistake this year. When we win the games, they'll be knocking on my door to get me back." He smacked his chest with his palm twice.

“You’d really leave? Just like that, if they accepted you back at Crystal Prep?” Sunset was genuinely curious.

Rocket shrugged. “Probably. Canterlot isn’t exactly known for being the best. If I want a chance at the best colleges, I got to go where I’ll be noticed.”

That comment made Sunset’s heart pound in gathering irritation. Not at Rocket specifically, but at the lack of enthusiasm surrounding seemingly every aspect of this school’s ambition. She could not accept such failure. And the students shouldn’t either. They needed to retain talent such as Rocket if they stood a chance at winning next year, or even the year after that. 

"Attention athletes. The next round of today's tryouts will begin shortly. Please make your way to the center of the field for a bodyweight arms test." Celestia's voice pierced through the loud speaker, pulling Sunset’s focus back to the games. 

"You ready for some push ups?" Rocket politely gestured to the middle of the field inside of the track. The other contestants were beginning to congregate in that direction. Sunset wasn’t exactly sure what a push-up was, but she’d do it. She’d do a hundred if that would kick this school into better spirits.

"Heh, as ready as I'll ever be, I suppose." Sunset did a quick arm stretch across her chest before following Rocket to the center.

Turns out, Sunset hated push-ups. Absolutely hated them. But she shouted words of encouragement to the group as they groaned through them. Tempest had apparently turned Sunset into a permanent cheerleader. By the time Day 1 tryouts were over, she was limping back to her dorm. Every muscle in her human body hurt. 




****