//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Rainbow Dash and the Strom Riders // Story: The Wonderbolts Cup // by Albi //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Rainbow Dash and the Storm Riders As the week continued to wear on, Fluttershy continued to improve her skills with each passing day. She mastered catching, blocking, and returning passes and gained a great deal of confidence along the way. Rainbow Dash continued to swell with pride, both at her friend’s progress and her awesome coaching skills. She now had another item to add to her list of ‘Things Rainbow Dash is Totally Awesome At!’ The duo walked back to Fluttershy’s cottage after their last day of training. Tryouts were tomorrow so Rainbow Dash had let them end early so Fluttershy could get her rest. They stood on the bridge over the babbling stream facing one another as they prepared to part ways for the day. “You did a great job today ‘Shy. You’ve seriously improved a whole lot since we started,” Dash complimented. Fluttershy beamed. “Thanks Rainbow, but I couldn’t have done it without you, you’re a really good coach… most of the time,” she finished, absentmindedly rubbing her forehead. Not hearing the last part of her sentence, Rainbow puffed her chest out and gloated, “Yeah, you’re right, I amaze even myself sometimes. But really ‘Shy, you’ve gotten a lot better. If you play at tryouts like you did today, I’ll have no choice but to put you on my team!” “You really think I can do it?” “Pshh, think so? I know so!” Fluttershy smiled then frowned and said in a quivering voice, “B-but what if I mess up?” “You won’t. Just stay calm and you’ll do fine.” Fluttershy nodded. “You’re right… but what if I drop the ball?” “Fluttershy, you’re going to be fine.” But the yellow pegasus couldn’t help it. Panic and nervousness were starting to build in her stomach. She stammered, “B-but, wh-what if I- hmph.” Rainbow jabbed a hoof into Fluttershy’s mouth and made eye contact with her. “Listen to me ‘Shy,” she said in a calm and supportive voice, “you’re. Going. To be. Fine. Ok?” Fluttershy nodded and the hoof was removed from her mouth. “Thanks Dashie, that means a lot.” Rainbow flexed her wings preparing to take off. “No problem. Now, you get some rest and stay positive. Everything’s going to be fine, trust me.” She took off into the air, waving goodbye to her friend. Fluttershy returned the wave before turning and heading up her walkway and into her home. The pegasus was met with a quiet symphony of various animals chattering and squeaking amongst themselves. The volume increased as they all turned towards Fluttershy and gave her a warm hello in their various animal tongues. Fluttershy made her rounds, greeting all of them and tending to any of their needs before coming to Angel who was lying curled up on the sofa. Sensing her presence, he looked up and twitched his nose a few times in question. “Rainbow Dash ended practice early so I could rest up for tomorrow,” she answered. Angel gave a nonchalant shrug as his stomach began to growl. He looked up expectantly at Fluttershy who cooed, “Oooh, sounds like somebunny is hungry.” Angel gave her a half-lidded stare, but she took no notice of it. “How about I make us some dinner,” she said as she made her way to the kitchen. A short time later, she and Angel sat down at the small table in the living room. Dinner was a rich tomato soup and a nice fruit salad. The white rabbit happily munched on his piece of lettuce while his owner told him about some of the events from earlier in the day. “… And then, Dashie was flying at me in a corkscrew trying to confuse me, but it didn’t work! I still smacked the ball away, I was so happy! I can’t believe how much I’ve gotten better this week. Just think Angel, if I get on the team, I’ll be one step closer to helping mom and dad,” Fluttershy gushed. Angel picked up a cucumber and nodded happily in agreement. Fluttershy continued to smile until more dark thoughts began to rear their ugly heads. A look of panic drew itself across her face. “But what if I don’t make the team? Or, what if I do but we lose anyway? Oh no, then mom and dad will never get their house rebuilt! What if they end up on the street or-” Her rant was cut short by a cucumber hitting her in the face. She looked down to see Angel giving her an exasperated look. “You’re right, I’m thinking too much again. Besides, if that happens, mom and dad can just stay here longer. We can make room right?” Angel was about to nod his head before he stopped to think about it. More ponies meant more mouths to feed, which meant less salad for him. He eyed his delicious bowl of leafy greens and made a face. Fluttershy had to win this tournament. ****** Pegasi crowded the south field where the makeshift Skyball field stood. The milled about, stretching, boasting, and preparing to prove their worth to a judging Rainbow Dash. The pegasus in question stood underneath the western goal hoops with her coaching hat, a whistle, and a clipboard with every contestants name on it. Checking her watch, she noted that it was time to get started if they wanted to finish before dark. She blew her whistle and shouted, “Alright everypony, line up!” In a flurry of movement, everypony fell into single file as Dash marched up in front of them. She counted up over fifty pegasi in total had shown up for tryouts; an impressive number. “Alright gang, all of you are here because you want three things: fame, glory, and riches. Unfortunately, only eight of you can come with me to get it.” She paused and looked up and down the line. Expressions varied from cool and confident, to downright nervous. And of course one of the nervous ones was Fluttershy. No playing favorites, Dash. If ‘Shy wants it, she’s going to have to fight for it. She cleared her throat and continued, “Now, it’s time to put you through your paces! Let’s go, fifty laps around the field!” She blew her whistle and the pegasi took off, eager to prove themselves. Rainbow kept a sharp eye on all of them, silently judging their performance; noting who was keeping a good pace, who was looking tired and so on. She saw Thunderlane effortlessly leading the group and smirked. Huh, and here I thought he was a slacker. He looks like he’s barely breaking a sweat. Not too far back from him was, to Dash’s surprise, Derpy Hooves with her carefree smile. She was making it look like flying fifty laps was the easiest thing in the world. Rainbow took down some notes while thinking, Wow, ten seconds in and they’re already surprising me. This might be tougher than I thought. Looking up again she saw Fluttershy tucked into the middle of the flock. She wasn’t doing badly, but she wasn’t doing great either. Rainbow marked them off as they touched down one-by-one after finishing their last lap. The ones in the back were already looking winded. Rainbow shook her head; if they didn’t have the stamina to keep flying for long periods of time, there was no way they would make the team. Only giving them a minute to rest, she blew her whistle and lined them up for the next drill. After what had happened with Fluttershy, Dash had learned that it was probably a bad idea to try and tell groups of pegasi to play follow the leader through the Everfree. So instead she took some clouds from the sky and lined them up across the field leaving some space in between them. The objective was to get from one end to the other as fast as possible without touching the clouds and without dropping the ball. It was a good way to test maneuverability. Rainbow Dash explained this before lining them up and prepping her watch. Thunderlane had volunteered to go first. Dash tossed him the ball and with a blow from her whistle he took off, weaving in and out of the clouds with relative ease. He reached the other side and Dash stopped her watch at 34:13, pretty impressive. One after another, the pegasi made their way down the field trying to maneuver through the cloud course as fast as possible. Some clipped their wings on the edge of the clouds while others accidently dropped the ball. Once again to Rainbow’s surprise, Derpy managed to make it through the entire course with a notable time of 37:56. How she did it Rainbow would never know. Fluttershy went up a little after Flitter who flew a 38:12. Rainbow tossed her the ball and gave her the most subtle of nods before blowing her whistle. Fluttershy leaped into the air and took off down the field at impressive speeds and swiftly darting through between the thick clouds. Her training was clearly paying off. She reached the end and Rainbow clocked her time in at 38:10, just a hare faster than Flitter, but very impressive for Fluttershy. By the time they had finished with that exercise, Rainbow Dash had been able to mentally weed out some of the weaker contestants, but there were still many pegasi who looked promising. Next, Dash had them work on hoof-eye coordination by dividing them up into pairs of two and having them pass the ball to each other. They were lined up going down the length of the field. One pegasus stayed in place and tossed the ball to their partner. Each time the ball was caught, the pegasus would fly back five yards. If they dropped the ball or missed the pass they would have to start all over again. The goal was to be the first pair to be able to pass the ball from opposite ends of the field. Here Fluttershy was exceling greatly thanks to her training. She easily caught every ball her partner, a blue pegasus named Cerulean, threw at her. They could have gone the distance if Fluttershy’s throwing leg had been just a little bit stronger. Cerulean had almost made it to the other side of the field when Fluttershy threw the ball a little too softly. Cerulean made a dive for the ball but couldn’t reach it before it touched the ground and forced them to start over with Fluttershy apologizing profusely for the rest of the time. Cloudchaser and Flitter had been the first team to make it all the way to the end of the field and they had managed to not drop the ball once. Thunderlane and Raindrops had finished next followed by Snowflake and Cloud Kicker. Dash waited for a few more groups to finish before moving on to the last activity of the tryouts; scrimmage matches. Dash split them up into five different teams, completely at random. Every team would get to play one another in short games of ten minutes each. The first two teams took to the field to start their scrimmage match. They picked their preferred positions and readied themselves for the match. Rainbow flew to the center of the field where a mid-flier from each team met her for the tossup. Rainbow threw the ball straight up into the air and both players made a move for it. The ball was caught by Blossomforth who took off down the field with Airheart close behind her. Sensing her opponent’s presence, Blossomforth tossed the ball up to Cloud Kicker who received it and continued the drive. An opposing high-flier, Bluebell, came up behind her and with a powerful jab knocked the ball that had been tucked under her leg. Airheart caught it and quickly looped around back towards the other goal with two pegasi on her tail. She tossed the ball to Blueberry Cloud who took it down about seventy yards before making a downward pass to Bon Voyage who was waiting with outstretched hooves. The ball was about to reach its intended target when Drizzle swooped in and snatched it away. She then tossed it up to Thunderlane who began to make his way back down the field. He gracefully dove under an oncoming Airheart and easily outmaneuvered the two waiting defenders before juking out the goalie and throwing the ball in for a two point goal. Dash was writing down some of her observations when she heard a voice call out from behind her, “Whoowhee that sure is some fancy flyin’.” She spun around and saw four other mares walking towards her. “Uhh hey girls, what are you doing here?” Dash asked surprised to all of her friends. “We came to watch of course!” Pinkie smiled. Rarity nodded. That’s right. Pinkie Pie told us you were having tryouts for your little aerial sports team and that Fluttershy was participating so we came to cheer her on.” Rainbow smile and nodded. That was just like her friends, always there to support each other; she couldn’t ask for better ones. “That’s cool of you guys.” Twilight walked around to try and get a look at Rainbow’s clipboard, but the blue pegasus pulled it close to her chest and gave Twilight a look. She frowned and asked, “Well… how’s Fluttershy doing so far?” “Not bad. She’s definitely better than a lot of other guys who tried out thanks to my awesome training,” she boasted. Twilight rolled her eyes while Dash continued, “But it’s gonna come down to how well she plays in the scrimmage match. All she has to do is prove she’s better than the other four goalies.” She glanced at her watch and blew her whistle signaling the end of the first match. Next up was Fluttershy and her team. She flew up to her position in front of the goalposts and drew her goggles over face while taking a slow, shuddering breath to try and calm the butterflies in her stomach. “You can do it Fluttershy, we believe in you!” She looked down and saw four colorful ponies waving up at her excitedly. She smiled and could feel her heart soar at the sight of them. Her friends had come to cheer for her! Taking another deep breath, Fluttershy put on her best game face, ready to play. Looking out across the field, she saw Rainbow toss the ball up and two pegasi she didn’t quite recognize leap for it. The pegasus for her team grabbed the ball first, but it was quickly knocked out of his hooves and given to the opposing team. The lime green pegasus took the ball down the middle of the field while both of Fluttershy’s mid-fliers closed in on him from the side. Seeing that he was getting boxed in, the pegasus dropped the ball down to who he thought was one of his teammates but instead gave it to Cloudchaser who was a low-flier with Fluttershy’s team. She gave him a quick mock salute and began to drive the ball back the other way passing it between her fellow low-flier, Flitter and herself. The duo took the ball down the field, using their teamwork to evade the defenders. But the goalie, Dizzy Twister, would not be fooled so easily. Cloudchaser moved up and threw to score but was denied by a catch from the khaki colored mare. She passed it back to one of her own teammates who took it back up the field. The players made their way to Fluttershy and her posts and she braced herself, trying her best to look confident. The lime green pegasus was back and flying straight towards her, his hoof stretched back like he was about to throw the ball. Instead he tossed up and kicked it towards her at high speeds. Fluttershy’s new game instincts began to kick in. Catch the Rabbit! It screamed. She put her hooves out and caught the ball in her chest using her wings to help stop the momentum the ball was carrying. She could hear her friends cheering with delight down below and she allowed herself a quiet cheer as well. The scrimmage matches continued on for a better part of the day. The sun was sinking beneath the horizon by the time the last match had finished and Rainbow Dash had assembled all of the participants in front of her. Many looked exhausted, some on the verge of fainting, while others looked proud of the performance they had put out today. Rainbow Dash looked out over all of them, the clipboard documenting their performance in one hoof. She cleared her throat and started, “Now, I’ve been watching all of your performances very closely and you all did very well. You’re all really good fliers, but I can only take the best of the best if we want to bring this cup home to Ponyville. So without further ado, I will announce the lucky winners who play for Ponyville.” She looked down at her clipboard, going over the eight names she had scribbled down. It had been some tough choices, some more than others, but she felt that in the end she had made the right decisions. She hoped. “All right first, the pegasus who will join me as mid-flier: Thunderlane.” There was a round of applause for the black stallion as he stepped forward and gave a high-wing to Rainbow Dash. She continued, “Next for the positions of high-fliers, we have Raindrops and… Derpy Hooves.” She couldn’t keep the tone of surprise out of her voice. Dash still couldn’t figure out how that clumsy pegasus managed to play so good. There was another round of applause and Derpy threw her hooves up and shouted, “Yaaay!” accidently hitting another pony in the snout. Both mares moved forward and took their place next to Thunderlane. “For our low-fliers we have Cloudchaser and Flitter.” Another round of applause as both mares stepped forward, grinning madly and hoof bumping one another. Rainbow had noted that they worked best together and decided to keep it that way. “Next, on defense is Snowflake and Cloud Kicker.” There was a large shout of,” YEAAHHH!” as a white muscle toned pegasus marched forward and stood next to his partner Cloud Kicker, dwarfing her in stature. “And finally our goalie.” Rainbow Dash looked down at the clipboard again. In the end it had come down to Fluttershy and Dizzy Twister who had proven herself to be very good. She looked up at Fluttershy who was staring nervously at the ground then towards Dizzy who was staring back at her with a confident look; not arrogant confidence, but the kind that said ‘I know I can do this.’ Rainbow admired that. She looked down at the paper once more and read, “Our goalie is…” she swallowed a lump in her throat and hoped karma wouldn’t get her back for this later. “Fluttershy.” Fluttershy’s head snapped up as her name got called. She could hear the pegasi around her giving her a loud round of applause and her friends cheering even louder. She had done it! She had made the team! She stumbled forward, her legs shaking with excitement as she took her place next to her best friend. Rainbow flashed a quick smile before addressing the rest of the crowd. She saw the disappointed looks on their faces and felt for them. If she could take all of them she would. “The rest of you did really great. Like I said, you’re all still good fliers and if this happens again next year, maybe you’ll be up here. Good job guys, fly home safely.” With that, she dismissed them all and watched as they scattered away, some looking a lot more dejected then others. Rainbow couldn’t help but look for Dizzy Twister in the dispersing crowd; but she was already gone. Ignoring the small pang of guilt, she turned back to speak with her new team and found her friends congratulating Fluttershy. “Oh my gosh, Fluttershy that was so spectacularly amazing! They were like, ‘woosh’ but you were like, ‘nuh-uh’ and then you went, ‘smack’, it was so cool!” Pinkie continued to rant on about the yellow pegasus’ skills while her other friends gave her more moderate praise. Rainbow stepped over and waved her hoof. “Alright, alright, I know you guys are happy for her, but now this is a team only meeting, so I’m gonna have to ask you guys to leave.” She ushered her friends to vacate the field as they called back a few more compliments and promised to have a party at Sugarcube Corner later that night. Alone, Dash turned to face her team once more. “Okay, to business. First, congratulations to you guys; with a team like this, I know we can go all the way and win this thing!” Snowflake let out another cry of, ‘YEAAAHH!” Dash grinned and continued, “Alright, training is every day from nine till… whenever I say we’re done; got it?” They all gave a quick nod of their head. “Good. One last thing, we need a cool team name for ourselves. Fortunately I’ve already got a great team name for us; we can be called the-“ Thunderlane cut her off, “If it has the words, ‘Rainbow’, ‘Dash’, or ‘awesome’ in it I’m vetoing it now.” The blue pegasus gave him a cross look and huffed, “Fine, does anypony else have a better name in mind?” Derpy shot her hoof into the air. “Oooh, oooh, can we be the-“ “No muffins!” Rainbow grumped. Derpy put her hoof back down looking crestfallen. The team was silent for a while, all of them trying to think of a clever team name. Dash was about to just tell them to sleep on it when Thunderlane spoke up again, “How about the Storm Riders?” Dash thought on it for a second before her face lit up. The Ponyville Storm Riders! I like it! All in favor?” There was a chorus of “I’s” that made the decision unanimous. Dash nodded, “Then it’s settled; from here on in we’ll be the Strom Riders. So whose ready to ride this storm to victory?” Her team let out a reveled cheer that lifted her spirits. “Alright, good stuff today team, I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” Most of the pegasi flew off towards town, making small talk with their new teammates and basking in their victory; the first of hopefully many. Only two pegasi were left on the grassy field. Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow Dash wearing a bright smile. “Thanks so much, Dashie. I could never have done this without you!” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… you earned it ‘Shy, and I’m proud of you. You put a great effort out there.” Fluttershy blushed. “Thanks. I promise I won’t let you down!” “I know you won’t.” The cheerful pegasus gestured toward the lights of Ponyville. “Come on, Pinkie said she was going to throw a party for us.” Dash continued to rub the back of her neck. “You go ahead, I’ve got to uh… get the ball and put some stuff up. I’ll be over there in a bit.” Fluttershy nodded and waved to her friend before flying off towards town leaving Rainbow Dash alone in the darkened field. She felt happy for her friend. She really, really did. But when she thought about Fluttershy’s success, she couldn’t help but think of Dizzy Twister. She looked down at the papers on the clipboard that held the truth of her actions. It had only been a small margin, tiny… miniscule even. But Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but think that it would come back to haunt her in some way, shape or form. She flipped the paper over and looked at the point values she had given during the scrimmage matches. There it was, in her hoof writing. By one measly point. Dizzy Twister had beaten Fluttershy.