//------------------------------// // There's an "I" in Captain // Story: Canterlot High Chronicles // by Shadowsnake89 //------------------------------// In the gym, Rainbow Dash and Tennis Match play a few sets of the latter's game of choice. The two go back and forth, both of their skills shining through. The game is close but Dash eventually notches a win against her opponent with a single strike that Tennis Match, despite her best efforts, comes just short of returning. "That's game set and match." Dash says confidently as she walks over to help her partner up. "Great game T. Can't wait till that doubles tournament comes up again. We're gonna be unbeatable." "Just like always Dash. Honestly, it's getting hard to keep up with you. I'm gonna have to start uping my regiment." "Hey if you ever want to get in some extra work I've got time. That's what being team captain is all about." She then hears the familiar ring of her watch alarm. "Well not right now actually. Got a meeting with Principal Celestia. She wants me to give some new students a tour of some of our sports programs for the next few days." "Make sure you give them a good showing. Catch you later Dash." She waves as Dash heads to the locker room. As soon as the rainbow haired girl has turned the the corner the bright smile on Match's face quicly turns into a disdainful frown as she grabs her gear and heads to the showers. After getting cleaned up she heads to one of the vacant classrooms and places a "School Club Meeting" sign on the outside of the door before walking in and shutting it behind her. "Alright, is everyone here?" She asks looking over as the group, consisting of Heath Burns, Cloudy Kicks, Curly Winds and Teddy, are all seated and conversing with one another. "Everyone except Aria." Teddy answers. "I thought you guys were gonna tell her." Match says, slightly frustrated. "We did and she said she had better things to do." Heath says. "Of course she does," She says, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I suppose we might as well start the meeting. So show of hands. Who here is the captain of their respective team." She waits as she gets not even a single raised hand. "Not a single one of you, huh. Alright, Teddy, Curly, who's the captain of the football team?" "Rainbow Dash." The two say in unison. "The captain of the baseball team?" She asks Heath. "Rainbow Dash." He says dully. "Soccer team?" "Dash." "Basketball?" "Dash." "Water polo?" "Dash." "Rythmic gymnastics?" "Amethyst Star." Cloudy Kicks answers. "Really?" Match says, a bit surprised. "But only because Dash turned down the offer." "My point is how many of you expect to get anywhere if Rainbow Dash is team captain?" No one raises their hand. "Exactly. What if a talent scout comes to one of our meets? You think we'll get any type of offers if Dash is always stealing the spotlight?" Most of them agree with her statement. "But Dash is team captain for a reason." Curly says. "Because she's faster, stronger and all around better than us in just about every way." Heath says. "Not every way. Just every way that matters." Cloudy says jokingly as she high fives Heath. "Come on you guys, let's get serious. If we can show everyone what we can do at least some of us can have a chance." Match says as she tries to get the group back on target. "And how do we do that?" Cloudy asks with her arms folded. "We beat Rainbow Dash." Match says with a smirk as the others pay close attention. "We bring our A++ game to her. She's giving a new group of students a tour of our sports programs. Well why don't we give them a real show? I say we set up a series of demonstrations over the next week, each of us challenging Rainbow Dash. Then when we beat here everybody will see who should really be on top. What do you say? Are you in?" She asks as the others take a moment to think before, one after the other, agreeing to the plan. The Next Day "Okay guys out here is the football field where yours truly scored a Canterlot High record of both touchdowns and yards in a single season." Dash says as she continues her tour with the soon to be freshmen. "You're so cool Dash!" One of the girls says to her. "But I thought only boys played football." "Hey, rule number one: Anybody can play any sport as long as your awesome enough. Remember that." She says as she guides the students to where the team is performing drills. "Didn't know you guys had practice today." "Just thought we'd get a little more work in." Teddy says as he gives Curly a slight hand gesture, signaling the ploy. "Hey Dash why don't you get geared up real quick and show these kids why you're captain?" Curly shouts over to her as her entourage cheer her on. "Well, why not. Might as well show them what they're getting into." Dash says as she heads to the locker room, suiting up then heading back to the field and joining the team. "Alright, let's do this." The two halves of the team take up their positions and run a few plays. Amid one Dash feints a long pass and rushes the line, evading several of other players and makes a rush to the end zone. Standing in her way are Teddy and Curly, one pursuing behind and the other ahead of her on an intercept path. "Gotcha." Teddy says as he rushes her from the side as the blue haired boy closes in from behind. "You wish." Dash says as she firmly plants her left foot into the ground and pivots to that side, spinning just out of Teddy's range, causing he and Curly to slam into each other. She then spins back around and scores a touchdown to the roaring cheers of the onlookers. "And that's how it's done." She says as she removes her helmet. and mouthpiece. "Good game guys." She says as she helps the two dizzy players up. "Yeah sure. If you say so." Curly says, still a bit dazed from the impact as he and the team watch as the younger students gather around Rainbow Dash and congratulate her on her performance. A short while later the two players, holding bags of ice to their heads, are joined by Tennis Match. "Not sure that worked out like we planned." She gives a short sigh. "I gathered, but you guys did your best. It's like you said before, she's team captain for a reason. We'll just have to use those strengths against her. Maybe the others will have better luck." Over the course of the next few days the other athletes have their goes at Rainbow Dash with similar results. Dash beats Cloudy Kicks in a one-on-one, Heath in a home run contest, and impresses everyone with a perfect in a free throw contest with the best players on the basketball team. The final day of the tour, all the other athletes sit around in the gym, some of them practicing, as Tennis Match walks in with her gear. "What are you guys doing?" "Kind of feeling sorry for ourselves." Heath says, laying flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. She sands their speechless for a moment, looking over all of the team's defeated and somewhat apathetic faces. "Well...wish me luck." "Are you really going to go through with this?" Cloudy asks as she bounces her soccer ball. "I have to prove that Dash isn't the best around." She says with a determined look on her face. "It just seems like a big waste of time. We challenged her to every game under the sun and she chumped every last one of us. Maybe we should just call it quits and accept the fact that she's the best." One of the basketball players says as he shoots, only for the ball to bounce off the rim. "You call it quits!" She lashes out, catching everyone off guard. "You may not think taking the lead is important but I don't have that luxury. So go ahead, give up! I'm going to show everyone what a real leader looks like, with or without you." She storms out as one of the basketball team takes another shot that bounces off the rim, hitting Curly in the head and knocking him down. Match makes her way to where Rainbow Dash and the tour group are. "Hey Dash," She calls out, racket in hand. "You up for giving these kids a good show?" "What do you guys think?" Dash asks the kids, who cheer her on. "Well looks like I don't have much of a choice in the matter now do I?" She says with a smirk as Match tosses her a racket and the group head for the tennis court. Tennis Court "Okay Dash I'm not going easy on you this time." Match says with a smirk as she prepares to serve. "You were going easy before?" Dash jokes as Match serves and she quickly returns the ball. The engage in a furious exchange as the tour group, as well as several of the students who have joined in, cheer both competitors on. "Looks like she went through with it." Heath says as he and Cloudy Kicks take a seat. "Seems like she really wants this." Kicks says as the crowd cheers as Match scores first. "Good one T." Dash says encouragingly as Match feels as though she has a real chance at winning. Twenty five minutes of heated exchanges goes by as the two repeatedly score on one another, showing off their skills to the ever growing crowd as even the Principal and Vice Principal are now in attendance. Match knows she has to break the deadlock and win this. Now was her moment as everyones eyes seemed to be on her. She waits in anticipation as Dash serves and delivers a furious return only for Dash to counter it. She dives for the ball but misses as it bounces passed her. She gets up, visibly frustrated with herself for not being able to stop it. "I can do this." She says to herself as she serves the ball and the two engage in another exchange, back and forth with neither one giving ground. Match swings her racket with everything she has as the ball flies toward Dash at an incredible speed. The rainbow haired girl firmly plants her feet and swings with all her might as well and, before Match can even blink, the ball has whizzed passed her head, blowing her hair back as it does. "That's game!" Paisley, who is acting as the referee, shouts as everyone cheers, many of them rushing to congratulate Dash. Amid the excitement Match, who is still in disbelief, makes her exit. About an hour later Heath and Cloudy find her laying down alone under the soccer field bleachers. "Hey." Cloudy greets simply. "Hey." Match says half-heartedly, not turning her upward gaze to look at them. "What's going on for real?" "I just thought that if I could beat Dash then they'd see how great I really am." "They?" "My parents. They're always saying 'If you're that good why aren't you team captain? Why can't you put a little more effort into it? Why can't you be better than that Rainbow Dash girl?'" She says, slamming her hand against the ground. "Is that what this is all about? All this, just so you could get on your parents good side?" "I just wanted them to be proud of me for once. My dad says what's the point of doing something if you're not the best at what you do." "Yeah but next to Rainbow Dash you're the best tennis player at the school. That's why Dash asked you to be her partner for the tournament." "And did you see yourself out there?" Heath says excitedly. "You were matching her move for move. No one else could do that. If you ask me that's something to be proud of." "I guess." Match says as she sits up. "Let me ask you something. Do you like playing tennis? Or is it something your parents wanted you to do?" "Of course I like tennis. I mean yeah, my parents started me on it but it's what I love to do. That's why I give my all everyday." Match says confidently. "Then isn't that enough? If it's what you love don't let them ruin it for you by making it seem like no one can ever be better than you at it." Cloudy says. "Yeah, otherwise it'll get to the point where you're not even enjoying it anymore." Heath chimes in. Match sits there for a moment before responding. "You guys are right. I love this game. And myself, just the way I am." She stands up confidently as Heath pulls out his phone. "And I think there's something else you should see." He says as he plays a video recording from earlier. "Dash you are so awesome." One of the tour group says after the tennis game. "You're captain of all the schools teams. I want to be just like you." "Thanks squirt, but if you want to be like anybody it should be T. It's her and the others that make me a better player." "What do you mean?" "They push me to be at my best for every game. That's what being part of a team is all about. We bring out the best in each other. I may great and all but truth be told if it wasn't for them there wouldn't be an awesome Rainbow Dash." "Thanks guys. That made me feel a little better." Match says. "I owe all of you guys big time and I promise to make it up to you." "Don't sweat it." Cloudy says. "Now how about we go out to lunch? You're buying." She says with a smirk. One Month Later "You ready for this?" Dash asks her partner as they prepare to take the field for the first round of the doubles tournament. "If I'm not I probably picked a bad time to say so," Match says doing a few last minute stretches as they enter the court, either side of them bleachers full of cheering fans. "Hey, before we go out there I just wanted to say thanks, for choosing me as your teammate I mean. It's nice to be partnered with the best athlete at Canterlot High." "Hey, I'm only as good as my team makes me." Dash says as the two head out.