This Is A Bad.....minton Fiction

by Brian Jacko

Mixed Doubles and Mixed Feelings

She awoke several minutes later and when her vision came into focus, she realized that Soarin' was sitting in front of her and staring down at her with a smile. Her two front legs were crooked like that of a Praying Mantis as she laid there on her back.

"I-I-I...What just happened?" Rainbow asked.

"Pinkie Pie screamed out that you liked me and wanted to be my mixed doubles partner and I think you fainted," Soarin' said.

"Oh yeah. I'm really sorry about that. Pinkie Pie gets a bit over zealous sometimes and she can't shut her loud mouth for more than two seconds," Rainbow said.

"But is it true?" Soarin' asked.

"Is what true?" Rainbow replied.

"Do you like me as your somepony special?" he asked.

Rainbow's heart was pulsating rapidly in her chest. Her mind began to race with all kinds of ludicrous ideas. "What if he thinks I'm lame or I'm some kind of rabid and desperate fan girl? What if he laughs at me or doesn't want to see me ever again?" Rainbow thought to herself. Rainbow Dash figured that if there were a time and place to tell him how she truly feels about him, then now would be it. She gulped loudly and said, "I do."

Soarin' bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He then picked his head up and said, "And I like you too." He then winked at her and trotted over to a court near by. "Now, do you want to be my somepony special in mixed doubles partner or not?"

Rainbow Dash's face was bright red. She quickly got to her hooves and instantly raced over to her newly acquired Badminton partner. "I do!" she squealed with delight.

Rainbow's friends, the Princesses, and the Wonderbolts were sitting on the bleachers and drinking refreshments.

Applejack rolled her eyes and said, "I bet the only reason why Rainbow Dash wants Soarin' on her team so badly is so that she can bash his shuttle..." Before Applejack could finish her sentence, Rarity had stuffed a shuttle into Applejack's mouth.

"Applejack, we know you're being brutally honest, but that's not a lady like thing to say nor is it appropriate to discuss such matters at this time. Leave them alone and let's enjoy how adorable they look together."

Applejack took the shuttle out of her mouth and said, "Let's just hope Rainbow Dash isn't as fast in her special relationship like she is with her sports and games."

"Oh, Applejack. You're not jealous are you?" Rarity looked over to the far side of the bleachers at a certain Wonderbolt. She then turned back to Applejack and said, "Why don't you talk to Lightning Streak? His mane and tail compliment your colors. His tail is orange like your coat, and he has these streaks of yellow that looks similar to your mane and tail."

Applejack glanced over at Lightning Streak and said, "Nah! I'll pass. I want a stallion who is into farm work and gets paid for real work. Not somepony gettin' paid to play fun games and have races with each other. That ain't real work!"

Rarity shrugged a bit and watched the couple in the distance. They were now batting that special shipping shuttle that Rarity had made them, back and forth. They were mesmerized by the trail of rainbow and the flashing lightning bolts that came out of it.

Princess Celestia sighed and said, "I guess Rainbow Dash finally got her wish. Are you all still tired? Would anypony be interested in playing the very first mixed doubles game?"

None of the Wonderbolts admitted that they were still tired.

"Rarity, you have the best eye for detail when it comes to just about everything. I want you to pick out a Wonderbolt and one of your friends to go up against Rainbow Dash and Soarin'," the Princess of the sun said.

Rarity clapped her two front hooves with delight and stood before them all. "I already know who it will be. Applejack and Lightning Streak!" she said.

Lightning Streak got up and picked up his racket.

Applejack didn't budge.

"Applejack, aren't you going to play?" Rarity asked.

"Nuh-uh!" the farm girl said. "I didn't agree to play and yer just pickin' me just so you can try to get me interested in a somepony special, aren't ya?"

Princess Celestia pointed her hoof at Applejack and said, "You're playing because I left Rarity in charge of who would be playing. If you disrespect Rarity's orders, then you disrespect me as your Princess."

Applejack grumbled some words of disapproval, but got up and picked up her racket.

"Can I paint you two a special shuttle so that you won't feel left out now that Rainbow Dash and Soarin' have their own special shuttle? I think it would be really cute," Rarity said as she batted her eye lashes at the new duo.

Lightning Streak smiled and was about to say yes, but Applejack cut him off and said, "No! A plain old white shuttle will do fine, thank you!"

Lightning Streak frowned and then headed over to the court.

The rest of the ponies, including the Princesses, went over to the court.

Twilight Sparkle had set up a special instrument to detect the speed of the smashes, and the Wonderbolts sat all around the court and would be the line judges.

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, sat next to Twilight Sparkle as she calibrated the instrument, and Princess Celestia sat upon her umpire's throne.

The doubles out of bounds lines were different from the singles out of bounds lines. The court was shorter length wise, but was longer in width to make doubles play fair and interesting.

Both sides were warming up and hitting the shuttle back and forth.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack positioned themselves near the net. They would be mostly in charge of returning shots close to the net and also lightning quick volleys. Soarin' and Lightning Streak positioned themselves near the very end of their courts. They would be in charge of brutal smashes and returning shots that went deep into their own territory.

Celestia took out a coin when she saw the two teams take a break from volleying. "Manes or tails?" Celestia asked from her royal umpire's throne.

"Tails!" Rainbow cried out.

Princess Celestia flipped a bit high into the air and watched it land on the floor.

The coin revealed that tails was showing.

Princess Celestia used her magic to hover the special Soarin' and Rainbow Dash shuttle over and placed it on Rainbow's racket. She blew into her whistle and then said, "Left side is serving. Love all. Play!"

Rainbow Dash waited for Applejack to get into ready position and then put the shuttle into play.

Serving a lob in doubles could be done, but it often was very dangerous to do so since the courts were a little bit shorter in length.

Applejack returned the shot with a soft and gentle hit, but Rainbow Dash was on her tippy hooves and was prepared for this.

Rainbow lunged at the net and tapped the shuttle very quickly.

The shot came close to Applejack's body as she tried to swat at it, but her racket completely missed the shuttle. She turned and watched the shuttle go right passed her.

Lightning Streak threw his body to the floor and managed to save the shuttle.

The shuttle went soaring for Soarin' to smash. It wasn't terribly far deep into their side of the court, but it was well over Rainbow's head.

"I've got it! I've got it!" Rainbow cried out as she began to walk quickly backwards. She bumped into Soarin' and they both fell to the ground.

The shuttle landed right in between Rainbow's two eyes.

Rainbow's cheeks were bright red with embarrassment.

"That shot was clearly for me and I could have put it away easily," Soarin' said. "If the shuttle goes over your head like that again, then please allow me to deal with it."

Rainbow Dash nodded her head in understanding and apologized. She got back up and stood inside of her receiving box.

"I reckon Rainbow Dash just likes to be the center of attention and hog all the action fer herself, Soarin'," Applejack said. "Why do the stallions play in the back and we're in the front up here? I reckon it's because they get the best view point of our backsides."

"Actually A.J., I think they tend to play in the back because they are stronger with the smashes," Rainbow replied. Rainbow Dash jolted up a bit when she suddenly felt a hard slap from Soarin's racket on her cutie mark. Rainbow let out a nervous little laugh and said, "I guess there are additional benefits to playing in the back of the court too."

Applejack rolled her eyes and grabbed a plain old white shuttle from the sidelines. She noticed the positioning of her receiver and she decided to try something risky. She lobbed the shuttle high into the air.

It threw the receiver off guard and the shot came back high, but not very deep into Applejack and Lightning Streak's court.

Applejack bent down low and let her stallion partner take care of the work. She didn't want be greedy and hit the shuttle like Rainbow Dash was being.

Rainbow Dash now positioned herself right next to the side of Soarin' in the center of the court.

Lightning Streak ran up and jumped high into the air. He reigned down terror with a fierce shot.

The shuttle came hurling down at such high speed towards Soarin'. Soarin' quickly reacted and made an incredible save.

The shuttle came flying back high into the air, but not very deep into the opposing team's court.

Lightning Streak jumped up into the air again and smashed the shuttle to the exact same location.

Soarin' stumbled a bit, but was able to save it once more. He angled his racket so that the shuttle would go cross court.

Lightning Streak hurried over to the opposite side of his court and jumped smashed the shuttle at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash's reflexes were very quick and she made a brilliant save.

The shuttle flew into the center of Applejack's and Lightning Streak's court.

Lightning Streak raced over and jump smashed the shuttle yet again. Instead of hitting it to either opponent, he decided to hit it straight down the center line of the opposing court.

Rainbow Dash saw it coming and lifted her racket out to the side slightly, but paused when she realized that Soarin' was closer in her peripheral vision. She decided to humble herself and not be the center of attention.

Soarin' made another brilliant save and the angle of the racket that he positioned, sent the shuttle flying in one corner of his opponents court.

This caught Lightning Streak off guard and he threw himself to the corner of the court and made a desperate save.

Applejack caught a glimpse of his fall and backed herself up away from the net and into the center of her court. She prepared to defend at all costs until her partner could recover and get back onto his hooves.

The shuttle came high for Soarin' and he jumped into the air and he smashed the shuttle at Applejack.

Applejack barely got her racket onto the shuttle and managed to return it back high into the air. She positioned her racket so that the shuttle would land closer to Rainbow Dash. Applejack hoped Rainbow Dash would be the smasher and not Soarin' since he was so powerful.

Rainbow Dash backed up a bit and leapt into the air with such agility. She smashed the shuttle to the left side of Applejack.

Applejack stumbled a bit and returned it. She landed on all four hooves to make that save.

The shuttle went soaring high into the air and was going to land close to the center of Rainbow Dash's and Soarin's side of the court.

Rainbow Dash humbled herself and stepped further away from the side of Soarin'.

Soarin' licked his lips in anticipation.

By now, Lightning Streak had recovered and was standing next to Applejack's side. They were both standing in the middle of their court, but were rather far away from each other.

Soarin' jumped high into the air and gave it his best shot.

The whacking sound that came from striking the shuttle resonated through out the entire sports arena and the shuttle was headed straight down the center line of their opposing team.

Both Applejack and Lightning Streak hurled their bodies to the floor in order to save the shuttle and they just so happened to find themselves in a rather awkward position. They collided against each other and had their lips pressed against each other's lips.

The shuttle landed directly on the center of the court line, in front of their faces, and the cork part of the shuttle was pointing at them.

Applejack pulled herself away and turned her head to the side. A great amount of blush could be seen on her face. "I'm awfully sorry about that. I knew I should have let ya have that shot," she said.

"We may have lost the point," Lighting Streak said. "But I'm not complaining about it."

That comment only made Applejack's face turn as bright red as the picture of her cutie mark of red apples.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna began applauding. For that was the most epic volley they had seen so far.

Twilight Sparkle raced over to the Princesses with her device and showed them the numbers. She spoke loud enough so that everypony could hear her. "SOARIN' JUST MADE THE WORLD'S FASTEST SHUTTLE SMASHING CLOCKING WELL OVER TWO HUNDRED MILES PER HOUR!"

Pinkie Pie zipped over to Soarin' and threw a party hat on his head and blew a party horn near his ear. She threw her front legs around him and started talking as fast as she possible could. "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Soarin'! We should throw some kind of special party at Sugar Cube Corner. We could all have cake, play games, dance to music, and..." Pinkie Pie paused when she noticed that Rainbow Dash was tapping one of her back hoofs on the floor and looked rather agitated.

"Pinkie Pie, hooves off of Soarin'. He's my somepony special, you know. You can congratulate him from a distance," Rainbow said.

Pinkie Pie let go of Soarin' and bounced away. She came back shortly with her party cannon and knocked Soarin' off his hooves from the powerful blast of confetti and streamers. "Is that better, Dashie?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash face hoofed and said, "Not really."

"Hey! I have a question!" Pinkie Pie yelled out. "Does Soarin' get sore after a good work out? Does he get..." Pinkie Pie paused for a moment and reached behind her. She pulled out sunglasses and put them on her face. She then finished her question. "Sore-IN his muscles? Did you see what I did there? Soarin'. Sore-in. Get it? Maybe you can rub Soarin's muscles after this match so he won't be so sore-IN them later on, Dashie. You don't want him to be Sore-IN the morning." Pinkie Pie pushed the sunglasses down on her nose with her front hoof so that her two eyes could be seen by the others. She looked around at the ponies faces in hopes that somepony would laugh at her little joke. "Hey Dashie, are you soarin' for Soarin's heart?"

None of them seemed to enjoy her little puns except for Soarin'. He was the only pony to have a smirk on his face.

"Pinkie Pie. Stop. Please," Rainbow Dash whined. "You are such a corn ball sometimes! Where did you get those sunglasses from anyway?"

Pinkie Pie giggled madly. "I borrowed them from you," she admitted.

"It figures. Don't touch my stuff again," Rainbow Dash said.

"Can I tell you all another Pinkie pun?" the manic pony asked.

"No! Stop! No more Pinkie Pie puns," Rainbow said.

Princess Celestia blew into her whistle and said, "Enough celebration and chatter. We can hold a special party for Soarin' after this match is over. I demand to see more action!"

The four ponies on the court got back into position and began to play.

Now that Applejack was all perked up from that accidental collision, she was more motivated to play and try harder.

Many times, it was desirable to move an opposing player out of position and force the mare player to the back of her side of the court and the stallion player up front. Many crazy and random position switches happened during play and the Princesses were very pleased to see how amazing the very nature of this game was.

As Rainbow Dash continued to play, she began to fall in love with this sport, not just because of Soarin', but also because she was starting to realize how much skill was involved when playing this sport.

The match was like a battle that raged on. Many of the volleys lasted for entire minutes and never got stale nor boring for the spectators or players.

This was now the final match point yet again. It seemed that the two teams would go back and forth to who was just one point shy from taking the game.

Applejack and Lightning Streak would win the game if they succeeded in getting one more point, which would give them the two point lead that they needed.

Applejack got into serving position and flicked the shuttle towards Soarin'.

Soarin' hit the shuttle quickly at Applejack, and she then returned it to Rainbow Dash. Applejack kept volleying it to Soarin' and Rainbow Dash and she was quick like a Ninja with her rapid shots. She hit the shuttle a few times to the same opposing player to try to throw them off. She wasn't playing so much to win the game now. It had nothing to do with winning the game. It was more to win Lightning Streak's heart.

Rainbow Dash returned the shuttle high over Applejack's head and Lightning Streak sprung into action.

The volleys continued back and forth and was by far the longest volley anypony had ever seen before.

Applejack had made a soft touch against the shuttle and the shuttle went to the opposite side from where Rainbow was standing near the net.

Soarin' was way too far in the back to even bother to try to retrieve it.

Rainbow Dash figured that her partner was out of position so she hurried over and she made like she was going to lob it. At the very last second, she gently tapped it in an attempt to fool Applejack.

The shuttle hit the top of the net and then stayed there for a second.

Rainbow began to blow into the air on the shuttle so that it would fall on Applejack's side, but it was too late.

The shuttle fell back down on Rainbow's side and she watched it fall to the floor. It was almost like a slow motion video of watching the shuttle fall, because it was so painful and agonizing for Rainbow, that she couldn't hit it again.

Everypony spectating and both Princesses began clapping their hooves together in celebration.

Applejack unstrapped her racket from her front leg and threw her front legs around Lightning Streak. "We did it! We did it! We really are the best mixed couples doubles players!" she cried out.

Lightning Streak embraced his partner for a moment and then broke free because it was a little awkward for him that they were both sopping wet with sweat. "We should shake hooves with them, Applejack," he suggested.

Lightning Streak and Applejack came up to Soarin' who was standing by the net on the opposite side of them.

The ponies had their rackets taken off of their front legs and were now back on all four hooves.

Soarin' shook Applejack's and Lightning Streak's hooves under the net and then watched them trot happily away.

Soarin' looked down at his side and saw Rainbow Dash laying on her stomach with her head burrowed into her two front legs. He came over to her and placed his hoof on her shoulder. "Dash? Are you ok?"

Dash picked up her head and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "You're going to leave me now, aren't you? I'm a screw up and I lost the game."

"Are you kidding me, Rainbow Dash?" Soarin' asked. Soarin' got low to the ground with her and wrapped his front leg around her neck. "I'm not interested in you because of your skills. I could care less if we lost without scoring a single point. I think you let winning get to your head a little too much. Playing a game is about having fun. If you always win your games, then there would be nothing for you to improve on or to learn from your mistakes. I'm interested in you for you alone and it has nothing to do with winning or losing."

Rainbow Dash wiped a few more tears from her eyes and asked, "Really? Do you really mean that?"

Soarin' nodded his head yes and said, "Of course. We may not have played perfectly together, but I think this sport has helped us bond quite well together and I'd love to spend more time with you on the courts or off of them. I think we actually might be a better team than they are. Sometimes the underdogs win once in a while too, you know. I bet we can beat them next time." Soarin' then winked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked up at Soarin' and didn't say anything.

Soarin' took his front leg off of her neck and sat up. "Come on, Rainbow Dash. Pick yourself back up and smile!" Soarin' said. He spread his front legs out and said, "Come here, sweetie."

Rainbow Dash got up off the ground and threw herself into Soarin's arms. She almost knocked him down.

They both embraced each other with a sweaty hug.

Soarin' kissed her colorful mane and said, "Come on, Rainbow. Let's go get some refreshments." Soarin' paused for a moment and said, "I normally don't do this, but you're an exception. I have another big apple pie and I'll share it with you."

Rainbow Dash broke free from the hug and said, "Thanks! We should celebrate your world's record of the fastest Badminton smash too!"

The couple walked over to where Soarin' had left his carry on bag.

Soarin' pulled out an apple pie from the bag and they both began to feast on it.