My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

75. Lying Rainbow

With the Equestria Games, the biggest sports event in all of Equestria not too far away anymore, it was now time to determine which teams would attend the games. For that, some of the teams first had to qualify. This qualification took place in a place called "Rainbow Falls".

Rainbow Dash and her team, who were presenting Ponyville in the Equestria Games, were heading to Rainbow Falls as well. It is located in the far northeast of Equestria, and really close to the Crystal Empire so it took quite a while to reach this place by train but in order to support Rainbow Dash and her team, Star Twinkle and the rest of his friends all accompanied them as well.

As far as Star Twinkle knew, the rest of Rainbow Dash's team consisted of Fluttershy and some really big and tough looking and muscular Pegasus stallion called Bulk Biceps. For some reason, Star Twinkle was not sure why this was the team that was supposed to be representing Ponyville. Rainbow Dash made perfect sense, but Fluttershy didn't. Of course, she was capable if needed but being in the official team of Ponyville? Saying that she was the perfect candidate would be kind of a stretch but then he remembered that with Rainbow Dash in the team any team could have potential to win.

But Star Twinkle didn't want to come to any rash conclusions so he decided to check out the third member of the team. He didn't even know this Bulk Biceps and since he was bound to spend time with him on this "trip" too, he figured that he should introduce himself to him. But as usual, Star Twinkle had a hard time with the whole "meeting new ponies" thing and got a little nervous.

Star Twinkle found the stallion sitting next to Fluttershy...or rather...sitting on Fluttershy. She somehow didn't seem to mind it though. This guy was almost three times the size of the mare and took up over half of a seat that was meant for two ponies to sit on due to his muscle mass. He had a white coat, a short blonde mane, and red eyes. His Cutie Mark was a Dumb-Bell which combined with the huge muscle mass of this pony was indicating that he probably did a lot of work out. This pony also had considerably tiny wings which didn't look like as if they were even able to take this guy up in the air. He also had a small earring in his right ear.

Fluttershy managed to free herself a little and was now sitting right next to this guy, making this situation a little more normal and approachable for Star Twinkle. "Hey," Star Twinkle greeted in order to start a conversation. "You are part of the Ponyville team, right?"

"YEAH!!" The stallion replied. "We're gonna WIN for Ponyville!" He screamed across the whole train.

Star Twinkle didn't know what to reply to that but he kept smiling nervously and tried to keep the conversation going. "I assume you are very a good..." he stopped in mid-sentence once he looked at this Pony's almost embarrassingly small wings. "...flyer?"

For some reason, Bulk didn't get offended or anything after Star Twinkle pointed that out and instead raised his chin proudly as if he just heard a big compliment. Star Twinkle decided to leave it like that. Bulk Biceps seemed nice despite his intimidating size so Star Twinkle didn't have to worry too much about getting along with him and joined up with Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Twilight couldn't help but compliment Rainbow Dash for being part of the team that didn't have the best flyers. She was obviously coming to the same conclusion like Star Twinkle when it came to the Ponyville team.

Rainbow Dash, of course, accepted that compliment and actually managed to show modesty while also bragging about her skills at the same time. "Nothing nice about it. I know that I can pick up the slack for anypony. With me on the team, we'll qualify. I'm sure of it," she said confidently.

There was no denying that Rainbow Dash couldn't make up for some weaknesses but with ponies like Fluttershy and a pony who's wings need to carry a large mass of muscle like Bulk Bicep's she really needed to make up for much. Star Twinkle was just happy that he was left out of being a member of the actual team, it sounded like a lot of work and pressure which he really didn't need. Instead, he was just there to support them in the from the background, just the way he liked it. But not only he was there for support, all of his friends tried to support the three flyers in their own way.

Rarity was providing the uniforms for Ponyville's team, Applejack made sure that everypony had enough to eat, and Pinkie Pie and Twilight were there to cheer. It was all small things but hopefully, it will be enough to help Ponyville to qualify for the upcoming Equestria Games.

The train didn't take much longer until it finally arrived at its destination. "Well, guess we know why this place is called Rainbow Falls," Star Twinkle said after he looked out of the window. What he saw was an Equestrian village near the mountains with waterfalls coming out of the clouds, only that instead of water, there were rainbows coming out of them, hence the name, Rainbow Falls. However, they were not about to spend much time there and instead had to go to the nearby training ground where the Equestria Games tryouts were held.

At the training grounds...

As soon as Rainbow Dash was showing up on the training ground, some ponies actually recognized her as one of the best flyers of Equestria. Of course, Rainbow Dash highly enjoyed that and got only further pumped to give her best in those tryouts. But...Rainbow Dash was not the only one who was recognized in the mass. "Oh, the Wonderbolts!" One pony suddenly said as soon as three members of the Wonderbolts were arriving in the training ground as well.

The Wonderbolts were the best flyers in Equestria so of course, it was fitting for them to attend the games as well. They were the ones who represented their hometown Cloudsdale which might have been the real reason why Rainbow Dash was not in the Cloudsdale team herself.

Their team consisted of their leader Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot who were all wearing their usual blue Wonderbolt uniforms. As soon as the three Wonderbolts spotted Rainbow Dash, they couldn't help but get excited about some competition. However, they still showed pride and confidence and walked away as quickly as they appeared in front of her. This was enough for Rainbow Dash to get excited as well. "The Wonderbolts know a winner when they see one, and we'll be winners just as soon as we practice!" She then turned towards her fellow teammates. "Right, team?"

"Right," Fluttershy replied.

"Yeah!" Bulk Biceps replied.

"Wooohooo!" Pinkie Pie replied excited while blowing some confetti in the air. She probably wanted to say that she was also ready which should be obvious since she was already dressed in a yellow cheerleader outfit. Rainbow Dash didn't exactly know what to think about that and turned towards Star Twinkle and Twilight. She was probably expecting some response from them as well.

"And, um, I'm with her! Hooray!" Twilight then said with a nervous smile on her face to let Rainbow Dash know that she believed in Rainbow Dash's team.

"Yeah! Team Ponyville, go!" Star Twinkle added, having a nervous smile on his face as well.

But Rainbow Dash rather listened to her own intuition and fully believed that her team was fully capable to qualify for the Equestria Games. But despite believing in that, Rainbow Dash still took a look at all the teams that were already practicing a little in the air. There were quite a lot of teams attending for the qualification, there was even a group of griffons. The Wonderbolts seemed to have their own cheerleader squad as well which was not really surprising because they were undoubtedly the most famous group of ponies in this place. But aside from them Rainbow Dash quickly figured that anyone else was most likely average when it came to flying skills so she couldn't help but smile confidently. With less competition, it was more likely for her and her team to qualify for the games.

But she soon found out that there was still more competition coming up at this very moment...

"You're finally here!" A familiar male voice said from behind the mare.

Rainbow Dash instantly recognized that voice turned around. "You!?" Rainbow Dash said in surprise after she saw three stallions walking up to her.

The male voice from before was none other than Cyclone Wing, the leader of the Storm Wings. He was accompanied by his two brothers, Hurricane Wing and Steel Wing as usual. Of course, seeing the three leaders of the Storm Wings here in Rainbow Falls was more than surprising for the group. The Storm Wings were considered freelancers that traveled all over Equestria to help other ponies. One would think that they were now busy enough to make up for all the stuff that happened after Mystic took over their group.

But since they were here, the obvious question was asked by Star Twinkle. "Are you trying to qualify for the Equestria Games too?"

Steel Wing seemed offended because of that last sentence and quickly did the explaining. "We are not "trying" to qualify, we are winning the whole thing!" He said proudly and confidently while raising his chest into the air.

"I don't really think you can "win" a qualification..." Hurricane Wing casually pointed out, much to his brothers dislike who glared at his in disappointment because he expected to get some back up instead.

Star Twinkle ignored the little quarrel between the two of them and walked up to Cyclone Wing to get some answers. Since every team that tried to qualify for the Equestria Games was representing some place, he was curious of which place wanted them to be represented by the Storm Wings considering that there was a time where they were known as criminals.

Cyclone Wing gave a quick answer. "We are representing Canterlot..."

"What!?" Everypony exclaimed confused. It was kind of a big surprise hearing that those three were about to represent the capital of Equestria and Cyclone Wing couldn't really blame them all for this kind of reaction.

"It was the idea of Princess Celestia," Cyclone Wing said, leaving the group only further in confusion. "She said that there were not enough Pegasus in Canterlot that qualify as good flyers so she asked us to take part in the Equestria Games instead,"

Twilight seemed to be the only one who figured out why it came to this. "I guess it's Princess Celestia's way to put her trust into you guys,"

Cyclone Wing didn't know how to answer to that and looked away flustered. "...I guess..." he simply replied. It seemed like as if he was almost embarrassed to hear that.

"Whatever the reason might be, you stand no chance against us!" Steel Wing said while he presented himself and his brothers in front of the group.
"We got the speed," he said while pointing towards Hurricane Wing.
"We got the intelligence," he said while pointing towards Cyclone Wing.
"And we got the strength!" He said while he posed in front of his two brothers.

Cyclone Wing smiled after this flashy introduction. "Don't take him to serious. We are all here to qualify after all," he said. As usual, Steel Wing's rash and provocative manner were strongly contrasted by Cyclone Wing's calmness. However, all of the sudden, the smile he had on his face changed into a rather serious expression. "But since Princess Celestia chose us to represent her home...we will make sure to not let her down!" Cyclone Wing added which almost sounded like a declaration of war that was directed towards Rainbow Dash and her group.

"Hah! I love it when he is determined like that!" Steel Wing said towards Hurricane Wing with a smile on his face after seeing how Cyclone Wing was fully on board on the whole winning thing. After everything was said by them, the three Pegasus left again to attend their own training for the games.

This introduction left quite an impact on the group but Rainbow Dash was still determined to win and not affected by the Storm Wing's own determination. "They still don't stand a chance against us!" Rainbow Dash said confidently, not being intimidated by the Storm Wings one bit.

"Well, I don't know," Star Twinkle said worriedly, grabbing Rainbow Dash's attention. "They are a pretty good team. Back then when they were our enemies, it took seven of us to take down Steel Wing alone. And since they are brothers, they probably know each other inside out..."

If it wouldn't have been for Twilight poking Star Twinkle in the sides, he would have probably continued to praise their skills even further without realizing that it put unnecessary pressure on Rainbow Dash. "We should start our training right now!" She then said after getting a little pumped up from those three stallions. Having them compete here might have actually fueled her need to give it her best now.

Later...

After picking a fitting area, Team Ponyville was ready to train now. Rainbow Dash was the one who took charge of training Fluttershy and Bulk. She was without a doubt, the best flyer in the team so it was only fitting for her to be in charge of the training. Rainbow Dash and her team were only attending the aerial relay event at the Equestria Games and she wanted to make sure to win.

"We need to be one of the first four teams to cross the finish line! Bulk Biceps, you're the first flyer, so let me see you flap it!" She said as he demanded to see how Bulk was doing with his wings.

As expected, having such small wings and such a large body was a bad combination. Bulk barely managed to lift himself over the ground despite flexing all of his muscles to the extreme. Star Twinkle couldn't help but to look at Rainbow Dash and wondered if her being in the team would be enough to make this team one of the first four teams to win the race at the end of the qualification.

There were still two more days left of practice so maybe Rainbow Dash's team will actually get better after that. But considering that it was a race, speed was something that you really needed in order to win. Then again, once Star Twinkle looked over to where the Storm Wings were practicing, he saw Steel Wing flying not too much faster either because of his heavy metallic wings.

"You need to flap them harder boss!" A familiar voice shouted towards Steel Wing.

"We'll never gonna go to the Equestria Games if you fly as slow as that, Tornado Wing!" Another familiar voice shouted.

It was the two gray coated ponies, Featherbrain and Cloud Head, the two ponies who always accompanied Steel Wing. And just like always, the two quickly got on his nerves. "It's Steel Wing!" Steel Wing angrily replied. "And if you think I am slow, then maybe you should come up here!" He shouted back. However, Steel Wing should have looked in front of him because he knocked his head against a pole which caused him to drop to the ground with a huge headache.

Cyclone Wing watched the whole thing and gave a simple advise. "You shouldn't get distracted like that, Tornado..."

Steel Wing didn't like hearing those words and just gave Featherbrain and Cloud Head a glare instead of replying to his big brother. Seeing this scene not too far away, actually gave Star Twinkle some hope that their team is not too bad. However, once he saw the huge mass of muscles, that was Bulk Biceps, dropping to the ground, that quickly changed. Strangely enough, there was a muffin next to the pony.

"Sorry!" Applejack apologized. Apparently, she shot the muffin up in the air because she saw some ponies doing that for the Wonderbolts. Bulk was supposed to eat it in mid-air but instead got knocked out of the air of it. "...It looks like they got better aim," she added.

"Or...maybe they told the Wonderbolts about this so that they could expect a muffin flying at them..." Star Twinkle said, advising Applejack to tell somepony else about her plans next time.

Applejack admitted that this was true and then continued to practice shooting some muffins up in the air. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash decided to ignore this little mishap and continued her training routine as soon as Bulk was back in the air again. She pulled out a hoof-shaped baton and gave it to the stallion to get straight to the next step of her program.

"Okay, the passing of the baton needs to be seamless. You shouldn't miss a wing beat or drop a hair in altitude!" Rainbow Dash said with a serious tone in her voice before she gave Bulk the baton. "And whatever you do, don't let go of it!"

As in any baton style race, the baton needed to be passed to the next pony in line who can then continue the race. The only problem was...the next pony was Fluttershy.

The mare slowly flew up to Bulk and took her sweet time to take the baton from the stallion. "Are you really, really, really sure you're ready? I mean, I don't want to take it if you're not super sure," she actually asked. For Star Twinkle it was really bad to look at. This didn't remotely look like a race. Bulk actually replied that he was ready and then finally passed the baton to Fluttershy, only so that she could clumsily drop it after a few seconds.

Star Twinkle could only slap his forehead after that performance. "So much for the Equestria Games..." he said after pretty much giving up that Team Ponyville will make it to the games.

"That's not nice to say, Star Twinkle," Twilight said after overhearing Star Twinkle's words. "I'm sure they will get better after those two days,"

"Did you watch the same thing that I did?" Star Twinkle replied. He didn't even try to let Twilight's optimism affect him.

Rainbow Dash seemed to feel the same way. She overheard the conversation of those two ponies and admitted that things weren't looking too great. "No, I think Star Twinkle is right..." she said with some depression in her voice. "Compared to the Wonderbolts perfect performance, our group is not nearly good enough!"

"Oh, come on, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied. "You can't possibly expect your group to be on the same level then them,"

After seeing Rainbow Dash being a little upset about her team's performance, Star Twinkle felt like at least saying some words to make her feel better. "Twilight's right. Besides, the Wonderbolts probably make mistakes from time to time as well,"

Of course, Rainbow Dash highly disagreed. "Are you kidding me? The Wonderbolts never make mistakes! Not in million years!"

But then suddenly, exactly that happened...

The three ponies heard a scream coming from Soarin. The next thing they saw was him falling out of the sky with no sign of him recovering in mid-air. The fact, that he was screaming for help was also an obvious indication that he was in danger. As soon as Rainbow Dash was aware of what happened, she quickly went to the stallion's help and luckily managed to catch him right before he hit the ground. Team Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot quickly rushed to the two in order to make sure that Soarin was okay only to find out that his wings seemed to be damaged.

"How did that happen?" Star Twinkle asked out of curiosity.

Soarin explained that he was flying as usual without any problem until he got distracted by something. As soon as Star Twinkle asked what he was distracted, Soarin embarrassingly looked over to two of his cheerleaders and looked away while blushing a little in embarrassment. Star Twinkle got a little confused by this behavior but his wing was already damaged so there was no point in thinking about how he got injured. The main problem was now that Team Cloudsdale was short on one member unless Soarin's wing was healed up after two days. But right now, things didn't look too good and Soarin was carried away to get his wing fixed.

"Should have had wings like mine..." Steel Wing commented after he saw the Pegasus getting carried away. Those unconsidered words caused Cyclone Wing to glare a little at his little brother. "Sorry..." Steel Wing then apologized.

Hurricane Wing, on the other hoof, felt a little bad for the Wonderbolts. "I hope he gets better soon...must be bad to drop out of the qualification because one of your teammates got hurt..." he expressed.

"Yeah, but look at the bright side! That just means that there is less competition now!" Steel Wing pointed out, which again was probably not the best thing to say now.

The Wonderbolts were obviously the ones who should be the most worried now. Rainbow Dash was talking with Spitfire and Fleetfoot while everyone else was still worried about Soarin. She really liked to win but probably not at the cost of one of her competitors getting hurt. She probably was really looking forward to competing against the Wonderbolts and felt bad for them.

Star Twinkle wanted to talk with the Wonderbolts as well, to make sure how they were doing in this situation but they left as soon as they saw Star Twinkle walking up to them. For some reason, it looked like as if they didn't want him to hear what the three were talking about but Star Twinkle thought that was just in his imagination.

"How are they doing?" Star Twinkle asked Rainbow Dash.

Instead of giving a straight answer, Rainbow Dash jumped as soon as he heard Star Twinkle's voice and turned around in a panic. "What!? What do you mean!? The Wonderbolts!? Why would they not be okay with one member missing!?" She all asked in a panic.

"I...what?" Star Twinkle could only reply in confusion. Rainbow Dash must have been really worried about the situation that the Wonderbolts were in right now, or else she wouldn't be in such a paranoid state.

"You! Star Twinkle! Make sure that Fluttershy and Bulk stick to their training!" She then said before she walked off to the opposite direction, leaving Star Twinkle.

"What!?" Star Twinkle replied confused. "What about you!? Where are you going!?" He asked, feeling that it was a little sudden for Rainbow Dash to lift the responsibility to train with the others on Star Twinkle like that. Rainbow Dash didn't seem like she wanted to fully explain what she was going to do while Star Twinkle took over and just left, leaving Star Twinkle to help with the training, much to his dislike. "Well...I guess if it is only once, then it's probably not too bad..." he told himself, in order to stay positive. It was not like he had to completely take over from now on after all.

But...things went a little different than he originally planned.

On the next day...

Tomorrow would be the day were the qualification trials would be held. The improvement that Team Ponyville made the day before was not really really big. That was mainly because Star Twinkle was in charge of the training most of the time because Rainbow Dash was absent for the majority of the training. She only showed up from time to time and when she did, she would usually leave a short time later. Not that she really needed any training but the group would certainly make more progress if Rainbow Dash would coach them, instead of Pony that could only be up in the air for a short while and was afraid of flying.

"Okay, one more time!" Star Twinkle said as he was carefully hovering in the air in his Pegasus form, watching Bulk Biceps in his training routine. He was about to pass the baton to Fluttershy but first, he had to fly through a ring which served as one of the obstacles that you had to fly through. Flying through the ring actually was pretty hard form the stallion because of his huge size, he barely fit through it and actually got stuck. Star Twinkle couldn't watch this.

Luckily, Fluttershy came flying towards the stallion and attempted to take the baton from Bulk. "I'm ready to take the baton now...if you want me to..." she asked hesitantly, like usual.

Bulk managed to get one of his legs through the ring and hold the baton out for Fluttershy to take it now. Fluttershy stretched out her hoof and was about to grab it but as soon as she touched it, the ring, where Bulk was stuck in, was swinging back and threw both him and Fluttershy far away into the distance, making this another failed attempt.

Star Twinkle sighed loudly. "This is not going well so far..." he said to himself as he started to land on the ground again, exiting his Pegasus form as soon as his hooves touched the ground. Even though Fluttershy and Bulk were doing all the training, for some reason, Star Twinkle felt pretty exhausted as soon as he landed back on the ground again. He was breathing heavily just by being up in the air and coaching Fluttershy and Bulk.

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked before she walked up to Star Twinkle.

She seemed to have noticed Star Twinkle's condition and got a little worried so Star Twinkle bit his teeth and pretended to be just a little exhausted. "I may need a little break. I'm sure Rainbow Dash will come any minute to take care of the training again,"

"I doubt that..." Twilight replied while she looked away into the distance. "Haven't you noticed that Rainbow Dash is a little too often absent from helping our team?"

"Of course, I have..." Star Twinkle replied annoyed. It was exactly that what forced him to take over her place as the coach so of course, he noticed. "Whenever I ask her where she is disappearing to, she just changes the subject or leaves again..." Star Twinkle explained.

Twilight kept looking away into the distance while talking with Star Twinkle, which he thought was really odd so he asked what that was about. Twilight didn't explain it but she asked Star Twinkle to follow her. Fluttershy and Bulk where nowhere to be found so he figured that he could follow Twilight for a few minutes.

She was leading the stallion a little further away from Ponyville's training ground and led him directly to the Cloudsdale training area. "There, look," Twilight then said, while pointing up into the air.

Star Twinkle looked up. He saw the Wonderbolts flying through the air, wearing silver uniforms and goggles. Uniforms that, he would guess were for the Equestria Games. They were probably practicing for the Equestria Games. He didn't quite understand why Twilight brought him there, however. "I don't get it. What am I supposed to see here? They are practicing in case Soarin's wing is healed again, right?" He asked confused.

"Look closer," Twilight simply said as she kept watching the Wonderbolts.

Star Twinkle, again, looked up into the air and after a while, he noticed somepony else practicing with Spitfire and Fleetfoot. But it wasn't Soarin who they were flying with. "Wait...is that..." Star Twinkle said as soon as he identified the third member wearing the silver uniform of Cloudsdale's team.

"Yes," Twilight said. "This is where she was going to the whole time..." Twilight explained.

Star Twinkle couldn't quite believe that and wanted to hear an explanation from Rainbow Dash herself. And from the looks of it, he was about to have a chance for that. Rainbow Dash was either taking a break from her "training" or she was about to return to her original group. Whatever the reason was, she was about to leave this training area.

Of course, as soon as she saw Star Twinkle and Twilight glaring at her, she panicked and tried to come up with an excuse. But that was impossible after they both saw her practicing with the Wonderbolts and actually wearing their uniforms at this very moment. There was no way she could talk her way out of this now.

"Uh...I can explain..." she said nervously.

"I'm listening," Star Twinkle replied in an annoyed tone, having his ears peeled to find out the reason why Rainbow Dash was flying with the Wonderbolts.

Rainbow Dash knew that lying would not be a good idea right now so she just told them the truth. "Well...the Wonderbolts offered me to join them in their training. So I just thought that I could train with them while I train with you guys..."

"Yes," Twilight explained. "Except, that you are barely around without team and let Star Twinkle do all the work," she pointed out. She seemed to be concerned for Star Twinkle after she saw him exhausted before.

"But it's so much more fun working out with the winners than... um... the non-winners," Rainbow Dash replied, feeling a little bad after saying the last sentence, even though it was true. "Besides, Ponyville will still qualify," she then added confidently.

To a certain point, Star Twinkle actually understood the position that Rainbow Dash was in. It was a rare chance for her to train with her personal heroes and as long as she would still help Team Ponyville to qualify. It was only Star Twinkle having to replace her as a coach most of the time, that bothered him.

In the middle of the conversation, Spitfire and Fleetfoot walked up to the three. "Rainbow Dash, you got a minute?" Spitfire asked.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the mares and listened to what they had to say to her while Star Twinkle and Twilight waited for a few hooves away. Twilight looked at Star Twinkle and was still concerned. "I know what you are thinking..." she simply said, much to the stallion's confusion. "She has a chance to fly with her idols, and as long as she helps Ponyville to qualify, it's okay." Shivers were running down Star Twinkle's back because of how Twilight pretty much repeated what he thought a few seconds ago. "But remember, our team needs a little more help then theirs,"

Star Twinkle understood what Twilight was saying but he still had to point out something else. "Sure but...you have to keep in mind that the Wonderbolts might not even have the chance to qualify for the Equestria Games. She must feel bad for that too." Twilight still stood by her previous opinion but she was getting what Star Twinkle tried to say. If Star Twinkle kept training with Fluttershy and Bulk, then they still could improve a little and Rainbow Dash could help them in the race tomorrow. "As long as Rainbow Dash is ready tomorrow, things could still turn out well..." Star Twinkle explained.

The conversation between Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts seemed to be over and Rainbow Dash returned to the two ponies. For some reason, she had a really joyful reaction on her face and couldn't help but to jump up and down in excitement.

"You won't believe it!" She said excited, giving the two not even time to reply. "Soarin's wing is probably not healing in time so the Wonderbolts want me to join their team permanently! It's like a dream come true!"

Of course, the two ponies didn't share the same excitement then Rainbow Dash after hearing those "good news". "Aren't you forgetting something?" Star Twinkle said.

"Yes. What about our team?" Twilight said. "If you fly for Cloudsdale, Pinkie Pie won't have anypony to cheer for. Rarity's uniforms will never be seen. And Applejack will have slaved over those apple brown Bettys for nothing,"

Rainbow Dash only seemed to have realized that problem just now and began to panic once more. "Oh, but I really wanna fly with the best team! What should I do?" She then asked, fully knowing that she now had to choose between two teams.

Star Twinkle would have straight out told her that she should rather stay with Team Ponyville but Twilight interrupted him. "I think this is a decision you have to make on your own," she then asked Star Twinkle to follow him back to their own training area, in hope that Rainbow Dash would make the right choice by tomorrow.

Of course, as soon as Star Twinkle and Twilight were far away enough from the mare, he quickly asked what that was about. "Shouldn't it be better if we tell her that Team Ponyville needs her more then they do? You know, cause we're her friends?" He asked boldly, expecting Twilight to have a good reason to not help Rainbow Dash finding an answer.

But Twilight was staying with her decision. "It's no longer spending time with either her friends or her idols. Now it's time for her to chose who she wants to help to get to the Equestria Games. Whoever she doesn't choose stays behind. The only one who can make that choice now is her..."

"And what if she doesn't choose us? Like you said before, our friends work will all be for nothing," Star Twinkle pointed out.

Twilight didn't look like as if she was too happy but she still thought it was the best thing to do, right now. "Let's just hope that she will make the right choice..." she simply said before she walked back to the Ponyville training ground.

Star Twinkle looked back at Rainbow Dash who was now trying to think really hard what to do in her current situation. "I hope she does..." he then said before he returned to his training ground as well.

On the next day...

It was still early in the morning. The training already started as soon as Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps showed up. Of course, Star Twinkle was eager to know what Rainbow Dash decided to do from now on but the problem was, she didn't show up. Yesterday she was at least showing up in the morning before she vanished to train with the Wonderbolts but today, there was no sight of her.

Twilight was also waiting for her and wanted to know what choice she made and kept close to Star Twinkle, Fluttershy, and Bulk. She also had no idea where the mare was. "She's not here yet?" She asked Star Twinkle, wondering where the usual pretty earlier Rainbow Dash was.

"No. You have any idea what's up with that?" He asked back, only to see Twilight shrugging her shoulders in confusion.

But then, almost on cue, Rainbow Dash voice could be heard in the distance, slowly getting closer to the group. "Woe is me! Oooh!" She groaned as if she was in deep pain. As soon as everypony spotted her, they realized why she was groaning like that. She was sitting in a wheelchair and slowly approached the group with a painful expression on her face. Everypony quickly rushed to her to find out what happened. She had bandages all over her body, her hooves, her wings, her neck and her head.

"What happened?" Fluttershy obviously asked after seeing Rainbow Dash like that.

Rainbow Dash just replied that she hurt her hoof while she continued to groan in pain. The Wonderbolts, as well as the Storm Wings, who were all close by, wondered how she managed to hurt all of her hooves at once.

"I, uh, tripped on a-a foam hoof and landed on a...pokey stick coming out of the ground..." Rainbow Dash explained.

Needless to say, getting all your hooves hurt in such a way was a little weird, if not even very unlikely. Only an idiot would believe something like that.

"If I get my hooves on that pokey, it'll be in big trouble!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed angrily. She didn't even seem to question how Rainbow could have gotten hurt by something like that.

The most important question, of course, was now, if Rainbow Dash was able to fly like that. By now Rainbow Dash seemed to over-exaggerated things a little bit too much. "I'll be lucky if I ever fly again!" She said, followed by a sigh. "I just need a little rest,"

Fluttershy offered to take the mare away to a doctor, or at least someone who had medical knowledge. The Wonderbolts decided to leave the scene as soon as they were done watching that. They didn't seem to be too happy to see another one of their members not being able to fly in time.

Star Twinkle looked over to Twilight, who he could swear had the same facial expression that he must have had after seeing Rainbow Dash. They were both coming to the same conclusion that she was just pretending to be hurt so that she didn't have to choose any team and not letting down anyone.

For a second they were feeling a little bad for suspecting that however, especially if it turns out that Rainbow Dash was actually hurt. But as it turns out, not only Star Twinkle and Twilight were coming to the same conclusion.

"Sooo...why is Rainbow Dash pretending that she is hurt?" Cyclone Wing just casually threw out after everypony was gone except Star Twinkle.

"So you noticed too?" Star Twinkle replied.

"Yep, totally faking it," Steel Wing agreed while Hurricane Wing nodded in agreement as well.

"Thanks to what Mystic did to my brothers, I am pretty sure that I can distinguish real pain from fake one," Cyclone Wing explained. "Besides, Rainbow Dash is a really bad liar," he casually added.

Star Twinkle did notice too that Rainbow Dash seemed to over exaggerate a little. She normally isn't anypony who would openly show her pain and would rather toughen up in front of everypony. She was putting on quite a show for everyone. For Star Twinkle, that was enough prove to visit Rainbow Dash in order to find out what she was thinking of just doing something like this.

Later in the medic station...

As expected, the medic pony that took a look at Rainbow Dash, had no idea what was wrong with her. But still, nopony except, Star Twinkle and Twilight seemed to suspect Rainbow Dash to just play the hurt one. Everyone else didn't have a reason to disbelieve her because they didn't know about the whole secretly training with the Wonderbolts thing. In fact, they were heavily worried about her and tried to make her feel better in any way, like Applejack, who kept feeding her with her homemade muffins. But Rainbow Dash continued with her obvious act and kept pretending to be really weak.

Eventually, Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps both took a break from their training to visit Rainbow Dash. "We just wanted to let you know that we're so sorry you're hurt, but you shouldn't worry a bit about not being able to be in the tryouts. We'll be alright," Fluttershy assured. Star Twinkle didn't even think about it but with Rainbow Dash not being in any of the teams that Ponyville was now missing another member and couldn't take part in the trials later that day. But apparently, they have taken care of that.

Fluttershy called in the replacement for Rainbow Dash. A mare with a light gray coat, a blonde mane, yellow eyes, and a bunch of bubbles as a Cutie Mark. Her eyes were also crossed. Star Twinkle didn't want to be rude but it was actually that, which made him recognize the mare again. He didn't know who she was or what her name was but he remembered encountering her sometimes before. But whether he knew her or not was important. The important thing was if she was a good enough flyer to help Ponyville qualify for the Equestria Games.

"We're so, so sorry that you can't compete," Fluttershy said in her concern for Rainbow Dash. "We all know how much you love to fly. And we promise that if we qualify and make it to the Equestria Games and all win gold medals, you can have ours because we know how much a gold medal means to you,"

Rainbow Dash seemed to not expect those words and widened her eyes. "Thanks..." she simply replied. She clearly felt bad for letting down her friends.

In order to let Rainbow Dash rest for a while, the group decided to leave her and went outside. Star Twinkle and Twilight were the last ones to leave the room and decided to let her know that they were aware of her little act.

"You know, choosing not to choose isn't really a decision," Twilight simply said with a disappointing expression on her face before she followed her friends outside.

There was nothing much that Star Twinkle want to add to Twilight's words so he just decided to leave without a word. However, Rainbow Dash seemed to still want to talk about something. "Wait!" She said, causing Star Twinkle to stop leaving the room. He turned around and walked back towards Rainbow Dash, wondering what she wanted from him. She didn't hesitate and just went straight out with what she wanted to say. "Star Twinkle...do you think...I'm doing the wrong thing too?" She asked unusual nervous as if she was really scared by the stallion's response.

"Well, I don't really think its good...but honestly, I don't know what I would do in your situation either..." Star Twinkle replied.

Rainbow Dash had a pretty neutral reaction to that response. She didn't seem sad or happy but she was fully aware of how her decision to leave both teams hanging was not the right right choice. "Flying with the Wonderbolts means that I will be able to win in the Equestria Games! But If I do that, then my friends won't make it to the games and it's all my fault! What should I do!?" She asked Star Twinkle in her own frustration.

But Star Twinkle was not sure. He was not Rainbow Dash so he could not just make a decision and expect her to be happy about it. It was as frustrating for him as it was for her. "This all wouldn't be a problem if Soarin didn't hurt his wing, in the first place..." Star Twinkle expressed while indirectly blaming somepony else for this problem.

"Sorry..." A male voice then said behind the curtain who revealed himself as Soarin.

"Oh! Eh...What I meant to say is...I hope you your wing will heal up soon!" Star Twinkle said, in hope that Soarin didn't fully hear him.

But Soarin didn't seem to be mad or offended. "Don't worry about my wing. I'm just keeping it warm in case my team wants me back," he said which highly confused both Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash.

"What do you mean, 'wants you back'?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. "Spitfire and Fleetfoot told me that you were still too injured to fly!"

Soarin seemed as confused as she was. "And they told me that they were worried I wouldn't be one hundred percent by the tryouts, so they were going with somepony else!" He explained.

"That somepony else was me!" Rainbow Dash realized in shock.

This sounded very familiar to Star Twinkle. "It looks like the Wonderbolts were pretty focused on winning as well...even if it meant throwing out one of their own teammates..."

Hearing that seemed to have an effect on Rainbow Dash. Seeing Soarin depressed laying on his bed, waiting for the rest of his teammates to come back...he was clearly not enjoying his current situation. It was like as if Rainbow Dash was looking at her friends, who she left behind. "So, I guess we're all out of luck. Cloudsdale won't qualify without three fliers, and Ponyville won't qualify without you. Too bad..." He said before he turned around in his bed.

Rainbow Dash carefully thought about what to do. Star Twinkle could feel how an answer was about to come out from her so he patiently waited. However, all of the sudden, Star Twinkle could hear a voice inside of his head.

I wanted to stay with my friends...I wanted to spend time with them right here, right now...

Star Twinkle looked all around him to find out where that voice was coming from. He remembered that something like that happened before, back then in Manehattan not too long ago. "What was that voice? Why am I hearing random voices in my head!?" He wondered.

Then, a dark blue light was glowing in his eyes for a second without him noticing it and after that, Rainbow Dash had a rainbow-colored light in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash then suddenly jumped out of her bed and went to Soarin. "Come on! We need to return to our teams!" She simply said, much to everyponies surprise.

"Wait, does that mean?" Star Twinkle asked, having a slight clue what she was about to do.

Rainbow Dash only nodded with a determined expression on her face and led everypony outside.

Back on the training grounds...

Team Ponyville was either taking a really depressing break or they did give up on making it through the qualification because they were all sitting on the ground with their heads lowered to the ground. Rainbow Dash's replacement didn't seem to be a lot of help to carry the team to the Equestria Games.

But hopefully, that was supposed to change...

Rainbow Dash was walking past her friends for now. She first wanted to talk with Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were really surprised to see Rainbow Dash up again. Star Twinkle and Soarin followed close behind as well and waited for Rainbow Dash to explain things. She quickly took off all her bandages and shocked everyone around her even further. She then revealed the truth to everypony.

"I...faked my injury so that I wouldn't have to choose between flying for Ponyville or Cloudsdale. I wanted to fly with you both, and the decision was too hard!" She explained while at the same time feeling bad about letting her friends hanging like that. "I know now who I should've been loyal to. Ponyville," she said as she turned to her friends who happily took her back into their team "Because it's not just where I live, but it's where my friends are. The ponies who really care about me, whether I can help them win a race or not,"

Despite those heartwarming words, Spitfire was not sure how to feel about that. "Are you sure that's the right decision?" She asked confused.

"Well, do you think you did the right decision?" Star Twinkle then said, obviously hinting at the Wonderbolts leaving Soarin who was now visibly showing that he was a little angry.

After Rainbow Dash then confronted the two Wonderbolts about this, they felt like as if they were the ones who made a mistake. She convinced the two to apologize to Soarin and offered to take him back into their team. Soarin didn't show any grudge against his teammates and was actually pretty happy that he was back in Team Cloudsdale now so he flew up in the air in excitement.

Rainbow Dash shared Soarin's excitement as well. "Come on, Ponyville relay team! We've got a race to get ready for!" She said which was a sign that the rest of the day would be spent to train for the qualification and hopefully bring the team to the Equestria Games. The group were happy to hear that and did as she said and went back to train for the rest of the day.

Later that day, at the qualification...

"Cloudsdale qualifies!" One of the Judges said after Fleetfoot flew through the finish line. Cloudsdale managed to qualify with ease, as expected from the best flyers of Equestria.

Team Ponyville was starting only seconds after Cloudsdale qualified. Bulk Biceps was already flying through some of the rings. This time, he made it through every single one without much time loss. Fluttershy also seemed to have a good grip on the baton this time and didn't drop it. And of course, things started to look even better as soon as Rainbow Dash got the baton in her hooves. She was flying fast enough to make up more than enough time for the rest of the team. And before everyone knew it, Rainbow Dash was also flying through the finish line.

Rainbow Dash arrived next to the judge and was eager to know her time and if she qualified her team for the Equestria Games.

After a short silence, the judge spoke up and announced the result. "Ponyville qualifies!"

Cheers could be heard from Star Twinkle and his friends. Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps quickly flew up to Rainbow Dash and were cheering with and for her after their victory. The cheering on the ground was equally big. "Equestria Games, here we come!" Twilight cheered.

Star Twinkle was a little too focused on Team Ponyville so he didn't even realize how Twilight changed but as soon as he saw her dressed in a cheerleader uniform and a rainbow-colored wig, he couldn't help but think that she was a going a little too far with her cheering.

But he soon noticed that she didn't seem to be the only one...

"Go, Storm Wings!" He heard a mare screaming through the whole training ground. It was Breeze Flyer, another member of the Storm Wings, who was doing her best to cheer on the Storm Wings, who at this moment we're trying to qualify.

Steel Wing seemed to have given Cyclone Wing the baton already and the leader of the Storm Wings did his best to get it to Hurricane Wing as fast as possible. As soon as the baton was given to Hurricane Wing, he quickly accelerated through the air at the same speed as Rainbow Dash or Spitfire. It didn't take long until Hurricane Wing made it through the goal.

"Canterlot qualifies!" The judge then said, confirming that the Storm Wings also made it to the Equestria Games.

Now that the qualifications were over, the next step would be making a good figure at the Equestria Games. And considering that there were teams like the Wonderbolts and the Storm Wings competing with them, this would actually be pretty hard...

Later...

After the qualification was over, the judges made sure to give every pony, who passed the qualification, a badge, as well as making a photo of the whole group. In Team Ponyville's case, it meant that everypony of Rainbow Dash's friends would be in that photo.

"Now we have to make sure to take home as many gold medals as possible!" Rainbow Dash said, which caused her friends to cheer in excitement. It was good seeing her determined while being part of a team that consisted of her friends and the ponies who were part of her home.

The Wonderbolts didn't say much before they left, maybe out of respect for Rainbow Dash and her team, however, Spitfire gave the mare one last thing. It was a golden Wonderbolts pin. Spitfire must have given her that because she wanted to thank her for the lesson that she told her and her fellow teammates.

The Storm Wings were not too good when it came to saying their farewells but they were excited to race against Team Ponyville and the Wonderbolts so they spared a few words.

"Glad that you all made it to the games as well!" Cyclone Wing congratulated.

"Congratulation to you too!" Rainbow Dash replied happily.

"Oh, please!" Steel Wing replied offended. "There was never any doubt that we would make it!"

"Yeah, of course..." Rainbow Dash said jokingly under her breath.

And just like that, the Storm Wings left again. It was certainly a short conversation but nopony didn't mind. In fact, everypony was curious how they will manage against everypony in the Equestria Games.

"Mh...never thought that I would get excited about a sporting event..." Star Twinkle thought with a smile on his face.

The Equestria Games were bound to get really interesting. But there was still quite a while left until they were held so there was no point to get nervous right now. Because right now, it was time to go home to the place that they would soon represent in the Equestria Games...

Author's Note:

Yep, sadly no Pinke Apple Pie...
This actually makes me sad because it has my favorite song in the whole show in it...

Anyway!

I hope you are all excited for the Equestria Games!
Did you like Bulk's role in the show?
Were you excited for Derpy's return in the show?
I joined the fandom a little too late to get excited about her appearance so I was like
"cool..."

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you consider leaving some kind of feedback ^^. I would also appreciate it if you follow me so that you can be up to date of every other story that I write (which are all connected to this one).

See you all in the next chapter.
Bye Bye ^^.

Reading Order:

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 1 + 2(Chapter 1 - 53)

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Diary of The Storm Wings

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 3(Chapter 54 - 65)

Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 4(Chapter 66 - 91)