Canterlot High's Sports Challenge

by LiQuiD

4.- First Training

---

- CHAPTER 4 -

FIRST TRAINING

---

(BGM)

It’s 5 o’clock in the morning and the alarm goes off in your room, you wake up feeling great and looking forward to start the day after having a nice dream, involving you and the team winning the qualifiers and Rarity giving you a kiss to congratulate you, it felt so real.

Firstly you do your morning exercises, there is no day where you skip your routine; you start with warmup stretches, arms and legs, then some pushups and you finish with some crunches. After you’re done you go to the bathroom to take care of your business; when that’s done you take a look at yourself in the mirror…you haven’t done this in a while, but this morning it’ll be different, you think to yourself as you grab a razor and shave off that scrawny beard that you have let grown since you started attending high school, perhaps Rarity will like you more if you start taking better care of your looks,then you take a quick shower. When that's done lastly you put on a tracksuit and stuff a clean change of clothes in your duffel bag.

You get out of your room and walk down the stairs slowly to not disturb your parents’ slumber, you have a light breakfast and before you leave for school you pet your dog; as you take a look at your watch which tells you that you have only ten minutes left to meet the others, you lock the front door of your house with your keys and get going, you watch as the sun starts to come out of the horizon, marveled by such beauty you let out an inspired sigh and get going because it looks like it’s gonna be an amazing day.

It is now 5:55 A.M. and you’ve arrived to school, two hours earlier than usual. You spot Rainbow Dash near the soccer pitch’s bleachers, hanging onto her feet upside down from a pipe doing crunches.

”205…206,” she counts, with sweat rolling down her face and torso.

“Wow…” you say under your breath.

As soon as she spots you she waves at you.

”Hi Anon! You’re early…that’s good!” She happily says.

“Hey Rainbow,” you say, still amazed at the complex way Rainbow trains, “so, when are we gonna start?”

”As soon as they get here…oh look! Here they come!” Rainbow Dash points at her friends.

Sunset Shimmer, Applejack and her big brother Big Macintosh arrive to the pitch, and they wave at you as soon as they see both of you.

”Howdy y’all…” Applejack says, followed by Sunset Shimmer who only says, ”Hi!”

“Hey,” you reply.

”It sure is cold today huh?” Sunset Shimmer says while rubbing her arms with her hands.

”It is, don’t worry sugarcube, you won’t feel cold once we start training, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack calls for her friend.

“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash asks.

”When are the others gonna show up?” Applejack asks.

”They should be here any moment now,” Rainbow Dash happily replies, “they should all be here by 6 o’clock as I told them to.”

---

(BGM)

An hour has passed, and the last players, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, have finally arrived to school.

”About time you two!” Rainbow Dash says raising an eyebrow; “you’re both an hour late!”

”Whoopsie, sorry…I like, totally overslept,” Sonata apologizes, Aria jut crosses her arms and roll her eyes.

”Well, you and everyone else! Apart from Sunset, AJ and myself…like, if I tell you to come here by 6 AM, you’re supposed to be here! Heck, even the newbie got here first!”

You take a look at the team, for the guys there’s Flash Sentry, Ringo, Brawly Beats, Big Macintosh, Bulk Biceps, Sandalwood, Curly Winds, Heath Burns, and of course…yourself. As for the girls there’s Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Cloudy Kicks, Tennis Match, Trixie Lulamoon, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Derpy, Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze.

”Wait a minute…there’s only nine of us guys here. Where’s the tenth one?” Flash sentry asks.

”The tenth one?” Rainbow ponders, ”oh right…”

”Wait! WAIT FOR ME!” A voice calls from not so far away.

”-HIM!” Rainbow Dash says feeling quite annoyed.

(BGM)

A weird looking guy sporting a man bun runs towards your group.

”Who’s that?” You ask Sunset Shimmer.

”That’s Fluttershy’s little brother Zephyr Breeze…Rainbow Dash doesn’t like him very much,” Sunset Shimmer says under her breath.

“Really now? How come?” You ask Sunset once again.

”You’ll see why very soon…” Sunset says as she crosses her arms.

”Heeeya Rainbow Dash, you guys haven’t started yet?” Zephyr Breeze asks.

“We were waiting for all of you to show up, you’re late…as always,” Rainbow Dash coldly says.

”You can’t rush perfection sweetie…I’m already here anyways,” Zephyr Breeze proudly replies.

”Why is Rainbow acting like that? She accepted him in the team after all...” You whisper to Sunset Shimmer.

”He begged Fluttershy to let Rainbow Dash accept him into the team…” Sunset Shimmer giggles, it was a late minute admission.

“Oh…”

Well, there goes your morning.

”Well then, since we don’t have enough TIME,” Rainbow Dash says while leering at a very uncomfortable Zephyr Breeze, “we’ll focus on two of the four events…cross-country and relay race.”

”Uhh…we don’t have a track where we can run,” Ringo says, “nor a swimming pool for us to swim.”

”But we have a sidewalk, so everyone will have to run five laps around our school, Twilight here will keep track of the time you make on the way back here for each lap to see who’s the fastest and the slowest. As for the swimming pool…I guess we’ll have to use the public swimming pool that’s near downtown.”

”Awww…that place sucks! Kids pee inside the pool!” Trixie says.

”Well, you got any other idea genius?” Rainbow Dash says.

”…Crystal Prep Academy has a swimming pool, perhaps we can ask Principal Cadance to-“

”No!” Rainbow Dash yells interrupting Derpy, “we are not gonna bend over to those snobs! It’s the public swimming pool or nothing.”

Everyone sighs and moans.

”Oh shush you…alright, form a line along the sidewalk and when I blow on this whistle you start to run understood?” Rainbow Dash says.

Everyone present nods.

Rainbow Dash blows her whistle immediately, catching all of you off-guard.

”Wh-what?” Flash Sentry says.

”GO! COME ON! RUN!”

Everyone starts to run, Trixie bumps onto Derpy and Sonata bumps onto you, you bump Sunset Shimmer and eventually everyone bumps into each other, then you all fall on the floor. Meanwhile, Zephyr Breeze stays behind, running into place next to Rainbow Dash.

”What the-?!” Rainbow Dash was taken by surprise by Zephyr Breeze.

”So…I’m gonna show you what this MAN is made of! If I end up winning this event will you go out with me?”

”GET MOVING!” Rainbow Dash yells at Zephyr Breeze.

”Y-yes Ma’am.” He replies, willing to show Rainbow Dash his speed.

”Ugh…this is gonna be hard,” Rainbow Dash says to Twilight.

---

Minutes later...

”Good job everybody minus one…I got all your times written down. It’s a mixed bag seriously, but I think we can lower these times by the end of the week,” Rainbow Dash says as most of your teammates groan.

”Can we take a break now?” Sonata asks.

”Hold on, we are not done yet. I’m starting to notice a pattern in the numbers,” Twilight says as she pulls out a time sheet, “ I think I can see which ones are gonna be in the Relay Race event since it’s about speed and which ones are gonna run in cross-country since it’s about endurance.”

Phew…your heart is beating so fast; you really gave it all out there. Even though, you were known as the slowest one on your former team…

”Anon was the fastest of all, congratulations dude! You’re on the Relay Race team!” Rainbow Dash happily says.

Huh?

Everybody cheers for you, except for Zephyr Breeze, he only rolls his eyes.

”So…which team will I be on Dashie?” Zephyr Breeze asks.

”Zephyr…you fainted in the fourth lap! You’re not gonna be in any of those teams!”

”W-wait Dash! I know I know…I’m not the greatest athlete, however I’m great at swimming! I’ll show you my skills later today okay?” Zephyr Breeze begs.

”Ugh…Fine! Well then, you all did great I think, however! The running track on Crystal Prep Academy is way harder than the sidewalks around our school so…you gotta be faster.”

”AAAAUGH!” Most of the team complains.

”The Great and Powerful Trixie believes that she is gonna pass out…” Trixie says, referring to herself in third person for some reason, making Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.

”You all knew what you signed up for…the only way from now on is forwards!” Rainbow Dash replies.

(BGM)

You look at your teammates, they all seem…tired.

”Ugh…I think I’m gonna barf,” Sweetie Drops says, Bulk Biceps sits down and rubs his freakishly thin legs, if you all make it through the qualifiers you can only hope there’s a weightlifting event in the near future because he would win it for sure, Big Mac looks tired as well.

”You too Mac? Seriously?” Rainbow Dash nags.

”He takes things easy Rainbow Dash…you know that,” Applejack steps in to defend her brother.

”Can we have breakfast now Rainbow Dash?” Derpy says, taking a muffin out of her backpack.

”Urp!” Sweetie Drops covers her mouth with one hand to prevent her from vomiting all over Derpy’s muffin, Derpy looks at Sweetie Drops and tears her muffin in a half to share it with her.

”Want some?” Derpy asks before Sweetie Drops runs away from her, looking for the nearest bush to…oh that’s just nasty.

”Ugh…this is totally lame! Seriously folks? Do you expect to beat Crystal Prep Academy and those other two high schools with THAT performance?!” Rainbow Dash scolds, “like; is that the best you can do?”

”We’re really tryin’ Rainbow Dash…” Applejack says in a defensive manner, “it’s a shame we don’t have a proper track to train on, all we got is the soccer pitch.”

”Yeah…you’re right. I wonder why our school doesn’t get enough funds like the other schools. I mean, why do those fancy snobs at CPA have tons of things we can’t even afford?” Rainbow Dash asks.

”Well, Crystal Prep Academy is a private institution and ours is a public one…for starters,” Sunset Shimmer says, “like, we don’t even pay an expensive admittance fee like they do.”

”Psshh…yeah right. I feel like Principal Celestia is just being a big and fat cheapskate, emphasis on the fat,” she says with a wink.

“Uhh…Rainbow Dash?” you raise a finger.

”Aaaand she’s behind me right now isn’t she…?”

You all nod as Principal Celestia clears her throat.

”Rats…heeey P-Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna…what are you two doing here so early?”

You can see how angry Principal Celestia is at Rainbow Dash, Vice Principal Luna however lets out a giggle.

”So, this is the team you formed right Rainbow Dash?” Vice Principal Luna says.

”Y-yes ma’am. These were the only volunteers…and we just finished training for the first time.”

”I…see.” Luna takes a look at the team, judging you all silently with a disappointed look on her face.

“We all know what you’re thinking,” Rainbow Dash snatches the chart from Twilight’s hand to show it to Vice Principal Luna.

”…huh, it could be better, keep up the good work everyone!” Vice Principal Luna changes her expression all of a sudden, ”your efforts will not go without a proper reward, however…we need you to WIN!”

”Hmm…” Zephyr Breeze ponders, “what’s in for us?”

Vice Principal Luna takes a look at the chart.

”I’m sorry Zephyr Breeze, I’m afraid you’re not fit to participate with the rest of the team.” Vice Principal Luna says.

”Aww what?” Zephyr Breeze protests, “I’ll do better! I promise!”

”Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumps her fist in the air.

Principal Celestia squints and takes a look at Zephyr Breeze, then at Rainbow Dash, her eyes go wide all of a sudden and then she puts on a mischievous grin.

”My sister is right Zephyr, but it’s not just you. I believe in your potential…but you look like you need special intensive training. So I’ll assign Rainbow Dash to be your personal coach!” Celestia says without remorse and gives Rainbow a smug grin.

”What?!” Both Vice Principal Luna and Rainbow Dash say.

”YES! I-I mean, yeah…I need some training alright, to be on top of my game once Saturday arrives,” Zephyr Breeze celebrates, “with Rainbow Dash by my side I’ll be hard as a rock…”

“You mean…you'll become tough as a rock, right?” You say.

“That too!” Zephyr Breeze replies.

”Eugh…” Sunset Shimmer says looking quite disgusted.

”C-come on Principal Celestia, I’m already busy training the rest of the team!” Rainbow Dash tries to bargain with the Principal.

”Sister, I don’t believe Zephyr Breeze will be able to progress in less than a week, look at the chart once again!” Vice Principal Luna places the chart in front of Celestia’s face.

”Nonsense! All I see is a student that needs to be motivated. Zephyr Breeze didn’t join the team for nothing, he did it to win the contest isn’t that right?”

“Wha-? OH! Right! The contest, yeah…” Zephyr Breeze replies.

”Ugh…fine,” Rainbow Dash gives up.

”Very well boys and girls, train as hard as you can!” Principal Celestia says, “goooo Wondercolts!”

As usual, nobody replies, Big Mac lets out a cough.

”Ugh…I hope Pinkie Pie gets here as soon as possible to cheer your indifferent faces, let’s go Luna.” Principal Celestia says.

”Good luck everybody,” Vice Principal Luna says and then winks.

”Don’t worry about us!” Zephyr Breeze says, waiting for the sisters to enter the high school’s building, once they are inside the building Zephyr Breeze approaches Rainbow Dash.

”So…about that ‘special’ training,” Zephyr Breeze says as he places his arm around Rainbow's shoulder. Rainbow Dash looks so miserable. Poor girl.

Comments

[FanMic]

I like the ending here. Made me smile.