Changes In A Rainbow

by My Rainbow Dash

Chapter 12: The Friendship Games: Part 2

The thirteen CHS students all walked out onto the field, only to be stopped short. Their hearts raddled inside their ribcages. This was definitely something they weren't expecting. All five boys and the two remaining girls cheered for the six who got to participate. Surprise kept jumping in place.

"Awe yeah! you guys are so lucky! This is going to be the best thing ever!" She suddenly stopped jumping and turned to the rainbow-haired girl who continued to look down at her hands. She smiled. "Don't worry, Dashie. The motocross suits come with gloves. That way, you don't touch anything." Rainbow looked up and smiled. So, it was a good thing that the outfits come with gloves. Dash and Spitfire had motocross, Fleetfoot and High Winds got speedskating, and Blaze and Misty Fly got archery. Another thing that made Dash smile was that she was on motocross again. Just like last time they went against CPA.

~/\~

Meanwhile, the students at CPA were being given their parts. Cadence walked forward to address each of them.

"Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross." Indigo cheered. "Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the speedskating." The two fist-bumped. "Since archery is a standard requirement at our school, any of you should be able to do it. Sour Sweet and Spectrum Crystal will start us off." Sour Sweet and Spectrum smiled and gave each other a high five.

~/\~

All three teachers sat in their secluded areas away from the students. When everyone was ready, Dean Candence stood up and walked right up to the microphone.

"Welcome everyone to the Friendship Games tri-cross relay. All the students cheered. "In this event, our qualified competitors will face off in archery, speedskating, and finally, motocross." Rainbow revved her engine as she and Spitfire looked over at the other two. She met the eyes of Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat and mouth "sorry" to them. Cadence spoke again and held a small horn in her hand.

"So, if the competitors are ready..." She pressed the small button on the top of the horn, causing the sound to be heard all across the field. Misty and Sour Sweet jumped over a few hay mails to reach for their bows and arrows and did a final flip to find their target. Right before Sour Sweet could shoot, Misty flipped and launched a single arrow, hitting the bull's eye directly. "Heh, showoff," Dash thought to herself. Right after her, Sour Sweet also hit the center of the target with the help of three arrows, with only one hitting the center. Both teams cheered. Blaze and Spectrum did the same, making the shots directly at the center of the targets. After the last two arrows made the center, Fleetfoot, High Winds, Lemon Zest, and Sunny Flare sped off.

Rainbow was impressed. Spectrum Crystal was obviously more talented than Twilight. Twilight was also very inexperienced in it, so, that was why Crystal Prep had a slow start. She watched as the four speed skaters sped around the track. She had to admit, Pinkie and Rarity we good, but Fleetfoot and High Winds were fast. As a matter of fact, they were beating the Crystal Prep students. The speed skaters needed two laps to make their team's motocrossers start. Rainbow looked down at her gloved hands. She was wearing the gloves that had come with the motocross outfit. She wasn't too happy about it, but it was better than nothing. She took a deep breath before putting her hands back on the handlebars and looked up. She felt a squeeze on her shoulder and turned to see Spitfire smiling at her.

"Let's take 'em down!" She said. The two fist-bumped and looked back at the speedskaters. The two Cloudsdale students were in the lead, and at that moment when they crossed the finishing mark, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash sped across the dirt path. The two girls looked behind them to see that Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare had caught up to the two skaters which made Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap behind them. Rainbow continued taking deep breaths.

"Easy does it." She told herself. "Breath. Focus on what you're doing and win it." She took another deep breath, clenched her fists around the handlebars, and zoomed away from the CPA students who had apparently caught up to her due to her blanking out for a moment. When she pulled up next to her friend, Dash saw Spitfire give her a concerned look.

"You okay?" She asked over the loud noises. Dash shrugged and looked back in front of her.

"Doing my best to remember what needs to be done compared to what isn't important." Spitfire nodded and the two continued racing, still ways from the other students. Dash was surprised at the fact that the bikes were giving such strong stamina."How are these things going so fast? We're so ahead of them." She pointed out to her partner. Spitfire was about to say something, but the sound of motors from Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap began to come closer. The two Wonderbolts looked at one another and nodded. They kicked into the highest gear and continued racing. The sound of beeping was heard from one of the bikes and the two looked down. Spitfire's bike was running low and they both knew it wasn't going to last longer. Then the two did something no one ever thought of. Still holding onto the handlebars, Spitfire had jumped onto her saddle while keeping the bike on balance. She let go of it and stood up fully, then jumped off the bike and landed right behind Rainbow as her bike fell off the edge. The two rode to the finish line together with the CHS students cheering loudly. They were only a few feet away from it when something very unexpected happened. Though the gloves managed to keep Dash's magic at bay, they weren't the right ones. Dash felt something coil around her wrist to see that her gloves were destroyed. She screamed in shock and let go of the handlebars, causing the bike and both girls to fall over. There was a gasp over the crowd, but then a cheer erupted from the CPA bleachers. The fallen cyclists looked up to see that the two CPA cyclists had run through the finish line, making them the official winners of that round. Rainbow looked down. This was all her fault. She should have kept her eyes on the road! Not her hands!

'STUPID!' She cursed to herself. 'SO FUCKING STUPID! WHY DID I DO THAT?!?!' She felt arms around her. Spitfire's embrace made her feel comforted. The two girls removed their helmets and walked away, ashamed. At least that's what Dash felt like. The four other relay girls either ran or skated over to them. Fleetfoot skates over and hugged her after Spitfire had let go. Blaze handed her her gloves which Dash gladly accepted.

"I'm sorry." She whispered in a small voice. The six looked up to see that the Crystal Prep students actually looked happy. She sighed, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "C'mon. Let's go." With that, the six girls left the field.

~/\~

While their school cheered for them, the six CPA contestants were still confused about what just happened. Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap all worried for their friend. Even though they saw Dash as a "rival" because she was from the other school, she was still their friend from before she moved. Indigo bit her lip and took a breath.

"I'm going after them," she told her friends. They stared at her in shock. Sunny Flare walked in front of her.

"Are you crazy? She's with five of the most competitive female Cloudsdale students. And you want to go up to them as if nothing happened? Have you lost your mind?" Indigo put her hands on her friend's shoulders.

"I just want to talk to Rainbow Dash for a little bit. After that, I'll come back." With that, she ran through the doors that the six CHS girls had walked into. Sunny Flare clenched her fists and ran after her. Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Sour Sweet followed behind her.

They quietly opened the door and hid around the corner that the six were standing in. They heard Dash speak.

"I'm sorry I made a fool of you guys out there. If I'd kept my eyes on the road and not my hands we would have won. Why was I an idiot to not do what was necessary? I'm sorry." The five friends looked at one another. So there was a reason why she and Spitfire fell.

"It's okay, Dash." They heard Spitfire speak. "We all make mistakes. What happened happened. Besides, there's the third round. Lucky for us, we're in it. Heck, maybe you can prove to everyone that you're friends with the CPA students then, that way the games can end happily. At least, I hope that that can happen. I hope nothing too serious happens." Dash snorted.

"Like my powers going out of control? The games would end similarly to how they ended last time. I really don't want that." Indigo decided it was time and walked around the corner.

"Hey, Dash." Rainbow's eyes snapped up to the CPA student. The other four rounded the corner and stood next to her. Dash smiled, then frowned.

"Congratulations on winning that round." The five students looked at each other, then back at the saddened girl. Sour Sweet cleared her throat, causing the other girls in the room to look over at her.

"I know that this would probably hurt our school's feelings, but honestly, I think it would've been better if you won that one. You should have crossed that line before us. But, what happened to you that caused you to fall? I mean, last time, you turned around to save a friend, but this time, you fell off. What caused it?" Silence filled the room. The other five rivals bit their lips. "It's fine if you don't want to say-"

"It was caused by me getting scared because my magic managed to tear the gloves of the motocross outfit. Once I noticed it, it caused me to panic and let go of the bars which caused us to fall. I can keep the magic under control a lot of the time, but when I'm nervous about something, like the games, it's best for me to wear gloves to keep the magic at bay, that way I don't cause a snowstorm or freeze everything around me. That's why I was so scared earlier." She shook her head. What was something that could cheer her up? She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Indago Zap standing next to her.

"Remember when we said that we'd show everyone we were friends at the last event?" Rainbow nodded. "Well, why not do it now?" Dash rose a brow.

"Uhh, how exactly?" Indago smiled.

"What about a performance?" Dash's brow stayed raised.

"A performance? Of what?" Sour Sweet smiled.

"How good are your dancing skills? I mean, we know how everything was in our music video of “Dance Magic”, but you’ve gotta have more than just that. Am I right?" RD opened her mouth to speak, but Blaze beat her to it.

"You kidding? Dash is an awesome dancer. Probably one of the best." Something came into her head. "Hey, speaking of dancing, there's a talent show coming up after The Games. Maybe she should sign up." The others spoke in agreement. Rainbow smiled. She was happy she had such amazing friends. Dash put a fist to her chin.

"I've choreographed dances before. It is pretty easy and I could teach it to you guys." The other ten girls looked at each other, then back at the rainbow-haired girl.

"How easy is it?" Lemon Zest asked. Rainbow Dash smiled and began teaching the dance.

~/\~

After ten minutes or so, the eleven girls walked back onto the field.

Baby One More Time

(I recommend watching the official video first and imaging Dash being in Britney's place and the other girls being the background students from that school.)

After the girls finished dancing, both schools roared in excitement soon realizing that the rainbow-haired girl was friends with the five CPA girls. Sunny Flare looked over at Dash.

"Honestly, I don't think it's necessary to have a final round. I mean, c'mon, we literally just showed them that we're friends. There's no point in having something else after this." The other four CPA girls nodded in agreement. Rainbow smiled at them. She had such amazing friends. Speaking of friends, the other seven friends who were sitting on the bleachers walked over to them. She felt a hand on her shoulder a looked to see Spitfire looking at her.

"You do realize what you did, right?" Dash cocked a brow. "It means you brought our schools together. You did that, no one else. You're super special and have the power to bring others together. That's why you're our best friend." Spitfire smiled a warm smile and hugged her friend tightly. The other nine teens cheered for her and Rainbow's cheeks darkened.

"Hehe. Thanks. It means a lot." The polychromatic girl turned around to face Spectrum Crystal and walked over to her. Spectrum was surprised but stayed in place as Rainbow Dash walked towards her. Dash stopped in front of the CPA student. She gave her a smile and reached out a hand. Spectrum was surprised at first. The CHS girl was accepting her with open arms.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanna be friends." Crystal hesitated at first, before placing her hand in Rainbow's. The two girls smiled, and to the CPA girl's surprise, the prismatic girl pulled her in for a hug. Spectrum warmly accepted it and returned the gesture. The seventeen teens all cheered and came around the two girls. Rainbow smiled as she released the hug. "Welcome to the group," she said and Spectrum's heart swelled with excitement.