Episode 9: "Bringing it On"
…
…
Even though they were all princesses of Equestria, Twilight and her friends had always found time to be with those they were close to. For Rainbow Dash that was an opportunity to continue being a Wonderbolt and also to continue to coach the School of Friendship's cheering squad.
One day, the cheer squad was out on the School of Friendship's buckball field trying to come with new ways to improve on their signature cheering routine. An important charity event was coming up and they needed to be ready, but it seemed that the routine that they were doing wasn't working.
"I just don't think it's good enough," Smolder sighed while jumping off of the shoulders of Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof. "Every time we try to focus on improving our routine, it just ends up with us getting stuck."
"I get what you mean, Smolder," Ocellus sighed, putting down the megaphone she was holding. "If we're going to try and raise bits for the war effort we've got to go beyond what we normally do."
"Yona agrees." Yona remarked.
"Perhaps maybe instead of friendship," Shimmy Shake suggested while grabbing a parchment with words written on it. "We say Equestria. Like this: Eques…tria. Eques…tria."
Taking the scroll, Ocellus made a note of what Shimmy had suggested.
"It's not a bad suggestion," Smolder remarked while flying over and looking over Shimmy's suggestion. "Because it's going to take more than friendship to beat some demonic goat and his band of goons. Not to mention that skeletal dinosaur Garble and I faced off against." The thought of Dinobot II attacking her and her brother in the Dragon Lands made Smolder shudder slightly.
"Hey team," Rainbow Dash called as she arrived on the scene. "How's it going over here?"
As Rainbow Dash arrived, the entire cheer squad bowed down to her, much to Rainbow's embarrassment. "Um, what are you all doing?" She asked in a confused and embarrassed tone. "Why are you all bowing down to me like I am a princess?"
"That's because you are a princess, aren't you?" Ocellus remarked as she rose to her hooves.
"Yeah, but princess or not I'm still your cheerleading coach," Rainbow advised while chuckling slightly to herself. "Don't let the princess title that I now have make you think otherwise. Anyways, what's all this 'updating the routine' I'm hearing about? Isn't the old routine just fine?"
"Well, given that we're doing a charity event to raise spirits and bits for the war effort," Lighthoof pointed out. "We all want to take our cheerleading routine to the next level, that's all."
Rainbow was taken slightly aback by this. She knew all too well what usually happened to routines that went beyond their description. "In what way…exactly?"
Almost as if on cue, the cheerleading team got into their routines and with their music playing, Rainbow watched as they went into their newly minted routine.
"Over and over and over again!" Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof cried as they began the routine with their rolling. "We'll cheer for our team 'til the ve-ry end!"
Flying overhead, Smolder breathed out smoke as Yona continued to stomp while Ocellus jumped out in front to lead the routine:
"Everycreature in the crowd, if you're feeling hip
When I say "Eques-", you say "-tria"!
Eques…!
…tria!
Eques…
…tria!
Welcome, everypony, to this charity show!
We're the friendship squad, and we're ready to go!
We're here to cheer and get you all excited to win!
If you'd like to join in, then you're all invited!
It's a simple cheer, so don't chime in late!
It goes two, four, six, BEAT GROGAR!"
"Well, what did you think, coach?" Smolder asked.
"Um…" Rainbow attempted to answer with her face scrunched. "Okay, that was not…bad, I think? I give you all an A for effort, though."
However, the cheer squad were seemingly not convinced by their coaches' word.
"Are you kidding?" Smolder remarked, flying in front of her coach. "That was more than an A effort! The performance was A plus and you know it! This cheer is going to knock the socks off of all who attend tomorrow's charity event. Just think, we'll raise enough bits to help win this war! Right gang?"
Still, Rainbow remained unconvinced and wondered if maybe perhaps her cheer squad was doing the right thing by altering their signature routine on the fly. Especially for something that didn't even rhyme.
…
…
Later that day, Rainbow left the School of Friendship while still feeling perplexed by her team's decision to change their routine for the upcoming charity event.
Still, Rainbow found herself with enough time to check on her little sister figure and her friends over at the CMC's clubhouse near Sweet Apple Acres.
"Ponyville Forever, yay!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders cried as Scootaloo flew her scooter through a hoop.
"Not bad, y'all!" Apple Bloom commented. "The creatures at that there charity tomorrow will love our routine!"
"A modern classic," Sweetie Belle added. "Who would've thought that our routine from the Equestria Games at the Crystal Empire was such a favorite?"
"Maybe because it's fine as it is," Rainbow couldn't help but comment, catching the Crusaders' attention. "At least from what I see."
"Thanks, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo replied, hugging her big sister figure. "Everypony's gonna love it. Too bad we can't enlist to fight in the war though."
"I think you're a little too young to be in an actual army, Scoot. Even your parents would throw a fit if you tried to enlist," Rainbow remarked, rubbing her hoof in Scootaloo's mane. "Besides, everypony is contributing in their own way, and you three are doing that right now with what you're doing."
As she spoke, the Crusaders were taken aback by how the older pegasus was looking at them. They could see that something was up.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked. "Is everything all right?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah! Everything's totally cool," Rainbow stammered as the Crusaders walked over to her. "It's just that…my cheer squad over at the School of Friendship decided to change their signature routine before the charity event tomorrow, just by tweaking a few lines."
"But why?" Sweetie Belle questioned. "I thought their routine was fine as it was. At least that's what everypony keeps saying."
"Yeah, it is!" Rainbow remarked. "And if they really wanted to come up with something new that'd be fine. But not so close to a deadline, and not by just changing a few words around."
"Maybe they need to see what happens like I once did," Scootaloo suggested. "Changing the routine so it would seem like I could fly? That didn't work out so well."
"Yeah, maybe they should see something like that," Sweetie added. "Not that we want them to fail, of course."
Rainbow realized that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were right. What her squad needed was a wakeup call to realize their last minute change wasn't going to help.
…
The next day, the buckball field at the School of Friendship was filled with creatures eager to do their part in the war against Grogar, depositing bits and other forms of currency that would go to the war effort in a specially marked can.
From behind the bleachers, Smolder and the other cheerleaders prepared themselves for their routine. "Okay, team. The crowd's settling in and our routine is going to rock their block!"
"Yeah, Yona up for challenge!" Yona happily stomped! "Yona can't wait!"
"Me too!"Ocellus added in an excited tone while holding her megaphone. "This is gonna be sweet!"
"Rainbow Dash was right," Scootaloo whispered to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as they observed the cheerleaders from afar. "They don't understand what they're doing."
"Yeah, but we can't worry about that now," Apple Bloom advised in a whispered tone. "We've got our own bit to worry about."
Stepping into the center of the field with a microphone in her aura, Twilight addressed the crowd of ponies and creatures in the stands. "Good morning, everycreature. And welcome to our war fundraiser. Today you will see the spirit of Equestria in full force as ponies and creatures come together to unite each other for a common cause: To defeat the enemy that threatens our land!"
The sounds of cheering grew louder and louder as the cheer squad prepared themselves for what was to come.
"And now," Twilight continued. "For the singing of our national anthem, please welcome Ponyville's favorite singer, Coloratura!"
As Coloratura stepped onto the center of the field, the cheer squad continued to grow more and more excited of what was to come. They knew that their updated routine was going to be a hit. When the sounds of the triangle dinged, the entire squad was in pleasing mode.
For the next hour, groups of ponies and teachers came out to demonstrate their passions to the crowd of ponies and creatures in the stands. Finally, the time had come for the School of Friendship's cheer squad to make their move.
"For our next to last act," Twilight declared. "Please put your hooves, wings and claws together for the School of Friendship's cheerleading squad, coached by Princess Rainbow Dash!"
Having already completed her routine with the Wonderbolts, Rainbow couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by Twilight's mention of her princess title, much to the amusement of the other Wonderbolts.
Taking to the center of the field, Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof moved first while Yona stomped in the background.
"Over and over and over again!" Shimmy Shake cheered.
"We'll cheer for our team 'til the ve-ry end!" Lighthoof added. And acting on cue, Smolder flew overhead and breathed out smoke while Ocellus took up her position and began to chant:
"Everycreature in the crowd, if you're feeling hip
When I say "Eques-", you say "-tria"!
Eques…!
…tria!
Eques…
…tria!
Welcome, everypony, to this charity show!
We're the friendship squad, and we're ready to go!
We're here to cheer and get you all excited to win!
If you'd like to join in, then you're all invited!
It's a simple cheer, so don't chime in late!
It goes two, four, six, BEAT GROGAR!"
With the party cannon going off, Smolder breathed her fire and just like that, the newly modified cheering routine was over.
The cheer squad waited for a cheering reply to come from the crowds, but much to their surprise, some of the crowd just sat there in silence. Right away, the squad knew that something was wrong.
"What gives?" Smolder thought, a look of confusion befalling her face. "Why isn't everycreature cheering? The entire audience should be on their feet cheering alongside us."
"Equestria, we have a problem." Rainbow whispered to herself in a low voice.
…
…
Feeling defeated by not getting the standing ovation that they wanted, the School of Friendship cheer squad walked off the field.
"What happened out there?" Smolder asked, throwing her pom-poms on the grass in disgust. "Why didn't everyone love our routine? It should have worked!"
"Maybe we didn't do enough," Shimmy answered, stamping her hoof down in frustration. "Maybe we could have changed the moves more than the words."
"Either way we failed," Ocellus sighed, throwing the megaphone aside. "All our hard work, ruined."
Yona said nothing, but fell down face first in shame.
"We've…we can't just give up," Smolder pleaded. "Maybe it's because everycreature isn't used to seeing us perform like that. They'll get used to it after a few tries. We just gotta practice harder!"
But the dejection of the cheer squad said otherwise.
Just then, Rainbow Dash came over to her cheerleaders to check on them. "You guys okay?" she asked.
"See for yourself," Smolder, directing Rainbow Dash to look at the disappointed cheerleaders. "We worked so hard on updating our routine and this is what we experienced. They just don't understand."
Looking over at Smolder, Rainbow felt that she needed to give her team some much needed encouragement. "Look guys," She suggested. "What was wrong with the routine you had? If it really needed work, why not build a new routine?"
"It doesn't speak for the war," Shimmy Shake protested. "My cousin is in the Equestrian army and I know for a fact he would want to try again and again to get this routine right! Our new and improved routine, it was to represent what we're all going through!"
"And what we all need to do to win this war. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a brand new routine on such short notice? We've only had a week to practice." Lighthoof added.
"Guys, maybe perhaps your new and improved routine isn't what everycreature wants to see." Rainbow suggested, much to the shock of her team.
"What do you mean?" Smolder growled with narrowed eyes. "Of course it's what they want to see! You're just trying to get us to change our minds!"
"Yeah!" Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof added, pointing at Rainbow Dash.
"I'm only saying that sometimes things are better off left untouched, like your routine!" Rainbow pleaded. "Everycreature loved the routine that you had. That's what they were expecting."
"It's not enough!" Smolder protested. "All of us as a team feel that we need to do our part to get everycreature to do their part! Grogar and his goons need to be stopped and we need everycreature to have the same mindset! The old routine wouldn't convey that! It doesn't even mention what we're fighting for!"
"Yeah!" Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof cried again.
"Look, guys," Rainbow sighed. "I respect you all for what you are trying to do, making the routine updated to better reflect the war, but…"
"But what?" Smolder asked with her arms folded. "Come on, spit it out!"
"I think that maybe you're all trying to be something you're not," Rainbow declared in a dejected, yet firm voice. "I mean, do you really think that everypony and everycreature suddenly wanted to see something like your signature routine changed for the sake of war against Grogar? Think about what you are really good at, think about what brought you to this moment in time. Build a routine from that, if you can. There would've been no shame in using the old routine one last time while working on a new one, the audience would understand."
The cheer squad watched as Rainbow Dash left and they all felt a sense of disappointment on their faces. Their coach, a princess of Equestria, had admonished them without raising her voice.
With the event having come to an end, Rainbow sat on the top of the Castle of Friendship, trying to come to terms with why her cheerleading squad was so hesitant about their routine. Why couldn't they come up with something new if the war effort was so important to them? They had a luxury few on the frontlines could afford right now: Time.
"Rainbow Dash?" A familiar voice called, and Rainbow turned to see Twilight standing behind her (having already landed on the roof). "Oh, sorry. I hope I'm not bothering you."
"No, you're not, Twilight," Rainbow Dash sighed as Twilight sat down next to her. "I'm just disappointed that my cheer squad just can't seem to understand that their routine was fine as it was. They didn't have to change it."
"Yeah, I will admit that everycreature in those stands was taken aback by what they saw," Twilight sighed in reply. "They all came expecting the cheerleading that our school is known for and…they got something completely different."
"Do you think I was too hard on them?" Rainbow asked, turning to look at Twilight much to the alicorn confusion. "I mean…telling them that they needed to decide on their own whether to correct their mistakes and make their own routine from scratch?"
Sighing, Twilight draped a wing over her fellow princess. "I think you did the right thing," She replied. "We can't all make decisions for everycreature. Sooner or later they all need to see the error of their ways."
"Then why can't they?" Rainbow sighed in frustration while rising to her hooves. "I have a ton of respect for my cheerleading squad, but why can't they have their own respect for what they do best? It just doesn't make sense."
…
…
Meanwhile, Smolder and the rest of the cheerleading squad were at the otherwise empty Treehouse of Friendship, trying to come up with ways to better improve their routine. However, a sense of frustration was building over in them.
Groaning, Smolder threw another parchment in the trash. "It's no use," The young dragon sighed as she turned around to her fellow cheerleaders. "We're never going to get this right!"
"Look," Ocellus suggested. "We've been here for several hours and still haven't come up with anything. Maybe all of us need to assume that we're never going to make our routine better than it already was."
"Yona thinks this all a waste." Yona sadly remarked.
"Don't say that!" Smolder hissed. "This isn't a waste, it can't be a waste! Look, we all agreed that if we're to inspire others to do their part in this war, we have to make our routine better than it already was before. There's gotta be a way to make a routine that fits the situation! We came up with a really great routine once, we can do it again if we just try hard enough!"
But the rest of the squad thought otherwise and said nothing.
Just then, the squad heard the sounds of hoofsteps coming up the stairs followed by a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" Ocellus pondered, before walking to the door of their workroom and opening it to reveal Celestia and Luna on the other side.
"I hope we aren't interrupting anything." Celestia greeted.
"Professor Celestia? Professor Luna?" Smolder asked while going up to her professors. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well, we heard about your…mixed reception to your performance today," Luna replied as she and her sister walked into the workroom. "And we heard about your argument with…er…Prin… I mean, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, she doesn't think our new routine was good enough, that we should've just stuck to what worked or come up with something entirely new on the fly," Ocellus sighed, sitting back down at her work spot. "I mean, you're a big sports fan yourself, Professor Celestia. Have you ever seen routines changed to better associate with the times?"
"Yes," Celestia answered. "And not strictly cheerleading routines either, if you understand what I mean. During Luna and I's tenures as princesses, we saw plenty of traditions be changed to better accommodate different situations, both on and off the playing field. Sometimes though, we would ask ourselves if they really were for the better."
"Do you agree with Rainbow Dash that our new routine was…not what it was meant to be?" Ocellus pondered.
The cheerleading squad waited anxiously for their professors to respond.
"As a matter of fact, young changeling," Luna replied in an honest voice. "We both think that your routine wasn't really that good. It was basically your old routine, but you just changed a few words last minute and threw off the rhyming."
This made the squad feel bad.
"However," Celestia chirped, before they could get more downhearted. "Try not to think of this as something that gets you all down. Sometimes we have to hear things we don't want to hear, even though it is meant to help us in the end. Personally, as your professors, we both love the routine as it was meant to be. But we also wouldn't mind if you invented something brand new, something that was truly a change."
"Sure there may be some naysayers out there," Luna added. "But try not to let them get you down. Everycreature loves your routine for what it is. And most would understand if you either stuck with it, or made something entirely new to suit the war effort. What you did before was trying to have it both ways, even though you rarely can."
With each word their professors spoke, the more the cheerleading squad realized what fools they had become.
"I guess that means one thing," Smolder sighed, sitting back down in her chair. "We all owe Professor Rainbow Dash an apology for screwing up the routine and changing it without even consulting her first. Maybe if we had she could've put us on the right track sooner."
Without hesitation the rest of the squad agreed, much to the delight of Celestia and Luna.
…
The next morning, the Cheerleading Squad gathered on the buckball field as Rainbow Dash arrived and landed in front of them. "What's up, team?" She asked, waiting for a moment to see if they would bow to her. They didn't. "Hey, why didn't you bow down to me? I mean, not that I mind you not doing it or anything."
"Well, we know that you didn't like it when we bowed to you, so we decided not to make that mistake again," Ocellus answered. "In fact, all of us want to apologize to you…for not realizing that our original routine was fine as it is. If we wanted to do something different we should've talked to you first."
"Yeah," Smolder added while walking up to Rainbow Dash. "All we wanted was to try and get ponies and creatures unified against Grogar and his goons. But it didn't work out that way."
Sighing, Rainbow Dash walked over to her team, gathering them around her. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you all understand the error of your ways," She told them. "In fact, I once coached a group of young ponies to be flag bearers for the Equestria Games and, let's just say, that one of them used to be just like you all, trying to be something that she wasn't. What do you say? From now on, we just focus on the routine as it is meant to be, right? And if something needs to be changed we work through it together."
The cheerleaders all cheered at their coach's words.
Meanwhile, from a short distance away, Twilight and her mother and big sister figures all watched the coach and her team celebrate. "At least that's settled," Twilight sighed. "Never try to change something you do best, right?"
"Exactly, Twilight," Celestia replied, looking at her daughter figure. "I like the routine just the way it is."
"Of course," Luna remarked, coughing to get Celestia's attention. "You've been meaning to change the story of Shakespony's greatest work for our school play this semester."
This made Celestia's eyes widen in shock.
"You mean the one where everypony dies at the end?" Celestia hissed at Luna. "Of course, I want to change it. It's so depressing!"
"But that's how it's meant to be," protested Luna as they turned to walk away from the field to avoid anypony else from hearing their impending argument. "Shakespony made this particular play a tragedy for a reason."
"Luna, I have a right to say that if its depressing it needs to be changed," Celestia snapped back.
"No, you don't!"
"Yes, I do!"
"No, you don't!"
"Yes, I do!"
With one resolution resolved, Twilight left the field to sort out the latest argument between Celestia and Luna, but grateful that the conflict involving Rainbow Dash and her cheerleading squad was finally resolved.
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All I can say is really good job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. Yeah, I can see where the cheer squad might feel they need to tweak the routine a bit, but I adored how the Crusaders gave Rainbow the inspiration to give the squad a wake-up call AND Rainbow pointing out that the Crusaders are still a bit too young to enlist (complete with the Continuity Nod to "Flight To The Finish"). Ultimately, Rainbow had a good point about how, if they wanted to work on a new routine to ADD to their earlier work, it makes more sense to NOT try to do it last minute, but rather work on something new at a more gradual pace. Celestia and Luna's argument at the end concerning one of Shakespony's tragedies was another good point concerning what to change and what not to change. Yeah, that one falls under Both Sides Have A Point (yes, I can see where Celestia would want to try to make the story a bit more optimistic [especially when the students already have MORE THAN ENOUGH to worry about right now], but Luna is right in that there is a good reason that particular play is a tragedy).
But anyway, very DEFINITELY looking forward to more. And also have to wonder if Mean Six Twilight will think to have some means of keeping Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon under control to prevent them from double-crossing her the same way she and the rest of the Mean Six double-crossed Chrysalis (such as increasing her power with the Alicorn Amulet, becoming the new host of the Pony of Shadows or a combination of BOTH), showing that, at the very least, she is MARGINALLY more Genre Savvy than Chrysalis.
I managed to read this chapter too.
Liked the bit about Luna and Celestia sharing their take there.
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I am worried as heck about Mean Twilight subduing NMM and Daybreaker's clones like that. It will make the 2 look really bad and adds to the whole "Twilght is stronger than the Royal Sisters" issue given how the show writers shafted Luna and Celestia hard. Seeing Daybreaker humiliated like that will destroy the weight of Celestia purposely holding back out of fear of letting go and hurting everyone. Seeing NMM suffering that will wreck her potential there. Even if what we see are FAKES, it will still make NMM and Daybreaker look bad..