Help

by WittyNameTFM

Chapter 24. Friends and Rivals

"C'mon, Light. You know you're happy I got picked." The shorter, purple girl grinned, walking backwards. 'Light', the teal skinned blonde rolled her eyes as she listened.

"Now we got Rolling Thunder, Lightning Dust, Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot on the same team! We're gonna be unstoppable." She boasted excitedly as she counted off the names on her fingers.

"Do you even know how to play soccer?"

"You kick a ball into a goal, it can't be that tough to pick up on." She shrugged.

Lightning's eye twitched.

"I mean…you make it look so easy?" She asked, shrinking back from the annoyed girl.

"I expect you to take this seriously, Roll." Light sighed. "It's one of the few things I enjoy about school. If you drag it down I won't forgive you."

"Right, right." She threw an arm around her shoulders. "You can count on me, luv." She grinned before being gently shoved off.

"Why'd you wanna join anyway?"

Roll shrugged. "You and Dash always have fun doing it. Why not?"

"I'm so happy that one of my interests is just a passing fancy to you." Light said flatly.

"Oh, come off it. You're glad you have another friend on the team."

"'Friend' is pushing it."

"Okay. That one actually hurt." She pouted, Light reflexively cringing.

"Wai-"

"Aha! That hesitation. You like having me around." Roll smirked.

"I hate you."

"Speaking of, shouldn't we be at practice?"

"We don't have practice today. We're going to a gym downtown."

"Ah. Alrighty. I haven't been to a gym in a while."

"It shows."

Roll gasped, offended. "How dare you?"

Light smirked this time, shrugging. "You were gassed after the first few minutes of tryouts. I could tell. Dash could too."

"And you still picked me?"

"Nepotism, I guess." She said with an eye roll. "Must be because we're such good friends."

"Well now I feel like I cheated…" Roll huffed.

"Then earn your spot." Light said over her shoulder as they reached the door, opening it for Roll to enter first.

"Welcome to Crystal City Fitness, how can I help you?" Indigo asked, looking up from the papers on her desk.

"Ain't you the chick from Crystal Prep?" Roll asked.

"Her name is Indigo." Lightning said. "You work here?"

"Yeah. Receptionist and I help keep the place tidy." She shrugged. "You look familiar, I don't think we ever spoke though." She searched her memories. "You're from Canterlot High. Part of Dash's soccer team?"

"Yep. Name's Lightning Dust. I'm the vice captain." She extended a hand. Indigo took it and shook gently.

"So, how can I help you two today?" She asked, Indigo's mood seemed to lift as they spoke, initially somewhat reserved, now she felt more familiar, as if she was glad to have a normal discussion.

"We were just looking to try out some of the facilities here. It's got more options than we do at our current gym." Light said.

"I'll give you the rundown. Oh. We also offer a wrestling training class on certain days, though you'll have to sign up for that when they have openings." Indigo noted as she stood to guide them.

“Y’know, I didn’t figure that people from Crystal Prep had to get jobs…” Light thought aloud as she followed her. “Figured you guys had it made with your rich families.”

There wasn’t a hint of malice in the statement, but Indigo still felt her guard shoot up. “Some of us don’t have the best family lives.” She offered, leaving a heavy implication in her words.

“Sorry. I just-” Light said with a frown.

“You couldn’t have known. Don’t sweat it.” Indigo said, glancing back. Light wasn’t ignorant to the tiniest of changes in someone’s demeanor. Indigo had withdrawn for whatever reason, it was clearly a touchy subject.

“I suck at family stuff, never had a real one.” She said with a nervous chuckle. “There’s gotta be some good in it, right?”

“It would have been preferable to not have the family I found myself in.” Indigo said flatly. “I’m in a better place now though.” She took a breath, obviously trying to compose herself.

“I’m sorry. A happy family is what I grew up wanting so badly.” Light said with a frown.

“A happy family is not what I grew up in.” She admitted.

“S-So, the gym, eh?” Roll said, trying to divert the conversation, elbowing Light as she began to speak up again.

“Right! Sorry about that.” Indigo chuckled with a small smile.

“No, no, it was my bad.” Light chuckled as well, sporting the same small smile. Roll glanced between the two. They seemed to react fairly similarly, almost uncanny how they had a few of the same mannerisms.

Aside from the heights and skin tones… Roll cupped her chin in thought. ‘If Light slicked her hair back instead of spiking it, they’d be spitting images…’

A quick trip around the gym, Indigo showed off the different machines and amenities for the members. They walked around the ring that stood in the back for the wrestling classes, a lone young woman was moving back and forth bouncing off the ropes.

“She’s doing reps, you have to put in a lot of cardio work for wrestling.” Indigo supplied the confused looking girls.

“Ain't that the fake stuff?” Roll asked.

"None of it feels fake to me…" Indigo said with a chuckle. "But I thought the same at first. Had a big nerd introduce me to a few matches. It's really fun. Guess I can understand that it's not for everybody."

"I guess I just don't get the appeal?" Roll asked. "Ya go out and pretend to beat yer mates up then one o' yas loses."

"Sort of." The girl in the ring spoke up. She leaned over the ropes. "We work together to make a compelling story with physical theater." She explained. "Weaving together plot lines beyond the ring into a narrative that the fans can follow and invest in." She pulled back on the top rope before skillfully hopping over it to land on the floor beside the ring. "Michiru Mishima. Teacher for the wrestling classes." She extended a hand.

Roll shook it without a thought. "That was pretty cool. What goes into all this?"

As she shook Light's hand she looked back to the ring. "A lot of blood, sweat and tears. Or so the old adage goes." She chuckled. "Indigo, are you bringing me more students? I oughta compensate you for the promotion work you do." She teased, turning back to Roll. "Hours of training, a lot of self promotion and a good bit of luck. Lots of athletes can claim to be the best, but you never see them make it." She shrugged. "It's not an easy path to walk, but it's the most fun I've had in my life."

"Sounds like a pain." Roll said flatly.

"It can be, but it can also be the best thing ever." She said with a nod. "Come check us out sometime."

"We should drag Dash into it too." Roll said, looking to Light.

"We can ask, but we're not making her do anything." The taller one said tiredly.

"Cool! You can probly learn a thing or two from our ace student." Michiru said, putting an arm around Indigo's shoulders.

All three girls looked surprised.

"Wha? I'm no 'ace'."

"You're doing so well, Indigo. I wish you'd get outta your head about accepting praise." She shook her gently.

"So, you're training?" Light asked.

"I-, Yeah, it's been kicking my ass, by the way." She said, more toward Michiru. "But it's been pretty fun. At least as much fun as being thrown onto the mat can be."

"You get used to it." Michiru shrugged with a grin.

"Maybe we'll look into this." Light crossed her arms. "I've been looking for something to do after school anyway."

"We'll be happy to have you." Michiru said. "Gotta get back to it, it's been a few weeks since my last match. Gonna need to knock off the ring rust." She smiled.

"So, what do you think of our facilities?" Indigo asked.

"Pretty impressive. I'd like to start coming here." Lightning said, glancing at Roll. "What about you?"

"You know I'm wherever you go." She replied with a grin.

"Ignore her. She's a shit." Light sighed.

"Are you two…" Indigo began,

"No."

"Yep."

They both attempted to cut her off, Light shot a glare at her friend, who sported a sly smirk.

"Roll, god dammit."

"I'm teasing, I'm teasing. She's ashamed of me." Roll said, feigning hurt.

"Don't say shit like that! I'm not a piece of shit." Light huffed.

"Alright, Alright. We're just friends. I like poking fun at her." Roll clarified. "Light's got her eye on somebody anyway. I wouldn't stand a chance."

"You're exhausting." Light sighed. Indigo chuckled.

"You got it rough, buddy." She patted the taller girl's back.

"You have no idea. I have like three of them around me all the time." The blonde groaned. "At least Lyra doesn't claim to be dating me…"

"Only 'cuz she'd get in trouble." Roll interjected.

"You're probably right and I'm not happy about it." Light said flatly. "I bet you don't have to go through this stuff, Indigo, do you?"

"Not to that extent, but I get you." She said with a nod. "Lemon could be a bit rowdy, but nowhere near as nuts as Roll."

"Oh, I heard that you dropped a bunch of teams. You still lead soccer right?" Light asked as they walked back to the desk.

"I do. We have a game coming up soon, don't we?" She asked over her shoulder.

"I hope that just because we're not at each other's throats anymore that you won't go easy on us." Light smirked.

"Oh, of course not. Cinch may be gone, but we still have a record to uphold." Indigo smirked back. Roll glanced between the two, noting the similarities again. She simply shrugged it off, Light and Dash were just as similar.

"May the best team win." Light extended her hand, Indigo shook it with a nod. "Truth be told, I'm glad I ran into you. Dash told me you were actually pretty cool, but there hadn't been a good opportunity to meet up with you recently."

"I have been a bit radio silent on Dash since the games. Tell her I'm doing okay, there's just been a lot of changes in my life. That's it. Trying to get adjusted."

"I understand. I'm still getting used to having a large group of friends." Light chuckled. "And it keeps growing, despite my best efforts."

"Oh yeah? I think I'm in the same boat." Indigo laughed. "One of them just wouldn't leave me alone and now suddenly I'm surrounded."

"The same thing happened to me. Lyra wouldn't back off and I ended up having to knock some dudes senseless to save her stupid ass. Now we're best friends." She shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

"Huh. Sounds similar to something I did a while back, nowhere as cool though. I just headbutted a bully and he cried." She crossed her arms as she thought back.

"Tell 'er how we became friends." Roll said, poking over Light's shoulder. She stood on her tiptoes and just barely peeked over.

"You were hired to bully Moondancer." Light said flatly.

"I was lied to!" Roll huffed. "Then I took a knife to the gut and saved the day."

"Wha?!" Indigo asked in shock.

"Yup!" She pulled her shirt up to show off her toned stomach, a scar was placed on the right side, just above the waistband of her shorts.

"Holy shit."

As she inspected the healed wound, the door behind them opened, Light spotting the fellow Shadowbolt, who stopped as she saw Indigo staring at the girl whose shirt was held up.

"Indigo!" Sunny's voice caused her to jolt out of surprise.

"Wha?! Sunny?" She turned around quickly to find the actress stomping up to her.

"I thought you were at work." She said, crossing her arms.

"Why do you sound mad? What happened?" Indigo asked, confused, a sinking feeling in her chest began to tug at her.

"You got her in trouble." Light said quietly.

"How could I have known she had a lady friend?" Roll asked as Indigo tried to placate her friend.

"She was showing me a scar!" Indigo tried to explain.

"Hmph. A likely story." Sunny huffed.

"Sorry, that's true." Roll spoke up. "Didn't mean to cause an issue with your gal-pal." She pointed to the spot. "I was showing her a stab wound." She lifted her shirt just slightly this time to show her as well.

Sunny looked between the girls before sighing. "Okay, you're off the hook, Indigo."

Indigo sighed in relief.

"She's Indigo's Moondancer." Roll said simply.

"What does that mean?" Sunny asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, nothing. Nice to meetcha, name's Rolling Thunder, you can call me Roll." She extended a hand, Light taking the chance to introduce herself as well.

As Sunny shook Light's hand, the taller girl noticed how her gaze lingered for a moment longer than usual. A searching look. Sunny immediately looked at Indigo right after.

"Something on my face?" Indigo asked.

"No, dear. I just-" She shook her head. "Nevermind. I apologize for causing a scene." She said with a frown, tactfully changing subject, which Light and Roll caught. Indigo…

"It's okay, don't worry about it. It's better you walked in on that than someone else, to be honest." She chuckled.

Fell for it right away.

"We'll leave you two to your own devices. C'mon, Light." Roll said with a grin. "Good meeting both of ya."

"Later." Light waved before heading out behind the shorter girl.

"You…aren't mad at me, right?" Indigo asked after they found themselves alone.

"Of course not, Indigo. I'm sorry I reacted like that." She smiled softly. "Your shift should be over by now, right?"

Indigo reached into her pocket and noted the time on her phone. "Shit! They've been on us about over-time!" She said, quickly rushing to the computer.

"Making new friends?" Sunny asked, walking to the desk as Indigo typed her username.

"They're from Canterlot High. On Dash's soccer team, come to think of it. I haven't talked to her since the games." She thought aloud as she clicked 'clock out'. "And we're free!" She cheered. "Wanna get dinner?"

"Of course, I was coming to ask you the same." She smiled.

"Lead the way, I'm starving."

Author's Note:

Introducing some other stories into the canon! Check out Dancing With Dust for some more context on Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder.

I love making Light play the straight man, and between Roll and Lyra, she's constantly having to be the responsible one.

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Comments

[The Sleepless Beholder]

Hahahahaha it was fun seeing Lighting again, and her banter with pretty much everyone was great. hope they stick around more.

Very fun chapter, keep up the great work!

[WittyNameTFM]

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I'm glad you actually like how I write Light, I really have fun with her being simultaneously the most and least 'normal' of the group. Thank you for continuing to read this, sporadic as the uploads are.