Equestria Girls - Canterlot Court

Earth and Equestria.

Two different worlds connected by a mirror.

Those two were as different as they come.

Evolution brought different species to the top of the chain, shaping society in different ways.

But one thing was the same, the love for sports.

Both worlds had many kinds of sports, either shared or completely different due to the anatomies of either species.

In Earth there were many sports, from the ever popular football of Europe, the football of USA, baseball that was played all around the world, and of course… basketball.

Schools made their teams, their cups, their tournaments.

Both male and female divisions had great popularity among students, fans and players alike.

Is in this world that a story was born.

A story that talks about a generation of players that brought female basketball to the eye of everyone in the country, a generation full of so many stars that it was known as the Galaxy Generation.

And it all started in the Canterlot Court one Saturday morning.

A pair of girls were walking through the street, one of the with her hair in a no-nonsense bun while the other had her own hair arranged in a wavy almost chaotic but still extremely styling style, both of them laughing and enjoying the peaceful morning while sharing a bag of caramel popcorn.

“Gotta admit it, Pinkie is seriously getting better in the kitchen, she could only do baked goods before” the red and yellow haired girl of the duo said before putting a couple of kernels in her mouth, with a few bites she enjoyed the crisp and sweet flavor in them.

“It was nice of her to give us this bag” Twilight commented back, her glasses didn’t hide the enjoyment from not only the popcorn but spending time with her new friends.

“Nice nothing, Pinkie is always like that, she makes so much of a thing that she ends up giving samples to everyone, that’s how she is; she probably has another fifty bags or so in her house for her sisters and the other Rainbooms” answered back Sunset making Twilight giggle at the mental image of a mountain of popcorn on top of Pinkie’s bed, although considering the girl they were talking about she probably dived into it and took a nap inside.

Everything was perfect before they both had to walk right in front of Canterlot High School and Sunset soon found herself without company for a second. Stopping and turning around she found out why.

Twilight Sparkle, the non-princess member of their tight-knit group was looking at what was left of the Wondercolt statue with a look that Sunset knew so well, it was a look that she herself had used to many times through the last few months, guilt.

“Twilight… it was not your fault” the aforementioned girl flinched slightly before looking at Sunset.

“I… I know… mentally I’m aware that it is true, but I guess guilt can be extremely illogical”

“Well, yeah, but you know what helps?” the look of hope that was directed at Sunset was good enough answer “having friends at your side, family never hurts either… Tartarus, you can even talk about it with your dog and in this case it will answer back, so don’t worry Twilight, you don’t have to go through this alone” The brilliant smile of her friend told her that she had said the right things.

“And there you go again… thanks Sunset” Twilight said before looking at the statue ruin again “I just wish I don’t have to see the results of my magic mishap every time I arrive at school”

“Nah, don’t worry, Principal Celestia commissioned a new statue, I have no idea how but apparently it was covered by the school insurance” Sunset told Twilight “I guess the principals really got used to magic going wild in the school to be prepared for that, sometimes they scare me” that last joke made both girls start to laugh releasing the tension and guilt for now.

The mood that had been created was quickly shattered by the quick arrival of someone they knew well.

“Hey, wassup girls?!” the rainbow colored was a dead giveaway of who was quickly approaching.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Hey Dash! What are you doing here? Wait, are you wearing the Canterlot High jersey?” Sunset said taking notice of the attire of their friend, complete sneakers and a sports bag hanging on her shoulder.

“Well, yeah, the football pre-season is starting and we’re having a practice match with White Tail High” Rainbow told them with a huge grin in her face, it was obvious how much she have missed the school sports’ season.

“I didn’t know you played soccer Rainbow” for all answer Twilight only received a dark glare from Rainbow that made her want to hide behind Sunset, maybe even use her as a shield if things went wrong.

“Twilight, you’re my friend, but never, ever insult the beautiful game like that again”

“But isn’t that how it is called?”

“Just in this country Twilight” Sunset came to the rescue “in the rest of the world it is just called football, don’t ask me why, I have never found a logical reason for that since I came to this world” she said shrugging.

“Yeah, me neither, anyway, I just wanted to ask you a favor Sunset but if you and Twilight are in a date AUCH” Sunset’s fist found the target on Rainbow’s forehead “geez, it was just a joke, but really, I could use your help”

“Don’t worry Twilight, she was only joking” Sunset said to try to mollify Twilight’s embarrassment “she is always like that”

“Are you sure? I mean, I wouldn’t like that kind of rumor to spread around”

“Nah, don’t worry” Sunset fired back with both hands on her custom made chevron jacket (made by Rarity of course) “she loves to joke with her friends but she will never spread rumors, either way, why do you think she needed someone to come here?” the here aforementioned was the Canterlot High gym slash arena, used by the school for anything from dances, public announcements and battle of the bands.

Without further ado Sunset opened the doors finding that the gym was not arranged for one of Pinkie’s parties for once, instead she found out different members of Canterlot High all dressed in uniforms and practicing a sport.

“Basketball?” looking at her side Sunset saw her companion looking inside the gym too obviously interested in what was going on.

“Sunset, Twilight! How’re you doing?!” one voice they recognized said from one edge of the basketball court jogging to their location with a huge grin on her face.

The girl had a blonde high ponytail and welcoming smile that fit her personality perfectly, she was wearing a greyed uniform that once had probably been a solid sky blue that consisted in jersey and shorts.

“Hey Cloudy Kicks, didn’t you use to play in the football team?”

“Not for some time Sunset, I used to play in Junior High but I became a full time player in Canterlot High, I just trained with them a couple of times but I finally decided in basket, so, what can I do for you? Are you here to watch the game?”

“The game? Oh, right Rainbow told us it was the pre-season in soc… eh, football?” Twilight asked to Sunset a little worried about her faux-pas.

“You learn fast, but yeah, practically all the sport teams in the school are preparing for the pre-season, there’s a lot of game and cups that the school participate on”

“You got that right Sunset, so, what’s the occasion then?”

“Well, you see, Rainbow had a message for the team”

Outside of the gym everything was peaceful, only the sound of birds and students ready for the match in the football field could be heard, until…

“SHE SAID WHAT?!” Rainbow knew very well who had just screamed and also knew that it was probably due to her; there was no way she would have been capable of delivering that message.

“Sorry Sunset, I’ll return the favor some day, okay guys, let’s win this one!”

Inside the gymnasium Cloudy Kicks was as pale as a ghost and all life had abandoned her, even her uniform seemed to have become pale and colorless, a purple aura all aorund her body.

Sunset felt a little guilty about what had happened, it seemed to have hit harder than she had thought just by looking at how the other girl had reacted to them, it was not a pretty sight and it seemed that even Twilight felt guilty by the way she was biting her lower lip.

“Cloudy, I’m sorry, I didn’t thought it was that important to you” finally Cloudy came back to the girl and released a huge sigh.

“Is not your fault Sunny, I should have known, I mean, Rainbow always help the other teams but she also has her own duties as captain of the football club, maybe I was being too optimistic”

“Were you counting in Rainbow Dash’s help today?” Twilight may have been the one to ask it first but Sunset was also curious about it.

“To tell the truth Rainbow was our only hope”

“That bad then?” Sunset felt her pain just watching at the face of Cloudy; since she arrived at this world Canterlot High always had problems in gaining academic and sports recognition, having Rainbow in the school helped in the last department but she was only one girl, she couldn’t do everything.

“You can say it again, it wouldn’t be so bad since it is just a practice match but we are playing against North Canterlot”

“And that’s bad?”

“Of course it is, I mean… oh right, I forgot you didn’t even know what the Friendship Games were” poor Sunset’s face lighted up remembering that, so much for studying in Canterlot since Junior High “North Canterlot is one of the strongest teams in the city, they have won the Everfree Cup two years in a row and have the highest amount of victories in the Canterlot Invitational… and you know what’s the worst part?” Now Cloudy had both of them interested in knowing more “They send the second team for the practice match! The bench players! Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?!” Sunset winced at that bit of news while Twilight just seemed confused.

“And how’s that a bad thing? I mean, I don’t know much of basketball beyond the times my dad and brother have watched a game in the living room”

“Basically Twi, they are practically telling Cloudy and the rest that they aren’t good enough to send their good players, why even bother? Now I see why you wanted Rainbow’s help in this game, maybe you would have surprised them and returned the favor”

“It is worse”

“Worse that a team only sending only their bench?”

“Oh yes, last week several girls left the team, now we are only seven players, that means not everyone can rest and will have to play the whole game, with Rainbow we would have had better chances since she has almost as much energy as Pinkie when it comes to sports”

Cloudy seemed almost depressed at the news of no Rainbow and having a short supply in players, it almost made Sunset feel depressed herself, she really wanted to help her now, but how? Wait… there was a way.

Checking herself on the changing room once again Sunset was glad she didn’t use her usual heeled boots today but she had to be honest, she didn’t look half as bad with a low ponytail. If Rarity ever saw how deteriorated the uniform she was wearing right now she would scream so hard the windows in the gym would explode.

“Gotta say Sunset, you look a natural on the uniform, I guess that motocross win wasn’t just luck, you have the physique of a player”

“Thanks Cloudy, I just wanted to help you in this match, I mean, I brought you the bad news”

“Don’t sweat it, you girls being here is more than enough, at least I won’t have to record all the info of the match by myself”

“Yeah, Twilight loves information, she may not be really athletic but that girl is the best for any kind of organizing job, so now what?”

“Now starts the torture”

‘Cloudy was right’ Sunset thought watching the match ‘they may be bench players but they were good, no, more than good, they had trained well, their passes, their shots, they set the pace of the game and our defense is not even close to stopping them’ while Sunset was focused on every movement in the court, Twilight and Cloudy were checking the information of what was going on, so far they were losing 31 to 8 and it seemed that the difference in points would only grow as time went on.

“I guess we don’t have any answer against the number 8 of their team?”

“Who? Sky Light? Is impossible, none of our players is fast enough to stop her, can you believe that her big sister is way better than her?”

“Really?” Twilight couldn’t believe that since the chrome blue and silver haired girl wearing the black uniform of North Canterlot seemed to run circles around their team.

“Yeah, did you saw her layout?”

“Her what?”

“It is when a player gets close enough to the basket and from underneath it you shoot with one hand using the backboard to bounce it into the basket” Sunset had seen it several times too, it seemed so fluid and almost second nature for Sky Light, probably all the training she had, and she was not a regular player? How strong were the other players then?

Sunset didn’t know why, but she felt something resonating inside her, if the other girls could have seen Sunset’s eyes they would have seen them almost shinning as if fire had been ignited, she felt something strange, she wanted to go inside, she wanted to play!

“Cloudy, let me in” she simply said before standing up, the blonde player was surprised about Sunset’s request but there was something in those words that made her smile.

“Sure Sunny, have fun out there” and as the other players watched the new player get ready nobody knew what this decision would bring.

Years later, all experts in the matter agreed that the moment Sunset Shimmer, unicorn turned human being, put a foot inside was the moment the Galaxy Generation era started, right there in the Canterlot Court!