The sun was shining brightly today, as indeed it should, given what was being planned for this afternoon. Canterlot High had, for the most part, been emptied for the weekend, save for one or two teachers who had some work to catch up on. However, out on the school's nearby soccer field, there were, in fact, a few students who had elected to stay behind. Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and Aria were all there, on the field, clad in what appeared to be the standard soccer uniform of the school, a combination of light-blue and white shirt and shorts, complete with sneakers. Applejack and Rainbow were busying themselves with a few pre-game exercises, while Fluttershy stood at the side, smiling at both of them. As for Aria, she stood to one side, folding her arms and grumbling at the nearby road beside the school, until, at last, she broke the silence.
"Ugh! This is getting ridiculous! Are they coming here or not?!"
Turning to her, Applejack chuckled slightly before walking over to her, placing a hand upon her shoulder before giving a response.
"Don't ya worry, sugarcube. Ah'm sure they're just runnin late. It is a pretty fair distance between there and here after all."
Stopping her own exercises, Rainbow walked over to join them, bearing her usual smirk as she did so.
"Yeah! Besides, it gave us plenty of time to get all psyched up and stuff!"
Aria rolled her eyes at that, ready to comment, but, before she had the chance to do so, she noted that, nearby, Fluttershy had stood up from her position, pointing out at something, catching the attention of the other three girls. In unison, they all turned, seeing what she was looking at, and, sure enough, there it was. A bus, coming from the direction of the nearby city, was now pulling up outside the school stop, causing Rainbow to look on with anticipation. Her expectations were met soon afterwards as, after the bus finally departed, it was revealed that three girls had been dropped off. These were none other than members of their one-time rivals, the Shadowbolts; Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet. Like the CHS girls, they too were wearing their school's standard soccer uniform, with the one notable exception being the inclusion of purple instead of blue.
"Glad y'all finally made it!" Applejack called out.
Seeing their former rivals, the three Crystal Prep girls all gave smiles and waves before finally crossing the road to join them. When they finally arrived, they stood just a few feet from them, looking their competitors over before, at last, breaking the silence, with Indigo speaking up first.
"Sorry we're late. You wouldn't believe the traffic in the city today!"
To that, Sour looked over with a frown.
"I'll say! I swear, our driver is the most timid guy in the world! Every time there was an opening he just refused to take it, always worried something would come along and crash into him or something!"
A general round of nods and agreeing murmurs were spread amongst the girls, before, eventually, Lemon decided to bring things back on track.
"So...we getting this game on, or what?"
Nodding back to her, Rainbow turned, walking over to a soccer ball that had been lying idly on the side of the pitch this whole time. After picking it up, she threw it up in the air and started bouncing it on her knee a few times, a display that caused a few of the other girls to roll their eyes. But, once she'd had her fun with it, she held the ball in her hand, looking to the Crystal Prep Girls with a smirk on her face.
"Okay, standard three-on-three game. You three against me, AJ and Aria."
Indigo nodded to that, but, before she had the chance to say anything, Sour spoke up.
"Wait, what about Fluttershy? Isn't she joining in?"
Rainbow turned and began to explain things regarding her friend, but, before even the first word was out of her mouth, Indigo shouted to her companion.
"NO!!!"
Immediately, all eyes were on the athlete, causing her to look somewhat embarrassed about her outburst. After clearing her throat a little, she turned to Sour, speaking up.
"Trust me on this, it'll be much better for our side if Fluttershy wasn't on their team."
Sour raised an eyebrow at that, prompting Indigo to continue.
"Seriously, you have no idea!"
An awkward silence followed, during which, a few girls looked over to Fluttershy, who had started looking rather unnerved about being the centre of attention all of a sudden. Fortunately, this state of affairs came to an end when Rainbow finally started explaining things.
"Yeah...anyway, Flutters is serving as cheerleader for us today."
At that, Fluttershy got to her feet, smiling and raising her hands in a cheer-like fashion.
"Yay!"
It was, admittedly, a quiet cheer, but it still counted, leading to a thumbs up to her on Rainbow's part. With that done, the girl turned to her rival, maintaining her smirk.
"So...you girls ready?"
Indigo returned the smirk, nodding.
"You know it!"
Chuckling slightly, Rainbow threw the ball up into the air.
"Then let the game begin!"
As the ball fell to the ground, both her and Indigo leapt towards it, bringing their legs back and ready as always to be the first to strike. The game had, indeed, begun.
The game had been fierce, and by the time it was all over, the girls were panting furiously. The sun had, at long last, started to set, causing the whole area to be bathed in a warm orange glow. Fluttershy, as always, had been sitting on the side-lines, watching the whole thing unfold before her. Rainbow and Indigo, as one would expect, had been the most proficient players, and were right there, in the middle of the field, gasping for breath more so than any of their companions. And speaking of whom, the other girls, Sour, Applejack, Aria and Lemon, were all looking to one another as if to say "yeah, this needs to end now". Unfortunately, Indigo and Rainbow seemed reluctant to let that happen, and so looked as if they were both about to charge for the ball once more.
"Ahem..."
The soft-spoken voice caught all of them off-guard, and the six players turned to see Fluttershy, standing up once more, clearing her throat before addressing them in that typically meek manner of hers.
"Um...I don't mean to intrude, but...the game has gone on for a while. Well...several hours too long, in fact."
A look of surprise crossed the faces of the two main players, and they simultaneously looked to their wrists, wherein they saw their watches, and thus the time of day it was. Sure enough, quite a few hours had passed since their game had begun, leaving the two of them seemingly dumbfounded.
"Well...guess time flies, eh?" Indigo commented.
Rainbow nodded.
"Yeah..."
Turning, she looked upon her other friends.
"How come you didn't tell us?"
To that, Applejack shrugged her shoulders, speaking up while still panting.
"Well...ya didn't...give us...much of an opportunity...ta tell ya."
Briefly, a look of embarrassed guilt crossed Rainbow's face, and she let out a nervous chuckle as she turned her gaze away from her farmer friend. Looking back to Indigo, and then to the latter's team-mates, she noticed just how exhausted everybody was right now. After seeing this, and then looking at the ball in-between them, a smile formed upon her face as she finally looked back up to Indigo.
"So...draw?"
Thinking on that for a moment, Indigo cracked a similar smile.
"Yeah...I'd say draw."
The moment those words were heard, the other four girls took that as instant permission, dropping to the ground, looking as if this was the first semblance of rest they'd had in ages. Indigo and Rainbow, after chuckling to themselves, did the same, falling flat on their backs and taking quite a few minutes to simply catch their breath. As time went on, Fluttershy finally walked onto the pitch in earnest, right to the spot in-between Rainbow and Indigo. She looked to the two of them, then to the other four girls, before speaking up.
"So...does anybody else want to go to Sugarcube Corner after this?"
Craning their heads as much as their tired muscles would allow, the girls all looked to her, and a silence followed. But, after a while, it was broken, when Lemon, of all things, actually started to laugh. It must have been contagious, however, as that laughter soon spread to every single one of the girls, even the usually-dour Aria. Fluttershy too joined in, and, when that laughter finally died down, she looked to her lifelong friend, Rainbow, who promptly let out a sigh before nodding.
"Yeah...that sounds pretty sweet, Flutters."
To that, Fluttershy bore a wide smile.
"In that case...yay!"
