Swim Lessonsby EvictusChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 7Chapter 1Twilight was walking through Ponyville as she was tired from the day as she had so much work that needed to be done, as she walked about she saw advertisements for competitions for swimming and sighed, ever since it turned summer she always came upon these advertisements. She always became disappointed as she never learned how. She knew she could never swim as none of her friends taught her how and her friends didn't teach her at all as well. She felt depressed by this fact as she walked home, Rainbow Dash walked aside her and started to talk about her day. She tried to ignore her but she needed somepony she could listen to. "Rainbow Dash can I tell you something?" Twilight said as she stopped, Rainbow Dash stopped walking when Twilight said that she walked back to her as she wondered what Twilight needed to say. "Sure you can tell me anything Twilight. We didn't have to stop though!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight looked at the ground and wrung her hands nervously as she trend to tell her about her problem. "My problem is that, I see all these people that are athletic and I know I'm not athletic myself as that's more your thing but as I watch them I regret that I never learned...how to save myself from drowning or swim in general, I'm incapable of swimming. I wish I could learn, I was just asking if..." Twilight said as she started to hesitate. "Go on it's okay you can tell me. I'm pretty understanding for a friend." Rainbow Dash encouraged. Twilight sighed as she just decided to say it to get it over with. "I was asking if you can teach me how....to swim and I could pay you every week for the lessons you give me. I know your an excellent swimmer. And I can stand the bragging during the lessons as long as you keep that to a minimum. So can you teach me for a couple of weeks?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash thought it over. "Well I can teach you but we might have to work out a schedule as I am busy a lot with my exercises in the morning, but I can put aside time to teach you, we can start out small if you want it's up to you and they can be free you don't have to pay me and if your scared for the first couple of times I'll guide you through it at your pace. I won't be impatient either or tease you and be insensitive." Rainbow Dash promised with a smile. Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash happily as she was so glad that Rainbow Dash was doing this with her. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I truly appreciate you to do this for me!" Twilight exclaimed, she let Rainbow Dash go and Rainbow Dash shrugged at her. "It's the most I can do for a friend, you'll learn quickly with me Im pretty awesome at anything what time do you want to do this each day? I'm free in the afternoon up until night so what time do you want between those two timeframes?" Rainbow Dash asked with a smile, Twilight had to think for a few minutes and then realized what time she wanted. "1:00 PM till 5:00 PM? At the recreation center? They have a pool there but if you want a quieter venue then that would be better. I can go with that time unless you would like the lessons to be shorter?" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash shrugged as she didn't mind the time Twilight picked out, she started to think that she might like teaching Twilight. She thought that it could be fun. "I'm up to teach you there by that time frame each day but I expect you to call me each day before you come to clarify your coming that day or you have to cancel. That would be appreciated. And I can call you if something changes my schedule, I have your phone number." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight completely understood what she meant. "Sure of coarse I have your phone number as well and if anything comes up that changes my plans then I will call you as it will be helpful to you if you know if I can go on some days or not as I didn't want to be unfair by changing plans on you at the last second but mostly I'll be there and I know you will to." Twilight stated. Rainbow Dash and Twilight agreed to the lessons. "Alright I'll teach you. See you tomorrow Twilight. You will do great I know you will. You won't have to worry about anything." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight said bye to her and walked home as she was excited but nervous she hoped Rainbow Dash would go easy on her as she was just only going to start now. But she had a feeling that Rainbow Dash will go easy on her. She couldn't wait. She hoped that Rainbow Dash was a good teacher as she knew that Rainbow Dash could be a bit full of herself sometimes but she knew that Rainbow Dash will treat her with respect and she knew that she won't be mocked if she messed up as Rainbow Dash would never do that to her. She wondered if she would start doing a good job over time as she learned. She hoped that she could give Rainboe Dash her best. She started to feel extremely nervous, she really hoped that Rainboe Dash would be professional and not mess around, she tried to calm her breathing as she knew that she was in safe hands as she reminded herself that. She knew that her friend would be careful when she taught her. She hoped that she wouldn't be embarrassed either as she had never swam in her life. She hoped that People wouldn't stare at her while she was being taught as well since they were both going to go during the day time. Chapter 2Twilight Sparkle was making lunch for herself as it was almost time for her to go to her first lesson with Rainbow Dash, she had her swimwear packed up for the lesson, she was still a bit nervous even if she wanted to learn, she doubted Rainbow Dash would be professional about this but she promised Twilight that she would be. Rainbow Dash waited for Twilight to arrive at the center and soon she saw Twilight walk up to her wringing her hands. Rainbow Dash walked up to her as Twilight looked around at the inside. "I'm glad you showed up, why don't we both get changed and we can take the lessons from there, we will go at your pace, I will push you but I'll also make sure your comfortable with your own pace." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight nodded hesitantly. "Thanks Rainbow...I really appreciate that you are doing this. I've wanted to learn for a while, I know it might take time but I will learn." Twilight said. Twilight walked to the locker room with Rainbow Dash and they both changed into their swimsuits. Rainbow Dash finished getting changed while Twilight also finished but she sat there as she hesitated. Twilight wondered how Rainbow Dash was going to go through with this, she decided to see how this was going to go as she sat up and walked to the pool, Rainbow Dash walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder and she smiled. "It's alright Twilight we can go slow, just get in the water and we can go from their ill be there every step of the way." Rainbow Dash encouraged her, Twilight smiled and she hesitantly got in with Rainbow Dash. "So We will stay in the shallow end for now and when you improve then we can move to the deep end but for now we can just do simple kicks for now and move up from their so I want you to watch me for now." Rainbow Dash said, she grabbed onto the side of the pool and started to do the simple kick. Twilight watched on as Rainbow Dash kicked in place. "See how my legs are lined up with my body as they kick and how I'm not splashing? Well that's what I want you to do, just hold onto the side and kick as much as you can without making a lot of splashing as it is a swimming technique. Just try it." Rainbow Dash encouraged. Twilight watched her kick under the kick, she hesitated but she finally grabbed onto the side and kicked. She was splashing a lot, she hoped that Rainbow Dash wouldn't get mad but Rainbow Dash only smiled encouragingly as Twilight splashed as she kicked. She tried to lower her legs and kick under the water more without making any splashes and then soon she stopped the splashing and just kicked under water. Rainbow Dash nodded with approval. "Great job Twilight, although your position is a little bit off you doing good, just keep doing it for a few more moments to get it right and soon she perfected it. She finally stopped and Rainbow Dash nodded with approval as she stepped to the side and spoke. "Now we are going to learn your first stroke which can be the butterfly stroke which is done by doing this." Rainbow Dash said as she started to do the butterfly stroke while she went back and forth. She did for a while and explained that it was the most difficult stroke but she wanted Twilight to learn it. "This is the most difficult stroke but we are going to learn it as I want you to succeed at this, I want to make progress, so go ahead and just do what I do. In fact I'll do it with you." Rainbow Dash said, they both started to do the butterfly stroke and Twilight knew that it was a pretty hard stroke but she tried it repeatedly as she wanted to make Rainbow Dash proud. She kept messing up which made her upset, she stomped in frustration but she tried to do it again with her but without luck, she repeated it again but she also repeated her mistakes, she really wanted to master this. Rainbow Dash did it repeatedly with her in order to get it right. Twilight finally was able to do the butterfly stroke back and forth with no problem, she was so happy that she had learned her first way to swim. Rainbow Dash praised her and they noticed that it took half and hour to learn it, Rainbow Dash was going to end the lesson but Twilight insisted they do more. "I really want to learn as much as I can so we can move on to more swimming lessons tomorrow that you can come up with so teach me. I don't mind." Twilight said with a grin. Rainbow Dash grinned back. "If you say so.... The next one I was going to save till later is the doggy paddle which was going to be the first stroke I was going to teach you but I just opted with the most difficult one first, this one you just have to paddle like a dog and this is how you do that." Rainbow Dash said as she paddled like a dog, Twilight giggled at her as it did look pretty funny, soon Rainbow Dash proceeded to teach Twilight. "Now you try it, go ahead it's okay." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight proceeded to get into position and then she paddled like a dog, she started to snicker as it just felt funny to her to do this. Twilight giggled. Rainbow Dash chuckled as Twilight paddled around, she did look pretty cute. Twilight stopped and Rainbow Dash thought for a few minutes, she then got to another simple one for Twilight to do. "Now we can try the side stroke and back crawl which are very simple you'll have it down in minutes so just get on your back, I'll hold you and you move your arms backwards to swim." Rainbow Dash explained, Rainbow Dash did it for her and came back to her. Twilight hesitated but Rainbow Dash talked her through it and then she had Twilight get on her back and she slowly tried to teach Twilight the back crawl, Twilight had trouble at first but seemed to be able to do it with without hesitation and after a couple of minutes Rainbow Dash let her go and she did it on her own. "We can learn the front crawl which is also very easy to do and I'll show you and example." Rainbow Dash said as she gave her a demonstration. She then held Twilight as she first started out but after a while Twilight told her to let go as she did it by herself. Twilight had learn all of the basic strokes in less than two hours. Twilight came back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was speechless "Twilight I can't believe you are learning this fast, you technically have all of the strokes down. We should stop to day though and tomorrow we can learn to hold our breath under water and I can teach you how to do the dive and cannon ball." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight siezed up in fear but Rainbow Dash comforted her. "Hey don't worry you can do it. I'll be with you the whole way. Now go and get dressed." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight got dried off and Rainbow Dash did so as well and they changed and went home. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I'll see you tomorrow, I'm glad I have you as an instructor." Twilight exclaimed happily. Rainbow Dash said that she appreciated that she liked her as a teacher and they both went home. Chapter 3The next day Twilight woke up and remembered that she had lessons with Rainbow Dash each day at the local pool, she got up and got dressed to go to Rainbow Dash, she was glad that she was learning pretty quickly. Soon she got there and went to get dressed in her bathing suit. She went to the pool and saw that Rainbow Dash was sitting on a chair waiting for her, she smiled at Twilight and sat up to go walk to her, she walked over to where Twilight was at and spoke. "Hello Twilight I have an important lesson for you today, you might have trouble with it at first but I assure you it won't be that bad and you will probably have no problem with it once you learn it, I'll help you if you need it." Rainbow Dash said as she smiled, Twilight stammered but got into the pool. Rainbow Dash entered the pool and walked to Twilight, Twilight stood there as Rainbow Dash got a timer from her bag and showed it to Twilight, Twilight looked over the timer that was being showed to her "First off I want to teach you how to hold your breath under water, it might take a few minutes but it won't be that bad." Rainbow Dash said, Rainbow Dash spent an hour teaching Twilight how to do it. Twilight had lost of trouble with what she was being taught but after a while she mastered it and then Rainbow Dash taught Twilight how to constantly keep herself afloat while not hanging on a ledge in the deep end as well which was simple as all's Twilight had to do was constantly kick her legs. "Now I know you might not like this but today I'm going to teach you how to jump, you might be afraid at first and I won't blame you for that but I think you can do it. If you can't then we can try again next time." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight's breathing picked up as she was nervous about jumping. It seemed scary to do it. Twilight swam with Rainbow Dash to the deep end and then they both got out, Twilight walked with Rainbow Dash to the end and Rainbow Dash stopped her, she made Twilight back up a bit. "I think you need to learn this as its another way to get into the water if there is no ladder on the deep end or if you become a lifeguard and you have to jump in, All's you do is jump in, I'll go first just to show you." Rainbow Dash said as she positioned herself, she then held her breath and jumped in. Twilight looked on in fear as she was a bit unsure about doing this. Rainbow Dash swam to the side and reemerged from the water and smiled at Twilight, Twilight gulped as she looked down into the water. She felt nervous and Rainbow Dash noticed her hesitating. "It's okay Twilight just relax and go through with it, all's it is is jumping into the water, your not going to get hurt, I'll be right here to save you if anything goes wrong so just go for it. You can do it Twilight." Rainbow Dash encouraged. "I can't! It's to scary, the water looks terrifying to jump into! Please don't make me do this!" Twilight begged, Rainbow Dash swam up to her her and held out her hand to her. "Here you can hold my hand and do it, the water looks terrifying because your perception is making you see it that way as your perception is being ran by fear right now, you have to overcome that fear, you can hold my hand as you jump to the water." Rainbow Dash offered. Twilight stepped back as she just couldn't go through with it. "You want me to jump in with you? We can do it on the count of ten which will give you enough time to prepare, if you decide not to jump when I jump then I won't get mad but we will try again if that happens. How about that?" Rainbow Dash asked as she smiled. Twilight hesitated for a few seconds but nodded reluctantly to the plan. Rainbow Dash swam to the ladder and pulled herself out of the water, she walked over to Twilight who faced her, Rainbow Dash offered her hand, Twilight hesitated as she thought about if she should just get it over with so she gently grabbed hold of her friends hand and they faced the water, Twilight knew she couldn't hesitate when Rainbow Dash jumped as she would be pulled in by Rainbow Dash which would screw up the whole thing. "If you hesitate and decide not to jump when I do I'll let go of your hand and we can try again or wait till tomorrow to try, I won't be mad if you hesitate as I know how scared you must be okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight nodded shyly as she just wanted to get this over with. Rainbow Dash offered her hand and Twilight grabbed hold of it and held it tightly. Rainbow Dash asked her if she was ready and Twilight told her yes. "One....two...three!" Rainbow Dash counted and on the count of three Rainbow Dash jumped in with her, Twilight felt a rush of fear as they entered the water, Rainbow Dash helped her swim to the surface. Twilight and Rainbow Dash breathed in air. Twilight realized that she had done it, she was proud of herself. "Great job Twilight! And I like how your constantly kicking your legs to keep yourself afloat, your learning a lot, you have no idea how proud I am of you." Rainbow Dash praised, those words made Twilight feel proud of herself. "Thank you. I'm glad it didn't take me that long to jump, at first I was a bit afraid but then I realized what was to be afraid about so I went through it. Thank you so much." Twilight said. "Your welcome, we can do more tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said cheerfully, they both swam to the ladder and got out of the pool and dried off, they then went home as Twilight was so happy about how good she was doing. She appreciated that Rainbow Dash was taking time out of her day to teach her this stuff. She hoped she did good tomorrow as well. Chapter 4Twilight Sparkle was heading towards the center where Rainbow Dash was waiting to teach her another lesson on swimming. She wondered what Rainbow Dash had in mind to teach her today, as she got there, Rainbow Dash walked up to her as she was already dressed in her swimwear. "Hello Twilight, today I have a special lesson for you today, it might make you a bit nervous like yesterday but you will probably handle it better than how you handled it yesterday so get dressed in your swimwear and we can get started with the lesson okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight nodded as she hoped that she would be braver this time. Twilight got dressed in her swimwear in the girls locker room and came out to Rainbow Dash who was waiting for her, Rainbow Dash had her follow her to the deep end of the pool, Rainbow Dash stood in front of the deep end and turned to Twilight. "Today I'll teach you to do the cannon ball, the way you do it is fairly simple, you just have to make a running jump into the air and then hold your knees to your chest and then enter the water, You don't have to worry as I'll walk you through it. I'll demonstrate first." Rainbow Dash said, she took a few steps back and ran to the water, she then jumped into the air and then held her legs close to her and made a splash as she entered the water. When she came up for air she spoke. "You have to make a running jump or you won't be able to do it, when you enter the water you can release your legs from your hold but don't release your legs when your in the air as then it won't be a cannon ball, do you understand?" Rainbow Dash instructed. Twilight nodded. Rainbow Dash swam to the side and waited for her to do it. "I can't do it! I'm to afraid what if I mess up? Will you be mad at me? Im afraid o will upset you because I did the wrong thing!" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash shook her head no. "Of coarse I won't be mad at you as your just trying to learn this now, their isn't anything to be afraid of Twilight, we had the same conversation when you jumped for the first time, you weren't afraid after that! I'll be right here you can do this Twilight." Rainbow Dash said. "No I can't do it! I'll drown! Please don't make me do this!" Twilight ranted. Rainbow Dash smiled a gentle smile at her friend as she knew that all that was preventing Twilight was her fear which a he could overcome. "Yes you can! Don't ever say you can't! You can do anything you put your mind to. Prove yourself wrong and do this because you can do this Twilight you have potential you will become a great swimmer their is nothing to be afraid of, You won't drown! Your fear is in your head!" Rainbow Dash said "No! Something truly terrifying will happen! I can't go through with this! I just can't! You will laugh at me if I mess up!"Twilight yelled with emotion. Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Yes you can! Nothing terrifying is going to happen and I'm not going to laugh at you if you screw it up as I'm not like that I would never laugh at you for trying Twilight! You have motivation and that's what is going to give you the strength to do this! Because you can do this!" Rainbow Dash encouraged. "I just can't do it Rainbow Dash! What if your wrong, the cannon ball I'll propel me downward and will drown before I can swim back up? What are you going to do if I can't swim back up before I drown?!" Twilight asked. "Your not going to drown, if you can't swim up I will come and get you as I can make it to the bottom, but you will have enough strength to swim back up on your own, you can do this Twilight, the only thing that can stop you from doing this is your irrational fear!" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight looked ahead and stammered as she tried to come up with another argument but she knew that her friend was right, she breathed slowly to try and calm herself, she took a few steps back and made a running jump, she tried to grab her legs but she entered the water before she could do that, she broke through the surface. She was disappointed with herself. "It's alright Twilight, just try again, you have to jump higher than you just did, put more momentum into your jump once your in the air, get out of the water and just try a second time, you will improve it if you practice." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight got out of the water. Twilight went up to the edge and thought about what Rainbow Dash had said as she wanted to try and follow her instructions perfectly, she stepped back and looked at the space between her and the water, she took a few steps back and prepared herself to jump, she then made a running jump and tried to hold her legs close to her but they slipped she screamed in frustration. Twilight broke through the surface and slapped the water in frustration but Rainbow Dash calmed her down as she knew that Twilight can do it. "Twilight it's okay, you almost did it, if you do it one more time you can succeed, you have the right idea but you have the timing wrong, try to fix you timing when you jump and hold your legs in the air, when you jump grab your legs immediately and hold on tight don't wait." Rainbow Dash instructed. Twilight got out of the water and then jumped into the air again. She immediately pulled her legs to her chest and held them their and entered the water while making a huge splash, she broke through the surface and Rainbow Dash praised her. "That was perfect Twilight I'm so proud of you, you didn't give up even if you were getting frustrated with how difficult it was, you persevered through the difficult time! Your cannon ball was perfect, your figure was in the pest form for the cannon ball so you did great." Rainbow Dash praised. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I appreciate that, I was hoping I would get it right, thanks for encouraging me to try it repeatedly till I got it right as that was the only way I could have done it and I did it that way so thanks." Twilight told her. They both hugged and got out of the water, Twilight and Rainbow Dash got dried off and promised to went to hang out at a park just so they can relax and talk to each other as friends there. While they walked to the park, Rainbow Dash told Twilight what she was planning tomorrow, Twilight was becoming less nervous with each lesson, she was finally knowledgable about swimming and she finally knew how to swim and that made Rainbow Dash proud. Chapter 5Twilight Sparkle woke up one morning and realized that she had to get read for her lessons, she wanted them to be taught to her now as she wanted to get the done, she was enjoying them but she knew that she had to wait so while she waited she got ready for the day and got the mail and read it. Then she read a book to pass the time. Soon it was time for her to go to the center so she got her bathing suit and started to head on out to where her lessons were. When she got there she went inside and got dressed into her swimwear and went to where the pool was. She approached Rainbow Dash. "Hello Twilight, I hope you slept well because we care going to be learning a new technique of entering the water, it's personally my favorite, today we are going to learn how to dive, you might be a bit nervous but since you already learned how to jump you will probably be less nervous. I'll show you." Rainbow Dash said. Before Twilight could speak up Rainbow Dash did the kneeling dive for Twilight. She swam to the surface and let go of He breath she was holding, Twilight started to shake, she knew she was going to hyperventilate over trying to do this dive. "It's alright Twilight I'm going to walk you through it, first you should get into a kneeling position but make sure your put weight on one foot as you have to keep one leg up make sure your knee is chest level." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight tried to find the position Rainbow Dash was talking about. "I-I don't think I can do this, it's to uncomfortable! What if I hurt myself!?" Twilight worried as she started to grow scared a bit, Rainbow Dash tried to calm her as she didn't want Twilight to freak out before she dived. "Your not going to hurt yourself, if you do this properly you won't hurt yourself, you have to keep everything aligned though when you dive, I'll be right here if you need swim up to me it will be okay. Just push off with you toes to go into the water and make sure you go downward." Rainbow Dash instructed. "But that's scary to go underwater! What if I can't kick hard enough while I'm under water and I sink to the bottom!? This position is uncomfortable!" Twilight whined as she panicked. "I'll save you before that happens, there isn't anything to fear, you can do this Twilight I know you can." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight looked at the water and back at her friend,she became agitated. "No I just can't do this! This is impossible!" Twilight whined as she started to get upset, Rainbow Dash rubbed her arm comfortingly as she thought of a way to calm Twilight down and encourage Twilight. "It's not impossible Twilight, you acted the same way about jumping, diving is less scary than jumping, alls you do is push off of a ledge and dive into the water, that's all there is to it! I'll be right here for you when you do it. If you mess up you just try again!" Rainbow Dash encouraged her. Twilight groaned. Twilight stood up in anger and paced side to side as Rainbow Dash watched her sigh, she wished that Twilight wouldn't believe that it was impossible as she knew that she could do it if she just tried it. "I can't do it Rainbow Dash! I'm to scared, this is different from jumping, that position is uncomfortable and I might hurt myself if I go in wrong I'm not doing it and you can't make me." Twilight ranted. "Yes you can Twilight I believe in you, you just have to see for yourself that you can do it, you have it in you, I'm aware that you are scared but I promise you that I will catch you if you slip and I promise that I will save you if you get stuck under water! I promise!" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight thought over Rainbow Dash's words, she knew that Rainbow Dash was just trying to reassure her, she knew that she won't drown because Rainbow Dash would save her but the prospect of diving was still scary to her. "All's you have to do is push off with your toes and glide straight into the water, it's fairly simple, it's not scary! Trust me that once you dive the first two times you will get the hang of it. Just try it Twilight, I'll be right here waiting for you." Rainbow Dash said encouragingly. Twilight looked at her and then back to the water as she thought about what Rainbow Dash said, she knew that Rainbow Dash was just trying to help her, she didn't feel like she was being forced but she still felt scared though but she wanted to become a great swimmer so she knew that she had to do it. "It's that easy?" Twilight asked as she breathed erratically, Rainbow Dash nodded encouragingly, Twilight looked back at the water and calmed her breathing, her breathing soon slowed to the minimum and then she held onto her breath and then pushed off with her toes and fell into the water. She came up to the surface. "It wasn't that bad for your first time, just do it a couple more times and then you will be able to get the hang of it, you just have to remember to do what you did but make sure to correct your angle a bit more." Rainbow Dash instructed, Twilight got out of the water and got into position again. "She took a few deep breaths to slow her anxiety down so she can be calm while she dived and looked at the water for half a minute and then looked at her friend who encouraged her to do it again, she pushed off with her toes and glided downward into the water, she came up for air. "That was....better, you getting really good at this, just try it a few more times and you will be able to dive without thinking about how to do it as it will be instinct." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight repeated the dive ten times in total and she got better with each dive. When she dived one last time she came up for air and looked over to a Rainbow Dash. "Hey! This is the easiest way to get into the water! It's not scary anymore to do either! Thanks Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed. "See? I told you it was the easiest way to get into the water, it's better than the jump in my opinion. I'm very proud of all of the experience your getting. You are improving each day and I love that!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight giggled and took off towards the shallow end. "Race you!" Twilight called, Rainbow Dash laughed and swam after her as they raced to the shallow end, Rainbow Dash beat her but Twilight didn't care as she was having to much fun. "Thanks Rainbow Dash, I'm really enjoying the lessons. Your the best friend Twilight said. Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm glad your enjoying them, I'm just a friend trying to help another friend." Rainbow Dash said, Rainbow Dash had Twilight swam around for a couple of moments and then they got out and got dried off. Twilight was so happy with herself as she was becoming a great swimmer and Rainbow Dash could see that, when they got dressed they left the center, before they both went home Rainbow Dash went up to Twilight. "Your doing very well Twilight, I'll think of more stuff to teach you tomorrow but for now go get some rest, you deserve it!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight giggled and hugged her friend and they both went home, Twilight was ecstatic about how her lessons were going, she was going to pass Rainbow Dash's lessons in no time. Chapter 6Rainbow Dash was at the center waiting for Twilight so she can teach the next lesson in swimming to her, she was so proud of Twilight's improvement and Twilight was enthusiastic about how well she was doing. She hoped that she would pass Rainbow Dash's lessons soon. Soon Twilight arrived and got dressed into her swimwear, She then exited the locker room and then she headed to the pool, she got to the pool and approached Rainbow Dash who was sitting on the bench by the pool she slide over so that she could give room for Twilight to sit. Twilight sat down by her as she didn't know what else to do. "You have made so much progress Twilight, it truly is remarkable, since you've been learning so much I'm starting to run out of stuff to teach you but if you want to practice all of the stuff we have done you can join the Ponyville swimming team. I talked to to them and they said that they would love to have you as a member as long as you train more first." Rainbow Dash announced. Twilight was thrilled to hear that announcement. "Really?! That's wonderful I heard that they were great in local championships!" Twilight exclaimed, Rainbow Dash winced as she forgot to prevent Twilight from getting ahead of herself. "Not so fast Twilight, you have to earn your way up to represent them in local races, you have to improve your speed when your in the water, but I don't think that will be an issue but you must do this in order to help them out! It's imperative at you do that. Once you do that they will test you and they will declare that you can represent them but before you can do that you'll have to practice a lot and then only then can you join the Ponyville Swim team." Rainbow Dash stated. Twilight nodded "I can do that! I'm sure I can! I really want to join them! They are the third best team in Equestria Twilight declared, Rainbow Dash shrugged as she wondered if Twilight could even manage being a member. "Well you best get busy, but enough of that now today I want to teach you swim underwater and that's fairly easy, you need to work yourself up to that in order to do something like that, so we are going to practice holding our breaths under water and practicing our swimming in order to swim when we are submerged." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight and Rainbow Dash got into the water and Rainbow Dash instructed Twilight on holding her breath under water, Twilight was afraid at first but Rainbow Dash promised that she would stay there if anything happened to Twilight, Twilight took out her new prescribed goggles and submerged herself underwater. She tried to count in her head as she held her breath, she couldn't stand being under though so she came up to the surface and let go of her breath, before Rainbow Dash could speak to her she took another breath and went under, Rainbow Dash was surprised Twilight would try again even after failing. Twilight tried to count for as long as she could, she wished she had the tolerance and the perseverance to stay under longer, she tried to stay under as Rainbow Dash waited for her to surface again, she was surprised Twilight was able to stay under longer. She timed Twilight for her as she was curious at how long she could do this for. Twilight came back up and looked at Rainbow Dash, she took deep breaths of air as she wiped the water from her face with her hands. "That was better than the first time, you were under the water for a minute which is better than thirty seconds, congratulations Twilight." Rainbow Dash stated, Twilight shook her hair as water came off of her head as she shook it. "Thank you Rainbow Dash. Can I try swimming under water? How can I be able to do that? Is it harder than swimming above the water?" Twilight shook her head. "For me it isn't but I'm not sure if you can do it, but in theory you can do it-wait Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as Twilight tried to swim under water, Rainbow Dash was completely surprised that Twilight was swimming on her own as she went back and forth under the water the problem was was that she kept messing up which frustrated her. "Twilight....maybe we should slow down and learn bit by bit?" Rainbow Dash suggested but Twilight didn't listen as she tried to swim on her own under water several times. Rainbow Dash had to admit that she was doing an average job at underwater swimming even if it was only half way through the pool. Twilight stopped and spoke abruptly. "I want to join the Ponyville swim team! I should be able to take the test on my own! Please let me do it!" Twilight begged, Rainbow Dash wondered how to tell Twilight that she needed more practice for that as they don't just let somebody sign up immediately. "Twilight you can't just walk into their office and sign up, it doesn't work like that! You have to have lots of experience and training for them, just because you know how to swim doesn't mean they can accept you, they only accept the best swimmers." Rainbow Dash told her. But Twilight left before Rainbow Dash finished her sentence, Rainbow knew that Twilight was going to the headquarters of the Ponyville swim team to make a fool of herself, she decided not to follows as she didn't want to watch Twilight get made fun of. Twilight walked right in and walked to the front desk, she could hear other members in the back swimming. She saw the coach who scrutinized her. "Your....the librarian and princess from Ponyville I presume? I'm Mrs. Haskell. She asked as she introduced herself. Twilight nodded with a big smile. "Yes, I would like to join the swim team." She said, the coach tried not to cringe as she looked Twilight over as she knew that the girl probably was only an average swimmer. "How much experience do you have? Do you work out? Can I trust you to make it on time in meetings?" She asked, Twilight hesitated. "I have a two weeks knowledge of swimming but I know I can be good swimmer! I learned under the best!" Twilight insisted. "I'm sorry kiddo but you can't sign up yet. Two weeks knowledge isn't enough, most people on the Ponyville swim team have years worth of knowledge, you can't join if you only have limited amount of experience and you can't join if you aren't fast and by the look of those muscles I can tell that your a snail. I'm sorry but you can't sign up and join." The coach said. "But I can swim! I'm fast to! I can beat people in races. Just please give me a chance! I'm ready for this! I'm fast! I'm just as fast as any athlete out there I'm probably stinger than Spitfire from the Wonderbolts!" Twilight protested. The coach sighed as she rubbed her eyes in frustration she didn't want to crush the poor girls dreams or make the girl go through a tough time just to join but she couldn't let her join either as she was inexperienced. She looked Twilight over and thought. Twilight prayed she can join. "Alright.....I've thought it over and since I'm the coach of the swim team I have decided that you can sign up but here's the deal! What I'm doing now is pretty much against every protocol in accepting members, we don't just let random people join because they are swimmers as we need the best swimmers but I feel...moved by you...I notice that you have lots of passion for swimming when i was talking to you....your also well known in Equestria so I just couldn't say no...but since you have joined your going to have to train more often than what you were doing with Rainbow Dash. It's not going to be a walk in a park. We are nice and everything but we aren't laid back around her. We take this stuff very seriously so I hope you can keep up with our schedule and....please gain some muscle but aside from that...welcome to the Ponyville Swim Team. You can join once you finish your lessons." She told Twilight. "I'll be here! Thanks I won't let you down!" Twilight said, the coach gave her a form and she signed up for the swim team and she left in a hurry, she went back to the center and saw that Rainbow Dash had gone home so she went home, on the way home she ran into Rainbow Dash and told her everything that had happened. "They let you sign up huh? That's....unheard of....they don't just let anybody sign up like that and I don't think your ready but...it's your decision....I hope you know what your doing Twilight. I'll be ending your lessons soon so you can start practicing with them immediately. So we will finish up your training in a few days." Rainbow Dash said. "Thanks Rainbow Dash." Twilight said, they then took a break and planned more lessons for later on that day as Twilight was determined to finish Rainbow Dash's lessons so that she can go off and join the swim team, Twilight officially got signed up for the swim team against all protocol, the members weren't going to be happy that they had to wait years before they became members but yet Twilight could join in mere minutes. They were going to show Twilight that it was no walk in the park. Rainbow Dash hoped that Twilight knew what she was doing as she wanted Twilight to succeed in being a good member in the team even if she just joined, she hoped that Twilight had the stamina to deal with being a member on the team, she would have to wait to see if Twilight could succeed and she hoped that Twilight will succeed. Chapter 8Twilight and Rainbow Dash arrived at the center together, Twilight ran up to her friend and they hugged eachother, after greeting eachother they went to the locker rooms and got into their swimwear and then went back to the pool and Twilight smiled enthusiastically. "Your a bit eager today because I can tell that you are, I'm glad your showing excitement for these lessons, it makes me happy that your enjoying them and it makes me happy that you are doing very well." Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight smiled as she felt so proud for all she had done in the lessons. Twilight smiled. "Although the lessons are almost. The only thing I'm going to do is have you swim by yourself as I observe, you have to remember everything I taught you, and after that you can join the swim team. Understand? It won't be hard I'm going to go over everything you have to do and after you do this you will pass my class and then you can sign up for the swim team." Rainbow Dash said "I understand! I'm ready to do this! Let's do this now!" Twilight said, she knew that it would be embarrassing to swim in the pool by herself as Rainbow Dash watched her but she was ready to get this done as well. She knew that she had to so it. Rainbow Dash reviewed everything that they had learned. Twilight listened closely as Rainbow Dash spoke to her about what to do and how to do each stroke, she was so nervous about swimming under Rainbow Dash's observance but she was determined to do anything to join the Ponyville swim team. Soon it was time. "Alright Twilight this is it, get into the pool repeat everything I have taught you, I know your nervous so if you need me I'll be right here to help you if something goes wrong but other than that you are on your own, you have to do this part by yourself, I can't help you or that would be cheating. Now start swimming." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight walked over to the pool and got in, she gulped and looked over to Rainbow Dash who told her at she could do it, she got in and looked at the water as she tried to calm her breathing, once she calmed her breathing she began to swim. Her heart was beating hard as she was so nervous. She worried she would mess something up, she had to do everything perfectly or she would fail the test and she would have to wait a year to join the swim team as she did the lessons all over again, she knew that she couldn't let that happened. Twilight became very determined as she did each stroke that she had learned, she kept her breathing from becoming to erratic as she swam through the water, she took a quick peek at Rainbow Dash who was watching her and writing down all of the stuff she was doing right and all of the stuff she was doing wrong, she hoped that she wasn't doing to bad. She continued to swim with a determined expression, she was going to succeed and join the swim team even if she had to strain her muscles in the process, her body was getting soaking wet as she swam in a quickened pace, when she did the butterfly stroke she splashed water everywhere but she didn't care. She wondered what Rainbow Dash was thinking at that moment, was she seeing her make to many mistakes so she could tell her that she failed or was she proud? That was the question that she was afraid to get an answer for. She was failing, she felt so ashamed of herself. She finished swimming and got out of the water with a look of despair on her face she angrily ran to the locker room and sobbed loudly. She could never pass the lessons and she could never join the swim team now, she would have to repeat the lessons all over again as she sobbed Rainbow Dash walked up to her slowly. She noticed her. "I'll never be able to join the swim team now! I failed! It's all my fault, I let you down and it's all my fault! I'm a terrible student!" Twilight cried, Rainbow Dash took something out. "Twilight look." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight turned around and saw Rainbow Dash walk up to her, she handed her a certificate, she read it and she was thrilled the certificate said that she passed, she was shocked, she thought that she had failed. "I....passed?" Twilight asked with shock. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and she nodded with a huge smile and she told Twilight that she was very proud of her. Twilight jumped up and hugged Rainbow Dash. She was so happy she felt silly for worrying about nothing. "You can now join the swim team Twilight, I'm so proud of you, their was no need to worry either, you left before I could say anything and then you assumed that you failed. You got all upset over nothing!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight chuckled an embarrassed chuckle. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I can't wait to join the swim team!" Twilight said, they both hugged and then they went to celebrate somewhere and after that they both went home, Twilight couldn't wait to join the swim team, her dream was about to come true, she told all of her friends and they all congratulated her, they even swam with her later on the next morning for fun. They told eachother that hey can continue to swim with eachother whenever they wanted and they all liked the idea of that, they all went home and Twilight updated Spike on how her swim lessons with Rainbow Dash were going as she told him before about what was going on in her swim lessons and he told her that he was proud of her. Spike told him he was excited for her. They talked for a bit more and then they hung out together as Twilig looked forward to tomarrow. Chapter 9The next day after Twilight signed up she was waiting outside near the building where the first meet would happen, soon they allowed everybody to come in and so she went inside and met up with the team, when she met up with the team she didn't see anybody she recognized. She was introduced to all of the members after getting there and she was familiarized with the meet up schedule and when they had days where they weren't going to do meet ups, soon they all started to talk about how they would partake in local championships by swimming against other teams. Twilight started to work out a lot more due to joining as she wanted to be strong and fast enough to swim with the team, she also swam daily so she could get extra practice in, Spike started to go to her meet ups as well as he liked to cheer her on and brag how he new her to other people there. Rainbow Dash celebrated with Twilight for starting out great with the swim team, Rainbow Dash made sure to go to every event that the Ponyville swim team did. She was still a newbie though and she had a tough time improving but she persevered through it and improved. Twilight made sure to loose weight and gain strength so she could be in shape for future meet ups, she was nervous at first when she joined up as the members doubted her abilities but after a while they started to like her. They grew to respect her and they even let her be a communicator for the team which she appreciated. Twilight had fun swimming with them everyday as they had fun swimming with her, she made sure to never mess up and they told her that they appreciated that and they also said that if she did make mistakes they won't get mad at her which relieved her. Twilight also continued to swim for fun and some of her friends swam with her, she also swam for fun with some of the team members, she knew that someday she should thank Rainbow Dash, she decided to do that soon as she didn't want to forget about it and offend Rainbow Dash as she was truly grateful for Rainbow Dash to teach her. Rainbow Dash was so happy for Twilight and she knew that Twilight would thank her later on but for now she just let Twilight enjoy herself, she knew that her work was done, she had succeeded in helping Twilight learn how swim. She did excellent when Rainbow Dash taught her and they both noticed that. Rainbow Dash and Twilight couldn't wait to talk about all of the great things that have happened for Twilight, Rainbow Dash knew that Twilight was going to be a great swimmer and a good example of what a swimmer was supposed to be. Twilight won several trophies in individual races that she participated in as well and her swim team and her friends congradualted her on these competitions as well. Twilight got stronger over the coarse of several weeks as a result of training, she helped the team in a few competitions which her friends and Rainbow Dash was at some just so they could see Twilight swim, they cheered for her during the ones they could get to as they couldn't get to all the races which Twilight understood Twilight loved the fact that Rainbow Dash and her friends could go to some of her races and cheer her on as it meant a lot, she knew her friends cared about her progress as a swimmer, after the races she would invite her friends to go to dinner with the swim team and the swim team didn't mind her inviting them. Twilight invited Spike to all of her races as well since he was her friend to and he cheered her on along with Twilight's friends, Spike was also invited to go to the dinner with her team members and her friends, due to this happening Twilight's friends included him in anything they did as they realized how badly he has been treated, their relationship with Spike improved and they apologized to him about how he had been treated in the past and he said that they were forgiven. Twilight's family also tried to go to her team's swimming competitions, they made it to some but couldn't make it to others which Twilight understood as they were busy with their own stuff, they told her that they were proud of her which made her happy. Celestia also congratulated her on learning how to swim and she even swam with her in Canterlot Castle's indoor pool. Twilight was shocked to discover that Canterlot castle had a pool as she never knew that it did have a pool but after that she thought that it was a pretty neat thing that Canterlot castle had pool, she swam in it with Celestia and Luna when she could, she also raced Twilight at the center's pool where she learned how to swim, both of them won several races against eachother. Her friends watched them race eachother some times as well and they cheered them both on as they were happy that either of them won as they didn't pick either one over the other as they were their best friends altough the placed bets on who would win sometimes but other an that they were thrilled when they both won, they all had fun whenever they did this so they did it whenever they could as they were happy that they could do this with eachother. Twilight was so happy that her dream had finally had come true and she made sure to thank Rainbow Dash when she got the time, she planned to thank Rainbow Dash during the week so that she could get it out of the way so that she didn't forget to thank her later on if she didn't have time during the other days. Chapter 10It was a few months since Twilight had joined the swim team and Twilight was at home where she was thinking about her swim lessons that she got from Rainbow Dash, she wanted to make sure that Rainbow Dash knew that she was thankful for all that Rainbow Dash had taught her so she went outside to go and see her friend to thank her. As she walked to where her friend was she wondered what she was doing now that she was done teaching her how to swim, she soon got there and saw Rainbow Dash was outside of a basketball court she walked up to her. Rainbow Dash spotted her and waved to her. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be at your place? What's going on?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash sat up and walked up to her so Twilight didn't have to look down at her. "Well I was playing some basketball for a bit but now I'm taking a break, how's it going? Are you going to continue to swim now that the lessons are over?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight smiled. "Yes I am going to continue to swim, I came here to thank you for the lessons, I want to thank you for helping me learn what I wanted to learn. I want to thank you for being very patient for me when I was having trouble. You helped me do something I wanted to do so thank you." Twilight said. "No problem Twilight I'm glad that we had spent time together while I taught you how to swim and we can continue to swim together just for fun when you want to do that. I'll take time off doing sow thing just to spend time with my friends as I am the epitome of loyalty, I will always be loyal to all of my friends including you because that's what I do. How's the swim team going? Is that working out for you? Are they treating you equally like all of the other members?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's great, I'm moving up in the ranks and I'm now a trusted member since I started swimming with them after your lessons which was a few months ago. They saw my swimming ability was really excellent so they trust me more and they hinted that I might be a team captain some day. Yes the team members are treating me equally and I love it that I'm being treated like how any other member wants to be treated, I'm trying my best to make the team proud and I always try to help them win races as well, they also try to help me races to." Twilight said happily, Rainbow Dash was glad to hear that. "Well I'm glad to hear that Twilight, I knew you could do it. I'm so proud of you for your enthusiasm in swimming and I'm proud of the accomplishments that you have made in swimming in general. I think you were meant to do this, I know that may seem silly but I think you were! I think deep inside you always wanted to swim but didn't know who to talk to and now since you have learned to swim your ability to do it naturally is evolving I truly believe that." Rainbow Dash said. "Wow...thanks! I didn't know you thought I had it in me, I really appreciate that you think that about me as I would have never thought of that, I knew I wanted to swim but i didn't think that I would be good at it so appreciate you saying that. You are a great friend to say that and I appreciated everything that you did for me in order to teach me how to swim, do I get a certificate that I passed?" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash smiled and pulled out a certificate which said that she passed. Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash and thanked her for the certificate, she hung it up on her wall and Spike came out and congratulated her on it, he also thanked Rainbow Dash for taking the time to teach Twilight how to swim, Rainbow Dash told her that it was no big deal and that she was glad to do it. "Thanks for teaching me Rainbow Dash, if you didn't teach me then I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable with a teacher I didn't know and I would have done bad but you taught me and had me do very well, I appreciated your patience." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash said your welcome and before she forgot she handed Twilight a present. "It's a gift for doing really well, I hope you like it." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight opened it up and saw that it was a long sleeved barefoot wetsuit that she could wear while she swam. Twilight ripped her socks off and tried it on immediately. She walked around in her barefeet while wearing the wetsuit and she saw that it looked perfect on her. Rainbow Dash giggled "It's a great present! I love it Rainbow Dash Thanks so much! Now I can swim in this during completions and swim with my friends and with you in it! My going to have so much fun, I'm going to have more fun when I'm swimming with you though! Do you have a wetsuit?" Twilight said, she took it off and put her clothes back on and Rainbow Dash smiled "Your welcome Twilight your going to be a wonderful swimmer, I just know that you are going to be great! Yes I do have a wetsuit and its also long sleeve and I always swim in it barefoot! Your going to swim really well and win so many competitions that others won't win and j know this because I don't doubt your ability to be a great swimmer." Rainbow Dash told her, they hugged eachother as they were both glad that Rainbow Dash was able to teach Twilight how to swim. Chapter 7Twilight was at the center the next day as she was waiting patiently for Rainbow Dash to arrive at the center to continue the lessons with her, she was so happy that she was going great even if it was taking her awhile even if she knew that was going to happen, while she waited she looked at the pool, she wondered what she was going to learn from her best friend today. She thought that her friend was a wonderful teacher, She knew that Rainbow Dash was pretty good at it, she wondered how she got her training as a teacher, she was grateful that Rainbow Dash has lots of patience for the lessons as she never gets upset if Twilight did something wrong which Twilight appreciated. As she sat there her friend walked up to her quietly, she watched it for a few more seconds but then got startled when she turned to see Rainbow Dash who was already in her bathing suit. Rainbow Dash chuckled at Twilight's reaction as she sat by her. Twilight knew that Rainbow Dash didn't mean to scare her though so she wasn't mad in fact she found it funny herself. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was here I just thought you would notice me so I'm sorry for scaring you. Anyway today we are going to learn how to swim underwater. So get into your bathing suit and come back here so we can begin the next lesson for today, okay?" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight nodded as she looked at the locker room. She went to the locker room and got into her bathing suit and then she came back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash entered the deep end first and then Twilight got in after her without hesitation as she wasn't nervous about swimming anymore. She was eager to learn and that made Rainbow Dash happy as she was glad that Twilight was enjoying the lessons that she was teaching her. Twilight held onto the edge as Rainbow Dash swam over to her. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash so she can pay attention. "Okay Twilight I hope you brought your prescribed goggles because we are going to practice swimming techniques under water so your going to need your goggles as you are going to want to see underwater. I don't have much more to teach you so we can practice what you've learned under water, is that okay?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight nodded with a smile as she knew what Rainbow Dash wanted to do. Rainbow Dash showed Twilight how to do each swimming technique under water and Twilight tried to follow her example as she tried each technique. Twilight had to make sure she took good breaths of air so she had enough to do all of this underwater but she made sure not to stay under to long or she would pass out from lack of oxygen. But she knew that if she did pass out Rainbow Dash would dive under water and save her from drowning so she didn't have to worry about that. This was the toughest lesson that Twilight felt that she had to face by far during Rainbow Dash's lessons as she had never swam under water until now, she kept going up for air after each technique but Rainbow Dash didn't mind if she did that as she understood that Humans could only hold their breath for so long until they would have to breath again. Rainbow Dash and Twilight spent minutes at a time on each technique as she didn't want to miss anything but she made sure to not go to fast as Twilight was still learning although Twilight never complained about anything she learned which Rainbow Dash liked as that made her know that she was doing a good job in teaching Twilight how to swim. They repeated the techniques a few times as well so that Twilight could get a hang of every technique that she learned from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash explained everything so that Twilight didn't miss one detail, she was so grateful that Rainbow Dash taught her everyday so she wanted to thank her for all of the stuff she has done even if they haven't finished the lessons yet. Soon they stopped to take a break so that they could regain some of their energy to do the rest of the lesson "Rainbow Dash I want to thank you for teaching me how to swim, I'm very grateful you had the time to spend teaching me all of this stuff about swimming, I've been the most comfortable learning from you so I just wanted to say thanks. I'm going to swim whenever I can now." Twilight said as they held onto the side of the pool. Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight. "Your welcome Twilight I'm glad you appreciate me teaching you how to swim, that really means a lot to me. Now come on let's do a few more lessons and then we can stop for today." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight grinned and nodded and then Rainbow Dash went over diving techniques again which Twilight wasn't scared of anymore. Soon they were both done and they both dried off and got dressed, they then left together, on the way home Twilight talked about swimming and how she started to love it so much, Rainbow Dash offered to buy her a pool and Twilight loved that idea so they agreed to buy Twilight a pool later on. They also decided to swim at the center just for fun on some days when they had time and when they weren't having lessons which Rainbow Dash and Twilight thought would be fun, soon Twilight said that she would see her tomorrow and then she went inside her place as she was so happy, Rainbow Dash left with a grin as she was having fun teaching Twilight how to swim. She was happy that Twilight was happy about the lessons.
Chapter 1Twilight was walking through Ponyville as she was tired from the day as she had so much work that needed to be done, as she walked about she saw advertisements for competitions for swimming and sighed, ever since it turned summer she always came upon these advertisements. She always became disappointed as she never learned how. She knew she could never swim as none of her friends taught her how and her friends didn't teach her at all as well. She felt depressed by this fact as she walked home, Rainbow Dash walked aside her and started to talk about her day. She tried to ignore her but she needed somepony she could listen to. "Rainbow Dash can I tell you something?" Twilight said as she stopped, Rainbow Dash stopped walking when Twilight said that she walked back to her as she wondered what Twilight needed to say. "Sure you can tell me anything Twilight. We didn't have to stop though!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight looked at the ground and wrung her hands nervously as she trend to tell her about her problem. "My problem is that, I see all these people that are athletic and I know I'm not athletic myself as that's more your thing but as I watch them I regret that I never learned...how to save myself from drowning or swim in general, I'm incapable of swimming. I wish I could learn, I was just asking if..." Twilight said as she started to hesitate. "Go on it's okay you can tell me. I'm pretty understanding for a friend." Rainbow Dash encouraged. Twilight sighed as she just decided to say it to get it over with. "I was asking if you can teach me how....to swim and I could pay you every week for the lessons you give me. I know your an excellent swimmer. And I can stand the bragging during the lessons as long as you keep that to a minimum. So can you teach me for a couple of weeks?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash thought it over. "Well I can teach you but we might have to work out a schedule as I am busy a lot with my exercises in the morning, but I can put aside time to teach you, we can start out small if you want it's up to you and they can be free you don't have to pay me and if your scared for the first couple of times I'll guide you through it at your pace. I won't be impatient either or tease you and be insensitive." Rainbow Dash promised with a smile. Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash happily as she was so glad that Rainbow Dash was doing this with her. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I truly appreciate you to do this for me!" Twilight exclaimed, she let Rainbow Dash go and Rainbow Dash shrugged at her. "It's the most I can do for a friend, you'll learn quickly with me Im pretty awesome at anything what time do you want to do this each day? I'm free in the afternoon up until night so what time do you want between those two timeframes?" Rainbow Dash asked with a smile, Twilight had to think for a few minutes and then realized what time she wanted. "1:00 PM till 5:00 PM? At the recreation center? They have a pool there but if you want a quieter venue then that would be better. I can go with that time unless you would like the lessons to be shorter?" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash shrugged as she didn't mind the time Twilight picked out, she started to think that she might like teaching Twilight. She thought that it could be fun. "I'm up to teach you there by that time frame each day but I expect you to call me each day before you come to clarify your coming that day or you have to cancel. That would be appreciated. And I can call you if something changes my schedule, I have your phone number." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight completely understood what she meant. "Sure of coarse I have your phone number as well and if anything comes up that changes my plans then I will call you as it will be helpful to you if you know if I can go on some days or not as I didn't want to be unfair by changing plans on you at the last second but mostly I'll be there and I know you will to." Twilight stated. Rainbow Dash and Twilight agreed to the lessons. "Alright I'll teach you. See you tomorrow Twilight. You will do great I know you will. You won't have to worry about anything." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight said bye to her and walked home as she was excited but nervous she hoped Rainbow Dash would go easy on her as she was just only going to start now. But she had a feeling that Rainbow Dash will go easy on her. She couldn't wait. She hoped that Rainbow Dash was a good teacher as she knew that Rainbow Dash could be a bit full of herself sometimes but she knew that Rainbow Dash will treat her with respect and she knew that she won't be mocked if she messed up as Rainbow Dash would never do that to her. She wondered if she would start doing a good job over time as she learned. She hoped that she could give Rainboe Dash her best. She started to feel extremely nervous, she really hoped that Rainboe Dash would be professional and not mess around, she tried to calm her breathing as she knew that she was in safe hands as she reminded herself that. She knew that her friend would be careful when she taught her. She hoped that she wouldn't be embarrassed either as she had never swam in her life. She hoped that People wouldn't stare at her while she was being taught as well since they were both going to go during the day time.
Chapter 2Twilight Sparkle was making lunch for herself as it was almost time for her to go to her first lesson with Rainbow Dash, she had her swimwear packed up for the lesson, she was still a bit nervous even if she wanted to learn, she doubted Rainbow Dash would be professional about this but she promised Twilight that she would be. Rainbow Dash waited for Twilight to arrive at the center and soon she saw Twilight walk up to her wringing her hands. Rainbow Dash walked up to her as Twilight looked around at the inside. "I'm glad you showed up, why don't we both get changed and we can take the lessons from there, we will go at your pace, I will push you but I'll also make sure your comfortable with your own pace." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight nodded hesitantly. "Thanks Rainbow...I really appreciate that you are doing this. I've wanted to learn for a while, I know it might take time but I will learn." Twilight said. Twilight walked to the locker room with Rainbow Dash and they both changed into their swimsuits. Rainbow Dash finished getting changed while Twilight also finished but she sat there as she hesitated. Twilight wondered how Rainbow Dash was going to go through with this, she decided to see how this was going to go as she sat up and walked to the pool, Rainbow Dash walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder and she smiled. "It's alright Twilight we can go slow, just get in the water and we can go from their ill be there every step of the way." Rainbow Dash encouraged her, Twilight smiled and she hesitantly got in with Rainbow Dash. "So We will stay in the shallow end for now and when you improve then we can move to the deep end but for now we can just do simple kicks for now and move up from their so I want you to watch me for now." Rainbow Dash said, she grabbed onto the side of the pool and started to do the simple kick. Twilight watched on as Rainbow Dash kicked in place. "See how my legs are lined up with my body as they kick and how I'm not splashing? Well that's what I want you to do, just hold onto the side and kick as much as you can without making a lot of splashing as it is a swimming technique. Just try it." Rainbow Dash encouraged. Twilight watched her kick under the kick, she hesitated but she finally grabbed onto the side and kicked. She was splashing a lot, she hoped that Rainbow Dash wouldn't get mad but Rainbow Dash only smiled encouragingly as Twilight splashed as she kicked. She tried to lower her legs and kick under the water more without making any splashes and then soon she stopped the splashing and just kicked under water. Rainbow Dash nodded with approval. "Great job Twilight, although your position is a little bit off you doing good, just keep doing it for a few more moments to get it right and soon she perfected it. She finally stopped and Rainbow Dash nodded with approval as she stepped to the side and spoke. "Now we are going to learn your first stroke which can be the butterfly stroke which is done by doing this." Rainbow Dash said as she started to do the butterfly stroke while she went back and forth. She did for a while and explained that it was the most difficult stroke but she wanted Twilight to learn it. "This is the most difficult stroke but we are going to learn it as I want you to succeed at this, I want to make progress, so go ahead and just do what I do. In fact I'll do it with you." Rainbow Dash said, they both started to do the butterfly stroke and Twilight knew that it was a pretty hard stroke but she tried it repeatedly as she wanted to make Rainbow Dash proud. She kept messing up which made her upset, she stomped in frustration but she tried to do it again with her but without luck, she repeated it again but she also repeated her mistakes, she really wanted to master this. Rainbow Dash did it repeatedly with her in order to get it right. Twilight finally was able to do the butterfly stroke back and forth with no problem, she was so happy that she had learned her first way to swim. Rainbow Dash praised her and they noticed that it took half and hour to learn it, Rainbow Dash was going to end the lesson but Twilight insisted they do more. "I really want to learn as much as I can so we can move on to more swimming lessons tomorrow that you can come up with so teach me. I don't mind." Twilight said with a grin. Rainbow Dash grinned back. "If you say so.... The next one I was going to save till later is the doggy paddle which was going to be the first stroke I was going to teach you but I just opted with the most difficult one first, this one you just have to paddle like a dog and this is how you do that." Rainbow Dash said as she paddled like a dog, Twilight giggled at her as it did look pretty funny, soon Rainbow Dash proceeded to teach Twilight. "Now you try it, go ahead it's okay." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight proceeded to get into position and then she paddled like a dog, she started to snicker as it just felt funny to her to do this. Twilight giggled. Rainbow Dash chuckled as Twilight paddled around, she did look pretty cute. Twilight stopped and Rainbow Dash thought for a few minutes, she then got to another simple one for Twilight to do. "Now we can try the side stroke and back crawl which are very simple you'll have it down in minutes so just get on your back, I'll hold you and you move your arms backwards to swim." Rainbow Dash explained, Rainbow Dash did it for her and came back to her. Twilight hesitated but Rainbow Dash talked her through it and then she had Twilight get on her back and she slowly tried to teach Twilight the back crawl, Twilight had trouble at first but seemed to be able to do it with without hesitation and after a couple of minutes Rainbow Dash let her go and she did it on her own. "We can learn the front crawl which is also very easy to do and I'll show you and example." Rainbow Dash said as she gave her a demonstration. She then held Twilight as she first started out but after a while Twilight told her to let go as she did it by herself. Twilight had learn all of the basic strokes in less than two hours. Twilight came back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was speechless "Twilight I can't believe you are learning this fast, you technically have all of the strokes down. We should stop to day though and tomorrow we can learn to hold our breath under water and I can teach you how to do the dive and cannon ball." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight siezed up in fear but Rainbow Dash comforted her. "Hey don't worry you can do it. I'll be with you the whole way. Now go and get dressed." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight got dried off and Rainbow Dash did so as well and they changed and went home. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I'll see you tomorrow, I'm glad I have you as an instructor." Twilight exclaimed happily. Rainbow Dash said that she appreciated that she liked her as a teacher and they both went home.
Chapter 3The next day Twilight woke up and remembered that she had lessons with Rainbow Dash each day at the local pool, she got up and got dressed to go to Rainbow Dash, she was glad that she was learning pretty quickly. Soon she got there and went to get dressed in her bathing suit. She went to the pool and saw that Rainbow Dash was sitting on a chair waiting for her, she smiled at Twilight and sat up to go walk to her, she walked over to where Twilight was at and spoke. "Hello Twilight I have an important lesson for you today, you might have trouble with it at first but I assure you it won't be that bad and you will probably have no problem with it once you learn it, I'll help you if you need it." Rainbow Dash said as she smiled, Twilight stammered but got into the pool. Rainbow Dash entered the pool and walked to Twilight, Twilight stood there as Rainbow Dash got a timer from her bag and showed it to Twilight, Twilight looked over the timer that was being showed to her "First off I want to teach you how to hold your breath under water, it might take a few minutes but it won't be that bad." Rainbow Dash said, Rainbow Dash spent an hour teaching Twilight how to do it. Twilight had lost of trouble with what she was being taught but after a while she mastered it and then Rainbow Dash taught Twilight how to constantly keep herself afloat while not hanging on a ledge in the deep end as well which was simple as all's Twilight had to do was constantly kick her legs. "Now I know you might not like this but today I'm going to teach you how to jump, you might be afraid at first and I won't blame you for that but I think you can do it. If you can't then we can try again next time." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight's breathing picked up as she was nervous about jumping. It seemed scary to do it. Twilight swam with Rainbow Dash to the deep end and then they both got out, Twilight walked with Rainbow Dash to the end and Rainbow Dash stopped her, she made Twilight back up a bit. "I think you need to learn this as its another way to get into the water if there is no ladder on the deep end or if you become a lifeguard and you have to jump in, All's you do is jump in, I'll go first just to show you." Rainbow Dash said as she positioned herself, she then held her breath and jumped in. Twilight looked on in fear as she was a bit unsure about doing this. Rainbow Dash swam to the side and reemerged from the water and smiled at Twilight, Twilight gulped as she looked down into the water. She felt nervous and Rainbow Dash noticed her hesitating. "It's okay Twilight just relax and go through with it, all's it is is jumping into the water, your not going to get hurt, I'll be right here to save you if anything goes wrong so just go for it. You can do it Twilight." Rainbow Dash encouraged. "I can't! It's to scary, the water looks terrifying to jump into! Please don't make me do this!" Twilight begged, Rainbow Dash swam up to her her and held out her hand to her. "Here you can hold my hand and do it, the water looks terrifying because your perception is making you see it that way as your perception is being ran by fear right now, you have to overcome that fear, you can hold my hand as you jump to the water." Rainbow Dash offered. Twilight stepped back as she just couldn't go through with it. "You want me to jump in with you? We can do it on the count of ten which will give you enough time to prepare, if you decide not to jump when I jump then I won't get mad but we will try again if that happens. How about that?" Rainbow Dash asked as she smiled. Twilight hesitated for a few seconds but nodded reluctantly to the plan. Rainbow Dash swam to the ladder and pulled herself out of the water, she walked over to Twilight who faced her, Rainbow Dash offered her hand, Twilight hesitated as she thought about if she should just get it over with so she gently grabbed hold of her friends hand and they faced the water, Twilight knew she couldn't hesitate when Rainbow Dash jumped as she would be pulled in by Rainbow Dash which would screw up the whole thing. "If you hesitate and decide not to jump when I do I'll let go of your hand and we can try again or wait till tomorrow to try, I won't be mad if you hesitate as I know how scared you must be okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight nodded shyly as she just wanted to get this over with. Rainbow Dash offered her hand and Twilight grabbed hold of it and held it tightly. Rainbow Dash asked her if she was ready and Twilight told her yes. "One....two...three!" Rainbow Dash counted and on the count of three Rainbow Dash jumped in with her, Twilight felt a rush of fear as they entered the water, Rainbow Dash helped her swim to the surface. Twilight and Rainbow Dash breathed in air. Twilight realized that she had done it, she was proud of herself. "Great job Twilight! And I like how your constantly kicking your legs to keep yourself afloat, your learning a lot, you have no idea how proud I am of you." Rainbow Dash praised, those words made Twilight feel proud of herself. "Thank you. I'm glad it didn't take me that long to jump, at first I was a bit afraid but then I realized what was to be afraid about so I went through it. Thank you so much." Twilight said. "Your welcome, we can do more tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said cheerfully, they both swam to the ladder and got out of the pool and dried off, they then went home as Twilight was so happy about how good she was doing. She appreciated that Rainbow Dash was taking time out of her day to teach her this stuff. She hoped she did good tomorrow as well.
Chapter 4Twilight Sparkle was heading towards the center where Rainbow Dash was waiting to teach her another lesson on swimming. She wondered what Rainbow Dash had in mind to teach her today, as she got there, Rainbow Dash walked up to her as she was already dressed in her swimwear. "Hello Twilight, today I have a special lesson for you today, it might make you a bit nervous like yesterday but you will probably handle it better than how you handled it yesterday so get dressed in your swimwear and we can get started with the lesson okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight nodded as she hoped that she would be braver this time. Twilight got dressed in her swimwear in the girls locker room and came out to Rainbow Dash who was waiting for her, Rainbow Dash had her follow her to the deep end of the pool, Rainbow Dash stood in front of the deep end and turned to Twilight. "Today I'll teach you to do the cannon ball, the way you do it is fairly simple, you just have to make a running jump into the air and then hold your knees to your chest and then enter the water, You don't have to worry as I'll walk you through it. I'll demonstrate first." Rainbow Dash said, she took a few steps back and ran to the water, she then jumped into the air and then held her legs close to her and made a splash as she entered the water. When she came up for air she spoke. "You have to make a running jump or you won't be able to do it, when you enter the water you can release your legs from your hold but don't release your legs when your in the air as then it won't be a cannon ball, do you understand?" Rainbow Dash instructed. Twilight nodded. Rainbow Dash swam to the side and waited for her to do it. "I can't do it! I'm to afraid what if I mess up? Will you be mad at me? Im afraid o will upset you because I did the wrong thing!" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash shook her head no. "Of coarse I won't be mad at you as your just trying to learn this now, their isn't anything to be afraid of Twilight, we had the same conversation when you jumped for the first time, you weren't afraid after that! I'll be right here you can do this Twilight." Rainbow Dash said. "No I can't do it! I'll drown! Please don't make me do this!" Twilight ranted. Rainbow Dash smiled a gentle smile at her friend as she knew that all that was preventing Twilight was her fear which a he could overcome. "Yes you can! Don't ever say you can't! You can do anything you put your mind to. Prove yourself wrong and do this because you can do this Twilight you have potential you will become a great swimmer their is nothing to be afraid of, You won't drown! Your fear is in your head!" Rainbow Dash said "No! Something truly terrifying will happen! I can't go through with this! I just can't! You will laugh at me if I mess up!"Twilight yelled with emotion. Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Yes you can! Nothing terrifying is going to happen and I'm not going to laugh at you if you screw it up as I'm not like that I would never laugh at you for trying Twilight! You have motivation and that's what is going to give you the strength to do this! Because you can do this!" Rainbow Dash encouraged. "I just can't do it Rainbow Dash! What if your wrong, the cannon ball I'll propel me downward and will drown before I can swim back up? What are you going to do if I can't swim back up before I drown?!" Twilight asked. "Your not going to drown, if you can't swim up I will come and get you as I can make it to the bottom, but you will have enough strength to swim back up on your own, you can do this Twilight, the only thing that can stop you from doing this is your irrational fear!" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight looked ahead and stammered as she tried to come up with another argument but she knew that her friend was right, she breathed slowly to try and calm herself, she took a few steps back and made a running jump, she tried to grab her legs but she entered the water before she could do that, she broke through the surface. She was disappointed with herself. "It's alright Twilight, just try again, you have to jump higher than you just did, put more momentum into your jump once your in the air, get out of the water and just try a second time, you will improve it if you practice." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight got out of the water. Twilight went up to the edge and thought about what Rainbow Dash had said as she wanted to try and follow her instructions perfectly, she stepped back and looked at the space between her and the water, she took a few steps back and prepared herself to jump, she then made a running jump and tried to hold her legs close to her but they slipped she screamed in frustration. Twilight broke through the surface and slapped the water in frustration but Rainbow Dash calmed her down as she knew that Twilight can do it. "Twilight it's okay, you almost did it, if you do it one more time you can succeed, you have the right idea but you have the timing wrong, try to fix you timing when you jump and hold your legs in the air, when you jump grab your legs immediately and hold on tight don't wait." Rainbow Dash instructed. Twilight got out of the water and then jumped into the air again. She immediately pulled her legs to her chest and held them their and entered the water while making a huge splash, she broke through the surface and Rainbow Dash praised her. "That was perfect Twilight I'm so proud of you, you didn't give up even if you were getting frustrated with how difficult it was, you persevered through the difficult time! Your cannon ball was perfect, your figure was in the pest form for the cannon ball so you did great." Rainbow Dash praised. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I appreciate that, I was hoping I would get it right, thanks for encouraging me to try it repeatedly till I got it right as that was the only way I could have done it and I did it that way so thanks." Twilight told her. They both hugged and got out of the water, Twilight and Rainbow Dash got dried off and promised to went to hang out at a park just so they can relax and talk to each other as friends there. While they walked to the park, Rainbow Dash told Twilight what she was planning tomorrow, Twilight was becoming less nervous with each lesson, she was finally knowledgable about swimming and she finally knew how to swim and that made Rainbow Dash proud.
Chapter 5Twilight Sparkle woke up one morning and realized that she had to get read for her lessons, she wanted them to be taught to her now as she wanted to get the done, she was enjoying them but she knew that she had to wait so while she waited she got ready for the day and got the mail and read it. Then she read a book to pass the time. Soon it was time for her to go to the center so she got her bathing suit and started to head on out to where her lessons were. When she got there she went inside and got dressed into her swimwear and went to where the pool was. She approached Rainbow Dash. "Hello Twilight, I hope you slept well because we care going to be learning a new technique of entering the water, it's personally my favorite, today we are going to learn how to dive, you might be a bit nervous but since you already learned how to jump you will probably be less nervous. I'll show you." Rainbow Dash said. Before Twilight could speak up Rainbow Dash did the kneeling dive for Twilight. She swam to the surface and let go of He breath she was holding, Twilight started to shake, she knew she was going to hyperventilate over trying to do this dive. "It's alright Twilight I'm going to walk you through it, first you should get into a kneeling position but make sure your put weight on one foot as you have to keep one leg up make sure your knee is chest level." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight tried to find the position Rainbow Dash was talking about. "I-I don't think I can do this, it's to uncomfortable! What if I hurt myself!?" Twilight worried as she started to grow scared a bit, Rainbow Dash tried to calm her as she didn't want Twilight to freak out before she dived. "Your not going to hurt yourself, if you do this properly you won't hurt yourself, you have to keep everything aligned though when you dive, I'll be right here if you need swim up to me it will be okay. Just push off with you toes to go into the water and make sure you go downward." Rainbow Dash instructed. "But that's scary to go underwater! What if I can't kick hard enough while I'm under water and I sink to the bottom!? This position is uncomfortable!" Twilight whined as she panicked. "I'll save you before that happens, there isn't anything to fear, you can do this Twilight I know you can." Rainbow Dash encouraged, Twilight looked at the water and back at her friend,she became agitated. "No I just can't do this! This is impossible!" Twilight whined as she started to get upset, Rainbow Dash rubbed her arm comfortingly as she thought of a way to calm Twilight down and encourage Twilight. "It's not impossible Twilight, you acted the same way about jumping, diving is less scary than jumping, alls you do is push off of a ledge and dive into the water, that's all there is to it! I'll be right here for you when you do it. If you mess up you just try again!" Rainbow Dash encouraged her. Twilight groaned. Twilight stood up in anger and paced side to side as Rainbow Dash watched her sigh, she wished that Twilight wouldn't believe that it was impossible as she knew that she could do it if she just tried it. "I can't do it Rainbow Dash! I'm to scared, this is different from jumping, that position is uncomfortable and I might hurt myself if I go in wrong I'm not doing it and you can't make me." Twilight ranted. "Yes you can Twilight I believe in you, you just have to see for yourself that you can do it, you have it in you, I'm aware that you are scared but I promise you that I will catch you if you slip and I promise that I will save you if you get stuck under water! I promise!" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight thought over Rainbow Dash's words, she knew that Rainbow Dash was just trying to reassure her, she knew that she won't drown because Rainbow Dash would save her but the prospect of diving was still scary to her. "All's you have to do is push off with your toes and glide straight into the water, it's fairly simple, it's not scary! Trust me that once you dive the first two times you will get the hang of it. Just try it Twilight, I'll be right here waiting for you." Rainbow Dash said encouragingly. Twilight looked at her and then back to the water as she thought about what Rainbow Dash said, she knew that Rainbow Dash was just trying to help her, she didn't feel like she was being forced but she still felt scared though but she wanted to become a great swimmer so she knew that she had to do it. "It's that easy?" Twilight asked as she breathed erratically, Rainbow Dash nodded encouragingly, Twilight looked back at the water and calmed her breathing, her breathing soon slowed to the minimum and then she held onto her breath and then pushed off with her toes and fell into the water. She came up to the surface. "It wasn't that bad for your first time, just do it a couple more times and then you will be able to get the hang of it, you just have to remember to do what you did but make sure to correct your angle a bit more." Rainbow Dash instructed, Twilight got out of the water and got into position again. "She took a few deep breaths to slow her anxiety down so she can be calm while she dived and looked at the water for half a minute and then looked at her friend who encouraged her to do it again, she pushed off with her toes and glided downward into the water, she came up for air. "That was....better, you getting really good at this, just try it a few more times and you will be able to dive without thinking about how to do it as it will be instinct." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight repeated the dive ten times in total and she got better with each dive. When she dived one last time she came up for air and looked over to a Rainbow Dash. "Hey! This is the easiest way to get into the water! It's not scary anymore to do either! Thanks Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed. "See? I told you it was the easiest way to get into the water, it's better than the jump in my opinion. I'm very proud of all of the experience your getting. You are improving each day and I love that!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight giggled and took off towards the shallow end. "Race you!" Twilight called, Rainbow Dash laughed and swam after her as they raced to the shallow end, Rainbow Dash beat her but Twilight didn't care as she was having to much fun. "Thanks Rainbow Dash, I'm really enjoying the lessons. Your the best friend Twilight said. Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm glad your enjoying them, I'm just a friend trying to help another friend." Rainbow Dash said, Rainbow Dash had Twilight swam around for a couple of moments and then they got out and got dried off. Twilight was so happy with herself as she was becoming a great swimmer and Rainbow Dash could see that, when they got dressed they left the center, before they both went home Rainbow Dash went up to Twilight. "Your doing very well Twilight, I'll think of more stuff to teach you tomorrow but for now go get some rest, you deserve it!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight giggled and hugged her friend and they both went home, Twilight was ecstatic about how her lessons were going, she was going to pass Rainbow Dash's lessons in no time.
Chapter 6Rainbow Dash was at the center waiting for Twilight so she can teach the next lesson in swimming to her, she was so proud of Twilight's improvement and Twilight was enthusiastic about how well she was doing. She hoped that she would pass Rainbow Dash's lessons soon. Soon Twilight arrived and got dressed into her swimwear, She then exited the locker room and then she headed to the pool, she got to the pool and approached Rainbow Dash who was sitting on the bench by the pool she slide over so that she could give room for Twilight to sit. Twilight sat down by her as she didn't know what else to do. "You have made so much progress Twilight, it truly is remarkable, since you've been learning so much I'm starting to run out of stuff to teach you but if you want to practice all of the stuff we have done you can join the Ponyville swimming team. I talked to to them and they said that they would love to have you as a member as long as you train more first." Rainbow Dash announced. Twilight was thrilled to hear that announcement. "Really?! That's wonderful I heard that they were great in local championships!" Twilight exclaimed, Rainbow Dash winced as she forgot to prevent Twilight from getting ahead of herself. "Not so fast Twilight, you have to earn your way up to represent them in local races, you have to improve your speed when your in the water, but I don't think that will be an issue but you must do this in order to help them out! It's imperative at you do that. Once you do that they will test you and they will declare that you can represent them but before you can do that you'll have to practice a lot and then only then can you join the Ponyville Swim team." Rainbow Dash stated. Twilight nodded "I can do that! I'm sure I can! I really want to join them! They are the third best team in Equestria Twilight declared, Rainbow Dash shrugged as she wondered if Twilight could even manage being a member. "Well you best get busy, but enough of that now today I want to teach you swim underwater and that's fairly easy, you need to work yourself up to that in order to do something like that, so we are going to practice holding our breaths under water and practicing our swimming in order to swim when we are submerged." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight and Rainbow Dash got into the water and Rainbow Dash instructed Twilight on holding her breath under water, Twilight was afraid at first but Rainbow Dash promised that she would stay there if anything happened to Twilight, Twilight took out her new prescribed goggles and submerged herself underwater. She tried to count in her head as she held her breath, she couldn't stand being under though so she came up to the surface and let go of her breath, before Rainbow Dash could speak to her she took another breath and went under, Rainbow Dash was surprised Twilight would try again even after failing. Twilight tried to count for as long as she could, she wished she had the tolerance and the perseverance to stay under longer, she tried to stay under as Rainbow Dash waited for her to surface again, she was surprised Twilight was able to stay under longer. She timed Twilight for her as she was curious at how long she could do this for. Twilight came back up and looked at Rainbow Dash, she took deep breaths of air as she wiped the water from her face with her hands. "That was better than the first time, you were under the water for a minute which is better than thirty seconds, congratulations Twilight." Rainbow Dash stated, Twilight shook her hair as water came off of her head as she shook it. "Thank you Rainbow Dash. Can I try swimming under water? How can I be able to do that? Is it harder than swimming above the water?" Twilight shook her head. "For me it isn't but I'm not sure if you can do it, but in theory you can do it-wait Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as Twilight tried to swim under water, Rainbow Dash was completely surprised that Twilight was swimming on her own as she went back and forth under the water the problem was was that she kept messing up which frustrated her. "Twilight....maybe we should slow down and learn bit by bit?" Rainbow Dash suggested but Twilight didn't listen as she tried to swim on her own under water several times. Rainbow Dash had to admit that she was doing an average job at underwater swimming even if it was only half way through the pool. Twilight stopped and spoke abruptly. "I want to join the Ponyville swim team! I should be able to take the test on my own! Please let me do it!" Twilight begged, Rainbow Dash wondered how to tell Twilight that she needed more practice for that as they don't just let somebody sign up immediately. "Twilight you can't just walk into their office and sign up, it doesn't work like that! You have to have lots of experience and training for them, just because you know how to swim doesn't mean they can accept you, they only accept the best swimmers." Rainbow Dash told her. But Twilight left before Rainbow Dash finished her sentence, Rainbow knew that Twilight was going to the headquarters of the Ponyville swim team to make a fool of herself, she decided not to follows as she didn't want to watch Twilight get made fun of. Twilight walked right in and walked to the front desk, she could hear other members in the back swimming. She saw the coach who scrutinized her. "Your....the librarian and princess from Ponyville I presume? I'm Mrs. Haskell. She asked as she introduced herself. Twilight nodded with a big smile. "Yes, I would like to join the swim team." She said, the coach tried not to cringe as she looked Twilight over as she knew that the girl probably was only an average swimmer. "How much experience do you have? Do you work out? Can I trust you to make it on time in meetings?" She asked, Twilight hesitated. "I have a two weeks knowledge of swimming but I know I can be good swimmer! I learned under the best!" Twilight insisted. "I'm sorry kiddo but you can't sign up yet. Two weeks knowledge isn't enough, most people on the Ponyville swim team have years worth of knowledge, you can't join if you only have limited amount of experience and you can't join if you aren't fast and by the look of those muscles I can tell that your a snail. I'm sorry but you can't sign up and join." The coach said. "But I can swim! I'm fast to! I can beat people in races. Just please give me a chance! I'm ready for this! I'm fast! I'm just as fast as any athlete out there I'm probably stinger than Spitfire from the Wonderbolts!" Twilight protested. The coach sighed as she rubbed her eyes in frustration she didn't want to crush the poor girls dreams or make the girl go through a tough time just to join but she couldn't let her join either as she was inexperienced. She looked Twilight over and thought. Twilight prayed she can join. "Alright.....I've thought it over and since I'm the coach of the swim team I have decided that you can sign up but here's the deal! What I'm doing now is pretty much against every protocol in accepting members, we don't just let random people join because they are swimmers as we need the best swimmers but I feel...moved by you...I notice that you have lots of passion for swimming when i was talking to you....your also well known in Equestria so I just couldn't say no...but since you have joined your going to have to train more often than what you were doing with Rainbow Dash. It's not going to be a walk in a park. We are nice and everything but we aren't laid back around her. We take this stuff very seriously so I hope you can keep up with our schedule and....please gain some muscle but aside from that...welcome to the Ponyville Swim Team. You can join once you finish your lessons." She told Twilight. "I'll be here! Thanks I won't let you down!" Twilight said, the coach gave her a form and she signed up for the swim team and she left in a hurry, she went back to the center and saw that Rainbow Dash had gone home so she went home, on the way home she ran into Rainbow Dash and told her everything that had happened. "They let you sign up huh? That's....unheard of....they don't just let anybody sign up like that and I don't think your ready but...it's your decision....I hope you know what your doing Twilight. I'll be ending your lessons soon so you can start practicing with them immediately. So we will finish up your training in a few days." Rainbow Dash said. "Thanks Rainbow Dash." Twilight said, they then took a break and planned more lessons for later on that day as Twilight was determined to finish Rainbow Dash's lessons so that she can go off and join the swim team, Twilight officially got signed up for the swim team against all protocol, the members weren't going to be happy that they had to wait years before they became members but yet Twilight could join in mere minutes. They were going to show Twilight that it was no walk in the park. Rainbow Dash hoped that Twilight knew what she was doing as she wanted Twilight to succeed in being a good member in the team even if she just joined, she hoped that Twilight had the stamina to deal with being a member on the team, she would have to wait to see if Twilight could succeed and she hoped that Twilight will succeed.
Chapter 8Twilight and Rainbow Dash arrived at the center together, Twilight ran up to her friend and they hugged eachother, after greeting eachother they went to the locker rooms and got into their swimwear and then went back to the pool and Twilight smiled enthusiastically. "Your a bit eager today because I can tell that you are, I'm glad your showing excitement for these lessons, it makes me happy that your enjoying them and it makes me happy that you are doing very well." Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight smiled as she felt so proud for all she had done in the lessons. Twilight smiled. "Although the lessons are almost. The only thing I'm going to do is have you swim by yourself as I observe, you have to remember everything I taught you, and after that you can join the swim team. Understand? It won't be hard I'm going to go over everything you have to do and after you do this you will pass my class and then you can sign up for the swim team." Rainbow Dash said "I understand! I'm ready to do this! Let's do this now!" Twilight said, she knew that it would be embarrassing to swim in the pool by herself as Rainbow Dash watched her but she was ready to get this done as well. She knew that she had to so it. Rainbow Dash reviewed everything that they had learned. Twilight listened closely as Rainbow Dash spoke to her about what to do and how to do each stroke, she was so nervous about swimming under Rainbow Dash's observance but she was determined to do anything to join the Ponyville swim team. Soon it was time. "Alright Twilight this is it, get into the pool repeat everything I have taught you, I know your nervous so if you need me I'll be right here to help you if something goes wrong but other than that you are on your own, you have to do this part by yourself, I can't help you or that would be cheating. Now start swimming." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight walked over to the pool and got in, she gulped and looked over to Rainbow Dash who told her at she could do it, she got in and looked at the water as she tried to calm her breathing, once she calmed her breathing she began to swim. Her heart was beating hard as she was so nervous. She worried she would mess something up, she had to do everything perfectly or she would fail the test and she would have to wait a year to join the swim team as she did the lessons all over again, she knew that she couldn't let that happened. Twilight became very determined as she did each stroke that she had learned, she kept her breathing from becoming to erratic as she swam through the water, she took a quick peek at Rainbow Dash who was watching her and writing down all of the stuff she was doing right and all of the stuff she was doing wrong, she hoped that she wasn't doing to bad. She continued to swim with a determined expression, she was going to succeed and join the swim team even if she had to strain her muscles in the process, her body was getting soaking wet as she swam in a quickened pace, when she did the butterfly stroke she splashed water everywhere but she didn't care. She wondered what Rainbow Dash was thinking at that moment, was she seeing her make to many mistakes so she could tell her that she failed or was she proud? That was the question that she was afraid to get an answer for. She was failing, she felt so ashamed of herself. She finished swimming and got out of the water with a look of despair on her face she angrily ran to the locker room and sobbed loudly. She could never pass the lessons and she could never join the swim team now, she would have to repeat the lessons all over again as she sobbed Rainbow Dash walked up to her slowly. She noticed her. "I'll never be able to join the swim team now! I failed! It's all my fault, I let you down and it's all my fault! I'm a terrible student!" Twilight cried, Rainbow Dash took something out. "Twilight look." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight turned around and saw Rainbow Dash walk up to her, she handed her a certificate, she read it and she was thrilled the certificate said that she passed, she was shocked, she thought that she had failed. "I....passed?" Twilight asked with shock. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and she nodded with a huge smile and she told Twilight that she was very proud of her. Twilight jumped up and hugged Rainbow Dash. She was so happy she felt silly for worrying about nothing. "You can now join the swim team Twilight, I'm so proud of you, their was no need to worry either, you left before I could say anything and then you assumed that you failed. You got all upset over nothing!" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight chuckled an embarrassed chuckle. "Thanks Rainbow Dash I can't wait to join the swim team!" Twilight said, they both hugged and then they went to celebrate somewhere and after that they both went home, Twilight couldn't wait to join the swim team, her dream was about to come true, she told all of her friends and they all congratulated her, they even swam with her later on the next morning for fun. They told eachother that hey can continue to swim with eachother whenever they wanted and they all liked the idea of that, they all went home and Twilight updated Spike on how her swim lessons with Rainbow Dash were going as she told him before about what was going on in her swim lessons and he told her that he was proud of her. Spike told him he was excited for her. They talked for a bit more and then they hung out together as Twilig looked forward to tomarrow.
Chapter 9The next day after Twilight signed up she was waiting outside near the building where the first meet would happen, soon they allowed everybody to come in and so she went inside and met up with the team, when she met up with the team she didn't see anybody she recognized. She was introduced to all of the members after getting there and she was familiarized with the meet up schedule and when they had days where they weren't going to do meet ups, soon they all started to talk about how they would partake in local championships by swimming against other teams. Twilight started to work out a lot more due to joining as she wanted to be strong and fast enough to swim with the team, she also swam daily so she could get extra practice in, Spike started to go to her meet ups as well as he liked to cheer her on and brag how he new her to other people there. Rainbow Dash celebrated with Twilight for starting out great with the swim team, Rainbow Dash made sure to go to every event that the Ponyville swim team did. She was still a newbie though and she had a tough time improving but she persevered through it and improved. Twilight made sure to loose weight and gain strength so she could be in shape for future meet ups, she was nervous at first when she joined up as the members doubted her abilities but after a while they started to like her. They grew to respect her and they even let her be a communicator for the team which she appreciated. Twilight had fun swimming with them everyday as they had fun swimming with her, she made sure to never mess up and they told her that they appreciated that and they also said that if she did make mistakes they won't get mad at her which relieved her. Twilight also continued to swim for fun and some of her friends swam with her, she also swam for fun with some of the team members, she knew that someday she should thank Rainbow Dash, she decided to do that soon as she didn't want to forget about it and offend Rainbow Dash as she was truly grateful for Rainbow Dash to teach her. Rainbow Dash was so happy for Twilight and she knew that Twilight would thank her later on but for now she just let Twilight enjoy herself, she knew that her work was done, she had succeeded in helping Twilight learn how swim. She did excellent when Rainbow Dash taught her and they both noticed that. Rainbow Dash and Twilight couldn't wait to talk about all of the great things that have happened for Twilight, Rainbow Dash knew that Twilight was going to be a great swimmer and a good example of what a swimmer was supposed to be. Twilight won several trophies in individual races that she participated in as well and her swim team and her friends congradualted her on these competitions as well. Twilight got stronger over the coarse of several weeks as a result of training, she helped the team in a few competitions which her friends and Rainbow Dash was at some just so they could see Twilight swim, they cheered for her during the ones they could get to as they couldn't get to all the races which Twilight understood Twilight loved the fact that Rainbow Dash and her friends could go to some of her races and cheer her on as it meant a lot, she knew her friends cared about her progress as a swimmer, after the races she would invite her friends to go to dinner with the swim team and the swim team didn't mind her inviting them. Twilight invited Spike to all of her races as well since he was her friend to and he cheered her on along with Twilight's friends, Spike was also invited to go to the dinner with her team members and her friends, due to this happening Twilight's friends included him in anything they did as they realized how badly he has been treated, their relationship with Spike improved and they apologized to him about how he had been treated in the past and he said that they were forgiven. Twilight's family also tried to go to her team's swimming competitions, they made it to some but couldn't make it to others which Twilight understood as they were busy with their own stuff, they told her that they were proud of her which made her happy. Celestia also congratulated her on learning how to swim and she even swam with her in Canterlot Castle's indoor pool. Twilight was shocked to discover that Canterlot castle had a pool as she never knew that it did have a pool but after that she thought that it was a pretty neat thing that Canterlot castle had pool, she swam in it with Celestia and Luna when she could, she also raced Twilight at the center's pool where she learned how to swim, both of them won several races against eachother. Her friends watched them race eachother some times as well and they cheered them both on as they were happy that either of them won as they didn't pick either one over the other as they were their best friends altough the placed bets on who would win sometimes but other an that they were thrilled when they both won, they all had fun whenever they did this so they did it whenever they could as they were happy that they could do this with eachother. Twilight was so happy that her dream had finally had come true and she made sure to thank Rainbow Dash when she got the time, she planned to thank Rainbow Dash during the week so that she could get it out of the way so that she didn't forget to thank her later on if she didn't have time during the other days.
Chapter 10It was a few months since Twilight had joined the swim team and Twilight was at home where she was thinking about her swim lessons that she got from Rainbow Dash, she wanted to make sure that Rainbow Dash knew that she was thankful for all that Rainbow Dash had taught her so she went outside to go and see her friend to thank her. As she walked to where her friend was she wondered what she was doing now that she was done teaching her how to swim, she soon got there and saw Rainbow Dash was outside of a basketball court she walked up to her. Rainbow Dash spotted her and waved to her. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be at your place? What's going on?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash sat up and walked up to her so Twilight didn't have to look down at her. "Well I was playing some basketball for a bit but now I'm taking a break, how's it going? Are you going to continue to swim now that the lessons are over?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight smiled. "Yes I am going to continue to swim, I came here to thank you for the lessons, I want to thank you for helping me learn what I wanted to learn. I want to thank you for being very patient for me when I was having trouble. You helped me do something I wanted to do so thank you." Twilight said. "No problem Twilight I'm glad that we had spent time together while I taught you how to swim and we can continue to swim together just for fun when you want to do that. I'll take time off doing sow thing just to spend time with my friends as I am the epitome of loyalty, I will always be loyal to all of my friends including you because that's what I do. How's the swim team going? Is that working out for you? Are they treating you equally like all of the other members?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's great, I'm moving up in the ranks and I'm now a trusted member since I started swimming with them after your lessons which was a few months ago. They saw my swimming ability was really excellent so they trust me more and they hinted that I might be a team captain some day. Yes the team members are treating me equally and I love it that I'm being treated like how any other member wants to be treated, I'm trying my best to make the team proud and I always try to help them win races as well, they also try to help me races to." Twilight said happily, Rainbow Dash was glad to hear that. "Well I'm glad to hear that Twilight, I knew you could do it. I'm so proud of you for your enthusiasm in swimming and I'm proud of the accomplishments that you have made in swimming in general. I think you were meant to do this, I know that may seem silly but I think you were! I think deep inside you always wanted to swim but didn't know who to talk to and now since you have learned to swim your ability to do it naturally is evolving I truly believe that." Rainbow Dash said. "Wow...thanks! I didn't know you thought I had it in me, I really appreciate that you think that about me as I would have never thought of that, I knew I wanted to swim but i didn't think that I would be good at it so appreciate you saying that. You are a great friend to say that and I appreciated everything that you did for me in order to teach me how to swim, do I get a certificate that I passed?" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash smiled and pulled out a certificate which said that she passed. Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash and thanked her for the certificate, she hung it up on her wall and Spike came out and congratulated her on it, he also thanked Rainbow Dash for taking the time to teach Twilight how to swim, Rainbow Dash told her that it was no big deal and that she was glad to do it. "Thanks for teaching me Rainbow Dash, if you didn't teach me then I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable with a teacher I didn't know and I would have done bad but you taught me and had me do very well, I appreciated your patience." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash said your welcome and before she forgot she handed Twilight a present. "It's a gift for doing really well, I hope you like it." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight opened it up and saw that it was a long sleeved barefoot wetsuit that she could wear while she swam. Twilight ripped her socks off and tried it on immediately. She walked around in her barefeet while wearing the wetsuit and she saw that it looked perfect on her. Rainbow Dash giggled "It's a great present! I love it Rainbow Dash Thanks so much! Now I can swim in this during completions and swim with my friends and with you in it! My going to have so much fun, I'm going to have more fun when I'm swimming with you though! Do you have a wetsuit?" Twilight said, she took it off and put her clothes back on and Rainbow Dash smiled "Your welcome Twilight your going to be a wonderful swimmer, I just know that you are going to be great! Yes I do have a wetsuit and its also long sleeve and I always swim in it barefoot! Your going to swim really well and win so many competitions that others won't win and j know this because I don't doubt your ability to be a great swimmer." Rainbow Dash told her, they hugged eachother as they were both glad that Rainbow Dash was able to teach Twilight how to swim.
Chapter 7Twilight was at the center the next day as she was waiting patiently for Rainbow Dash to arrive at the center to continue the lessons with her, she was so happy that she was going great even if it was taking her awhile even if she knew that was going to happen, while she waited she looked at the pool, she wondered what she was going to learn from her best friend today. She thought that her friend was a wonderful teacher, She knew that Rainbow Dash was pretty good at it, she wondered how she got her training as a teacher, she was grateful that Rainbow Dash has lots of patience for the lessons as she never gets upset if Twilight did something wrong which Twilight appreciated. As she sat there her friend walked up to her quietly, she watched it for a few more seconds but then got startled when she turned to see Rainbow Dash who was already in her bathing suit. Rainbow Dash chuckled at Twilight's reaction as she sat by her. Twilight knew that Rainbow Dash didn't mean to scare her though so she wasn't mad in fact she found it funny herself. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was here I just thought you would notice me so I'm sorry for scaring you. Anyway today we are going to learn how to swim underwater. So get into your bathing suit and come back here so we can begin the next lesson for today, okay?" Rainbow Dash said, Twilight nodded as she looked at the locker room. She went to the locker room and got into her bathing suit and then she came back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash entered the deep end first and then Twilight got in after her without hesitation as she wasn't nervous about swimming anymore. She was eager to learn and that made Rainbow Dash happy as she was glad that Twilight was enjoying the lessons that she was teaching her. Twilight held onto the edge as Rainbow Dash swam over to her. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash so she can pay attention. "Okay Twilight I hope you brought your prescribed goggles because we are going to practice swimming techniques under water so your going to need your goggles as you are going to want to see underwater. I don't have much more to teach you so we can practice what you've learned under water, is that okay?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight nodded with a smile as she knew what Rainbow Dash wanted to do. Rainbow Dash showed Twilight how to do each swimming technique under water and Twilight tried to follow her example as she tried each technique. Twilight had to make sure she took good breaths of air so she had enough to do all of this underwater but she made sure not to stay under to long or she would pass out from lack of oxygen. But she knew that if she did pass out Rainbow Dash would dive under water and save her from drowning so she didn't have to worry about that. This was the toughest lesson that Twilight felt that she had to face by far during Rainbow Dash's lessons as she had never swam under water until now, she kept going up for air after each technique but Rainbow Dash didn't mind if she did that as she understood that Humans could only hold their breath for so long until they would have to breath again. Rainbow Dash and Twilight spent minutes at a time on each technique as she didn't want to miss anything but she made sure to not go to fast as Twilight was still learning although Twilight never complained about anything she learned which Rainbow Dash liked as that made her know that she was doing a good job in teaching Twilight how to swim. They repeated the techniques a few times as well so that Twilight could get a hang of every technique that she learned from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash explained everything so that Twilight didn't miss one detail, she was so grateful that Rainbow Dash taught her everyday so she wanted to thank her for all of the stuff she has done even if they haven't finished the lessons yet. Soon they stopped to take a break so that they could regain some of their energy to do the rest of the lesson "Rainbow Dash I want to thank you for teaching me how to swim, I'm very grateful you had the time to spend teaching me all of this stuff about swimming, I've been the most comfortable learning from you so I just wanted to say thanks. I'm going to swim whenever I can now." Twilight said as they held onto the side of the pool. Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight. "Your welcome Twilight I'm glad you appreciate me teaching you how to swim, that really means a lot to me. Now come on let's do a few more lessons and then we can stop for today." Rainbow Dash said, Twilight grinned and nodded and then Rainbow Dash went over diving techniques again which Twilight wasn't scared of anymore. Soon they were both done and they both dried off and got dressed, they then left together, on the way home Twilight talked about swimming and how she started to love it so much, Rainbow Dash offered to buy her a pool and Twilight loved that idea so they agreed to buy Twilight a pool later on. They also decided to swim at the center just for fun on some days when they had time and when they weren't having lessons which Rainbow Dash and Twilight thought would be fun, soon Twilight said that she would see her tomorrow and then she went inside her place as she was so happy, Rainbow Dash left with a grin as she was having fun teaching Twilight how to swim. She was happy that Twilight was happy about the lessons.
