Everything was piece and quiet until Rainbow felt a pillow hitting her right in the face.

“Rainbow Dash!” she opened her eyes to see her mother standing angrily at the door. “How many times do I have to tell you to get up?”

“I’m going, mom.” Her voice came a little hoarsely, she cleaned her throat and, fighting the urge to stay for just 5 more minutes, Rainbow got out of bed. She didn’t hear it, but she was sure Windy had called her countless times, she’d kill her if she didn’t get up that instant.

Her bangs were messy just like it always was every morning, a lock of rainbow hair was covering her eyes, so she combed it to the side and used her hair straightener to keep it that way. After that, she changed her clothes, thinking about what would be best fitting to wear on a first day of high school. A Nike t-shirt, sneakers and leggings should be fine, honestly, she wouldn’t think of anything better than that anyway.

Attracted to the delicious smell from downstairs, she almost forgot about her turtle. Tank was quiet in his aquarium, she didn’t know at what time Windy had fed him the day before, so she gave him some more.

“There, there, food is here, buddy.” she touched his hull to wake him up. “Mommy will be back in the afternoon.”

That sounded so much like Fluttershy all of a sudden, it seemed like her stay was already taking effect on her behavior.

Tank’s aquarium was on a dresser facing her bed, and on the wall above it was where her dad had nailed her old shelf full of everything she’s ever won, all laid out exactly like they were back home. The trophies, medals, even the participation ones that her mother decided to keep, they also came with some photos of her and the team, her parents never seemed to miss any shot.

They were put in chronological order, the ones on the top shelf were the oldest, there she had her first participation medal for the Little Kickers that she won when she was 4, the next was a small trophy she won in the swim team when she was 6 or 7, the first thing she’s ever competed.

From that on, most of the medals and trophies were from volleyball. On the second shelf she had a silver medal and a trophy for when her team got second place in the Junior Volleyball Association, her first gold medal in the elementary team, and a couple more stuff she got from her local club back in Cloudsdale.

Now that Rainbow was going to high school, she needed to rearrange more space to put new awards. There was still a place left in the lower shelf, she had reserved that spot for the trophy she’d get in the Middle School State Championship, but that ended up not happening.

“RAINBOW DASH!” she heard her mom yell from downstairs. She got distracted once again, it was her ADHD speaking.

“COMING!”

She rushed through the staircase to find the table already prepared for breakfast. Fluttershy had just made pancakes and was putting them on a pile, that was where the smell was coming from. Rainbow sat on her usual seat where a plate was already put for her and served herself.

“I thought you guys had already had breakfast by now with you calling me like that.” She said it to her mother.

“We didn’t, but you’d go to school without breakfast if I hadn’t called you.” Windy answered. “Can you pass me the syrup?”

The pancakes were delicious, Rainbow knew Fluttershy could cook, it was something she learned from her mother, but she didn’t know she was that good.

“So, Rainbow, are you excited for your first day at the new school?” her dad asked at the other end of the table.

“Oh yeah, specially with the sports program they have.”

“And it’s all thanks to your mother, you know” Windy started saying. “I was also thinking about you when I applied for this job, I know they have one of the best volleyball teams of the state, better than the one I had when I was your age.”

“I know. They’re Canterlot, after all.”

“Yeah, they are. And soon you’re gonna be so good that you’ll surpass me.”

Rainbow gave her a smirk. “…It’s not gonna be that difficult, I’m already awesome.” This made her mother smile, rolling her eyes at the sillyness.

“Did you look at the school to see how you can enter the volleyball team?”

“No, dad, they’re still going to tell us about that, possibly today.” She took a sip of her chocolate milk. “me and Fluttershy are going to sign up. Right, Flutter?”

Fluttershy nodded timidly, only now Rainbow realized she haven’t even sit yet, she was in front of the sink already washing the dirty dishes from the pancakes she made.

“Honey, go sit, you don’t need to do all of this.”

“I know, Mrs. Whistles, but I really want to. I want to be useful.”

“You already were very useful this morning, your pancakes are delicious. Sit and eat with us before Rainbow eats everything.” her dad said. Rainbow let out a gasp.

“Hey!” she grumbled, but Bow’s words were what finally made Fluttershy sit.

Rainbow still couldn’t believe her mother agreed to have Fluttershy live with them. Canterlot was a few hours away from Cloudsdale, they wouldn’t have time to see each other very often, and Fluttershy was already worried about how she’d handle high school with Rainbow not being around, so moving to Canterlot with her best friend’s family must have been a relief to her.

Her parents were supporting her by sending money every month, Rainbow’s family weren’t spending anything more with her being there; but for Fluttershy, it still wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t the first time she did something similar since they moved in. A couple of days before, she found Fluttershy taking care of her mother’s garden, she said she really liked gardening so it wasn’t a problem at all, even though they’d just moved there and the plants haven’t even grown yet.

That same week Rainbow found Fluttershy cleaning her room, it was a mess and Rainbow had promised to clean it, but by the end of the day she always ended up forgetting and just wanted to rest after practicing a lot. Then one day, she got home and her bedroom was completely clean, Rainbow told her best friend this wasn’t necessary and that she didn’t need to feel like a visitor now that she lived with them, but she couldn’t deny she kinda wanted it to happen again. Cleaning her room was boring as hell.

“Are you ready to go?” Windy asked them.

“No, wait!” Rainbow swallowed what was left of the pancakes, drank one more sip of milk and left the table.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

She looked at her mother for a few seconds.
“Ah, right...” she took her plate and mug and put them on the sink.

…

Their home wasn’t as close to school as it was when they lived in Cloudsdale, she was used to going to school on foot or bike, but this was the house they were able to afford. The good thing was that they’d always have Windy to give them a lift, she got a job in their school as an elementary P.E teacher, they’d only stay in different buildings.

Rainbow got out of the car and looked at the entrance in front of her. It must have been twice the size of her old school, with twice the amount of students. There were groups of people talking near the stairs and some entering the building, where in front of it was a statue of a horse, the school’s symbol.

This wasn’t news to her, she’d already been to Canterlot for tournaments, but this time it was different. She wasn’t in rival’s land anymore, this was her home now.

“It’s so… huge.” Fluttershy commented next to her.

“Yeah, isn’t that awesome?” Rainbow said excitedly, pulling her arm. “Come’on, let’s go in!”

They went through the entrance and followed the crowd. Rainbow didn’t know exactly where they were going or even if they were supposed to follow them, but they did anyway, and this brought them to the school’s court.

It was so different than she remembered. The amount of people made it feel smaller than the last time she was there, and the fact that it was daytime instead of night also contributed to this weird sensation, she didn’t think she’d ever seen how Canterlot High looked like during the day.

She and Fluttershy picked up a spot in the stands and waited for whatever it was that was going to start. In the middle of the court was where all the teachers were standing next to one another, in front of them was a table with some papers on it. The tallest one of them, a woman with long wavy hair that appeared to be in her 50’s, took the microphone and started talking.

“Hello, good morning, students! I’m Celestia, the principal of Canterlot High School. First, I want to say welcome to our new students that are arriving this year!” someone started clapping and everybody followed along excitedly until she continued talking again. “As some of you here already know, our school’s policy has always been to provide the best quality of learning and education of the state, and this is something we do with the most pride and…”

After just a minute of speech, she’d lost Rainbow’s attention completely. She looked up at the court’s huge ceiling where there was a basketball stuck in one of the metal beams and wondered how long was it stuck there, then her attention went back to her other side while some girls were gossiping about people she didn’t know, apparently someone had cheated on this girl and she was so sad that she didn’t come to school. Rainbow wished she could know more, but it was difficult to hear.

And then, when she finally went back to the principal, she was talking about a whole different topic that didn’t even made sense anymore.

“Did she say something about the sports teams?” Rainbow poked Fluttershy.

“Not yet. Weren’t you listening?”

“Yeah… not really.” She said. Fluttershy laughed.

“Well, it wasn’t that important anyway.”

After the principal’s speech, the vice-principal Luna also spoke some words and then passed it on to the teachers and other member of the staff. The crowd seemed to be very excited about some of them, and by that only, Rainbow could already imagine who were the boring teachers and the cool ones.

She was starting to lose her attention again until the last one of the teachers, a woman with a crazy cool spiky hair, started talking:

“Hello, newbies!” The crowd of upperclassman cheered and whistled at her, she seemed to be the most loved of the teachers. “My name is Spitfire and I’m the athletic director of the school, I’m also the coach for the female basketball and volleyball teams, so if you’re a girl and and want to apply for any of those, you’re gonna see a lot of me. And both of them happen this fall, so I advise you to go to the orientation session for the extracurricular activities and sports teams that is going to happen this Thursday, we’re going to provide more information about the schedule there.”

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Rainbow spoke in a thin voice while shaking Fluttershy’s shouder, her eyes sparkling. “She’s amazing!”

After the presentations were over, all the students gathered to receive their papers with the schedule for the classes and the numbers of their lockers; then the English teacher, Rainbow had already forgotten her name — Cheer… something — started making a tour with them through the whole building.

They went to the locker room right next to the court, then to the school cafeteria, the library, the nurse room, visited some of the rooms and then it was time to go to class for some ice-breaker activities. They sat on the two seats available at almost the end of the third line, in front of them there were a group of three girls that already seemed to know each other.

She loved first days of school, they wouldn’t do anything but chat, have lunch and do some group activities. No classrooms, no notebooks, nothing. And specially for them that were freshman, the whole first week was going to be very chill.

“Hey, are you two alone?” a girl asked loudly, Rainbow didn’t know if she was talking to them or not. “Well, not alone alone because you were talking just a minute ago so you obviously know each other, but I bet you’re new here because I’d certainly remember if I’ve seen a girl with rainbow hair before.”

Yeah, she was clearly talking to them.

“Yes, we are new.” She answered.

“That’s perfect, I love to meet new people!” she said. Rainbow didn’t know the reason for so much enthusiasm. “I’m Pinkie Pie.”

She extended her hand and Rainbow took it.

“Nice to…”

“These are my friends Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, we used to study here in middle school in the other building, and if you two weren’t there then you’re obviously new. Were you from Crystal Prep? Wait, don’t answer yet, Maretonia? Manehattan High? Wait, was it…”

“We are from Cloudsdale.”

“Cloudsdale? I LOVE Cloudsdale, I have some friends that live there, you know, so I went there a few times. Did you know that…”

“Gosh, Pinkie, darling, would you let the girl breathe?” interrupted Rarity next to her. Thankfully. “Sorry for that, she’s a dear, but she can be a bit much sometimes.”

“You didn’t tell us your names.” The indian girl, Twilight, spoke after her.

“I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, funny that your name is Rainbow and your hair is also rainbow. Which one came first?” Pinkie asked.

“Well… my name, obviously. Have you seen someone be born with a rainbow hair before?”

“Oh.” She giggled. “Yeah duh, silly me.”

“So you had your hair dyed all colorful just to match your name?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, why not?” she took a lock of hair from behind her ear and brought it to the front.
“Rainbow in the hair, rainbow in the name.”

“I think it’s a neat idea” Pinkie commented. “I too am thinking of dying my hair pink, like, shocking pink.”

“Oh, I think that’d suit you.”

“And your name?” Twilight asked Fluttershy. Rainbow went to the side to let her see them as she was in the back, she wanted Fluttershy to answer it on her own.

“I’m Fluttershy” she whispered.

“Sorry, I’m not hearing you.”

“I’m Flut… hum… I’m…”

“She’s Fluttershy.” Rainbow had to answer for her. “She doesn’t speak very much.”

“Stick with us, Fluttershy!” Pinkie stood up and put a hand over her shoulder. “I promise we’re cool!”

“Is everyone here already? No one wants to go to the bathroom before we start?” the teacher called their attention. The noises in the room soon started ceasing.

Just as she asked, there was a knock on the door. A blonde girl came over, her breathing uneven from running.

“Ah’m… so sorry, Miss…”

“Cheerilee.”

“Cheerilee.” the girl corrected herself. “Ah was a little bit lost after going to the bathroom, too many corridors…”

“That’s alright, dear. Take a seat that is still available.”

Rainbow couldn’t stop looking at her as she was sitting on the only empty seat up front next to the wall, she was sure she had seen that face before.

The freckles, the blonde hair with an elastic band at the end. And was she speaking in a country accent?

She couldn’t be…

“Ok, students.” The teacher continued on saying. “For those who didn’t hear, my name is Cheerilee and I’ll be your English teacher this year. I hope to have a lot of great moments together with you. I take it that most of you don’t know many of your classmates yet, so we’ll take this part of the morning and the afternoon to get to know each other better.”

Miss Cheerilee explained what they had to do first. She put her name on the board and wrote three statements about her, but one of them were false, their job was to figure out which one of them was the false one. Then after that, each student was going to do that same thing and the whole class had to guess it.

She was expecting it to be less fun then it was. With 30 classmates in the room, there were some of them that weren’t really creative in coming up with things – or maybe their lives just weren’t really that interesting – but overall, it was quite fun to guess what these people had done or not just based on their appearance, specially because she was often right in her guesses, even when they weren’t spoken out loud because of Pinkie Pie who usually raised her hand first.

There was only one column of students missing now, and it was the one close to the wall where the blond girl was sitting. Rainbow now remembered her name, it was…

“Applejack, mah name’s Applejack” she had just answered Miss Cheerilee’s question. “And the three facts ‘bout me is that… Ah have an older brother and a younger sister, Ah’m very carsick and… mah favorite sport is soccer.”

Oh, she already knew the answer to that, for sure.

“Okay, who wants to start?” just as the teacher was finishing saying, Pinkie already had her hand up in the air.

“Me, choose me!” she exclaimed.

“Go on, Pinkie.”

“Hum…” she put a hand on her chin. “I think the part about your siblings is wrong, maybe your brother is the youngest and your sister is the oldest.”

“No, not that.” answered Applejack.

Now it was Twilight that raised her hand.

“You’re the oldest sister then?”

“No.”

“Maybe you’re not carsick?” Rarity took a guess.

“Oh no, that’s very true.”

“I know what it is.” Rainbow spoke out loud without thinking, She didn’t necessarily want to answer, but it was too late now. “it’s the soccer thing, it’s not your favorite sport.”

“Is that it, Applejack?” asked Miss Cheerilee.

“Yes, that’s it.” She gave a look at Rainbow that clearly showed that, if she didn’t know who she was before, now she definitely recognized her. “Ah like soccer, but volleyball is mah favorite sport.”

“How did you know that? You answered with so much conviction.” Miss Cherrilee turned her head to her.

“I don’t know, I think it was the way she said it.” Rainbow came up with an explanation last minute, then she turned to Applejack again, a smirk on her face. “Guess she just wasn’t that good at lying.”

Author's Note

Hey, it's me again!
I wish I had posted this sooner, but it's best if I don't post too quickly because then I spend months without posting anything lol
So, tell me your thoughts. Did you like this second chapter? There's much more to come, and I must confess that I'm really excited to write the volleyball matches again 😅 I love it so much
Thank you for reading and see you soon!