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Tales of Apple Scratch: Roseluck & Fleetfoot

by RoyalRainbow

Chapter 10: Chapter 10 – 10-Meter Diving and 200-Meter Backstroke

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Chapter 10 – 10-Meter Diving and 200-Meter Backstroke

The 13th day of the Equestria Games was when they began the swimming events. For Monday morning, they started off with Diving. From a 10-meter platform that elevated high above one of their 50-meter lengthed swimming pools, male and female athletes would each take a turn to display their aquatic acrobatics from the high diving tower.

Naturally, Rainbow Dash, Captain of Team Cloudsdale would take this grand opportunity to show off her awesomeness. Fleetfoot Stormwind was chosen out of Team Canterlot for being the most graceful out of all the Wonderbolts when it comes to their aerial stunts. To Fleetfoot’s surprise and slight disappointment, Cloud Kicker was picked from Team Ponyville, and not Roseluck Greentouch. But to just about everyone else’s shock, Iron Will from Team Las Pegasus was in line for the diving competition. It was a bit strange for a graceful event such as Diving to see an overly muscular bodybuilder competing in nothing more than a small, tight, black speedo. Of course for Raindrops Silverain’s case, she didn’t mind it at all.

On the edge of the elevated platform, Iron Will right away started flexing every fiber in his massive muscles as he pulled various poses to showcase his ideal figure. While some of the spectators take the opportunity to awe and drool over his physique, the rest of them are tired of the showboating routine, including the other competitors who were impatiently waiting for their turn.

“Ugh, can you believe that guy pulling off all those showy moves like that?” Cloud exclaimed as she rolled her eyes.

“Like you weren’t going to do the same thing as well?” Fleetfoot leaned in with a witty smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“…Maybe.” she admitted with a sheepish grin. “But at least I wouldn’t take everyone’s time like that.”

“Hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how come Rose isn’t competing for this event? I thought she would be a natural at something like this.”

“Well, we did try to persuade her, but she wouldn’t even give it a shot. She’s… not a big fan when it comes to heights apparently. So I volunteered to compete for this event instead of her.”

Having all she could take, Rainbow Dash screeched at the top of her lungs, “Oh for the love of Jupiter, would you just jump already?!”

Finally, Will ceased his flexing and stood up tall with his arms stretched out widely. With concentration as solid as a rock, he leaned off the edge and did a triple somersault in a tuck position before he plunged into the water nice and smooth. From resurfacing, the bearded giant was greeted by a surprisingly large amount of cheers, including from an overly ecstatic Raindrops.

As Fleetfoot and Cloud Kicker wait in line while the rest of the competitors ahead of them took their individual turns, the Ponyvillian guard faced her white-haired comrade and asked with an inquisitive grin, “So… what’s going between you and Roseluck, hmm?”

“N-nothing.” Fleetfoot stammered in response. “We’re just good friends, that’s all.”

Not buying that answer completely, Cloud raised a skeptical eyebrow as she goaded a little further. “Uh-huh… seems to me that you want to be more than just ‘good friends’, eh Fleetfoot?”

“What would give you that kind of an idea?”

“Well besides the fact that you’ve ignored all of my advances in the past years, you seemed to be head over heels for her ever since you two met with one and another.” she pointed it out with a teasing smirk.

“I-I am not!” she snapped with a maddening blush.

“D’awww… that’s so cute! You blush just like her! Hehe! You two are simply adorable! You know that, right? Don’t think you can hide the truth from me! My Kicker Senses were tingling everytime I see you and her all lovey-dovey together! And trust me, when they start tingling… oh baby, did they hit in all the right areas!” she giggled as she gave herself some questionable shivers.

“Cloud, I swear, if you--!” she growled with piercing eyes directed menacingly at Cloud Kicker.

“Look, hear me out, Stormwind.” she ceased her teasing as she lightly raised her hands up in defense. “I’ve been in your shoes before, alright?”

Abruptly, Fleetfoot diminished her scowling as she expressed a surprised look on her face. “…Huh?”

“You know… dealing with feelings like that for someone special. I know what that’s like, Fleetfoot.” Cloud Kicker continued in a more serious tone. “Listen, I’ve been with a lot of people back then even though I wasn’t looking for a serious commitment. But ever since I first met Lady Twilight Sparkle, it was like… the best thing that has ever happened to me! And surprisingly enough, we didn’t end up sleeping together on our first night-out!” she chuckled to herself before she carried on. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that change… can be scary sometimes, but if you can look pass that, change can be a good thing too, you know.” Then, she lay a soft hand on Fleetfoot as she said, “Don’t let this slip by you, Stormwind. It will probably be the best thing that could ever happen to you in your whole life.”

After giving Cloud Kicker’s words some serious thought, Fleetfoot giggled lightly in response, “I never thought I would receive sound advice from you, Kicker.” After that, she then added solemnly. “Look, I appreciate your concern, but it’s just that… things are a bit complicated on my end. Nevertheless, I’ll… give it some thought on what you just said, so… thanks.”

With nothing else to say, Cloud Kicker gave a genuine smile to Fleetfoot’s appreciation. Suddenly, the announcer called out the Ponyvillian’s name as it was finally her turn for the diving competition. As she turned around to face the platform’s steps, Fleetfoot called out to her.

“Hey, good luck today.”

“Thanks, you too.” she smiled back at the Wonderbolt before she climbed the staircase. As she ascended the flight of steps, she looked back with a sultry smirk on her face as she teased Fleetfoot one last time while shaking his saucy hips at her.

“And hey, I know that I’m just filling in for Roseluck, but that doesn’t mean you can still stare at my juicy ass from down there!”

“Then you better keep climbing, Kicker!” Fleetfoot retorted with a smirk of her own. “Otherwise I’m gonna kick that juicy ass of yours instead!”

“Do that and you’ll have to answer to my lady over there!” she countered with a giggling grin as she pointed to the dark-skinned Titanian in her seated box far away. “And trust me, you don’t want to be on the councilwoman’s bad side!”

As Cloud Kicker walked across the platform, she was greeted by lots of sharp whistles from her drooling admirers, male and female, as they gazed at her perfect body, which was being embraced by her lusciously red, skintight swimsuit. Ignoring the ogling crowd, she rolled her eyes and until her gaze met with Twilight Sparkle’s from her private box seat. Quickly enough, the grinning competitor offered a promising wink to her fair maiden as Twilight blushed in response while waving back at her.

After that, CK bore a more serious demeanor as she turned her back around with her heels at the edge of the board. Once she was ready, she gracefully fell off the platform while doing a three-and-a-half somersault in a straight position before cutting through the surface of the pool as sharp as a knife. Her numerous fans, teammates, and girlfriend applauded wildly over Cloud Kicker’s short-lived performance as the Ponyvillian took the top spot on the leaderboard while replacing Iron Will’s.

Next up, Fleetfoot got herself ready for her turn as she had her back facing the edge of the platform just like Cloud Kicker beforehand. Only for her routine, she started it off with a backflip before she swiftly turned it into a one-and-a-half twist. Then, she finished it off with a two-and-a-half somersault in a pike position before transcend into a smooth dive by the time she hit the water.

Upon resurfacing, the Wonderbolt’s trademark locks was replaced with wet, long hair as she pulled the long, white strains behind her and away from her face. From hearing the judges’ score, Fleetfoot was shocked and amazed to see that she received high enough points to take the top rank of the leaderboard. Following up with the roaring crowd over Fleetfoot’s outstanding routine, she was also rewarded by a delightfully squealing cheer from Roseluck. Not minding on taking a position below the Wonderbolt’s, Cloud Kicker only muttered “traitor” as a means of teasing, even though it was completely ignored from all of Rose’s excited shouting over Fleetfoot’s secured victory.

Near the end of the competition, Rainbow Dash was up next as she stood proudly on the diving platform. Getting her game on, the rainbow-haired athlete got into position by assuming a very impressive armstand before the awestricken crowd. With the strength worthy of her own title as the Council’s representative of sports and ethics, she mightily pushed herself off the board and proceeded to pull off her incredible feat. Flawlessly, she performed a double twist and followed it up with a triple somersault before making a nice splash in the end.

After that, Rainbow was greeted with thunderous applause, including a surprisingly shrill cheer from Fluttershy from her boxed seat. After the judges finished tallying up their scores, Rainbow and nearly everyone else gasped at the reveal of the Cloudsdalian’s final score, which earned her first place on the leaderboard.

This was enough to cause Rainbow to holler in never-ending glee over her high expectation on another gold medal as hundreds of fans joined in on this excitement. At the end of the Diving Competition, Princess Luna awarded the three medals to the event’s respective winners: bronze for Cloud Kicker of Ponyville, silver for Fleetfoot Stormwind of Canterlot, and lastly but certainly not least, gold for Rainbow Dash of Cloudsdale.

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After the Diving event was finished, they went on to the first of several swimming competitions this week: the 200-Meter Backstroke. For this one, Roseluck would be one of the chosen competitors for today’s first race. And as luck would have it, her lane was right next to Fleetfoot’s.

“Hey Roseluck!” Fleetfoot greeted with a pleasant smile. “I was wondering if you were going to compete today.”

“Well, here I am.” she responded with a hearty chuckle as she faced the Wonderbolt.

Like all of the swimmers, including Roseluck herself, everyone was wearing their swimming caps for their upcoming race. But Rose couldn’t help but stare in surprise at Fleetfoot for her tightly fitted cap. It wasn’t for the fact that there was something unusual with the Jupitarian’s cap; it was for the fact that somehow Fleetfoot miraculously slipped all of her large amount of white, fluffy hair underneath her skin-tight headwear.

“Something up, Rose?” she puzzled with a slight tilt of her head.

“H-how did you manage to tuck all of that hair underneath that cap of yours?” Rose exclaimed in amazement and bewilderment.

“I… rather not go through all the details myself.” Fleetfoot answered with an awkward grin.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Congratulations on your silver medal, Fleetfoot!”

“Thanks. Hopefully, there will be another medal along the way.”

“Heh, we’ll see about that.” Roseluck chuckled lightly.

“Uh, yeah we will.” Rainbow grinned casually as she joined the two.

“Hello, Rainbow.” Roseluck addressed to her. “Congratulations on your gold medal.”

“Thanks, Roseluck. Good to see you again. I’ve been looking forward to a rematch with you anyway.”

“Well, since Cloud Kicker wasn’t enough to take you two on, I decided to step in and handle this event myself.” she responded with surprising wit.

“Oh-ho! Cheeky, aren’t you? I like that. Anyway, best of luck.” she said as she extended a welcoming hand forward.

“Thanks. You too, Rainbow.” After shaking hands with the florist, Rainbow went back to her track, which was right next to Rose’s, as the red-haired gymnast turned to Fleetfoot on her right and offered a handshake as well. “And… good luck as always, Fleetfoot.”

“Likewise, Rose.” she happily accepted it before they begin their pre-event stretches.

In midst of their stretching, Roseluck glanced at her Canterlotian contender and froze in place with wide-eyed astonishment. With her arms stretched behind her back, Fleetfoot bent forward with the use of her contracting abs as she involuntarily offered a lovely viewpoint of her backside to the mesmerized florist. Freezing in place, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the marvelous sight of the Wonderbolt’s gorgeous ass as her grey swimsuit hugged the perfectly curved cheeks tightly.

But once Pinkie Pie notified the swimmers to get ready, Roseluck blushingly snapped out of her fascination as all of the participants got in the water. Then, they gripped the handles of the start block in their lanes and placed their feet against the submerged wall. Next, the perky announcer signaled them to get set before the racers arched their backs forward, bent their legs in 90- degreed angles, and leaned their heads closer to the start blocks. And at the sound of the beeping signal, they had liftoff.

Thanks to her uniquely strong legs, Roseluck gave herself a great head start as she mightily launched herself from the wall before she splashed at a great distance ahead of the other swimmers and began her backstroking. While she didn’t possess the arm strength as most of the other competing athletes, the red-haired Eponian made it up with her powerful legs. Even when top contenders like Rainbow and Fleetfoot began to catch up to her, Roseluck gave herself a nice boost of speed when she approached the other end of the pool and sprung powerfully from the underwater wall to do another lap in her race.

By the time she sprung at the start of her fourth and final lap, Rose began to lose her strength and stamina as she noticed the rest of the swimmers catching up to her greatly. Pushing herself as hard as she can, she desperately increased the arm strokes and leg cycling while Fleetfoot and Rainbow are getting close to tying up with Roseluck. In the final stretch of today’s race, she ignored the approaching contenders and focused on getting to the finish first.

And once Rose’s back touched the wall, it was finally over as she noted Fleetfoot and Rainbow were there too. Considering they had their backs facing the wall when they reached for the finish, they had no idea on who took which medal, so they frantically looked up at the screen to verify their times.

1) Rainbow Dash (Canterlot) Time: 2.04.06 (WR)

2) Fleetfoot Stormwind (Canterlot) Time: 2.04.92

3) Roseluck Greentouch (Ponyville) Time: 2.05.07

The three latest medalists gasped over the results for their own reasons. For Fleetfoot and Roseluck, they are staggered on how their times were so close together by less than a hundred milliseconds. But as for Rainbow Dash’s case, she could hardly believe that she finally broke a world record in the Equestria Games. Eventually, they screamed in overwhelming joy as they embrace one and another over their secured spots in the Backstroke event while roaring applause echo the swimming pool.

“Congrats on getting your medals, girls! If I weren’t racing, one of you might have broke the world record instead of yours truly!” Rainbow commented with a cocky smirk.

“Well I’m pretty sure Fleetfoot would at least.” Roseluck commented softly.

“Hey, don’t belittle yourself, Rose.” said Fleetfoot in a cheerful tone as she placed a hand on the bronze medalist’s shoulder. “You nearly tied up with me, so you might get a silver or gold for the next event.”

“Actually, this is the only swimming race I’ll partake in.” she stated as she exited out of the pool. “I’m not that cut out when it comes to the other styles myself.”

“Oh, well… that’s too bad, Rose.” Fleetfoot replied in mild disappointment.

“Hey, don’t mind me. At least you’ll get someone else to faceoff in my place.”

“Really? Who?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

With a growing smirk, Roseluck uttered one simple name, “Applejack.”

Rainbow’s eyes grew widely at the mention of the farm girl’s name. Knowing that victory will not come so easily in the next few races, she chuckled lightly with a nervous gulp, “Oh. Joy.”

“Ah-ah-AHH!”

As Fleetfoot exited out of the pool herself, Roseluck suddenly felt an involuntary contraction in her left calf muscle as it caused her sharp pain and nearly lost her balance. Immediately, the white-haired Wonderbolt knelt close to Rose as the Eponian instinctively held on to her tightening leg.

“What’s wrong?” Fleetfoot asked concernedly.

“Cramp! CRAMP!”

Following with Rose’s screeching response, Fleetfoot carefully help the florist up as she comforted her, “Hang on. I gotcha.” From a nearby bench, the Jupitarian helped Rose by seating her there as she too sat right next to her.

“Geez, Rose! You gave me a scare back there!” Fleetfoot chuckled to ease the tension earlier. “Didn’t you remember to do your stretches beforehand?”

From recalling the cause of that interruption during her unfinished stretches, Roseluck blushed on that recollection as she turned her guilty gaze away from Fleetfoot’s while answering timidly, “I… got kind of distracted.”

She then look down at her left leg and recall on how Fleetfoot once tended to her sprained ankle. Wishing to see that one moment of history repeating itself, she sheepishly requested to her friend, “Would you… mind on relieve it for me?”

“Not at all.” she replied warmly.

Before starting her task, Fleetfoot removed her small, swimming cap and her completely dry, white hair exploded and assumed its perfect, fluffy form. Then, she crouched down and examined Rose’s exposed leg. With a towel nearby, the Wonderbolt dried her own hands before drying the Eponian’s lower leg. With everything set, Fleetfoot went to work as her slightly cold hands gently touched the smooth surface of Roseluck’s left calf, much to the Ponyvillian’s glee.

“So umm… I heard from Kicker that they tried to ask you on competing for the Diving event.” she conversed with Rose.

“Yes they did, but… I was just too scared to do it myself.” she admitted shamefully.

“You don’t have to be ashamed for something like that.” she reassured with a shake of her head. “It’s pretty common for people to be afraid of heights. I mean, personally, I just think you would be a natural when it comes to diving since you’re just as acrobatic as myself or Rainbow.”

“That reminds me, how come you or anyone else from Canterlot didn’t participate in the Rhythm Gymnastics weeks ago?” she inquired with curiosity. “Considering with all of the tricks you can perform as a Wonderbolt, you would have done well for yourself with that event.”

“That’s true, but those stunts are meant for aerial performances. When it comes to planting my own two feet on the ground even with some music, well… I’m not that good when it comes to dancing anyway.” Fleetfoot confessed with a fainthearted smile.

Shyly, Roseluck suggested, “You know, if you ever come back to Ponyville, I would be glad to give you some dance lessons if you ever want to try Rhythmic Gymnastics someday.”

“R-really?” Once she received a nod as her answer from the smiling florist, the grinning Wonderbolt countered with her own offer, “Well… if that’s the case, I could teach you on how to dive if you’re ever up to it in return for those lessons you were offering.”

With a broad smile, Roseluck replied, “I think that sounds like a fair trade.”

Once their deal was settled, Fleetfoot finished her foot massage and asked for Roseluck’s final opinion over her handiwork, “So, how’s your leg now, Rose?”

After flexing her left leg up and down repeatedly, she nodded with a smile, “Good as new! Thanks, Fleetfoot!”

“No problem, Rose. Anyway, we better get ready to receive our medals. I think we’ve tested Rainbow’s patience long enough!” she added with a wink.

After seeing Rainbow waiting edgily with her arms crossed and her right foot rapidly tapping on the slightly wet tiled floor, the two medalists giggled to themselves before joining up with the Cloudsdalian and walking over to the podium to be given the next set of medals from one of the esteemed Princesses.

Author's Notes:

Although this was one of my earlier ideas, I was almost reluctant to go forward with this chapter. I was thinking of other games that Roseluck and Fleetfoot would compete in, so I thought swimming would be perfect for each of them. I think what almost made me change my mind and skipped to the next chapter was because I was anxious to get on with the main plot of the story. But thanks to Mariacheat-Brony's advice and opinion, I decided to write this, and was glad I went through it.

Anyway, this will be the last game that Roseluck and/or Fleetfoot would participate in this side-story. There are a few other events that they would probably compete in the original story, "Apple Scratch: Onward to the Equestria Games!", but those haven't been published yet.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11 – Frozen Heart Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
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