Now, while Twilight could safely be said to be a mare, or rather girl at this point, who loved school, there was at least one circumstance in which the weekends were seen as a welcome thing for her. And that was when she had some big project of her own to try and work on in lieu of anything else. And so it was that, on the dawn of a new Saturday, she rose from her slumber and got right back on with what she’d been doing ever since she arrived back in this world; following Flash Sentry. For one reason or another, most of the other girls, including Sunset, had not been available to join her this time, owing to other commitments. But, while this was something of a downer for the young princess, she at least took solace that, aside from Spike, there was one friend who remained by her side in all of this; Rainbow Dash. Although, even then, the athlete was still just as unsure about all this as she’d been throughout.

“So…aside from you taking notes, is there anything for me to do in all of this?”

Turning to her friend, an oblivious smile crept onto Twilight’s face.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Rainbow. I’m sure something will come up. But first thing’s first, we’ve got to find Flash.”

Looking ahead, a determined expression now crossed her.

“Speaking of which, where did that lead say he was going to be?”

Scratching her head, Rainbow looked further down the street as the three of them walked together.

“I think it was the sports centre. It’s a little further down here.”

Nodding to that, Twilight upped the pace, leading to a brief chuckle from Rainbow, all while Spike shook his head incredulously. The three continued their walk together, eventually happening upon their destination; the local sports centre of Canterlot. It was a fairly large building, almost the size of Canterlot High in fact, and on a day like this it was clearly busy, with many of the town’s residents pouring in and out of the place. Smiling, Twilight made her way into the building, with Rainbow and Spike in-tow. Now, being new to this place, Twilight naturally had a hard time finding her way around, but, after consulting Rainbow a few times, she found herself heading towards several indoor courts, meant to host various sports. There, she checked each and every one of them, most yielding unsatisfactory results, as evidenced by the disappointed look on her face. But, at the end of it all, she found success.

“There he is!”

Turning to where she was looking, Rainbow and Spike saw that, like she said, Flash was indeed there. In one of the many enclosed sport spaces, Flash was there, decked out in a combination of white shirts, shorts and sneakers. At this present moment, he seemed to be playing a game of badminton with himself, striking the shuttlecock and sending it to the other side of the court, wherein it bounced back towards him, ready to be struck again. Seeing him do this several times over, Twilight was suddenly struck with the realisation that she hadn’t found cover yet, and so ducked just behind the wall separating one court from another. Rainbow and Spike followed, and together they watched the boy, who, as always, was oblivious to their presence or stares.

“So…what do we do now?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight thought long and hard about that before giving an answer.

“Well…I did have this one theory about why I might like him. The fact that both Sunset and me chose him above anyone else is far too much of a coincidence for me to ignore.”

To that, Spike looked to her and raised an eyebrow.

“What? You think he’s got some kind of magical pony-attracting powers?”

Twilight frowned at him before shaking her head.

“No, Spike, nothing like that. But I think there might be something about him that means that just being near him could draw ponies, or rather former ponies, into being interested in him.”

Hearing that, Rainbow let out a grunt of irritation.

“Ugh! I may not be one for romance or anything, but even I don’t think that that’s how it works, Twilight!”

Looking to her, Twilight narrowed her eyes somewhat.

“Maybe so, but I can’t rule anything out. In fact…”

A smile crept onto her face as she kept her eyes on her rainbow-haired friend.

“I think I’ve found something for you to do in this, Rainbow.”

That caught the girl’s interest, as she looked to Twilight with curiosity.

“Yeah? What?”

Still smiling, Twilight reached behind herself, putting her hand into the school bag she’d brought with her. After searching through it for a few moments, she pulled out what appeared to be a small plastic cup of some kind. After pulling it out, she offered it to Rainbow.

“I need you to take this cup and get a sample from him.”

Hearing that, Rainbow’s eyes shot open as wide as they could, and she immediately backed away from her, speaking in an almost frantic manner.

“Wha…a sample of what?”

Seeing this reaction, Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Um…of sweat?”

With that, Rainbow held a hand to her chest, letting out a massive sigh of relief.

“Oh! Thank God! I thought you were talking about…”

Realising what she was about to say, she started pretending that she was more interested in looking at something else to the side. Twilight, naturally, was both curious and a little annoyed by this behaviour, culminating in her letting out a sigh before offering the cup once more.

“Look…I just need as few drops of it if you can.”

Turning, Twilight looked to Flash’s court, and her face lit up for a moment.

“There!”

Turning herself, Rainbow saw that Twilight was looking to the small bench placed in the enclosed court. There, lying to one side of it, was a single white towel. After looking to it, Twilight turned to Rainbow once more.

“He probably uses that to wipe off sweat after his match. If you get in there, you can get the sample.”

Looking to her, Rainbow’s expression was one if discomfort.

“Twilight…you do know this is the kinda stuff that stalkers do, right?”

Maintaining her frown, Twilight placed the cup into her friend’s hand, using her now-free hand to point to the court. After pausing for a few moments, Rainbow let out a sigh of defeat before doing as requested, heading straight for the door leading into the place. Twilight and Spike kept hidden as best they could, and watched as Rainbow carefully opened that door. Flash, thankfully, hadn’t noticed her for the time being, instead keeping up with his game. So, Rainbow inched closer to the bench, reaching out with one hand to grab onto the towel. However, no sooner had her fingers come within an inch of the thing when a familiar voice could now be heard.

“Rainbow?”

Instantly, Rainbow shot up, standing straight and holding the cup behind her back. Flash had seen her, and was now looking to her with curiosity plastered all over his face.

“What are you doing here?”

With her eyes darting left and right, Rainbow began thinking as fast as she could with her presence now exposed.

“Oh! Um…I was…er…”

Thankfully for her, Flash already had an answer in mind.

“Let me guess, here for a workout or something?”

Seeing an exit, the athlete took it.

“Yes! That's what I’m here for! Just wanted to try out some sports today and…you know…all that stuff!”

But while Flash was willing to accept that, he still seemed confused by something.

“So…what are you doing in my court?”

Again, Rainbow struggled for an answer, but this time, she actually managed to think of one.

“Well…I was passing by and I caught sight of you in here, so I figured…why not stick around and watch? See how good you are?”

Smirking a little, Flash flipped the badminton racket in his hand before speaking up again.

“Oh yeah? And, if I may ask, how did I do?”

Now feeling more and more comfortable in this conversation, Rainbow folded her arms before giving a smirk of her own.

“Well…you were okay.”

Flash raised an eyebrow at that.

“Only okay? You think you could do better?”

To that Rainbow chuckled.

“Oh, trust me! I know I can do better!”

Laughing again, Flash thought on that for a moment, before turning and gesturing to the side of the room. There, Rainbow saw that there was a spare racket leaning against the wall, prompting her to look at Flash again.

“What…match against each other?”

Still smiling, the boy nodded.

“Sure. Why? Afraid you’ll lose?”

Now Rainbow, being the kind of girl she was, was not one to back away from a challenge like that. So, after carefully slipping the still-hidden cup into a pocket in the back of her skirt, walked over to where she racket was, picked it up, and then twirled it expertly in her own hand before taking up position next to Flash.

“Well…don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

And so it was that, to Twilight’s slight irritation, Flash and Rainbow began their game. Things started off well enough, with both of them striking the shuttlecock every time they’d bounce it off the wall towards their rival, but, as the minutes rolled on, both of them swung harder and harder. Eventually, things became so heated that only professional sportsmen could be said to play a game with that much intensity, as both students were clearly in this to win. Rainbow and Flash were so active that, by the time it was all done, their muscles were aching like nobody's business. However, as one would expect, the real athlete came out on top, and Rainbow delivered a swing so hard that the shuttlecock bounced just fast enough for Flash to finally miss it. With her foe defeated, Rainbow responded with her usual amount of humility.

“Ha! I win! I am the grand badminton champion! All praise be to me!”

Rolling his eyes at this obviously-jokey reaction, Flash, while still panting heavily, nevertheless offered a smile to the girl.

“Good…game…Rainbow. Hope…I wasn’t…too slow for ya.”

To that, Rainbow looked to him with a smirk.

“Hey! Don’t see yourself short, Flash. You really had me on the ropes for a bit.”

Reaching out Rainbow offered her hand, and after looking to it for a few moments, Flash took it, and together, the two shook on a game well played. After staying still for a while to catch their breath, Flash was the first to move, heading over to the bench, after which he picked up his towel, wiping his brow a little before looking to Rainbow.

“You need this too?”

Looking to the towel, a look of realisation struck Rainbow.

“Oh! Right! The towel!”

To that, Flash took on a look of curiosity, leading to a nervous laugh from Rainbow.

“Er…I mean…sure, I’ll take it!”

And with that, she took what was offered, but refrained from wiping herself with it for the time being. Instead, she turned to the boy one last time, smiling to him before speaking up.

“Say…maybe we could…you know…play again some time?”

Thinking on that, Flash gave a smile and a nod of his own.

“I look forward to it.”

Nodding back, Rainbow headed out, towel in hand. As for Flash, he looked back to the vacant wall before starting another solo game, giving Rainbow time to slip out of the court, making her way down a few steps before at last finding Twilight. The girl had been standing in the exact same place the whole time, and looked to Rainbow with eagerness.

“You got it!”

Rainbow smirked at that.

“Yep. One towel, as requested.”

Taking the thing, Twilight looked at it before stuffing it in her bag.

“I need to take this to one of the science labs in the school to do some tests. Come on Spike!”

And with that, she was off, Spike grumbling all the way as he followed. As for Rainbow, she stayed in that place for a while, looking over her shoulder to where Flash was still playing. Although she thought fondly of her game with the boy, and even felt like she had fun with him, those thoughts eventually led to certain other thoughts, which, inevitably, led to a worried look on her face.

“…Awww Hell!”