The sun was shining high in the sky today, and the whole town of Canterlot had a real feeling of summery warmth, despite it supposedly being the start of autumn at this point. Though, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, many of the locals, in particular the students of Canterlot High, were getting out and about as much as they could, enjoying the beautiful weather while it lasted. One such student was none other than Rainbow Dash, who, at this very moment, was in a place just adjacent to the main building of CHS; the school pool. It was by no means as large as the public one in town, but it was still big enough for all of the swimming sports the school occasionally hosted. She stood beside the thing, clad only in the dark-blue one-piece swimsuit that CHS gave as standard to its female students, tapping her foot as if waiting for somebody.

Counting the moments, she began to look increasingly frustrated with the inactivity going on around her, only to look on with some relief as she saw that, running towards her, was another of her fellow students; Sonata. This youngest of the Siren sisters was running towards Rainbow, panting as she did so, wearing a full jogging-suit and sneakers. When she finally met her, she paused for a moment, giving an apologetic look, most likely for being late. Dash, though at first irritated, nevertheless let out a sigh before smiling in response, silently letting her know that everything was fine. Smiling at that, Sonata sat upon a nearby bench, kicking off her sneakers before stripping off her jogging suit, wherein it was revealed that she had the exact same kind of swimsuit on underneath that Rainbow had. Seeing this, the latter spoke at last.

"So, your sister tells me you wanted to join the swimming team?"

Carefully placing her outer clothes aside on the bench, Sonata stood up and began nodding enthusiastically.

"I do! I've always loved swimming, and, well...I figured I'd enjoy this kind of thing."

Rainbow nodded at that before turning her full attention to the pool beside them. Getting down on one knee, she placed a hand in the water, testing its temperature. After a few moments, she pulled it out and gave an approving nod of what she'd felt before standing up again and looking to Sonata.

"Well, today seems a good day to give you a try-out, Nata. Though I should warn you, as a member of this team myself, only those who can go real fast are let in. You sure you can keep up?"

Sonata smiled widely and nodded just as frantically as before, prompting a chuckle from Rainbow as she folded her arms.

"Alright then. Let's start. But, first things first..."

Raising a hand, Rainbow pointed to the top of Sonata's head.

"You should probably wear a swimming cap. All that hair could get in your way."

Sonata, though at first tilting her head at that, soon looked over to her ponytail, grabbing hold of it and stroking it slightly before looking to Rainbow with understanding, giving a single nod before making her way over to where she'd put her clothes. There, she rummaged around her pockets for a while before pulling out exactly that, a swimming cap. She held it up in triumph, eliciting another laugh from Rainbow, as the latter turned around and looked over the pool, thinking over how best to really do this test. However, mere moments later, she heard a deliberate clearing of one's throat, prompting her to turn back in Sonata's direction. The rainbow-haired girl then found her eyes widening with surprise as she saw that Sonata was now wearing her cap as instructed, with all of her hair having been packed into it like it wasn't even there.

"Wha...how did you get that on so easy?" she asked.

Sonata considered that for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders.

"Dunno. Me and my sisters used to stuff our hair into hoodies all the time back in the day. No problems there either."

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, only to silently say to herself that it would probably be for the best if she didn't ask too deeply on the matter. Instead, she shook her head and turned around to the pool once more, walking over and standing on the very edge of it. Looking over her shoulder, she silently gestured to Sonata, who then walked over and took up her own position beside her. After a few moments of them not saying anything, Rainbow looked to Sonata with a determined expression.

"Okay, Nata. Here's the test. You and I are going to swim from one side of this pool to the next, and we'll see how fast you can do when swimming next to me."

At that, a somewhat cocky look grew on Rainbow's face.

"Although, don't feel too bad if you don't manage to swim as fast. I have been on this team longer than you after all."

But Sonata, rather than feel irritated at those words, as most would, instead looked somewhat nervous.

"Well...I really want to be on the swim team, Dashie. I hope I do well."

Looking to her, Rainbow gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. You'll do fine, okay?"

Sonata, appreciating the gesture, put on a small smile in response. After that, Rainbow looked over to the other side, her goal in clear view, and gave a silent nod to her swimming partner, who nodded back. The two girls both took up proper diving poses before, after a few moments of waiting, they leapt off the edge together, heading headlong into the water below. Rainbow had seen Sonata until that point, and had made note of how professional-looking her dive had been, just like her own in fact. But, as soon as she was in the water, her attention was instead fully committed to the end of the pool. And so, determination plastered all over her face, she swam as hard as she could, arcing her arms and paddling her legs as much as her muscles would allow her, and all the while, the constant up-and-down of the water in her eyes kept things frantic.

She didn't really know how long she was doing this for, only that time was going by quickly. Her breathing had been steady and practised the entire journey, and like a short-but-vigorous sprint around a racetrack, she found herself feeling the burn of her efforts. However, thanks in no small part to the relative shortness of the pool itself, she soon came upon her goal, as her hand made contact with the other side at long last. With a look of anticipated victory upon her face, Rainbow turned around, expecting to see Sonata still paddling further back in the pool, or perhaps just a few seconds behind her. Instead, to her confusion, she saw that there was nobody behind her, just an empty pool. Gaining a look of confusion at this, Rainbow didn't know what to think, until her attention was diverted to a voice calling to her.

"Hey, Dashie!"

Turning, Rainbow looked on with amazement as she saw that there, kneeling down on the concrete bank of her side of the pool, with a big smile on her face, was Sonata. The youngest Siren sister looked down at her swimming partner, looking happy with herself, and utterly oblivious to the dumbfounded look Rainbow had on her. As the latter opened her mouth, no words came out, and instead, she looked form Sonata to the start point of the pool, and then back again, before finally managing to say something.

"How...why...what...what did you do?!"

Sonata put a finger to her chin and considered that for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders in a nonchalant manner.

"Well, I did what you said. I dived into the water, swam to the other side, then got out and waited for you to catch up."

As before, Rainbow looked utterly shocked at that.

"But...but...how long were you waiting for me?"

Sonata thought on that before answering.

"Er...I think about twenty seconds or something."

Twenty seconds, Rainbow thought to herself. That was about how long it took her to cross a full half of the pool. To say that she was not expecting this outcome would have been a great understatement, as she looked up to Sonata in much the same way that the hare would have looked to the tortoise in that old kid's story. As for Sonata, she just kept on smiling blissfully, waiting for Rainbow to speak to her.

"Well...how did I do?"

Finally shaking herself out of her trance-like state of shock, Rainbow looked back to the other side of the pool, thinking things over for a moment before looking back to Sonata, letting out a sigh before putting on a smile.

"Yep...you're on the team."

At that, Sonata put on a smile so wide that it threatened to burst from her face, letting out a rather high-pitched squeal of joy.

"Eeee! I can't wait to tell Dagi and Ari! They'll never believe this!"

Hearing that, Rainbow gave out a dry chuckle before speaking to herself in a hushed manner.

"Trust me, Nata, I know the feeling."