The sun was shining brightly down on the soccer pitch of Canterlot High, its bright green grass swaying gently in the cool breeze of the afternoon. Though most students were at lunch, there was nevertheless one person out here, and of course, it was the one that anybody would expect out here; Rainbow Dash. Without a doubt the most notable athlete at the school, with the possible exception of her friend Applejack, and like always, she was practicing her sport. Using one knee, she kept a single soccer ball bouncing up and down several times, while also keeping an eye on the goal several yards away. A smirk formed upon the cyan girl's face as she regarded it, and counted the moments before she made her move.

Then, at long last, it came, and she stopped the bouncing to deliver and almighty kick to the ball. The orb flew right across the field and, in a feat only Rainbow could have pulled off, landed slap-bang in the middle of the goal, impacting with the back net so fiercely that it almost looked as if it was going to tear from it. But, it had still been a perfect aim, and as such, Rainbow, like always, smiled widely to herself, pleased at her solo performance here. However, her smile faded somewhat when she began to hear a slow clapping. Turning, she took on a look of surprise to find that it was none other than Adagio, sitting alone in the audience stand beside the field, watching and clapping at Rainbow with a smirk of her own. Frowning slightly, Rainbow marched on over to meet with her, and when she arrived, Adagio finally stopped clapping, giving Dash an opening to get the first word in.

"Didn't think you the type to come watching sports, Dazzle."

The tone ad been somewhat harsh, but Adagio merely brushed it off, along with some of her hair, before putting on a smile and talking back.

"On the contrary. I always try and look out for new things to be interested in. Sports may not have taken much of my fancy in the past, but I must confess, you did it well...considering that there’s nobody else here to challenge you of course."

Rainbow's frown deepened at the sarcasm in the Siren's voice.

"Practice is still practice. Besides, I find it fun."

Adagio rolled her eyes.

"Oh please! You're kicking around a ball! How fun could it be?"

At that, Rainbow regained her smirk from earlier, and so walked off, with Adagio watching, back over to the net, before picking up the already-kicked ball in question and bringing it back over to the Siren, wherein Rainbow started twirling it on a single finger.

"You know, if you keep looking out for fun stuff, like you said, it might be worth trying it out."

Adagio raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Kick that little thing? Are you sure you don't just want to laugh at someone who's obviously not as good at sports as you are?"

But Rainbow raised her hand, trying to look as dignified as possible.

"Nope! I mean what I said, Dazzle. Go ahead. Kick it."

Turning around, Rainbow carefully placed the ball back on the ground, before looking to Adagio and silently inviting her to come over. Though silence was prevalent between the two girls for some time, in the end, Adagio merely let out an annoyed grunt, before then getting up from her chair and making her way over to the ball. She stared at it, and then at Rainbow, before looking up at the net at the other end of the field. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she brought her leg back before giving as hard a kick as she could, sending the ball flying off. Though, at first, her expression seemed hopeful, as the ball went straight towards the net. However, that expression changed to annoyance as the ball stopped just short of the goal line. Turning, Adagio noticed Rainbow stifling a snicker, much to the latter's embarrassment.

"Um...sorry. But, you know, you did good...kinda...sorta...not really."

Adagio narrowed her eyes again, before then letting out a sigh and morphing her expression into a small-yet-wicked smile.

"Forgive me, Rainbow, but I feel this is more your area of expertise, rather than mine."

Rainbow frowned slightly.

"Oh come on, Dazzle! You and your sisters should try something like this! There's gotta be some kind of out-of-school thing you guys can try doing, right?"

Adagio pondered that for a moment before slumping her shoulders somewhat.

"Well...Sonata did express an interesting in joining the swimming team. She always did love swimming back in the day."

Rainbow's face lit up with a smile.

"There you go! That's something, right? Maybe I could help her out with it later on?"

Adagio turned to her, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Tell me something, Miss Dash...why do you do all these things. These sports and all that showing-off with your music and everything else?"

Rainbow, at first, was taken aback by that question, but then stopped for a moment to think about it. After placing her hands on her hips for a while, she looked back to Adagio and shrugged her shoulders.

"Dunno. I guess I just think its fun. Competing against everyone else is...well...thrilling to me. And when I win, which I usually do..."

Rainbow afforded herself a prideful look, to which Adagio rolled her eyes somewhat, before the former carried on.

"...it's, like, the best feeling in the world. All those people in the crowds, cheering me and my friends on? It's awesome!"

Adagio considered that for a moment before, to Rainbow's confusion, putting on a small smirk. Though she didn't know why, the cyan girl suddenly felt a shiver going down her spine when she saw Adagio like that. As for the latter, she began to make her way over to Rainbow before speaking up.

"So...you say you love the feeling of winning? The praise? The cheers? The...adoration?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah...why, what are you getting at?"

Adagio chuckled and shrugged her shoulders somewhat.

"Oh, nothing. Just that you and I might actually have more in common than I thought. We do seem to like something similar after all."

Realisation crossed Rainbow's face at that, and she shook her hands in a desperate attempt to refute Adagio's point.

"Whoa there! I'm talking about something way different!"

Looking back to Rainbow, Adagio raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? You think so? You've never felt a pleasant zing from the cheers of those who love what you do? Never smiled at the thought of those in the crowd watching you as they utterly adore what you've done? You've never wanted to be the centre of attention, to be admired by all around you? You've never wanted to be completely loved by all for having done something amazing?"

Rainbow thought long and hard about that, thinking over all the times when she and her friends have been up there, in front of many others, doing good things and being celebrated because of it. If she'd said right then and there that Adagio was wrong about her, that she didn't love those things, she knew in her heart that it would have been a complete lie. And as such, she let out a huff before looking to Adagio, who already knew from looking that she had been victorious in this little verbal sparring match of theirs. Frowning, Rainbow's own frustration at having lost it led her to turn and gaze upon the soccer ball on the ground, giving yet another almighty kick. But this time, the ball did tear through the net upon impact, after which, Rainbow, having got out her frustrations on it, turned to Adagio with a look of annoyance.

"Rarity was right...you do enjoy winning too much."

But to that, Adagio merely let out a giggle.

"Like I said, Miss Dash...we have so much in common."