The moment the calm of the afternoon gave way to the loud ring of the school bell, all manner of activity begun for the students of Canterlot High. The doors flew open and boys and girls from every class began pouring out of the place, hooking up with one another and just generally starting to relax after a long day’s studying. Nowhere was this more evident than in one of the school’s most noted athletes, Rainbow Dash. The girl, after stepping out of the front doors of the school, raised her arms and gave herself a good stretch, sighing in a contented manner afterwards. Placing her hands upon her hips, she smiled as she surveyed her classmates, all of whom were making their way away from the school and towards their homes or to other places to hang out. But that was not her plan for the afternoon, for rather than leaving the school, she instead began to walk around it, heading instead to the large soccer pitch adjacent to the main building.

Once there, she looked around until she finally caught sight of a soccer ball, already left there by some previous team. Smirking at this, the teen cracked her knuckles slightly before loosening herself up a bit, after which she began to run as fast as she could towards the thing. Within mere moments, she was there, and brought her leg up behind her before delivering an almighty kick to the unassuming ball. It flew off like a shot, heading straight for the net at the other side of the pitch, striking it with such force that any audience would have feared it might tear through entirely. But, it held all the same, and Rainbow, looking pleased at her fine aiming, allowed herself a moment to hoot in victory. But, this moment was short-lived, as she then began to hear the sound of someone clapping. Turning, she soon caught sight of a newcomer to the field, smiling widely when she realised who it was.

“Hey there, Twi! Didn’t see ya there!”

Twilight Sparkle, of Crystal Prep, smiled back to her rainbow-haired friend as she sat on the side-lines, on the large stand meant for the audiences of sports matches. When she finally stopped clapping, she got up from her seat, walking over to Rainbow, who herself had begun to meet her halfway. Once there, the latter slapped a hand down upon the spectacled girl’s shoulder, still grinning widely.

“Didn’t take you for much of a sports fan.”

Twilight shook her head at that.

“I’m not, usually. But I figured, since I’ll be coming over here soon, it might do me good to get familiar with the fields.”

Rainbow nodded, turning and gesturing to the still-empty pitch beside her.

“Well, you’ve come to the right girl. I pretty much own the sports around here. Soccer, tennis, you name it.”

Twilight giggled slightly.

“Indigo always said the same thing back at Crystal Prep.”

Hearing that, Rainbow scoffed a bit.

“Yeah, I don’t doubt it. But here, I'm the athlete to look out for.”

Looking back to Twilight, Rainbow then raised an eyebrow.

“What about you? You into sports at all?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Not really. I mean…it’s mandatory for all students, but…I was never really that good at it.”

Rainbow placed her hands on her hips after hearing that.

“Seriously? There’s nothing you do over there?”

Twilight shook her head again.

“No. In fact, as pitiful as it may sound, I usually just sit on the sides while everybody else plays. The gym teachers and coaches usually don’t mind though. They already know how bad I am at this stuff.”

To that, Rainbow frowned slightly.

“That sucks! I mean, not that they don’t bother you about it, that’s totally fine, but don’t they even try to get you to like any of it?”

Adjusting her glasses slightly, Twilight gave a brief shrug of her shoulders.

“To be honest, I never really had much interest in it. My fascinations were always more with the more academic areas of study there.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“I swear, the way you talk, you and Sunset must have been separated at birth or something.”

A small blush crept onto Twilight’s face with that, prompting Rainbow to let out a sigh, after which she placed her hand upon her shoulder again, albeit in a far gentler way than before.

“Look…I don’t wanna sound like I’m being pushy or anything, but I don’t think it’ll really be all that good for you to just sit on the sides when you come to transfer here.”

Before long, a small smile grew on Rainbow’s face as she continued.

“Tell you what? How about I help you through some sports, maybe help you get a better feel for it?”

Twilight looked to her, somewhat taken aback at that suggestion, before looking away, reaching outright Fluttershy levels of shyness.

“Um…I don’t know…”

Letting out another sigh, Rainbow began to speak in a softer tone than before.

“Okay, how about this…if I help you with some sport, then I’ll also spend time with you doing all that brainy stuff you like?”

Looking back to her, Twilight’s face began to light up, with her even smiling a little.

“You mean it? You’ll even sit with me in the library as I study some of Plato’s philosophies?”

Hearing that, Rainbow took on a look of utter dread at that prospect, but turned her face away so Twilight couldn’t see it. After standing in silence and pondering that point for a few moments, the girl let out a groan, looking back to Twilight with an obviously-forced smile.

“Sure…why not?”

Twilight’s joyous smile widened at that, and before long, she offered up her open hand. Rainbow looked to it, affording herself a brief smirk, before taking the hand and shaking it. With their agreement made, Rainbow turned, Twilight walking close behind her, as they made their way over to where Rainbow had kicked the ball earlier. After picking it up, she walked back to a fair distance away from the net, setting the ball down before looking back up to Twilight.

“I tried this once with a certain fishy friend of mine a while back. Here’s hoping you do a little better.”

Twilight gave a brief nod at that before looking down to the ball with a degree of uncertainty. A silence fell between them, during which Twilight took a few calming breaths. Rainbow kept watching her, but stood aside for the time being. After a long while, Twilight looked to the ball with resolve in her expression, and she brought her leg up, ready to kick it as hard as she could. And while she did indeed do that, it turns out that “as hard as she could” was only strong enough to get the ball about six feet further away. Now, had this been anyone else doing this, Rainbow would have most likely laughed at them. But, since this was Twilight, she stifled such urges, instead turning to her in silence. But, as she did so, she saw the disappointed look she bore, which was soon reflected in her tone.

“That…wasn’t very good, was it?”

Rainbow looked over to the still-nearby ball, thinking silently on how best to respond to that. After a while, she turned to her with a small smile.

“Hey, it’s no biggie, I mean, I may love sports now, but even I didn’t start off awesome at it. It takes time.”

Placing a hand upon her shoulder yet again, Rainbow’s expression was soft and reassuring.

“And when you come over…you’ll have all the time in the world, Twi.”

To that, Twilight gained a smile of appreciation.

“Thank you, Rainbow. I…I look forward to it.”