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Description
“Hooves in the air! Raise them like you mean it!”

Commands like these were all you would hear at Ponyville High cheerleading practice, which was really more akin to boot camp. The teenage fillies all performed their routine under the judgmental eye of their leader, the beautiful senior Velvet Caviar, and she was not fooling around.

“Come on! Do you really think this sorry excuse for a routine is going to make us stand out? You’re not even trying!”

But the fillies were trying very hard, stretching their hooves over their heads in a position that was almost unnatural for ponies.

“You two!”

Velvet whipped around towards the team’s newest recruits, Starry Eyes and Espresso Velvet. They were like small fry and she was like a shark circling around them, inspecting their every move.

“Your little friend was a bust so you’d better step it up if you want to stay on the team. When I graduate I’m not about to leave this team to a bunch of fillies who don’t know what they’re doing. So you’ll do as I say and try not to embarrass our school even more.”

But we haven’t even done any shows yet.

Was what Espresso thought to herself but didn’t dare to say. She and Starry already had a tough hill to climb after Bullseye flunked out, and she wasn’t about to make it even harder on them. She was upset and ashamed by what Bullseye did too, but Velvet was treating them like they themselves were an embarrassment just by existing.

She looked over to Starry, who didn’t seem to have any of the same qualms. She had her head up and her hooves stretched far back, like she was fully immersing herself in the role.

“Kick your back legs out!”

Everypony followed suit at the next order, even though many of them were shaking and struggling to stay upright.

“If you haven’t learned to balance on one hoof at this point, I don’t know how you even made the team.”

As Velvet walked just out of earshot, Espresso started to think to herself that maybe Bullseye was lucky. She wasn’t missing very much fun, this was hard. And Velvet was so harsh.

Well, Espresso and Starry had yelled at Bullseye along with Velvet. Cheerleading was ambitious, she wasn’t prepared for it like the other fillies were. But Espresso couldn’t help but vaguely wonder if Bullseye felt as crummy in that moment as she felt under Velvet Caviar’s direction now.

“Hey. Psst.”

“What?”

Starry hissed back at her with a slight hint of irritation, having almost been broken out of her zone.

“A little mean, isn’t she? Like gosh, we’re doing our best here!”

“Nah.”

The freckled filly dismissively half-shrugged through her exercises.

“She’s just trying to help us be better. We need a little slap in the face sometimes.”

“I guess.”

Espresso relented. There wasn’t much she could say to argue with this. Starry clearly wasn’t convinced and besides, she was an ambitious young mare too, maybe this was what reaching for greater things was like in the real world.

So she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and went all in to the routine.

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Marefriend
Next (flashback): Sunshine

Background by EpicCartoonsFan

Description
“Hooves in the air! Raise them like you mean it!”

Commands like these were all you would hear at Ponyville High cheerleading practice, which was really more akin to boot camp. The teenage fillies all performed their routine under the judgmental eye of their leader, the beautiful senior Velvet Caviar, and she was not fooling around.

“Come on! Do you really think this sorry excuse for a routine is going to make us stand out? You’re not even trying!”

But the fillies were trying very hard, stretching their hooves over their heads in a position that was almost unnatural for ponies.

“You two!”

Velvet whipped around towards the team’s newest recruits, Starry Eyes and Espresso Velvet. They were like small fry and she was like a shark circling around them, inspecting their every move.

“Your little friend was a bust so you’d better step it up if you want to stay on the team. When I graduate I’m not about to leave this team to a bunch of fillies who don’t know what they’re doing. So you’ll do as I say and try not to embarrass our school even more.”

But we haven’t even done any shows yet.

Was what Espresso thought to herself but didn’t dare to say. She and Starry already had a tough hill to climb after Bullseye flunked out, and she wasn’t about to make it even harder on them. She was upset and ashamed by what Bullseye did too, but Velvet was treating them like they themselves were an embarrassment just by existing.

She looked over to Starry, who didn’t seem to have any of the same qualms. She had her head up and her hooves stretched far back, like she was fully immersing herself in the role.

“Kick your back legs out!”

Everypony followed suit at the next order, even though many of them were shaking and struggling to stay upright.

“If you haven’t learned to balance on one hoof at this point, I don’t know how you even made the team.”

As Velvet walked just out of earshot, Espresso started to think to herself that maybe Bullseye was lucky. She wasn’t missing very much fun, this was hard. And Velvet was so harsh.

Well, Espresso and Starry had yelled at Bullseye along with Velvet. Cheerleading was ambitious, she wasn’t prepared for it like the other fillies were. But Espresso couldn’t help but vaguely wonder if Bullseye felt as crummy in that moment as she felt under Velvet Caviar’s direction now.

“Hey. Psst.”

“What?”

Starry hissed back at her with a slight hint of irritation, having almost been broken out of her zone.

“A little mean, isn’t she? Like gosh, we’re doing our best here!”

“Nah.”

The freckled filly dismissively half-shrugged through her exercises.

“She’s just trying to help us be better. We need a little slap in the face sometimes.”

“I guess.”

Espresso relented. There wasn’t much she could say to argue with this. Starry clearly wasn’t convinced and besides, she was an ambitious young mare too, maybe this was what reaching for greater things was like in the real world.

So she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and went all in to the routine.

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Marefriend
Next (flashback): Sunshine

Background by EpicCartoonsFan