Despite IRL drama I have been making progress on my next story, albeit slow. What I would like is a little feedback on a small sample of my next story. I've applied some of the advice I've gotten from my previous, A Mellow Encounter, to try and improve flow and make conversations between characters less confusing and more aesthetically pleasing. I hope you all would give me some feedback if you see anything you like or feel needs improvement. Now enjoy my little teaser of My Little Pony: Pony Games - The Preliminaries. “There is nothing quite like relaxing by the lakeside after a rough day’s work.” Rainbow Dash stretched out trying to release the tension from the day’s activities. The sound of merriment could be heard as Pinkie Pie was playing in the lake. To her side, also relaxing and taking in some sun was Rarity. “I would be inclined to agree, Rainbow Dash. I can’t believe I almost spent this whole lovely day working! Thank you for dragging me out of the boutique. I’ve been so flooded with work that I hadn’t realized how frazzled I had become.” Rainbow Dash smiled in acknowledgement “No problem! Anypony could see you needed a break.” Rarity let out a long drawn out sigh as she stretched. She could feel the tension in her shoulders vanish in the gentle warmth of the sun. “That I did. I wouldn’t have imagined that I could feel so relaxed outside of going to the spa.” Rainbow Dash responded with an enthusiastic, “You are welcome.” Rainbow herself sat back to soak in the sun. The silence was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Pie shouting, “Cannonball!” The pink pony flew through the air sending a tower of water flying into the air as she landed. She surfaced again, giggling to herself. “How was that? I’ve been working on my splashes.” Rainbow Dash held a contemplative hoof to her mouth as she judged Pinkie’s performance. “Hmm. It was decent, but I can make one waaay bigger.” Pinkie Pie’s eye widened with excitement. ‘Ooooooh! Can I see it? Can I? Can I? Can I?” With just a confident grin, Rainbow Dash took to the air. The sudden gust rustled Rarity’s mane, but she just casually fixed it and went back to her rest. Rainbow Dash flew up and up and up, until the lake below her was just a tiny dot. “Time for my ‘Rainbow Power Bomb.’ This is going to be awesome!” Rainbow Dash began her descent. She dived down, faster and faster. Below, Rarity was oblivious to the events going on around her. Pinkie was smiling and cheering on Rainbow Dash as she floated in the lake. As she approached the water, she tucked into a tight ball. When she hit the water, she sent a gigantic wave emanating out from her point of impact. The wave carried Pinkie away, laughing and cheering all the way. As the wave reached Rarity, the stylish unicorn was unaware until the wave blocked out the sun. It was then that she looked up and saw the tower of water approaching her. Her jaw dropped and she screamed as the wave came crashing down. Rainbow Dash swam out to the shore, shaking the water off her once she got out. “And that is how you make a big splash.” She looked around to take in the other ponies’ reactions. She saw Rarity still sitting in her chair, drenched and trembling. “Oops. Heh heh. Sorry.” The sounds of laughter drew Rainbow’s attention to the trees as she saw Pinkie Pie laughing swaying at the top of one of the nearby trees. “That was so much fun! Let’s do it again!” Rainbow Dash was about to fly up to get her down when she hear her name being called. She turned around to see Mellow Note, an aqua colored Pegasus who had recently moved to Ponyville trotting up to her. “Hey, Mellow. What’s up?” Mellow grinned. She was certainly happy about something. “I’m on my way to meet with Cheerilie to interview for a job as music teacher.” Rainbow looked a little confused. “Then why are you over here? The schoolhouse is on the other side of town.” “That’s because I had to see you first.” Mellow pulled out a large envelope that she had tucked under her wing and handed it to Rainbow Dash. “The mail pony gave me some of your mail by mistake. This letter looked really important so I figured I should get it to you right away. One more thing,” Mellow looked up at Pinkie Pie, “Why is Pinkie in that tree?” Rainbow Dash nervously chuckled as Mellow flew up to help Pinkie down. She opened up the letter and started reading it to herself. As she read her eyes started to go wide as she read. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gooooosh!” She took off into the air, celebrating and cheering. The three remaining ponies gathered around the letter on the ground. None of them had seen Rainbow Dash act like this before. Curious, Rarity picked up the letter. “Let’s see what all the fuss is about.” She cleared her throat as she read the letter aloud. “To a Miss Rainbow Dash. Your feats of physical prowess, including your performance at the Best Young Flyers competition and the Wondlerbolts’ Academy, have not gone unnoticed. You have shown amazing potential and the time has come to put it to the test. We are pleased to announce that you have been chosen to compete in the Equestria Games to be held in the Crystal Empire!?”
