Chasing Rainbows

It was a quiet morning. Almost too quiet, save for the small birds and insects that sang their songs in the trees and in the grass. The ground on the soccer pitch was wet, the dirt soft and pliable like dough as my cleats dug into it.

The rubber soles of my shoes squeaked from the wet grass as I took a sharp step forward. “Rrraghh!” I grunted loudly as my foot impacted the ball, sending it flying twenty yards into the back of the net. It bounced a couple of times as it landed in the far corner, right where I was aiming for.

Behind me was a ball bag, its contents spread out on the grass. So far, I had scored about seventeen shots. And trust me, that was easier said than done. Sweat poured down my cheeks as I walked back to my mark to set up for another shot. My long socks were covered in grass and were damp from the heavy dew that coated the ground.

“Hrraggh!” I yelled loudly as I belted yet another ball. It curved in the air and soared into the top left corner. Target hit. When I came out here, I decided to work on curving my shots. Extremely useful trick when going up against a strong goalkeeper.

My heart worked hard to pump blood through my body as I continued my workout. I sent ball after ball into the back of the goal net, each shot better than the last despite the wet condition of the pitch.

“Nyaghh!” Another ball was sent flying. It landed on the bottom right. Exactly where I wanted it to be.

Soccer. This was my game. Top scorer in the league. Twenty goals as a freshman in varsity. Now team captain and the number one contender in the region.

No one knew who I was when I started. Some young kid with a dream. A dream to play as a professional.

“Hah!” I grunted as I netted yet another ball.

Some people didn’t think I could make it very far. “He’s too short. He’ll never make a name for himself.”

I stand at only five feet, seven inches, my legs not being the longest either. In the soccer world, people think I’m nothing because of that. Now that I stand on top of the mountain with three district titles and four time All-Region striker awards. I’m taller than any of them will ever be.
Now, I’m at the end of my high school career. The world stood in front of me as I would be leaving this place in two weeks time. I knew what I was going to do. The game was calling my name. In the summer, there was going to be tryouts held by ISAC, the International Soccer Association of Canterlot. It was a place where the best soccer players from schools around the area would gather on one field to strut their stuff in front of scouts that represented various teams from leagues all over the world. From there, they would pick the absolute best of the best.

And I was going to be one of them. I would make sure of it.

However, before any of that was to happen, I had one last obstacle to face. The post season for the soccer teams was over. The boys and girls teams of Canterlot High both came away with district titles, as expected. Every year, after the season’s end, the school would allow both teams to play against each other.

For what, you ask? Simple. For fun. And some bragging rights.

“Nyagghh!” Another ball was sent flying.

There was an endless rivalry between us and them. For the past three years, the girls had come out on top. Last year, they beat us at three goals to one. This year, however, we boys have been preparing, eager to get our chance to beat the girls. As for me, it was my last year. I still had something left to prove, though. I’ve conquered many opponents before, but there was always one who could beat me.

Only one. A rainbow-haired devil with eyes like a pink rose armed with thorns. Her feet were just as quick as her wit. Her senses as sharp as her tongue. Her body as strong as her spirit.

Rainbow Dash, the captain of the girl’s soccer team. She was my rival, my worst nightmare.

“Gaggh!” I gave one final yell as I pelted the last ball into the net. A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I doubled over, mildy exhausted from the workout. The sun was rising above the clouds, which meant that first period class was on its way. Everyday before class started, the soccer team would have an hour practice, just to keep us on our toes. My eyes squinted involuntarily as I stared at the sun, breathing heavily as I wiped sweat off my face with my white training shimmel.

“Time to go in,” I sighed, wiping some sweat away from my eyes as I picked up the bag and made my way over to the net. I shagged and bagged the balls and pulled the string, closing the mesh bag tight. I strolled on over to the open equipment shed, picking up the keys from a bench that sat on the sidelines. I stood in the warm shed, dropping the ball bag from where I found it and exited the hot box, sliding the heavy metal door closed. I slid the rusty bolt into place and locked it with a heavy padlock that hung from it.

I kicked at the concrete path, my cleats clacking along as I made my way to the locker room to meet up with my teammates.

Huh? Who am I? I forgot to introduce myself, eh? How rude of me.

My name is Longshot. You may not know me very well. But you will.

I stepped into the air-conditioned boys locker room, which currently smelled like sweat and old bath soap. Dark blue lockers lined the walls, a number of their owners stood in front of them, getting dressed for the morning practice. Idle chatter echoed off the tiled walls and wafted into the conjoined bath and showers.

“Hey there, Cappy,” Twister, the thin, shaggy-headed midfielder greeted. He leaned against a locker with a small, friendly grin on his face. I slapped his palm loudly in our usual greeting gesture.

“Sup, T?” I said, returning his smile. “What’s happening?”

“Jus’ hangin’ around ‘til practice starts,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Ya didn’t tire yerself out now, didja?”

“Maybe a little,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “Ain’t nothing Coach can throw it us that we can’t expect. Besides, it’s the end of the year.”

“That might be true, but you know him,” Twister warned, “That cheeky bloke might give us another surprise finisher at the end.”

I thought about it for a second, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “Well, whatever the workout is today, we’ll be ready. I hope.” I gave him a shrug of my shoulders before stepping over the wooden bench that sat in front of the row of lockers and plopped down on top of it. Slipping off my cleats, I wiped away all the grass that got stuck on my training socks.

“So, have you heard, yet?” Twister initiated the conversation again, leaning on his knee as he placed his foot on the bench next to me.

I gave him a questioning stare, my eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“Heard what?” I asked.

“So you haven’t heard that yer favorite rival has been stirring up the shit bowl?” Twister laughed incredulously. “Good Goddesses, you daft or something? You’re a fuckin’ celebrity in the school and you’re as gormless as a blind service dog.”

“English, please, Twist?” I begged, “I don’t understand that old country slang of yours.”

“She’s been making a big ol’ fuss about how she’s gonna mop the field with us today,” he explained, “And, she’s had some special things to say about you, mate. Lotta things.”

I looked away from him and stared at the ground, running a hand through my damp hair in frustration.

“Is that all she’s been saying?” I asked. This bit of news confused me. Rainbow Dash was always a bit of shit talker, especially when me and her were about to compete in something. At least it was all in good fun. Now that I hear she’s been talking smack behind my back, that was something new.

Ever since she came from some other school, she’d never been one to shake the cage like this. She came in the middle of freshman year, where I saw her on the soccer field during the winter tryouts, taking shots to show off her skills to Coach Spitfire, the manager for the girls team.

Something was up. I felt it in my cajones. Whatever it was that had her in a tizzy, I felt like I would soon find out.

“Doesn’t matter, I think,” Twister scoffed, crossing his arms with a confident smile. “We got one last chance to beat the girls, mate.”

“And that’s a chance I won’t pass up,” I added, relacing my cleats. I tapped my feet on the ground a few times and stood up sharply, stretching out my back with a groan. “You ready to go?” I asked him.

“Yup!” he gave me another smile and clapped me on the back. “Let’s get to it.”

“Longshot!” and in walked my big and tall Co-Captain known as Fastball. He peeked his buzz-cutted head in from the door that led into the main hallway, where the rest of the athletics facility was. “Coach said we gotta be ready in five minutes!”

I only nodded once before cupping my hands around my mouth. “Alright, y’all got five minutes to get dressed and in the squad room! I don’t feel like doing extra push-ups and neither do you! Stormcloud, Thunderlane, Blitz! That means you!”

“What?!”

“Aww, c’mon I just got here!”

“J-Just hold on!”

“Get a move on then, will ya!?” Twister shouted in accordance as we exited the locker room.

I stood just outside the wooden locker room door, my arms crossed as I quickly, but sternly ushered my teammates out of there. Meanwhile, the younger Junior Varsity players filed out of their own locker room, their cleats clacking loudly as they jogged to the meeting room.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” I yelled, kicking Thunderlane on his rear while he struggled to slip on his shoes. “Come on, ladies! Move it!” I clapped my hands loudly as I turned around and walked over to the entrance of the squad room.

We all settled onto the benches that were placed in a long line down the middle section of the squad room. Coach Soarin stood directly in front of us, leaning against a podium next to a giant chalkboard which currently held a hastily drawn replica of the soccer pitch. There were blank positions marked up and down the field, consisting of three rows.

Two positions at the top, four in the middle, and four taking up the our final third. In layman’s terms, this was a 2-4-4 formation. It was a defensive set up. I immediately knew where Soarin was going with this.

“Alright, boys, listen up,” he tapped a pen on his podium. “Today, is officially the last game of the year. Even though it’s not sanctioned by CISD, but who cares, right?” We all answered with a few chuckles. “So, for this one, I think we’re gonna go in with our usual starters.” He turned around to the chalkboard, and labeled a few of the positions.

“Longshot, Fastball,” he called, “You two are up front leading the attack. I want you guys to be merciless. Take every chance you got, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” we responded in unison.

“Good, now as for the midfielders,” he turned around and scratched a few more names onto the diagram. “Twister, Hotshot, Light Streak, Stormcloud, I want you four working with your strikers to keep that ball in their final third. Got it?” They all nodded. Twister smiled and bit his lip in anticipation.

I shook my head and scoffed.

“As for our third,” he scribbled more names, “Pop Rocket, Break Limit, Blitz, and Thunderlane, keep that ball outta the box. And Sky Stinger you’ll be on the net today. Be a wall out there. Understood?”

They all nodded.

“Good, for this morning, we’re going to work with patterns A, B, and C,” he said, adjusting his cap slightly. “Nothing too fancy, just basic stuff, alright? I know y’all wanna beat the girls, but c’mon. You know that they know our fancy plays. Well, almost all of them. Okay? Any questions?”

I thought back on some things as he waited. This would be the last practice I would ever have with these guys. Sparing a look at my teammates, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia. There were about six of us that were seniors, including me, Fastball, and Twister. And we’d been playing together since the pee-wee leagues.

But now… This was the last time. With this team at least.

“Okay, then!” he clapped his hands and we all hopped up off the benches. “Let’s break it out before we head out onto the field.”

We all let out a cheer and gathered together in a tight circle in front of the chalkboard, all of us laughing and cheering as we were about to give one last hurrah. Quite literally.

“Any last words, captain?” Coach asked as we all placed our hands up high in the air. I paused for a moment to look at each and every one of my teammates in the face. “Well?”

“It’s been a helluva year, guys,” I laughed, shaking my head at the many ridiculous moments we faced together. “We started off rough this year, guys. I know we did…”

I flashed back to the moment where we got shut out by a nationally ranked team.

“...But in the end, through hard work and dedication, we came out on top…”

I thought back to the moment where I scored the winning goal at the district championship.

“I couldn’t be more happy with you guys,” I laughed as I saw the faux tears and trembling lips that Twister and Fastball were giving me. “I expect to continue hearing great things about y’all in the years to come. In the end though, I’m gonna miss you. Every single one of you.”

“You do know me and Twist are gonna see you at the tryouts, right?” Fastball interrupted. The rest of the team jeered and razzed as he dared to poke fun at me, the fearless captain.

“Yeah, yeah, quiet down,” I said. They simmered down and I gave them all one last look. I would do my best to remember their faces when I graduate. “I guess this is it, then. I just got one more question to ask you…” They all asked ‘what?’. “Who are we?!”

“WONDERCOLTS!”

“What team?!”

“WONDERCOLTS!” We broke the circle and paraded outside to start our morning practice.

So, after the morning practice was done, we all showered up and went off to our classes smelling like cheap dollar store shampoo and discount cologne. My slightly wild hair was still damp as I sat in my English Composition class with Twister sitting behind me as per usual. I twirled my pencil idly in the dim classroom, the contents of the current slide of our teacher’s presentation reflected off our eyes in the darkness, his lamp sitting behind him as he lounged back on his office chair.

His voice droned on and on about some writer who’s name I happened to not care too much about. This class was particularly easy for me since he himself didn’t care. I mean, hey, it’s high school. What do you expect?

A few rows to my left sat the one and only Rainbow Dash, where she leaned against the wooden from of the desk, dressed in a red t-shirt and torn light blue jeans. Her white sneakers tapped nervously against the floor as she sat there with a visibly bored expression. I could tell she wanted to get out of here as much as I did.

I was wearing an old pair of jeans, trainers, and a maroon shirt that bore the insignia from my favorite soccer team, the Trottingham Devils. Oddly enough, Dash liked the Devils too. I’d seen her rocking some of their gear. If that weren’t strange enough for you, she hated the Fillydelphia Flyers as much as I did.

Why we weren’t best friends I’ll never know.

“Oi,” Twister thumped my shoulder and I twisted my neck around to peer at him. “So, you ready for the game?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” We both shook with silent laughter. “What do you think?”

“Well, I’ve been hearing more stuff throughout the day,” he continued, “Some bloke in third period was sayin’ some interestin’ things.”

“What kind of things?” I asked curiously.

“Well, come on, mate.” He thumped me on the shoulder again. “Fill in the blanks for yaself. Ya know, people have been talkin’ ’bout the two of you.”

“They do that all the time,” I whispered back sharply, waving my hand dismissively.

He leaned in closer. “No-no, but in another way though. People have been thinking that there’s a little uh…tension between you and her.’

I turned back slowly to glare at him. “Huh?”

“I know that’s crazy, right?” He laughed quietly. “Who’d’ve thought that you and her could actually be a couple? Crazy shit there, mate. Don’t you think they’ve completely fallen off their wagon?”

I chuckled nervously scratching at my neck. “Uh, yeah.

“Longshot, Twister,” our teacher spoke up and we both widened our eyes like we were deer caught in headlights. “Is there anything you would like to share with the class?”

“No, sir,” we responded. He gave us no acknowledgement as he continued the lesson.

I felt Twister lean close to my ear. “Honestly, in my opinion, I think you’d be great with her,” he snickered, “Let’s face it, ’Shot. She’s a real slapper. I think anyone would call you a legend for taming that wild beast.”

We both snickered quietly as pressed my face into the desk to mute my laughter. Soon after our silent mirth died down, I spared a glance over to where Rainbow was sitting and the weirdest thing happened: She was looking at me. She was looking at me with this curious look on her face. I couldn’t quite figure out what she was thinking, but I stared at her back with a neutral expression.

Honestly, it weirded me out. I tilted my upwards, wordlessly asking her what was up.

In response, I saw her shake her head and roll her eyes, resuming her previous pose. I scoffed and shook my own head, crossing my arms as I paid little attention to what was on the board. At this point, I would have taken out my phone, but the teacher was like a hawk. If any of us had our phones out, he’d catch us right away.

A few minutes go by and the time for the bell to ring is approaching. Suddenly, I felt a light impact on the side of my shoulder.

“What the,” I grumble under my breath before I spotted a ball of paper on the floor. There was only one person who could have thrown that. Looking up, I glared at Rainbow only to see her with an easy grin on her face. She motioned her hand for me to pick up the ball of paper. I groaned silently as I bent over to pick up the wad of notebook paper.

Upon unraveling, there was a hastily scribbled illustration that depicted a stick figure Rainbow Dash (she labeled herself) shooting a soccer ball into the net while there was stick figure version of me lying on the ground crying. Below the drawing was a simple question:

"Ready to get thrashed?”

I scowled before a little smirk cracked its way across my lips. I grabbed my pencil and wrote back a response.

“Bring it, Skittles.”

It was hard not to laugh as I quietly balled it back up and stealthily tossed it back across the room. Much to my non-surprise, she caught it in her hand easily with a smug grin on her face. I had to hold my hand to my mouth as I saw her reaction. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, and I swear through the darkness of the room, I could see her cheeks turn red. She unballed the paper herself and scratched a response back. I had my hands behind my head with a cocky grin as she threw the paper and it softly landed on my desk.

Carefully undoing it, I saw the response she wrote:

“You are so on >:)”

I glanced up to her and she had a sneer on her face. She smashed her fist into her palm and pointed at me before drawing a line on her neck with her thumb. Oh, so that’s how it was going to be? I didn’t feel like gracing her with a response, so I sighed and crossed my arms again.

The minutes ticked by and suddenly the bell rang loudly.

One more class and it was game time.

Everyone in the class gathered their stuff and hastily made their way out the door to get to their next class. Just as me and Twister were about to step out from our row, someone decided to step right in front of me.

“So, you think you’re pretty funny don’t ya?” she sneered at me with her arms crossed. “I’m gonna make you regret it later on. Just you wait.”

I gave her my signature smirk. “Like I said. Bring it.”

“You’ll see later.” She pointed at me and walked away, her prismatic hair whipping around her shoulder as she strutted away. As she walked away, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander down her small figure. Goddesses damn, was she short. Shorter than me. She was at least five foot four, or maybe less. For a short girl, she had a hell of a booty- body. Body. Not to mention, the shirt she wore was form-fitting and…

To put it simply, I started staring at her ass while she walked towards the door. Most of the class had left so they wouldn’t be able to witness this embarrassing display of interest. I felt my heart jump as her feet stopped moving and turned around to face me.

My cheeks heated up as I looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing there with a smug little grin on her lips. Behind me, I could have sworn I heard Twister’s muffled cackling. Asshole. She had a hand on her hip as she stood there staring at my dumbstruck expression.

“Enjoy the show while you can, dork,” Rainbow said. “The next time you see my ass will be when you’re chasing after me while I score goals on you.”

“Why don’t you save it for the field, Dash?” Twister laughed as he leaned his elbow on my shoulder. “There, you two lovebirds can settle who gets to sleep on the couch tonight.” I delivered a swift nudge to his ribs as payback. He wheezed before letting out a laugh.

Looking back at Rainbow, I was shocked to see that an embarrassed scowl had appeared on her face, her arms crossed as she seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact with me. Honestly, this girl was an enigma. I wondered what went through her head. Perhaps there was a little hamster in there. And right now, Mr. Nibbles seemed to have tripped while running on his wheel.

She harrumphed and placed both hands on her hips with an irritated look. “Just you wait and see,” she warned, “me and the girls are gonna whoop all of your asses.”

“Excuse me?” our teacher had suddenly decided to butt in. “Is there something going on that I should be worried about? If so, can you please take it outside? This is my only free period.”

We all stared at him with our mouths open before Twister suddenly decided to clutch this situation. He grabbed and nudged me over to where Rainbow stood and threw his arms over our shoulders. “Oh don’t worry ’bout nothin’, sir!” he said with a guffaw, “We were just havin’ a little spat over who was goin’ to win the game this afternoon.”

He adjusted his glasses. “Yes, well, good luck to the both of you. Now, if you please?”

We all nodded and made our way out the door. Rainbow had swatted away Twister’s arm and we all stood out in the hallway while Mr. Grumpy slammed the door on us.

Rainbow walked ahead of us and turned around, a bemused expression on her face. Thankfully this section of the hallway was kind of empty now that not many people had classes in this part of the school.

“I’m warning you,” Rainbow said sternly. “Just wait ’til this afternoon. I’m gonna kick your ass up and down the field!”

“Why don’t you stop talking the talk, huh?” I replied. “Seriously, what’s your problem?” Right now she seemed angrier than usual. Like I said, she talks shit but this time she seems legitimately mad.

“Nothing! That’s what!”

“Doesn’t necessarily look like it,” Twister said.

“Twist, please,” I begged.

“Look, Rainbow, why don’t you go to your next class?” Twister suggested, “We’ll settle this on the field.”

Her face contorted into an angry glare. Inside her rosy eyes I could see flames burning. I couldn’t help but wonder just what exactly was pissing her off. If Twister was telling the truth, maybe people have been giving her shit over the little rivalry between me and her.

She let out a frustrated sigh before crossing her arms. “Fine,” she mumbled. “See you dweebs on the field.” We both stared as she almost stamped down the hallway towards the main highway of the school where everyone walked around.

I sighed as I placed my hands on my hips.

“What the bloody hell was that all about?” Twister wondered.

“I don’t know, Twist,” I replied. “I have a feeling we’ll find out soon enough.”

An hour goes by and it’s finally time. The bell for eighth period blared throughout the school as everyone trekked to their next class. Meanwhile, the entire boy’s soccer team flocked over to the athletics building where we would get dressed in the locker rooms.

The entire team was salty. All day long we had been licking our chops and starving for a chance to play one last game against the girls. The seniors were especially frisky. We were ready to give one more fight before we were set to graduate. Next week was the last week of school and finals would be happening. Which meant no more soccer for the rest of the year.

I sat in front of my tall locker. My elbows rested on my knees as I sat hunched over, earphones in as I listened to some ambient hip hop music. The soft drum and bass always calmed me down before a game. Prior, I had already dressed in my uniform, sans the shirt. Usually, the jerseys were dark blue with sleeves that were white with yellow trim; the shorts dark blue shaded with a tinge of lighter blue separated by a white line that ran down the leg. The socks normally matched the shirt as well

This time, since both teams had the same uniform designs, we would be wearing the away team jerseys which bore the same patterns except the sleeves were blue and the rest of the shirt was white as well as the socks on my feet.

My name and number were emblazoned on the back while the school acronym was stitched in across the chest in dark blue letters.

I sighed as I slipped on my jersey, feeling the soft polyester material glide over my skin. My shin guards were still undone on my legs, my socks rolled down. I strapped up my shin guards and pulled my socks up over them. I laced up my cleats nice and tight, tapping the toe against the tiled floor of the locker room.

Everyone else was speaking idly among themselves about one thing or another. The seniors were quiet, especially Twister which was a sign he was as serious about this as I was. For the game, Coach Soarin told us that they would be giving us the regulation eighty minutes to play. The only problem I could think of was that there would be no extra time. No penalty round. Just a straight fight to the finish. This kind of twist raised the stakes. Me and the boys would have to play our best if we wanted to win.

We had a score to settle from last year.

“Okay, last call!” Coach Soarin came in all dressed up in his outside gear. On top of his boonie hat rested a pair of sunglasses. He wore a pair of light blue sweat pants and a white shirt with the Wondercolts emblem stitched in on the left breast in blue lettering. “Let’s go, boys! Time to get out there and show ’em what we’re made of!”

“Yeah!” we all cheered as everyone finished getting their uniforms on.

“Let’s go kick some arse, boys!” I heard Twister shout in his funny accent, slamming his locker shut before sprinting outside.

“Let’s get some, fellas!” Fastball cheered, closing his locker as he clapped me on the shoulder.

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” Hotshot razzed.

“C’mon, Captain!” Coach yelled at me. “Get your boys all riled up!”

I smirked up at him from my seat. It’s showtime I slapped my knees with both hands and shot up from the bench.

“C’mon I wanna see some hustle, get moving!” I herded my teammates off towards the backdoor of the locker room that led out to the field, where the girls would be waiting for us. We all jogged in line out the door onto the concrete path. I was in the front like a drill sergeant leading his troops during a five mile march. For me, playing soccer was always like a surreal experience.

Every single game I played felt like I was stepping out onto the pitch of a humongous stadium. And that's how I played. I played like every game was important. Like every game was the last.

In this case, it was. For now, at least.

I looked ahead and saw that the girls were already outside stretching out in a wide circle. In the middle was none other than Rainbow Dash, leading her team through the exercises. Coach Spitfire, dressed in a similar fashion to Coach Soarin except with shorts, was there on the field watching over her girls. I saw her look over and smirk as me and the boys made our way onto the field to warm up.

“Longshot!” I heard Coach yell. “Get the team stretched out and ready to go! You got ten minutes!”

“Yes, sir!” I replied back. “Alright, circle up!”

The ten minutes went by faster than I thought. It was time to begin. Both teams had lined up on the sideline by number while the captains went out to the middle of the field for the coin toss. For the boys, it would be me and Fastball while the girls had Cloudkicker and Rainbow Dash. This would decide who’d be getting the ball first. Prior to this, coach had told me he wanted us to get the ball for the first half if we won the toss.

In the middle of the field stood Coach Rapidfire, she wore a small headset and a yellow referee shirt as well as several other coaches behind her that were dressed in a similar fashion.

Rapidfire stood there with the coin in her hand as me and Fastball walked at a good pace down the halfway line.

“Okay, captains,” Rapidfire said and nodded at the four of us when we finally reached the center circle. “Stand opposite each other, please. “We moved to our respective sides of the pitch. “Alright, I'm sure you all know the rules about this game. You’ll have two forty minute periods, at the end of which, whoever has the most goals wins. There will be no penalty round or extra time after regulation time has ended. We clear?”

The four of us voiced our acknowledgement.

“Good, now, when I flip the coin I want you to call it in the air, Longshot.” Since the boys were the away team this year, we got to call the toss. “You ready?" she asked me.

"Yes, ma’am," I answered. She nodded once and the coin rang as it flipped into the air. “Tails!” I called out before it hit the grass. Upon closer inspection, the coin was sadly not the side that I called. I swore I heard Rainbow snickering.

“Okay, looks like the girls get to decide—”

“We want the ball first,” Rainbow declared quickly, “And we’ll kick off that way.” She pointed behind me. Or maybe at me I didn’t know. What I did know was that she had that same smug little grin on her face that frustrated me so much. Goddesses damn girl was so full of herself. I was already pissed.

“Alright, that settles it,” Rapidfire said as I stared Rainbow down. “Now shake hands and get ready to come off the sidelines when I blow the whistle. Begrudgingly, I reach forward with my hand and shook Rainbow’s. When we made contact, I tightened my grip to the point where it was almost a death grip. She smirked back as I did so and tightened her grasp as well.

My hand turned white from the pressure. I shook Cloudkicker’s hand briefly and then Fastball and I jogged back to our bench.

“Starters up, let’s go!” Soarin ordered as the rest of our starting eleven jumped up off the bench. We gathered into a huddle next to our bench where coach had a few more things to tell us before we began.

“Okay, boys, this is it. I want you all to leave everything on the field. Seniors, this is your last chance to get back at the girls for beating us last year. Now, since we don't have the ball, I want you guys to stick to formation B until we can get a good attack going then we'll switch to formation A.”

As he talked, my mind wandered elsewhere. I’d been in this situation before. Coach going over the game plan once more before we stepped onto the pitch. It was almost muscle memory.

“Stick to your basic patterns, boys. Keep their strikers away from the box. Midfielders, I want you near your strikers at all times to help get that ball into the net. Keep them from getting into our third. And remember, don’t give them any chances to score. I guarantee you, they will capitalize on it.”

My left ear twitched as I heard the girls doing a sort of cheer on their bench. I peeked over to see them doing some sort of dance which involved them huddling close together and moving side to side as they held each other’s shoulders. Shaking my head, I turned back to focus on coach’s speech.

“...And remember boys, be careful out there,” he warned, “I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”

Rapidfire blew the whistle and I tensed up. I guess my body knew what time it was. Game time, baby. “Okay, let’s do it to ’em!” He clapped his hands and we all drew in closer.

"Yeah!" we all cheered, putting our hands up to break out.

"Alright, guys, let's get out there and score some goals!" I shouted, all of our hands connecting in the air. "Now, who are we?!"

“WONDERCOLTS!” my teammates shouted in response as we broke from our huddle. The eleven of us stepped out onto the field as well as the girls and took our positions. I jogged over to my starting position near the center circle. Our midfielders had our back while our wingers and secondary midfielders brought up the rear with our fullbacks.

I inspected the opposition and they seemed to have their regular starting lineup as well. Rainbow Dash and Cloudkicker stood in the center with the ball. The twin sisters Flitter and Cloudchaser were the center midfielders along with Lightning Dust and Daisy. Raindrops and Night Glider were the wingers and Lyra and Bon Bon brought up the rear as fullbacks. Lastly, Vapor Trail was their goalkeeper.

Once we were all in position, Rapidfire looked around once again to the line judges and made sure they were ready. Meanwhile, I wiggled around a bit to loosen my body up. Rainbow had her foot on the ball, ready to begin when the whistle blew. The coach placed the tiny piece of metal in her mouth…

The loud, shrill voice of the whistle rang out across the field. And then suddenly, it was all quiet. My heart rate spiked up to new levels. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for me. I was hunched over in a ready position. I was itching to get that ball away from her.

Suddenly, Rainbow looked over her shoulder at me, a hand on her hip. A hard look was on my face as I stared back, ready for her to make a move. She stared at me with those rosy red eyes of hers. A smirk on her face as we stared each other down. I stood on my toes, my cleats digging into the grass.

For a brief moment, she flashed a wolfish grin before she slid the ball with her foot over to Cloudkicker, before she flicked it right back towards Rainbow as she tore down the middle. Son of a biscuit she was going straight for it.

It was on.

“Go! Get her! Get her!”

“Watch the flanks! Get back on D!”

“Twister! Go for it!”

“How the bloody hell she do that!”

“Go for it, Rainbow Dash!”

This was the most intense game I’ve ever been in. The entire time we’ve been neck and neck. Neither side was willing to give up the ball too easily. Nevertheless, we still had the league’s best scorers so scoring for both teams was inevitable.

As of now, the score was tied up at two goals each. I scored the first goal in the first fifteen minutes. Fastball and I were able to get the ball past their second and third with relative ease. I broke away from the defenders and shot one into the net. The second goal was scored by Twister who decided to mix it up on the front lines. I was shocked, to say the least, that the girls let us score twice in a row so early in the game. The whole first half we went back and forth on the pitch, the girls unable to get the ball past Sky Stinger. There were a few close calls, but they could never capitalize on us.

However, in the second half, things got perilous. The girls suddenly went on the offensive, even though we had the ball first. No matter what we did, we couldn’t keep strong possession and kept losing the ball. I didn’t know if we were just tired or we were letting the girl’s team get to us. Either way, the recent plays weren’t in our favour.

We made several mistakes and the girls made us suffer for it. They scored two goals in a row within ten minutes of the other. As of now, there were about thirty minutes left in this half.

By the way Rainbow Dash was tearing down the field, I saw that she was looking to break up the tie.

I turned on the jets and made for the third line.

“Hotshot, switch it! Check Bravo!” I signaled to the midfielder and he moved to the forward position. We usually did this in urgent situations.

THIS. Was an urgent situation.

My legs burned as I panted heavily, pumping my arms hard to catch up with that rainbow-haired she-devil. She turned over to the left side of the box, looking to make a cross. Cloudkicker along with Flitter and Cloudchaser were there waiting. I arrived at the box, where the rest of the third line was covering the goal. Rainbow had the ball and was currently being crowded by Pop Rocket and Blitz, who were trying to get the ball away from her.

Much to no avail. She somehow dribbled past them BOTH and stepped into the box looking to pass to one of her teammates. Dribbling past yet another one of our defenders, she flanked around to the center of the box. I shot off from my back heel and made to take the ball away from her.

I slid forward with my right foot sticking out in an effort to make the tackle. That’s when everything turned blurry. I know my foot came in contact with something. My eyes were closed as I felt someone fall on top of me. Okay, that hurt more than I expected. The impact rocked my lower body and something hit my abdomen hard. The air was knocked out of my lungs and I felt myself gasping for air.

The whistle blew loudly and I could hear several people voice their displeasure.

“Aw c’mon, coach! That was all ball!” I heard Stormcloud yell.

“Yeah! He didn’t even touch her leg!” Twister agreed.

“Don’t even argue with me on this, boys,” I heard Rapidfire reply sternly, “His foot came in contact with her leg. That’s a penalty kick.”

“WHAT?!” they all shouted incredulously.

“Yeah! Whoo!” I heard a few of the girls cheer.

Meanwhile, the weight on my chest hadn’t left yet. My arms were on the ground and my eyes were still closed from the pain.

I cracked open my eyes to see that Rainbow Dash was laying on top of me with this... weird look on her face. Her cheeks looked red. I wasn’t sure if that was from the heat or... something else? Her eyes weren’t hard or fiery like the way they were before. No. Her eyes had a certain softness to them like she was concerned about something.

Or maybe concerned about me. Her face was really close to mine. Our noses almost touching. I could feel her heavy breathing tickle my face. Her legs were almost intertwined with mine and her arms were placed at my sides below my armpits.

I hated to admit it, but in this brief moment of closeness, I felt... something. Something weird. Maybe it was the feeling of her lithe, athletic form laying on top my body was almost... exciting. Her shiny hair hung over her shoulders and glimmered brightly in the sunlight. I almost felt the urge to hold on to her. Feeling her strong body with my hands.

The moment was ruined when I saw her eyes leave my sight and she got up from the ground, dusting herself off. I stayed there, struggling to catch my breath. I saw Cloudkicker walk up to Rainbow.

“Way to take one for the team, Dash!” she clapped her captain on the shoulder.

“Hehe, yeah!” She gave her trademark cocksure grin and cheered alongside her teammates. When she looked back at me, I saw her give me that same sneer I hated so much.

Why you stuck up bitch! I seethed internally as I clenched a fist and slammed it on the ground. She fucking planned that! I know it! Suddenly, Coach Rapidfire walked up to me.

“Longshot, you okay there?” she asked, whistle in hand. “Can you keep playing?”

I exhaled through my nose as Fastball helped me to my feet. “Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me,” I replied.

“Okay, well get your boys set up we’re doing a penalty kick.”

Shit I shook my head as me and my boys got out from the box to set up once again. Rainbow grabbed the ball and placed into the center mark in the box, spinning it once to make sure it stuck. Now, I was worried. Sky was a good keeper, but Rainbow never missed when it came to hitting penalty shots. I’ve seen her in games and she had a perfect penalty kick record. She was a Goddesses damn sniper.

My heart pumped quickly as Sky set his heels on the goal line and loosened himself up. Everyone went quiet as Rainbow raised her hand up to signal that was ready. Rapidfire blew the whistle and Rainbow wasted no time creeping forward to take a shot at the goal. Sky was on his toes and ready to jump on the ball.

Rainbow rushed forward to take a shot but the sly girl stopped before her foot came in contact with the ball. Sky was a little too hot to trot and jumped to the right to stop the ball that would have been flying at him. Instead, Rainbow took a cheeky little shot to the opposite side of the goal and practically tapped it into the net. My entire team groaned as Rainbow threw up her hands and sprinted off down the sideline, her teammates following her.

The lot of them were squealing with delight as their lady and savior Rainbow Dash broke the tie single handed. They all crowded her as they celebrated. Currently, there was just a little over twenty minutes left in the second half. Not much time was left. The score was now three goals to two.

We had a lot of ground to cover. As the boys and I set up again, I turned to Coach Soarin, who stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed. Taking a look back at my team, I could see that a few of them were at their limit. We had four subs to use and I signaled over to coach that we needed to switch things up.

“Rapidfire! We’re sending in subs!” Rapidfire nodded and blew the whistle, signaling the assistant coach running the electric clock to stop it to send in the substitutes. Coach looked back to the bench. “Alright, Bottle Rocket, Facade, Starbuster, Wildfire, get in there! Break Limit, Pop Rocket, Stormcloud, Blitz! Switch out!” Meanwhile, Spitfire was in the middle of switching up her team as well. We needed two goals to win this. It was a long shot, but long shots were my specialty.

Once the fresh legs were set up in their positions, Fastball and I set up in the center circle, the ball at his foot.

“Hey, Fastball,” I muttered while the girls were still setting up. “I think you know what we need to do.”

“Yeah,” he said while nodding. “You make the call.”

“Got it,” I cupped my mouth with my hands, "Guys, listen up! Formation A, motion zero, check Zulu!”

They all nodded in acknowledgement and moved to their designated positions. This kind of formation was for strictly offense. One that we only used in case we needed to go for the win in short time. The wingers and midfielders would be playing close up to the opposite side of the field. We needed all of our players near the opposite side of the field in order to keep possession away from the other team. Our goalkeeper would be playing up near the halfway line to get the ball back on their side. In short, we were going for the win like a bunch of maniacs.

It was a risky strategy, but there wasn’t much time left. It was do or die.

Rapidfire blew the whistle and I shared a brief look with Fastball. We both smirked and nodded.

“How about we do some schoolyard bullshit?” he said.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” I then slid the ball over to him to start the game back up. “Let’s go!”

The war was on. Fastball was double-teamed by two of the girls before he passed the ball back over to me. I tore down the side of the field, keeping an eye on offside flag and waiting for my boys to setup the cross. Lyra and Night Glider left their positions to challenge me for possession. A small smirk came to my face as I bolted towards them. They wanted to play, huh?

Lyra came at me first, a hard look on her face as she stuck a foot out to try and take away the ball. I stopped hard and slid the ball back behind me and twisted my back foot around it, spinning my way around her. Lyra got her legs twisted together and fell over. Night Glider was next as she made an attempt to get the ball away from me. She then slid forward, aiming for the ball. I knew that trick too well. I was surprised she would even attempt a paltry trick like that on me.

I placed the ball in between my feet and jumped up high into the air, my knees touching my chest. The look on her face was priceless as I went soaring over her head. The ball came out from my feet and hit the ground rolling and I got a hold of it again.

“’Shot, back here!” Twister had made his way down the field with me and I passed the ball back to him and sprinted into the box, where the rest of the defenders were waiting. Bon Bon challenged Twister but he kicked over to Fastball who was on the outside in front of the box. He kicked it over to Bottle Rocket who then passed it on to Thunderlane who was waiting behind him. We kicked the ball around to each other, playing a very convoluted game of keep away. Rainbow Dash tried to take the ball away several times but there was always someone else there to back up one of our men.

This play was all about rotation. We would bide our time until an opportunity showed itself. I moved next to the net. Fastball and Twister were there inside the box with me. I saw Stormcloud coming around the left side of the box. He was being covered by Lyra but she made no attempt to get the ball from him. He was going for a cross.

I stood out in the center of the box, signaling for him to send it in. He nodded and pelted the ball with his foot. The ball flew up high and we were all shoving each other to get a header in. My heart jumped as I saw the ball was heading right for me and my whole body clenched.

This was it. I needed to get the ball into the net. Or, I would have, if Rainbow Dash hadn’t jumped right in front of me. She literally almost flew up into the air as her head came in contact with the ball and it went soaring out of the box. Cloudkicker was there waiting for it and she kicked it as hard as she could to get it out of the box. Even though Sky was there at the halfway mark, she was able to clear all the way past the halfway line. Sky made a beeline for it as it flew past him. I panicked when I saw Rainbow Dash and several other girls bolt off across the field. Since our goalkeeper was outside of his box, he wasn’t going to be able to grab the ball with his hands.

“Go! Go! Get back on defense!” I shouted and we all sprinted hard back to our side of the field. Taking a brief glance at the clock, I saw that there was a little over ten minutes left in the game. It was going to take a miracle to win now. With the ball hurling towards our side of the field and Rainbow Dash going after it, we were going to have to put all of our cards on the table to win.

Fortunately, Sky was able to get a handle on the ball, he dribbled it back to the far left sideline and began tearing down the field with it. Rainbow Dash and Cloudkicker were in hot pursuit and there were two of our boys going to support him. He through passed it over to Bottle Rocket, who bumped back over to Fastball who was there waiting for him to get it back to the halfway mark. I was relieved to see that Rainbow Dash was nowhere near the ball, and went back to her position near the center circle, most likely waiting for a rebound.

I spared a look at the clock: 8:53 left and we had the ball. I called for the ball from Fastball down in front of the box. There were currently three defenders between me and the net. I quickly placed my foot on top of the ball. By my estimate, I was about thirty to forty yards out from the goal down the middle with defenders in the front. Luckily, they decided not to challenge me.

Time felt like it was slowing down. I took a deep breath. My foot was placed on top of the ball as I laid out my options. I could take the shot from here or I could come up with another strategy.

Ah, fuck it. Let’s see what happens. Improvisation was the only weapon in my arsenal. I released the ball from my foot and took a step back.

Keeping my head down, I took a step forward and reeled back my right leg. My foot impacted the ball at breakneck speed and I let out a huge grunt as I sent it flying over everyone’s heads. The ball curved just like I wanted it to and it was aimed right at the top right corner of the net. Vapor Trail was too busy guarding the center of the net to make a block attempt. The ball impacted the back of the net, bouncing off the pole at the right trajectory to bounce right in. A cacophony of cheers erupted from the boy’s team.

I threw up my hands in celebration as my teammates came up to me to celebrate. Since I put away the equalizing goal, it was all up to us to get another one into the net if we wanted victory. The clock read just over five minutes left.

It was all or nothing.

Dash and Cloudkicker placed the ball in the center and wasted no time in getting it off. The two of them weaved their way around our midfielders. Cloudkicker tore down the sideline where me and Bottle Rocket were waiting. She stopped and passed the ball back behind to Flitter who then passed it to her sister. Cloudchaser zoomed down the opposite sideline. I was becoming frustrated since the girls were doing well to keep the ball away from us. Finally, Lyra had the ball down the center and I went for the tackle. Before she could get going, I slid in and my foot connected with the ball. It came out from under her and Fastball was there waiting.

“Go! Go!” I shouted. The girls had the majority of their defenders near our side of the field so it was easy pickings for me and Fastball. The two of us tore down the field, with the girls chasing after us. Lyra and Cloudchaser were on his tail. I waved my hands and he kicked the ball down to me.

I touched the ball in my stride and shot towards the keeper’s box, where Vapor Trail was waiting. This play had breakaway goal written all over it. Steeling myself, I decided to take this one. No way was she going to block it. I could sense the two girls chasing after me. Too bad for them, they weren’t going to catch me. I pushed my body into overdrive, pumping my arms and my legs moving past their limit.

I set foot in the box and Vapor Trail tried to sneak the ball out from under my feet. I wasn’t going down that easily.

Kicking the ball over the tip of my toes, I chipped it over the head of Vapor Trail and it went soaring into net, bouncing as it hit the ground. An eruption of cheers exploded from our sidelines. I saw Lyra and Cloudchaser behind me, hands on their knees, gasping for air. I saw Twister sprint to me, wrapping his arms around my neck as he vigorously rubbed my head in appreciation. Three of my other teammates ganged up on me in a vicious group hug, cheering as we had scored the tie-breaking goal.

It wasn’t over yet.

“Alright, boys, line up!” Rapidfire blew the whistle, signaling for play to continue. I spared a glance at the clock and saw that it read just under three minutes left to play. The girls stood no chance. There would be no extra time after the clock ran out. Which meant we would finally win after a long battle.

Immediately as Rapidfire blew the whistle again, Rainbow Dash and Cloudkicker tore down the field with the ball, trying their hardest to get into the goalkeeper's box. It was a vain effort. We were all tired, but we trained hard for situations like this. I saw that Rainbow was slowing down, her movements wide and slow instead of quick and snappy. Hell, I was tired too. My throat burned from the hot air as I worked hard to keep the air flowing.

One minute and twelve seconds to go. Fastball had managed to clear the ball from our side of the field, prompting the girls to go and chase it down. We mostly stayed on our side of the field, consolidating our defenses while Fastball and I mixed it up with their strikers in midfield. Rainbow Dash took the ball from Flitter and tore down our sideline, with Fastball and Bottle Rocket in pursuit. I stayed in my position close to the halfway mark.

I saw her take the ball and passed Bottle Rocket. She moved to the corner, looking to make a cross in. She reared back her right leg and kicked the ball hard. It flew into the center, but luckily, Sky Stinger was smart enough to snatch the ball out of the air. I heard all the girls groan as they began jogging back to their side again. Rainbow Dash shook her head in disappointment as she caught up with her teammates. Even from where I was at, I could feel her burning up with anger, and I had a feeling she wanted to punch something.

Sky slid the ball over to Facade who began dribbling the ball downfield. It was over. There was less than a minute left and we had the ball in our possession. I saw that most of the girls had given up already. They had their hands on their hips, kicking at the grass and shaking their heads. Only the strikers and midfielders tried to make some effort at getting the ball back, but we would just pass it on to someone else.

Then, before we knew it…the final three whistles blew.

*FWEEEET* *FWEEEET* *FWEEEET*

“Alright, that's game!” Rapidfire yelled out. “Okay, guys, go to your sidelines and shake hands!”

“Yeah!”

“Whoo!”

“Alright!”

We were all shouting, cheering, and jumping like wild animals as we jogged back over to the sideline, where the rest of our teammates were cheering as well; all of them were giving high fives, bear hugs, and jumping all over the place while Coach Soarin stood there, a smug look of satisfaction on his face. I saw him smile over at Coach Spitfire, nodding his head slowly. She would only shake her head, rolling her eyes as she gathered her girls up.

Soon, we were all lined up ready to shake hands with one another. Rainbow Dash stood at the front and BOY she did not look happy. When our hands connected, she gave me this… weird look. A death stare if you will.

When that happened, I had a feeling that this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

To be continued...

End of Part 1