Prepare for Battle!!

by Jubilee Bloom

Rating: everyone
Tags: Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Windy Whistles, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Other, Fluttershy, Bow Hothoof, Slice of Life
Length: 1018

A newly cutie marked Rainbow Dash has a race happening soon. A perfect time for everything to go wrong.

It's just one week until the Junior Speedsters Pre-Grad Race, and Rainbow Dash is VERY excited!!

Now if she can make it through a week of bullying, grades, and injuries without giving up, she'll be all set to win that shiny gold medal.

Published 2019-04-23 19:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-04-23 19:10:01 UTC

Mark the calendar!

CRASH!

Windy Whistles nearly dropped her glass of water, startled by the unknown sound. Which soon lost its mystery, as her daughter flew in through the front door, rubbing her head and wincing.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" She ran over to inspect Rainbow Dash.

"I'm fine, Mom. Just missed the door." She stopped wincing and a smile quickly took over her face. "I was too excited to steer myself. The Junior Speedsters Pre-Grad Race is next week!!" She reached into her bag which was currently strapped around her middle and pulled out a poster of said race.

"Oh, that is exciting!" Windy smiled along with her daughter for a moment, but then frowned. "Next week? That's awfully short notice. Are you sure that's correct?"

"Yep! Our flight instructors told us that it was going to be in two weeks, but they had something come up with scheduling something else and yada yada blah blah blah and so it's this week instead!" Without waiting for her mother's reply, she spread her wings and took off in the direction of her bedroom. Windy finished her glass of water, put the glass in the kitchen, and returned to pick up the poster that had been left behind. She hoped that her daughter had misread the date and misheard her instructors' speech or something.

Nope.

It really was next week.

Windy sighed to herself. Did anypony understand the concept of parents needing to know things ahead of time so that they could plan accordingly?

She didn't have much time to ponder the thought, as the younger pegasus returned to the living room sans school bag. "I'm hungry. What's for snack? And what's for dinner tonight? Can we not have vegetables?"

"Slow down, sweetie." Like that was ever going to happen. "There are some crackers you can have for a snack. I don't know what we're having for dinner tonight. But you will have to eat at least some vegetables."

"But moooooomm," Rainbow protested.

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you won't grow up into a strong and healthy pegasus. And if you aren't strong and healthy, it's going to be a lot harder to win all those races."

"Ooh, more of a challenge! I can take it on!"

Sigh. Windy was all for appreciating the precious moments of childhood before they grew up too quickly, but she couldn't wait for this particular phase to be over with. "If you complain any more about vegetables, you will have celery for a snack instead of crackers."

Rainbow did not complain anymore after that, content with only a slight pout as she munched on her crackers. With her daughter content, Windy retrieved the family calendar that she always kept right in the middle of the dining room, so that nopony could miss it. Taking it off of its hook, for the time being, she brought it into the kitchen, which had been covered in cracker crumbs during her absence.

"Clean those up, dear, and then we'll put your race on the calendar." Windy pointed to the dustpan and broom sitting in the corner of the kitchen.

"Okay!" Rainbow got to work immediately.

Well, that was unexpected. She's never that cooperative. Windy left in search of a writing utensil of some kind. I guess she's just excited. She was sure she had left a pencil around here... somewhere... where did that get to?

Five minutes later and the search for a pencil had proved to be useless. They're basically destined to get lost at some point, along with pens and hair ties, so Windy wasn't too terribly surprised. She did eventually find a red marker, which she brought back to the kitchen, now crumb-free.

"Can I write it on there? Can I can I can I?"

"Of course, dear, calm down." Like she would ever do that. Rainbow quickly grabbed the marker from her mother's hooves and wrote RACE!!!! on the scheduled day.

Friday, May 26th. Today was the 19th. That left one week for Rainbow to get ready for the race. Not to mention the math test on Monday, the vocabulary test on Tuesday, and her playdate with Fluttershy on Thursday. And of course, the regular homework and Junior Speedsters meetings and whatnot.

Oh dear.

Windy took a deep breath, calming her frazzled nerves. She took back the red marker, adding a note in the margins to get more pencils at some point. With that out of the way, she flew back to the dining room, carefully hanging the calendar back in its usual spot. When she came back to Rainbow, she was flying in circles as fast as her little wings would allow her. Which was pretty darn fast.

"All right, Rainbow. How about you calm down and do your homework?" Rainbow quickly stopped her flying, but almost hit her head on the floor in the process. Windy caught her daughter just before, seeing the grumpy look on her face. "Don't give me that look, dear. Let's see, can you finish all of your math homework before your father comes home?"

Rainbow looked shocked. "Mom! You know I'm no good at math! There's no way I can do that!"

"You always said that you liked a challenge, sweetie!" A bit petty, maybe, but Rainbow needed to do her homework and Windy had to get her to do it somehow.

"Not that kind of challenge!" Rainbow started hovering in the air once more. "I like races and cool stunts and that stuff! Not math!"

Windy was about to think of a reply, but was interrupted by the sound of their doorbell ringing. A voice called out, "Hey everypony! Weather patrol let out a little early today!"

"Dad!!" Rainbow immediately launched herself toward the source of the sound, getting swept up in a bear hug from her father, Bow Hothoof. "Dad, my Junior Speedsters Pre-Grad Race is coming up next week! Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I am! When wouldn't I be excited for my little superstar!"

Windy just sighed. Maybe she could get Bow to get her to do her homework.