In Ponyville’s fields, Hondo Flanks blew into his whistle, getting all of the foals to stop their pushups. They listened, quickly running to him and waited for his announcement.
“Alright team,” Hondo spoke. “I know we’ve all done well for the past few seasons. We were really close, but if we train even harder, we should be able to get this year’s Junior Power Bowl Cup. Are we gonna train hard!?”
“Yes!”
“Are we gonna win!?”
“Yes!”
“Are we going to lose the Power Bowl!?”
“Heck no!”
“Alright! Now let’s-”
“Gang way!” Bow Hot Hoof’s voice interrupted, followed by the stallion tacking Hondo Flanks, causing both to roll over the ground, but the pegasus got up and held a hoofball. “I got it!” Landing nearby was a group of five other stallions, all pegasi, but varying in size and weight. The tallest was also the skinniest, having a light grey coat with a black mane & tail. The second tallest, just barely taller than Bow, had a red coat with a short, dirty blonde mane & tail. A green coated pony with a somewhat long, wavy yellow mane and tail stood about the same height, but wasn’t as bulky, stood right next to Bow. Next to him, kinda smaller, was a bulky white coated pony with an orange mane & tail that was nearly all shaved off, and wore a green tank top. The smallest, and most athletic looking, almost the size of one of the foals, had a yellow coat with a red mane & tail that looked like it could breeze in the wind.
“Nice throw, Rico!” Bow gave a bro hoof to the muscular member in his group. “Very nice at stopping Jules, Dopey!” He gave a playful jab at the tall one. “Jules, gotta work on your speed there.” He noogied the small pegasus. “Glad to see you were at my side, Barricade!” He headbutted the near same size one. “And Connor… you’re still awesome.” He simply nodded.
“Uh, excuse me?” Hondo spoke, clearly annoyed, but keeping his temper. “Mr. Bow Hot Hoof? You’re interrupting my team’s practice.” Bow turned to him.
“Ah, Hondo! Sorry about that.” He apologized, tossing his hoofball to Rico, who caught it in his hooves. “The boys and I were just doing our own practice session. Get ourselves good so we can join Cloudsdale’s Thunderbirds.”
“I see… but I’d rather have my team focused rather than have you and your friends burst in and interrupt OUR training.”
“Heh, well that’s cute, Mr. Flanks. You go and do your thing while-”
“You’re quite rude.” One of the foals spoke. Bow looked down to see the foals now standing around their coach.
“D’aww, look at how adorable you all are! Wearing your wittle helmets and pads.”
“An important PPE we all need to keep our bodies safe during both training and plays.” Bow just stared at them with a blank expression.
“Sorry, I’ve had them memorise everything down to a tee.” Hondo spoke. “It just means they train better than you can.”
“What!?” Bow shouted. “Are you saying we’re lazy!?”
“Not lazy. More like… underworking.”
“Oh yeah? We’ll show you!” He whistled and his friends landed by his side. “We challenge you all to a game of hoofball!”
“... But you’re bigger than us.” One of the other foals spoke.
“Exactly. We’re gonna cream you all.”
“Ahem.” Hondo spoke, getting everyone’s attention. “I do accept your challenge, but you’re not going to be tackling my players, not unless you want to pay for their hospital bills.”
“Oh? And what do you suppose?” Hondo’s horn glowed as he pulled out multiple flags.
“Flag Hoofball. Both sides wear these so nopony gets hurt. When the flag is taken off the pony with the ball, that’s where it will be stopped.”
“Heh, this sounds simple enough.” Bow’s teammates agreed.
“Just two ten minute games with a five minute break in between. Winner gets bragging rights.”
“And the loser?”
“... They have to train MUCH harder.”
“Ooh! That’s gonna teach your little ponies not to mess with the grown ups.”
“We shall see.” Hondo turned around and blew his whistle. “Game on!”
Bow Hot Hoof stood in front of one of the foals. Rico stood on his left with Barricade on his right. Jules, Dopey, and Connor all stood behind them, albeit, more spread out. Hondo’s foals all stood in front of the other team, with the hoofball in one of their hooves.
“That’s it!” Hondo cheered on the side. “Go and show them how you guys rock!”
“Heh, sorry, kid,” Rico spoke in a Spanish accent. “Gotta take that ball away from you.”
“I don’t think so, sir.” The little colt in front of him replied with an English accent.
“17!” The leading filly shouted. “42! 98! Hike!” She tossed the ball to the British accented colt, now the quarterback. Rico ran to the colt, ready to grab the flag. Almost as if time had somehow froze, the colt quickly ran past him, and the others, reaching the goal end in less than a few seconds.
“What the Hay!?” Bow yelled.
“Nice one, Speedy shoes!” Hondo cheered.
“... I think this is gonna be harder than we thought.” Dopey spoke in his… well, dopey voice.
“They’re got lucky!” Barricade yelled. “Let’s do this!”
“That’s the spirit!” Bow yelled. “Let’s show see good of a defense these foals are!” The foals changed, with a new six on the field. At the end, they began their kickoff, with Jules catching it. He began to fly fast than with the ball in his hooves. It was practically a clear shot for him, with him flying past the foals and reaching to the end goal.
“Yes! Touchdown!!!” He cheered, followed by a dance.
“Nope.” Hondo replied.
“No!?” Bow yelled. “How!?” Hondo pointed ahead. One of the other foals had Jules’ flags.
“No point.”
“... This is gonna be tougher than we thought.”
Bow Hot Hoof’s team panted hard as the score read 816 runs on Hondo Flank’s Junior Hoofball team to a mere 0 on Bow’s. The foals sweated a bit, but were otherwise fine, having wide smiles on their faces. Hondo Flanks approached to Bow’s team.
“Well… that’s a very pitiful play if I’ve ever seen one.”
“H-Hey! Shut up!” Bow yelled. “You cheated!”
“If by cheating you mean we actually trained hard, then yes, we did.” Bow got up and cracked his neck.
“Oh yeah!? I know a cheater when I see one! You gave the kids some super powerful potion, didn’t you?”
“Only a bit of apple juice.”
“Ah-ha! You admit it then, don’t you!?”
“No, the foals have simple apple juice.”
“Enchanted Applejuice! I’ll be back after I expose you all for the cheaters you are!” He flew back to his team. “Sorry guys, I’ve gotta go solo on this.” The pegasus flew right towards sweet apple acres. Hondo rolled his eyes, turning to his team.
“Great game, kids! Let’s give them their congrats.”
“Aww, do we have to?” One of the foals asked.
“It wouldn't very sporty if we didn’t now, does it?” The foals sighed and walked to the stallions, saying ‘good game’ to them,
Bow Hot Hoof landed in front on Sweet Apple Acres and banged on the door.
“Alright! Open up in there!” He shouted. The door opened with Bright Mac answering.
“Oh, hey Bow, what’s up?” He asked.
“What have you been adding in your apple juice!?” Bright Mac tapped his chin with his right hoof.
“Hmm… some sugar… that’s about it, really.”
“And what about your Apples!?” Bow brought his muzzle, touching Bright Mac’s, making the stallion stand back a bit.
“Nothin’ at all, sir. Just fertilizer we use to help the trees grow, our knowledge of farmin’, and a bit of help from Cloudsdale with that fancy thing called nitrogen.”
“So Cumulus is also behind this!?”
“Uh… no, nopony’s behind this here crazy talk yer thinkin’ about. Why are you asking?”
“It’s Hondo Flanks! His Juniour Hoofball team beat some of my friends and I in a game of Hoofball!” He noticed Bright Mac trying to contain some laughter. “It’s not funny! He cheated! His foals were too good in their playing!”
“... You know,” Bright Mac struggled to hold in his laugh. “I think it’s because you don’t train at all and that’s why you fail.”
“I train! Every week! Now I must investigate and stop Hondo’s reign of cheating!” Bow flew into the air. As soon as he was gone, Bright Mac fell to the floor, laughing and tearing up hard.
Inside the cloud factory, Cumulus observed a cloud piece carefully with some goggles over his eyes.
“Hmm… kinda fluffy, relatively thing, still has some water, ready for precipitation if needed… yep! The status is ready for tomorrow!” He looked around before picking up a jar and taking a piece out, putting it inside said jar. “Heh, another one for the collection.”
“Cumulus!” Bow yelled. The other pegasus shrieked a bit, making fly out of his hooves. With a small juggle, Cumulus caught the jar. He turned to Bow.
“Bow! What are you doing here!? How did you even get in here!?”
“Staff entrance. But I’m here to stop you from helping Hondo’s cheating game!”
“Oh? Uh, whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid with me! I know what you’re doing!”
“... I don’t follow.”
“You’re using this ‘nitrogen’ to make some of Sweet Apple Acre’s orchards to make it’s apples have strange powers, in which they turn into Apple juice, so Hondo’s team can be better! How much is he paying you!? I can pay you more! Or at least, make you the better stallion than you are right now.” Cumulus gave an unamused look.
“You skipped science class during junior flight camp, didn’t you?”
“N-no. I was there.”
“Right… Bow, there’s no conspiracy behind this. You need to train more.”
“I do train! Hondo’s cheating! I can feel it.”
“Or that’s that’s just the pizza you and your buddies eat practically everyday.” Bow turned to Cumulus with a weirded out look.
“How do you know that?”
“We’re literally across the street from each other. I see you and your friends eating nothing but pizza everyday at your house, having what can be described as a loud house party.”
“Well… we need our spirits up to be better.”
“You could also read a good book.”
“... I’m getting off track. How do I stop nitrogen from making the apples better!?”
“You can’t.”
“I can’t!?”
“Nope. It’s a part of nature, like the water cycle.”
“I can stop it! Where does it begin?”
“It’s everywhere.”
“... What?”
“It’s Junior flight camp knowledge, Bow. Nitrogen takes up about 78% of what we breath, it’s goes into the roots by lightning strikes, plants take nitrogen, we eat those plants, and whenever we… you know… go to the bathroom or pass away, plants included, the nitrogen is taken into the plants, all with the help of baterica that converts everything into food for plants, and back.” Bow just stared at him blankly. “... You need to train. That’s all. Hondo does not cheat at all. I may not go to all Junior Hoofball games, only when with my cousins, but I’ve seen Hondo’s team. They’re not the best, but they try their hardest.”
“... So… they’re not cheating.”
“No. I think you should go and apologize to Hondo for what you accused him of.” Bow grumbled to himself. “... If you do, I’ll get you pizza.” Bow’s eyes widened.
“Deal!” He flew out of an open window. Cumulus turned back to the cloud, seeing it ran a bit.
“Oh no! Not again!”
Bow landed right outside of Hondo’s house, which was nearby a lake, and had some sports decorations around it, from various balls making an alleyway, and some hockey sticks and baseball bats as railing. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Hondo answered, wearing a mask of some sort. His magic glowed blue as he took the mask off.
“Oh, hello there.” He spoke. “Here to accuse me of cheating?”
“Uh… n-no.” Bow answered. “I uh… I actually came to say that I’m… sorry.” He could feel his pride dying.
“You’re sorry?”
“Yeah… I guess I was being spoiled for accusing you of cheating… I come from a family that’s all about winning, so… well, ya know, it’s hard for a guy like me to take a loss.”
“... So you’re off your conspiracy on how apple juice is making my team effective?”
“Yeah… I know, it sounds stupid now that I think about it.”
“Eh, we all have those time to time.”
“So… what’s with the mask?”
“Oh? This? I like to sleep with my paintball mask on.”
“Uh… why?”
“To prevent mosquitoes from finding my breath and biting me. Plus, it’s very effective in warming my face up.”
“... Does that work?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh… weird… uh… kinda a strange request, but is it alright if you can become my group’s coach?”
“... You want me to coach you all?”
“Yeah. I mean, we’re not exactly the best, as you showed up, but we want to be better.”
“Hmm… I don’t know… can you be coached along with my team?”
“Uh… y-yeah, sure.” He smiled awkwardly. “We can do that! No problem.”
“Good. You’ll be starting tomorrow in the morning, for 5 days in a row with only the weekends off.” Bow’s jaw dropped. Hondo smirked “Unless, you’re chicken.” Bow regained his serious look.
“We’re not chickens! We’ll show you what we’re made of! We’ll soon be just as good as your team, if not, better!”
“Glad to hear that. See you tomorrow.” Bow saluted.
“Scout’s honor!” He flew into the sky, leaving only a rainbow trail. Hondo put back on his mask.
“Time for my beaurty sleep.”