It's in the name

Project Dilemma

Chapter 1: It’s in the Name

Rainbow Dash casually walked to her locker, strutting like everything was right in the world. She whistled the tune of a song she heard a while back, having neither worry nor care. It was Friday. And her plans this weekend involved nothing but couching over at her house with a bowl of popcorn and the latest Daring Do series on TV.

Yup, this weekend was going to be perfect.

“Hey Rainbow Dash.” Twilight greeted, just arriving to pick up her books. “You’re looking rather chipper today.”

“Well duh. It’s Friday. That means I got two days’ worth of no school, no homework, and taking it easy till Monday.”

“Let me guess. Daring Do series?”

“You know it.” She gave a finger bang gesture. “Season finale is finally here. We’ll finally get to see how she defeats Ahuizotl with the Mirror of Sactum! I’ve been waiting for it all year long. Did you know the writers had to redo that scene like… 12 times because A.K. Yearling wanted it to be ‘By the book’?”

“Yes. You told me about that like only a few hundred times since the series began.” Twilight rolled her eyes comically as she closed her locker. “I take it you finished your science project for Ms. Cheerilee already.”

“Meh. I’ll do it later. I got time.”

Twilight froze. “Uh… Rainbow Dash. The project is due today.”

Her eyes flipped up in alarm. “What? No. That’s impossible. She told us we had two months.”

“Yeah. That’s what Ms. Cheerilee said…… two months ago.”

“What!? No… that can’t be right. There has to be some kind of mistake. Daylight savings maybe? Did I travel into the future through some wormhole!?”

“I… don’t think that’s the case.” Twilight frowned. “It’s just a simple project. What did you do in the last two months?”

Uh……

(Two months ago)

“Ok. Time to start my project. Let’s do this!” Rainbow Dash stated with a pumped up fist as she pulled out her pen. But it quickly stopped when she heard her father’s voice coming from downstairs.

“Rainbow! Where are ya champ? The match between the Cavaliers and the Gryphons are starting.”

She gasped. “Wait. That’s today? Oh boy!” With a pinch of her magic, she changed into her Cavalier uniform and pulled out the old foamfinger from her closet. “Hold up dad. I’m comin!”

(A month ago)

“Alright. No more distractions. This time. I start on my project. Here we g—” But she pulled up short when her watch started going off. “Oh no. The next episode of Daring Do’s Adventure is on! Dad! I call dibs on the TV”

“You got it hon.”

Again she bolted away, her arm accidentally brushing her project down the bin.

(A week ago)

“Aha! I have you now, Daring Do. At long last. The Mirror of Sanctum is mine! After I present this in the world auction, all will know the name of Dr. Caballeron!”

“You’ll never get away with this Chupacabra!”

“It’s Caballeron! For once in your miserable life, get it right! Not that it matters anymore. For I have the artifact, and you… are dangling over the pit of poisonous snakes. But… that seems too good for someone who has thwarted me for years. Perhaps you will be the newest playmate… of the fearsome… Ahuizotl!”

“No… you monster!”

“MWAHAHAHAHAHA! MWAHAHAHAHA!”

“Will this be the end of our beloved hero? Will Dr. Caballeron finally win? Will our Daring damsel become supper for this suffocating beast? Find out next week in… Daring Do’s Adventures!”

“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash tossed her popcorn over the TV.

(Today)

“I… may have been busy.” Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously though her friend didn’t seem to agree.

“You procrastinated again, didn’t you?”

“Ahehehehe…” Her laugh quickly turned sour in a fraction of a second. “Ugh… oh man. I’m so doomed. I haven’t even started yet. Quick, let me copy yours!”

“I already handed over my project on the first week. And… that’s now how it works.”

“Please Twilight. Help me out here. Ms. Cheerilee said that this project was huge! If I get another F in school, mom’s gonna take away my TV privilege! Please please please! I’ll owe you big for this and I’ll pay you back. I swear!” The girl was practically ready to go on her knees at this point.

And sadly, Twilight had a soft heart. “Ugh… fine.”

“YES!”

“Here.” She quickly handed the sports gal a sheet of paper. “This is the rough draft of my first project that I wanted to submit but didn’t really work out for me. If you can rewrite this part and put a little alterations… I suppose you can come out with a D+ or a C-. But you have to be fast. Submission is until the end of the day.”

“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” Rainbow Dash pulled her friend up in a tight embrace. “You won’t regret this Twi. I promise.”

“Not so fast.” The girl pushed her away. “I already did most of the work, but you can finish the last bit. Otherwise Ms. Cheerilee will notice. You have to follow my instructions to the letter or you’ll be watching the outside of your window for the rest of the semester.”

“Absolutely. I won’t fail you. You have my full attention.”

Or so she claimed.

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the afternoon went about as Twilight would expect. She tried…… REALLY tried to help Rainbow Dash get her project done. But the girl had the attention span of a goldfish. The moment Rainbow Dash turns even a second away from her work, she begins to wander away. It’s like her brain was conditioned not to learn anything other than TV network, and sports.

And there was no way she could use the old method of training her. There wasn’t enough time to sort out flash cards or pull up any questionnaires. The girl had to do it the old fashion way. By plowing through it like an ordinary student.

But of course, that was a lot harder than she expected.

Right upon recess, just as she was explaining her part of the work, Rainbow Dash, the girl was pretty much asleep just three minutes in. Thankfully she resolved that by having packs of ice tied to her cheeks. That’ll keep her awake.

But upon lunch time, things just got worse. Rainbow can’t seem to get her priorities straight. Twilight pretty much had to drag the girl from her soccer team with her magic just to get her to sit down and write.

It took every willpower for her to get the girl just to sit still for 10 minutes. 10… gosh darn… minutes.

And thankfully… by the end of it all, the deed was done. They were able to submit the project to Ms. Cheerilee before the final bell.

(The next week)

“Rainbow Dash. You got an F.”

The girl in question gawked. “What!? But why!?”

“You never submitted your project.”

“B… but I did. Last Friday. Right before the last bell. You were there!”

“Yes. I know.” Ms. Cheerilee nodded stoically, flashing the said paperwork. “And I also know that it wasn’t yours to begin with.”

“Whaaaa?”

“It would’ve worked… if you actually had the time to change the name of the project owner.”

Ah…… crud.

“Ah… ahahaha…” Rainbow Dash could only laugh miserably as Twilight groaned loudly behind her.