Sometimes, You Just Need To Learn To Accept Defeat
Rainbow Dash woke up to a nice and sunny day with a smile on her face. "Is there anything I can't do? Like, I know I'm an amazingly awesome pony, but I didn't think I would be this good. Maybe I'm even more awesome than I think, which is outstanding," Rainbow said to herself as she got out of bed.
The pegasus checked her list of all the things she's won at and all the things she still needs to win.
List of tasks to win to show how awesome you really are:
Win a race against Spitfire
Win a race against Soarin
Win a race against Fleetfoot
Win a race of running against Applejack
Cook a better Rainbow cake than Pinkie
Have Tank be more awesome than Fluttershy's pet, Angel
Fix Rarity's dress designs
Know more than Twilight about Wonderbolt history
Get passed Shining Armor's defenses
Win a competition about rocks against Maud
"Hmmm, nice. It looks like there's only one thing left for me to do. I need to beat Maud in a competition about rock related topics. Heh, shouldn't be too difficult. I make the rules for all of these tasks anyways. She may be smart about rocks, but she isn't athletic like me."
Rainbow got up to take a shower and get ready for her big competition against Pinkie Pie's sister. She was already on a huge win streak. If she managed to beat Maud, that would be a clean sweep and show how awesome she really was.
As the cyan pony was getting her body washed in the shower, she started to think over some ideas that would make for great rules that would ensure her victory. "I think I can challenge her to a rock throwing contest. I have some tricks that would make the rocks go further than any pony can manage. I'll deal with the others once it actually starts to happen."
The pegasus trotted down in Ponyville in search for Maud. After looking everywhere for a few minutes, she was finally spotted. She was at a rock store looking at the different rocks and gems. The pegasus pony went up to the earth pony and greeted her. "Hey, Maud!"
Maud looked over and saw an excited Rainbow Dash. She put on the same expression that she's always had and talked in a monotone voice. "Hello, Rainbow Dash."
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something. Can I challenge you to a competition based on rocks?"
Maud lifted her head higher. This was an odd thing for Rainbow to ask. Rainbow wasn't really a pony to be into rocks, and she wanted to challenge her to a competition based on rocks. "Okay," was all Maud said as she started to walk away from the store and back out in Ponyville again.
Sweet, Maud is going to challenge me right now. Soon, everypony will see how amazing I really am. They will all adore me. Rainbow thought to herself as she followed Maud.
"Hey, follow me. I have the perfect area for us to play our rock related challenges," the pegasus said as she started to speed over to her chosen area with Maud following slowly behind.
They both arrived at their destination which happened to be filled with all kinds of rocks of various sizes. Rainbow smirked to herself since the fun was now time to begin. She turned to face Maud and confidently explained what was going to happen.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. There are three different challenges I've set up. What we are in front of right now is challenge number one. We each have three rocks of the same size in front of us. We have to throw these further than each other. Whoever can throw two out of the three rocks the furthest, win challenge one. I've set up yards ticks leading up to 100. Think you're up for it?"
Rainbow still had her cocky grin while Maud was the same as ever and replied, "sure."
They both picked up their first rock and held it in their hoof.
"I'll start things off. Maybe I'll go easy at the start. I don't want to get bored too quickly," the cocky pegasus said.
Rainbow lifted her hoof and just threw the rock as far as she could. She didn't even do any special tricks that she had in mind. She threw it an impressive 40 yards.
Maud lifted her hoof and threw the rock normally which ended up at 42 yards. Rainbow lifted an eyebrow at the loss. "No biggie, that was only the first rock of the first challenge.
Rainbow lifted up the second rock and decided to do one of her special moves. She lifted herself in the air and did a couple of spins and threw the rock as hard she could. It went way past the two rocks and landed at 75 yards. "Boom," exclaimed the pegasus.
Maud proceeded to pick up her second rock and pulled her hoof further back than last time. She threw it as hard as she could. This turned Rainbow's cocky grin into a shocked expression. Maud threw the rock passed 100 yards and ended up going out of sight. Rainbow shook her head rapidly and put on a serious face. She was getting a little annoyed that she underestimated the rock master. "So you can throw further than me, big deal. There's still two other challenges I have in store for you."
Rainbow walked over to the second station with Maud following. It had one huge rock for both ponies. It was about eight inches in diameter all around. They both stepped in front of their own rock and Rainbow explained the second challenge.
"Alright, for this challenge, we're going to see who can break a rock in half the quickest. There are tools in front of you that you can use. Whoever breaks the rock in half the quickest, wins. Are you ready?"
Maud just stared blankly at Rainbow Dash and replied, "yes."
"On your mark, get set, go!"
Rainbow immediately picked up a hammer with her teeth and started pounding away at the rock, denting it a little. Maud just looked back and fourth between the rock in front of her and the pegasus. After what felt like a couple of seconds of looking back and fourth, Maud moved the rock closer to her so that it was under her body. She looked up one last time at the pegasus trying desperately for her rock to break in half. She was actually making decent progress.
The rock expert lifted up her right forehoof and stomped on her rock with most of her strength. She didn't want to use all of her strength since she knew that would just shatter the rock into many pieces. She only used enough to make a noticeable crack down the middle. Rainbow saw this and put on a worried expression. Maud finished her work by tapping with some force repeatedly on the crack to split it open. Maud ended up winning the second round of rock challenges. She didn't even need to use any tools. The only tool she needed was her rock-trusty hooves.
Rainbow spat out the hammer from her mouth and was left speechless. She let out a small growl that Maud was able to win just like that. She was getting irritated. The pony didn't even need to try to win. She was already doing it. Rainbow felt like quitting right there, until she realized there was still one more challenge for them to do. She had to go all out on this to avoid even more embarrassment.
"Alright, Maud. You may have won the first two challenges, but I'm sure I will be the pony to win the third challenge."
Both ponies walked towards the third set of challenges. In front of them were three fairly small pebbles and a stopwatch. "This challenge is a simple one. One of us is going to be juggling the three pebbles while the other times it. Whoever can juggle longer without dropping a pebble, wins. Understand?"
Maud replied with the tinniest bit of excitement in her voice. "Yes, do you want to go first?"
"Sure, I'll show you how to win this challenge," the pegasus said in all seriousness.
"Prepare the stopwatch," she said as she took hold of the pebbles. "Ready, set, start!"
Rainbow started to juggle the three pebbles while Maud started the stopwatch. Rainbow was smiling to herself after what felt like a long time. After quite a while, she started to feel dizzy from the objects constantly flying in front of her eyes. She lost focus and she dropped them. Maud stopped the timer and said the time. "You got one minute and eight seconds."
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. She had a feeling she would get under a minute. Good thing she got over a minute. Who knows how long Maud could be doing this.
"Your turn," said a somewhat nervous Rainbow Dash.
They both traded items and got ready. "Ready, set, go!”
Maud started juggling regularly until about two seconds in when she moved to one hoof and set her left hoof down. She stared blankly into Rainbow's eyes as she continued to juggle three pebbles with one hoof. Rainbow's jaw went wide open and she felt a heat burn inside of her. Was she mocking her?
After a while of being in annoying shock, Rainbow looked at the timer and saw that it was passed one minute and eight seconds. She couldn't hold herself back any longer and threw the timer in the air while shouting, "FINE, YOU WIN! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!"
Rainbow flew off, leaving a confused Maud to watch her fly away while dropping the pebbles. She was confused as to why Rainbow was so angry at her. She only did what Rainbow asked of her to do. She said one thing to herself out loud as it popped into her head. "But I wasn't even trying."