Chapter 21
Strike It Perfect

In the game of bowling, 300 is the holy grail of achievements, the stuff of legends. Anyone who is able to bowl a 300 will go down in history as one of the small percentage of people who have done it. The chance of bowling a 300 is 11,500 to 1. It is easy to get addicted to bowling a 300, especially if you get very close to getting one. Flareon is no stranger to obsessions. Videogames, anime, TV, books, cars, are just some of the things he has been addicted to, and bowling was about to be the next addition to that list. It all began one afternoon in Ponyville. Flareon was at the bowling alley and had now got 8 strikes in a row. Everyone quickly noticed he was only 4 strikes away from getting a 300 and crowded around him. Flareon, who was feeling the added pressure mounting on him, picked up his ball and rolled it down the lane. Unfortunately, he missed his mark slightly and ended up only knocking down 8 pins as the 300 was now lost. As everyone groaned in disappointment, Flareon stomped down his right hoof angrily. He got so close to getting a 300, so very close. Flareon desperately wanted to get his name on the '300 Legends' wall of ponies who have bowled a 300. That was an achievement he wanted to be remembered for, but first, Flareon had do something he never did before, even as a human, and that was to bowl a perfect 300. After Flareon finished his game, he decided to play another one. Six hours later, Flareon had now played a total of 10 games. In most of those games, Flareon took a perfect game into the 7th frame, but he wasn't able to bowl a 300. Flareon wanted to continue, but he was feeling very swore, and it was also getting close to dinner time. So after some thought, Flareon decided to call it a day and headed home. Later on at Golden Oak Library, Flareon, Twilight, Solana, and Spike were sitting around the table in the kitchen and eating dinner.

"I'm telling you Twilight...I was this close," Flareon said, "Oh man...I can't wait till I get my name on that 300 Legend wall. I'm not going to give up until I do!"

"Flareon...just be careful ok?" Twilight asked, "I don't want this turning out like it did with your Mustang." He quickly shivered in response to her words.

"Twilight...please don't ever bring that up again. Do you remember how long that took me to get over?" Flareon replied.

"Three months...yeah, I remember," Twilight said. She then turned to Solana, who was looking restless in her chair. "Solana...isn't there something you want to tell your father?" Right away, an excited Solana nearly jumped out of her chair.

"Dad! Guess what?!" she exclaimed, "At school...I got the lead actress role in our play! We're going to preform it at Canterlot for Princess Celestia!"

"Wow! That's amazing Solana!" Flareon replied as he smiled, "I can't wait to see it!" However, Twilight could sense the uncertainty in his voice. You could call it wife's intuition, which can pick up pretty much anything hidden, especially Twilight's, whose intuition was amazingly sharp as there wasn't anything Flareon could hide from her.

"Flareon," Twilight said in a very serious tone, "You better not let that new obsession of yours make you miss our daughter's play." Right away, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine. There was nothing scarier than Twilight getting mad at him...absolutely nothing. Flareon didn't want to think about what Twilight would do to him if he missed Solana's play.

"Don't worry Twilight," Flareon replied as he tried to convince her, "I'm not going to let myself becomes obsessed with bowling a 300 and miss Solana's play. I mean come on...I'm not that weak-willed to become too fixated on something like bowling." He then laughed as Twilight finally managed to crack a smile.

"That's good to hear," she said. "Remember...the play is taking place in the castle courtyard Friday afternoon at 2pm." Soon after, they continued to eat their dinner, and a couple of hours later, they all went to sleep. The next following days, Flareon unfortunately did let bowling a 300 overtake him, especially one game when he got 11 strikes in a row, but messed up on the last frame and missed his chance. As the big day was drawing near, Twilight was starting to get concerned, but then Flareon was able to convince her that he would absolutely make it to Solana's play on time, no matter what. Friday morning, Twilight and Spike took Solana to Canterlot to meet up with Cheerilee and her fellow classmates. Meanwhile, Flareon was once again at the bowling alley. A few hours later, Flareon was in the last frame of his 5th game, and had a perfect game going. After Flareon had bowled two strikes, he was now one strike away from getting a 300. The crowd around him began to chant his name in anticipation. However, when Flareon looked at the clock, he noticed it was now 1:55pm. Solana's play was going to start in five minutes. If Flareon didn't leave now, he wasn't going to make it in time. At that moment, Flareon decided it was more important if he was there to support his daughter rather than getting a personal achievement like bowling a perfect game. Flareon then dropped his ball and quickly left the bowling alley. Immediately, Flareon flew into the air and headed towards Canterlot as fast as possible. Five minutes later, in the castle courtyard, the play had now begun. As Solana began to speak her first lines, she looked into the crowd and saw Twilight and Spike, but noticed that Flareon's seat was empty. Unfortunately, Solana started to hesitate and got tongue tied. A few seconds later, she turned her head towards her family again, and this time, saw Flareon near Twilight. He was trying to catch his breath. Solana quickly felt a huge boost of confidence as she began to recite her lines perfectly.

"Flareon! Where the heck were you?!" Twilight whispered angrily through her teeth as she continued to smile for Solana.

"I...got...held...up," Flareon panted. Soon after, he was able to finally catch his breath. "Look Twilight...I'm sorry. I uh...let myself get obsessed with bowling a 300, but you don't have to worry anymore, I'm over it." Even though Twilight hard every right to be mad at him, she decided he learned his lesson, and forgave him. Later on, thanks to Flareon and Twilight's support, Solana preformed her role perfectly as the play was a huge success. Princess Celestia had absolutely loved it. Even though Flareon never was never able to bowl a 300 and get his name on the 300 Legends wall, the fact he was able to support his daughter when she needed him the most, that itself was more fulfilling than bowling 300 perfect 300 games.