"Almost there, everypony!" Cheerilee called back to her team. "The field is just over that hill!"
Behind Cheerilee, the Cutie Mark Crusaders bounced through the grass in anticipation of their upcoming game. "We're gonna win today, girls!" Scootaloo declared. "I can just feel it!"
"Me too!" Apple Bloom said. "We worked really hard this week, and it'll pay off today!"
"And best of all, we're getting orange slices for snacks this week!" Sweetie Belle added, drawing eye rolls from her fellow Crusaders.
"Here we are!" Cheerilee's voice snapped the Crusaders back to their senses, and the trio joined their rest of their team on the hill overlooking the hoofball field.
"Is that their team?" Diamond Tiara pointed at a raggedy group of foals stumbling through some drills at one end of the field. "They make Sweetie Belle look coordinated."
"Now girls," Cheerilee said, "remember, hoofball is about about having fun and being good sports. Let's get down there!"
Cheerilee led her team down onto the field, and the foals broke up into pairs and began passing hoofballs back and forth. After a few minutes, however, Cheerilee called Scootaloo to the sidelines. "I have a favor to ask," she said, pointing to a brown stallion standing next to her. "This is Mr. Stanza, the Ragweed Valley coach, and he has a small problem."
Mr. Stanza nodded. "A lot of our foals are sick from a virus that's going around," he explained, "and we're one pony short for today's game. I was wondering if somepony from Ponyville would join our team for the day so we wouldn't have to forfeit."
"We've all been looking forward to this game, and I'd hate to see it canceled," Cheerilee said. "Would you volunteer to switch teams for the day?"
"Um, well..." Scootaloo looked over to where Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were practicing.
"I know you'd rather play with your friends," Cheerilee said, "but think of it this way: Joining a team of ponies you've never met is a huge challenge." She gave Scootaloo a wink. "Rainbow Dash would never turn down a challenge, would she?"
Scootaloo's ears perked up at the mention of her hero. "That's right! Rainbow Dash wouldn't turn down a challenge, and"—She gulped as she watched a Ragweed colt take a ball off of his face during a header drill—"neither will I."
"Wonderful!" Mr. Stanza turned and led Scootaloo over to the Ragweed Valley bench. "I'm sure you'll fit right in," he said as he waved his team in from the field. "Everypony, this is Scootaloo. She'll be joining us for today's game."
Scootaloo smiled, but got mostly blank stares in response. "Great," a tall gray colt muttered. "They probably gave us their worst player."
"Remember what we talked about, Bulldozer," Mr. Stanza replied.
Bulldozer sighed. "Welcome to our team," he said in an uninspired tone.
"That's better!" Mr. Stanza said. "Now, I'll just grab a jersey for Scootaloo..."
As soon as the coach's back was turned, Bulldozer got in Scootaloo's face. "All right, Orange, listen up. I'm the best player here, and everything runs through me. All you need to know is that whenever you get the ball, you give it to me and get out of my way. Got it?"
"Sure. Whatever." Scootaloo rolled her eyes as Bulldozer walked away.
When Ragweed Valley took the field to start the game, Scootaloo found herself standing next to Bulldozer in the center circle. "Remember what I said," Bulldozer snarled.
Scootaloo shrugged, passed Bulldozer the ball, and dashed to the nearest patch of open field. "Hey! I'm open!" she shouted.
Bulldozer ignored Scootaloo and marched towards the Ponyville goal, dodging Diamond Tiara, shoving past Apple Bloom, and running over Rumble in the process. "Hey! Over here!" Scootaloo yelled to no avail.
Eventually, the defense collapsed around Bulldozer and managed to take the ball away. "What the heck?" Scootaloo shouted at Bulldozer. "I was wide open! Why didn't you pass?" She glared at him as he ran by without saying a word.
Ponyville brought the ball back across the field, but a stray pass was intercepted by a yellow Ragweed Valley colt. "Great!" Scootaloo said as she ran to the ball. "Over here! I'm open!"
Across the field, Bulldozer also called for the ball, causing the yellow colt to swallow hard and kick the ball as hard as he could towards Bulldozer. The pass was promptly picked off, and one shot later, Ponyville had scored the first goal of the game. While Scootaloo stood with her mouth open in shock, Bulldozer responded by giving the yellow colt a severe tongue lashing for his terrible passing.
The pattern repeated itself several times: Bulldozer would plow his way up the field until he lost the ball, demand the ball from any teammate who got it, and yell at anypony who disobeyed his edicts. No matter how open she was, Scootaloo couldn't get a sniff of the ball. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous," she finally declared. "It's time to take matters into my own hooves." She rushed towards the current ball carrier, Silver Spoon. "Oh my gosh, somepony's wearing fake pearls on the sideline!"
"Ew! Where?" Silver Spoon turned to look just long enough for Scootaloo to snatch the ball away. "I don't see—Hey!"
Scootaloo dashed down the sideline, but soon found herself facing a double team of Snips and Snails. "Hey, Orange, gimme the ball already!" Bulldozer shouted.
Scootaloo ignored Bulldozer and rocketed between Snips and Snails, causing the pair to crash into each other. "Whoa!" Bulldozer said. "Orange's pretty fast."
Scootaloo kept going, spinning past Apple Bloom and faking Rumble out of his horseshoes on her way to the goal. As she pondered her next move, however, she noticed that one of her teammates, a red, bespectacled unicorn filly, had run past a daydreaming Sweetie Belle, and was wide open. Scootaloo immediately passed the ball, but the filly received the pass awkwardly, and she shanked a shot that missed the net completely.
"Oh, come on!" Bulldozer shouted at Scootaloo. "You pull all those awesome moves, and then you pass? What were you thinking?"
"What do you—wait, you liked what I did?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah, until you had a brain lock and passed to Barbie! She's so nearsighted, she's lucky if she can even see the ball!" Bulldozer turned to face Barbie, who was walking by with her head hung low. "That was terrible! You should know better than to take a shot like that!"
"I'm sorry, Bulldozer," Barbie sniffled. "I won't do it again."
"Good." Bulldozer turned and walked away. "Next time," he called back to Scootaloo, "either shoot it yourself, or give it to somepony who can."
"I'm sorry I got Bulldozer mad at you," Barbie offered. "I wasn't ready for a pass. I won't get in the way next time."
"Are you kidding?" Scootaloo replied. "I want you to do the same thing next time!"
Barbie stepped back in shock. "Wait, you're not mad?"
"Why should I be? You were in perfect position!"
"I was?" Barbie gave Scootaloo a confused look. "But I only run up there because Coach tells me to."
"And I want you to keep it up." Scootaloo glanced over at Sweetie Belle, who was watching a nearby butterfly. "Trust me, you'll be open."
"But what about—"
"Forget Bulldozer!" Scootaloo advised. "I'll deal with him."
"Really?"
"Really."
Barbie stared at Scootaloo for a few seconds. "Okay," she finally said in an unsure tone of voice. "If you say so."
Amazingly, it didn't take long for Scootaloo to get the ball; Bulldozer passed it to her the first time she asked! She sliced through the defense just like before, and gave Barbie another perfect pass, but this time Barbie hesitated and put a weak shot on net, and the goalie made an easy save.
"Just do it yourself, Orange!" Bulldozer shouted. "Barbie can't shoot to save her life!"
"Not with you yelling at her, she can't!" Scootaloo shot back.
Bulldozer sighed. "You don't know these ponies like I do, all right? Barbie's no good at hoofball, and she never will be. You're wasting your time."
"How can you say that?" Scootaloo demanded as Bulldozer walked away. "You can't just write off somepony like that!"
"Bulldozer's right," Barbie said. "It's hopeless. I'll never be any good at hoofball."
"Not with that attitude!" Scootaloo replied. "Rainbow Dash always says—"
Barbie shook her head. "It's better if I just stay out of the way."
Scootaloo sighed. What is with these ponies? she wondered.
The rest of the first half proved uneventful, and Ponyville took the lead into the halftime break. Mr. Stanza rambled on about teamwork and communication during the break, but Scootaloo didn't listen. She was bothered by Barbie's resignation to a lifetime of hoofball mediocrity; to Scootaloo, anything worth doing was worth trying to be the best at doing!
When the team returned to the field for some practice before the second half, Scootaloo hurried over to Barbie. "Everypony else is already paired up," she lied. "Do you want to be my partner?"
Barbie sighed. "Okay."
As the pair began kicking the ball back and forth, Scootaloo tried to think of a good conversation starter, but the distraction caused her to botch her pass and kick the ball high into the air. "Crabapples!" she cried. "Sorry about—" She stopped as Barbie calmly backpedaled to receive the pass, caught it on the very tip of her unicorn horn, balanced it there for a few seconds, then dropped it on the ground and kicked it back to Scootaloo. "Wow! How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"That balance thing!" Scootaloo said. "I've only seen, like, circus ponies do that! That's really cool!"
"It is?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo said. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"At home, I guess," Barbie explained as she looked up at her horn. "I don't know any magic yet, so I do it to carry more vegetables in from the garden. I've never tried it with a hoofball before."
"You think you could do that during the game?" Scootaloo asked.
"Gosh, I don't know. Maybe?"
That was close enough for Scootaloo. "Keep doing that running thing you do," she told Barbie. "As long as Sweetie Belle's playing defense, you'll be open, and I'll get you a ball to balance."
"Okay," Barbie agreed. "But what do I do after that?"
Scootaloo smiled. "You'll know."
As the teams took the field to start the second half, Bulldozer sidled over to Scootaloo. "Hey, Oran—I mean, Scootaloo," he said. "I, uh, told the other guys they could pass to you, and I wouldn't be mad."
"Gee, thanks," Scootaloo replied in a sarcastic tone. "That's nice of you."
"Hey, I'm not doing this to be nice," Bulldozer insisted. "I'm doing this because you can actually play." He poked Scootaloo with his hoof. "I'm trusting you to make the right decisions, okay? Don't do anything stupid, like pass to Barbie."
Scootaloo smirked. "I think you're in for a surprise."
Ponyville started the half with the ball, but they didn't have it long, and true to his word, Bulldozer's teammates passed it to Scootaloo when she asked. Scootaloo immediately took the ball upfield, turning Snips and Snails inside-out with a triple-fake along the way. As she ran, she looked over at Barbie, noting that the unicorn was actually looking back instead of blindly running forward. It's now or never, Scootaloo thought, and she booted the ball across the field.
The ball landed right in front of Sweetie Belle, who was so lost in thought that she didn't even flinch, and bounced right to Barbie, who caught it on the tip of her horn. She started weaving a little as she focused on balancing the ball, but the Ponyville defenders were too surprised to offer much resistance.
Barbie made it all the way to the Ponyville net, but didn't notice the goalie waiting to knock the ball away, and she crashed into him headfirst. The ponies fell to the ground, but the ball bounced into the net for Ragweed Valley's first goal.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo shouted as she rushed over to Barbie. "You did it!"
"I... I did?" Barbie put her glasses back on and looked over at the ball. "I scored?"
"Yeah you did!" Scootaloo confirmed. "That was great!"
"I scored," Barbie repeated as smile appeared on her face. "I scored! I mean, I really scored!"
A few of Barbie's teammates rushed in to celebrate with her, but they all stopped short when Bulldozer came stomping in. "Where did that came from?" he demanded. "Since when have you been able to balance a ball like that?"
"I don't know, really," Barbie replied. "I've been balancing buckets at home forever."
"And you would know that if you actually worked with your teammates!" Scootaloo told Bulldozer.
Bulldozer stared in disbelief at Barbie for a few seconds, then turned and walked away. "Lucky play," he grumbled.
He was wrong: With a newfound confidence, her balancing trick, and a nifty set of dribbling skills she had never shown before, Barbie began terrorizing the Ponyville defense and peppering their goal with shots. Not a lot of her shots turned into goals, but enough did to blow Bulldozer's mind and overwhelm Ponyville's meager offense, and Ragweed Valley earned a commanding victory.
As the Ragweed players celebrated, Scootaloo decided she didn't want to rub the win in her Ponyville friends' faces, and started walking back to the Ponyville bench. "Hey, Scootaloo!" Bulldozer called after the pegasus. "Can I ask you something?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "Sure."
Bulldozer turned and pointed to where Barbie was excitedly recounting a play to her teammates. "How'd you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You know, turn a loser like Barbie into an actual hoofball player," Bulldozer said.
"I didn't do anything," Scootaloo replied. "She said she could balance the ball, so I asked her to do it during the game. She took it from there."
Bulldozer shook his head. "You must've done something."
"She did," Mr. Stanza declared as he walked over. "You see, Bulldozer, the mark of a great pony, whether in hoofball or something else, is that they make ponies around them better."
"They do?"
Mr. Stanza nodded.
"But how am I supposed to make terrible ponies like them better?" Bulldozer asked.
"Start by not calling them terrible," Scootaloo suggested. "Then maybe stop yelling at them and start trusting them for a change."
Bulldozer was silent for a minute. "I guess I can do that," he decided.
"Great!" Mr. Stanza smiled, and called over the rest of the Ragweed squad. "Thanks for everything, Scootaloo. We all really appreciate what you did."
"Yeah!" Bulldozer added. "It was tons of fun!"
"It's too bad you have to go," Barbie said with a tear in her eye. "We'll miss you."
"Then we'll just have to do this again sometime!" Scootaloo said.
Barbie smiled, and the two ponies shared a hug before parting. "Miss Cheerilee?" Scootaloo asked as she made it to the bench. "Do we get to come back here this season?"
"No, but they'll be coming to Ponyville to play us in another month," Cheerilee said with a wink.
"Cool!" Scootaloo turned and waved to her newfound friends, knowing next month couldn't come soon enough.
