Hoofball

Chapters

Prologue
Week 1. Chapter 1
W1. Ch2.
W1. Ch3.

Prologue

Mulewaukee began as a small lakefront town founded by families of fisher-ponies and farmers –all of which were Earth Ponies- but slowly grew into a large city that begun to incorporate industry as well as agriculture. For centuries pony folk worked on boats or farms and in factories or mills. It was a time where the Stallions went to work from 9 to 5 and the Mares stayed at home to take care of their little ones. The ponies of this era grew old, and the new generations introduced new traditions and values. The oldest of these generations always regard the years of their prime as the best, and this does not go without reason. Some values are lost as Father Time plays his games, and it seems to some that respect for these morals has also faded. But of course, each generation provides a contribution to the history of their community that lasts throughout the ages. About a century ago, one such historical event occurred away from Mulewaukee, but spread faster than the Cutie Pox. However, unlike the Cutie Pox, this didn’t disappear.

It was called Hoofball.

The true origins of this game are unknown, but some experts believe it began as a game started by university students in a city on the Eastern edge of Equestria. Its popularity spread throughout the country, despite being so dangerous. The main objective is simple, have a pony carry a ball into a specific area labeled the “End Zone” without being tackled. Naturally, it is the tackling that made this such a dangerous game. Since its creation, more than a dozen poor souls have perished because of the roughness of the sport, and countless others have been severely injured. Because of this danger, official rules were set in place that included several equipment obligations to ensure the safety of the players, including the requirement of a helmet and pads to cover a player’s upper body. The diversity of the ponies living on the surface increased over the years, and soon both unicorns and pegasi wanted to play this game. Because of this, the equipment and rules were modified to fairly suit the three different kinds of ponies. Pegasi were allowed to use their wings, but only to catch and hold the ball. Flight of any kind was grounds for disqualification. In addition, Unicorn helmets we changed to allow the horn to fit in the helmet comfortably, but they were suffused with a powerful force that limits the unicorn’s abilities to levitation magic within close proximity of the ball to catch or throw it. These new rules were deemed fair by all three groups. Consequently, this led to segregation of positions on the field as time progressed. Their versatility with the ball combined with their precise control, instinct, and knowledge led to the majority of quarterbacks being unicorns, while rarely playing defense. Pegasi, with their naturally stellar reflexes and agility slowly led to them dominating as receivers and running backs on offense, and pass stoppers on defense. While the Earth ponies, often showing the most brute physical strength, became blockers, tacklers, and specialists. Of course, these were not set in stone positions for each pony type. There have been many ponies who excel in a field outside of the stereotype for them.

Hoofball itself is played at multiple levels of competitiveness, ranging from young colts playing it when they start school, to the professionals, where stallions are paid to play in front of thousands of fans at huge stadiums. The trends in positions and pony types follow suit in all of the levels. But our story happens right in the middle of these tiers; where colts are growing into young stallions, fillies become young mares, and these teenaged ponies all fight, flirt, love, learn, laugh, and live. Our story revolves around the once humble port town of Mulewaukee. Our story is one that follows these adolescents and their experiences with each other, but in particular one Earth Pony and his experiences with Hoofball and life both on and off the grid iron.

Our story begins with a house…

Week 1. Chapter 1

The First Week: Chapter 1.

RRRRRR-CLICK! It didn’t take much effort for Ironheart to wake up in the morning. He jumped out of bed as soon as he heard his alarm and started for the bathroom. After bathing himself, Ironheart stared into the mirror for several moments. His head was bare, sans his brown mane. His eyes slowly made their way down his body’s reflection. He had an awkward shade of forest green as a coat; and, like all Earth Ponies, he was wingless. Emblazoned on his flank was a glorious, amazing, stylish, defining…

Nothing…

Ironheart was nearing adulthood, starting his fourth and final year at Mulewaukee High, but still had not earned his Cutie Mark. He has been the victim of many cruel jokes by his peers, as they have all had theirs for many years. As he progressed through adolescence, the jokes’ frequency diminished, but not before Ironheart stopped showing signs of caring. He heard from his relatives and teachers that ponies who try to force something end up taking longer to accomplish their task. While his patience with the matter wore thin at one point, he regained his composure and just brushes off anything to do with the subject. He figured it was because he was good at many things, but destiny wouldn’t tie him to one until he discovers which he’s best at. Ironheart was a surprisingly talented musician, despite not having private instruction or parents who played. He was also an intelligent colt, who ranked nearly at the top of his class and received the highest test scores. Though he thought it was just a trait shared with all Earth Ponies, Ironheart was exceedingly strong; spending most of his time before his last year lifting weights and getting stronger.

He didn’t lift by choice, however. Ironheart was required to work out in order to keep competing in sports, most specifically: Hoofball. He also threw for Track and Field, but Hoofball came first. He wasn’t a great athlete by any standards, nor did he live to play the game. He played at the lowest level for the past three years. Ironheart played mostly because he never backed down from a commitment. He hated practicing, and always went home sore and felt like quitting every night; but he didn’t. Besides his instinct of dedication, there was something else that kept him going. Something he couldn’t explain, a force or feeling that gave him the sense to keep trucking through his difficulties in Hoofball. He occasionally reflected on this unseen motivation, but could never identify it.

After some self-reflection, Ironheart went about the rest of his morning routine. He let his dog out, ate some breakfast, and read a book until it was time to leave for school. It was the first day of both school and his last season of Hoofball. He both dreaded and looked forward to the practice after school; the anxiety came from the thought of the pain and exhaustion will inevitably overcome him, the anticipation because he thought he may finally realize what kept him going for the past three years despite the constant adversity that he faced.

About two hours after he woke, Ironheart was out the door on the way to Mulewaukee High.

W1. Ch2.

Chapter 2.

Ironheart went straight to his locker when he reached Mulewaukee High. He stared at the large clock in the middle of the main entrance for a moment.

‘Good, I have about an hour till first period,’ He thought. He was always an early bird, getting to his destination well before he needed to be. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like his house or he had anything to do here this early, he just hated being late or cutting it close to being late.

The combination locks hadn’t changed since the summer, and he was lucky enough to remember his combination and open the lock on his first try. He looked at the empty locker, and then proceeded to throw his books in there lazily in no particular order or fashion.

“Same old, same old,” he said to himself, one of the perks of being early was the lack of peers to judge you on everything you say or do. “Now let’s take a look at my schedule again…”

Name: Ironheart

Cutie Mark: ???

Locker Number: 2437

Hour 1: Calculus--Mr. Addams

Hour 2 :Band--Mr. Keystrike

Hour 3: Physics--Mrs. Addams

Hour 4: Study Hall--Mr. Haydens

Hour 5: Advanced Language--Mrs. Pollsen

Hour 6: Government Studies--Mr. Shuster

Hour 7: Foreign Studies--Mr. Geralds

“OK, so I have Calc first, huh. Well, might as well find the room.”

‘I’ve never had Mr. Addams for a teacher, otherwise the rest of them know me; I hope he’s better than his sister. It’ll be hard, that’s for sure. I could barely made it through pre-calc last year, could only stay awake cuz Mrs. Sequens was good looking.’

Ironheart was very intelligent, and caught on very quickly with most of the material. In fact, math and science were his strongest subjects; but he was lazy and never wanted to do the work, just learn the material. He did his homework and did well on tests, but fell asleep when the lesson was simple or boring. This wasn’t exclusive to math, and it was one of his biggest downfalls as a scholar. He thought that maybe this was why he didn’t have a cutie mark related to school. It didn’t take him long to find the classroom, and his teacher, Mr. Addams was there.

“Why, hello there! You must be Ironheart!” The deep blue unicorn said enthusiastically.

“Uh… yea, I am,” He replied cautiously. He wasn’t expecting a warm welcome so early, or from a pony with such a sad shade of blue for a coat.

“I knew it must be you, becau-

“Because I’m still a blank flank!?” Ironheart jumped in, he was not about to be demeaned on the first day before class even started.

“Ummm… no. I heard from my sister that you always arrived here early; so I assumed it’s you,” Mr. Addams replied calmly. Ironheart immediately felt bad about his defensive response.

“Oh… I’m sorry sir. I’ll just find a seat.” ‘Great, there goes my first impression…’ he thought as he picked a desk on the other side of the room. He was still in front, as to help prevent dozing off during a lesson, but was also furthest away from the teacher’s desk. ’This is gonna be a long day…’

He sat their silently for half an hour, Mr. Addams gave him some space and didn’t talk, but the situation was leaking awkwardness. Finally, some other students walked in, all of which Ironheart has known since his first year. However, there were a few individuals whom his thoughts dwelled upon more so than the rest.

There was Joy, his step-sister, whose mother married Ironheart’s father. She was intelligent enough to be in many of the same classes as him, but she often struggled with her work. She was quite popular, but also infamously known for her sharp tongue at inappropriate times. Ironheart loved her like a true sister though, and often just referred to her as such. Because of this, some have asked how she could be a red Pegasus and he just an Earth pony. Of course, their question was easily answered when they explained how Joy’s mother married Ironheart’s father several years prior.

Joy was speaking with some other Pegasi, including Hope. She and Ironheart were good friends since they were young ponies. While they rarely talked outside of school, they enjoyed each other’s company once in a while during class and just talked about random things while the teacher was away. She was quite an athlete, but very nice to everyone she met. Ironheart was content with the relationship they had, but never thought of it as anything more, and didn’t want to.

Ironheart’s zoning out was interrupted by the sound of the bell. Class was about to begin, though he thought nothing of it. ‘Just gonna be an overview for the year. No way are we gonna get homework on the first day’ he thought.

“Good morning class, while I’ve had some of you before, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Addams, and I will be your calculus teacher for the year. I’d like each of you to take one of these syllabi that will outline the course. I expect it signed and returned by the end of the week. Now please take out your books, we are going to begin our lessons right away.”

‘Wait, what!? It’s the first day! Cmon, why can we have a little break before we get into this?’ Ironheart pondered. He was caught off guard by this statement, but wasn’t unprepared. It was just basic review of things that they covered in math several years ago.

‘No biggy. Besides, I’m not worried about what happens in school. It’s what’s after that final bell that I’m anxious about.’

W1. Ch3.

Chapter 3

Ironheart was excited for his next class, which was band rehearsal. He knew they wouldn’t be rehearsing today, so he thought he’d take the time to power nap so he wasn’t too tired for the rest of his classes. He was afraid that there’d be lessons in all of his advanced courses and he wanted to make sure he was on task.

‘Besides,’ he thought whilst walking to the band room, ‘we’ll be doing pep band rehearsals until Hoofball Season’s over anyway; so I won’t be playing an instrument since I’ll be in the game itself. Though there is that one underclassman that just plain sucked last year...' “Ugh!” He said with a facehoof, ‘I hope I don’t have to tutor him or anything until I’m done with Hoofball. He knows music, but he’s sooooo quiet and can’t play very well…’ he finished in his head.

Ironheart reached the band room with a few minutes to spare before the bell, so he entered the Director’s office. They’d known each other since Ironheart’s first year, which also happened to be his teacher’s first year as well. It wasn’t uncommon for Ironheart to pay him a visit often. In fact, he would have gone into his office that morning, but everything was dark and the doors were locked, leaving Ironheart to assume that he just arrived late as it was the first day.

“Hey Mr. Keystrike!” he said trotting through the door. “You weren’t in here before the day began. Hey, where are you?” he asked, not noticing that the office was empty.

He heard a faint voice reply, “Good morning, Ironheart.” The voice suddenly grew louder, “I’m in the back room!” it said.

Ironheart started towards the door in the back of the office, leading to a storage room filled with shelves of music organized into folders and envelopes as well as instrument accessories and miscellaneous items relating to band and chorus. It had that old, musty paper smell to it, so Ironheart was kind of wary to go in there as he always ended up gagging after 5 minutes inside. But Mr. Keystrike had met him halfway, and appeared right outside the doorway. The white Unicorn stepped out into the office with a stack of music levitated in front of him, obscuring his face.

“Here, let me get those,” Ironheart insisted, placing his back underneath the stack of papers. “Okay, drop them.” He said. Mr. Keystrike released the magic and the papers were balanced on Ironheart’s back as he waited for his instructor to move so he could follow.

“Where are these going?” He asked. It was obviously pep band music, as they were half the size of a normal sheet of paper, with titles such as “Give it Up” and “Crunch Time.”

“Take those straight into the band room and put them on my podium,” Mr. Keystrike ordered. So Ironheart quickly, yet cautiously made his way back to the band room and skillfully tossed the whole stack from off his back onto the podium without any papers falling off. The bell still hadn’t rung, but students were piling into the rehearsal room, so Ironheart followed suit. He first made sure both of his instrument cases were still there, and was delighted to see this trumpet and French horn cases sitting in the exact spot he left them in before vacation. He was relaxing in his seat when the bell rang; which for some odd reason forced two wires to connect in his brain and a thought occurred to him:

‘If Mr. K had me bring those papers in, then we must be rehearsing today!’

“UGHHH!” he groaned out loud, attracting the attention of everypony in the room. His eyes darted back and forth at the various faces that stared. Only a few ponies that played last year did not return, beside last year’s graduates. There were also a number of new faces he did not recognize. However, he knew the rest of his band mates from last year, and quickly tried to recall the main traits for each in his head, at the same pretending like his groan went unnoticed.

Behind him at the back of the room was the percussion section, and his best friend Stix. Stix was an Earth Pony with an orange coat, a short yet slightly curled black mane, and a rather odd Cutie Mark. It was an image of a bat hitting a snare drum on the head, which correlated to his impressive ability with both percussion and baseball. Stix and Ironheartwere best friends since their first year at Mulewaukee High, and were arguably the best musicians attending during their final year. Though they rarely spent time together outside of school, during class they were as thick as thieves, sharing interests in a variety of things from music, to jokes, to games, and to books. They even had a secret hoofshake that they recited every day, sometimes more than once. Ironheart was lucky to have such a loyal friend, he trusted Stix very much. Stix never made fun of Ironheart’s lack of a cutie mark, either. He merely inquired about it at one point, Ironheart responded with silence, and Stix never brought it up since.

In the front row sat Ironheart’s other good friend, Reid. Reid was a dark brown unicorn that played the clarinet. He was also infamous for being the class clown. His cutie mark was a regular heptagon. When he was asked about it, Reid replied with “I though heptagons were awesome at the time, so I made myself have it as a talent.” Nopony ever attempted to delve further for an explanation after that statement, so the true story is still unknown. What’s sure though, is that Reid will always be there if you need a laugh.

Ironheart, Stix, and Reid were all good friends with each other; while not spending too much time together, they enjoyed every moment they spent together laughing, joking, talking, and playing music.

“Alright, students,” Mr. Keystrike said. Most of the class did not react and continued to talk.

“Ok, everybody,” he repeated, waiting patiently for the room to quiet down. His efforts were proving to be futile.

“SHUT UP, EVERYPONY!” Ironheart shouted. Nobody listened to him either, and the room was still loud. Mr. K simply waited until silence overcame the class. Then he started talking.

“To those of you who’ve been here before, welcome back,” he began, “And to those whom this is your first time in this room, welcome.” He then proceeded to pass out the papers, via magic, which Ironheart placed on the podium earlier. They weren’t music sheets, however. They were just syllabi for the year, like what Mr. Addams handed out earlier. ’The music must’ve just been what was on top,’ Ironheart concluded, with a sigh of relief.

“We will not begin rehearsal until tomorrow, class. Today I will just be spelling out the plans for the year. We will have several performances this year, including Hoofball pep band, our Hea… ing Eve conc… winter pep ban… ing Concert… uation…”

Ironheart fell asleep…