//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Quidditch Equestria Cup // by BronyDan //------------------------------// “Now I’ve just got to make a crack and undefeatable team.” said Luna as she entered her bedroom an hour later. She went over to the desk and pulled out several scrolls of parchment. There was a blinding flash, and Discord materialised in the middle of the room, finding Luna hunched over the desk, scribbling away. “Am I to take it that you don’t exactly have a team yet?” he asked, in a cool and collective voice. “No Discord, I haven’t.” Luna groaned, as she began scribbling out a name that she just written frantically, “Trying to find somepony willing to do anything remotely physical in Canterlot, is like trying to find the lost species of Three Headed Applefish of Baltimare.” “In what way?” “They don’t exist.” Discord conjured up his large throne, and shuffled it up closer to the desk, “Well, then, let’s get brainstorming. Have you considered, possibly, getting the Wonderbolts? I’m sure they would be happy to assist.” “I’m sure they would,” said Luna, “however, they may wish to start their own team should this be a success. No, we shall have to think of somepony else.” Just then, a light bulb appeared over Discord’s head. He then removed it, threw it into his mouth and began to chew it. After he had swallowed it, he said, “You know, I’ve just had a thought. Is your sister still participating?” “No matter how many times she denies, she will be playing.” said Luna, not looking up from the scroll on the desk. “Excellent. Because I have just thought of a strategic plan that could strengthen your chances to win.” said Discord. He shuffled his throne closer to Luna and whispered in her ear. Luna’s eyes widened with interest and gave a rather wicked chuckle at the suggestions Discord was giving her. “Alright girls,” said Twilight the next morning as everypony sat down on their thrones, “since we all ‘unanimously’ agreed to take part in Princess Luna’s little sport, she has kindly sent us a copy of the rules.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and the large map of Equestria that took up the whole of the round table in front of them disappeared. She then levitated a small blue book onto the middle of the table. The rest of the group looked down at the cover, it had written in gold lettering Quidditch Through the Ages and a picture of a golden ball with two long wings coming out of it. Twilight then cast another spell, causing the book to enlarge until it was the size of a Tome. “I think the first thing we must do is familiarise ourselves with the basics.” said Twilight, turning the page to the chapter content. “Does anypony else want to know the history of the sport, because that takes up the first half of this book?” she asked. “No.” said Rainbow Dash. “’fraid not, Sugarcube.” said Applejack. “Not right now, darling.” said Rarity. “Sorry, Twilight.” said Pinkie Pie. “Not exactly.” said Fluttershy. “We can always read it later, Twilight.” said Spike. “Damn.” muttered Twilight. She then used her magic to turn the majority of the pages over, until she landed on page 49. “Right, well apparently, there are seven players on each team. Well, we’ve got that covered. There are three Chasers, Two Beaters one Keeper and one Seeker.” “And what do they do?” asked Rarity. “Well, it says here,” said Twilight on the subject of each individual played, “that the Chasers are responsible for passing something called a ‘Quaffle’ to each other and try to score with it.” Confused, Twilight turned a few pages to find something on Quaffles, “Oh, it’s like a soccer ball that we have to carry. That seems easy to understand. Now the Beaters have to… ‘Guard their team members from the Bludgers, which they do through the aid of bats’.” Twilight turned back to the page on balls, “Which are small black balls that fly around and try to knock players off their brooms.” Twilight looked up from the book and looked at her friends, who all had the same confused expression that she did. “Let’s just carry on, shall we?” she said returning to the book. “The Keeper has the job of defending the goal hoops and has to prevent the other team from scoring with the Quaffle. Well, that’s self-explanatory. And now we have the Seeker, and they have to try and catch something called the Golden Snitch, which ends the game and scores their team an extra 150 points.” “150?!” Rainbow Dash cried out in amazement. “Who came up with these rules?” “I don’t know, but there they are.” said Twilight, “So, now that we know what the players do, I think it’s time we decide who’s going to be which player.” “I don’t think it’s necessary Twilight.” said Rainbow Dash leaning back in her throne, “I could win this game for us easily, just give me the place of Chaser and Seeker and we’ll think about the rest.” “Actually, Rainbow,” said Twilight, “I was hoping that you would play as Beater.” “What?!” Rainbow Dash spluttered. “Actually, I was hoping that both you and Applejack would do it.” Twilight continued, “The Beaters need to be the strongest players on the team, in order to hit those Bludger things.” “Well, tha’s mighty thoughtful of ya, Twilight.” said Applejack. “So, I’m not allowed to actually score, or anything?” said Rainbow Dash, her ears drooping. “I’m afraid not.” said Twilight, “But, the position is still an important one, you’re the ones who have to protect the Chasers, and you do get to try and hit the other team.” “Really?” said Rainbow Dash, looking a little more interested now, “Well, alright then.” “Um, Twilight?” said Fluttershy, raising her hoof, “Could it be possible that I get a position that doesn’t require a lot of physical contact?” “Well, I suppose Fluttershy, you could be our Keeper.” said Twilight, “You have to stay within the scoring range and attacking the Keeper is considered not allowed.” “So, I should be fine then?” asked Fluttershy. When Twilight nodded, she agreed to do it. “So, I guess that leaves me, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to be the Chasers.” said Twilight, a nervous tone to her voice now. She herself was not exactly the quickest when it came to catching things with her hooves, Pinkie would probably be alright, however, she was sure that Rarity had never so much kicked a ball, much less catch one. “Which means…?” said Spike. “Yes.” said Twilight, turning to look at the dragon sitting next to her, “You will have to be the Seeker, Spike. You’re the lightest one out of all of us, and that is a key essential element to being a Seeker.” “Great.” said Spike, but he didn’t sound very confident. The whole chances of them winning was now pushed onto his shoulders, and he knew that he struggled when performing under pressure, after what happened at the Equestria Games. “Right then,” said Twilight, closing the book, “now that we know what roles we are to play in this game, I think tomorrow, we should head up to Canterlot, and get practising on the pitch. We don’t want to look unprofessional.” That evening, Spike stood outside Twilight’s bedroom, wringing his claws together. Eventually, he raised a fist, and knocked on her door. “Come in.” came Twilight’s voice. Spike pushed the door open, and saw Twilight sitting on her bed, reading the Quidditch Through the Ages book. “Ah, Spike,” she said smiling, “I’m just looking at the history of this sport. It is really fascinating, did you know that the ball you have to catch was in fact based on a small yellow bird called a Snidget?” “Wow, that’s… really fascinating.” said Spike. He gave a sigh and walked over to the bed, “Listen Twilight, can we talk about this?” “Of course.” said Twilight, making room on the bed for Spike to sit next to her, “What’s the matter?” “It’s just…” said Spike, as he tried to find the right words to say, “I don’t know whether I can do this.” Twilight looked down at Spike, “What do you mean?” she asked. “I mean,” said Spike, slowly, “I’m not sure that I could play this ‘Seeker’ thing. You saw what I was like at the Equestria Games, I just froze up when I appeared in front of all those ponies. I don’t want that to happen again.” “Oh, Spike.” said Twilight, putting her wing over Spike and pulling him closer towards her, “I didn’t realise that that was still troubling you. I’m sorry, look, if you think that you can’t do this, I’ll understand, I could always find somepony else to do it.” “No, no!” said Spike suddenly, “You don’t have to do that. I still want to be involved, and I’m happy that you chose me to do it, I’m just nervous about letting everypony down again.” “Spike, you can never let me down.” whispered Twilight, giving Spike a hug, “If we lose, we lose. It’s all for fun at the end. Now, run along to bed, I’m gonna write to Sunset and see if whether or not she could give us any advice on this game. This is clearly a sport played over in her dimension.” Spike grinned and jumped off the bed. As he was about to open the door, he heard Twilight’s voice behind him, “Spike, have you seen my communication journal?”