//------------------------------// // A friendly game of Kickball // Story: Spike-bot and Pound // by Silver Butcher //------------------------------// Pound stood up, getting Spike-bots attention with a snap of his notebook. "Oh thank goodness," Spike-bots sighed as he snapped the book he's swiped from Pounds bookshelf shut "That took forever." Spike-bot walked over the Pound and shook his hand, "Alright you did some homework, now what do you want to do?" Pound looked at the small robot in confusion "You want to do something with me?" Pound asked "Well yeah, I'm here until your life changes for the better, and since I have tons of things in my 4th-dimensional pocket, almost any game or activity you can think of, I can improve immensely!" Spike-bot smiled "Sorry for being so snappy earlier, I was a little peeved with having to do this, but I've calmed down and I'm ready to help you, not just with your grades, but with your social life." "My social life?" Pound asked in confusion "What's wrong with my social life?" "Oh come on now." Spike said merrily "You must have somepony you want to impress, maybe a filly you go to school with? Maybe some cool colts you want to impress so they'll hang with you?" Pound thought about that momentarily before shaking his head. "Yes and no, I have friends already and I like them, but I would like to impress them." Pound scratched his chin for a short while before snapping. "Long shot, but you wouldn't happen to have something that would make me better at Kickball would you?" Spike-bot reached into his pouch and, after rummaging around for a little while, he pulled out a pair of Shoes "The Automatic Shoes!" Spike sang out happily "Just give these bad boy's an objective and they'll do all the work for you, so if its Kickball you want to excel at them" Spike-bot placed them on the ground and pressed a button "kick the ball past the goal, and keep the ball away from your goal." The shoes light up and Pound put them on his hooves. "Now as soon as the game begins the shoes will do all the work for you!" Pound smiled "Awesome! This totally makes up for making me do my homework!" Pound ran to the window, popped it open and flew outside, Spike-bot bounded after him and pulled out the Bambrella. "Hey Wait for me!" He called out as he jumped out of the Window and flew after him. The two flew threw Ponyville until Pound spotted Butterball. "Hey Butterball, you up for a rematch!?" He called, The Large Earth Pony looked around for a moment before looking up. "A Rematch of what?" He called back. "A Rematch Kickball game!" Pound replied as he landed with a smile, he blinked as he hard a buzzing sound and looked up as Spike-bot landed next to him. "Who the heck is that?" Butterball asked as he moved past Pound and looked at the Robot. "I'm Spike-bot." he replied, shaking Butterball's hand "I'm a friend of Pounds." "Who, I didn't know you had Dragon friends," Butterball said, unintentionally picking up Spike-bot as he turned around. "Oh dang sorry, little dude," Butterball said as he unclenched his hands. "But yeah sure, we can play another game as soon as I find my Notebook." Butterball pointed at the ground while rubbing the back of his head. "You see, I was in a rush to get home today, and I just found out I lost my Notebook, I know I put it in my bag before heading home so It has to be somewhere between my house and the school." Pound was about to offer his help when Spike-bot jumped up. "That all, well them leave it to me!" The two watched as he reached into his Pocket and pulled something out. "The Path Finding Stick." Spike set the stick on the ground "Witch ever Direction the stick falls is the direction we need to go to find your notebook." He said simply "It can be used to find the direction of whatever you want, even somepony who's lost or missing." The Stick wobbled around, then fell, it lay pointing across the street. "But I wasn't on that side of the street when I was walking home." Butterball objected. "That's because you Notebook was either picked up off the ground or taken out of your bag." Spike-bot picked up the stick. "This way!" The Trio looked both ways before marking across the road and in between the buildings. there they found a large empty lot. "Hey, this is where we play sometimes." Pound said as they walked towards one of Pounds friends sitting on a pile of pipes "Hey Zips!" Pound called, Zips looked over and waved back. "Oh hey guys, Butterball I was just looking for you." Zips opened up his bag and pulled out a Notebook "I found this on the ground earlier." "Ah Zips you rock!" Butterball said as he took his Notebook back "Alright Pound, you and Spike-Bot wait right here, we can play some Kickball once this baby is safe at home." Butterball waved back at them as Pound and Spike-bot found a place to sit. "So Pound, you gonna introduce me to your friend here?" Zips asked casually, looking at the odd-looking Dragon. "Oh, Zips this is Spike-bot, Spike-bot this is Zips." The two shook hands, Zips looked at him up and down. "You look a lot like Twilight's assistant, you even have almost the same name." "Oh that's just a Coincidence, Just like how some ponies look a lot alike, some Dragons do too." Spike-Bot looked around the empty lot before getting up. "Welp if a Kickball game is going to be played, it might as well be played right." Spike reached into his Pocket and pulled out a Pad of Paper and began drawing away for a little while. "What's he doing?" Zips asked as the two watched him sketch away. "I would say he's just passing time, but judging from what I've seen from him so far it'll probably be something unbelievably cool." After a few Minutes, Spike-Bot got up and reached into his pocket, Zips and Pound watched in shock as He pulled out a huge Machine. "The Mecha-Maker!" He sang out before reaching back into his pocket and pulling out a Door. "And The Anywhere Door!" he added as he opened the door and proceeded to disappear threw it. 'What the..!?" Zips and Pound stared at the door in confused silence until the dragon walked back threw pulling a rusty wagon chock full of junk. "Thank you Junkyard," he said as he dumped a lot of the stuff into a large tub on the machine. "Now I just add the sketches and-" The machine made several sounds and the two on the side's jaws went slack when a Goal came out of the machine, followed by a Remote control "-once more," Spike-bot added as he repeated the process, this time tossing the Wagon in with the junk, there where noise and once again a Goal appeared, along with a second remote. "Alright then," Spike-Bot said as he put the Door and the machine back in his pocket before picking up both remotes and handed on to Zips. "And now we have Remote control Goals, Spike drove his to the other side of the Empty Field. "I'll try and keep Butterball from scoring, and you try and keep Pound from Scoring." As he said this Zips took the controller in awe. "That was the coolest thing ever," he said as he moved the Goal back and forth. "If you press that button you can make it fly into the air, but that's only for Pegasus games," Spike-Bot added as he demonstrated using his goal, it flew up little ways before he set it back on the ground. "So try not to make it fly up, otherwise Butterball will lose a point for it, I'll do the same." Zips began messing with the goal when Buttercup rounded the corner. "Hey Pound." She called out with a wave, "Hey Zips, wh-what the?" Buttercup froze in shocked silence as the goals began battling each other in the air. "Hey, I thought these were for the kickball game." Pound complained. "We're just passing the time," Spike-bot replied as the two goals started shooting lasers. "This is so cool!" Zips practically screamed as he got up and shot a cloud a few times until it was shaped like a Z. "And I'm super good with it, Can I keep it!?" "oh no, it's way too big to keep as a toy." Spike-bot replied as he set the goal back on the ground "If I did make you something I'd have to be a lot smaller and much less dangerous." "Who are you?" Buttercup asked. "Names Spike-bot" He replied, offering her a handshake, which she accepted, "You one of Pound's friends?" "Yes, she is." Pound replied "One of my many awesome friends." "Really? Name one I haven't met yet." Spike-bot asked Pound standing awkwardly in silence "That's what I thought, anyway I'm here to fix Pound's life, and one way to help is to make his friends like him more, and since I'm going to be around him I need his friends to like me to, and what better way to win somepony over than with a gift!" Zips ear's shot up. "Wait I'm one of Pound's friends!" he said shakily "he and I are like best bro's!" "Yes I know, I saw you during the Kickball game, a little rude but friendship is there, that's why you're getting one free control thing." Spike-Bot pulled out his art pad and some pencils "Just draw what you want me to make, and I'll get it done at my earliest convenience." "What do I get?" Buttercup asked excitedly as Butterball came back around the corner "What's up? Someone giving things away?" "Only to Pounds friends and from what I've gathered you are the third and final one, just tell me what you want and I'll see what I can do, but it's unfair to pressure you, so why not play that game of kickball first? I brought some fancy goals, alright all of you gather together so I can explain the rules thoroughly." "Alright, you ready?" Butterball asked, behind him was a Goal with an Orange Flag on it. "Ready as I'll ever be." Pound replied as he got into position, his shoes lighting up. "Even with your magic shoes your no match for me!" Butterball said happily as Spike-bot stepped into the middle of the empty field, Buttercup had Pound's goal, Zips had Butterball's goal, and each where standing behind the other's goal so they could keep the net in their sight. "Alright, I'd ask for a clean game, but we all know Pound is basically cheating, and Butterball has given the okay for this, so I guess we're playing dirty, It's nearing sundown so we have about 20 minutes for this game, so first to 5, or the one with the highest points when time runs out wins." Spike-bot put the ball down, moved out of the playing field and pulled out a stopwatch. "Ready?" "Ready!" The two replied. "Goalies ready?" He asked. "Ready!" the other two replied. "On my mark!" Spike-bot looked at Pound, then Butterball. "Mark!" He yelled out as he started the Stopwatch. "20 minutes remaining!" Pound and Butterball ran forward and slid as the ball, with a loud smack Pound kicked the ball, it flew towards the goal, and with a loud ring it hit the corner as it zoomed out of the way, Pound jumped over Butterball, whose hand shot up and grabbed him by the ankle, Pound fell on his face as Butterball got up and ran to the ball, Pound got up and watched as Butterball kicked it back towards him, Pound suddenly felt his hooves kick out and he was forced back upon them, Pound's hooves ran on their own accord and very masterfully kicked the ball out form in front of Butterball, the ball flew into the air and Pound kicked into the air and kicked it towards a goal it flew into it with a ringing sound. "Yes!" Pound cheered. "1 point for Butterball," Spike-bot called out, Pound fell on his face and Butterball blinked. "How!?" The two demanded in confusion, Spike pointed to the goal. "That's your goal Pound." He said bluntly "Even tho you kicked it the rules are clear if it goes into your net Butterball get's the point." Spike shrugged "And I should know I made the rules." "That's a stupid rule!" Pound yelled back angrily "I wanna restart the match!" "You're already down to 18 minutes, to reset everything you'd have even less time, Butterball gets the pointed end of story." Spike-Bot nodded and turned to mark it on the small board he'd pulled from his pocket when a rock whizzed past his head and hit the board, causing it to clonk Spike-bot in the chin, He turned on the spot. "Did you just throw a rock at me?!" he demanded angrily. "I'm sorry I didn't think it would hit you!" Pound said in fear. Spike-bots face steamed for a moment before he took a deep breath, "You know what, your right, it's unfair, let's remove that rule," he said casually. Pound sighed before Spike spoke up "but since we can't remove a rule without replacing it, and it's a hard rule." Spike-bot point to Zips who flinched "For hitting the judge with a rock and whining, Butterball's goal is now permitted to fly!" "What!?" Pound demanded, "That's so un-" "I'll make your goal bigger if you keep complaining!" Spike-Bot shot back as Buttercup put the ball back in the middle of the field. "New round, 1-0" "Hey you said-" Pound said irritably. "Earning a point means you ear a point, even if it's against the rules in the next round, 1-0!" Spike looked at either side for a moment "Go!" Butterball ran to the ball and kicked it, Pound's hooves jumped up and slammed the ball at an angle, it was inside the goal just as Zips was moving it. "Score is now 1-1!" Spike-bot called out, "Zips please move the ball to the middle of the court." "of course, a friend of Pound is a friend of mine, I'm always happy to help out." "Wow, he really wants that flying figurine." Pound chuckled. "Oh, that sounds super cool! Think he'll give me a flying boat?" "Just give me a picture of the boat and I can make it happen!" Spike-bot replied, "Bigger the drawing the bigger the boat!" "I'll keep that in mind," Zips said as he placed the ball down and moved back to his place. "Ready, steady, go!" Spike-bot sat back and watched as the game began, Butterball wised up and this time ran past the ball before kicking it to the side, Pound moved now that his trick was no longer any good and the game took off, Pounds goal began circling the field while Zips took the goal into the sky. "Zips to high, lower it just a pinch." "Understood" He replied, lowering it slightly and spinning it around the area. Pound tried hitting the ball up into the air and missed, the ball landed and the two players ran at it. Pound got to it first and once again shot it into the air, it missed again and landed next to Butterball who kicked it to the moving goal, the group watched as the ball flew past the goal and flew into the alley, there was a loud crashing sound and they all froze. "Everpony scatter!" Spike-bot yelled, "Game over, to be continued at a later point!" Butterball high tailed it back the way he came while Spike-bot took the Controler from Zips, who ran off as soon as he was relieved of it, Buttercup gave him hers as she ran after the two, Spike-bot flew the two goals to him and pocketed them and their controllers. "Quick Pound to me!" "Hey, you rotten foals!" An angry voice yelled out. Pound ran to Spike-bot, who pulled out the Anywhere door. "To your room!" they ran through the door and back to Pounds room, Spike closed the door and pocketed it before collapsing on the floor with Pound. "I'm really sorry about the rock." Pound said as he lay face down. "It's fine, but you could get in real trouble if you do that to others, so try and avoid doing that please." "yes, sir." Pound replied. "You know what, I was angry when I told you to call me that, just say yes it's fine." the two lay in silence until he realized something. "Wait how am I going to explain you to my parents!?" he said in a panic "How can I even begin to explain this!?" "I dunno that's your problem." Spike-bot replied "Just tell them there's no getting rid of me and see if that works, I'd say you have some time to prepare your-" "Pound? Dinner is ready." Mrs.Cakes voice called from downstairs. "-Nevermind, time up," Spike-bot said bluntly as he got up. Pound looked at him then the door. "Alright just give me a minute." Pound walked out of his room. "Hey Mom, can you come upstairs for a moment, I have something to tell you and it has to be before I come down for Dinner." "Give me a moment honey." Mrs.Cake called back "But it better be serious!" "Oh it is, oh boy is it ever." Pound replied quietly as he leaned back against the door and waited for her to come up.