//------------------------------// // Part IV, Chapter 8 - Whinnyapolis, Part 1 - The Best Game You Can Name // Story: Fitting In Is Hard To Do // by origami //------------------------------// Thorax left the guard commander's office and immediately went to find a hotel. Fortunately, there was one not too far away from the train station, and even better for the changeling, there were interior rooms free. That meant he only had to worry about a locked door for total privacy. Getting a bath and having a vial of the love potion as a breakfast, Thorax became Crystal Hoof again and put on a hat and scarf, intending to brave the city streets and hopefully find something of interest to see or do. He breathed a relaxed sigh as he thought about his current trip. Sure, he still had to disguise, but at the very least, he didn't have to worry about the guards finding out he was a changeling and arresting him. They already knew, and they couldn't do anything unless he was breaking the rules the commander had set down, and Thorax had no intention of breaking any of those rules. Walking through the streets of Whinnyapolis, Thorax saw that it was similar to Detrot, but did have a few key differences. The first was that there seemed to be far fewer of the pizza restaurants here. In their place were food vendors with little carts that had small stoves on them, and curiosity led Thorax to purchasing an order of some small, half-circle shaped item called a pierogi. While the food wouldn't do much for him in the way of nourishment, it was still rather tasty to him. As he continued walking and eating the pierogis, something caught his eye. There was a stallion across the street walking. There was nothing overly remarkable about him. In truth, he would've thought that perhaps the stallion was a disguised changeling trying to blend in with how mundane he looked. What set him apart from other ponies was what he was wearing. It looked like a sweater, but was far too light a material to hold a lot of warmth. It was a baby blue color, with white stripes that ran down the sleeves, with a band around the elbow joints. When the stallion turned to cross over to Thorax's side of the street, Thorax saw a decoration on the front: A W with what looked like two pegasus wings coming off either side. The article of clothing had piqued Thorax's curiosity way too much, and the changeling wouldn't be able to let it go until he got an answer about what it was. When the stallion crossed the street, Thorax made his move. "Excuse me?" Thorax asked the stallion. The stallion stopped and looked at him, looking around and then pointing a hoof to himself. "Me?" he asked Thorax. "Yeah" Thorax replied. "I kinda like that sweater you're wearing. Where'd you get it?" "Oh, this ain't a sweater" the stallion told Thorax. "This is a Winger's jersey!" "A Winger's jersey?" Thorax said, confused as to what the stallion was talking about. The stallion looked at Thorax weird for a moment, but his eyes then went wide in realization. "Oh, you're a Crystal Pony!" he said as he took notice of what Thorax was, or at least pretending to be. "I heard you guys don't have a lot of sports up that way yet. This is a hockey jersey. The Wingers are a team that play hockey here in Whinnyapolis!" "Hockey" Thorax said as he remembered the sport from a lesson he'd had with Sunburst. According to his friend, the game was played by a team of six ponies against another team of six ponies on a icy surface like a frozen pond. Like most sports, teams alternated between offense and defense, but according to Sunburst, hockey was a two way sport, meaning that players on the ice fulfilled both roles during the game. The objective was to have a higher score than your opponent by the end of the game. This was accomplished by the offense knocking a small disk of rubber called a puck into a net guarded by the opposing team. The defense was supposed to keep the puck out of their own net and steal it away so they could go on the offense. It sounded like a rather competitive game, and Sunburst had told him it was notorious for being rather physical in nature. He had also said that it took a lot of coordination to be played. The ponies that played the game did so on ice skates, which were special boots with a metal blade on the bottom. "You should see a game if you get the chance" the stallion told Thorax. "Whinnyapolis is playing a home game tonight against Cloudsdale. Should be a good match. Take it easy!" The stallion trotted off, leaving Thorax standing in the street by himself. The stallion clearly loved the game and the team, and seemed quite passionate about watching a game. Maybe seeing a hockey game himself would be a fun experience? Later that evening... Thorax had asked around and found out where the Wingers played; The Whinnyapolis Forum. It was a large building like the Cheval factory in Detrot, except it an indoor stadium. Thousands of seats surrounded a sheet of ice in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners. Thorax recalled everything Sunburst had told him about the playing surface, commonly referred to as a rink. There were lines that marked playing zones and dots where face offs, which decided puck possession when the game started or resumed after a time out, were held. At each end of the ice was a blue half circle that marked the crease, which was the area of ice the goaltender for each team played in for most of the game. There were also the player's benches, which had a hallway leading back to a locker room for each team. On the opposite side were the penalty boxes, where players would have to sit out for a period of time if they committed an infraction in the game, as well as a seating bench for officials to keep track of score, penalties and the game clock. Thorax decided he wanted to experience this sport at least one time and bought a ticket. According to the pony at the box office, his seat for that game was going to be a good one, as he was apparently going to be a few rows back from the glass, as the pony had put it. It was now about an hour before the game would officially begin, and Thorax had just entered the stadium. What greeted him was a large walkway called a concourse that ran all the way around the outside of the stadium. He looked up and saw a second concourse for the upper level, with a set of stairs allowing ponies to move up and down between them. A sign at the top of one of these staircases indicated a platform where pegasi could land or depart. Moving along the lower concourse, Thorax observed several stands selling various things. One was a food seller, and offered a variety of food stuffs, from popcorn to salad to something he had seen Sunburst eat before – hay burgers. At another stand was a ticket booth similar to the one outside, except there were stands with ropes that kept the lines organized and prevented cutting. The one that caught Thorax's eye the most was the team store. Set back into a sort of alcove, the team store was the place where a pony could purchase things in support of the team, such as a hat, small flags called pennants, and the items that had gotten Thorax interested in coming to the game in the first place - jerseys. The garments were spread across one of the walls of the team store. They varied greatly in design; some were like the one the stallion had been wearing earlier that day, which were colored baby blue and had a white stripe running down each sleeve, while others were an inverse, being white with a blue stripe down the sleeves. The jerseys were sold in various sizes, from ones that looked as though they would fit a nearly newborn foal, to adult sized ones that appeared a bit over-sized; they were advertised as a "goalie cut". As Thorax browsed the jerseys on the wall, his attention was drawn to one in particular. It was mostly a black sort of color, with holes bordered in green trim. Inside the holes were what appeared to be pieces of fabric that resembled the blue uniforms. Most notably, the emblem for the team was colored the same sort of black with green trim, and the large W missing pieces out of it in half circles or full circles. Curious, Thorax tried to find some information about the jersey. He eventually found it on a sign slightly hidden by another jersey hanging above the black one. Limited Edition - Nightmare Night Changeling Jersey Sale 75 bits 50 bits Thorax looked back at the jersey and frowned. He learned from Sunburst about Nightmare Night; a holiday where ponies dressed up in costumes in order to hide themselves from Nightmare Moon. He wasn't fond of the holiday, but not because anything about it made him particularly afraid. He just didn't like seeing ponies being scared, even if it was in good fun. The changelings being associated with it in any way stung him a little bit, even though he knew that the fear ponies felt towards them was justified. After some looking, Thorax finally decided that he wanted one of the jerseys that looked like the same one the stallion he'd met earlier had, and got one for the price of forty bits. He madee sure to get a size fairly common to ponies. If it didn't fit him, he could just "adjust himself" a little; the rules said he had to look like Crystal Hoof only, and ponies could get fat or be skinny, so he didn't see him changing his overall physique as specifically breaking any rules. Fortunately, the jersey fit well, so Thorax wouldn't need to adjust himself to compensate. Now wearing the jersey, Thorax decided to get a drink and find his seat before the game began. Traveling down the concourse, Thorax saw signs with letters and numbers on them, the bottom of each having an arrow painted on them pointing to the seating bowl. Realizing there was a number like that on his ticket, Thorax grabbed it and looked at the number that had been stamped at the bottom: B 22. The sign he saw said "Seats K1-K55". "I need to go back the other way" he realized and turned around. After a minute or so of walking, he saw a sign that read "Seats B1-B55". He headed through the opening underneath the sign and into the arena proper. Thorax had heard the arena as he was walking past the seating bowl, but now that he was in it, he could barely hear himself think. Even half full, there were more ponies than he could ever recall seeing in one place at any given time. The combined sound of their conversation was amplified by the dished out seating bowl and the enclosed roof of the building. Looking around, Thorax saw ponies of all kinds. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies all together in this one location to see these two teams play this game. Some came with nothing more than saddlebags while others wore an article of clothing of some sort. However, just like Thorax was doing now, a large amount of ponies were wearing Wingers jerseys, with a mix between the baby blue and white striped ones and their inverse white and blue striped duplicates. Surprisingly, there were several of the changeling jerseys scattered about the seating bowl, identifiable by the patchwork of black among the blue and white. Thorax did his best to push the more negative thoughts about those jerseys out of his mind. He came here to experience something new. Thinking those negative thoughts would only ruin the experience for him. "MARES AND STALLIONS!" a loud voice suddenly announced over a speaker system. "WE ARE NOW FIVE MINUTES FROM PUCK DROP, SO PLEASE BRING YOUR HOOVES TOGETHER AND OFFER A WARM WHINNYAPOLIS WELCOME TO TONIGHT'S VISITING COMPETITORS, THE CLOUDSDALE COLD WAVE!!!" Despite the request for an amicable welcome, an almost universal chorus of boos rained down at the ponies taking the ice. Thorax watched closely and noticed that they were a mix of mare and stallion. About fifteen or so took to the bench where players rested between periods of time on ice, which he learned were called shifts, while six others took to the playing surface, each one knocking a stack of the rubber pucks onto the ice. Five of them then took a stick in their mouths and began skating around the ice, careful to keep the puck on the end of the stick that looked kind of like a fox's foot. They all appeared to be wearing heavy padding on their bodies, with a large helmet covered by a plastic shield that seemed to just protect their eyes. The only player who didn't take a puck was a stallion covered head to hoof in heavier padding than his teammates, with a large helmet and bird cage looking metal shield over his muzzle. The top of the helmet was decorated in a variety of colors and designs, with all of them seeming to relate to the team in one way or another. Every player was wearing the same jersey, as to be expected in a team sport. It was a white jersey, which denoted them as the visiting team, and had a blue stripe on the withers, bordered by two stripes a lighter blue than the larger one. The cuffs were the same color blue as the stripe on the withers, with a smaller stripe at the top acting as a trim decoration. The last and most noticeable difference was their team insignia. It was a stylized C, made to look like a breaking wave. However, the wave appeared to have icicles on the crest, suggesting the wave was frozen in place. A rather literal cold wave, as it were. The colors that Cloudsdale used were similar to Whinnyapolis, except they were a bit darker. "AND NOW," the loud voice came back again, "PUT YOUR HOOVES TOGETHER AND CHEER LOUD FOR YOUR HOMETOWN HEROES, THE WHINNYAPOLIS WINGERS!!!" The boos that had been rained down earlier had been soundly beaten out by the thunderous roar of cheers and collective stomping of hooves as Whinnyapolis took to the ice. They were wearing the same style of jersey that Thorax had just purchased. Again, fifteen players sat on the bench while six took to the ice. Each knocked over a stack of pucks and took them on their sticks to skate around the ice with them. Just as with the other team, a lone pony, this one a mare, covered in heavier padding than her teammates and wearing a similar helmet-and-cage on their head went into the net opposite her stallion counterpart on the next team. She did some movements across the crease area and made some quick movements to the corners, each time throwing up one of her legs like she was trying a high kick or something. Thorax looked at Cloudsdale and saw the stallion doing the same thing. He then noticed one of Cloudsdale's players approach the net with his stick and puck angled slightly behind them. Before Thorax could register what was happening, the pony took a hard shot right at the stallion. Quick as a flash, the stallion shot a leg up and knocked the puck away with a padded leg. After seeing it, Thorax understood that the ponies on the ice were doing a last minute practice to keep them sharp for the main game. A moment after the first shot Thorax had seen, several other team mates took shots at the stallion, who Thorax now remembered was the net-minder. The last shot he faced came when he wasn't prepared, and it sailed into the goal and bounced harmlessly off the mesh that covered the metal bars. The stallion, realizing that he'd been scored on, pointed his hoof at the scoring player and gave a playful chiding to them. Thorax directed his attention to the other end of the ice to see a similar situation transpiring. The mare succeeded in blocking several shots, but had a few get past her and into the net. Each time, she pointed at a teammate and voiced her displeasure at their success in scoring on her. This went on for another minute or so before two unicorns, one from each team, came out with baskets and collected all of the loose pucks. Once they were gathered, they left the playing surface. The players themselves appeared to be doing some final stretches before standing up on the skates and looking at the center of the ice. Looking in that direction, Thorax took notice of a player from each team standing at the very center of the ice, each unique in having a C on their upper left barrel; a mark that denoted them as being their team's captain. A baby blue carpet had been rolled out, and a older pony dressed in a uniform similar to Prince Shining Armor stepped out onto it and approached the two stallions. "IN HONOR OF OUR VETERANS OF THE ROYAL GUARD," the loud voice boomed, "TONIGHT'S CEREMONIAL FIRST PUCK DROP WILL BE CARRIED OUT BY RETIRED WHINNYAPOLIS GUARD COMMANDER, IRON FROST!" A loud series of cheers rang out as the stallion made his approach to center ice. In his muzzle was a puck that he held carefully in his teeth. Once he was in place, he looked at each pony and gave them a nod, which both returned. Once they nodded, the two ponies looked at each other with their sticks crossed, and the former guard dropped the puck. The rubber disk hit the ice and bounced once. The Cloudsdale captain raised his stick up and the Whinnyapolis captain took the puck with his own stick. This confused Thorax, until he saw the captain pick the puck up with his mouth and give it back to the veteran. Each captain gave a hoof bump to the stallion, then gave a hoof bump to each other, before turning and rejoining their teams. "AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!" the loud voice, which Thorax now saw was coming from a set of large speakers in the ceiling. "WHINNYAPOLIS WINGERS HOCKEY!!!" The ponies in the arena cheered as the players took their positions around the center of the ice. Two different players were there now, and a pony wearing a sweater covered in black and white strips similar to a zebra approached the middle. Their sleeves also had orange bands around the elbow joints, and in their mouth was a puck. The pony, whom Thorax realized was the referee, gave a nod to each pony in the middle of the ice, which they returned. Once the two had gave each other nods, they crossed their sticks as the referee stood over top of them. Opening his muzzle, the puck dropped down to the ice surface, and the game officially begun. What followed for the next fifteen minutes was a kind of intense action Thorax had never seen before. The opening faceoff had been won by Cloudsdale, who proceeded to retreat with the puck back into their defensive zone in an effort to set up an approach into Whinnyapolis's defensive zone and score a goal early. Whinnyapolis quickly had two players approach the pony with the puck, intent on intercepting any pass the pony would make. Unfortunately, for them, the pony directed the puck behind them to another player, who quickly made his way out of the defensive zone and over to Whinnyapolis's side of the ice. The three players Whinnyapolis left in the middle of the ice reacted, with two retreating back into the defensive zone to help protect their goal, while the third attempted to intercept the pony approaching with the puck. What happened next shocked Thorax. The pony with the puck passed across the ice to another teammate, and at almost the exact same time, one of Whinnyapolis's players slammed them hard into the walls surrounding the playing surface. Thorax looked on in shock, but everypony around him that was a fan of Whinnyapolis was cheering quite loudly. Apparently, they liked seeing this rather violent display carried out before them. Quickly though, Thorax had gotten used to it; Sunburst had taken him to a hoof ball game about a month and a half before Thorax left for his trip, and that game was quite physical as well. The pony that received the other player's pass did not get a handle of the rubber disk, and a Whinnyapolis player seized the opportunity, taking it from them and leading a charge down to Cloudsdale's defensive zone. Once inside, the pony skated around the outer part of the playing surface, waiting for some of his teammates to get into the zone with him. He made an attempt to pass to one of them, but a Cloudsdale player stuck their stick in front of the pass and caused the puck to launch up and over the tall glass wall and out of play. A second pony in another zebra-like shirt blew a whistle and the team moved to a small circle off to the side of the ice where the puck went out and surrounded a small dot there. The first referee came over with a new puck and another face off ensued, this one won by Whinnyapolis, who quickly moved into position around Cloudsdale's zone. They attempted to distract the goaltender and shoot the puck up over one of his pads, but the stallion was good, and his pad caused the puck to go harmlessly over top of the glass, causing the referee to blow his whistle and making the ponies gather around another dot on the ice. This pattern followed for the aforementioned fifteen minutes, with an intermixing of shots against Whinnyapolis's net-minder, more shots against Cloudsdale, more ponies being slammed into walls, and more pucks going out of play. With around five minutes remaining in a twenty minute period, Whinnyapolis took possession of the puck. It was an errant pass from a Cloudsdale player that was intercepted by the Whinnyapolis captain. With no players in front of him, he made speed and charged into the defensive zone against the lone net-minder. Cloudsdale made an attempt to get back and stop him, but the captain was already set up. He wound up to take the shot, and held his position. The net-minder took a chance and tried to knock the puck back towards his own players, but his gambit failed as the captain quickly brought his stick back down and shielded the puck from the diving pony. The net-minder slid past, making a final attempt to get the puck away to no avail. With nothing to stop him, the captain gently tapped the puck across the goal line and into the net. The crowd cheered, and Thorax would have too, but he ended up covering his ears as the deafening sound of a horn filled the stadium. The lighting then began to do some kind of choreographed show as a strange music arrangement was played. It was a weird mix of brass horns and an organ that wasn't to his liking, but the ponies all seemed to love it. "WHINNYAPOLIS GOAL!!!" The loud voice declared. "SCORED BY YOUR CAPTAIN, SKY GLIDER!!! UNASSISTED!!! GOAL SCORED AT FIFTEEN MINUTES TWENTY SIX SECONDS INTO THE FIRST PERIOD!!!" The ponies cheered as the captain skated around with his stick raised, his hoof making contact with his teammates, who banged their own stick against the short wall in approval of his excellent play. After the goal, play resumed much as it had before the goal, and once the remaining time was up, a much quieter horn sounded as the ponies made their way to the bench and to their locker rooms. "FIRST INTERMISSION" the voice told the audience. "PLEASE TAKE THIS TIME TO GRAB SOME CONCESSIONS, VISIT OUR RESTROOM FACILITIES, OR STRETCH YOUR LEGS AND WINGS A BIT. FOR OUR PEGASUS FANS, YOU MAY USE OUR FLYING TRACK ON THE SECOND LEVEL." Fans stood up and made their way to the concourse. As they did, Thorax looked at the ice surface as a large machine came out and began covering it in a layer of water. On the front was a large blade that seemed to be shaving off the top layer of ice where the players skates had gouged into it. Not requiring any further refreshment or needing to use the little colt's room, Thorax decided to remain in his seat and watch as the machine did its job making the playing surface smooth and usable again. About ten minutes passed and the ponies who left to get drinks, use the restroom or simply give their legs and wings some exercise returned. The teams took to the ice again and did some stretches to keep loose. The Cloudsdale players looked... upset, which was understandable, since they could now lose the game if they didn't find a way to score. Their looks could also be interpreted as resolve, as they looked motivated to even the score. When the players set up again, Thorax noticed the teams were now switched, with Cloudsdale in Whinnyapolis's net and Whinnyapolis in Cloudsdale's. Thinking back to when Sunburst had told him about the sport, he remembered the stallion saying that this was done to prevent an unfair advantage, as often times, fans would gather at the opponent's goal and heckle the net-minder, distracting them from doing their job. Soon enough, the puck was dropped and play resumed. Whinnyapolis took opening possession, and made a move to get a quick goal. Their efforts failed when Cloudsdale checked a player into the wall and a second player took possession of the puck, skating into Whinnyapolis's defensive zone. As he did, a Whinnyapolis player made to check them and knock them off the puck. The Cloudsdale player saw this and moved in such a way as to get his legs tangled with the Whinnyapolis player's stick. The Whinnyapolis player saw this and tried to move his stick out of the way, but it came up into the player's muzzle rather hard and caused that pony to jerk his head back in pain. A referee watching the play blew a whistle and raised up on their hind legs, with one foreleg pointing at the Whinnyapolis player and the other going straight up into the air. The arena erupted into a collective series of boos as the Whinnyapolis player was escorted over to the penalty box. A second later and the loud-voiced announcer informed the crowd of the infraction. "WHINNYAPOLIS PENALTY ON ZEYPHR BRONZE. DOUBLE MINOR PENALTY FOR HIGH STICKING. PENALTY OCCURING AT ONE MINUTE FIVE SECONDS INTO SECOND PERIOD." Thorax blinked and then looked down at the ice surface. Near where the penalty occurred were some red dots that a pony was working to clean up from the ice surface. Apparently, the stick colliding with the one player had enough force to cause a nosebleed or knock a tooth loose. The changeling grimaced as he imagined how painful something like that must have felt. "HE LEANED INTO THE STICK YOU STUPID ZEBRA!" a fan close to Thorax shouted in displeasure. He would've initially dismissed the remark as the pony just having a hot temper, but then he realized how accurate the statement was; the third referee who had made the call was, in fact, a zebra. Their official's uniform had obscured their normal pattern of stripes. The ponies on the ice then moved into Whinnyapolis's defensive zone. Thorax noticed that there were now only four players for Whinnyapolis on the ice. He then remembered Sunburst had taught him about what happened during penalties: Because one of their players had committed an infraction, Whinnyapolis was supposed to play with one less player, known as being short hooved, until the penalty minutes expired. Normally, it was about two minutes. However, because of the fact that the penalty was a double minor, that time was extended to four minutes. Cloudsdale, having their full five players and net-minder, was now on a "power play", meaning that they had a better chance of scoring a goal than before. The puck dropped and Cloudsdale took control. They made several attempts to score a goal, but each time the net-minder for Whinnyapolis came through and blocked the shots. Her teammates also helped prevent shots from getting to her, with a few managing to send the puck back down into Cloudsdale's zone to be intercepted and sent back ahead by their netminder, but after three and a half minutes, their efforts were not enough. A Cloudsdale player was set up on the mare's right side, and she was focused on the puck being around her left. Very quickly, a Cloudsdale pony passed the puck over to this open player. Realizing what happened, the mare made a quick move to block the incoming shot, but it had sailed past into the net before she could get her pad in the way. A smattering of cheers from around the stadium celebrated Cloudsdale's effort to tie the game. Thorax looked around in confusion as he'd been expecting the loud horn to sound again. Apparently, it only happened when Whinnyapolis scored goals. As he listened to the continued booing, the announcer came across on the loudspeaker to announce the goal. "CLOUDSDALE GOAL SCORED BY PRISM JET. GOAL ASSITED BY FEATHER FLIGHT AND SNOW GLOBE. GOAL SCORED FOUR MINUTES THIRTY SEVEN SECONDS INTO SECOND PERIOD. GOAL IS A POWER PLAY GOAL." Ponies continued to boo as the Cloudsdale players celebrated their success. The pony who had been struck by the stick that led to the penalty was patted on the back from drawing the penalty, their smiled marred slightly by a missing tooth. Soon after the goal was scored, play resumed again. The usual back and forth between the teams happened, with nothing of interest happening until late in the period, when a spectacle Thorax never thought he would see took place. One of Whinnyapolis's players, a stallion named Microburst if Thorax had read the jersey correctly, had been glaring at the pony who caused the penalty leading to the Cloudsdale goal. Several times he tried to body check the pony into the boards, but each time the smaller and more nimble player managed to avoid it. When the stallion recovered from impacting the wall, the smaller pony would chide them with a smile and a laugh, further infuriating Whinnyapolis's bigger player. With only a few seconds to go in the second period, Microburst had had enough. The pony that drew the penalty had not seen Microburst slip in behind them and was preparing to pass the puck to another teammate. While he was distracted, the Whinnyapolis pony made his move and slammed hard into the Cloudsdale player. The impact was so much that it appeared to leave visible cracks in the glass, but they disappeared almost immediately. Apparently, the glass was enchanted to be resistant to breaking and was able to mend itself as well. The stadium cheered as Microburst spat out his stick and let out a roar of satisfaction, having avenged his team's misfortune at the hooves of the smaller stallion. Said stallion was currently laying on the ice as some ponies from Cloudsdale's team went over to see if he was okay. While Microburst skated around in celebration, Cloudsdale became very upset. In fact, one player who was close in size to Microburst charged over and checked him hard. Microburst turned and voiced his displeasure at the attack, and soon a verbal argument took place between them. The referees took notice and made to get between the two ponies, but they were too slow. Before Thorax could blink, both players had shed their front ice skates and started pummeling each other with their forehooves. The crowd exploded into cheers as the loudspeaker played the sound of a bell ringing several times. The two ponies continued trading blows until Microburst landed one so hard it took the Cloudsdale pony off their remaining skates. The referees quickly got between the two before Microburst could do more serious damage. One of the officials helped the Cloudsdale stallion to their hooves, and both Microburst and his opponent were escorted over to their respective penalty boxes. "PENALTIES ON BOTH TEAMS" the announcer said over the loudspeakers. "PENALTY ON WHINNYAPOLIS PLAYER MICROBURST. FIVE MINUTE MAJOR FOR FIGHTING. PENALTY ON CLOUDSDALE PLAYER CYAN VORTEX. FIVE MINUTE MAJOR FOR FIGHTING. BOTH PENALTIES OCCURRING AT NINETEEN MINUTES EIGHT SECONDS INTO SECOND PERIOD." The crowd cheered loudly as Thorax sat in his seat, shocked at the sudden and violent display. He then felt the emotions around him as a great outpouring of joy and love was sent towards the ice surface. Apparently the fans were quite satisfied with what had happened a moment ago. In truth, it was so great, Thorax was afraid it would start to overwhelm his senses and he would begin openly gorging himself on it. Fortunately, his time around friends in the Crystal Empire had given him much greater control over his feeding instincts. After another few minutes, the crowd calmed down and play resumed until the small horn sounded the end of the second period. The announcer repeated a similar advisement as they had after the first period, with the only amendment being that it was the second period that had concluded. This time around, Thorax did have need of a restroom, and filed out with the ponies going to the concourse, only pausing briefly at his seat to watch the ice resurfacing machine, apparently called a Zamponi after the pony who invented it, come out and prepare a fresh playing surface for the final period. Thorax was not a fan of the restrooms in the Whinnyapolis Forum. If he worked here as a custodian, they would certainly not look the way they did when he left them a few minutes ago. There were empty paper rolls, unflushed toilets, and it seemed quite apparent that the libations that were sold at the concessions stands and by the ponies that walked up and down the seating bowl with the cooler chests on their backs greatly affected a stallion's ability to control their bodies as they relieved themselves. Nonetheless, he did what he needed to do and washed his hooves as well as he could before exiting the restroom and making his way back to his seat. He returned to find the zamponi machine gone and the players again taking to a fresh and smooth sheet of ice to stretch and prepare for the last period of the game. From what Thorax could see, Whinnyapolis looked as though they had more fire in their eyes, like what happened just before the second period ended had reinvigorated them in a way. "Almost like a changeling after a feeding" Thorax thought a bit grimly, but then also wondering to himself if the ponies on the ice were actually feeding on the love and adoration being directed at them. He was certain that none of them were changelings; as violent as his hive-mates were prone to being, none would take part in an activity that could result in them being knocked out and left exposed with a lost disguise. Soon enough, the referees returned to the ice and the teams took up positions for the final period. This time, the face-off was between the two captains, and Cloudsdale came away with the puck. The Cloudsdale captain passed the puck to another player, but was then taken by total surprise as Sky Glider came in and leveled him with a solid check. The action caused the Whinnyapolis fans to rise to their feet and cheer very loudly, having enjoyed seeing their captain exercise his physical strength in such a display. The play went on for a few minutes in Whinnyapolis's defensive zone, the Cloudsdale ponies attempting to set up what Thorax had learned was called a tic-tac-toe pass. The idea was to perform a very quick series of passes that made it difficult for the net-minder to follow, and the last one would be to the pony shooting, the effort meant to score the puck into the net before the net-minder could recover and properly defend. Sky Glider took notice of this and seized on an opportunity. Predicting where the pass was going to go, he intercepted it and charged out of the defensive zone and into center ice. He was quickly followed by two of Cloudsdale's players as they attempted to stop him and recapture the puck. Sky looked ahead at the net minder, who came out from the crease area in an effort to cut down the shooting lanes around him. Thorax had been learning a good bit as he watched the game, as well as remembering what Sunburst had taught him, and had a pretty good idea of what Sky was gonna do. The netminder seemed to favor going to one side over the other, and if Sky was as smart as he showed earlier, he would fake to that side to draw the pony away and give him a clearer shot. Sky did just that, but his opponent didn't take the proverbial bait, not even flinching as he now slid gently backwards to counter any other movements the captain would make. The distance was closing, both between the two Cloudsdale players and Sky Glider and Glider and the goal. When the two ponies came within enough reach to hit Sky with their sticks, the captain did something that Thorax had to admit was quite impressive. With a very quick and practiced move, the pony moved the puck to the backside of the curved foot of his stick and made to shoot it that way. When the net-minder moved, he then spun his stick around so it rested in the curve and pushed it to the other side. The net-minder realized his mistake and made to get a pad out in time to stop the puck as Sky Glider let it fly. He succeeded only in redirecting the puck to hit just underneath the metal bar at the top of the net before it went in and connected with the mesh in the back. The crowd cheered as the loud horn sounded again and the strange music and light show commenced. Sky Glider made his way past teammates, giving them hoof bumps as he smiled. The announcer came back on to confirm the score. "WHINNYAPOLIS GOAL SCORED BY YOUR CAPTAIN, SKY GLIDER! UNASSISTED GOAL, SCORED AT THREE MINUTES TWENTY TWO SECONDS IN THE THIRD PERIOD!" The crowd cheered at the announcement as the players once again resumed their positions at center ice for the following face-off. The game at that point progressed to a stalemate of sorts, with each team going into the other's defensive zone, only for shots to be stopped by the net-minder and directed back towards the ponies on their team so that they could carry the fight back to their opponent. With about six to seven minutes left in the game, a rather hairy incident happened for Whinnyapolis. A Cloudsdale player had managed to intercept a pass as it was going from one Whinnyapolis player to another. With there being no pony between them and the goal, they charged hard into Whinnyapolis's defensive zone. The Whinnyapolis net-minder looked on in shock for a moment, but steeled her nerves and charged out, ready to take on the approaching player. The Cloudsdale attacker performed some maneuvers with the intention of deceiving the net-minder of where the puck was gonna go. When the player felt that their chance was the best it was gonna be, they whipped back their head and brought it forward, slapping the shot hard at the goal. The net-minder was not quite in position, and quickly swung her back legs around in an effort to block off the shot. The puck connected with her pad and shot back behind the Cloudsdale attacker and was recaptured by her teammates. The crowd cheered enthusiastically for the save, with several starting a chant of "BERRY! BERRY! BERRY!" Thorax was confused, until he consulted a game program he had seen on a seat beside him. In it was a roster for each team, separated by the forwards (consisting of centers and left and right wing players), defense players, and net-minders. The pony playing net-minder tonight was Mulberry, with a picture of a mare that was colored as for her namesake. A whistle caused by a puck going out of play let Thorax pay a little more attention to the mare. Her mane was pulled back into pony tail that came down one side of her neck. She undid a pair of snaps on either side of her face-guard and lifted it up, taking a water bottle that rested in a sort of caddie on the back of the net and getting a drink to keep herself hydrated. Thorax had to admit to himself that he liked this mare. Not in a "special somepony" sort of way, but he could tell that she was giving her all to make sure her team succeeded. In truth, he could feel that from almost all the players for Whinnyapolis. They all worked together and executed plays well, with only the occasional error in making a bad pass. The game wound down to its final few minutes. When there was about two minutes left, Thorax saw something that confused him. Cloudsdale took possession of the puck in their defensive zone and was taking it back to into Whinnyapolis's zone. As they did, the net-minder looked over to his bench, and a pony wearing a tie gave them a nod. The net-minder then made haste over to the bench and stepped in. As he did, another player stepped onto the ice and took up a position with their teammates in Whinnyapolis's end of the rink. Thorax remembered reading about this before: Cloudsdale was playing with an "empty net", opting to pull their net-minder in favor of an extra offensive player to improve their chances of scoring in the last minute. The gambit failed in a way Thorax had not expected. After the Whinnyapolis players had cleared their defensive zone of the puck, sending it down into the Cloudsdale end of the ice, an opposing player took possession and then shot it back into Whinnyapolis's zone. The announcer suddenly came on the loudspeaker, startling Thorax. "LAST MINUTE OF PLAY IN REGULATION TIME!" The puck went into the back portion of the zone and was corralled by Mulberry. The mare took a quick look around at where the other players were and did something that took Thorax by surprise: she kicked the puck with as much force as she could. The rubber disk shot out and up into the air like a missile, and the Cloudsdale players made an attempt to knock it back down. The puck stayed airborne until it got to the center red line, where it came back down and bounced a few times, eventually leveling out and gliding across the ice surface. Cloudsdale attempted to get back and stop the puck, but it had traveled too far through the air and too fast for anypony to catch up. The puck went into the net just to the right of one of the upright posts on the goal. The crowd screamed louder than at any point Thorax could recall that night, almost drowning out the deafening horn and obscuring the strange song that played afterwards. Thorax saw the Whinnyapolis team mob the ice and surround their net-minder, each having taken off a skate and patting her on her back as she smiled wide through her face-guard. The announcer came back on again and made his announcement about the score. "WHINNYAPOLIS GOAL SCORED BY NETMINDER MULBERRY! EMPTY NET GOAL SCORED AT NINETEEN MINUTES AND TWELVE SECONDS IN THE THIRD PERIOD. THIS IS MULBERRY'S FIRST GOAL IN HER CAREER!" The crowd began chanting Mulberry's name again as the mare skated around the playing surface with one hoof raised acknowledging the crowd who all cheered loudly for her. Several ponies close to the glass began pounding on it as she went by, which caused the mare to laugh. Thorax had to smile too. She was very happy, and the energy and love she radiated could've been felt from outside the stadium. The thought then caused Thorax to look around in concern. If he could tell it felt that strong from outside, then that meant it was possible for other changelings to feel it too. He quickly looked around to see if there were any others, but his senses told him there were none to be found. He breathed a sigh of relief as he took notice to the on ice festivities calming down and play resuming. Cloudsdale had placed their net-minder back into place, and the players took their spots in center ice again. Thorax could feel a great deal of disappointment in them, as they clearly thought they had a chance to tie the game and maybe force it to go into extra time where they could squeeze out a win. Now, their chances were slim at best. The puck dropped and Whinnyapolis took possession, and that was how the game concluded. Whinnyapolis spent the remaining seconds skating around the ice and passing the puck to one another while making sure to keep it from Cloudsdale. When the clock hit zero, the small horn sounded, followed by the big horn, and everypony cheered for Whinnyapolis's victory. The announcer came back on to announce the end of the game. "YOUR FINAL SCORE FOR THIS EVENING, CLOUDSDALE COLD WAVE ONE, YOUR WHINNYAPOLIS WINGERS THREE! JOIN US TWO NIGHTS FROM NOW AS WHINNYAPOLIS WILL HOST THE FILLYDELPHIA FLAMES!" Many ponies began to file out of the seating bowl. Thorax elected to wait until most had cleared out, then he made his way for the exit. As he walked down the concourse, he could feel the excitement and jubilation as fans celebrated the team's triumph. He also felt smatterings of disappointment from Cloudsdale fans as they walked with their heads hung a bit lower, though some maintained an outward jovial mood, claiming that it just wasn't their night, and the next game they played against Manehattan would go better. Thorax thought back on the game he just experienced. Admittedly, he wasn't much for the more violent parts, such as Microburst's fight with the other player, but he could appreciate the skill that players such as Sky Glider showed when handling and shooting the puck, and he quite liked the tenacity that Mulberry showed in protecting her goal from shots. All in all, he enjoyed the game, but preferred a much less violent activity. Seeing as it was already fairly late, Thorax decided to head to bed for the evening. Tomorrow, he would decide whether or not he wanted to see anything else in Whinnyapolis, or if he wanted to move on to Van Hoover and possibly find the two police ponies that helped exonerate him.