"Blue 42. Red 11. HIKE!" yelled Pigskin, the star QB for the Ponyville high football team. The ball was snapped and caught by Pigskin. He looked around but everypony was covered. Well everypony but not Spike. He thought about it for a second.
"Hey Spike. Can you catch?", Pigskin asked.
Spike had given up being useful in any sport. He obviously wasn't very athletic. He was very short, having stubby limbs, and not having much strength. The gym teacher, Coach Discord was always picking on him too, either trying to trip him up during gym or saying discouraging remarks. Really he was rather coordinated though and just never given much of a chance. Spike was standing about 5 yards away from Pigskin since he gave up on trying to play football 2 days ago when he realized they wouldn't throw him the ball. He looked up at Pigskin and nodded.
"Here you go then", Pigskin said and lobbed a soft toss to Spike.
Spike caught it with no problem and took off down the field. Both teams had all gone to the endzone looking for a long bomb so nopony was around to tackle Spike. It even took awhile before anypony realized Spike had the ball. Eventually the other team was able to reach Spike and tackle him, but Spike had made a huge gain already. Spike's whole team gave him brohoofs and lifted him off the field to the locker room after the game. As Spike was going into the locker room he saw Rarity and waved. "Hey Rarity! Look! I did good playing football!"
Rarity looked and saw him being lifted into the locker room. She was rather impressed. For the entire gym class and most of the football team to be carrying Spike was a big deal. "Good for you darling", Rarity said nonchalantly. Rarity never wanted to seem very impressed with anything but especially with Spike.
The next day in gym Spike was again the secret weapon, but this time he knew he was. Spike didn't do much the entire game but when they had a few minutes left in the game and were behind by a field goal Spike got handed the ball. The rest of the team went to the left to draw the defense leaving the right side open for Spike to run it in for the winning touchdown. Today the mare's class was practicing cheer leading for the colt's class. Rarity got to see the play to win the game and again was impressed. Secretly she was already impressed by how popular he was, and happy to be tutored for math. She still didn't want to go out with this dork though.
After the game in the locker room Coach Discord came up to Spike. Most of the ponies got out of the way as Coach Discord was not a great person to be around when he's angry. Spike looked up and new he couldn't run away since Discord was looking for him specifically. "Well, well, well, Spike. It looks like you have a knack for football. As we've seen in gym you can't tackle anypony and you can't move very fast,l but there are certainly ways for you to be useful. I think you might be the football team's secret weapon. Report to the field after class today, you are gonna get some practice. That's all." With that Discord gave Spike a pat and walked off with a smile. It may have been a smile but Spike could swear it looked more like a grin with a glint of evil.
Spike didn't really have interest in being on the football team but he didn't feel he had a choice now that Coach Discord had his eye on him. He noted that Discord didn't ask him to go to practice, he told him. After school that day he did show up at football practice. He didn't have a jersey or pads, but there were a set waiting for him when he showed up. It was kind of small and torn up. When Spike was looking at them Discord told him, "Sorry, we don't have many players your size and when we do they tend to get hit rather brutally. This is all we had for you, but it'll do fine."
Spike knew the rules for football but never really played a real game before. He followed around the coach and did what he told him to try to get better. Really he couldn't tackle anyone or block. He couldn't really avoid being tackled either. He was sweating and out of breath after half an hour. Coach gave him a curious look. "Spike. I think I'm gonna do some special practice with you." Discord looked at Pigskin. "Pigskin get over here. You are gonna practice throwing some short passes and handoffs for the rest of the day. That's all I really need Spike to do anyways."
Spike looked a little annoyed at the lack of confidence shown in him by the coach. Pigskin looked happy to not have to do much work the rest of the day. Spike had no trouble with catching the shorter passes, and after a little practice handoffs were no problem. Spike and Pigskin worked on some strategy on how to fool the other team on plays where he would get the ball. Spike would need to do some acting to look as useless as possible, or to even blend in with the field. When the other team forgot about him is when he could strike.
Around the school all week there were more and more decorations. Spike found out that this weekend was the homecoming celebration and dance. Not only that but the MVP from the homecoming game would be the homecoming King, and his date would be the homecoming Queen. `I've never gone to any of the school dances I've had a chance to go to`, Spike thought to himself. `But then again, I've never wanted to go with anyone before. I guess I should ask Rarity to the dance if she doesn't have a date already.`
Before math class Spike took the chance. "So Rarity. You uh... know that dance coming up? Did ya happen to get asked to the dance yet?" asked Spike.
Rarity looked at Spike annoyed. "Did you just ask if I've been asked out? Darling I think I've been asked out by over half of the colts in school", Rarity said with some bragging in her voice.
"And have you accepted any invitations yet?"
Rarity could see where this is going and thought about what she should say. "Um yes, well I have... I'm going to the dance with Pigskin. You know he is the captain of our football team. He will probably be the homecoming king, and that would make me the homecoming queen."
"Oh, ok then. Well I'll see you there. Maybe we can dance," said Spike
"Yeeeaaaahhhh. Maybe we can dance", said Rarity reluctantly with a fake smile.
Spike seemed content and went through the rest of class normally. That night he told Twilight all that had been going on. How he wanted to go to the dance and how he was going to play in the football game. Twilight seemed worried at first but then excited. "I'll be right back, I got to run to the library", she said while zooming out the door. 2 hours later she was back with a saddlebag full of books on football and dancing. She piled them in Spikes room and demanded that he read them. She kept giving Spike stares until he said he would.
It seemed like a long week but eventually the weekend came and Spike was dressed and on the field for the football game. Ponyville High was playing against Crystal City High and to Spike every opponent seemed extra tough. This was the first time he was suited up and on the field for a sport of any kind. He had always heard of the electricity in the air and how the field and the grass seem special. It was like watching a movie. It was already night time and the field lights lit up the sparkling grass. It had been watered and cut recently and the smell of the grass was in the air. The stands were filled and the crowd was getting loud. Everypony on the team was moving around and chatting nervously. Spike couldn't help but smile. He felt he was ready for this.
The game got underway and Spike was on the bench for most of it. `I'm the secret weapon, they can't keep taking me out every play` he told himself. He was wondering if he would see the field at all this game though. The game was close with Ponyville matching each touchdown that their opponent scored. Going into the final 5 minutes though Ponyville was behind by 2 field goals or 6 points. Ponyville needed 1 more touchdown to win this game.
Ponyville slowly drove down the field keeping possession and winding the clock down to the final minute. They were 20 yards away from the endzone and only had time for a few more plays. The first play they tried was a throw straight to the endzone but it was dropped by the receiver. The next play they tried to run it but Crystal City was expecting it and got the stop. Discord took a time out to rest his team and implement the secret weapon. "Spike, get off your tail and in your helmet. Here is the play: We are going to line up on the far side of the field and draw their defense there. Spike, you are going to barely sneak onto the field on this side. Pigskin, throw spike the ball as soon as you get it. Then it's a 20 yard race for the endzone. Don't let me down!" said coach as he broke the huddle.
Everypony ran to the field and took their places. Spike slowly walked out barely in bounds and the ball was hiked. Just like Discord planned there was nopony guarding Spike. The ball was soft tossed to Spike. It seemed to hang in the air forever as everypony watched it spiral to Spike. Nopony even saw him there and thought this was a mistake that was going to be an incomplete pass. They just stood and watched. Spike caught the ball and took off. It took a half second but eventually Crystal City took off towards Spike. The tired Ponyville blockers couldn't keep the defense back for too long and Spike was five yards out with ponies ready to dive for him. As the largest pony on Crystal City's team dove for him Spike did something unexpected, he ran at this pony. With Spikes height he was able to run under the tackle. He couldn't dodge the next one from behind though. He was pushed forward and towards the ground. As he hit the ground he was able to hold onto the ball and closed his eyes by instinct. He heard the whistle and then heard the crowd roar. He opened his eyes and realized he was a few inches over the goal line. It was a touchdown!
The game was over. Ponyville won and the crowds went crazy. The whole team came onto the field and lifted Spike off. Meanwhile the special teams kicked the final extra point to seal the victory. In the heat of the victory Spike was voted MVP because of his game winning touch down making him the homecoming king for the dance the next day. Rarity who was watching from the stands let out a cheer. Everypony was cheering but was she cheering for Spike or the team as a whole? It didn't matter as long as she could disguise it.
The next night was the homecoming dance and Spike arrived alone. It didn't take the mares very long to realize he didn't have a homecoming queen. Spike got asked at least a dozen times if he wanted to be someone's date for the dance but he told them all to wait till he can find Rarity. He found her inside with Pigskin.
Pigskin saw Spike walking up and greeted him. "Hey what's up buddy? Congratulations on being the homecoming King. This must be exciting right?" Pigskin and Spike had become closer friends going through football over this past few weeks. "Don't tell me you don't have a date?!"
"Well, actually that's why I'm here. I don't want to steal your date from you but I wanted to see if Rarity wanted to be the homecoming queen since I don't have a date yet", Spike said looking towards Rarity.
Pigskin looked over at Rarity too. "I wouldn't mind if you wanna go up there and get your crown. Maybe have a dance with Spike then we can all hang out for the rest of the dance", Pigskin offered.
Rarity got a nervous look on her face. "What, with Spike? No way. I'm Pigskins date, I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea. I'm sure you can find plenty of mares to be your date Spike. Find someone nice to share the night with. I'm going to go get some punch", Rarity said while escaping the situation. She couldn't believe she just passed up the opportunity to be homecoming queen. She didn't want to be part of the dorkiest homecoming couple in the history of the school though. It's not a huge loss and she's still getting to be with Pigskin though and it should be worth it.
Spike needed to pick someone and decided to give a pony a chance that was a bit more shy like him. He saw Fluttershy who he always thought was really nice and cute in a corner with a few friends making conversation. He walked up to her and found out that she didn't have a date yet and would love to be Spikes date. They had pictures taken and an introduction with a first dance. Spike enjoyed it but spent a lot of time thinking of how good it would of been to share with Rarity.