The crowds of unusual creatures in the stands were roaring with excitement over the game that was about to fold. There were two metal goals. Each one had a large, bulky, bipedal crocodile wearing each team’s representative colors of a mask, a metallic torso, and hand guards. A fence made purely of electricity spawned around the sides of the field. Luna’s team, a Birdo, a Dry Bones and a Boo were on the home side of the green, cragged field. Luna was nowhere to be found. On the other side was Celestia and her team of a Toad, a Monty Mole, and a Koopa. At the center of the field was the metallic hoofball, which was flashing in a red color. Celestia looked towards Luna’s team with overpowering eyes and caused the members to cringe.
“You strange creatures are no match for the power of the Princess of the Sun. I’ll bring devastation to you all.” Meanwhile, Discord and the thirteen other ponies were sitting in VIP seats that were so close to the field that they can practically touch the electric fence. Discord and Pinkie Pie were both wearing red and pink soda hats respectively. They both had large foam fingers that said ‘# 1’ on them, and Pinkie Pie had a bag of popcorn with her. Twilight Sparkle looked at the both of them.
“Ummm… where did the both of you get that merchandise from?” Pinkie Pie looked towards Twilight with her full attention before she responded.
“There’s a Toad Vendor selling a lot of stuff waaaaay over there. You should probably get to him before he goes to other sections of the crowd.” Pinkie Pie excitedly stated. She looked back to the teams, where she developed an angry stare towards the players. “Yeah! Destroy those pathetic posers that call themselves hoofball players!” Twilight was confused by the explanation Pinkie Pie gave.
“But, we’ve only been here for a second. It’s-“Just as she was about to finish, Discord interrupted.
“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you. You’ve known us long enough to know that we have our ways of doing stuff.” Twilight looked at Discord for a bit before she nodded in understanding. Discord then sat back and started sipping on two cans of cola and lemon-lime soda from his hat. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both looked at each other with competitive grins.
“So Rainbow Dash, after da princesses are done tussling here, ya wanna go rough it up with me on da field?”
“You know that I wouldn’t have it any other way Applejack. I’ll beat you twenty times over, whether you want me to or not.”
“Ya know dat Ah have t’ pay ya back fer dat Iron Pony Competition way back. Ah have some pride t’ uphold.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack both shook hooves as an agreement to the match.
The crowd was ravenous, but not at their maximum level. However, the noise level zenithed when a dark blue blur was spotted in the sky above. The blur was revealed to be Luna, who nosedived from the sky with a smirk present on her face. She landed flat on her hooves, which brought reassurance to her team. Both Celestia and Luna looked at the ball with ferocity, ready to make the first move.
Both alicorns jetted towards the ball. Unfortunately for Luna, she was an offensive-based player while her sister was a balanced-based player. Because of this, Celestia had the speed to reach the hoofball first. She wasted no time as she passed the ball in her possession to her teammate Monty Mole by kicking it with her forehoof. The pass was successful, and Monty Mole went to the home side of the field, ready to shoot at the goal. Unfortunately for him, the Dry Bones from Luna’s team saw this move and tackled him into the electric fence. Monty Mole was at the mercy of the electricity pulsing through his body as he was unable to move. Despite his immobility, it did not nullify the intense pain coursing through his body as his screaming mole voice pleaded for help. The crowd cheered over the exciting move, but Fluttershy gasped as she was clearly unnerved by the screams.
“Oh my! That’s horrible!” She whispered in a very low voice. She wimpered slightly. Rarity, who was sitting right next to Fluttershy, saw how she reacted.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” She asked with the utmost care. Fluttershy turned her head to her left as she was distracted by Rarity’s voice.
“Oh Rarity, this is horrible! That mole is screeching in intense pain. Yet, instead of providing assistance, all of the creatures on the stands are applauding this act!” She stated with a mix of indignation and sadness. Rarity pulled Fluttershy closer to her.
“You know Fluttersy, that mole looks very hardy. Why, look at him now!” Both ponies looked at the Monty Mole against the electric fence. He fell onto the ground after being shocked, but got back up as if nothing happened. “If anything actually serious were to happen, I’m confident that they would stop the game immediately.” Rarity’s words calmed Fluttershy down slightly. She gained the composure to keep watching the game.
The Dry Bones that tackled the Monty Mole into the fence took the ball. Despite being on the away side of the field ready to kick, a Koopa from Celestia’s team was charging straight towards him. Dry Bones noticed that his teammate Boo was on the other side of the field and was completely open. Dry Bones kicked the ball into the air in Boo’s direction just before getting tackled by the Koopa into the electric fence. The rattling of bones echoed throughout the field. The Toad on Celestia’s team saw where the ball was being passed towards. Rather than just tackle the Boo, he intercepted the trajectory pass of the ball by jumping in the air and performing a kick pass to Celestia. Once again, she had the ball and she was ready to go close to the other team’s net and shoot. Unfortunately for her, Birdo came from seemingly out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground and took the ball. The strike knocked the wind out of Celestia, leaving her unable to move for a few brief milliseconds.
Birdo was being approached by a very angry Monty Mole. As he came into close distance towards her, Birdo spun while holding the ball in her mouth, which knocked Monty Mole out. She spat the ball over to Luna by the ground, who had already made it onto the central part of the other team’s side. The ball flashed a white color before everything moved in slow-motion. Luna kicked the passed ball. There was a curved, white streak that was leading to the goal. The crocodile being jumped in an attempt to block the goal, but he found that the ball was shot too fast for his reflexes to catch at the angle, resulting in the ball being kicked into the goal and scoring for Luna’s side. Luna smiled as she got the first goal and jumped around. Her eyes caught a disheartened Celestia, who was apparently very sour about the goal.
“In your face! Thy Kritter goalie was not quick enough to dodge my ball!” Luna screamed, irritating Celestia further. “How doth it feel to be proven false Tia!?” She stated in a pompous fashion. Through that time, however, a grin creeped on Celestia’s face.
“Lulu, you’ve only scored one goal in a game where it is possible to score large amounts of goals. I’ll guarantee you that you will not remain in first for long.” She stated unusually calmly. She walked over to the center of the field. Luna was skipping to the center of the field, moving to the shouts and cheers of the entire crowd. As the next round began, Celestia had the ball between her hooves. She smiled as she ran straight forward, startling Luna.
“Tia, what are you planning?” She asked somewhat angrily. Celestia smirked as she engaged into a fast trot with her teammate Toad following in. Luna and Dry Bones charged towards Celestia and her teammate in an attempt to intercept her and charge at her. Just as the two captains were about to collide, Celestia performed a sidestep which was helped out by her magic. She hopped a fair distance to the left, which surprised Luna and Dry Bones. Celestia took advantage of this small confusion and performed a charged shot at the goal. The Kritter saw this coming and blocked the ball, grabbing it in the process. At this time, Celestia’s team gained a large shell with an icy blue hue in their item hold. The Kritter saw that Luna was near the left electric wall on the opposite side of the field. He saw that Dry Bones was being blocked by Celestia’s Toad, and that Birdo was keeping Celestia’s Monty Mole and Koopa on bay. He kicked the ball into the air around the space where Luna was at. Luna’s eyes were focused only on the incoming ball, so she never saw Celestia as she tossed the giant blue shell in her inventory towards her direction. All what Luna felt was a surge of freezing chill rushing through all of her body. She was rendered immobile as her body was encased in the icy hue. Celestia smiled as she neared towards her sister. Instead of immediately going after the ball near her, a devilish grin sprung up on her face.
“So Lulu, you thought that you can one-up me with that goal, didn’t you? You thought you were better than your older sister? You thought you were hot, smoldering crap.” She said softly. Her eyes then glimmered into an aggressive stare. “Then allow me to show you why you’ll be hot, smoldering crap in a second!” She screamed as she tackled Luna out of the ice. Luna felt the blow of the tackle only to register the searing pain of electricity coursing through her body from hitting the electric fence. Her legs felt helpless and bound to the fence as she screamed out in tortured pain. Celestia delighted in seeing her sister writing in agony on electricity before she got possession of the ball. On the stands, most of the creatures were roaring with cheer at seeing such a vendetta. However, Twilight Sparkle covered her mouth with her forehooves, which failed to contain the horrified gasp in her throat.
“This can’t be real! Why would Celestia do such a wicked thing, and to sister no less!?” Discord casually floated over to her, resting his back above the ground.
“Are you honestly surprised that she would do this? Star already explained to you that the chaos energy being pumped through the gauntlets causes their wearers to be much more aggressive and adverse in personality. Just think of it like the time I turned you and your friends against your true natures, and you get something that is maybe close to that.” He said while scratching his chin. “Don’t worry, these effects only last until the gauntlets are taken off, so no pressure for you.” Twilight turned an angry eye to Discord.
“How can you take this situation so lightly Discord!? Princess Celestia would never attack Princess Luna in cold blood like that. She wouldn’t also especially take personal joy in making her sister suffer!” Discord yawned.
“You really don’t know how their relationship works yet, do you? You see Twilight, sometimes the sisters like to prank each other. They take personal joy in doing so ever since they were foal-aged. With the power of chaos within them, their thought processes and actions are more freely used. Instead of an exaggerated action for a relatively weak response, they would go through very crude actions to elicit a strong response.” The implications of Discord’s words brought horror to Twilight’s face.
“So what you are saying is that since both princesses enjoy pranking each other to no end, and the power of chaos makes their actions more primitive, that means they’ll keep on attacking each other until one of them is dead!?” Discord looked at Twilight with a pondering expression and tilted his hand back and forth.
“It could happen. But don’t worry, I won’t let the princesses kill each other. For now, sit back and enjoy the game.” Discord stated as he sat back in his seat. Twilight stood out of her seat, looking at the field with constant worry in her eyes.
Back on the field, after what felt like an eternity, Luna finally came off of the electric fence. She had charred spots on her coat along with some fragments of ice across her body. By this time, Celestia had already made it to her team side. As Luna’s Birdo was about to tackle into Celestia, Monty Mole followed up with Celestia and tackled the Birdo, which allowed her to shoot without worry. Her ball flashed different colors as she charged. Luna’s Boo and Dry Bones were quickly going to Celestia in order to stop her from charging. Unfortunately, Koopa came into the field and tackled the Dry Bones while Monty Mole tackled the Boo. Celestia felt a surge of power going through her armor as the ball reached full charge. She kicked the ball high into the air. Her wings opened largely as she soared into the sky. Her coat and armor flashed radiantly like the sun as she peered down towards the goal. Her aurora mane turned into a fire, representing a solar flare. Her eyes flashed a white before she kicked the ball, separating them into five separate balls. As Luna saw this, her jaw dropped in despair. She looked at her Kritter, who opened his arms wide across in a stance ready to block the balls.
“Do not disappoint your princess Kritter!” Luna screamed. The balls rained down onto the field like small, silver meteors. Kritter grabbed one ball, preventing it from going into the goal. However, he missed the second ball, which zipped by him. The third ball was expertly blocked and destroyed by a perfectly timed jump. He also managed to catch the next ball going towards him. Sadly, the fifth ball, the one that was kicked the hardest, knocked him off of his feet and shot into the net. Celestia had scored two goals with her megastrike. The entire crowd roared in excitement, but none other than Lyra, who was wearing two foam fingers over her forehooves. She approached Luna with a satisfied grin on her face. Luna was down on the ground, humiliated by how poorly she performed.
“So Lulu, how does it feel to be useless to stop my onslaught? It didn’t feel good, did it? It’s alright if you can just quit now. After all, older sisters can understand this sort of thing.” Celestia stated smugly. Luna stood back up with a nasty snarl on her face.
“You didn’t win anything Tia. You may be in the lead now, but in the next round, I’ll be sure to turn everything around!”
“Hmmm, bold words from somepony who finished being electrocuted. How will you be able to win now Lulu?” Luna’s anger quelled down, allowing her to see that she had obtained her head sprite in the item box.
“You’ll see Tia. This time around, you’ll be crying for mercy by my almighty power.” Both sisters walked back to the center of the field. Luna had the ball under her hoof. As soon as everyone on the field was ready to start. Luna ran a hard diagonal left towards Celestia’s side of the field. Celestia ran up to Luna, ready to tackle her.
“That trick won’t work you know.” Celestia stated. Instead Luna stopped in place and surged with electricity. Celestia made the mistake of tackling into Luna and received a painful, but weak shock that caused her to fall on the ground for a second.
“Tia, didn’t you know that Offensive and Power characters have a damaging dodge?” Luna stated happily. She laughed as she ran off to the goal. Celestia recovered from her shock with an unamused expression on her face. She charged after Luna like a buffalo during stampede season. Luna developed an evil grin on her face as she activated her Captain’s Item. The entire area around her was covered in a blanket of darkness. Celestia and her team were utterly confused by the pitch black surroundings they were enveloped in. Then, the moon shone from the very center of the darkness and unleashed a shockwave of lunar energy, knocking back every player out within its destructive reach. Now, all that remained was Luna and the Kritter standing between her and the goal. Her hoofball began to flash a brilliant white as she kicked the ball into the air. Luna jumped into the air and spread her wings far and wide. Her coat became pitch black and her midnight blue gear turned into a cream-white color. She kicked the ball, which spread into six different balls this time. The Kritter opened his arms, ready to intercept all the balls raining down on him all at flying speeds. The first two balls were effortlessly blocked by him. Unfortunately, the rest of the balls were unable to be blocked. With her megastrike, Luna scored four points, leaving the score at 5-2 in Luna’s favor.
Celestia recovered from the assault to see just how far the scores have shifted in her favor. She was seething in anger. The Koopa on her team approached her in an attempt to comfort her. Instead, Celestia fired a laser from her horn onto her teammate, which exploded upon contact on the ground the Koopa stood on. The Koopa flew high into the sky with chirp-like screaming. Celestia huffed in disappointment. She approached the center of the field with the ball, not even uttering a single word to her sister. Luna had the biggest, proudest expression on her face.
“So Tia, how did it feel to be duped by your younger sister?” Celestia simply glared into Luna’s eyes with an intense passion. She knew what she had to do. When the timer began, Celestia zigzagged past Luna and her team. Monty Mole and Toad followed by going onto the opposite side of their captain. Birdo aimed her sights at Celestia. She saw that she was trying to dupe the entire team with a surrounding strategy. She kicke the ball into the air and passed it to Monty Mole. However, she took the brunt of the hit by Birdo and was knocked into the electric fence. The electricity coursing through her body left her body numb. She screamed out in the pain equivalent to being stabbed one hundred-thousand times in each individual muscle in her body. In the stands, Twilight covered her eyes with her hooves and turned her head away. Meanwhile, Monty Mole and Toad passed the ball to each other twice, causing the ball to shine in lighter colors. When Toad passed the ball to Monty Mole, the light on the ball was a bright white. Time stood still for a moment before Monty Mole kicked it passed the Kritter, scoring a goal for Celestia’s team. Out of pure joy, Monty Mole dug into the ground and popped out of three different sections of the ground. Celestia’s lied down on the ground with visible char marks all over her body and gear. Seeing that her teammate was happy about the score despite the gap between points brought a ray of comfort to her in her hour of pain: happiness.
“Well Tia, it looks like your teammate was able to score a point for you. You’ll need three more points if you hope to win against me!” Luna stated semi-aggressively and semi-happily. She extended her hoof towards Celestia, who was down on the ground. This act of compassion confused Celestia to no end.
“Even after I froze you and tackled you out of spite, why would you help me?” Celestia’s question brought a large smile onto the face of Luna.
“I know you did not mean to do it Tia. These gauntlets have been affecting our attitude ever since we put them on. It was never your fault that we both like to act like typical sisters. Besides, I kind of laughed when my Birdo knocked you into the electrical fence.” Celestia smiled as she slowly extended her hoof with the gauntlet equipped towards her sister’s hoof. Luna reached in more quickly and grasped Celestia’s hoof with her gauntlet hoof. The gauntlets have both shined an orange color, transporting both princesses to the middle of the field standing up. The two of them looked around the stadium, feeling the energy of the entire crowd pouring out onto the field. Celestia and Luna flashed a smile at each other.
“You know Lulu, just because you helped me doesn’t mean I’ll let you win easy.”
“We doth hoped thou performed more seriously beloved sister.” Luna sarcastically stated. There was one minute on the clock left, and she had the ball. She kicked the ball over to Dry Bones, who was directly behind her. Luna ran towards the opposite goal. Celestia smiled as she ran after her sister. The Toad and the Koopa charged after the Dry Bones while the Boo joined with Luna. The Dry Bones kicked the ball into the air just before he was tackled by the Toad. The ball was going into the air above the Boo. He managed to get a hold of it and decided to use the Mushroom that Luna held in reserve from the Monty Mole’s defensive measures before Celestia’s megastrike. His high speed combined with the speed boost on the mushroom allowed him to zip past the competition and go near the goal.
Just as he was about to pass it, Celestia’s Kritter tackled the Boo, causing him to fly near the goalie box line. The Kritter retrieved the ball that was near the Boo and threw it over to Celestia. Just as she was about to get it, Luna tackled into her and got the ball instead. Celestia heard a familiar chime as she was hit, and found that she obtained a set of three black spheres with white eyes, orange feet, fuses, and wind-up keys on them. Wasting no time, she immediately activated her item, causing a line of Bob-Ombs to fall onto Luna and explode. Luna flew into the sky as she was bombarded, and Celestia jumped towards the ball. She passed it over to her Toad. Toad turned his body in a way to take the ball and then held his foot out for a while. A burning feeling overcame his foot as he kicked the ball, setting it on fire. The flaming projectile flew straight towards Luna’s Kritter. When the ball collided with him, the Kritter’s eyes jolted wide-open as his scale-ridden flesh around his claws were fusing together under the burning pressure. He ran around screaming in pain. Toad smiled and passed the ball over to the nearby Koopa. Koopa held his foot out for a bit before kicking it into the goal by the unguarded space around the goalie. The horn blew, confirming the score. The crowd went wild as Koopa walked down the field, taking in all of the cheers he received. After the roars of the crowd ceased, Luna and Celestia faced each other at the middle of the field. The score was five to four with Luna having the advantage. There were only thirty seconds left on the clock and Celestia had a concerned expression on her face.
“My younger sister is ahead of me by one point. I’ll have to play much more aggressively. I’ve played around with her for too long, so this time I’ll be serious.” Celestia thought. The two sisters looked at each other with fires burning in their eyes. The thick silence continued until Luna decided to break it.
“Tia, whatever happens in this game, I’m glad that I finally got to spend some actual quality time with you.” The nature of the statement broke Celestia’s concentration. “We’ve known that we’ve practically bullied each other in this game, and we couldn’t help but let do so or we risk getting seriously hurt. But, if I would be glad to be hurt by anypony in a game, I’m glad that you hurt me.” Behind the burns and freezes on Luna’s face, a heartfelt smile had emanated. Celestia wanted to cry, but the chaos surging through her body left her unable to do so.
“I am also glad to have been hurt by you. Whoever wins, I will always be proud with how well you performed Lulu.” As Celestia concluded with her words, the ball materialized under Luna’s hoof and the timer ran. “Still, I’ll try to win for everypony!” Celestia stated with a more serious attitude. Luna’s Dry Bones ran ahead of her and went near the goal at Celestia’s side of the field. Luna performed an aerial pass over to her Dry Bones. Then, he charged his kick with a bit of energy before the shot. A weak kick had sent the white, shining ball to the Kritter. He caught it with the utmost ease and passed it to the nearby Koopa. As he got the ball, a series of small, red turtle shells were shot from the Dry Bones and hit him along with Celestia and the Toad. The Dry Bones picked up the ball and charged his kick. Rather than a simple charged kick, the ball was surrounded by pulsing electricity and rammed itself into the Kritter. The goalie felt the electricity pulse throughout his entire body, being unable to move.
As the ball came close to the Dry Bones, Celestia’s Toad intercepted the ball’s path and past it over to Monty Mole. Monty Mole then performed a charged shot on Luna’s goalie, nabbing Celestia an item of her head as a sprite. She smiled as she knew just what to do with it. The kritter bounced the fierce ball back, unable to catch it. Monty Mole then jumped into the air and passed it over to Celestia. Luna growled fiercely as she and all her teammates attempted to surround Celestia. She closed her eyes and looked down for a moment before the ground underneath her began flashing a brilliant yellow-white color. The glow expanded over to Luna and her teammates, causing them to be immobile for the second. Celestia opened her eyes, revealing nothing but light. Luna struggled in the binding chains of light around her legs.
“What sorcery is this Tia!? I demand to know!” With a booming, powerful voice, Celestia spoke.
“This is the true power of the sun!” There were only ten seconds left on the clock. Celestia kicked the ball high into the air and jumped along with it, attempting her second megastrike. Luna gasped at how bold her sister floated into the air. Celestia kicked the ball with earth-shattering force, causing the ball to split into six of them at maximum speed. Despite his previous injury, the Kritter steeled himself and spread his arms out wide open. Kritter blocked blazing ball after ball, feeling every sense of pain tingling throughout his hands. When the last two balls shot down on him, he tried to block them. However, his reaction time slowed down, causing him to completely miss the two balls. The timer flashed to zero, and Celestia had scored two points.
Celestia won the game of hoofball with a score of five to six. Discord and all of the ponies cheered with an intense fervor at how fast-paced the game they watched was. Luna was in a sitting position, looking down at the ground in sadness. Celestia floated downwards to her sister with a smile on her face. The chaotic energy within the gauntlets dissipated through their bodies. The princesses’ teammates and uniforms have also degenerated back into electronic code form.
“It’s strange how this match played out. Although you had an upper hand and created a sizeable distance of points between me and you, I ended up winning the game. It reminds me of the time when you were finally freed from your inner negativity.” Luna looked up from the ground to see Celestia’s smiling face. Luna smiled and began to cry before she embraced her sister in a sisterly hug.
“I’m just glad that this ordeal was over. I never want to hurt you the same way again Tia…” Luna softly replied. Without anyone noticing, Celestia tried to pull off her gauntlet. It became apparent to her that it will not be removed despite the force given.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Didn’t you see how awesome that game was Tavi!? That game in particular was brutal!” Vinyl Scratch repeated excitedly. Octavia softly sighed.
“Well, it was very harsh for a hoofball game. Yet, for some reason, I find myself captivated by how explosive the plays were.” She faced Vinyl Scratch and gave her a soft smile. “I definitely know who I’ll be playing against though.” Vinyl Scratch returned the smile as the two of them walked down the halls of the Stormship. Doctor Whooves and Derpy both maintained a satisfied grin.
“That game was amazing. I can’t believe just how highly advanced the technology in this universe is! The gauntlets summon very capable teammates and provide very strong armor. Did you see just how hard some of those aliens were hit?” Doctor Whooves stated.
“I liked the part where they hit each other.” Derpy absent-mindedly stated, forgetting all of her previous worries about the universe.
“Wow, there were humans in the stands! I got to touch a human!!!” Lyra ecstatically said. Bonbon groaned.
“Look, I was wrong and you were right. You don’t need to keep saying it over and over again.” She stated rather annoyed. “Look, just be thankful that I liked what I saw out there. I also like the idea that we get to compete against each other. It’ll allow me to vent out certain human-related frustrations.” In a far-off room on the Stormship, Twilight Sparkle hugged Celestia with a tight grip.
“Please Princess, don’t behave like that again! It was too painful to watch.” Twilight said with tears in her eyes.
“Please Twilight, this is kind of embarrassing to do. But, I promise that I won’t behave like that again.” Celestia stated casually. She looked down at her gauntlet, which was inactive. “Twilight, these gauntlets are filled with such startling power. I know that you saw me behave like a monster out there, but that’s because the gauntlet had given me such euphoria. It was as if the energy made me feel two hundred percent more alive. It is a feeling everypony has to experience just once in their life.”
“But Princess, I saw what the gauntlet did to you. Why do you want me to wear such a monstrous contraption!?”
“I can’t reveal anything else to you yet. Let’s just say that sometimes, you’ll have to taint yourself with chaos in order to fight it.” Twilight stepped back a bit and saw the understanding expression on Celestia’s face. She nodded in agreement.
“Well, despite the horrible acts in the game, I’m glad you won.” Twilight said with an uneasy smile. She dashed off to unite with her friends. As no one looked around, a terrible pain surged through Celestia’s body followed by a feeling of choking. She covered her mouth with her hoof as she coughed as hard as she could. When she removed the hoof from her mouth, she saw that it was stained with red liquid that tasted of copper. It was her blood.
“You’ll have to do it, because I won’t be able to continue for long.”