HighTail University Pt. 06

Part 6: A whole lotta Poloney

By Firefly

~Should I be this bloody nervous? This is so silly! I'm wearing bloody ballet flats and a skirt. Then again, they're all basically bloody naked. I mean, at least nudity is becoming less offensive in society and it's part of the pony aesthetic. God...I'm not even comfortable in my own skin, I doubt I could run around with my bloody boobs out like that. Oh! They're all staring. I should do something...~

Lily raised her hand and waved awkwardly as Ember tugged her to center field, releasing her hand and turning to the gathered ponies.

"Alright, you lot. This is Lily. She's touring the clubs today with Lemondrop up there and it's up to us to make a glowing impression so she has no choice but to apply to the club! So let's roll things back a bit and take it slow for a match ok? And if any of you accidentally stomps on her toes, I'll run you on the treads for a week!" Ember cast a playful glance at Lily and winked. It wasn't reassuring enough to let Lily know that Ember was joking about being stomped on.

The ponies responded with a chorus of whinnies, not their own voices but from speakers that Lily couldn't see.

"Nice to meet you." She said rather awkwardly, not sure what else to lead with.

Ember chuckled and reached out, poking Carrot's bit gently and wiping a line of drool from the corner of it, "Forgive them if they don't respond with words Lily. One of the earlier lessons a pony learns is that you speak only when necessary. Of course that varies a bit between careers and the like, but generally. Ponies communicate through cute noises, personality, and stomps. Isn't that right you four?"

The four stomped once in unison.

"That's a yes, by the way." Ember added before clapping her hands, "Alright ponies! Let's get this filly all sweaty before she's done her tour for the day. Make a good impression. To your positions, Lily here will be with Blue and I." The other three took their positions leaving Lily, Blue, and Ember standing there at the center.

"Alright! Cliffnotes. Polo is basically just fancy pony soccer. It's a zero-contact sport. Balls may only be manipulated via hoof. No headbutting the ball, no hands etcetera etcetera. Generally, it's three ponies to a team although some leagues do 2v2 and 1v1. Not the professional ones, however. A match starts at the crack of a whip generally but for practice settings like this, we tend to use the buzzer like so..." Ember pressed a button along the inside of her glove and a loud buzzer sounded from the high-tech scoreboard.

"Three positions. Center, Left, and Right. There's no real goalie in Polo because the ball is heavier. We generally rely on getting ahead of the ball and turning it around although if it gets to an endzone you're permitted to be 'in goal'." Ember tapped her chin for a moment and eyed a rack of spare equipment to the side for a long moment and then looked back to Lily. She for once, opted against the ideas bubbling up in her head and smiled.

"Thaaaat's the bare basics. There are other subtle rules but we will choose to play without them today. So get your butt to one of those white circles, kicks some balls, and have fun! Sound good?"

It was admittedly a lot of information all at once but it seemed fairly straightforward. It really was...pony soccer but with a few different rules. Lily had played soccer like twice in her life and she admittedly couldn't remember being any good at it. But here she was, "Sounds good." She said this as she turned, looking at the two white circles on the left and right. Ember intended to take the center position by the looks of it. Blue seemed to gravitate towards the left side of the field and so Lily nodded and headed to the opposite, settling herself into the middle of the white circle.

~What in the heck am I even doing?~ She wondered as she looked down at her outfit. It felt a bit ridiculous to be doing physical activity like this in a skirt and ballet flats. In a uniform made up of White, Black, and Grey. She shook her head a little bit and looked up at Lemondrop in the stands who gave her an encouraging nod.

Lily just shook her head and turned her gaze forward, She might as well do her best, even if the idea of joining a ponygirl club seemed a silly notion to her, especially after all her ignorance of the whole scene and its place in the world.

The buzzer sounded loudly as Lily was rolling thoughts over in her head. All the ponies were on the move except Lily.

"Lily!" Came a sharp call from Ember, who had spared her a glance, "Get your head out of the stars and get in here!" She charged toward the ball.

Lily noted the change in posture they all had. Lowering themselves slightly and digging their treaded hooves into the grass. They moved way quicker than Lily would have anticipated and how they weaved in and around each other while fighting for the ball was impressive to watch.

Lily hurried towards the group as the ball bounced between their hooves as they struggled to break free from one another. That was until Lily got close and Ember shifted suddenly, kicking the ball hard and sending it sailing towards her.

Lily blinked as the ball came her way. Moving quickly to kick at it. She was surprised just how much heavier than a soccer ball it was. Not heavy enough to hurt when it was kicked, but heavy enough that you noticed when you were getting it moving. It was also bigger, knee height which demanded a different set of contact points when moving it. Lily dribbled the ball forwards, trying to gain as much ground toward the other team's goal before the others were on top of her. She tried her best to keep up with their back and forth, the quick movements that weaved the ball around her and left her dizzy on the spot.

And so it went for most of the game. Lily did her best to keep up, running with them, finding her place as the game went on as a kind of receiver while Ember and Blue kept on top of the ball. She'd even saved a few goals at their end of the field although the heavy ball was making mincemeat out of her unprotected shins and legs, already glowing slightly red and scraped up. As the game's timer rounded near to its close, Ember kicked the ball wide yet again, sending it straight to Lily who was already moving forward in anticipation.

"All on you Lily! Get it in there!" Ember called out.

Lily pushed forwards as quickly as she could, even managing to get it past the first pony that came to intercept but dribbling it wide in the process. If she rushed to catch up to the ball, the other two would be on top of her before she ever got there. So she switched it up. Launching herself forward and into almost a slide, enough to get a good solid kick of the ball towards the goal. It sailed between the two ponies closing on her, both who dove at it and...

...Hit the goal post on the left side. The buzzer sounded audibly as Lily lay on the ground, grass stains all up her entire outfit and letting out a slight laugh as she lay there, panting heavily and staring up at the sky.

Ok. So that had been a lot more fun than she had anticipated.

Ember hurried over and peeked in at the edge of Lily's vision, "You ok there newbie?"

The other four ponies were trotting over as well as Lily blew strands of brown hair from her face.

"I'm alright. A...A bit winded. How the heck do you guys keep up that pace?"

Ember extended a hand to Lily, pulling her up and onto her feet, "Honestly? A lot of exercise, good diet...y'know. The obvious stuff."

Lily nodded and reached up, pushing her now sweaty hair out of her face and looking at the state of her outfit, "Cleaning drones are going to hate me."

"Nah, I can assure you the cleaning drones can handle more than a few grass stains at a school like this. But that's beside the point, you did pretty well out there, Newbie. You sure you haven't played polo before?" Ember asked with a curious tilt of her head.

Lily reached down, jiggling her stomach beneath her shirt, "Does it LOOK like I've played polo before? I haven't, honest. But you guys made it pretty clear where I should be...so I mean, that's all on you."

Ember smirked a little bit, "Did we now? Or did you pick up on that naturally? I do believe that's the question. Overall though...I'd give you a solid four out of ten! Sound about right ponies?" Ember asked the assembled group who answered with a chorus of snorts and disapproving looks.

"Ok ok ok! More like a seven out of ten. Didn't want to give the newbie a swelled head. Jeesh."

~Seven out of ten huh? That's better than my current grade ratio...~ What a bit of a funny twist, she thought to herself for a moment.

Ember clapped Lily on the back, "Anywho! Now that I've paid you a compliment, you can thank me by applying to the club! I'm the head of the ponygirl club after all!"

"Well, I'm not sure. I have a lot of clubs to consider admittedly." Lily said hesitantly.

"Did aaaaany of those clubs get you moving, engage you and make sure you had fun?"

"Well...no..."

Ember interrupted, "Exactly. So make sure you consider that when you're writing up applications alright? You've got good strong legs as far's I can tell, and plenty of spirit buried in that thought-filled head of yours. Would be a shame to waste it on the bloody swim team or something! Just consider it alright Newbie?"

Lily chuckled a bit. She kind of liked this girl's brash but encouraging attitude, "I'll make sure to consider it."

"Darn right you will. Aaaaas for that..." Ember motioned to Lily's very red and very scraped up shins as well as the scrape on her arm from her little 'slide' at the end, "Ask Lemondrop to take you to the care station, they'll clean you up right quick. Tell them Ember The Great sent you, alright? OK. Bye-bye!" She gave Lily a playful nudge towards the edge of the field, dismissing her to Lemondrop's care who was waiting diligently at the edge of the field as Lily walked over, doing her best to not show that she was in physical pain.

Ember watched her go and gave a bit of an elbow to Carrot, "She's feeling that one huh?" Carrot let out a slight nicker of agreement.

"Yeah, I'd know thaaaaat walk any day. She's gunna feel that one tomorrow. But hey, she did good! Maybe a new addition to the club. Now did I say you four could be lazy? To your positions! Drill time you stinky ponies!" Ember clapped her hands and waved them towards the training gear at the edge of the field, her mind pondering whether or not Lily might apply to their club, even if she only got a taste of the polo team instead of the club as a whole. She did pause a moment, turning and calling out.

"Oi! Lemondrop! You get your ass back here after you take care of the newbie! We need to catch up, ok?" Ember called out, her voice carrying through the tunnel to the departing pair.

Lemondrop turned about and nodded, "Alright alright! Same room?"

"You got it!" Ember called back before turning back to the team.

Lemondrop chuckled and motioned Lily to follow along, "Ember told me to ask you to take me to the uh..."

"...Care station? Yeah. Was already headed that way. Gotta make sure those scrapes don't get infected. Ponies need proper care after all." Lemondrop said with a bright smile.

"I'm not a pony."

"Not yet. But you could be."

Lily shrugged, "Maybe. I've got a lot of different clubs to consider."

"That you do. I do hope you've enjoyed today's tour at least?"

Lily nodded, glancing over her shoulder towards the polo field as they departed, "More than I anticipated." She said with a smile.