Late one afternoon, a circle of ponies stood outside the Brighthouse.
Sunset couldn’t help grinning excitedly. At her hoofs, there was a bucket which was slowly filling with water. A little way on either side of her were Misty and Sunny who also had buckets which were slowly filling. However, it was the pony directly opposite her that Sunset was grinning at.
Starlight stood apprehensively watching as water spirted from the hosepipe into her bucket. “Sunset, when you said you had a suprise I didn't think this would be it. I’m not sure if it's a good idea.”
“I beg to differ, given the way you’ve been improving the last few days you’ll have no problem,” Sunset grinned. “You’ve come on a long way since we visited the school.”
Starlight flexed her leg unsurely. It did feel a lot better now and Sunset had used the spell less and less on her. In fact, she couldn’t remember needing it at all that morning. However, she still couldn’t shake a feeling this was a bad idea.
Sunny meanwhile could barely contain her excitement. She’d been practising with Misty a lot. Therefore, her control of her levitation had improved considerably. She was visibly shaking with excitement with a beaming smile on her face.
Misty, for her part, was quietly confident. She had been practising her shield spell almost religiously. Asking pretty much anypony who could throw water at her to do so. As a direct result, her ability to cast her shield had significantly increased. She was sure that if she could withstand the randomised bombardment Izzy could unleash, she was ready for this too.
Over on the sidelines, Pipp, Izzy, Hitch and Sparky were excitedly waiting for the game to start. Although, they all hoped they were far enough away to not get wet.
Suddenly, Zipp landed in the middle of the circle. A black and white striped bib around her barrel.
“Okay, listen up. Sunset asked me to ref this game,” Zipp announced. “You cannot take water from your bucket unless it is overflowing. You can’t keep your shield active constantly. You can only keep it up for a maximum of five seconds and can’t raise it unless there is incoming fire. Got all that?”
There was a series of confirmation noises from the four players as Zipp looked around intently.
“We start on my whistle when the first bucket overflows,” Zipp announced before she took to the air.
Everypony stood watching their bucket intently. The tension in the air rose as the water levels in each bucket neared the top. Then, finally, Starlight’s bucket began to overflow and Zipp blew her whistle.
With a small amount of trepidation, Starlight’s horn glowed as she lifted a ball of water from the bucket. She whisked it around before sending it straight at Misty.
Despite having kept her eye on the water ball, Misty couldn’t help squeaking. Her horn glowed as she cast her shield, it appeared immediately and without flickering. The water ball impacted it and splashed harmlessly over it.
Misty couldn’t help grinning as those watching cheered with excitement. However, she squeaked again as another water ball came flying towards her, this time from Sunset. Again, Misty’s horn glowed, and, despite the pressure, she cast the spell perfectly.
The shield appeared and easily withstood the impact from the ball of water. Water splashed off of it everywhere however Misty remained dry.
“Ha, you see. I can do it!” Misty beamed.
Meanwhile, Starlight couldn’t help smirking as water splashed everywhere from her shield. Sunny had lobbed a massive ball of water at her. Seemingly using all the water in her bucket.
“You’re not going to beat my shield with water, Sunny,” Starlight advised.
“Can’t hurt trying though,” Sunny beamed.
“Be a while before we’ll get another from you then,” Sunset smirked.
Sunny blinked as she looked at her bucket which was now almost empty. She looked up towards the others and gasped, suddenly realising that theirs were almost overfilling again.
“Nonono, come on,” she urged the hosepipe.
However, she squeaked as she spotted two balls of water flying toward her. One from Misty, and the other from Sunset.
Sunny raised her shield, Misty’s water ball splashing over it. However, Sunset curved hers away at the last moment. It quickly changed direction and hurtled towards Starlight.
Starlight was watching her bucket. Having seen Misty and Sunset had both aimed at Sunny, she thought she was safe. She was therefore most surprised when a ball of water hit her in the side.
“GAH! Where did?” she squealed.
“Keep your eyes on the balls,” Sunset advised whilst grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Starlight snorted and glared in Sunset’s direction as she raised another ball from her bucket.
On the sidelines, Sparky whooped as he found a brick in the undergrowth. Picking it up, he ran back towards Hitch and the others.
“Sparky? What are you up to?” Hitch frowned.
Sparky said nothing, he just grinned as he blew fire over the brick.
There was a flash as a scoreboard appeared. A depiction of each of the four ponies' cutie marks above a set of flip cards for each one.
“Whoa, Sparky!” Izzy gasped. “You’re getting more and more controlled with your fire, aren’t you.”
“Wait, you meant to make that?” Hitch gasped.
“Yep,” Sparky grinned.
He flipped over the card below Sunset’s cutie mark. Indicating she had scored a direct hit.
“You need to keep your eye on him, Hitch,” Pipp smiled. “He’ll be transforming everything in your office.”
“Like you think he hasn’t already?” Hitch frowned. “Please don’t give him more ideas, Pipp.”
Meanwhile, balls of water whipped back and forth in all directions. Shields were raised and lowered in defence but many times water balls hit their marks.
Those on the side lines watched as the game continued. Sparky did his best to keep score as Sunset started to build a lead.
Eventually, the ground around the buckets was becoming more and more waterlogged. However, it seemed the ground around Sunny was holding the most. She gasped as, not for the first time, she felt one of her hoofs getting stuck.
Sunny looked down and grunted as she wrestled it free, only to find herself being hit by a water ball for her troubles. She cried out in surprise. “No fair! How can I concentrate on the game when I keep getting stuck!”
Zipp blew her whistle, holding up both forehoofs indicating play should stop. Then she flew over to the tap and turned the flow of water off. As she came back towards the competitors, she looked at the scoreboard.
Sunset had the most points, followed by Misty then Starlight and finally Sunny. However, Zipp frowned as she looked around, it was clear that Starlight was the wettest. She had been subjected to the most trick shots from Sunset. Sunset herself, however, was still bone dry. Then she spotted Sunny grunting as she tried to extract one of her hind hoofs from the mud again.
“Okay, empty the buckets,” Zipp instructed. “This is going to be our last round. After the first bucket overflows you’ll have just two minutes of play.”
“A time limit,” Sunset gasped before grinning. “I like the idea of that.”
“Yeah, if we don’t then Sunny’s going to get stuck for good,” Zipp chuckled.
Everypony did as instructed and tipped their bucket out. Sunny though moved hers away to one side before tipping it.
After double-checking each bucket was empty and the hosepipes had been replaced. Zipp headed back to the tap.
Starlight snorted as she flexed her hind leg. It felt fine but worrying about it had been the cause of many a drenching.
She looked down as she heard water starting to fill her bucket, quickly realising it was filling quicker than the others. Frowning, she looked towards Zipp who was fiddling with the hosepipes.
“Those who are most wet get an advantage,” Zipp shouted.
“Sounds good to me,” Sunset replied confidently. “Bring it on everypony.”
Starlight looked back at her bucket and noticed that it wouldn’t be long until it would be full. Glancing up, she spotted the grin on Sunset’s face, she had clearly been enjoying herself. Starlight frowned, she wanted to wipe the smirk from Sunset’s face. Looking around, she noticed Misty looking at Sunset the same way. Therefore, Starlight started to make a plan, hoping that Sunny and Misty would follow her lead.
Zipp grinned as she flew into the centre. Knowing exactly which bucket was filling fastest, she watched Starlight's intently. Then, as it started to overflow she blew her whistle.
Starlight's horn glowed and she lifted water from the bucket as normal. However, as she whipped the ball around and towards Misty she suddenly split it into two balls. Carefully, she ensured that from Sunset’s perspective, it still looked like only one.
Misty squeaked as she raised her shield. Starlight concentrated hard, this would need split-second timing for her plan to succeed.
The ball nearest Sunset impacted Misty’s shield, resulting in a shower of water. Starlight used this to mask the second as she curved it around behind Misty.
Sunset meanwhile was none the wiser. To her, it looked like Starlight's first shot had hit Misty’s shield. Therefore, she was looking at the buckets. Sunny’s was looking to be nearly full so she was getting ready to defend from that direction.
However, suddenly a ball of water hit her in the side of her neck. Water splashed all over her. “Aaah, where did that come from?”
Sunny grinned as Sunset’s instinctive reaction was to turn her head towards where the water had come from. Therefore, Sunset was looking away from her and she had a clear shot.
“GAAH,” Sunset cried as she was hit in the back of her head. Water flew everywhere, completely saturating her mane that flopped forward and over her eyes.
Coughing, Sunset desperately flipped her head backwards to get her mane out of her eyes. However, she was too slow to see Misty’s water ball flying towards her.
Misty grinned as her water ball hit Sunset in her chest. Water shot upwards into her face and Sunset stepped backwards. Her eyes closed as she coughed and spluttered. Completely unaware her own bucket was overflowing.
Having seen Sunset was on the back hoof, Starlight decided to go all in. She lifted the whole contents of her bucket into one massive ball of water. As Sunset stepped backwards it was already on a collision course with her.
Sunset cried out in surprise as the massive ball of water hit her in the neck. Water flew everywhere and completely drenched her. She began to cough and splutter as some went up her nose.
Finally, Zipp blew her whistle again to indicate the game was over.
Sunset shook her head as she looked at the floor, still coughing and spluttering. Eventually, she panted as she looked up at Starlight.
“I never heard anything in the rules about not being able to split balls,” Starlight smiled bashfully.
“Yeah, I dunno,” Zipp frowned. “Maybe we should deduct a point for that.”
“No way!” Sunset panted before grinning. “It was a brilliant idea. I can’t believe I never thought of it before. It took me completely by surprise.”
“Oh shoot,” Starlight sighed. “Looks like I didn’t wipe that smile from your face after all.”
She started laughing, quickly joined by Sunset and Misty. Sunny however looked over to them with concern.
“Erm, little help,” she gasped as she tried and failed to pull her hoofs free. “Little stuck here.”
The others all laughed as they all headed to Sunny’s aid.