//------------------------------// // Ch. 15 - Game Time // Story: Equestria World, Book 1: Surviving Canterlot High // by Gear Works //------------------------------// Our first game was just days away, and while the team was doing fine, our kicking game needing work, as in our backup kicker. His name was Swift Kick, who was a member of the soccer team last semester. It was Soarin who asked him, plus a few other good kickers, to try out for the kicking position. While I’m listed as the main kicker, I’m also a backup QB and could play at times with the offensive line. So I needed Swift Kick to be ready if he needed to step in. His long kicks were fine, but something felt off with his high kicks. Twilight asked Moon Dancer to come to practice and use one of the tablets to record and analyze the kicks to find anything wrong, since Twilight has to focus on the rest of the team for data analysis. “OK. Let’s see what we have on each high kick,” I asked Moon Dancer. She played back the videos and said, “Looks like he’s not timing his kicks with where the ball is in the air.” “Swift, give yourself another second before letting go of the ball when you start to kick,” I requested. Swift held the ball and started to swing his kicking leg forward, and then released the ball a second more than planned. The football hit the top of the net as planned, which was a better improvement than before. “Judging by the angle, that works better for high, short range kicks,” Moon Dancer said. “We just need to worry about the wind conditions.” “Because the wind can hold the ball back or send it out of bounds,” Swift added. “I remember about taking wind conditions into account.” We heard the coach’s whistle blown from afar. After a moment, Coach Iron Will called to us. “Jack, Swift, ready to test some field goals?” “Ready when you are, coach,” I said. This is when we test out the range and distance of each field goal, plus how special teams can hold back the defense. With Thunderlane as the holder, I started to do some field goals, putting the focus on special teams. When I made my first attempt, one of the defensive players at the end got through and blocked the kick. “Hey, who was supposed to cover the end?” Iron Will yelled, “Boys, the middle needs to hold on to two players at least, not the ones at the end. Do it again.” The guys did better after a few more attempts, and my kicks were good enough to work. It was Swift’s turn to kick. Moon Dancer got her tablet ready while I looked from the back to see the direction of each kick. There were good kicks and bad kicks. Swift’s angle was good, but had some problems with the directions on one side, which required me to show what needs to be corrected. Once we were done with our kicks, coach went back to the main groups while we rested our legs and looked at the video recording to see if any improvements were needed. “So far, your best is around the 40-yard line,” Moon Dancer said. “Is there any way we can get to the 50-yard line, or at least the 45,” I asked. “Maybe,” Moon Dancer replied, “but we will need the right wind and holding down the defense so they can’t get a tip of it.” “I can work on the angle a bit down more, but that will be the best I can do,” Swift said. “And if the wind is blowing at me, then it will be a wasted kick.” “Agreed. Anything past the 40-yard line will have to be put into question for now,” I said. Soon then, we heard a voice from the playing field. “INCOMING!!!” We saw a football flipping in the air, coming down on us. My soul release powers kicked in, but this time, it felt like time was slowing down, allowing me to learn where the ball will land before time went back to normal. Moon Dancer went to cover her head, but I was able to catch it with one hand, a foot above her head. She looked up and was surprised at how I was able to catch it. “Hey, next time, know where you’re aiming, or at least where it will bounce off the player.” I took the ball and threw it back to Shining Armor. “I can’t believe how you can catch a ball like that without panicking,” Moon Dancer said. “I guess it’s just instinct,” I said. “Not everything can be based on instinct alone,” she replied. “True, but there are some thing that might be a mystery to others,” I said. “Maybe there’s luck to it as well.” “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said. With practice coming to an end, I put up my equipment and started to make my way to the truck. I knew Chrysalis was with Rarity after school and that she would help take her home for me. As I was coming up to my truck, Moon Dancer stopped me. “Jack, I need to ask you something,” she said. “Has there been anything strange happening to you?” “Not really,” I answered. “Why do you ask?” “Well, I find it…strange to see how you can pull off those catches with ease. Not everyone can do something like that. And with the way you have helped out at school…it’s just not natural. There’s no science or theories to explain it.” “Not everything is based on science,” I said. “It just happens when it happens.” “Still, I just find it strange, and I think Twilight thinks the same, but won’t admit it,” she said. “Well, just focus on the data that we need and forget the strange events that happen. I’ll see you tomorrow, OK?” She nodded and went on her way. I got into my truck and drove back home. “So time just slowed down when your soul release power went active,” Celestia said. “That’s what I believe happen, unless this is a new power that I have unlocked,” I said. I knew that something strange and new happened to me yesterday, and needed to find out about what did happen. Celestia got out the book and flipped through the all the pages in the book. “I can’t find anything about what you just experienced,” she said. “Maybe your soul release powers have either evolved, or that it’s natural and was never mention.” “So there are some things that Star Swirl has yet to discover, or he never got all the details on some powers,” I said. “I wish I could have Twilight look all this over, but until we get Sunset on the right path, and have Twilight gain her trust, I can’t bring her in to all this,” she said. “Maybe not.” She raised her eyebrow, wondering what I was talking about. “Moon Dancer might be able to understand this stuff as Twilight would. She asked me if there was something strange happening to me yesterday. I lied to her about it, but I think she could be on to me. If she can understand these powers, she could be able to help us.” “As long as she can keep your powers a secret. Something I can’t risk at this time. I’ll have my sister look into her. If your powers are evolving, then we need someone with the smarts to understand this, and that’s something that Luna or me can work on, even if we spent some time with Star Swirl.” “Well, with our first game coming up this Friday, I’ll know I can find out if time slows down when I’m on the field,” I said. It’s Friday evening on the football field. Cadence was working with the cheerleaders getting everything ready. Twilight and Moon Dancer were up in the booth. And I was with the team getting ready for pregame warm-ups. Shining Armor called me over to where he, Flash Sentry, Thunderlane, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash were at, which was near the 50-yard line. Three players from Cloudsdale were on the other side. “Jack,” Shining Armor said, “say hello to, who we like to call, the bully boys. Hoops, Dumb-bell, and Score.” “I was hoping for some cool dude as the new guy, not some Average Joe,” Dumb-bell said. “DB, lets not judge him until we see him in action, if he gets any,” Hoops said to Dumb-bell. “Don’t let these boys fool you with their attitude,” Rainbow Dash said. “They let all that out during the game. Otherwise, they are good friends of ours.” “There’s only one team we all hate the most,” Soarin added. “Crystal Prep.” “Those hot shots like to show off to everyone that they’re perfect in every way,” Score said. “That’s what I have heard,” I replied. All of us started to do our stretches. Rainbow Dash helped with getting my legs loose for kicking. “So tell me…about…Crystal Prep,” I said as Dash was pushing my legs towards my chest. “Crystal Prep has been getting the best students from several cities besides Ponyville,” Hoops said. “It’s like they’re recruiting students to bring them to their school.” “You would think they would leave it to colleges to do that,” Score added. “Mane Coast Academy doesn’t do that for their school.” The others gave me a confused look, so I clarified my statement. “I came from Manehattan and attended at West End High. Mane Coast Academy is like Crystal Prep, but they don’t like to show off their wins to everyone.” “How do you know that?” Shining Armor asked. “I had a nice chat with their backup quarterback after we faced them one day. Both of us didn’t get much in playtime because we were backups in our area. They like to show other teams with respect, even if that team lost badly. Hopefully, he’s now the starting QB, because he said that their starter was graduating this past spring.” “Makes you wish that Crystal Prep can show that same respect to other schools, but they only care about themselves,” Hoops said. I decided to raise the issue that I talked about with Celestia. “Do any of you think that there could be something…strange with Crystal Prep? I mean, they’re perfect in every way. You would think they would find ways to, I don’t know, cheat to get what they want.” “That would be a first,” Dumb-bell responded. “If the did, then the school board would be on their case.” “And the guy in charge of the school board was a former principal of this school,” Flash added. Knowing that the only new info was the recruiting that they did, I was in the dark on how they remained perfect in everything. We finished up warm-ups and started making our way to the locker room for a pep talk when Luna asked Iron Will for me to talk with her. “So I see you talked to a few players from Cloudsdale,” Luna said. “Anything to take note, or was it just a casual conversation.” “Have you heard about Crystal Prep recruiting students from outside Ponyville?” I asked. “Don’t think I have. You think that would have anything to deal with Crystal Prep’s perfect record?” “Well, it’s a starting point, if we had a way to access their school records, finding out where they came from. But as of now, there’s nothing else that we can look into to confirm our suspicions.” “At least you tried to get a lead on them. For now, lets work on developing your powers.” “What about Moon Dancer?” I asked. “I’ve looked into her, and can see that she can be curious about some things. If I can talk to her before the end of the game, I can get a better idea of her.” “I saw that she’s up with Twilight in the booth. She’s going to be working on special teams from above, which is a plus for the team.” “Then I’ll look for her at half-time during the game. You might as well join the team right now. Just be ready for Iron Will’s motivation speech. He loved to give one.” So I made my way into the locker room just as Coach Iron Will was giving his speech to the team. No doubt, Luna was right about it being motivational. The team was fired up and ready to play. And with that, we made our way back to the field. As one of the alternate captains, we made our way to the center of the field for the coin toss. They won the toss and wanted the ball first. We were able to pick the side needed to give us the wind advantage in the 2nd and 4th quarters. With that set, it was time for the kickoff. I set the ball in place to be kicked, went back and looked at the players to my left and right. Seeing that they were ready, I proceeded to kick the ball to the other team. They got the ball, but didn’t get much after we chased them out of bounds. Leaving it to the rest of the team, I went and sat down and got in touch with Moon Dancer. “Didn’t feel much in the wind speed,” I spoke into the headset. “I already looked into the wind conditions. Very light winds, so it won’t play a factor in the game tonight. By the way, good job in sending the receiving player out of bounds.” “Guys saw which way he was planning to go, and was able to close any holes that were there,” I replied. “You don’t sound excited about the game.” “Let’s just say I’m not sure how much game time I will get tonight. Even if I’m more than a kicker.” And I was right. I didn’t get much play time expect for when I had to punt, or on the extra point after a touchdown, which we got two in the first half. With three seconds left in the half, and the score tied at 14 each, coach called me up to score a field goal to end the half. It was a 38-yard kick, which made it through with ease, giving us a 17 to 14 lead. As we made our way off the field for halftime, I looked up to see Luna and Celestia watching the game. When they looked at me, they were not pleased with the effort that was given to me. I just gave them the “what were you expecting” look. Luna decided to do what she planned to do with discussing with Moon Dancer. “Good job on giving us the lead with that field goal,” Shining Armor came up to me. Seeing that I wasn’t impressed in what I have done, he asked, “Something wrong, Jack?” “It just feels like how I was used last year with the last team,” I said. “I’m surprised that I’m listed as a backup QB and alternate captain. But for some reason, I still feel like the same old kicker that I was before.” “I’m aware that Principal Celestia wanted you on this team for a reason, and your kicker skills are a part of that,” he said. “Than why place the other titles for a reason when you already have those filled by others?” I asked. “I can see what you mean,” he responded. “Just give it some time.” After hearing the coach’s halftime update, it was back to the playing field. I noticed Shining Armor talking to Coach Iron Will about something before coming to see me. “Ready for the second half?” Shining Armor asked. I only let out a sigh, not wanting to answer. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance soon.” At first, I didn’t understand what he was talking about. But when the coach requested for me to return the ball from kickoff, I was more surprised that I would be doing this instead of Flash, who’s faster than me. I told Swift Kick to find time to warm up, in case something was to happen to me. I got on the field, waiting for the opposing team to kick the ball. Once they kicked the ball my way, the same effect I had when I grabbed the ball over Moon Dancer took effect again. Time slowed down for me to see where it would end up. I caught the ball and started to run. I was able to dodge some players, which forced me to run close to the edge to the playing field. When two more players were making their way towards me, closing any chance to move around them, I sense someone coming my way from my blind side. It was Thunderlane, making his way to tackling one of the opposing players, causing both to lose their footing. This opened the door for me to make it to the end zone, scoring a touchdown on the return play. Seeing as what just happened, I was hoping that would get everyone’s attention. Already, Thunderlane was making his way towards me as I was heading of the field. “About time you got some more action on the field,” Thunderlane said to me. “If you didn’t make that tackle, I would have been chased out of bounds,” I replied. We saw Shining Armor and Swift Kick coming our way. “We got the extra point covered. You go and take a quick break on the bench,” Shining Armor said. We made our way to the bench, getting thanks for what I did. As we were catching our breaths, Thunderlane said, “Think Shining knows how to place the ball for the kicker?” “AND THE EXTRA POINT IS GOOD!” “That answers your question?” I said to him. I requested that Swift Kick do the next kickoff this time so I can still recover from what just happened. It would be later on in the game that I would do some work on offense and leave the kicking duties to Swift Kick, unless I’m needed to make a long kick. Throughout the second half, I had the ball handed to me on several plays, which helped Flash get the bulls-eye off his back at times until both of us became random targets to our opponents. At the end of the game, we won the game, 38 to 21. Coach Iron Will was impressed with how I was able to handle on the field and decided to have me on the offensive line through the rest of the season, as long as I work with Swift Kick on improving his kicking game. As everyone started to leave the game, some of the students that were there gave me praise for what I did on the second half. Even some of the girls were interested in me. But my mind was focused on other things. It was when Moon Dancer wanted to talk to me in private. “First, you caught the ball over my head with ease. Now, you impress everyone on the field during the second half of the game. How are you able to do all this?” she asked. “Maybe I didn’t know that I had it in me,” I said. “Then tell me this. Did time slow down for you to react the way you did?” I gave a confused look, just knowing that she would be on to me. “Look, Miss Luna wanted to find out if there was anything that I saw that stood out, and I brought up your name and how it was weird to be this on target.” I said to her, “You asked me if there was anything strange happening to me.” She nodded. “Well, what did Luna say to you?” “She said that you were something special and that I should talk to you to get your side of the story,” she said. “And if I believed what you are saying, that I can’t tell anyone else about it.” “I have this gift that allows me to sense feelings and such. When I got here, I learned that it was called soul resonance. It’s the ability to sense other people’s souls, for strange reasons. We have old notes about it, but what happened this week, about time slowing down, was something new. I would like for Twilight to help understand all of this, but…” “But Twilight still has to deal with Sunset, and the only other person that’s as smart as Twilight is me,” Moon Dancer finished. “I can see now what makes you special. But this could make you a target to others, maybe even a threat. Who else knows about this, beside Miss Luna? I can guess the principal is on this as well.” “Besides those two, Coco and Chrysalis. Coco knew able my gift back at my last school, and Chrysalis caught on after I helped her out with her big problem this year.” “So you’re just trying to figure out how your gift works and unlock new powers to your gift. Is that all?” she asked. “Almost,” I said. “Part of my gift involves Sunset Shimmer. I can explain about it in detail later on. For now, I need to put my equipment away and make my way home. You plan to come to the grand opening tomorrow.” “I do. There was some planting items I wanted to get there,” she said. “Then we can talk sometime tomorrow, if we get the chance,” I said. “Agreed,” she responded. “And your secret is safe with me. If there’s any questions needing answers, we’ll find them together.” After putting my equipment away and cleaning up, I made my way to my truck. I knew that Chrysalis and my parents had to stay home, finishing up things for tomorrow. I noticed someone leaning on the back of my truck. As I got closer, I can make out a familiar girl with fiery hair, in a black leather jacket. “Looks like someone just got more popular as the night went on. You must be some hero to everyone now.” “I’m surprised that you came to the game, Sunset,” I said. “Well, that’s not the reason I’m here.” She looked down and said, “I thought about what you said in the letter you gave me. And the only problem I see in all this is that everyone loves you, and everyone hates me. How are you able to help me when no one else cares what I do?” “Because I believe in second chances. And right now,” as I placed my hand on her chin, raising her head, “you’re one who deserves it more than ever.” She grinned and said, “Well, we do have to work on a science project together.” “I though you didn’t like to bring that up,” I said. “I’ll make an exception.” She started to stand up straight and continued. “You understand why I hate being called Sunny, right?” “Because that’s your mother’s name,” I said. “Well, I’ll make another exception on that. Just don’t do it in public, please.” “Can’t make any promises on that, Sunny.” “Man, I’m going to regret doing this. But if I’m going to put up with you, Jack, might as well be now.”