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.
